Blog Friends Tag! I'm It.

I have been tagged to talk about my blog friends and family list. Here are the rules: 1. Answer the questions about the list of friends/family that you have on your blog. 2. If you don't have the number of that the question asks, answer the question about the next name that you have not had a question for your list. 3. Tag your friends and family.

* When did you meet the first person on your list? I met Abby a few years ago. She is my hair miracle worker. She is amazing at what she does and I am lucky to have found her. Other than being a hair magician, she is hilarious. I love being able to talk to her because she always makes me laugh. She is a mother of three (which include twins) and she is still sane! She is an expert blogger and I am so jealous of how cute her blog page looks.

*What do you like about the third person on your lists blog? I love, love, love that it's always so entertaining to read Chip and Lindsey's blog. They have the best senses of humor. For a while, Lindsey was writing a mini novel (whatever happened to that, chica?) and had me wanting more and more. I also love to see all the cute new pictures os Abby and Joe.

*What do you like best about the 6th and 7th people on your list? Well, Dave and Shar are okay, I guess. No really, they are probably the most amazing couple I have ever known. Dave is hardworking, loving and kind. Shar is an INCREDIBLE wife, mother and person. We really admire them for the way they deal with adversity and their fun-loving natures. We love to hang with them whenever possible and wish we could live closer.

Erin and Brian are so fun to hang out with. Whether not we will ever be able to get together again is questionable. Quit moving so far away from us guys! Erin is Susan's cousin and both of our husbands went to the Phillippines on their missions, so they have that bond. They have two cute boys.

* How long have you known the 8th person on your list? We have known Mandy and Keith for 2 1/2 years. I first met Mandy in our old ward after she started a running group. The group fizzled out, but we kept running together and we became really good friends. She made me (if that is at all possible) run a marathon with her and we will always have that precious memory, huh, Mandy. She is one of the busiest people I know. She is so creative, ambitious and hardworking. She is the mother of 3 boys with another on the way. Hurry up and have that baby so we can start running together again! I'm sure that is the last thing on her mind right now.

*What impresses you about the 11th and 22nd person on your list? Well, since I don't have anywhere near 22 people on my list, I'll do the 11th and 2nd people. 11th is Wende. I really miss you, by the way. I was always so impressed by her willpower. She always seemed to decide what she wanted and she didn't give up until she accomplished her goals. I know that she is a great mother to her darling and scrumptious daughter. She is also very kind. Writing this makes me realize how much I miss you, Wende :)
The 2nd person on my list is Becca and Lee. Now, they are impressive merely for the fact that they managed to have children while Lee was seperated early in their marriage due to military deployments. Also, they live in student housing up at Utah State with three kids! Becca is one of those people that get the job done. Period. She takes action and whatever she does, she does well. We were in the same sorority at Weber and she was a bit shy. But there were a few occasions (you know when, huh Becca?) that she let loose and surprised everyone.

*What memory do you share with the 17th person on your list? Once again, I don't have that many people on my list so I move to #4. I attended the same ward in Oklahoma with my friend, Chris. Actually, we didn't become friends until he started to date one of my friends. There are a lot of good memories I have of Chris. He went on a mission to Italy. He was "dear johned" by my friend, but we kept in touch. We got married within 2 days of eachother and I took their engagment pictures at Temple Square. He is in the military now and has four kids (two of them being newborn twins). He is also a cancer survivor and was always and amazing friend to me. He stuck with me through a hard time in my life, and for that I will always be indebted to him.

*Say something nice about the last person on your list. Well, I already did, so I'll do the second to last person, Stacy and Joe. Stacy and I were also in Sharmea together at Weber. Stacy is what I aspire to be. She is steady, down to earth, spontaneous, a planner (yes, the two can co-exsist, apparently), an outstanding mom to her four kids (congratulations, again, Stac). I love to hang out with her because she has this calmness to her. She has her head on right and knows what to do to make life fun and fulfilling for her family. Joe is great to talk to. He is funny and silly and a really nice person to be around. We need to come down and hang out this summer, guys!

Well, I guess this is the part where I say everyone I talked about is tagged! I look forward to reading your blogs!

MIA

Wow, it's been a while since the last post. We have been busy spending our tax return money on improving the house. First we had central air installed (something I have been wanting since we got married). I cannot wait for summer and Blake is excited not to have to get up on the roof to get the swamp cooler ready for summer. Next, we are updating our family room with new paint, new carpet, crown molding and such. Right now I have been painting like mad so it has time to dry before the carpet is installed. Next we are going to put laminate on the stairs and the hallway upstairs. After that we are ripping apart our master bath and putting in new everything (tile, toilet, vanity, fixtures). Following that, we will finally replace the toilet in the kids bathroom that oddly enough was the first thing that we needed to do on our list. Funny how that goes. Blake always gets a worried look in his eyes when I start looking around the house for something to update. Our house was built in the late 80's and I think that was the last time anything was updated, save the kitchen floor, which was tiled shortly before we bought it. Therefore, everything literally needs to be updated. It's fun to get started finally. It makes me feel good to put our touches into the house. For a long time, it felt like we had all our stuff set up in someone's house; just pretending we lived there. Anyhoo, before and after pictures of our projects will be posted as they are completed.

Baby Joe

I haven't posted about Baby Joe yet.....now I have pictures. We have a new nephew, Joseph John. He was born on Febraury 2nd to Chip and Lindsey. He is adorable!!! I can't get over how small he is and it is so fun to sit and cuddle him.

Ainsley took him and was in awe. She loves to give him little kisses on his head.

Easter Egg Hunt

On the Saturday before Easter, Grandma Stratton had all the little grandkids over for an Easter Egg hunt and dinner. They all have a great time when they get together and they were so excited to get out into the backyard for the hunt. Here they are waiting by the back door to go. The Uncles hid the eggs and were creative in doing so. When there was not candy in the eggs, they put dirt in them. I don't think the kids really appreciated that, even though it was hilarious to watch them open the dirt filled egss and look up in confusion and disgust.

Abby

Bryson

Brooklyn

Ty and Ainsley

Disneyland-do we really have to leave?

Blake let us sleep in until 8:00 a.m. this morning! The kids slept so good after a long day the day before. We ate breakfast and checked out of our hotel and headed back to Dissneyland for our last day. We went to California Adventure to ride some rides we missed and to ride Soarin' over California again. We saw some more characters and shopped a little for souveniers. We tried to talk the kids on going on the Tower of Terror again, but they would have none of it.

Then we headed back into Disneyland and had to get the picture in front of the Mickey Mouse landscaping. It was so nice there. All the trees had their leaves and the grass was green. Flowers were everywhere. We were sad to have to head back to wintery Utah. We took the horse drawn "bus" up to Fantasyland. They got to sit in front with the driver and grilled him with a lot of horse questions. We decided to grab lunch at a bratwurst stand and Ty spilt his milk everywhere. Every meal! :)

Ainsley wanted to meet more princesses, so we got into a long line and settled in for the wait. Blake took Ty to go on some more rides (including the Jungle Book Cruise, of course). When we were almost to the front of the line, the came back and got into line with us. We didn't think that he would want to see the princesses but he must have warmed up to the idea because he went to them just fine today. Prince Phillip was there again and after the kids talked to him, he took them over to Sleeping Beauty to introduce her to us. She was really sweet with the kids and complimented Ainsley on her hair (I re-created what they had done to it the day before). We also got to meet Pocahontas, which is one of their favorite princesses, so they were pretty happy to meet her.

On our way out of Fanstasy land, we had to stop by the Snow White inlet again and then we went on a few rides in Tomorrow Land, including the rocket ride and the Buzz Lightyear ride. By then, it was almost time to go. We started to feel to pangs of regret for deciding to stay for only three days. It was crazy because on our first day we were dreading 2 more days of kids whining in Disnryland. But it turned out that we had a great exprience afterall and we can't wait to come back in a few years.

Disneyland-this is more like it

Tuesday morning we woke up way early (5:30 a.m.) to get to the park on our early day. It was a struggle to wake up, but we were looking forward to beating the crowds in Fantasyland. We went right there and rode all the cute kids rides. They loved them all. We went on the Dumbo ride, the Teaccups, sans Susan. We hit all the rides that looked packed yesterday like Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Alice in Wonderland, Toad's Wild Ride and all the rest of them in that area. Sadly, It's A Small World was closed, but the kids never seemed to notice. The kids really enjoyed these rides a lot more than the ones they had ridden the day before.

Our next order of business was to get the kids their ears. They were so excited to have their names sewed onto the back of them. Ainsley picked out the ears that had an earring in them. She was sold as soon as she saw them. Ty took his time looking over all the ears but then settled on the classic black. They looked so cute in them. They saw their shadows with their ears on and had fun pretending they were Minnie and Mickey Mouse.

Then it was time to wait in line for the Princess Fantasy Faire to begin. Luckily we were pretty close to the front of the line when it began. Ainsley and Ty were really looking forward to meeting the princesses. We finally got to turn the corner, and who was there? Snow White, Tyler's favorite princess! And what did he do right away? Freak out (not in the good way) and ran to Blake. He clung to his neck to the whole time we were in the princess area. I thought he would love them, but I guess I was wrong. Ainsley, on the other hand, was more than happy to meet them. She talked with Snow White for a bit and then Cinderella was next. She was so sweet to Ainsley. I could tell Ainsley was in total awe because Cinderella was just so kind to her. I think Cinderella quickly became her favorite princess. After Cinderella, Prince Phillip was next. He was really sweet to Ainsley, too. Not too hard on the eyes, either. After meeting them, Susan took Ainsley to get her hair done at the Royal Court Salon. We waited FOREVER, but finally Ainsley's turn came. She asked for her hair to be done like Cinderella.

Meanwhile, while Ainsley and Susan waited for their appointment, Blake took Tyler to go on some rides. They went on the Jungle Book ride and he loved it. He was in animal heaven. They had all of his favorites...elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, lions and more. It was such a cute ride and Ty rode it 3 more times by the time we left Disneyland. In the afternoon we headed back to the hotel for a nap since we got up so early. We tried to get some sleep, but the kids weren't having it. So we laid around for a while and dozed off a little bit at a time. We headed back to Disneyland. Ainsley found her favorite ride, at last. It was the Soarin' over California ride and both the kids thought it was a blast. We went to dinner at a restaraunt in Adventureland. We were so hungry, everything looked good. When we got our food, we realized we weren't that hungry. The food wasn't that great, but it was nice to sit down and eat.
After dinner we headed over to see the light parade. The kids were really tired and cranky, but we made them stay up and watch the parade. Tyler ended up falling asleep in Susan's arms and missed the whole parade. Ainsley got happy again once the parade started. It was fun to see all the floats lit up and the music made it so cool. Ainsley decided she liked parades after all. After the parade, we headed back to the hotel to get to sleep. We had another fun day ahead of us.

Disneyland---what did we get ourselves into?

We traveled all day Sunday and got to Anaheim that evening. We were very pleased with the hotel we stayed in. It was very clean, spacious and comfortable. We took the shuttle over to Disneyland to pick up our tickets. The kids were so excited to be there that instead of going right back to the hotel we went into Downtown Disney and window shopped a little. We ended up going to bed at about 8:30 p.m. We were so tired that I think we all fell alseep pretty quickly. We got up at 6:30 a.m. so we could make it to the park before it opened. We waited in line for a bit before the gates opened. Ty could not understand why we were just standing there and not going in. When we did get in we went to the Pirates ride. The kids were excited until Ainsley realized how dark it was. She started crying and it took a lot of convincing that it was a fun ride. It turned out that she had fun, but it still scared her. Tyler loved the ride. We went on Splash Mountain and then we walked around the park a little more. We rode the train and went into toon town and rode the little roller coaster.

Here the kids are on the tea cups. I took the pictures and, as my sister Rachel knows, I couldn't look up from the center of the cup without getting really sick. After the tea cups, we went over to the California Adventure park. We saw the Tower of Terror and decided to give it a try with the kids. Ty was BARELY tall enough. We got on the ride and the kids didn't seem to have much trouble with it. It was so fun! When we got off Ainsley and Ty refused to go on it again and were getting pretty suspicious of doing anything else. In fact, they were begging to go back to the hotel. We were in Disneyland and they wanted to go back to the hotel to go swimming. We needed a break anyway, so we went back and headed for the pool which must have been 20 degrees. We didn't stay long. We went back to the room and let the kids watch a little t.v. When we were getting ready to go back, they didn't want to go! I couldn't believe it. It was our fault, though. We had made them go on so many scary rides and they hadn't seen that many characters yet, so they were pretty sure Disneyland wasn't as fun as they had been told.




After that, we decided that we brought the kids and we needed to make it fun for the kids. We told them no more scary rides and the rest of the vacation would be kids' choice. We had a better evening. We got to meet a few more characters. Tyler loves Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes so when he saw his favorite, Dopey, he had to meet him. He even got to meet the witch from Snow White.



Ainsley met Goofy while Ty was meeting Dopey. He was being so silly to the kids in the line and Ainsley was laughing at it all. She went right up to him and gave him a big hug. We got to watch the new Pixar Parade. They had all the Pixar characters and the kids had fun recognizing them and anticipating which one would be coming next.

After the parade, we headed back to the Disneyland park. We stumbled upon this little area where there were Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes statues and a little wishing fountain that played the wishing song from the movie. They loved singing along with the song and throwing money into the well. At the middle of the day, we were wondering if coming was a huge mistake but by the end, everyone was enjoying themselves and looking forward to the next day.