Disneyland, Sept. 14-18, 2009

The night before we left for Disneyland Aaron got really sick with the flu. I spent all night making him take just about every herbal concoction I could think of so he would be well enough to go, and he was. Either that or he was faking it so I would stop feeding him garlic and cayenne. I think it was more mind over matter...who wants to be sick at Disneyland?!

This is the BEFORE picture...Ahh, the excitement and anticipation!
(note: the after pictures will be shown later, hee hee)


Taken out front of the Disneyland Hotel.


We had a fun experience when we checked in, the lady at the front desk gave Ashlyn and Aaron each a bouquet of balloons and a large envelope. They were so excited I though their eyes were just gonna pop out of their heads! They opened their envelopes and inside was an autographed picture for each of them. Ashlyn had a picture of the Disney Princesses, all autographed and Aaron had Buzz Lightyear and Woody, autographed. As we were leaving the lady said goodbye to Princess Ashlyn and Prince Aaron.
That could have been the trip right there...they were just so happy!

The rest of the week was filled with fun, laughter and of course serious sleep deprived tantrums. Here's some of the highlights...

The Teacup Ride...classic!

After Splash Mountain.
Ashlyn got soaked, she loved it!

Waiting in line for the Tower of Terror.
I couldn't believe the height limit was 40" on this one. I had never been on it so I figured how bad could it be. We told the kids the elevator would go up and down...kind of like riding on Tigger's tail. heehee.

Ok, I almost peed my pants laughing at this picture. Here Dave and I are laughing our guts out and look at Ashlyn's face...she looks like she's gonna die crying and Aaron just looks confused. After we got off the ride Ashlyn says really loud..."That's NOT like riding on Tigger's tail!"

This would have been a great picture if Aaron didn't have his whole hand stuck up his nose!

Waiting in line for the Toy Story Mania ride.
This ride was one of our favorites! It's a 3D interactive game. You can see the little booths you ride in in the background, it has a gun for each player and you shoot things and rack up points. Aaron beat me the first time around, I couldn't believe it. Of course Dave turned out to be the ultimate champion.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
I lost track how many times we rode this one, they loved this ride.

While we were on this railroad roller coaster I turned back to sneak a picture of Aaron, this is what I got. Look at that happy face!

Outside the Disneyland Hotel.


After eating an all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner the waiter asked if we saved some room for dessert. Of course Dave and I were stuffed and couldn't even take the sound of dessert. Aaron on the other hand moved his plate to one side and said, "I made room right here".

Other rides we loved were the Pirates of the Caribbean, Soarin' over California, Indiana Jones and of course the Grizzly River Run, which we got SOAKED EVERY TIME!
Oh, and I forgot to mention the Pixar Parade!! We'll never be able to watch an ordinary parade again.

Another highlight of Disneyland was meeting all the characters! I think we spent half our time in line to meet people, but it was worth it!

Ashlyn was so excited to meet all of the Princess.
She had met all of them throughout the week, except Belle, which is her favorite. Ashlyn was a little worried she wouldn't see her, but she kept hoping.
It wasn't until the very last day that we saw Belle in the California Adventure Park, and Ashlyn was just so happy!


While we were walking around DCA Aaron stopped dead in his tracks and made a gasping sound. I looked down thinking he had choked on something and noticed he was just standing there, starring straight ahead with his mouth hanging open.
I looked up and there right in front of us stood Mr. Incredible! We just had to get a picture! Aaron was so excited he couldn't say a word to Mr. Incredible, he just kept hugging him!

Well, these are just a few of the many pictures I took throughout our Disneyland adventure. And although I took a ton of pictures to remember our experience, it's impossible to capture all of the emotion and excitement that you have through a photo.
Some of my happiest memories as a kid were created spending time with my family at Disneyland. Even now when I think of those memories I still have the same feelings and emotions I had 20 years earlier. And now that I'm older and taking my kids back to create those same wonderful memories...It was definitely worth it.

Oh, by the way this was on the drive home...

Gold Fever!!

You can't expect to be in gold country and NOT experience mining!  We just had to have Grandpa show us the ropes.  We did some metal detecting and panning.  The kids thought it was pretty exciting!

Grandpa took us across the river where there was an old mining camp back in the late 1800's. It was a really fun place to go metal detecting, if you watch out for the poison oak and bear poop!

This was an old foundation of a cabin.  You can't tell from the picture but part of the front door is laying on the ground in front of the entry.

Aaron found the only treasure of the day, a really old bottle with the cork still inside.

Grandpa detecting an old foundation.  He thinks it was a bunk house since the size is larger than the others surrounding it.  There are still remnants of the wood stove and other kitchen items.

Panning at Indian Creek...

Breaking up the rock to get under the bedrock.

Brushing the dirt into the cup to pan out.

Panning out the dirt, only to find a few flakes.

Our Vacation!

Brain Damage!  That's what was wrong with me when I had the idea to drive to California for our vacation.  At least that's what I concluded last night on our last 2 hours to King City when Ethan had had enough!  Not even the Mama Mia songs could calm him down.  Needless to say we arrived without any real bodily damage, although Aaron still has a headache from being beat with the Atlas.  Now I understand why my mother carried wooden spoons and Tupperware lids on trips.  Like the time we drove from California to New York in our 1985 station wagon. She must have gone through several spoons on that trip!  Ahhh, the joys of parenthood! 

Anyway, our trip out here was great, considering having three kids strapped into carseats. We finally managed to leave town (not the house since we had to go back three times for things I forgot) about 2 pm on Thursday, 3rd.  We ended up staying in Burns, Oregon the first night, which the kids LOVED because they each got their own twin bed.  The next morning I realized Dave and I should have taken their beds since they were so much better than ours!  

We finally made it to my Mom and Dad's Friday late afternoon and the kids were SOOO HAPPY to be out of the car they just ran straight for the trampoline.

Look at those happy faces!!

Living With Purpose

Lately I've been remembering a dream I had when I was younger. That dream was to become a doctor, which then turned into becoming a Naturopathic Physician (long story). Then marriage came, and then of course children. Now it's 7 years later and I can't even remember what life was like before this.

Occasionally, I'll see people out and about and I'll wonder what kind of choices brought them to where they are today, and are they where they want to be? I mean, we seem to have this picture in our mind's eye of what our life will be like when we "settle down". But how many of us are really living the life of our teenage vision? Is it a change of priorities? Or maybe, more often than not, we get so caught up in the everyday stuff we lose sight of the experiences that are really important.

While going through some of these thought processes I came across a biography of Dr. John R. Christopher (a.k.a. Dr. Christopher, founder of the School of Natural Healing). John was born and raised in Utah and has an incredible life story of pioneering herbal medicine. As I was reading his biography I was so touched by the life of this man. He had so many health challenges as a child, and also watching his mother die painfully from complications of diabetes and Bright's Disease, that it inspired within him a deep passion to heal others. His life was one of incredible sacrifice and love.

When I had finished reading I had so many emotions welling up inside me I just began sobbing. At that moment Dave walked by and, noticing my uncontrollable tears, asked me what was wrong. I didn't have an answer, I had no idea! I just spent the last hour reading such an uplifting story what in the world would cause such a reaction?!

By the time I settled down I had realized, very painfully, what was going on. This man was living his purpose and I could feel it with every word I read. And it was painful to me because I felt like I wasn't living mine. I've felt like for so long I've just been going through the motions and I haven't been living with purpose. So often I feel an imbalance between my daily life, with all it's routines and habits, and an elusive dream of some extraordinary way of living. Almost daily I feel a constant nagging of a "higher purpose", as if it's trying to tell me that my way of life doesn't match my reason for living.

There are so many things that inspire me that I know I can't possibly do them all and still give 100% to my family. Maybe that's why I kinda feel like a deer in the headlights with no action toward anything. I'm fearful I will start down that road and before I know it I'm neck deep in some crazy project and I've lost sight of what was really important to begin with.

My question is..."How can we live with purpose and not lose sight of our priorities?"

Maybe it's discovering our real purpose to begin with? Maybe our purpose should be centered in our priorities?

Maybe that's why some purposes are stronger at certain times in my life than others. Just like the seasons that come and go, we each have our own seasons in life. These seasons bring with them their own priorities and purposes. It's important to remember not to look on another person's season and wish it for your own at the moment. But to intently discover it's purpose and to trust that, as we do our best, we will accomplish all that we can and be.

I would love to hear any thoughts or insights on the matter so feel free to share!

My Chicks

I'm standing in line at the Sam's Club snack bar trying to get a pretzel before I keel over and I'm watching the snack lady. She's hoppin' around, singing to herself and occasionally when someone walks by she knows, she looks up from making our pretzels and yells hello with a cute little joke and laughs so loud it echos through the entire store. I'm amused watching this lady's joyful expressions of life and I'm thinking to myself, "Is she really this energetic? How could she be this energetic?"
At that moment she turns to me and says, out of the blue, "I have so much energy I stay up till 3 am every morning and I'm 50 years old!"
I'm just starring at her thinking "Oh ya, well, I'm 33 and I feel like 50, so let me hop around and tell you all about it."
She continues to go on and on about how good she feels all the time and then she stops and looks around like she's come to a realization..."Maybe", she says, "it's because I don't have any kids."
AH HAH! The reason is discovered!
At that moment the words went through my mind of a sign I have hanging on my living room wall. It reads, "Motherhood is like being slowly pecked to death by chickens".
I don't know about other mom's...you know the one's that look so put together with unstained shirts and pants that actually fit, and have not only THEIR hair perfect but their kids' hair pulled up in a very creative sort of way with a matching bow. I don't know about them, they look like the snack lady with all the energy.
I on the other hand, feel very not-put-together while I'm dragging my kid off the display racks of a department store or trying desperately to hunt him down (with the help of security and all the doors locked) at the Logan Regional Hospital.
It's moments like this when that saying gets a little too real for me, like these little daily doses of Kryptonite are enough to slowly knock off Superman.
And I'm thinking, as the snack lady is wrapping up our pretzels, that a 110 year old grandma would have that much energy if she didn't have kids sucking the life right out of her.
Then I turn around, and sitting so perfectly in the cart are my three little chicks. They're not running wild through the aisles, they're just sitting there patiently awaiting their pretzels and looking so beautiful and perfect. Then I think about that 110 year old grandma who has all the energy she wants...but then again, she wouldn't be a grandma would she?

Learning The Hard Way

Last week we bought two 4 wheelers for the kids. We called it their Easter/Birthday/Christmas for the rest of their lives! They've been riding them every day since and love 'em!
Ashlyn's getting really good. We haven't worried too much about her, she's always been the one who likes to stay safe. It's Aaron, my little crazy man, that causes the ulcers.
Dave worked with him the first couple of days to make sure he was remotely safe. He picked it up surprisingly quick but he still could not help the temptation of speed. He would zoom, full throttle, downhill and turn as fast as he could. Until finally he rolled it. (Will our warnings EVER sink in?!)
Luckily he wasn't hurt, just a little shocked that he WASN'T invincible.
Needless to say, after his little brush with death you couldn't pay him enough to slow down. He'd be zoomin' all over and get to that hill and almost come to a complete stop. I think that crash was well worth the lesson!

LIfe

I think I'm the last person on the planet to start a blog. Actually, truth be told...I started this blog a year ago but spent more time trying to get my computer to cooperate than actually blogging. So, I admitted defeat and thought no more of my precious but very lame, blank blog.
Until just the other day I happened onto a blog of an old friend of mine. I read...and read...and wanted to read more. I found myself laughing. Laughing at these little experiences of life he was having. For someone who doesn't know him...you probably would think it sort of lame writing about a piece of popcorn stuck in your teeth...But I loved it! I loved it because it was life. And who writes about popcorn in their teeth?!
So a very bright idea entered my head. An idea that I thought was miserably defeated and buried. Strange as it sounds it felt sort of original. Even though people have been blogging for centuries it seems like. It was original for me.
Of course I had to call my best friend Jamie and ask her how to post words and make it cute...what you're looking at is her handy work. I was always really lame when it came to a computer. (I think it's getting worse with every kid I have)
In all reality, I'm doing this blog for selfish reasons. I need an outlet. And now that outlet is on the internet. And now everyone can see what a crazy, mad woman I am! (mad scientist laugh)
So, if there's anyone that even happens to read this, I hope you enjoy reading about my crazy, wonderful, sometimes freaked out life. What's more, I hope you take away that even through the mess, life is good.