I can't believe that just a month ago we were in Disneyland! December just flew by! I took over 300 photos plus my sister-in-law and mother-in-law took pictures so there was no way I could include all of our photos. So I made some collages and I'll do my best to explain some of the pictures. You can also look at the book that my sister-in-law and I made to give to Jared's mom for Christmas.
Day one...
These photos are from our long trip from Orem to St. George, then from St. George to Disneyland. We had our 2 nieces with us and Ethan, all crammed in the back of our little car. Poor Margy was stuck between two car seats. The trip to St. George was long and some what painful due to an unhappy Ethan but the ride to Disneyland was not bad at all. We stopped at a rest stop about half way to Disneyland and the kids loved it! There were rocks to climb on and jump off and wide open space for the kids play tag. Once we got to California we dropped the girls off at the hotel and we went to Disneyland to get our tickets! It was so exciting! Then we headed to my Aunt's who was so kind and let us stay with her during our visit.
DISNEYLAND!!! The first day at Disneyland was so busy but so much fun. We started out in Tomorrowland and rode "Buzz" first. Great way to start our trip :) Ethan loved this ride and we went on it another 2 or 3 times while where were there. Then Jared took Ethan on the astro ride...along wait for such a short ride but Ethan seemed to really enjoy it. Next we headed to Fantasyland and I took him on Dumbo. It was pretty fun and he loved making dumbo go up and down. Next was Toontown where we meet Mickey and Goofy. Goofy was first and if you look closely you can see that Ethan is scared to death! He is on the very of tears. By the end of our trip he was more then happy to meet the characters though. I think it help that I made an autograph book for him to give to the characters. I'll have to post that later. Mickey was fun to meet but Ethan was so tired that he didn't even smile! So we rode the train in hopes he'd fall asleep but instead it just gave him a second wind. Somewhere in there we watched my niece and nephew in the Jedi academy! Way cool! If you look at the book we made you can see pictures of them fighting the dark side. Such a fun thing for kids. Next we ran over to California Adventure because we wanted to see the Aladdin show, but first we stopped at A Bug's Land. This place is awesome! Lots of fun small rides for Ethan and an amazing 4D movie! The wait for Aladdin was about an hour but totally worth it! I loved this show! We headed back to Disneyland and rode Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nightmare before Christmas and let Ethan run around on Tarzan's tree house. Then we called it a night.
Day three...
Most of day three was in California Adventure. We rode Soarin' then let the kids play on this boat play ground for about an hour while the older kids road on a couple of rides. Then we headed over to the Paradise Pier and rode Mickey's fun wheel. I was way to scared to ride in the moving carts so we just rode the regular ones. It fun and so pretty! Jared went on the BIG rides while I entertained Ethan (I'm not a big ride kind of person). Ethan played with his cousins and rode the carousel which he absolutely LOVED! Just look at his face :) Next we headed over to Hollywood Pictures Backlot. This place was so cool! We caught one of the shows where at the end 3 characters come to life. Ethan met Woody and Mickey! I loved this Mickey! He was so cute and Ethan was not afraid of him. Next we went on the Monsters ride. We really wanted Ethan to meet Sully and go on this ride because he watches Monsters Inc. all of the time. Sadly Sully was not out this day but Ethan really like the ride. Then we went into the Animation building and watched Turtle Talk, learned how to draw Winnie the Pooh, and went into the Sorcerer's workshop. Ethan was excited to do the drawing but instead of drawing he was pounding on the paper with his pencil. The worker dude didn't like this and took his pencil away and gave him a crayon. Totally melt down!!! So I had to leave early and didn't even get to finish my drawing. I was bumbed. After that we went back to Disneyland to get some lunch and ran into Jared's parents who were waiting to watch the parade. So we sat with them and enjoyed the christmas parade. Then we got some lunch headed back to California Adventure to see the pixar parade and then back to Disneyland to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately both mine and Jared's cell phones died so we never saw his family after the first parade. We were hoping to see them at the pixar parade but no one showed up. We rode on the peter pan ride and then headed up to It's a Small world for the fireworks. They were pretty cool but we soon realized that we were missing all of the ones by the castle. Next time I'm getting a spot in front of the castle so I can see all of the fireworks. After that we headed home and that took forever! The park was so crowded by then! It felt like wall to wall people from the moment we left It's a small world until we got through the gates. Weekends plus Disneyland are no fun for me! Next time we are going during the week.
Day four, a well needed break...
Day four was our break away from Disneyland. We went to Crystal Cove and enjoyed the beach. It was kind of cold that day so I didn't really think we'd get into the water but I should have know better. It only took a few short minutes before Ethan's pants were wet. I didn't bring a change of clothes for him and his pants never got dry so he had to where is girl cousin's purple pants LOL! After playing at the beach we had a picnic lunch and then headed towards the tide pools. They were really cool. I totally didn't expect to see so much life in these little puddles of water.
Day five...
This was our last day at Disneyland and the last day of our trip. We started out the day with one of our all time favorite rides, Toy Story Mania. We got the park just after it opened and were able to walk right on to the ride. This is one of the newest rides and usually has an hour wait but not for us. Jared's sister and her family rode the ride before we did and they were waiting for us. Just as we were getting ready to get on the ride one of the workers noticed that we were all wearing the same shirts, so he let them in line and they got to ride the ride again! After that we went back to Hollywood Pictures Backlot in hopes to see Sully and we did! This was the one character that we wanted Ethan to meet and he loved him. He was so excited and even to this day he talks about seeing Sully and Handy Manny. We went back to A Bug's Land to ride a few more rides and then it was back to Disneyland. We rode Buzz one more time, rode the Winnie the Pooh ride and meet Winnie the Pooh and Brier Bear. Then it was off to see Santa. Only the line to see Santa was so long that we didn't see him. Instead we saw his reindeer, meet Pluto and took a few really cute family pictures. After that we went on Nemo and then called it good. We were going to stay for their Christmas program but the park was so crowded that we decided to just hit the road. We still had a 7 hour drive back to St. George that night.
So there you have it our wonderful family trip to Disneyland. We really enjoyed it and loved spending time with family. We can't wait to go again.
Growing up my family lived with my grandparents. One of the many blessing that came from this was spending lots of time with my Grandma Withers. She past away about 9 years ago but our family still carries on her tradition of making Christmas candy. When I was young it was a month long thing but now that we are older, grown up and busier we do it all in one day. This year we made lots of yummy treats but I was terrible about taking pictures. Here are just a few that I took. Ethan, Jared and our friend Chad are dipping marshmallow in chocolate. One of Ethan's favorite treats.
The it was off through the corn maze. Ethan had a lot of fun running and choosing which way we should go. 
Once we got done with the maze they had some blow up slides for the kids to play on. Ethan really enjoyed this but it was so cold that he only got to play for a few minutes.
Next it was on to picking our 
Who I love with all of my heart. Happy 4 year anniversary Babe! I love you!
My wonderful and thoughtful friend Brittney gave Ethan this adorable Mickey Mouse that I used as the center piece.
I made Mickey Mouse cupcakes
I had ears for the kids to wear
We played a bean bag toss game that Jared and I made and Jenny made the cute bean bags...
Then we played duck, duck, goose only the kids said Mickey, Mickey, Mouse. This game seemed to be a big hit. Even the older kids enjoyed this game.
I think the party was a big hit. I worked really hard on it and really enjoyed the out come. Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate Ethan's 2nd Birthday!