Fun At The Bronson Film Cave

We took Austin to visit the Bronson Film Cave. Here is a short video of the fun!

Disneyland For Christmas

Once again the girls decided that what they wanted for Christmas was a day at Disneyland! So we ended up having another fun filled day at Disneyland.

The week before it threatened to rain, but luckily the day was a beautiful bright sunny day. And there was hardly any crowds, due to the fact that it was a Wednesday and it had been raining the days leading up to our trip. The longest we had to stand in line was at the Peter Pan ride and Pixie Hollow!

It was fun to take the girls and see what they were excited about this time that they never cared about before. We also had Austin with us and this was his very first time ever at Disneyland.

We also did a few things for the very first time on this trip. We rode the Matterhorn, a first for everyone but Erik, the lines are usually so long for that one that we just skip it but not this time. Emma screamed the whole time and said it was okay while Austin kept his eyes closed the whole time, but Mia and I enjoyed it!

We watched Fantasmic for the first time. I was impressed with the whole show. Disney really knows how to put on a show!

We also went and watched the Jedi Academy. Both girls got picked to be part of the academy! They had a blast!

We also watched the Christmas parade. Well Erik, Austin and the girls watched the parade while I made a run to the car to get the jackets.

One good thing is about going every year is that the girls don't feel the need to get their pictures taken with every character, which means we have more time for rides!

Mia's favorite part about Disneyland this year was "The Matterhorn, Fantasmic, and just everything pretty much!" Emma's favorite part about Disneyland this year was "The fireworks and Fantasmic!"

Austin and the girls!

Us in front of the castle, Thanks Austin for taking the picture!

The castle lit up with Christmas Lights!

Erik and the girls on the bridge on Tom Sawyers Island

Mia fighting Darth Maul!

Emma fighting Darth Maul!

Halloween 2009

It's become a tradition to go to Mammy and Grandpa's ward Halloween Party Halloween night. They always have it at the same place, the Ellsworth Ranch, and it's always on Halloween. This year was no exception.

Austin even came with us.

Enjoy the pics!

Austin in his costume. He went as Master Chief from Halo

Mia and Emma in their costumes. Emma is a zebra and Mia is a GI Diva

Austin soaking wet after bobbing for apples.

Austin bobbing for apples.

Mia after eating the marshmallow, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup without using her hands or any utensils.

Mia eating the above mentioned marshmallow.

Emma after eating the marshmallow, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup without using her hands or any utensils.

Emma eating the above mentioned marshmallow.

Emma bobbing for apples.

Mia bobbing for apples.

Mia and Emma eating dinner.

Beach Trip With The Ubers

Okay, you can't have someone come visit you in sunny Cali without taking a trip to the beach. So, when my family came out we all went to the beach.

The whole time they were out here visiting the weather was so hot and sunny. So, we picked a day and went to the beach.

We got there and it was overcast and chilly! Can you believe it? Actually, I can believe it, it's the Uber curse.

And then to top it off, Wesley came out of the ocean covered in hives and itching like crazy. So, we left early, stopped at the drugstore to get some allergy medicine and headed home.

Another eventful fun filled Uber vacation memory!

Here are a few pictures I was able to snap.

Emma

Mia

Erik and Emma playing in the ocean.

Pappy (John), Jordan, Granny (Marta), and Wesley in the ocean.

Mia playing in the ocean

Emma flying a kite--one of Emma's favorite things to do at the beach.

LA County Fair 9/2009

Okay, I know that September is way past and October is almost over but I wanted to get these fun events documented. So, bear with me as I play catch up in the next few blog posts. I will start putting in recent stuff, I promise!!!

Anyway, every year the girls love to go to the LA County Fair. And because we are homeschoolers we get a chance to get in FREE! What can be better than that?

This year the day that we were going just happened to be the day after my parents and 3 youngest brothers got here to visit. So, they got to come too.

Erik made fun of me saying that he was sure that they flew all the way from small town PA just to visit a fair that's main attraction is farm animals. I told him that they flew all the way from small town PA to see us!

The girls love the farm animals and all the displays. We even got some pictures of the boys, though I had to be sneaky as some of the boys don't like to have their pictures taken. But hey I'm the oldest of 9 kids, I grew up being sneaky! ;)

As part of the Fair's promotions for school kids if they read 6 books they get 9 tickets for rides. So the girls go to ride some rides as well. And all they had to do was read some books and do a book report on it. Easy-peasy, as we are always reading for school!

Here are some pictures of everyone just having fun!

Mia riding the bumper boats!

Emma riding the bumper boats.

The girls doing an obstacle course

The spinning dragon ride--think teacups at Disneyland! I feel slightly sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

The girls got to pet an alligator.

Inside the animatronic dinosaur exhibit.

This is a live parrot they are looking at. It was just sitting there all day, no cage.

And it didn't fly away

Riding the dragon roller coaster. Emma saw this ride when we first got there and told us she wanted to ride it. Once the rides opened and she heard roller coaster she said she didn't want to anymore. But, I kind of talked her into it, and told her that it didn't go really fast and she could always scream when she was on it. So, she decided to go on to "face her fears." Once the ride started she started to scream, and she screamed the whole time. At first we thought she was having fun but she had a look of pure terror on her face. Then I started to worry that someday she would be talking to court appointed psychologist about this day. They got off and both of them had huge smiles on their faces. I asked them if they had fun and they both said yes, and the then Emma added "I gave myself a headache screaming so much!"

Petting the Big White Goat.

Petting the Little Black Calf.

The 3 Little Pigs--Jordan, Wesley, and Austin

One of my sneaky pics of everyone. Jordan is trying to get ahead of the camera, he saw me at the last second but I was faster! Mia walking along looking at things, Wesley and Austin talking to Erik about who knows what. And Emma reading the map getting us to where we need to go.

Granny, Erik, and Wesley sitting down while listening to Jordan and Austin relate some tall tale!

We Love Mia!!!

After I did the post about Emma I was waiting for Mia's birthday to do one on her. Their birthdays are only 3 weeks apart, so you would think that I could have gotten that done. But my family came out to visit for a week, and then I got sick, and now I've been playing catch up. And I realized I never posted my list of things that i love about Mia around her birthday.

So, here it goes. The things I love about Mia, to list a few are:

1. She is so kind to everyone. She worries more about others than herself.

2. She makes friends with everyone. Everywhere we go she ends up making new friends and is always telling me about the new friends she made.

3. She LOVES books! She is a great reader.

4. She is so smart. As her home school teacher I get to see everything that she knows and learns. She is always thirsting for more knowledge. She also keeps me on my toes with how much she knows, good thing for daddy and google--so I can look smart as well!

5. She is very loyal. She will always stick up for her friends and family.


Erik loves these things about Mia:

1. Kind hearted and sensitive. Never wants to see anyone suffer in any way, no matter who they are.

2. Generous. Shares whatever she can in the pursuit of trying to make others happy.

3. Fun, in a genuinely fun way. She doesn't think anything is fun if it can't be fun for everybody, but she will figure out a way to make it fun for everybody.

4. Loves stories. Likes to read books and watch shows and movies, she really gets into the stories. She thinks a lot about them, really getting into them.

5. Loves to learn. Looks for chances to learn things and gets excited when she finds them.


Emma loves this about Mia:

1. She's always there for me.

2. She's pretty

3. "I love her so much"

Emma's Losing Teeth!

I know I go weeks without posting and then I end up posting 3 different entries in one day!

Last Monday Emma her top front tooth at a friend's house. Luckily the tooth fairy knew where she was staying that night and ended up visiting her at Becca's house. Becca had lost a tooth that night as well, so they both got a visit from the tooth fairy the same night!

And then Tuesday Emma spent all day trying to get her 2nd top front loose enough so Mammy could pull it out at her house that night. Well, she didn't quite get it loose enough so when Mammy tried it ended up hurting Emma a little bit so she was a little scared that it would hurt again.

So, we came home and then she said when we got home I think I'm ready to let Mammy pull out my tooth I just needed some time to think about it. Crazy girl!

Well, we weren't going to turn around and drive another 15-20 minutes to get there and then another 15-20 minutes to get back home, at this point it was already after their bedtime. So, i told her that daddy could pull out her tooth for her. But daddy said he was afraid he would hurt her.

So I told her to come here and told her to close her eyes, we counted to three and it came right out. It was so loose from her playing with it all day and night that it practically fell out in my hand. So Emma now has another Emma-hole, not just the one in her imagination.