Halloween

We got home from California Saturday morning at 3am. That night, we went to my parent's to celebrate with the Z family. We did our own trunk-or-treat and went inside for soup and hot chocolate. My sisters and mom did a little Halloween Bingo.

I led the family doing thriller and the monster mash


Will and Tyler were smokin' with their moves!

On Halloween, we went to Benj's parents. I got pics of all the kids before we headed out to trick-or-treat

Will was a dinosaur (my sister, Corey made the costume!)

Gabby was a bumblebee

Lydia was a flower!

I sure love these guys!

The kids loved trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Benj's parents live in a very established area so the old people just loved to even see kids coming to their doors. They loaded the kids up with as much as we would let them have : )


The whole family at the trunk-or-treat. I was a pilot and Benj was a tail-gater. (I loved the contrast with my brother, Jon, who was a BYU football player)

The kids were adorable with the excitement from going to random doors and getting candy! They loved it! Happy (belated) Halloween!

Lydia's Croup

Yes, I'm still blogging about our trip to California. So, the last post was how much fun it was celebrating Lydia's b-day. That night, Lydia was starting to have a deep cough and there was one point in the night where she was struggling to breath and had a fever. We gave her Tylenol and she calmed down and went back to sleep. By morning, she was happily eating and sounded a little raspy but didn't struggle to breath. We decided to give our last day at Disneyland a go. Right as we got parked, Lydia woke up and was really struggling to breath. Her little chest was collapsing and her throat was caving in. I dropped off Benj with the other kids at the entrance and headed over to the Urgent Care Center. The Dr. sent me to the Emergency Room 10 min away because she was struggling so much to breath. When I got in there, they had us come right in because she sounded so bad and gave her a breathing treatment. They gave her steroids and did an x-ray on her throat. The x-ray confirmed that she had inflamation in the throat. It's a type of croup that's manifested in the throat instead of it normally being in the chest. We waited a few hours and she was not getting much better. The dr. said he only felt comfortable giving her 2 treatments and that she would need to be transferred to the Children's Hospital a few miles away. I was so worried about my little Lydia and couldn't believe this was happening. The ambulance came to pick up Lydia and I followed them in my car.

This was Lydia's home for the next day. Looks like a prison cell, eh? She sure acted like she was being imprisoned. We were in isolation so we couldn't leave the room, poor girl!

By the time, they let me leave to pick up Benj and the kids, Disneyland had been closed for hours and they were all exausted! Benj ended up sleeping with the other kids in the car at the hospital parking garage for the night. Luckily, Lydia slept very well that night and didn't need any treatments.

Unfortunately, the next morning I asked for another treatment because I thought it would be good for her to have one last one before we took off. Come to find out, they can't release you until 6 hours after their last treatment. So Benj went to Rich's to pack our stuff while I tried to keep the little monkey at bay. She was feeling good enough to crawl around and so she would make that alarm sensor go off nonstop. The nurses got sick of making sure she was ok so they brought in this high chair to keep from making it go off so much.

That lasted about 10 minutes : )

We were finally released around 5pm and I drove us all the way home. I was done with Cali for the time being! She has taken quite a liking to the little bear they gave her at the hospital.

I sure love this little girl and am so grateful to Heavenly Father that she's ok!

Lydia's 1st Birthday

Lydia's 1st birthday fell on the wednesday that we were in California. We were planning on going to Sea World and the beach that day but Will and Gabby woke up with a fever and we thought we would give them some down time. We were staying at Rich's house (Benj's brother). Amy, Rich's wife was so sweet to make it a special birthday for Lydia. She blew up balloons, gave her a gift, and even decorated Lydia's little seat!

We started off the celebrations with balloon fights!

Will and Gabby were feeling pretty good by then but still needed to rest!


You're never too sick to have cake and ice cream, right?

Amy had music playing and her kids sure knew how to shake it!

Benj was doing his own zumba moves!

Don't you love how Amy decorated her chair? So cute!

Of course, I have to show off the cake I made for Lydia

Lydia was not afraid to dig into that cake. Will and Gabby didn't get into it nearly as much as Lydia. She was all about eating every last crumb!

Gotta love the hat!

Washing off in the sink!

Nice and warm!

Amy and Rich gave Lydia an adorable red sweater and cute silver shoes!

We got her a vibrating elephant that plays music. She loved it!

We were so grateful to Rich and Amy for making Lydia's birthday so fun! I sure do love my Pretty Lyddie! She's a momma's girl all the way and has such a sweet little personality!

The Happiest Place on Earth

We finally made it to Disneyland with the kids! We hadn't been since before we had Will and we wanted the kids to experience the magic! They did so amazing! They were on cloud 9! Here we are all ready to go!

I love Will's sweet shades!


Right as we walked in, there was Minnie Mouse! The girls couldn't take their eyes off her! It was so cute!

Oh, the excitement!

I love how they decorate the park during October. It was so cute! Some of the rides were even different and improved to have a better Halloween experience!

The kids loved fantasyland!

They were begging us to go on the train that goes around the park. Gabby just couldn't wait!

Gabby was a little nervous in the submarine Finding Nemo ride but it was pretty cute!

Benj and I did a few baby passes. You can go on a ride and then the other parent can go in the fast pass line. The kids were entertained waiting at Space Mountain.

Will and Gabby LOVED Mark Twain's Boat! I went on it with Gabby while Will and Benj were going on Thunder Mountain Railroad to pass the time and apparently Will wanted to go on the boat even more than the Railroad!

Gabby and Will loved to see all the ducks!

Will thought this big bear next to the rapids was pretty awesome. He had to show his muscles in his pic with it!

The kids did not have enough eyes to see everything on the Little Mermaid ride. They were loving it! Even cute little Lydia was constantly pointing at stuff with little grunts!

The kids really wanted to go on this rocket ship ride but there were no lap riders so the kids had to be buckled on their own. We had Will and Gabby hold hands so they wouldn't be scared. So cute!

Even Lydia rode by herself next to me. She so wanted to just stand and take in the view. Those blasted seat belts!

This was Mickey Mouse's Ferris Wheel. Can you tell thier excited to get on it?

There was even a carousel in California Adventure. I think these were her favorites! She would spout off as many animals as she could decifer!

The first time we went, the kids loved the "Tough to be a Bug" 3D show

So, those were the first 2 days of Disneyland. So fun! We took a day off to go to Sea World and the beach but unfortunately Will and Gabby got sick so we hung out at Benj's brother's and celebrated Lydia's B-Day (will be another post). Total bummer, Lydia got sick the next day and could barely breath because of the croup she had so I took her to the hospital (Also a seperate post) while Benj took the kids to their last day there.

Benj said they would be really excited on the rides and then crash in the stroller and then get exicted on the next ride and crash, etc.

Gabby got pretty scared the second time they went to the 3D Bug show

These kids could be in magazines advertizing these glasses, right?!
They sure liked the tea cups!

We saved Toon Town for the last day because we wanted to make it the apex of the trip! Hindsight is 20/20. I'm so sad Lydia and I missed this part!

Gabby could not contain her excitement seeing Mickey Mouse! She ran up and gave him a HUGE hug and Will couldn not stop laughing.

We are so glad we made it there! It was some amazing family time and feel so blessed in how it all worked out so well!