Disneyland

To finish off our Road Trip we went to Disneyland! We are not the type of family that wears Goofy Hats and Mickey Ears, but we are the type of family that LOVES to make our kids happy! What better place to do that then to go the the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! A lady asked me if I wanted her to take our picture on a boat ride and I quickly said "No, that's okay, thanks though" but before I could finish, Matt said, "yeah, thank you, give her the camera and let her take our picture!"

It turns out this picture would be the only picture I have of myself from the WHOLE trip, sound familiar to any other Mother out there????? I guess I wanted to take the picture quickly so I didn't even bother telling the kids to say cheese...oh well, this is proof that we were all there!

This is Matt and Justin on the Roller coaster in Toontown. I don't think you can see Justin's face because it's too small. If you could you would smile too! His hair is blowing straight up and he has the biggest grin on his face:-) He went on this twice, once with Matt and once with me.

This is the other ride he went on twice, well we all went twice on this one, the Buzz Lightyear ride. This kid couldn't be happier to beat Zurg with his laser beam! As you can tell, Matt really got into this ride. I guess I did too the second time around when I was trying to beat my 4-year old son and hit more targets to get more points.

And this is Justin driving and happy on Autopia! We had a fun time at Disneyland and a fun Road Trip. Everything went perfect.........except for me forgetting our BIG, NICE camera that takes AMAZING pictures! At least we have our memories captured on our little camera that takes good pictures!

St. George

The whole purpose of our Road Trip was to go see Matt's brother and his family (Dan, Lauren, and Sadie Jayne). We had never seen Sadie before and St. George is within driving distance (only 8 hours) so we decided to go, with one stipulation:

Matt had to go see his Uncle Curt (an E.N.T. Doctor) OR make an appt. to go meet our Family Doctor and then set up an appt. He opted for the 2nd choice! So, off we went to St. George. It's too long of a story to explain why and how this stipulation came about so I'll spare you, however, I was going to go regardless of whether he went or not ;-)

We got to St. George and went to the Pizza Factory for dinner (they have bread sticks that I dream of). The funny thing is, we got the same waiter as last time we went when Dan and Lauren got married! Before dinner we went to the Splash Pad, a park with water streams, fountains that come from the ground, stairs covered in water, etc. Nothing you would EVER see here in Santa Barbara without having to sign your life away to enter and have at least 5 lifeguards at. I guess Utah isn't all that bad! Here is a pic of the boys on the stairs. I chose this picture because Brandon looks hilarious....wispy hair blowing in the wind, parted down the middle, and some cheese-ball smile. The boys had a blast!

Here is Matt with his brother, Dan, and Justin and Brandon on the top of the steps at the St. George temple. We walked there after church on Sunday (they only live about 2 or 3 blocks from the temple)

We also went in the Visitor's Center and Justin came across this Book of Mormon in Marshallese (the language Kelli is speaking on her Mission)

Ben (Matt's other brother), Ashley, and Wesley came through for the night on their way to Star Valley so we went to Matt's cousin's house for a yummy BBQ. They have an amazing house, this is their backyard. Justin is on that pink electric scooter with his Uncle Dan. That outhouse looking thing is a REAL bathroom, so smart!!!

We had a lot of fun in St. George. I didn't have a pic of Zion's National Park where we hiked (really walked) to a little pool/waterfall. It was SO beautiful there!!! Thanks to Dan and Lauren and their sweet little baby, Sadie, for letting us stay at their new house that they just moved into the weekend before we got there (wow). We got to walk on some nice and plush brand new carpet, flush a brand new toilet that has a half flush for just a tinkle, enjoy their hammock chair hung in their backyard under a Pecan tree, eat a million Otter Pops, enjoy Sadie, and much more. Thanks for the fun time and hospitality Dan and Lauren!!

Vegas, Family Style

This is how you do Vegas, family style! We went to a Resort that was away from the strip, we had a lot of fun! Below are the boys walking to the big pool with two waterfalls!

This is Justin behind one of the two falls. Justin said his favorite part of the trip was "the big pool with the waterfalls"

This is Brandon taking a peek of the view....no he really just spotted water down below so we had to pry him away from the window! Even the elevator opening and dinging didn't pull him away, he just kept repeating "wawa"

The boys decided to go snuggle with Dad in the morning. Matt is becoming notorious for bed head (can't forget getting woken up to the fire alarm in the middle of the night when we went up north for Bill & Angie's wedding....my family knows what I'm talking about)

I tried to get Matt to book the Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, The Luxor, etc. but he insisted on keeping with this nice place since it was off the strip. Thank heavens I agreed, this is TRULY the way to go:

Vegas, family style!

Fearfully Fun Fair!

We went to the Santa Barbara Fair & Expo with Grandpa and Cassi.....the boys both had fun.
Justin takes after his Dad, he's scared of heights! So when he asked to go on the big Funhouse, which required him to go across 2 L O N G Hanging Bridges.....HIGH in the sky, I thought, "there's no way he'll go on it, he is scared of the little hanging bridges at the parks that are 3-4 feet off the ground, plus he has to climb so high....." I explained to him what he had to do and he couldn't contain his excitement so off he went with Cassi. Need I say more......he held up about 10 kids that were so antsy to get across and pass him, jumping up and down, making the bridge sway even more. His hands were clenched so tight on both sides, legs spread apart for better balance, and S L O W L Y moving that there wasn't a chance of anyone getting passed him! I started feeling worse for the kids having to wait for him than Justin having to go across this bridge, 2 TIMES! Reflecting back on this, it gives me great joy that he embraced his fear and NEVER ONCE looked back, NEVER ONCE said he couldn't do it, and when he came off said he wanted to do it AGAIN! It was like the Iron Rod, NOTHING took his eyes off of that straight and narrow path, not even his Mom, Dad, Brother, Aunt, or Grandpa calling his name! I wish I could embrace my fears as he does, running full speed, never looking back or saying I can't do it! One can only hope this is a glimpse into the future of his unwavering faith, patience, resistance to temptation, and persistence.

The look of accomplishment when he finished was worth the L O N G anticipated wait.

ULTRA-SOUND of our buns-in-the-oven!!!!!

Surprise!

It's a first!

Their not boys!

They're.................

................................

any guesses.....

.....................

are you dying to find out?....

..................................

.................

.................................

Okay, I won't make you

wait any longer for the

long awaited pictures....

.........................

............

they're

buns-in-the-oven that are ULTRA easy to make,

which also have a very SOUND recipe!

Fooled you, huh?

I made a regular French Bread and one I made up. You see, a long time ago I worked at Great Harvest Bread Co. here in Santa Barbara and I had a favorite .......

drum roll please.............

Cheddar Garlic Bread! To tell you how good they both were, I have no pictures of cooked bread!

Now that is one good bun-in-the-oven ULTRA-SOUND!

Thanks Jeni and Jaimi!