Tribute to my Grandpap

 Well this past Thursday my sweet grandfather died unexpectantly.  It is so sad but in other ways happy to know he is back with his wonderful wife.  We were very fortunate to have him visit SLC twice this year.  He was here this summer and we had a fun family reunion.  Then he called me up in November and asked what I thought about him coming for Christmas.  I told him that would be great and you could just tell in his voice how excited he was.  He said he hadn't been in SLC at Christmastime in over 30 years and was really looking forward to it.  Well we did have a fabulous time and I was so happy he was able to visit us at our home for a little while.  He played so cute with Sarah.  On Christmas day we were at my parents opening gifts and he was so happy to just hold Katie.  She sat with him for such a long time and I know he got a kick out of her eating everything after she opened it.

We had a fun time trying to get 6 great grandkids to look at the camera with him all at the same time. 

We had such a wonderful time.  I was sad that we came down with the stomach flu that night so I didn't get to see him one last time.  I am SO GLAD I called him after Christmas to talk to him again.  He is an amazing person that had a wonderful life.  Grandpap we will MISS YOU!!!  I love you and am thankful for everything you have done for us.  I will always remember our fun trips to Cleveland and venturing to Cedar Point, Sea World, Pittsburgh and of course your trips to SLC. 

I will return!

So I am finally able to post pics again.  For some reason the blogger website wouldn't let me upload pics but it worked today!  Yeah.  Here is a picture of us at Christmastime with Gary's grandparents.  We were doing a silly pose.  I LOVE Isaac's expression.  I promise more to come (if anyone still reads this.)

Thanksgiving Picture

We had a really nice quiet Thanksgiving this year.  We relaxed at home all morning till it was time to head to G&G Oaks for dinner.  We had delicious food and it was nice to spend time with family.  Of course later that evening I ended up at Walmart for some good deals and enjoyed shopping without the kids.

Disneyland Continued

 Well no trip to Disney would be complete without stopping to play in Bear Country.  They have changed the theme from Brother Bear to Up but the slides and attractions are the same.  Even Katie enjoyed hanging out on the rocks!

 We made a stop at the new Cars Land.  VERY BUSY!  We got to see McQueen and Mater.  Sarah is not a huge fan of people in costumes or things that talk, unless they are people.  So we stopped waiting in the character lines because she wouldn't go near them.  We did however wait in line for 2 hours to go on the new race ride.  Isaac and Sarah didn't like it because it went too fast.  Although I made Isaac go on it with me the next day and he may have had a change of heart!

 You can't go to Disneyland and not get your picture in the entrance - too bad the people we asked to take our picture left Mickey out of it.

 Dumbo was a big hit for Miss Sarah!

 And she loved the jumping jellyfish ride in California Adventure.  Isaac was so excited because he got to ride this one by himself!

 And Isaac's Disneyland Life was complete when he was FINALLY chosed to be a Jedi.  After more attempts than I can count he finally made it to the stage - even made it to center stage.  He loved every minute of his training.  He was super excited because he was the first person to fight Darth Vader.  I loved his reaction and his facial expressions are priceless.  So I video taped most of his training and when Darth Vader came out my camera told my I had no space left - go figure.  So here are a couple pics I was able to snap instead.

 The only person Sarah was willing to see was Minnie Mouse.  The person said she would take our picture with our camera - BLURY, oh well we attempted it at least.

 Trying to get one decent picture of all 5 of us.

 The last night we were there they had a big ceremony for turning on the lights for It's A Small World.  It was amazing how pretty it was.

 The big tree on Main Street.

 Sarah was finally tall enough for most rides so she was able to ride Splash Mountain for the first time.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to sit down on the ride.  They let her sit beside me on the back row.  I love her eyes looking at where she was going.  The picture is kind of dark but here is our picture going down the big drop.  Isaac's expression is priceless.

Katie got to hang out with mom and dad while the other 2 rode some rides, but she loved It's a Small World.

Disneyland

 Well we found a great deal on airfare to Disneyland so we decided it was too good to pass up. Kids flew and stayed free so why not!  The first stop was in Cars Land in California Adventure.  The big attraction had a HUGE wait and the fastpasses were gone first thing in the morning so after talking to people about how to get on quicker we tested it out.  Gary and Isaac and Sarah waited about 90 minutes in the line to go on the ride.  They weren't terribly impressed by they time they actually got on the ride.  The line was too long to hold their attention for that long.  I however loved it because I went back the next morning with my stroller pass and went straight to the front of the line.

 We headed over to a Bug's Land and had fun on the bumper bugs.  Sarah didn't want to run into anyone so we just drove around the circle.  Isaac on the other hand headed straight for EVERYONE!

Sadly I can't upload anymore pictures till I start deleting older posts so we will continue this post later.

Halloween Festivities

Following tradition, we went to Red Butte Garden's After Dark Party and had a fun time.  The kids each got to paint their own pumpkin.  Katie kept her hat on her head for a whole 2 minutes!    She made a cute butterfly though.

 Here are the pumpkins all painted.  Sarah was Cinderella this year and Isaac was a gorilla (for this event).

 Sarah was chosen to be part of the storyteller's story.  She was a little nervous at first but she did great.

 Well this year for Halloween I decided to print out some patterns to use carving the pumpkins.  I chose Mickey Mouse, Sarah chose Rapunzel and Isaac made his own creation. I think they turned out pretty well!

 I volunteered in Isaac's classroom to help with the Halloween Party.  They had a fun time doing all sorts of activities and games.  Sarah and Katie came too!  When it was time for the kids to do the costume parade, Sarah just had to be involved.  Mrs. Adams didn't have a problem - thankfully!  They weren't allowed to wear their masks so here is Spiderman without his mask on.

 All ready for Trick-or-treating.  It was so warm I couldn't put Katie in that hot outfit so she was a cute cheerleader instead.  Warmest Halloween ever - 76 degrees.

 Gary took the kids around the neighborhood while I kept Katie to pass out candy.  I was having a blast getting her to crawl back and forth to get the candy bowl.  Yes I let her succeed each time - well till she tried to put it in her mouth.  I have some darling video clips but can't get them to upload.  You can check it out on facebook if interested.