Disneyland 2016

We went to Disneyland the first week of March and had an absolute blast. The kids were so excited and had been asking us to go to Disneyland pretty much since we went 2 years ago. The girls had been counting down the days and Reese had even packed up her suitcase 1 month in advance. The kids had been saving all their change from their Easter Eggs, the dollar bills they get from Japanese New Years, and birthday money. We went to the bank to turn in all their change in the coin machine and they had $180. Are you kidding me!! That is a lot of Easter eggs. The kids get to use their money to buy whatever they want at Disneyland. 

We were excited to get on the plane and it was pretty comical to how much luggage we had. 4 bags, 3 carseats, 3 carry-on bags, and 3 strollers. We got right on the plane and took off. The girls did great, but Ren had a little bit of a hard time. He hated that he could not run around. We have a busy boy that loves to move and he definitely wanted to move. Luckily, a cute little boy in front of us loved to give toys to run through the seats and Ren loved giving them back. This gave entertained him for quite a while. We finally got to our hotel around 12:00pm and everyone crashed. We woke up the next day and the kids were so excited to go to Disneyland. The girls were excited to wear their dresses and meet the princesses. We brought Ren's Storm Trooper costume, but it was way too hot for him to wear his costume and he didn't want to wear it. Boys will be boys! 

Poor Renners wasn't sleeping as well as he usually does and would fall asleep every morning on our walk into the park. Ren didn't care about the rides too much, but he loved meeting the characters and trying to bit their noses. It was hilarious. Every single time he would go straight for their noses. The girls would laugh hysterically when he would do this. We took Ren on the Teacups and he had the same reaction I did. We both just looked at the ground and tried to not throw up. 

Reese on the other hand absolutely loved the teacups. That is about the only ride that she really liked. Well, she also liked the Carousel. We learned that Reese did not like any of the rides that were inside. We realized though that the rides usually told a story, like the movie, and there is usually the scary part of the movie. Reese was terrified at all the scary parts of the rides. She didn't even like "It's a Small World". It was so sad to watch her just bury her head and try to not look at anything. We had heard that the Car's ride was amazing and so Ron made sure to get tickets for him and Reese. He took a video and she was so terrified that I about cried watching the video. She has such a tender heart. 

Nora loved the princesses and the rides. Nora is at such a fun age for Disneyland. Everything is magical and she could hardly contain herself when she was about to meet the princesses. I loved watching her at all the parades. She would dance with the characters and wave as big as she could every time the princesses would walk by. Nora loved watching the Frozen show, the Disney Jr Show, and playing in the water. Nora is my child that I can always rely on to sleep well. She slept through the night every night and I was very grateful for that. Nora was so cute. She would start dancing in the most random places and do her entire little dance. 

The kids were such troopers and we had so much fun. Growing up, I was never much of a Disneyland fan, but watching the magic in our children's eyes as they see the characters and parades is priceless. We had such a great time together. I love my family so much and I would say our trip was a success!

The last day of our trip, we went to the beach. It was pretty cold, but we were still able to play in the water and collect lots of seashells. It was so fun to watch the kids run from the water. Nora actually got taken down once and she wasn't expecting it at all. A great way to end our trip at the beach.

Ren's 1st Birthday Party

                    Happy Birthday Renners!!!

This little guy turned 1 on February 17th and it has been one of the fastest years of my life. Ren has been a ball of energy since he was born. He has the most contagious smile and loves to laugh. He has always been very mobile and loves to climb the stairs. He is the best eater and will eat pretty much anything. He loves fruits and vegetables and can easily out eat his sisters. He LOVES shoes and especially loves wearing them on his hands. If he sees somebody new at our house, he will always go over to the front door to see what kind of shoes are there. He will most likely put them on his hands and then crawl around. He has been a big bundle of joy and I love cuddling with him at night before he goes to bed. I cannot usually get him to sit still long enough to cuddle during the daytime, but at night, I will turn off all the lights in his room, grab his blanket, and we will rock in the rocking chair. I love it. If I sing him a song to try to put him to sleep, he will often sing with me. I love these small moments everyday when things slow down. When they actually fall asleep in your arms and you never want to put them down. I love this sweet boy and am so grateful he is in our family. There is a special spirit about him that radiates joy. WE love our sweet Renners! 

We decided to throw a BB8 birthday party for Ren. The girls haven't even seen the new Star Wars movie, but their cousins love BB8 so they love BB8. We couldn't find a BB8 costume for Ren, but we thought this stormtrooper costume was pretty adorable. I wasn't sure how to best make a BB8 cake so I finally decided to just star tip the whole cake. Ren loved the cake and could care less about the gifts! We had a great time celebrating this cute boy's birthday.

Happy Valentine's Day

                   Happy Valentines Day!!!
January and February have been full of sickness and exhaustion, but we still had a wonderful Valentine's Day. In January, I caught a bad case of bronchitis, Reese had strep throat and then the Dr said that she needed to have her tonsils taken out. (I will have to post about that another day!) Ren had a double ear infection and nobody was sleeping great. My bronchitis didn't get better with antibiotics and I had to sleep on the recliner to get any sleep at all. This lasted for about 6 weeks. One night, I was coughing so bad that I about threw up. I came out of the bathroom, thinking to myself that I needed to ask Ron for a blessing, and he was already dressed in his church clothes and asked me if I wanted a blessing. This was an unexpected blessing that I truly needed. Not so much because I was sick, but because I desperately needed to hear my Heavenly Father's voice. I was blessed that Heavenly Father was proud of me for the kind of mother that I am and that I am not just doing it well, but very well. I was blessed that as I have been sacrificing my own health to take care of my children that I exemplify our Savior's love. I was blessed to get feeling better and to be able to sleep so that I could handle all of the responsibilities that are coming up this next week. He said that others watched my example. 

There were some other things said and I desperately needed to hear these words. I think a lot of times, we just do the things that needed to be done to take care of our children. We don't do anything spectacular, but are just doing the daily little things to take care of our children, to make sure they know they are loved, and to help them learn and grow. I needed to hear that Heavenly Father was proud of me. That truly is the best feeling in the world when you give your heart and soul to motherhood. I was very grateful for this blessing.

Going back to that part of my blessing that said, "I bless you to be able to sleep"..... I hadn't been able to sleep for weeks and I never take naps. That night after the blessing, I fell right to sleep and slept through the night. I finally woke up at 12:00 when Ron was getting to ready to leave for church. He had got the girls ready for church as well. The girls and Ron left for church and I fed Ren and played with him for a little bit. I still couldn't go to church because I had a hacking cough that sounded like I was dying. Ren went down for a nap and I slept for another 3-4 hours. This never happens.

This Sunday was Valentines Day and so made dinner for all of us and even made fondue for dessert. We all loved it. The girls were so excited to give Ron the HUGE cards that we had bought for him and they had traced their hands all over the inside. I am so grateful for Ron and what a wonderful husband and father he is. I am so grateful for the priesthood and for Ron's desire to always stay worthy of the priesthood and to bless our family. I am so grateful for my wonderful family. For the love we share everyday just by being together.

We were having a difficult time getting Ren to stay in the picture, but I thought these pics were hilarious!