Once Upon a Summer

We had so much fun his summer! It was hard to start back up in the schedule of school. It was great playing with cousins, going to water parks and pools, and soaking in time outside. Here are the random shots of our ordinary days:

Magic Kingdom

Day 2 of Disney was spent at Magic Kingdom. We did lots of rides and met Anna and Elsa and saw all the night shows. It was so fun!

We happened by a show on the castle stage. Singing, dancing, and fireworks meant we had to stay until the end even though it was more than halfway through and we had no idea what the story was about. 

The girls went to meet Anna and Elsa and the boys did their own thing. I sarcastically told Lydia to be sad that we were meeting the princesses and she posed perfectly.  She is such a goof. 

We had to get a picture of Cinderella's real, sparkling glass slipper!

Anna was so cute talking about how Abby and Lydia are sisters just like she and Elsa are sisters.  The girls were speechless and looked star-struck.

Elsa sparkled and swished her cape each time she moved.  I think both girls just grinned and nodded the whole minute they were with her :)  

The kids got spoiled by Grandma and we made them pose by the castle with their spoils of the Castle Couture Shoppe. 

Sir Sam, the knight, fiercely guarding the castle from dragons and evil villians:

Princess Lydia with her crown and the cutest Anna and Elsa upside-down doll (who is frequently in Lydia's arms):

Princess Abby with her cute Dusney charm necklace. She asked Grandma how much she could spend and then carefully picked out each charm and added it all up. She has worn it every day and has plans on expanding her charm collection each holiday and every time she goes to Disney: 

We rode the Little Mermaid ride and loved seeing our white clothes glowing with the black lights. Sam rode with Grandma and Baba Z to protect them :)

And then, for the females bragging rights for the rest of time, we soundly beat the boys in a race.  Meanwhile, Grandma and Baba had a very angry, screaming, snotty-nosed, snack-covered Andrew.  What was in reality about 10 minutes probably felt very long to them and to the poor people within ear-shot of Andrew.  As soon as I got back to him, he resorted to soft snuffles and many, many hugs. 

While Sam and Roy rode Space Mountain, the rest of us filled out time with other rides and a show. When Sam got off the ride he told Roy, "My dreams came true!"  A roller coaster addict has been created. 

After a yummy dinner with a view of the castle, we enjoyed the Electric Parade, an amazing show where they lit up the castle, and the fireworks display, which Sam recorded so he could share it with his kindergarten teacher and any other interested person.  Before the fireworks even started, I was asking the kids what the best part of the day was so far.  Sam interrupted me and said I couldn't ask him yet because he already knew it would be the fireworks.

Andrew toughed out all the loud noises and bright lights.  He was interested as long as he viewed them from the safety of my arms, and sometimes neck, and sometimes only with his face buried into me.

It was exhausting, exciting, hot, happy, sweaty, superb, memorable and magical day.

Little Bits of Random

We have lots of fun together. I feel so blessed!

Learning about Mars at the Air & Space Museum with cousins:

So excited about Halloween costumes they slept in them:

Trying to make Roy jealous of the fun we were having while he was traveling. He was out to dinner with my parents and sister so we had to be extra convincing:

A little MoTab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) Christmas concert on a Sunday morning made everyone cuddle up close.

I love when best friends are siblings. 

Non nap days are the worst. This one turned out ok since I got a big snuggle and he feel so deeply asleep I had drool stains. 

Pumpkin Patch

One of our favorite Fall traditions is going to Nall's Produce and visiting the pumpkin patch.  We went on a perfect weather day and had a blast!  Being around a huge variety of pumpkins always makes the kids laugh and the tunnels and (new!) hay pit was a huge hit.

In Other News

We were house hunting all summer. Maybe I will someday memorialize the frustration but it's long and been verbally rehashed too many times already. A few weeks ago, Roy randomly looked at a listing from our realtor and wanted to go see a house. We liked it, but decided to sit on the idea for a few days. We went back again and it just felt right. While we are so sad to leave Springfield, we are excited about moving. Because, guys, we are buying a house. We have been working and saving and planning for so long that it feels unreal that we are doing this. We move in December and projects begin right away. My buddy Andrew had to tough out my first stake-out of Lowe's. Thank goodness there's lots of fun to be found :)

Soccer for Lydia

Since she has been dragged to soccer practices and games for almost 2 years, Lydia and I decided it was time for her to try a class. The practically free enrollment that came as a benefit for Roy coaching the last 2 seasons helped too :). Lydia loves the class and Coach Kurt. He loves Lydia and calls her Goldilocks, Blondie, and, her personal favorite, Sunshine :)