Disneyland Day 1

Well the kids have been dying to get to Disneyland. We were going to go in the fall and then Chris' brother couldn't get leave, and everyone was too broke before Christmas so we decided to wait for spring. Chris' brother is going to be deployed to Iraq so we thought we would give one last hurrah before he's gone for a year and a half. I was so glad that we went. The kids absoloutely loved their Uncle Gabe and were so happy to be able to go to Disneyland with him and their Grandma and Grandpa Guymon. We decided to fly this time since Cole and Cate have never been on an airplane. As much as Chris and I travel with his job, that's pretty pathetic. They absoloutely loved it. Cole was just dying as he looked out the window. Luckily it was a small commuter plane, because as we took off he was bouncing up and down in the seat yelling "Mom, Mom, look we're flying!" Cate and Cai looked out the window and were excited but Cole could not contain his delight when we were finally airborne.

We flew into Long Beach, which is a tiny little airport so it was great for the kids and their Grandpa had come ahead of us and was ready with a gynormous "Mormon Van" for the trip. We had to make a ceremonial stop at Tommy's for lunch. Where almost everything on the menu is slathered in Chili.

Then Grandpa had also gotten everyone a disney character T-shirt. So after we finished lunch he had them spread over the back of each of our seats. Grandma and Grandpa Guymon tried so hard to make it as fun as possible they really went above and beyond.

After lunch we headed straight for the park. We got 6 day passes for the price of 4, so we were glad to be able to take things at a slower pace and still get to see the whole park. We had to stop for pics at the Walt Disney Statue, and then headed over to Fantasyland.

I felt really bad that on the first day Cai got hurt. We were going on the storybook land boat ride and boat operator stepped on Cai's finger as she was walking along the side of the boat to get to the front. She must have stepped on it with the corner of a hard-soled shoe or something because she took a huge chunk of skin of the side of his finger. We didn't realize how bad it was until I looked at it after the ride. Needless to say he went straight to the first-aid station. They were so great and knew just what to do to help him feel better. They loaded him up with bandaids, tylenol, ice and about 6 buttons a person for all of us. They even gave him two walk-on passes to the Toy Story 3D ride, for six people each time. So we literally walked onto it 3 times without having to wait at all. We kept joking that soemone else needed to get hurt the rest of the trip so that we could get more free stuff (jokingly of course)!

Then we headed over to Autopia. The kids were ecstatic, that they got a drivers license, and that they got to "drive" the car. Cate was pretty crazy behind the wheel but the boys drove like pros. I guess all those hours of Mario Kart finally paid off!

We stayed to watch the fireworks that night and froze our butts off. They kept delaying them waiting for the wind to slow down, which it never did. So we froze to death for an hour and a half for nothing. But other than that we had a pretty great day. It was fun to see Cate and Cole really get into things more than the last time we came. Cate was only 1 and Cole was 3. But srprisingly they actually remembered quite a bit from the last trip.

Cai's baptism

Well the big day finally arrived. I am so proud of Cai, I have always admired his strong desire to do what is right. Although I had to laugh a bit, when I told him about his interview with the bishop! It went like this:

Mom: "Cai are you ready for your interview with the bishop?"

Cai (with a look of terror): "What does interview mean?"
Mom: "the bishop will just ask you questions about baptism and your testimony about the church. He'll ask you if you're keeping the commandments, and maybe if you tease you little sister."

Cai: gets a devious look on his face after I mention teasing his sister and says "I'm gonna say no!"

We had to have a little discussion about telling the truth always even if it's scary, but I about laughed my head off! The look on his face was sooo funny.

He shared his baptism day with two other kids from the ward Kiley Jensen, and Nicole Buttars. It was really cool that they are the first group to be baptised since the formation of the new Smithfield South Stake. Each stake has a book where they record the baptisms that take place and his group will be the first ones in the book! That will be something fun for him to remember. Since we had to share the program, our family didn't do too much in the program, but all the kids getting baptised and their siblings got up and sang "When I Am Baptized." I had made up a poster and we had done some practices, and they all did so great, it was really cute.

I totally wasn't prepared for how much I would be hit by the spirit. I felt like I was about to burst into tears during the opening song. There is something so amazing about watching your kids make those covenants, and seeing the future that lies ahead of them. In 4 short years he will be recieving the priesthood, and attending Young Men's! It all goes by way too fast. It was also just awesome to see Chris as he took Cai into the font all dressed in white. It always makes me so proud to see my husband perform priesthood ordinances. It is amazing to remember the power that he holds, and how much it means to him and me that he is worthy to hold such tremendous power. The influence of the spirit was so strong that day, I hope that Cai never forgets what an amazing experience it was.

Cai's grandparents both chipped in and got him a beautiful set of scriptures, Cai is so excited to have his very own, and has even sat down to read them a few times without any suggestion from me. He was so excited the first day of Primary after he got them. He was so proud that he had looked up the longest scripture in class and read it all by himself!

The bishop gave him a pure white handkerchief during the baptisimal program that was part of a magic trick of course. Our bishop is amazing and a magician! He taught them all about repentance by making a red hanky dissapear and replacing it with a pure white one for each of the kids. The primary president brought over a darling picture Mat with two ovals cut out for a poem and a picture of Cai. Then in sacrament meeting they presented Cai with a hardcover Book of Mormon with a message from the bishopric inside. We have such an amazing ward they really made his baptism special and went the extra mile to make it memorable.

After Cai's baptism we had a brunch at the house, where we had his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes and cinnamon rolls. His Uncle Gabe bought him a CTR ring and his grandma and grandpa Callister got him a tie tack of the angel Moroni.

Mother's Day

Well I took the advice of my mother this year. She said that on Mother's day instead of getting depressed about all those stories of perfect Mothers who do this that and the other, or feeling that you aren't being truly appreciated, she said that every Mother's Day she would just try to be the absoloute best Mother she could possibly be. Which I thought I would try this year. Having a positive attitude made such a big difference. I stopped thinking about myself and instead focused on what I could do for others.

After church Chris surprised me with a gift from Him and the kids, and I have to say I was thrilled. We had both kinda agreed that finishing the backyard would be father's/mother's day for both of us. I have been wanting a set of Jane Austen Novels for ages, and had dropped some hints about a year ago, but hadn't mentioned it since. He found the most beautiful set of classic novels I have ever seen. There's 3 of the Jane Austen classics, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Litte Women, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and Jane Eyre. They each have a ribbon book marker like scriptures do, and I have already read 3 of them since.
How did I ever snag such a great catch. Every woman probably feels the same, but I totally hit the jackpot! What an awesome hubby and father!

Cai's 8th Birthday!

Wow when your kid turns 8 it makes an impression. Cai seemed to age 3 years overnight. 8 is such a milestone, there's Baptism, Cub Scouts, Senior Primary (I guess that happened in Jan.) I was just freaking out over the latest batch of Beehive girls to come into Young Womens. I remembered when they were the older girls in Junior Primary when I was Chorister, because that really wasn't long ago like 5-6 years. Well in another 5-6 years Cai will be fourteen! A Mom never gets over how fast time goes by. At this rate Cai will be in Young Men's before I know it!
You already heard me rave about what a great kid he was on my Valentine's post so now I will just show you how darling and mature looking he is in his pics for his baptism announcements! Thanks to my sister/photographer Kerrie, for the awesome pictures.

He was such a great little model. I have gotten so used to coaxing, prodding, and trying to get the kids to sit still that I didn't realize how cooperative Cai had gotten recently. He may have a future in modeling he got pretty into it, coming up with poses and taking it all so seriously, What a cute kid! Always trying so hard to do the right thing.

Now when exactly was May? I think I missed it.

Oh yeah I was covered in dirt and PVC glue! I got a tad obssesed with finishing the yard and ignored everything and everyone for a few weeks. I really need to learn to multi-task. That's supposed to come with the female brain right? Nope, I think I got skipped on that gene. I wanted to finish it a few weeks before disneyland so that we wouldn't be leaving freshly layed sod to fry while we were out of town. The feeling of rolling out sod onto bare dirt is indescribable maybe not doing it, but seeing it go down like lovely green carpet! Amazing! And watching the sprinklers pop up and water it! Amazing! I wish I had a before pic, but I don't so here's the after!