Memorial Day

This Memorial Day was one of the funnest ones for us yet. We started out in the morning with an amazing breakfast at Brandon's parents' house. 

Then drove to Payson Canyon for a short little hike up to a waterfall.

I love the sun rays in this picture.

All three of our kids had a blast walking around and throwing rocks into the water.

Came home for lunch and naps and then we went to a BBQ and swimming with some of Brandon's parents' neighbors.

The pool was so warm and the kids just loved it. They could have stayed in there for hours.

After I got the twins out and got them dressed, Kallie kept making a mad dash for the pool and then would turn around like she was going to crawl backwards into the pool. She was so determined!

Anyway, we had a great time and really enjoyed the holiday.

Mckinley's First Dance Recital

Mckinley had her first dance recital and it was so cute!

We signed her up last minute in January (she missed the first two weeks of class) at a place called Dansation.

She had so much fun going every week and danced her heart out at the recital. Her group had the most adorable costumes!

I don't expect anyone else to watch these, and I'm not even sure if blogger will upload them, but I am posting these on here so I can watch them from wherever I am.

Tap Dance

Ballet Dance

The best family shot we could get. Ha ha ha.

Kristen is so nice and left work to do Mckinley's hair and make up and to come to the recital.

My mom and dad came and also Brandon's parents but I don't have a picture of them with Mckinley. I need to get it from Ross.

Anyway, we had a blast and are so proud of Mckinley. She is such a joy. Easiest kid ever.

Mckinley Turns 4

I'm not sure I know anyone who gets more excited for her birthday than Mckinley does. She is the cutest thing and makes birthdays so fun.

We started the day out with her Mickey Mouse pancake for breakfast.

Then opened presents.

Then we had a little party with our play group friends.

Mckinley wore this hat almost the whole day.

Tyler found a leftover cupcake on the table. :)

After the party we went to lunch.

Then my mom watched the twins while I took Mckinley shopping for princess dresses. Once we got home from that, she wore this for the rest of the day.

Of course I found Kallie up on the kitchen table playing with the birthday decorations.

Mckinley had all sorts of ideas for what she wanted her cake to be. She started talking about it back in January when we made a train cake for Brandon's birthday. She went from a princess cake to a butterfly cake to a strawberry cake, and more. I suggested we make a rainbow cake (since I saw this super easy idea on Pinterest) and she was all for it. Sooooo easy to please.

It was so fun that she could make it herself.

She loved her rainbow cake. The next day she wanted her nails painted in rainbow colors matching her cake, and she has talked about it a bunch since.

Pizza, cake and ice cream party that evening with some of Brandon's family.

A few days later Brandon and I took Mckinley to Pizza Factory for a special birthday date. She was so excited that they made her a number 4 pizza.

That Saturday we went to a party for Utah Fertility Center patients and she pretty much thought we were still celebrating her birthday. This girl definitely deserves a week long celebration if anyone does. She is the best kid anyone could ever ask for.

  

At 4 years old Mckinley:

Loves drawing, painting, coloring, writing numbers and letters.

Wants to wear a skirt or a dress every single day.

Loves watching movies and has an incredible memory for the songs that are in them.

She quotes movies and is really good at it.

Can ride her bike all the way around the loop by our house.

Always wants to make a cave, which just means bringing her mattress out into the living room and sleeping there.

Has been so good at wearing her glasses since day 1 (which was two weeks before her birthday).

Loves going to her sunbeam class in primary.

Is the best big sister in the world and loves playing with Tyler and Kallie.

Home Sweet Home

We knew the trip home would be better than on the way there when it started out like this. We never had even a minute on the way down where all three kids were sleeping at once.

We stayed in a different hotel in Vegas on the way home that had a really fun pool. We had amazing weather this time too and had a really fun afternoon swimming in the pool.

Love love love this picture!!!!

That night we went to Dickey's BBQ for dinner. I had never eaten there before and thought it was sooooo good. When I told Mckinley to smile she put her hands in the air. Still in roller coaster mode I suppose. :)

So driving home when we were about an hour out we put on Surf's Up and I said Mckinley, when this show is over, we'll be home. She started giggling and laughing and then was literally crying tears of joy. It was so awesome.

Now that the trip is over, I think we can say we enjoyed it and maybe, just maybe, we will do something like this again. It definitely wasn't the ideal age for Tyler and Kallie but we knew that going in to it and the timing wasn't up to us.

California Adventure Day 2

Finally!! A fun day where Tyler and Kallie were actually good!!! I'm not sure if they were just used to it by then, or if it was because we took them on a lot more rides that they could enjoy, but we finally had a good day. Even though it was sooooo hot.

Our first day there it was around 80 and it felt so hot but the forecast for our other two park days were in the high 90s. Luckily there was a lot of wind. I think that saved us.

My first time on the ferris wheel at California Adventure. It was super windy up top which felt soooo good.

Mckinley and I rode the jelly fish ride together.

I took this guys to A Bug's Land to get in the splash pad and cool down but they fell asleep on the way over. They only slept about an hour but it must have been enough because we didn't have to go back to the hotel once the entire day. We stayed in the park from open to close.

This was the scene a lot of the time. All the strollers and a few people watching all the babies while people went on rides.

Mckinley and Brandon rode the swings together. This is a ride my stomach can't handle.

These cute shirts had the number of grandchildren in the order they were born. Such a fun idea. We got so many comments the whole week on our shirts. Everyone loved them. These two had a blast feeding ducks while we waited for someone going on a ride.

Tyler and Kallie both loved the carousel. We took them on it a few times.

 Mckinley is such a doll. She was such a great age for a Disneyland trip.

The parade at California Adventure was really cute. We did quite a few things this trip because of all the little kids that I had never done before and I really enjoyed it.

I had three items on my food wish list and got them all. Dole whip, a corn dog, and then that Filipino dessert I already blogged about. So happy about all three!

So sad that Sam lives so far away. Mckinley was in heaven being with him so much.

On the cars ride. Such an amazing ride! And we did it right using fast passes and stroller passes the whole time. We never waited longer than 15 minutes to get on. Thanks to Brandon's mom and dad who waited in line to get fast passes for us first thing in the morning.