Our True Identity

I can't hide it any longer, Jonathan and I are super heroes. We are having so much fun planning and adding special effects to our pictures for our nieces and nephews! For at least the past year, Jonathan has been doing all sorts of 3D graphics and has started getting more into the animating side of things. This is his creative outlet when homework gets tedious and he just keeps getting better!

In case you haven't seen the latest creation here it is.

Jonathan got really into this photo shoot because he could visualize how he could make them come to life with the special effects. He's the one who makes these pictures amazing. I just tell him what it is that I want and he runs with it.

Celebrating Birthdays!

Last year, I was pretty lame when it came to making our nieces and nephews birthdays special especially for the California kids. This year I vowed to do better. The idea started simple with just holding a sign that said happy birthday. As I was sitting at work, I started thinking more about what Garrett was interested in. (Garrett has the first birthday of the year.) I knew he is crazy about the Ninja Turtles. Then it hit me. Jonathan and I needed to dress up as Ninja Turtles! I told Jonathan my idea and he was on board!

This picture turned out even better than how I imagined it! I am having so much fun figuring out what we are going to do for each of the kids. For Clara, we went with a Frozen theme since she loves the movie and Utah Lake is currently frozen. Jonathan added in the special effect so I could be a more convincing Elsa.

Here's a very small hint of what we're doing for Kyle. It's going to be amazing thanks to Jonathan!

Technology

I am so grateful for technology. It shrinks distances. It is a resource of endless knowledge. This past year three of our siblings have moved away and things like email and Instagram have helped me feel closer to them in spite of the physical distance.

Taylor and Mercedes getting ready for Halloween!

All ready for trick or treating!

Grandpa Price took Seth to his first cattle auction. He's our little cowboy!

Spent the day at Grandma & Grandpa Price's farm.

It's not easy being away from these growing kids and their parents, but I'm grateful that I can still see them.

Christmas Projects

I feel kind of lame for writing about Christmas at the very end of January... oh well!

No surprise, my Christmas was filled with different projects. The biggest one by far was our Christmas tree. I know that most everyone buys a tree, but I saw an idea on pinterest (shocking) and wanted to do it! I saw a plain, cardboard Christmas tree. I loved it and wanted to tweak it into a creation of my own. Thankfully, Jonathan was able to get refrigerator boxes for me to cut out our tree. I painted the cardboard with green poster paint and then punched out little holes so our Christmas lights could poke through. It was magical!

Jonathan & I already have plans to make next
year's cardboard tree even better!

I made drawstring bags for the little girls, Lyla and Clara. I'm grateful my mom has a huge stash of fabric and that they fit each of the little girls' personalities so well.

For my sister's baby that's due the end of February, I made a couple of hot pink polka dot onesies. It was seriously, so much fun!

For all of the toddlers in my life, I found another idea on pinterest and that's shaped crayons! You just take your broken crayons, oil up a cupcake tin, and bake it. I found a great bug cupcake tin and knew it would be perfect for this project. It was so fun, but the worst part was taking the wrappers off of the crayons.

To go with their crayons, I sewed little books of blank paper for each of the kids. (Mercedes was definitely my favorite!)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family. We sure did with bouncing back and forth between our two families.

You might not see it , but there really are 5 little boys in this pile.

I Am Grateful for Changing Seasons

I love how much the earth changes from month to month and season to season. Everything is bright green and blooming in the spring after a cold winter. We enjoy fruits and large shady trees in the summer. Now we can enjoy crunchy, colorful leaves and crisp, cool mornings.

 This year, I haven't been looking forward to the change to fall because I get cold so easily. (I even use blankets in the summer time.) This past week or so, I've been changing my tune. I've focused on how the scenery and sky has changed. We've had huge, puffy clouds fill the sky and trees that look like they are on fire.

 I sometimes find myself focused more on getting to various places rather than enjoying the scenery from my window. I focus on how pretty other places are compared to where I live right now. I'm working on being grateful for the beauty of where I live.

Is It Seriously November?!

Boy oh boy! Time really seems to be going faster! I still have a hard time believing that September is over... Well I just need to get with it!

Life has been fairly low-key as usual for us, though some changes are coming. 

I'll talk more about that later.

Jonathan's been working on a new app idea.

I'm learning about inductors. It's ok if you don't understand the math, neither does Jonathan.

Since it is November, I plan on doing the same thing that I did last November. I'll be sharing something I'm grateful for every day of the month. It helps me get more into the spirit of thanksgiving (especially since I'm not too keen on the traditional dinner part of the holiday, I would good with some fish and a green salad but whatever!) Anyway, I know that I don't express enough gratitude in my life and this is something that really helps me.

Today I feel particularly grateful for my Father in Heaven. I am so grateful to know that He loves each and every single one of His children. His purpose is for us to be happy and to grow into strong, dependable, faithful men and women. Sometimes that path involves pain and heartache, but He is there to lift us up and help us through those times when we feel weak. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knows me personally and knows all of my weaknesses, and yet He still wants me to come home to Him. And He feels this way about each and every one of us.

Changing Seasons

I usually love the change from summer to fall. I love the colorful leaves, the cozy fires, the rain, the cuddling under blankets. I was enjoying it, until it started getting cold again and then it was rainy and windy. 

I know that we need the rain, but I get tired of being so cold all of the time.

I guess I just need to go shopping for sweaters.

Even though it was cold yesterday, I did love all of the huge clouds.

It was amazing to see a sky filled with massive, puffy clouds.

At least I can enjoy the beauty, 

even if I am shivering the whole time!

Three Magical Days!

This time last week, Jonathan and I were at Disneyland for three days with all of my siblings and their boys. This was the first time that all four of us kids went on a trip together without our parents.
We missed them, but we still had a lot of fun!

It started out with a long, long drive through the middle of nowhere.

We loved this bumper sticker! "My other car drives itself. Google"
Unfortunately, it was not one of Google's cars.

We made it to the hotel and had a great view of the park.

The next morning, we all met before playing.

I was perfectly safe thanks to Garrett's monkey leash.

Garrett and Seth were so happy to be reunited. They are best buds!

Everyone but Amy and Mike had early morning passes, so we took Garrett with us to play in Fantasyland with Seth, Kyle, Chris, and Andy.

Garrett was mapping out our morning.

My brothers are such cute dads!

Three happy cousins!!!

 Kyle wanted to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride after Dumbo. We got into line and Garrett wasn't very happy. As we got closer to being inside, he started saying "No, Mr. Toad, no!" Well, I didn't feel like traumatizing him so we went on the carousel instead.

We then tried out It's A Small World. It was quite the experience.
It started out with three happy boys all in the front of the boat.

As soon as we started going inside, Garrett started freaking out.

(A few months ago, Garrett saw an episode of Curious George about being afraid of the dark.

Now Garrett is afraid of the dark.) 

It got to the point that Jonathan grabbed him and helped him calm down by convincing him that we were going as fast as we could. Seth got a little concerned by how scared Garrett was, so he hid in the front of the boat. While that was going on, Kyle was loving it! 

Seth taking cover!

Jonathan and I took some time to go on some bigger rides without the kids in California Adventure.

We have a tradition of possing for pictures on the rides.
I couldn't help but blow a kiss to my sweetie!

After going on the Toy Story ride, Jonathan pretended he was Woody.

Jonathan and I were really boring that first night and went back to the hotel before 8, while the kids got back together for the night.

Right before this picture was taken,
Ty was bragging about how he wasn't even tired.

The second day was even better than the first. Everyone took naps, so we could actually stay until closing.

We started our day with Chris and Annie in California. They went on Tower of Terror while Seth almost said hi to Minnie Mouse. Next up was Bug Land. Seth couldn't decide to ride with his parents or us. He decided to ride with us.

It started out great but...

he quickly decided that it was too much to have so many adults with him.

Annie did some more rides with Seth while Chris, Ry, Jonathan, and I went on the big rides.

I'm still not sure who was more excited to be at Disneyland.

Jonathan gave me a loving look, while Ry was rocking out.

What made this second day at Disneyland even more magical and memorable was watching Endeavor fly right over us. Jonathan was really paranoid that we were going to miss it while we were on Splash Mountain with Ryan and Annie, but we ended up timing it perfectly to see it fly over us on the edge of Frontierland.

There was a woman loudly saying there it is! At first I didn't see it, so I didn't believe her.
You can see it just over the trees.

That huge crowd was gathered in between the two parks about an hour before the Shuttle flew over. It was really weird seeing that many people standing around Disneyland.

We did a little more playing at the park before heading over to the Rain Forest Cafe for a late lunch with my brothers and their families.

Ry is such a pro with younger boys.

A lovey group on the Jungle Cruise.

Seth got his Mickey ears! We kept telling him how good he looked in his ears and he would point his ears rather than the ones on his head. It was adorable!

This was my first experience at the Rain Forest Cafe and it was so neat!

The scenery and atmosphere makes it a fun place to eat. We were luck enough to be entertained by a very rare type of monkey, the Tyler monkey.This Tyler monkey loved climbing up the vines of the tree next to the table and annoy it's Uncle Chris. It would calm down and cuddle with Seth, but that was about the only time it sat still!

Climbing up the tree.

I'm not sure why, but the Tyler monkey started poking Chris in the eye.

I told you he could calm down. (It only lasted for a few seconds though.)

After lunch we all ended up going to the Lego store. It was so cool!
There were big huge lego sculptures outside as well as inside the store.

I really want this in my apartment. Do you think it would be too much though?

Jonathan freaked out when he saw that there was an entire wall with assorted lego pieces for sale.

This is how I want to store legos when we have boys.

Adorable Kyle and Gandalf the Grey.

Jonathan had to have a picture too!

I'm almost as strong, don't you think?

After the Lego store, everyone headed back to their hotels for naps so we could stay up later.
Amy and Mike saved us a great spot for Fantasmic. I forgot how amazing that show was. This was Jonathan's first time seeing it and I think it will now be a tradition for us to see it when we come to the park.
The boys had glow sticks and Garrett taught Seth to use his like a wiggly sword. Tyler got a long strand of them hooked together and used them like a whip. Garrett was swinging his little glow stick at Ty, and Ty ended up using his whip on Garrett. Garrett was stuned and didn't make a sound (weird), while Andy gave Tyler a look that our Dad used on us when we were growing up. It was hilarous!

Chris being a creeper.

Captain Hook fighting Peter Pan.

The view across the water after the show.

After the show, Tyler went on Materhorn and Thunder Mountain with us.

That boy LOVES rollercoasters!

One of these days, Ty will get that sword out of the stone!

Our last day was nice and relaxed even though the crowds swelled that day. Jonathan and I had done all the big rides that we wanted to the previous days so we didn't have to be in any long lines. We went ahead got fast passes for Star Tours, and then went on over to watch Captain EO. All I can say is WOW! It was unlike anything I have ever seen and is obviously from the 80s. WOW! I have seen it once and never need to see again.

Right after this picture, they announced no flash photography and
the people behind us teased us for just using our flash.

I still can't believe I actually sat through this.

 After that experience we went on Star Tours again. It is so cool and now you don't always go to the same place. We've gone on it 4 times since it reopened and have yet to have the same trip.

After our morning in Tomorrowland, we spent some time in Bug Land with Seth, so Chris and Annie could have an hour to themselves.

This kid is a climber!

No tears at all!

After going on a couple of rides, Seth was getting hungry so we went over to Cars Land and ate some snacks. While we were sitting at Flo's, Red (the firetruck) came out and Seth wanted to meet him. So, Jonathan got some good practice meeting characters with Seth. Red blew his horn right before it was Seth's turn and he did not like it one bit! They also went and met Mater and that went so much better.

We did a few more rides on our own like Soarin' Over California and the Tiki Room. We met up later with Andy and Amy and Tyler decided to come with us and go on Jungle Cruise and eat dinner.

I think if you can do a pull up you can go on the
ride even if you are an inch too short!

 After dinner we were going to take Ryan and Tyler on the brand new Cars ride, but as soon as we got there it was broken down and they didn't know when it would be fixed.

I just love all of the neon lights in Radiator Springs!

Well, we tried to keep our spirits up and tried to go on a different ride, but they closed it down for the World of Color show. We struck out with that park, so we went back to Disneyland. We met up with Andy and an old family friend, Jeff. He works at the front gate and when he heard about our story in the other park, he decided to call Mickey to see if he could work some magic. Mickey ended up giving us front of the line passes that work on any ride in Disneyland! That made us all feel so much better! So Andy and the boys headed over to Splash Mountain and we tried to meet up with Chris, Annie, and Amy.

This was their view for the firework show.

We tried, but couldn't find them. Instead of watching the show through a big tree, we went on Thunder Mountain. The fireworks were absolutely magical as we were on the ride! This is going to be my new Disneyland tradition! After taking the longest way possible, we met up with them and told them about our awesome passes from Jeff. Chris was so excited because there were a few rides that he wanted to go on but didn't because the lines were too long. The three of us headed to Star Tours while Amy and Annie took the littles boys on Dumbo. Then the entire group met up at the Haunted Mansion and went on it together (except Annie and Seth). I was surprised by how much Kyle loved the ride! He came off of it with the biggest grin on his face and said that it was so much fun!

Amy got to ride on Splash Mountain one last time with Ry and Ty while Chris, Annie, Jonathan, and I did some last minute shopping. Jonathan and I found a family ornament for our Christmas tree to remember our amazing trip. We also picked up some princess ornaments and Halloween decorations for my mom.

We got one more nights sleep and headed back home.

We came. We saw. We played.

 Thankfully, it was a gorgeous day and traffic was very smooth.

This was such a fun trip for us kids to be together. Next time it will be even better because our parents will be there and so will the little girls!