Day 6 - Universal Studios, Day 7 - Home

Day 6 was at Universal Studios which was very interesting. For a family of 8 it cost us over $500 to get in for 7 hours. We were once again very grateful for the help of our friends getting us into Disneyland free! We could have spent more time at Universal Studios but it closed before we got to everything. Today was also Alan's 40th birthday. We didn't do much for him but that is the way that he wanted it. He said the vacation was his present.
On Day 7, Saturday we left the hotel at 11 a.m. and drove to Chino Hills, CA to visit Sal and his family. They live in a very pretty area and it seems to be a little bit calmer there. They feed us lunch and we were back on our way. We had originally intended to stop at Greg and Carolyn's on the way back but we were anxious to push through as far as we could Saturday to lessen our drive on Sunday. (Sorry to disappoint the kids!). We drove past Mark and Ann's about 2 a.m. and Alan our trusty driver felt great and so we decided to continued on. We got home about 5:30 a.m. I was amazed at how well the kids behaved on this trip. They were all so happy and easy to please. Riding in the car went amazingly smooth. We only watched one movie on the way down.
I enjoyed our visit to CA but would never want to live there. (Sorry Laura!) There is just way too many people in one spot and the traffic is awful! Alan drove as I navigated white-knuckled with the GPS. I really don't know how we would have made it without the GPS, it is a must have for every family.
There is certainly a lot more to do in CA than in Jerome but everything is so expensive to get into. I could get into hanging out at the beach more often. I definitely would like to go back when the little ones are older and can ride all the rides. I am grateful for the open spaces and the 2 lane freeway in good old Magic Valley. We had a wonderful vacation. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible!

Day 5 - The Beach

On Thursday we took a day off and went to the beach in Huntington. It really was nice to have a down day - thanks for the tip Ann, our feet needed a rest!

Day 4 - Disneyland Part 2

Day 3 - Disneyland

Disneyland was our first stop. This was a first time for all of us!

Day 1 & 2 Heading to Anaheim, CA

Here is an account on our CA trip. I spent the whole 14 hours trip home creating scrapbook pages on the laptop. Click on the images to read the text!

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Rachel's Birthday

It is hard to believe that Rachel is already 10. She is such a light in our family. I am grateful to have her as a daughter. Remember to click on each image to read the text!

Firsts

We have some pretty exciting firsts for our family coming up in the next few months.

#1 - We are actually going on a vacation during spring break this year. We are headed to California. Alan and I have decided that this trip is definitely for the kids and not for us. We plan on spending two days at Disneyland, one day at the beach and a day at Universal Studios. This is a first for all of us - Alan and I have never been. With the help of Sal's son and a friend from high school we should be able to get into the two days at Disneyland free! You can't beat that deal.

#2- This trip brings another first to our family - a stop at Greg and Carolyn's new homestead coming and going (we haven't asked yet but we hope it is o.k. with them!). We are excited to visit them for the first time in their new house.

#3- While on the trip Alan will celebrate his first and only 40th birthday! I know that he is so thrilled to be spending it at Universal Studios! It certainly will be memorable! Also Zach will be 17 on the 28th and Rachel will be 10 on the 12th!

#4 - Our 2 oldest girls are going on their first trek in June and Alan and I are going to be Ma's and Pa's for the first time also. We are excited for this opportunity and know that we will be blessed by participating. We are excited to share in this experience with our girls and maybe our son. (He has already been and has a football camp that week with his team. He really didn't have that diamond experience we hoped for last time but he did enjoy being with his grandpa!)

Well that is all for now! The pictures below show our two youngest children. Allie has a little friend named MeKenna that recently moved out of our ward and she was silently shedding tears at primary yesterday when MeKenna didn't come to class. The other is of Abby losing her second tooth that seemed to hang on forever. Alan tried to get her to let him pull it out for days but she refused. Finally she let him check it and he pushed the tooth back and out. She didn't even feel it and asked him if it was out. Alan later tried to remove a tooth from True's mouth with no success. Needless to say I don't think that True will be letting Uncle Alan stick his hands in his mouth anytime soon!