Things on my mind...

I have several things on my mind this sunny, but covered in snow day! (yes it snowed all night long...and it's suppose to be Spring!) First thing on my mind is I wish I could say 'What is written on the blog, stays on the blog'...however I should know better right? I suppose if I post it, it's fair game for the whole world. But I just didn't know that mentioning a 'friend' was pregnant would mean people would investigate who that anonymous person is, and then feel it necessary to mention it to our Relief Society president. Funny how you don't know who is reading your blog until you're busted for posting something you didn't think anyone would take any notice of to begin with! Well, I take full responsibility for saying it, I sure shouldn't have done it, and I'll be much more careful with personal information in the future!
For the second thing on my mind, I'd like to make a preemptive apology for anyone I might offend, but I might get a little crazy in this thought. So I was reading a magazine article about several teenage girls who found themselves pregnant, and what they have chosen to do with their lives now. 6 of those 7 teens kept their babies. Each one told their story about how they are going to make the biggest sacrifice of their life and keep the baby to raise. I am sorry, but I don't think that is the biggest sacrifice of their life, it is the biggest sacrifice of their child's life....a sacrifice that they didn't even choose to make! Any difficulties and hard times these teen girls will face is a direct result of their own chooses, they deserve every late night, every spit up in their face, every High School dance that they miss! They messed up, and now they'll take the consequences. The true sacrifice would be to give up the baby for something more. There are SO many couples in the world, who want babies and just can't have them. A mother and a father, who've already committed to another for life and beyond, who have financial resources to offer a baby so much more than a teen mother could! Couples who know and will love that baby as there very own! The one story about the one girl who gave up the baby for adoption had a statement from her own mother about how disappointed she was that her daughter gave the baby up for adoption, and how that mother would have raised her grandchild....well it doesn't seem like she taught her own daughter very well, what is she going to do better then second time around? I wish there was more support for adoption, I wish there wasn't as many girls as there are that find themselves in this situation, but most of all I wish that if they do, they understand the true meaning of sacrifice!
Last thing on my mind today, (on a much higher note), is that I am SO thankful for good girl friends! I love girls night out, meeting up with old friends for lunch, having long conversations with friends about who knows what in the end! There is nothing like hanging out with just the girls, am I right? So I just want to say I LOVE YOU to my sisters, sister-in-laws, friends from work, friends from church, friends I used to go to school with, and friends I've had around so long, I don't even remember where we met! I am so glad we have each other around to boost us up when we are down, let us cry when there isn't much of a reason, and call us when there isn't a necessary topic! Having good friends is the greatest :)

So I don't usually do these things, but my good friend Natalie sent me this little questionnaire in an email, and I thought it would be fun to post as a blog...just a little about me!

1. What time did you get up today? 8:30 am!
2. Diamonds or pearls? Definitely Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? 10,000 BC..pretty good actually!
4. What is your favorite TV show? Survivor! Every Thursday at 7!
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Usually I share some cereal with Lexi
6. What is your middle name? Lynn
7. What food do you dislike? Brussel Sprouts...yuck!
8. What is your favorite CD? Wicked..for now anyway
9. What kind of car do you drive? Hyundai Sonata
10. Favorite sandwich? Honey Mustard Chicken from Quizno's
11. What characteristic do you despise? Hmm..how about self-centeredness
12. Favorite item of clothing? My new Disneyland pj's
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Italy What color is your bathroom? White...some green and brown here and there
15. Favorite brand of clothing? I like the Down East long T shirts
16. Where would you like to retire to? Somewhere HOT HOT HOT
17. What was your most memorable birthday? I can't remember how old I turned, but a bunch of my college roommates and good friends got together and went to the Mayan for dinner. That was tons of fun, and everyone I cared about at the time was there, so that was the greatest.
18. Favorite sport to watch? Sports? Bleck! The only time I have gotten into a traditional sport was when the Lakers were in the finals, and that was fun to watch with Matt. Now he over does it with the sports so most of them make me angry. But I do like gymnastics or ice skating, those are sports right?
19. Furthest place you are sending this? New York, NY
20. Favorite saying? When I say "love you' to Lexi and she says it back 'ov oouuu'
21. When is your birthday? October 5th, 1982
22. Are you a morning or night person? Must be night cause I absolutely hate mornings, course I'm ready to go to bed at like 9...so that's not much of a night person now is it?
23. What is your shoe size? 8
24. Pets? Nope, the fish had their day...now we don't have any!
25. Any new and exciting news you would like to share with us? Umm...I don't think so, no exciting news around these parts!
26. What did you want to be when you were little? A judge
29. How are you today? Great, had a fun trip with Lexi to Ikea..took a good nap, all is well!
30. What is your favorite candy? Anything with chocolate and peanut butter! (and you thought I'd say Caramel apples huh?)
31. Your favorite flower? Pink Roses
32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 15th, my 4th anniversary, I think we are going to Vegas!
33. What is your full name? Christa Lynn Hall
34. What are you listening to right now? Well I'm actually at work ---shhh so I'm listening for a phone call to come in.
35. What was the last thing you ate? Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs, Easter has the best candy!
36. Do you wish on stars? Not as much as I used to.
37. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink, or maybe PINK!
38. How is the weather right now? Much too cold for the Spring
39. Favorite soft drink? Diet Coke! Although I'm doing an experiment to see if my migraines can be solved by drinking only water...so I'm 5 days without a Diet Coke, and although I've had some terrible headaches, no migraines! Plus I can think the headaches are due to the lack of caffeine.The second I get a migraine, I'm having a 44 oz diet coke though...ha!
40. Favorite restaurant? We had Rumbi last night, and I'm thinking that is my favorite right now, but I have lots!
41. Siblings? 1 brother, 2 sisters, 4 brother-in-laws and 3 sister-in-laws
42. Favorite day of the year? Christmas day!
43. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies
44. Summer or winter? Without question Summer!
45. Hugs or kisses? Depends on my mood...hugs when I'm sad I think, and kisses when I'm happy!
46. Coffee or tea? I don't do either...maybe I'll pick up on tea though, I've been hearing good things!
47. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
48.Want friends to e-mail you back? Of course, I love emails!
49. When was the last time you cried? Well here is a tell all...actually Wednesday..Matt is gonna be like what?? why were you crying Wednesday! and I'll have to say "I don't know, just felt like it!"
50. What is under your bed? Racquetballs, Lexi tends to through them all over the house so they are under the bed, the couch...
51. Who are the friends you have had the longest? Cara Hazard...over 20 yrs I think
52. What did you do last night? Tried to watch Survivor, but the NCAA was on...hung out with Matt and Lexi!
53. Favorite smell? Fresh Flowers
54. What are you afraid of? Spiders, ick!
55. Salty or sweet? Sweet
56. How many keys on your ring? 3
57. How many years at your current job? Well my day job is staying at home, and that is 21 months next week :) and part time I work for the hospital, I've been doing that for a year this month!
58. Favorite day of the week? Thursday...most of my days are about the same, except Survivor is on Thursday
59. How many towns have you lived in? 6

60. Do you make friends easily? Hmm. that is an interesting question, overall, I'd say Yes!

Alexis @ the Halls

Lexi also had a fabulous time with the Halls! She loves her Grammi. Grammi definitely keeps her in style with cute Easter dresses, among other things.



She also thinks her Papa rocks, as plainly seen by the bib she is sporting in this pic!



This is Grandi, aka Gigi (the 2 g's referring to the fact that she is a great great grandmother to Alexis)



Alexis also had a good time with Uncle Jason, and Roxy. She loves to give the dog a good 'pat pat' to show she cares.

She is sure growing up fast! I'm thankful to all the family that are willing to take her for a visit her and there. This was a great vacation for us both!

The California Adventure

So for those of you who haven't been to Disneyland in a long time, they no have 2 theme parts over there, and yes they actually make you pay to get into both parks! Unless you are a lucky California resident and then you get the 'twofer' ticket, and get to visit both parks for the price of one, you just have to go 2 different days. So lucky enough for me Cara is a resident, and bought both tickets for us to get in. These are the pics from that day.



They have giant letters spelling out California, great picture spot!



This is us getting on the giant rapid slide, wearing poncho's. After getting soaked on Splash Mountain the night before, we'd had enough of soaking wet clothes!




Riding the swings.




They have a small tortilla factory you can tour, and then get free samples, yum!


The pixar parade was pretty impressive, except they kept squirting water...so I put my poncho back on!


The Disney electric parade was over at the California adventure, and I thought that was great too!


So that was my trip, 2 days a Disneyland, and then back to get Lexi. It was a wonderful time to relax and catch up with my best friend Cara. It's the greatest to have friends that know everything about you, and still love you! Matt always asks me if we are still best friends whenever I come home from a visit with Cara, I'm always happy to say Yes, Yes I am!!!! Thanks to Grammi Kate for watching her! I'll post some pics of her visit tomorrow. The plane ride home was a little more difficult, whether it be from all the excitement of the trip or just cause Lexi felt it necessary to jump around more....I may never know.

Easter Fun

Ok, well I was going to post more pics from my trip, but I'll take a few days off from that to post some Easter pictures.

On Saturday we gathered with some ward friends for a candy hunt. Don't confuse this with an easter egg hunt, because there were no eggs, just tons and tons of candy spread out on the lawn. It was a fun time, Lexi got the hang of it pretty fast, although she was pretty content with her one sucker once that was picked up!





Both Lexi and her dad are thinkers!



On Sunday we went to church, and then I handed out Easter baskets. Now Matthew pretty much hates any holiday that requires gratifying little kids with obscene amounts of candy. This is his, alright I will take a picture, but I hate this look! I make him do these holidays anyway, but he sure is grumpy about it!





Lexi must take after her dad, because she sure doesn't look happy in this picture! I promise she enjoyed her basket, this picture just doesn't do it justice.



We sure wish we had family closer, all the people in the ward were off to their parents for dinner and their own family easter egg hunts. Good thing our friends the Wilde's were nice enough to come over for dinner Saturday so I at least got to make ham and scallop potatoes that weekend! Matt and I just ate left overs on Sunday, and watched "I am Legend" not exactly the best Easter movie!

Disneyland Recap

OK, I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear about my trip! Here it is, with lots of pictures and all. So first I'd like to say, everyone needs a best friend! Lucky for me, I've had the same best friend for many years so she knows just about everything there is to know about me! Ms. Cara Hazard is her name, and although neither of us remember the day we officially met, we've been in primary classes since at least the CTR's. Cara's been with me through it all, and when we got old enough, we decided we would take trips once a year, no matter where we were in life. So although I think we've missed one here and there, we've actually been really good about getting away somewhere fairly regularly. This year we went to Disneyland! So I called up Grandma Kate and begged her to take Lexi for a couple of days (I actually didn't even have to beg, they were more than happy to take her!) and off we went. Our trip starts here:

This is Lexi at the Salt Lake City Airport, eating a happy meal, and getting ready to board the plane for Los Angeles. The plane ride there was packed full! which actually was really good because there wasn't much room for Lexi to move, although she did jump up and down in the aisle when the stewardess wasn't walking through. Whenever there was turbulence she would smile and say 'woa', while I was trying not to barf on her. Man I think I'm getting too old, even airplanes are starting to make me sick. Anyway, we got to LA without any problems, and Cara came to pick us up, and we were on our way! We first went to Grandma Kate's house for a great dinner! A free home cooked meal takes on a much bigger sense of gratitude the more meals I have to cook :) Then after we got Lexi settled, off Cara and I went! We spent the evening eating ice cream and watching a chick flick, and then spent most the night talking about all sorts of random topics. Just like good old times!
The next morning we were off to the happiest place on Earth, and since you may already be nodding off with my detailed account, I'm going to let the pictures tell the story and just caption them for you!

This is our 'pre-picture' taken at Cara's on our way out!

We've made it!







The Jungle Cruise Ride



This is a drawing of Cpt Barbosa on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

This is the point where all the ride operators yelled at us for using flash photography.


Waiting for Thunder Mountain

Cara and the Matterhorn



The submarine ride--not so much fun! The line was forever long and then you get stuck in that little submarine, highly don't suggest it if you have any kind of claustrophobia!




The adventure of the tea cups!


This is the both of us, spinning around and around on those tea cups! I dreamt about them that night, and ended up throwing up a ton in the middle of the night! I don't suggest you ride them unless you have a strong stomach, and whatever you do, don't dream about them!


Silly us, decided to ride the splash mountain at about 11:30 at night. I don't remember getting that wet when I was a kid, but we were drenched! I could wring out my clothes and hair when I got off that thing.

Despite being freezing and wet, we had to get to the Matterhorn since we'd already been kicked out of line for it breaking down earlier in the day. We should have taken that as a sign, because we got in the bobsled, all the way to the top of the mountain, and then ride broke down again. This is us stuck in the sled, at a 45 degree angle. We were there about 15 mins before they came and rescued us. We did get to ride the worlds slowest, smallest elevator and got to tour the inner workings of the Matterhorn...although I think it would have been more fun just to slide down it.



My official Minnie Mouse ears!

Ok so that was just day one! We hit the California adventure park the next day...but I'm gonna finish this post here, and save that one for tomorrow. Lots more pictures to come!

Serious Drivers

Matt here.

Apparently Christa has been at this blog thing for a little while. I'm not a big fan of blogs myself, but since everybody else is doing it, I will to.

So just about every Saturday morning I go down and play a little racquetball with Pete and Adam. This week I got an extra special treat of being able to drive down to Provo twice; once this morning for to whoop on Peter (not that anyone was counting, but it was 5 games to 1) and once more after the Lakers put it to the Jazz Thursday evening. Not that Provo is lame, but if the number one thing to do in Provo is to visit the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, then you know it ain't rockin; but I digress.

I have always complained about Utah drivers, and I saw more than my fair share of tailgating, light flashing, and general recklessness on my recent round trips. Remember the Utah driver tazer video? Anyways, I got to thinking about what the deal was. Are Utahans just cranky because winter here is so crappy? Maybe they all drink too much Pepsi and DP and are all racing to the nearest bathroom. Of course, this is Utah, so most likely all the cars are full of pregnant women about to give birth and they are racing to the hospital. All very plausible reasons, but not what I'm getting at.

The conclusion I have come to is that Utahans are just very serious about the courtesies of driving. That's right, the guy flashing his lights behind you isn't trying to tell you that 85 in the fast lane isn't fast enough, rather he knows that it is rude to pass on the right and would rather you switch lanes so that he doesn't offend. The guy driving 50 in the carpool lane probably knows something you don't and is just being cautious. What about the guy in the huge truck tailgating the only other car on the road for miles,you ask? He's just letting you know that you are not alone and is there to help if anything happens, like if you get rear ended. Oh, and the moron swerving through traffic in the middle of a snow storm isn't crazy, he's just testing his traction to make sure he can slam on his brakes at the red light he is coming up to.

So the next time you are driving in Utah and find yourself tempted to report half the drivers on the road, take a minute and reconsider. After all, did you remember to leave the snow on your roof so the guy behind you can clean his windshield?

Back in Action

Well, I went on my trip to California, and I'm back to blogging! I had so much fun, and took tons and tons of pictures that I will post in the next couple of days, with an update on the trip! But today I just want to make a quick post about how great the sunshine is! California was 70 degrees plus every day, sunglasses and sunscreen were a must! And even though there was a little snow on the grass this morning, it warmed up enough to go for a walk this afternoon, and Lexi got to play on her swing set in the back yard for a little while! It's late, and I'm waiting for Matt to get home from the Laker game (they just happen to be playing the Jazz tonight), and since I'm much too tired to recap my trip and post all my pics, I'm just gonna say I love the Spring, hands down the best season of the year!

Easter is coming

Did you know Easter is next Sunday?? It's true, it's early this year. I am excited for Easter this year, Alexis is finally old enough to look for eggs, we could probably paint them too if I was really brave. We'll see.....Some of my favorite Easter memories are sharing them with my cousins the Tippetts! In fact most of my childhood memories involve the Tippetts, growing up down the street from your cousins is the greatest! So if any family members want to coordinate permanent living situations down the street from us, I'm all in! Anyway, back to my Easter memories, the Tippetts had this great yard with half a mountain covered in Ivy, which was the best place to hide eggs. The big kids would usually hide them for the younger, and then the adults would hide them for us. Then we would have a big dinner with Ham, scallop potatoes, etc. Yum!
Well now I'm grown up and I have to make my own Ham, and our own family memories. The first year we were married I made an Easter basket for Matt, and hid eggs all over the house, I don't think he got such a kick out of it as I did :)....but then the next year it was his turn and he did the same..... again I don't think he got as much of a kick out of it as I did. Last year we skipped Easter all together since I was out of town till the day before, and here we are on our 4th Easter together time sure flies! I hope Lexi will bring some more energy to the egg hunt, cause I'm not sure how many more times I could get Matt to search for eggs around the house by himself!
Oh, and here is a shameless plug for our apples, they are great in Easter baskets! Email me if you are interested! Order by Tuesday the 18th to get them there in time forEaster! http://www.christascandyapples.com/ or Christa@christascandyapples.com

Up in Arms!

So I love to read all of your blogs! It is becoming a daily ritual for me, and sometimes I find myself up late at night, pondering on my next 'blog' topic. I have been noticing that a lot of people like to write about things that get them all riled up, whether it be politics, religion, child rearing, or whatever. The blog is the best place to put your feelings out there and just get plain crazy sometimes. So I was thinking today....what gets me up in arms? what really ticks me off the most? Policitics? not really....race issues? not so much.....union policies? nope! The truth is, the thing that makes me most irritated is that my dryer does not dry my clothes on the first cycle!! It really does make me kind of insane to go down into the basement at least twice per load to reset the thing and hope that it will complete this time around, so if you call me Monday (laundry day) please excuse the frustration in my voice.
Besides the blasted dryer, the weather tends to set me off as well. I HATE SNOW! Why do I live in Utah, do you ask....well the truth is...I just don't know. I'm just starting to mellow out now that the sun has shone the last couple days. I didn't even mind that it rained today, since it was rain as opposed to that awful stuff called snow. I know some of you are thinking what a beautiful thing it is to have the ground covered in white right after a big snow...you're wrong! It is just a car accident waiting to happen. It means we can't go outside for a walk, or play in the park, or blow bubbles....when Lexi looks out the window, she points and says 'msss', her word for snow sounds more like mess, because she has been watching her mom stare outside and shake her head and say, 'what a mess'.I refuse to teach her the word snow, it's a cuss word in our house.
When I told Matt this was going to be my next blog entry, he said my life must be pretty good for those to be the only things that get me worked up...I'd agree, if I lived in Arizona!

Growing Up

My sisters have come to town for their Spring Break. We are having a great time hitting the mall, eating junk food, and watching chick flicks! Alexis is having a great time with all the attention as well, and is perfecting the words 'Amanda' which sounds more like nana, and Rikki, that sounds closer with 'ik ki'. This is the first time my sisters have come up all by themselves, although my mom & dad did drive up right behind them to stay one night over....but now they are here unassisted, and living it up with only mom's credit card as a reminder of home :) This has been giving me immense feelings of nostalgia, looking at my once much younger sisters and knowing they can drive cars, have jobs, and boyfriends too! Amanda is even old enough to vote! What happened to the days when I used to change their diapers? (although, I am glad those specific days are over) It's an interesting thing to watch your younger siblings go through some of the transitions you completed years ago.
Amanda has been accepted to BYU Idaho, and will start there in the Fall. She is both excited and nervous, and the stronger feeling changes from day to day. I look at her and remember those feelings, and I can't believe this is happening for her....but I can see in her eyes she is ready, and this will be great for her!
Rikki got a phone call this morning from a place called 'Knee Shorts' offering her a job, her first one! I remember my first job, at McDonalds (shh, don't repeat that!) and even though it was a fast food place, I was over joyed! No more babysitting for pennies here and there, I was a real employee now! Getting your first job is an exciting time, and even more so when you bring home your first paycheck.
It's been great to have my sisters here, and not just for the extra babysitters, although I have taken advantage of that! I'm sure they are having there own sense of 'wow' know their sister has a house, a husband, and a baby...that even throws me off when I think about it to deeply.

It's Pink!

So Matt put together this blog page many moons ago, but never actually made a post. So today I finally figured out how to customize the colors, and we're going PINK! Matt believes there is entirely too much pink in this house, between Lexi and I someone is always wearing pink. Course I don't believe there can be too much pink, and since I buy most of her clothes, that tradition is going to continue. Although I've always been a fan of the color, I'd like to make some comments in my defense. Lexi wasn't born with much hair, and it has taken a VERY long time for her to get any. Even now it's at more of a straggly stage, and she doesn't keep those bows and ribbons in her hair long. So when you've got this little bald baby, it is only appropriate to dress her in lots and lots of pink to give strangers (and those with memory loss issues) the heads up that she is in fact a little girl. You all know what I mean, you're checking out that cute little baby in line in front of you in Walmart, and you want to tell the mother "she's so cute", or "he's so cute"...but the baby is in yellow and the truth is you just can't tell! So I'm really just being helpful by making it overly apparent and saving those embarrassing remarks of 'oh I'm so sorry, she really doesn't look too much like a boy'. Even now when Lexi is in jeans and a sweatshirt, she's got her bright pink sneakers just in case there is a question! (As you can see in her snow shoveling pic) However, I find it strange that this doesn't always work......one Sunday at church when Lexi was about 3-4 months old, an older gentleman came up to Matt while he was holding her in her cute little dress and commented on what a strapping young fella Matt had there....ummm I'm sorry sir, this is a delicate beautiful little girl! In those cases you just can't win! See, we only let her play with pink toys too! j/k

My favorite day of the week.....

My favorite day of the week is THURSDAY! I bet you are wondering why, and this is going to say a lot about how lame my life is! But I love Thursday because it is Survivor night. There are two shows on TV that I tape (yes I bust out my VHS tape, and press the record button..no TIVO here) and that is Survivor and House. But Tuesday is not my favorite day of the week because House is highly irregular, and it's only been around for a couple of years. But Survivor has been on Thursday nights for the last 5 years I do believe. I have been watching since season 2, but I have rented season 1 so I think I've seen them all. I love how they keep evolving and adding new twists and turns, but basically stay with the same idea of placing strangers on the island and watching them vote each other off, one by one, until there is only 1 survivor! I'm loving this season because it is fans vs favorites, which means we get to see some of the old survivors come back for some more good old times. Matt wasn't on board initially, but now he watches regularly with me. We have conversations about it, and analyze each option when it comes down to the final 4, it makes for some good analytical thinking! Reality TV is the greatest! You actually feel like you know the people when it's all said and done, and it makes for the best kind of drama. I am sure there are plenty of you out there who hate reality TV, and are probably rolling your eyes at me this second, but don't be hater! American Idol gets more votes then the president will this year, so that's saying something about the trend that is rolling through this nation.

Wouldn't it be nice

Last night we had enrichment at the church. I really enjoy enrichment, particularly more now that I'm not on the enrichment committee and don't have many responsibilities attached to it :) However, I was sitting at the table with a bunch of ladies that I really like, and I had the thought that I'm missing out not having my family close by. I think it's true most places, but more so in Utah that people live in the same city as their parents. We have a couple in our ward who's mother and in-laws are within the same block of one another. I was actually sitting with her, and her son and as soon as the baby was just the tinniest bit fussy, here comes grandma and grandma to the rescue! I have to admit, I was jealous. I think it would be great to send Lexi off with 'jo momma' (as she likes to be called), on a regular basis. I also think it would be really nice to go to enrichment with my mother once in a while, or be able to stop by her house for a free meal and some friendly banter. I do tend to call her several times a week, but it just isn't the same. I also tend to feel this way when a last minute babysitter is needed, and my friends drop them off at their parents without a second thought, and I'm sifting through the ward directory or calling up anyone who might want to do me a favor. By the way, if anyone is reading this..wanna watch Lexi Saturday??? j/k Course I bet if I lived next door to my mom, I'd be blogging about how I wished I lived in another city right?
This picture that I posted is one where my mother was visiting for a couple of days and she was teaching her the '5 little monkeys jumping on the bed', Lexi is way ahead of her and ready to 'bump her head'. My mom has also taught her some other great songs, such as 'galump the little green frog' and '5 little monkeys, swinging from the trees'. These are memories you just can't beat! So even though I don't see us moving to St George anytime soon, nor my parents getting any closer to a city that snows....it sure would be nice....

The happiest place on Earth!

I am getting ready to go to Disneyland in a 2 weeks from today, hip hip horray! Every year my best friend Cara and a I go on a trip, last year we hit up New York, we've been to San Francisco, Vegas, San Diego, Mesquite...and a few more. This year we're headed to Disneyland! Poor Matt has to stay at home, work, and make candy apples ( we already have an order of 70 that week!) And Lexi gets to go spend some quality to with her Grammi, and mom has 2 days and 3 nights at her leisure, this is going to be the greatest! Anyway...as I am trying not to burst from excitement this week, I will write about some Disneyland memories I have.
As a child, every year we would pile into the mini-van with our cousins down the street and go to Disneyland. This is one of the advantages of living in Southern California, and having cool parents! (Although I think they had more fun then we did!) I have two younger sister and 1 younger cousin who my parents would dress up in Snow White costumes so the ride operators could ooh and ahh about how darn cute 3 little Snow White's looked. I wish I had some of those pictures to post, but alas they are all in a box down in St George.
I have a cousin my same age named Matt, and as soon as we were of age, we were allowed to venture out, just the two of us, as long as we met back every couple of hours to make sure we were still pumped full of sugar and Disneyland adrenaline. The first couple of years we wanted to make sure we hit every ride there was, practically running from Star Tours, to Space Mountain, to Toon Town, and back to Pirates of the Carribean (and hitting any thing without a line in between). As we got older (and much cooler), we would pick the best rides and do them over and over and over. I remember one year, I think we were about 13 or 14, but looking eagerly to 16...so we picked the Autopia cars. For those of you who aren't as familiar with Disneyland as I, they have these mini cars that go around on a track, but you get to steer, and push the gas and brake. We would ride once to practice perfect driving, then we'd ride again to push the gas down the whole time, and then we'd go again to go as slow as we could to really get the people behind us mad, and then we'd go again to bump each other as much as the cars would let you. And then we'd go 10 more times just for fun! Oh ya, those were the good old days :)
There really is just no place like Disneyland....and they know it too, cause they are going to charge us $65 bucks just to get in, and then probably $10 for a sip of water...but I don't want to hate on the place. I've been saving my pennies just so I can do that, no better way to make memories then to fork out the big bucks for them!
So stay tuned a couple days of silence, and then some great pictures of the most magical place on Earth!

Milestones

So when Alexis was first born, she had a new milestone every couple of days, but she is getting a bit older now and only meets one every couple of weeks, which is still pretty impressive huh? But I thought I would blog today about the milestones Lexi has hit in the last couple of weeks. The cutest milestone is we can now get her hair into 2 cute little pigtails...of course just the fact that I can get them in her hair doesn't necessarily mean they stay in her hair. So we drop her off at nursery with the cutest little hair do, and then pick her up with her hair sticking out all over the place and the nursery leader hands me the rubber bands...well, she'll learn right?
The next milestone she hit this week was going down the 'big' slide at the Artic Circle. In the winter we have to hit up all the fast food joints for play lands since we can't go to the real playground in the snow. Our favorite is Artic Circle, not necessarily because we like the food, but the play land is just the right size for her, and there arn't too many other big kids there. So we've been frequenting Artic Circle for months, and she loves the smaller slides, and climbing the stairs, but it wasn't just until this last week that she went all the way down the big tube slide. We were so proud! Funny how something so simple makes parents smile right?
The last thing Lexi is now doing, is hitting...that's right, she's a hitter. Which I'm really glad she's not a biter, but I'm not proud of her for hitting either. When she doesn't get what she wants, she screams like the devil and hits whatever is around, whether it be mom, dad, or the wall. It really gets me wondering where kids get this stuff, I don't go around hitting her, or Matt, or the wall for that matter. And why is it that she can't just trust me not to play with scissors, or grab for a hot stove, why does it make her so angry she has to hit? Just goes to show the free agency and independence the children come with. So Lexi is learning a lot of about time out these days, and in her defence, she is only 19 months! I have to say, some milestones are more fun then others :)