Disney World

We went to Disney World around Halloween this year. My sister Alisha, her family and my parents came with us. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom for the first few nights and it was AMAZING! We had a Savannah view from our room and we were able to see giraffes,zebras and a few other animals out our window/balcony at anytime during the day. The second half of the week we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. That was great too. We were much closer to the parks during this part of the stay. From the Wilderness Lodge we were able to take a boat ride to Magic Kingdom. Everywhere else was bus rides. Disney put so much detail into thier hotels it was very neat. We had a lot of time (8 hours) sitting in the Animal Kingdom lodge waiting til check-in time, therefore we were able to explore the hotel. I kind of wish we would have had time to explore the Wilderness lodge too, maybe not 8 hours but an hour or two would have been cool.
Animal Kingdom
The Animal Kingdom was our first park visit. We had a blast. We were welcomed in by Mickey and Minney, we saw the Jungle Parade, went on a Safari, and rode rides of course. I think that this park was probably my favorite. It is a park you can get done in one day. I do not think that I would want to do more than that but we sure had fun while we were there.
The Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom was park number two. If you have been to Disneyland than you have pretty much been to Magic Kingdom. Having said that, it was still a blast and the only park that we went to more than one day. There is just so much to do there and I still do not think we got everything. Because we were there during Halloween we bought the extra tickets for Mickey's Halloween Party. We were hesitant to buy them but they were deffintaly worth every penny. There was an awesome nighttime parade, (which I think was my favorite parade), a great firework show, lots of candy (which we all know I love). The kids had fun dressing up and going to trick or treating around the Magic Kingdom. A couple of days after Halloween we came back and went to the Electric Parade and thier normal firework show which were also good.
Hollywood Studios
The third park we visited was Hollywood Studios. For us that was a great half day trip. They had some fun rides, the Playhouse Disney show was fun, and of course we had to hit up the Star Wars area.
Epcot
The last park we visited was Epcot. By this time we were all tired of walking and to be totally honest I could have done without it. The few rides they had were fun. I did get a great Christmas present for Chet at one of the shops. But mostly we walked and walked and walked. Because we had 5 kids under 6 we were not about to go shopping in all the different countries but I am sure they would have been great.
However, thier firework show Illuminations was by far my favorite firework show!

Chet's Sister reccommended a website called tourguidemike.com I too would highly recommend that as well. You pay a small fee (like $20) and he helps you map out a plan for when you are there based on your ages, what you want to do, when and what rides to go on to avoid standing in line, etc. He has so many articles to help you make your DisneyWorld trip as fun as can be. We followed his recommendations and I think that we hit the best of the best at each park. This website would be a must if you are going during peak season.

When we the boys what thier favorites were they said
cooper. lodges. toys (making lightsaber). dinosaur ride
beckham- tower of terror. star wars. space mtn.
chet- halloween parade. AK lodge. everest ride
korryn- illuminations. halloween parade. everest ride

We had a great vacation, the weather was awesome it rained for a few hours one day and other than that perfect, we had fun being together. This is not a relaxing vacation, but very very fun!

Beckham is 5!

I cannot believe that Beckham is already 5. He is so happy and such a joy to have in our family. Beckham is all about Star Wars. Naturally he chose Star Wars as the theme of his birthday party. Beckham had a few friends over to practice Jedi skills, played Star Wars bingo, knocked out a Darth Vader Pinata (with 2 hits from Master Beckham), Lastly the boys were able to defet Darth Vader and Savage Oppress. Beckham loved all his presents from friends and family.

Happy Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween this year. We celebrated Halloween with Mickey and his friends in Disney World. (Another post will come later with detail from our trip).
Beckham and Cooper were dressed up as a Pirate and the Prince of Persia. Quincey was a very cute Ladybug. This being my first Halloween dressing up a girl was very exciting!!

Quincey's Birthday!

Quincey is ONE!! Can you believe it? We can hardly believe it! She is so dang cute and we love every minute with her. She is such a happy baby. She still likes me (mom) the best, but she does love her brothers and dad.

Quincey makes the funniest faces.

One of her favorite things to do is pullout all of the kids books.
Quincey is getting braver everyday with her walking skills. She is one tough chick, when she falls she usually gets right back up and tries again. Quincey is getting very vocal. She lets us know what she wants. Hopefully she will start using words soon.

We gave Quincey her very own (6 in) cake she was so dainty. Sticking only her finger in the frosting and then licking it off, after a few minutes we gave her a fork and she was able to eat more at a time. By the time she was done she had quite a bit on her face and hands. I love first birthdays!!
When asked, "What do you love about Quincey"? Chet said, "I love her smile". Cooper, "I love that she loves me". Beckham said, "I love that she is learning to fold her arms during prayers. " I say, "I love her hugs".
We love you Quincey. Thank you for completing our family.

Schools Started!!

Well school is underway. Cooper is in First grade. He is enjoying school and actually said that his first day was GREAT!! Now two months later he says that school is boring but I think he still is having fun.

Beckham is in his Second year of preschool. He goes three days a week. He has quite a few of his friends going this year so I am sure that he is having an excellent year.
While the boys are at school, I have about 4 hours a week with only Quincey at home and it feels a little wierd and very very quiet. However, I do enjoy that time with Quincey or alone if she is sleeping.

Lost Tooth

Cooper lost his first tooth while we were camping this month. The tooth next to it is now loose. My little boy is quickly turning into a big boy. My dad started an auction for his first tooth. Grandma won the tooth for $10. About fifteen minutes after we pulled the tooth out Cooper started to cry saying that he wanted his tooth back in. He was so sad. It took some convincing to help him see that it is okay to have a missing tooth and that a new one will grow back in. Cooper is now excited to have another one loose. (I know Cooper's hair looks awesome in this picture. Remember we were camping).

Summer trip to Layton

The kids and I took two weeks and went to my parents house in Layton. The first weekend we were there we had a Firth Family Reunion (my great grandparent on my dad's side), Dad and his siblings were incharge. Since the reunion was to be held at my parents house and Dad's siblings live farther away, dad did a lot of the organizing the events. They decided on a Mountain Man Randavou theme. A good family friend Rod Larkin is a true Mountain Man so he let us borrow his full size T-Pee (which was really big) and then came and helped us shoot bows/arrows and throw the tamahawk. That night we camped out either in the t-pee or in our tents. It was a lot of fun to see the extended family. Growing up we did a lot with the extended family and now living so far away I am very thankful for blogs and facebook to keep in touch. I sometimes get sad that my children will not have the close relationship with thier cousins that I had with mine.



The whole next week we went with my immidiate family to Smith Moorehouse Campgrounds up in oakley/kamas area and camped. We were right next to a river and there was a small lake for fishing and canoeing close by. It rained for the first two days (not cool at all) but then the rest of the week was beautiful. During one of the rainstorms, the family was huddled under the tent that covered the food table, I looked out the window and either a flash of lightning or a serious gust of wind made a tree break in half and land right in front of my tent. Thankfully it only landed on the corner of the tent and only put a small hole in the corner. That was crazy, it could have been so much worst.
I felt very blessed that no one was in the tent or that the tree did not fall in the center of the tent. I expressed to the boys,"Heavenly Father sure did bless us by not having the tree do more damage." Cooper responded, "If Heavenly Father wanted to really bless us he would not have let the tree fall at all." HA Classic Cooper. Things that we did while camping, we took the canoe out and went hiking, played lots of scattagories and of course roasted marshmellows. Cooper and Beckham are quite the pyros. Grandma bought the boys a wood carved sling shot so they spent a lot of time slinging rocks into the forest. One day Cooper earned $5 for floating down 15 feet of the river. The water was SO SO cold. Beckham earned $10 for jumping out of the canoe into the lake. Again this was so cold they deffintaly earned that money. One of the boys favorite times of the days was when it was time to start the fire. They (especially Cooper) are total pyros. Quincey never and I mean never stepped a foot on the ground. I brought up an extra pack and play so that she could play in that and not have to crawl around in the dirt. So she was either held or playing in the crib. She was a trooper. When we went Hiking i put her in the hiking backpack and off we went. I think that she really liked that.




The last week we went back to my parents house and spent most of the days swimming in thier pool. They have a big back yard so when we were not swimming the boys were running around back there. We also rode one of Grandpa's horses. Cooper especially liked to ride. Quincey thought it was fun too. Beckham could take or leave the riding. We had such a fun visit I felt like we could have stayed even longer. Aside from getting very little sleep with all three kids in the same room with me it was a perfect getaway.