Disney vacation--part 1

I suppose I should at least post SOMETHING about our one and only vacation this summer.  Kory commented a while ago that he could get used to both of us having a summer break.  Well, he will get used to it because that's just how education in a non-year-round school works. :)  So, we decided a few months ago that we would go to Disneyland with the majority of his family.  It was really fun, but really exhausting with a baby.

The first big event came before actually leaving for California.  My brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend (finally!) and she said yes.  We love Crystal and are excited for her and Kevin to tie the knot!  I don't have any pictures of that, though.  Sorry.


 On the 23rd of July, we started our 2-day drive to Cali. I was a little nervous how Claire would do in the car.  Thankfully she has a wonderful cousin Jase who loves to make her happy so he did what he could to  help her.

She loves to drink water from a sippy cup.  That blue thing under her arm is Jase's stuffed Beanie Baby penguin, Petey.  She loves it and he would give it to her when she got cranky.

We stayed overnight in Las Vegas and again, Claire and Jase love to play together. Jase has his penguin and now Claire has hers.  It's name is Pammy.  Jase actually got Claire her penguin when I was pregnant with her and he got his at the same time with the hope that one day they would play "penguins" together.

We arrived in California on Tuesday.  Kory, Claire, and I got a hotel (thanks again Dad for helping us with this) right near Disneyland for napping purposes.  The others stayed at a friend's house about 45 minutes away from Disneyland.  Here we are on Wednesday, ready to take on Disneyland with a 14-month-old. YAY!

So, since we were so close, we were able to get to the park a little after 8am which is when it opens.  Guess who we saw right away?

Claire was not afraid of them at all and was acutally waving to them while we waited in line to get our pictures.  I wish I had gotten pics of her getting kisses from both Mickey and Minnie.  Minnie even made kissy noises when she kissed Claire.  Awwwwwww!  I was so happy. :)

Since the rest of the family wanted to visit the new Cars Land first, we headed over to Disney California Adventure.  Claire found the waterfall...and would have jumped right in if we let her.  Then here's where things got REALLY cool.

The creators of this place did an over the top job.  They made Radiator Springs.  It really does exist!! This place was so.freaking.awesome.

We'll  leave the adventure here and pick it up another time...

Posting for heritage sake

When Jase (my nephew) is older, I am showing this to any and all girlfriends. :)

Today we were talking about diapers and I said something to the extent of how poopy baby diapers stink.  Jase then said: "Well, then why don't they put air conditioner in them?  Someone should make diapers with air conditioner already in them."  HA!

THEN, later he was talking about having a job of being an unventor--you know, people who make new things for people to use.

THEN, to top it off, he was helping Claire play with a  Disney toy (it's one of those where you push the button and a character pops up then you push it closed and push the button to make it pop again) and he wanted us to guess where "Pluno" was.

Oh, THEN Kory said something to me jokingly and I gave him a look.  My MIL said: "Oh, did you see the look she gave him.  He deserved it."  Jase asked: "What book did she give him?"

Check your hearing aid old man!!!!!

Father's Day

(I posted this in my teacher blog as well, it's slightly different than this one)

Since school is out before Father's Day here in Utah, I don't get the chance to have another giggle from my first graders.  (See post about mother's day)  But I can only imagine what they might say.

It's probably good that we don't make it to Father's Day during the school year.  Father's Day is a lot harder and trickier (as a teacher) to celebrate.  Many of the students at my school on only live with mom.  Sad, yes.  True, yes.  And there's nothing I can do about it.

The local newspaper here "The Daily Herald" printed at least 3 different articles about fathers and the deep, positive influence they have on a child's life.  I read through one of those articles and was truly touched by the author's words and grateful that I grew up and still have a two-parent home.  I'm thankful that my daughter has a daddy who loves the heck out of her and I hope when she is older that she realizes how blessed she is to have a GOOD male role model in her home.  The article I read basically pointed out how there aren't enough good dads in this world, but to those who are good dads, BLESS YOU and THANK YOU!  It's quite good for how short it is.  I think I might keep it.

Anyway, this is kind of not a school related post, but enjoy it anyway.

Here are some pictures of the babe with 3 of the most influential and great men in her life.  I don't seem to have many pictures of her with her Papa.  These are all when she was younger. 

 With Daddy, sound asleep!

 Meeting Great-Grandpa for the first time.

 With Grandpa (my dad).  I LOVE her spikey hair.


Happy Father's Day!

Since I'm totally getting a high from couponing, though I am still a rookie, thought I would share this link.  I love this website.

http://freebies2deals.com/2012/06/coupon-binder-giveaway-2.html Check it out!

Love this Girl!

My little sprout!  I was finally able to find some elastics that were super stretchy.  She didn't protest at all when I created her sprout.

How big is Claire?  SO BIG!! She posed like this on her own.  Just want to squeeze her all the time.

I'm thinking of entering her in a baby contest.  Still debating for the Strawberry Days contest and/or the Freedom Festival Contest. We'll see.

You must now call him Master Kory

So, I haven't posted pictures from graduation and 1st birthday.  Since it's late, I'll be brief.  Enjoy!

 10-minute pre-grad ceremony nap on Meemaw's lap.  She was surprisingly good for the rest of the time until she could get home and get a real nap!

 Kory really did graduate!  I just didn't get any pictures of the graduation ceremony because my camera hates low-lit places.

 I made those...all by myself...if you couldn't tell those are plumerias.  Perfect for my Hawaiian girl!

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!  All decked out in her party dress waiting for guests to arrive.

                                                         Breaking in the party decor.

Just like her momma, she didn't like her cupcake very much.  Maybe it was because she didn't like the texture of the marshmallows.

So that's it in a nutshell. May is a busy month for us!

Well, I would post some pictures, but they're on my school computer and I didn't bring that one home tonight.  With this computer, I'm not sure what it will be able to handle, so I try not to put pictures on it.

Anyway,  I'll wait on the graduation and Claire's birthday updates since the pictures make the update so much better.

I'm just writing here because this is MY blog.  It's where I can vent, others can read, but I get to write whatever I want.  It's permission from me to take a little peek into my life.  If there's something I say that offends you, I can't necessarily say I'm sorry.  I get offended just like you do, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt and brush it off.  That is a hard thing to do; I know, because I have a hard time brushing it off but I'm learning and realizing some things just aren't worth being offended over.

I just have to say something then I'm signing out.

I absolutely hate when others think they can take advantage of someone just because they have always gotten what they wanted in life (in other words, they were spoiled).  My cousin asked my mom to baby sit her baby while she got her hair done--a couple hours, right?  6 hours later my cousin picked up her baby from my mom's house with no explanation of why she took 6 hours to get her hair done.  Keep in mind my mom was already watching another baby--her own granddaughter. My mom is ticked but didn't say anything!  It makes me mad; the whole thing just makes me mad.  Am I over-reacting?  I just had to get it off my chest.  Now I need to go pray that I can be more forgiving, understanding, and loving.  This is just one of several situations lately that make me so angry!