California Adventure

Tuesday we woke up and decided to try out California Adventure that day. We usually like that park better and end up spending two of our three days there, so we wanted to start there.

This was the only day we would be there without rain. It was still chilly, but at least dry!

The hotel we stayed at (Best Western) had a super yummy breakfast.

The walk to the parks was a good 20 or 30 minutes. Ugh.

Anyway, this day was definitely not my favorite. We spent forever trying to figure out the Max Pass and honestly, it just didn't work out that well for us. We started out with Soarin, which was amazing of course.

Then Brandon took these two girls on Ariel while I went on Soarin again with Tyler and Mckinley.

We eventually made our way to Cars and Brandon took Mckinley on Guardians of the Galaxy while I ended up stranded with Ava, Tyler, and Kallie with no stroller for like two hours. All we did was go on Ariel once and then sat around bored forever. Apparently there are fun things I could have been doing with little kids that I didn't know about.

The biggest downer was that the entire Bugs Land is closed down and under construction for something new. That's usually where we take the little kids while others are going on big rides. And it made all the big rides completely inaccessible from one another, so you had to walk around the entire park anytime you wanted to get anywhere. It was lame. The little kid rides in Cars Land were shut down. There was basically nothing Ava could do.

We even got stuck on the Toy Story ride for like 20 minutes. This was just not my favorite day.

We went and saw the Frozen Show at 5 and didn't love it, and then just went home when it was over. Actually, I think Brandon took the big kids on Soarin again while I waited with Ava. Yeah, not my favorite day. The weather was nice, the lines were decent, but that park just kinda sucks right now.

Disneyland

Back on Black Friday we bought Disneyland tickets for February. We went with two of Brandon's brothers and his mom. 

Because of my complicated pregnancy, we considered having me and Ava stay home and Brandon would just go with the older three (he's brave!). I thought I would be feeling better so back when Brandon decided to buy plane tickets, I had him buy one for me and Ava.

Well, when it was time for our trip I really wasn't feeling up to it, but I wanted to be there so bad, so we just braved it and went.

It was so fun letting the kids go on an airplane for the first time. Technically Mckinley went on one when she was a year old but of course she doesn't remember it.

They had so much fun looking out the windows, especially during take off.

Ava was pretty good. Never cried or anything but she was back and forth between our two rows a lot.

At the LA airport waiting for Lincoln to pick us up.

Traffic was bad (of course) on the way to the hotel. Tyler and Kallie fell asleep. So cute!

That evening we just walked to Downtown Disney, looked around in the stores, and then went hot tubbing.

The hotel we stayed at had their cereal and milk from breakfast available all day so a couple nights that's what we had for dinner. Perfect because our kids all like it! Walking to Downtown Disney and back was pretty hard on me and I was super nervous for the next three days in a row at the parks.

Pictures

Ava was dancing as I took this picture. This is the first time we actually let her build her own craft at Home Depot. The kids love doing this whenever we remember to!

Brandon got all excited about having Ava sleep in a big bed one night. She did finally fall asleep in here but it didn't last long. I think she fell off and ended up in bed with us. She's back to her crib. :)

Cute sisters!

A little trim for this one. I still want to cut more off...

Tyler and Kallie with their 100 days of school hat/masks. These guys sure love Kindergarten and are really excelling in school, scoring double what they should in some areas.

I have no idea who took this picture but I saw it and decided to post it. Lincoln laying on Ava's lap. Ava sure loves Lincoln and Megan!

January

Ava waited patiently in this long line of animals to get a check up from Kallie. Ha ha. So cute!

A fun evening at my mom's while Brandon had to take a quick trip to St. George.

Brandon took Tyler on a date to see Spiderman at the movies so eventually we made some one on one dates with the girls. Mckinley and I had dinner at Subway (that girl can down a 6 inch, no problem, I love it) and then went and saw Mary Poppins at the theater.

Ava listening to Kallie's heartbeat.

Kallie and I went to the dollar store, then a quick stop by Walmart where we got drenched in the parking lot on the way out in a crazy rain storm, and then had frosties at Wendy's.

Over the MLK Day weekend we went down to St. George (Hurricane) to do some work on the house there. I took a good before picture of the kids at the pool. Can't wait till the pool is finished.

We ended up catching a terrible cold virus from our cousins while we were there and spent the next week (plus) sick and missing school and absolutely miserable. Finally recovering now.

First french braid for Ava!

In the middle of our terrible sick week, Ava fell and completely displaced her tooth! I didn't even know that was possible. I didn't even know that was possible! It happened at like 4 in the afternoon and I didn't notice it at all. Her mouth was bleeding a little and I rinsed it out but I didn't look inside. Brandon noticed when he was getting her ready for bed that evening.

We ended up calling the dentist and had to wake up Ava and Brandon moved her tooth back into place. Poor girl! It was bleeding and she was just screaming. We had to try to hold it in place for like 8 minutes. And then for a couple days she had a hard time eating on it and complained about it hurting. It was such a crazy experience and I can't believe you can just reach your hand in someone's mouth and move their tooth like that! Here are the after pictures.

I wish I had a before picture of her clenching her teeth because that tooth went completely behind her bottom teeth. So glad it's fixed! Brandon is amazing!

Brandon is 35

Poor Brandon hates his birthday in January. He doesn't want gifts either so it feels like a big failure every year. Oh well.

We made him breakfast in bed and then he went to work for the day.

We love our tradition of going to Pizza Factory for birthdays. Mckinley and Kallie made their own salads at the salad bar and we loved the food. It was so good and we had a lot of fun.

Home for birthday cake. Brandon and I were able to go out on a date the night before while my mom babysat for us.

Cute Ava gets her first french braid. We seriously cannot get enough of this cutie. She is so fun and talks so much and everyone adores her!