Me?

So I walked through the halls at church yesterday being congratulated by everyone I saw. I kept smiling and politely saying "thank you", but really I'm feeling like "are you sure?" I've served in the Primary for the past 7 or 8 years, as a class teacher, in the nursery, even in 2 presidencies under 2 wonderful presidents, but this is the first time I've been asked to be the president. The emotion I feel is more like shock, uncertainty, and excitement all at the same time. I'm concerned about keeping all the balls in the air, about being organized enough, and about being open enough to inspiration to know all the needs of the children and teachers. I've chosen 2 wonderful counselors and an organized secretary to help me as we serve the children and teach them of the gospel and of our Savior's love. When the bishop called me in, he told me he wanted to call me to the most important organization in the ward. Then he asked me what I thought that was? I knew immediately and whole heartedly exactly what that was. I believe with my whole heart that our children, the children that we serve, are the most important spirits in our church. The job we have to teach them and help them prepare and be strong before they must stand on their own, is the most important job any of us can have. I feel so incredibly humbled to be asked to serve these sweet, trusting, faithful spirits. I pray we can do it well.

Ouch!

It seems to me like one of these days I'm going to miss having Legos spread ALL over my house, but today is not that day. I just stepped on one of those tiny tiny pieces yet again and it stabbed right through my sock and made me jump, pulling a muscle in my back that was already causing it's own havoc. I turn around to glare at whatever the culprit is and there I find... a tiny Lego. Of course!! I love that my kids love Legos. They are great creative toys. But I do not love when they leave the room they're supposed to be confined to. Because me feet always find them. So today I do not miss them. But someday when my boys are grown and my cleaning is simple and there are no Legos to be found, I will probably wish there were little boys leaving their toys strewn about. Maybe it's not that big a deal after all.

(Picture of the Lego culprit here)
(Ok so I'm not the most computer savvy and I really can't figure out how to import a picture of a little Lego from the web. It seems like I've seen some of you do that kind of thing before. Anyone want to share how to do it with me?)

Saved by the bell.

Don't you just love it when a good friend calls? It's even better when they call when you've been thinking about calling them for awhile, when you might be having a bit of a downer day or (even better) when your kids are otherwise occupied so you can actually have an adult conversation without having to sneer "Stop hitting your sister" as sternly and quietly as possible so your child will listen and you don't sound like a bear over the phone. Not that that's happened to me :) Anyway, I just had one of those phone calls. Thanks Charlotte, it was great to talk. And one a week or two ago from Kayli. That was even more unexpected because she lives in Switzerland and so we don't get to talk that often. I'm so grateful for my wonderful friends. I love you guys.

Where have I been?!

My wonderful friend, Kayli, called the other day from Switzerland and made my day! While we chatted away in our best friend easiness- she reminded me of the blog that I had committed to keeping up. "So what happened with that?" she asked. Well the last few months have been busy. Who's life isn't right? Then when I got behind it seemed so daunting to get caught up. So I'm back again. But first I'll do a few posts about what's kept us so busy the past 4 months.

Vacation Day 13- Disney Day 6- Saturday- The Last Day

Saturday morning we woke up and finished packing.  So sad.  The close of an amazing vacation.  We packed up the van and checked out of our room and headed over to Downtown Disney.  We'd planned to spend Saturday morning there before departing so that we could buy whatever final souvenirs we'd decided on and do any last activities.  Downtown Disney is the place where you can get a little of everything.  We also had one unused meal from Wednesday night's dinner, so we got to eat at a nice little cafe- for free.
While the boys were shopping at their favorite place- The Lego Store- Katelyn and I went to a nearby Disney store to look through the princess things to let her buy another souvenir.  She had her Aurora dress on and was having a fun time looking.  There were several girls coming out of the Princess Makeover dressing rooms there (where they do the girls' hair and makeup and gowns (($$$)) can you say cha ching?).  We went outside the store to go wait for the boys out front when a nice woman asked if Katelyn wanted to be in the Princess Parade in 5 minutes?  Boy did she ever!!!  She was so excited.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time. They gave her a little sash to wear and a wand to wave and oh was she happy.  I slipped inside the store to buy her a little tiara that she'd liked, but I thought was too expensive, because now I knew I had to get it for her so she could play the princess part (especially since the other girls were head to toe done up).  I was so sad that I couldn't find my phone or my camera.  I have no pictures of the parade.  But Katelyn did have such a wonderful time.  Jared and the boys showed up just before the parade began and we walked along behind the parade as these adorable little princesses waved to the crowd as the parade proceeded (set to princess music and all).  It was really fun!!  Then they ended the parade at the carousel where the girls got to ride for free. Katelyn felt like a real princess.
After lunch (which ended up being closer to 3) we finally got everyone back in the van and ready to set off.  It was just hard to get everyone ready to leave.  Who wants to leave Disney????  Certainly not I.  Not Jared or the kids either.  So it was sad to go, but at least we have these amazing memories of a really pretty close to perfect vacation.

We felt so blessed to have such wonderful weather.  When we stopped that night in Georgia (but not in Macon this time) it was snowing pretty hard.  The temperature had dropped and there was a winter storm on its way.  We heard reports that it was the most snow and coldest weather Georgia had seen in many years.  It probably didn't get all wintery cold down at Disney, but it probably did get much colder- certainly not the sunny pleasant weather we had enjoyed all the week before.  So we felt very blessed.  Sunday was spent driving all day and we pulled in our driveway about 6 pm.  Sad to be done with vacation, but good to be home.

Vacation Day 12- Disney Day 5- Friday

Hollywood Studios

 
Friday was the day Coleson had been waiting for all week. Hollywood Studios is the home of Star Tours where all the Star Wars attractions are.  I  didn't realize that they were closed for the first week of January for maintenance.  What a bummer!!  I felt so bad for Coleson.  Fortunately they were still holding the live action show "Padawan Training" out front.


  I wish I'd known that if I'd signed up early enough the boys could've been in the show as actual padawans.  But they did get to go to the meet and greet with Darth Vader and a clone trooper.  So that was pretty cool.
 

After the show, we went to the mecca of Star Wars gift shops. It was there that he spent the entirety of his money from Christmas on a custom light saber.  And he and Jared took a virtual picture as Luke and Anakin.  Turned out pretty fun.

Before lunch we saw the Lights, Camera, Action show which was a stunt car show that all the kids thought was pretty dang neat. There was backwards driving (like Mater) and all kinds of awesome stunts. 
Then we booked it clear across the park to eat lunch while we watched the next showing of Beauty and the Beast at the outdoor theater.  Katie was in 7th heaven.   She had worn her Belle dress that day just for that show.
 
Next was the big excitement for the day.  After our lunch had settled we had a Fast Pass appointment at Rock'n Roller Coaster. We walked up with our Fast Pass card (which says to come back at a certain time and then you'll get to walk right up to board the ride) and then we got a Rider Switch card for Jared (which says that while Jared waits with our small children and I ride, then we can switch and he can ride- without waiting in line again).  We did the Fast Pass and Rider Switch cards on all the big attractions.  It was SO handy.  In the morning, Coleson and I had ridden on the Tower of Terror.  We had so much fun.  We listened to people screaming 13 stories up in the air at the top of the ride while we waited in line.  It didn't scare him.  As we boarded the ride and we're cruising in our elevator car through the old hotel, the suspense was palpable.  You could feel the elevator go out onto the drop zone and then stop.  Oh the suspense! Then it dropped us 2 stories.  I love roller coasters and was just screaming like crazy (and having fun).  Right before the last big drop, I looked over at Coleson in the seat next to me, and while I was screaming and holding onto the arms of my chair for dear life, he had his arms folded neatly in front of him not making a sound.  It was so funny!  When we got off the ride, he teased me for screaming and being such a scaredy cat and I teased him for being Stonewall Jackson.  Jared got the Rider Switch and Coleson got to go up again.  Jared said he was the same way that time too.  So by the time we got to our after lunch appointment at Rock'n Roller Coaster, he was pretty puffed up about being such a great coaster rider.  Rock'n Roller Coaster is very fast and very crazy.  When we were walking up the ramp and then came around the corner into view of the coaster rocketing off, his natural instincts kicked back in and Mr. Tough Guy wanted to high tail it and run.  I convinced him to stay.  Even as we were boarding, though, he was pretty unsure.  This was his first ride to go upside down and do loops and all.  After 90 seconds of pure terror, he decided he likes roller coasters, but draws the line just before Rock'n Roller Coaster.

The last stop before dinner was the Indiana Jones Show which was full of excitement and quite reviting.  Just ask Hunter.  

We had dinner at a 50s diner there in the park and finished eating just before the park closed for the day.  We headed back to our cozy cabin to begrudgingly start packing.

Vacation Day 11- Disney Day 4- Thursday

Magic Kingdom Again
Thursday we got up and told the kids the big surprise for the day.  We were having breakfast with Mickey at Chef Mickey's.  Hunter was...psyched!  Our brunch was scheduled at 11am so we had a quick pre-breakfast and got to the park for early open hours (yet another perk of staying on property- you get extra hours).  Our goal for the day was the entire left side of the park- Adventure land, Frontier land, and Liberty Square.  We hopped on the train that goes around the park and went straight to the back to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Coleson and I had a blast on that.  I don't think I'd written about our big trip to Space Mountain on Monday.  Coleson, Hunter, and I hit that together.  It was Hunter's first real encounter with a roller coaster.  He loved the Star Wars-ish feel to the interior.  But the farther we got on our walk to the center, and the deeper enveloped in darkness we became, the more nervous he got.  He was NOT impressed with the speed, dips, or dives of the roller coaster and left there firmly set on never doing a roller coaster again.  (Now that I look back at it, I'm really surprised he even got on the coaster to begin with instead of making me take him back out to the safety of the sunlight). So Coleson and I did Big Thunder Mountain and then when we went out to catch up with the rest of the family, we saw the Woody (from Toy Story) was just arriving at his location for autographs and we were going to be second in line!!

There's Coleson and me- the red and blue blurs in the second train car. 

We had snagged a photo op with Buzz earlier in the week and now the gang was complete.  By then it was getting close to breakfast time, so we rounded everyone up and headed out.  We got on the monorail and rode the 5 seconds over to the Contemporary Resort where Chef Mickey's is located.  We got our picture taken while we were waiting and, being total suckers that we are, we bought the pictures when they brought them around to show us at breakfast (a total marketing gimick- that worked).  But the picture came in this cute folder with info about Chef Mickey's and it included 2 recipes from the restaurant- making it totally a good deal now that we got a folder with it :)

Breakfast was DE-LI-CIOUS.  It seems like I've written about my love of excellent breakfast buffets before, and this one ranked among the best.  Lots of variety, excellent quality, all freshly made (not sitting under a heat lamp for untold hours).  We had just finished filling everyone's plates when Minnie came out to start the show.  She, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto got everyone excited and cheering for Mickey.

 

The characters came around as we ate breakfast and we got to spend a few minutes with each of them.  They talked with the kids and asked questions and said funny things.  The kids loved it.  

Mickey was especially concerned about Ethan sucking on Coleson's sharpie- which was really funny :)

 

Goofy was especially silly!!

We left around 12:30 with smiles on our faces and happy tummies too.  After breakfast we found one of those neat penny punching machines in the lobby.  Katie was choosing a princess punch and I took this video of her showing me how she can sing like Ariel (which she does for me all the time at home).

When we got back over to the Magic Kingdom, we stopped in some shops on Main Street and heard some whispers about Ariel (ironically) appearing at a location very nearby in like 5 minutes (she was the only princess Katie hadn't seen yet and really really wanted to see).  So I did some asking around and we did some scurrying over there and we were the FIRST people in line.  Turns out that was because it was an hour and 5 minutes- not just 5 minutes.  But oh well. 

We didn't tell Katie what we were waiting for because we wanted to see her surprise.  It was awesome!!

This was her telling Ariel that she can sing just like her :)

As we started off again, we came to Frontier Land and a little theatrical show with Captain Jack Sparrow and they were asking for children volunteers just about the time we stopped and Coleson got called up on stage.  He loved it!  Hunter didn't want to go, but he was having fun watching Coleson do it.
  


We went through the rest of the areas we wanted to see and enjoyed those.  We went over on the big paddle wheel boat in Liberty Square which was really more for Jared, but we all enjoyed it.  While in Liberty Square we found a cute little Christmas shop and bought a few souvenirs for our trip.  We got a Christmas tree ornament and a cute little Mickey Santa cookie plate and mug set.   Next it was over to the Haunted Mansion which everyone thought was pretty spooky from the outside, but ended up thinking was pretty funny once we got inside.  As the day was winding down, we had to decide what we wanted to do last.  All week Hunter had been talking about going back over to see Buzz Lightyear again and do the space shooting game again.  Good thing there was no line, so we did it twice more.  Happy Hunter. 

We really hadn't planned on staying until 8pm that night when the park closed and it was time for the closing parade, but we were having so much fun and didn't want it to end.  We didn't have any jackets with us and when the sun went down, it got quite chilly.  But the mood was so exciting and we just couldn't leave yet.  The parade was pretty fun and everyone really liked it.
 

Ethan spent about half of the vacation right here in this spot and the other half on daddy's shoulders.  He would grab hold of Jared's ears or eyes and use them as reigns to hold on. 

The ride back across the lake on the ferry boat was just plain cold.  When the boat docked we ran to get warmed up again.  We had been so busy the last part of the day seeing all the things we wanted to see that we hadn't eaten any dinner (plus we'd had a huge late breakfast so we hadn't been too hungry), so we stopped and had dinner at the lodge of our resort.  Everyone climbed in bed happy and tired and a little bit sad to see our vacation coming to an end because we'd been blessed with another perfect day.

Vacation Day 10- Disney Day 3- Wednesday

My cuties!!

Animal Kingdom
Wednesday was a slower day.  We needed a day to recoup and it worked out nicely that the Animal Kingdom was only open from 10-5 that day.  I snapped these adorable pictures of the kids playing at the bus stop.  I'm telling you, Disney Transportation is the way to go.  I absolutely LOVE this picture of Jared all relaxed and smiling.  For some reason when Jared kicks back and relaxes, it totally relaxes me.

The Kilimanjaro Safari was the highlight of the day.  It was so neat to go through each animal's habitat and see them in their environment.  And the bus was just a fun relaxing way to see it.  There were lots of other fun animal shows and things to see, but the Safari was the best. 


We did get a picture with Flick from A Bug's Life. 


For lunch we went to the best BBQ joint- the Flame Tree Barbeque.  It was on our DDP plan and, even though the line was quite long, they cranked us through there and we got out with meals for the whole family in just a few minutes.  We ate in a nearby picnic area and had a quite meal. Best fast food I've ever had!


We were on our way back to our room by 5:15.  But the best part of the day was yet to come.  I had planned ahead for the fact that this would be our early day, and I had already hired a Disney babysitter to come to our room and watch the kiddos so Jared and I could go have a date night. 
We took the kids for a quick dip at the fun pool at our resort and then had Katie and Ethan in bed by 7pm.  Jared and I got all dressed up for our night out.  The babysitter rang the bell at 6:45 and came loaded with activities and fun things to do with the boys.  So fun!!  I'm not at all one to leave my kids with someone I don't know, but there was a detailed form to fill out, they have a lengthy hiring process for these sitters, and I had asked LOTS of questions on forums about these sitters and I had only heard sparkling reviews.

 I had made 2 dinner reservations for us, because I couldn't decide which one we'd like better (and I'd found coupons too :) Anyway, we got to the Dolphin Resort and took a look at both places.

Bluezoo- super fun looking environment!

Shula's Steakhouse- BEST meal of my life.

We decided on Shula's because we're steak lovers at heart (even though I do enjoy fish), and boy was it the right choice. First of all, we were one of 3 couples in the whole place, so they seated us in our own room of the restaurant and then we were introduced to our 3 waiters- one for drinks, one for taking orders, and one for delivering.  It was so formal and fun.  I was really glad I'd dressed up for the occasion.  (I wish I'd snapped a picture of us because I don't get to get dressed up very often).  Anyway, one waiter came out with a rolling cart and a dozen pieces of steak all wrapped in plastic so he could show us the advantages and disadvantages of each cut.  So that was informative.  I was interested in the lobster tail and filet minion, but wasn't going to get it for the price it cost.  Jared ordered it anyway.  We also got bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp with barbeque sauce, which might not sound that good, but was OH SO GOOD.  Then our meals arrived and each bite was like heaven.  The lobster was so sweet and the steak just melted in my mouth.  We are still enjoying that meal now, because we often reminisce about how incredible it was.  The waiter surprised us with creme brulee for dessert- which was, of course, wonderful.  By the time we tipped all 3 waiters and paid for the meal, it was about $250!!  It was by FAR the most expensive meal we've ever had, but it was so fun and different and SO GOOD.  Shula's holds a special place in our hearts as the best meal of our lives.

After dinner we walked down by the water outside the Dolphin Resort and enjoyed the warm night air.  It was so very lovely.  We got back to our room around 11pm to find the sitter had everyone asleep and the cabin was in complete order.  Everything had gone wonderfully.

It was another perfect day.