One last Disney post...

I needed to show these two pictures of Katelyn...I don't want to think about how grown up she'll be next time we go!! (but I hope no matter how grown up she gets she'll still act like a monkey in the pink Casey Jr. train car!)

Just one more comparison...funny thing is I remember the first time like it was yesterday...where does the time go!

And this is a video of the kids helping Goofy bake a cake in Goofy's Kitchen

Goofy's Kitchen was one of the big highlights for us...it was worth the mad dash across Disneyland and Downtown Disney to get there in time (we were planning on riding the Monorail...but it broke down just as it was time for us to get on)

We love Disney...where "Dreams Do Come True"!!! I now understand why people in Utah get season passes...I could go every month!!!

California 2010...Highlights & Lowlights :)

I'm putting together a photobook of this vacation, so all the pictures will go with the stories...but I thought I'd share a few of my favories here...

HIGHLIGHTS

• Dave catching Adam's hat when it flew off on Splash Mountain (Adam was in the front, Dave was in the back..."my hat!!!! I've got it!!!")
• Watching the magic in my children's eyes during so many moments...
• Having fun with cousins that seem more like brothers and sisters...everyone got along so well!
• Seeing how brave Michael and Thomas were!! Michael's favorite ride was Splash Mountain, and Thomas' was Thunder Mountain Railroad (Thomas also went on Tower of Terror...so brave!!!)
• Eating at the Blue Bayou Restaurant...soooooo yummy (even the kids food was unbelievable) and excellent atmosphere
• Hundreds of people wishing Dad a happy birthday because of the silly hat we bought him. Even Pete (from Pete's Dragon) wished him Happy Birthday during the electrical parade!
• Cool double decker bus and funny driver on the way to SanDiego
• The Shamu show was amazing and the sea lion show so funny (Thomas didn't stop laughing)!!! (just like I remembered it as a kid!)
• Watching the sun set over the ocean on the way home from San Diego...It was gorgeous...Michael said he thought that only happened in the movies!
• Thomas and Robert thinking everything in the Tiki room was real...right down to Thomas asking us all if we had brought our umbrellas :)
• Roz hitting on Dave at the end of the Monster's Inc. ride "Hey...you in the front...I like your glasses...I get off at 5:00"...and her singing Happy Birthday to Madi...
• Wandering around the Farmers market with Sherry while the babies napped and touring a bakery and tortilla factory and getting yummy Mickey bread (thanks Dantzel!)
• Having dinner at Goofy's Kitchen...the older boys made me laugh while they danced and got autographs and enjoyed eating whatever they wanted...and Robert made my heart melt when he reached out for Goofy and Minnie...so cute!!!

LOWLIGHTS

• It was not a lot of fun to have a sick baby :( He had a high fever on and off, had a runny nose and cough (which made him throw up quite a few times...even during the fireworks) but a little (o.k. a lot of) Motrin, and some incredible priesthood blessings for him and me helped us survive it all and still have fun (Sorry for sharing the germs Matthew)
• I felt like we (the Garritson family) were always running late and holding everyone up...not sure what was up with that...in fact one day I got in my head that we needed to leave the hotel at 7:15 so I kept telling myself that we needed to be ready at 7:00 so that we weren't late. Well, at 6:40 I realized that we needed to leave at 15 mintues TO 7:00 not 15 minutes after 7:00...that started the day off great (not)
• Dave and Michael got stuck in a line for a ride and then the crowd closed in and they weren't able to get back to watch the fireworks with us...they did see them...and they did find us right after...but I was sad to not be with them (the fireworks were amazing though even despite this and cleaning up puke during them...Thomas LOVED every minute...even though he was less than impressed with Tinkerbell's flying "she's just on the wires")
• To go along with this....Dave said his lowlight was realizing halfway through the hour line for space mountain that he should have listened to his wife and got a fast pass earlier in the day :) (this is the ride that made them late for the fireworks...Michael loved the ride and saw the fireworks though...so all was well)
• We didn't have enough time to try all the wonderful food that everyone recommended to us...we gave it a valient try though!
• None of my kids would let me take them to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for a princess makeover...what makes me think that if I have a granddaugher she will be a tomboy!!
• We had to go home :(

This trip was magical from beginning to end...despite anything bad (which was totally outnumbered by good), we would do it again in a minute, and the boys have already started saving their money again...is next week too soon to go again!!

The Slideshow :)

Long awaited...and just plain long :) I'll add some commentary about the trip in another post :) sit back and enjoy...(you may want to grab a snack..it really is long)

Create a photo slideshow

Technical issues...

...o.k. so I'm still trying to load a stinking slideshow...don't know what's wrong? (anyone done it before who can help me?!) I should have just loaded the pictures one by one..lol...

...I'm not giving up, and in the meantime...just go to Sherry's blog...because like always...she's beat me to the punch :)

So close...

We're all getting ready...from the top of our heads....

....to the bottom of our toes :)

Mickey Pedicures...gotta love it :)

**To clear up any confusion...these feet only belong to the girl folk who are going :) me, my sister, my mom, and my neices :)

2nd Grade Program

Friday Michael got to perform in a program at school with the whole 2nd grade.

I was so excited to be able to see this, his class has done programs before, but the parents have never been invited, but since the school was remodled and they have a real stage, they can now invite parents to come to these things.

He was very excited!! They practiced so hard (missing many recesses to get things PERFECT)

It was all about "Friends" they sang many fun songs (some of which I remember teaching when I taught school...that was a little wierd)

Each class presented a friendship poem...here is Michael's class

The other part he was most excited to show me was the dances they had been practicing...pretty great job I'd say!! heel-toe, heel-toe, slide, slide, slide, slide (he told me the steps that morning)

At the end, they all lined up and sang while a slideshow of all the kids played, they then did a song about how they are the future and showed pictures they each had drawn of what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Michael wants to be a BYU football player (there are a lot of potential football players in his class...good thing they're getting lots of practice at recess!!)

Thanks Michael for inviting me...I LOVED it (and so did Dad and Grandma!)

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day is always a fun holiday for us...and this year didn't disappoint.

We cleaned the house hoping that the naughty leprechauns would leave us alone, but they DIDN'T!! The floor was covered in FAKE gold and green candy, and other green treats.



treats on the candles


new green shirts thrown everywhere




They left behind some tracks...



...in some very strange places...


...but much to everyone's disappointment we never found them. You see, Thomas was sure that someone must have caught a Leprechaun and stole their gold in order for us to be able to afford to go to Disneyland, and he really wanted to catch another one so that he could have more gold than anyone when we go.

The boys tried so hard to catch one, the devised traps (Michael took his to school for an assignment) Thomas drew up plans, but decided to try to just catch one himself. The were awake that morning at 4:15...I heard them out in the front room first excited that there was gold everywhere...then disgusted that it was FAKE!!! Darn those tricky Leprechauns.

After much coaxing and back rubbing, the boys finally fell back asleep and we tried starting the morning again at around 8:00. I think I'm going to leave a note for the Leprechauns next year that these boys need their sleep and so they'll have to wait until the boys are gone to school to visit!

The food is always fun for St. Patrick's day too...

For Breakfast we had green pancakes, and green juice,
and for Dinner, we had Cabbage Casserole, and the ever popular,

RAINBOW JELLO...quickly becoming a St. Patrick's day tradition



Robert liked it :)

And just for a little nostalgia...here he is enjoying his last year's St. Patrick's day dinner :)



The best part of the day was having fun with these three crazy boys!!

Never give up boys....we'll catch those Leprechauns one day!!!

Just call me "Little Miss Crafy Pants"

Indulge me while I toot my own horn here for a minute...

When we decided we were going to Disneyland, I started searching blogs for fun projects to do for and the kids..

I came upon these folders that held a notbook and pencil...so I decided to "disney-fy" them and tweek them a little, and here's the finished product (Michael's looks the same w/ an "M" on front...

...a little rough around the edges, and a few things I would change if/when I do them again...but they'll be great for the plane and the boys LOVE them (that's all that matters)

The other thing I wanted to make was a portable high chair thing I saw on "BabySteals" one day. I kept missing the deal for them, and without the deal they cost like $45...so I decided to hit JoAnn's armed with my trusty coupons and see what I could do on my own.

Not as cute as the originals, but it works...and will turn any chair into a high chair....and it folds up so tiny!! (it was a little tricky to make...no wonder they charge so much!!)

I was also going to turn a shirt into a shorts outfit for Robert (found cute mickey shirts at Wal-Mart a month or so ago)...well...I actually did do it, had the snaps all on, tried it on him and his body is too long for it! so I cut of the snaps and hemmed it up and he'll just wear it as a shirt (it's a size 4/5!!)

Now it's time to start making packing lists!! (who am I kidding...I've already started...I have our "liquid" bags packed for our carry-ons) nope...no one's excited here :)

Happy Birthday Baby!! (twice)

Feb 13, 2010
THE BIG "1"

The Cake (HUGE chocolate cupcake w/ light blue whipped frosting)




The decorations...lovingly hand colored by two big brothers who ADORE him!! I'm always amazed at how quickly friendships develop between brothers!

This was really the extent of the decorations...we were all about keeping it simple!!



Robert was very excited when the guests started to arrive!

(Grandma and Grandpa Walker, Doug, Michele, Jake, Corinne, Zachary, Sara, Janell, Teagan, Dawni, Zach, and of course Mom, Dad, Michael and Thomas)



The PRESENTS!!

His brothers were glad he needed some help (I don't think he needed as much help as he got!)







He received a fun train, musical bongo drums, Leap Frog farm fridge magnets (a favorite of even the big brothers...so fun!), tonka cars, see & say, popcorn popper push toy (old school fisher price) sippy cups, monkey jammies, and a swing (yes we did finally get it! it wasn't there for the party...Robert didn't notice)


Then...THE CAKE...

He was not much of a fan...too may people were in his "personal space" at first, Thomas had to jump in and blow out the candle before Robert got burned, and the singing wasn't great (just kidding)...he wasn't sure what to do or what was going on!


There were even a few tears shed and he didn't like the feel of the frosting AT ALL!!



We helped him get past the frosting then, it wasn't so bad (but still not fabulous)








He did eventually start getting in pretty deep!


Then he was done...

When Robert is done eating, he shoves his food off of his tray...he tried to do the same with the cake.



I love when he says "uh-oh" my other favorite he says is "wow" gotta get that one on video!


He decided he wasn't quite done...and had a little more cake...




The cake never did fall (much to the disappointment of every child in the room...and the mom...I really wanted it to go!)



Then we had the celebratory bath...the pictures aren't great because the bath was almost over...Daddy didn't realize that taking pictures of the bath was a part of the day :) The water was so gross and murky :)



The AFTERMATH...he did a pretty good job :)


I never did get a good picture of his favoite thing from his party...Playing with the mylar balloons...here he is laying on the ground and talking to the balloon he just sent to the celing...it was so cute!


**********
Since Robert has a cousin almost his same age, it was decided to have a combined party for them. We had that on on the 6th of March. Just 1 day after Cooper's b'day!

Robert was so tired...and not so sure he wanted to do the whole party thing again... (I was glad for another chance for him to wear his birthday shirt)



He changed his mind when he opened the presents (again with PLENTY of brotherly help)

He is in love with this Cookie Monster (and so is everyone who plays with it...SO CUTE!!)

Here are Cooper and Robert playing in their matching outfits from Aunt Natalie...she has good taste! (and there was no hope of getting them to look at the camera so this is as good as it gets)

It was a fun party with Dave's family, and the boys got spoiled (Robert got a farm, books, cars, clothes, and of course Cookie Monster!)

So much fun...I seriously can't believe my baby is ONE!! he is getting better and better at talking and walking...the Garritson house is in trouble!!!

Thanks for coming to our family Robert...We love you so much!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!