DISNEYLAND!!!!!

We are on the countdown now!!! 2 days and we will be on our way! I am so excited to take Phynley to Disneyland for her first time and to be able to spend Stephen's Birthday there too. I have a fun surprise planned for him that day, and the next day we are off to ELLEN!

My mom is coming to watch Phyn while we go to Ellen and to see her first visit to Disneyland. I didn't realize how much I would have to take for Phyn! Her bag is already bigger than mine!

Anyway, In October '08 Stephen and I went to Disneyland as a fun way to spend some time together after he had been gone for 3 months to Japan. :( It was a really fun trip. I remember thinking, I can't wait to take our kids here some day. Who knew that would be so soon :) Here is a trip down memory lane...

Notice how badly he kicked my trash... yeah that was before I had glasses, and he has been trained to shoot.


Love our Mickey attire. :)


I love this wall in the animation studio in California Adventure. The other wall says... "Once Upon a Time" and then there is this one. We used this picture on our wedding invitations.






I love that it is all decorated for Halloween around October. I love to see what they change for the holiday! The characters were all dressed up in costumes and there is a trick or treat party every night for people who buy tickets to the event.




Really.. does this need a caption? I had tears I was laughing so hard. :) One of my favorite pics of him!

California Dreamin'

How does that song go?
all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey I've been for a walk on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California Dreamin' on such a winter day

Soon that "Dreamin'" will be a reality for us!

I LOVE Ellen Degeneres. I love to watch her show and wait all day to see what she will have on her show. We Tivo it as well. Phynley and I watch every day, and when Stephen is home he watches with us as well. It's kind of a relaxing family time for us. If you have never watched her show you should!! She is so funny and dances in the audience. Anyway,.... I started requesting tickets months ago, every day. I just figured we would be able to save enough money if we EVER got tickets. Well we got a call a few weeks ago that WE GOT TICKETS!!!! Ironically, it is for April 14th. Stephen's 35th birthday is on the 13th. :) So we decided to make a trip out of it for his birthday. We weren't expecting to be going so soon, but things kind of fell into place...
Have you seen these commercials? We heard about the Give a day, Get a Disney Day promotion a while ago. As a family (my whole family) we had talked about going to Disneyland last year around December of 2010. Phyn will be a year old then and able to enjoy Disneyland a lot more. Well for Christmas my mom gave us all Disney gift cards.... a LOT of Disney gift cards. So we figured when we could we would sign up for the Give, Get promo. We found an organization called Karing for Utah Kids. www.utahkids.org. They ask for donations for blankets, bears, and time. We made 5 fleece blankets between me, Stephen,my mom, and Melanie (my cousin). They take the bankets and donate them to kids who need them OR whatever is left over they sell at different events and take the money to send kids with Diabetes to Diabetes Camp. We donated our blankets to them and each of us got a FREE pass for disney for a day!!! It is a fun organization and one that helps with something close to our hearts (Tyson my 6 yr old nephew has type I diabetes). We had planned on using our free pass towards a Park hopper pass in November when we all went as a family. The cool thing is now we can use it to go for Stephen's birthday in April! So our trip is going to be driving to Cali, go to Disneyland, go to Ellen, drive home. We won't have to pay much except for our hotel and food. Thank goodness for AWESOME christmas gifts and volunteering!! My mom is coming with us to watch Phyn while we are at Ellen. It will be fun to take Phyn to Disneyland for her first time. I know she is a little young, but I think the lights and songs in some of the rides will interest her. She loves things like Snow White and Sesame Street, so I am sure she will dig it :) I am counting down the days until we can go and I am getting WAY too excited. Our family has had a tradition of going to Disneyland ever since I was little. It is always great to be back and remember all those trips that we have taken!
I will post some pics after we get back!!