Happiest Place: First Day (PM)

After lunch on our first day at Disneyland, our good friends from So Cal met up with us. Kate and Jim Watkins and Baby B. This was our first time meeting their little man and we all ate him up. B is an adorable, happy little guy and we all miss him already!

We wanted to hit some of the larger roller coaster rides after lunch and tried Space Mountain first. When we went to Disneyland 3 years ago, this ride made Emma and Josh cry, but Rachel loved it (she was 5!) This time, no one cried, I was very proud!

Here is our group waiting for the Daddies to ride on Space Mountain (they watched the babies on the first trip!)

"Honey I Shrunk the Audience" was a real thrill for Ben, who had never seen a 4-D movie before.

Chillin' with my Disney homies, Hillary (our babysitter) and Emma (our ALMOST teen-ager!)

Katrina was getting tired from walking, so she rode in the stroller and Benny rode on Daddy's shoulders! We headed to California Adventure for some NEW EXCITEMENT (Damian, Eric, Ben and Katrina had never been to this park)

Next, we tried out the BIGGEST roller coaster at Disneyland: California Screamin'. Emma and Josh were a little terrified at first, but really ended up loving it! They talked Rachel into going on it, afterwards!

Overall, with DREAM FAST PASSES and Stroller Passes, the 3 oldest kids rode this ride between 3-5 times! I think our next trip will be to Universal Studios for the REALLY BIG RIDES!

While all the "older" kids were riding, Kate watched the "littles." She and Hillary really were great sports about stickin' around with those to short to ride the big rides. What good friends they are, THANKS GIRLS!

OH, here's another shot of our GROUP OF NINE, waiting for the Bugs Life 4-D movie. Too cute, with all our glasses on, ready to go! Especially Damian, who was trying to look more buggish than the rest of us. What a goof-ball!

My Katrina RARELY allows photographs of her cute mug. When she IS amiable to photography, she poses SOOO Cute!

More Cutie-Bugs!

The Bug's Life area is very imaginative. The whole area is made to look like you are as small as a bug. It is really for toddlers, but one of my favorite places in the park, because of it's cool effects. Everyone wanted to ride in a Chinese Take-Out box!

Ben and Daddy on Bug's Life Bumper Cars!


This ride squirts perfume on you, so as you travel through the watermellon rind and cookie box, with your caterpillar tour guide, you can smell the watermellon and cookies! Very cool. I talked the kids into riding 3x, but then then told me it was the most boring ride in Disneyland. Oh well, someday I'll bring my little grandkids here and we'll ride this ride all day.

At the end of the day, after the big kids had ridden the TOWER OF TERROR with their Dad (and I babysat the littles) we found one of our favorites: WALL E.

You might notice everyone's clothes are soaked! We made a really smart choice to go on the Grizzly River Run as our last stop of the day at 8:30pm! We drove home shivering and REALLY ready to climb into dry PJs and go to bed!

SEE YOU TOMORROW, for Day #2!!

Freedom Writers

I just watched a GREAT movie: Freedom Writers.

Hilary Swank plays a teacher that "saves" a class of integrated students that hate each other and have low scores. It looks to be a typical movie of this genre at first glance.

The teacher in me likes this genre in general, but I LOVED this movie.

It was real.
It was powerful.
It was emotional.
It was inspiring.

If you haven't seen it, go rent/TiVo it. Just be sure to MUTE the ONE "F" word at 1:50.

It's based on a book called, The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell (the teacher the movie is based on) I'm going to check it out and read it today on the drive HOME from Disneyland, OK? I'll get back to you if it's any good.

Happiest Place: First Day (AM)

We made it from St. George to Anaheim around 6pm on Sunday night. . . How much Luggage does a family of 9 need for 3 days at Disneyland?

I really love how serious Benny is with his backpack, asking his Daddy how soon he'd see Mickey!

We brought my youngest brother, Eric. He was a ton of fun to be with and kept us all laughing with his Nacho Libre impersonations. On the tram to Disneyland, it was a little cold and our St. George boy, Eric couldn't keep from showing his chill!!

Our first stop was Tarzan's Treehouse and all the rides in Adventureland.

I love this photo of the girls outside The Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square!

And this one of them INSIDE The Haunted Mansion! This ended up being one of Katrina's favorite rides. She liked all the "Horror" rides. . . including Snow White!

We tried Pirates of the Caribean, but didn't love it . . . except the Johnny Depp "Pop-Ups!"

In Critter Country we tried Splash Mountain and thouroughly terrified Ben. He REALLY hated this ride.

I can't tell if Hillary liked this one or not . . .

Rachel loved it, getting soaking wet and enjoying every minute!

Then we went to Thunder Mountain . . . an old favorite!

Josh was still a little sick with his head cold, you can tell he's not 100%

These girls are quite the drama queens! I rode with Rachel and she is the MOST fun on Roller Coasters. She giggles the whole way and holds on so tight. I couldn't convince her to put her arms up!

These two weren't too interested until the last day in Roller Coasters, so they stayed to watch everyone else. At the end of Thunder Mountain we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Disney personnel were handing out DREAM FAST PASSES to all exiting the ride. You can see one around Josh's neck. It has a fast pass for every ride in both parks with NO time limit. We never stood in another line our whole trip that was longer than 15 min! It was a real blessing!

After meeting Woody, we went to Disneyland City Hall to get DREAM FAST PASSES for our whole party that wasn't on Thunder Mountain.

I love Roller Coasters, but spinning rides make me sick, so I photographed the teacups, insead of participating! This is the fam, waiting their turn in line!

My Cutie Boys, trying to break the speed of Light, spinning in their cup!

Some of our favorite characters . . . Pan and Wendy.

Our last stop before lunch was Mickey's ToonTown.

What a cute little button!!

The cutest "Dog" I've ever seen!

This might be the ONLY group shot of all 9 of us . . . with our friend, MICKEY MOUSE!

Josh took a moment to hug his best buddy in the world. He really loves Mickey.

On to Minnie Mouse's house, with my two cute girls. Check out Emma's DREAM PASS, all the little tabs are what you tear off to ride on the most popular rides with NO LINES. Usually the lines on those rides are about one hour each.

What a little TEENY-BOPPER! I love this photo!

The last photo before lunch, and probably the last one I'm in for the whole trip, so enjoy . . . ha, ha! Rachel really loved waiting in line to hug and meet all the characters and I loved chatting with her one on one as we waited! More Disneyland Tomorrow!

Happy THXGVG, don't forget sunscreen!

Today we are spending the day with our good friends, The Watkins of So. Cal. This cartoon of Thanksgiving on the beach seems appropriate, doesn't it? We've invaded their family get together with SEVEN IDIARTS and ONE BABYSITTER and ONE GOOLD (my little brother!)

Bill and Glenda Watkins have 5 children, all grown and/or married. Damian was roommates with one son, JIM at BYU. The two of them introduced their younger brothers, JustTea Idiart and Dave Watkins, who became best friends also.

I can't wait to see the Watkins family. I really love these people and have many fond memories of watching them surf, play waterpolo, swim . . . OH, and I flooded their toilet BADLY at Jim's mission farewell. That's a fond memory!!

I think being with the Watkins will trump Disneyland for Damian and that's the best part of all, I love to see him giddy with laughs.

Family Photos

We had our family photos taken by our friend Bethi while in St. George. . . I've only seen a few, but they look GREAT!!

Go HERE to see more, on our photographer's blog!!

A Couple of Reception Candids

My brother Mike and his wife Becca were married 3 days ago. Click HERE for photos of their wedding day. They are very adorable.

My 2nd favorite pictures from the reception. . . my two little girls with my cousin's daughter, Olivia. I googled this whole cousin naming business and apparently, they are SECOND COUSINS.

Rachel adores her new Aunt Becca. As does the rest of the family.

My mom and her two oldest grandkids, Emma and Josh.

Grandma is trying to get Katrina to be in a photo, but after the family photo session and pictures at the temple, Katrina was DONE. For someone with severe anxiety about pictures, I am really proud of all the good ones she did take!

We brought our babysitter, Hillary along on this trip. She is an amazing young woman. I think I'll devote a whole week's worth of posts to Hillary. We've driven for 21 hours so far and she has kept the kids happy and entertained, she's watched the kids while Damian and I have gone out, she helped iron tablecloths for hours, and she does ALL the family hair (except Damian) beautifully and repeatedly. Not only that, but she can spell her name in pretzels. It doesn't get much better than that!

I was thrilled to see two of Michael's best friends at the reception. Zack, a boy I used to babysit and our cousin, Jaron, grew up in Valdez with Michael, from birth. They were all born within 12 months of each other and raised a lot of HECK together!

My FAVORITE picture from the reception: THE VALDEZ GIRLS. All these women at the reception lived in my hometown of Valdez, Alaska. It was a mini-reunion!

I REALLY had a great time with my cousin Andrea over the weekend. She and her brother, Jaron, are the only cousin I knew well as a child, since we were raised in the same Alaskan town. Andrea's about 6 years younger than me, but now that we're married and raising kids (she's Olivia's mom) it seems TO ME like we're the same age! I read her BLOG everyday and probably comment that much. She is so funny, has a great playlist and adorable kids. She also loves her honey as much as I love mine, which I appreciate. And she loves TWILIGHT. Enough said.

Andrea's mom is my beloved Aunt Linda. She pretty much spoiled me and loved me like I was her own little girl. She watched me when my parents traveled, she introduced me to "Gilligan's Island" and "I Dream of Jeannie" and if I got sick while at her house, I could stay home from school and drink 7-up. Her bathtub had no time limit (other kids needing the water) and best of all, she had little animals that I could soak and play with for hours! Of course, then Andrea came along and I had to share, but Linda still loved me and I knew it. We did special crafts together and she taught my Primary and Young Women's classes at church. I love her very much and ALWAYS enjoy spending time with her.

My good friend, Jeanne was like a second mother to me. She and my mom were pals and both had their babies every two years. Four of my siblings have Best Friends that were Jeanne's children (Michael's was Zack). I'm the oldest of them all, so I was the supreme babysitter. I loved those kids and I loved Jeanne. Her home was warm and inviting, she always had a listening ear and an open mind and heart. She loved my parents and siblings no matter what and I have turned to her for advice and friendship for the last 30 years or so!!

Lastly, my mom and I. Aren't these dresses cute? My mom made them! She designed the pattern for mine and whipped it out in about one day. She's a genius at sewing and is a wonderful mother. It was pretty busy and we didn't get to spend much time together, but we did enjoy ironing all the tablecloths for the reception. OK, we hated it, but we enjoyed being together!

This is my little man, Benny hanging out at the Candy Bar. And daring me to try and stop him from rotting his teeth.

Damian took the kids home early and I stayed to party with my brother Paul and his kids. They took me home and we took turns taking photos in the car. Ariana took the photo of Matthew, I took the photo of Ariana and Matthew (the 3 year old!) took the photo of me. I must say, I think those two might have a future in photography! This is the best photo of me I've see since my Senior Pictures, back in 1992!!