Meeting Characters and Seeing the City

Okay this is starting to seem like all we did was take pictures with characters but really, those are the moments that made the best pictures!

Waiting in line to meet some Disney friends. Don't they rock the Minnie ears?

Mikey and Sulley, my Josh and his cousins Abby and Libby.

The grandparents with their very happy grandchildren! Oh and Mickey!

Woody and Jessie and the kids.

To infinity and beyond! Josh and I meeting the very big Buzz Lightyear!

Our first port was San Francisco. When we got off the boat we realized we had an amazing view of our ship. had to take some pictures. How cute are my parents>

My family. If you look above Brittany's head you can see them washing the ship.

We docked right near Fisherman's Wharf so of course we had to go see the sea lions.

Officially on the wharf. I wish I had taken a picture of a guy we saw with a sign that said, "Give me money or I will vote for Romney." Gotta love San Francisco!

William checking out our ship. So pretty and enormous!

Onboard activities

So what did we do on the ship? Lots of eating of course, the kids hung out in the kid clubs too. But of course we had to meet a few important people. Our kids are almost past the point where the characters are super important but when you know that princesses will be visiting in the lobby who could resist?

I love how detailed the dresses the princesses wear are, it seems like they just take them over the top. How cute is Snow White?

Matthew wasn't too into meeting princesses but Josh was right there with us for it all. Cinderella is one of my very favorites.

Ariel was so darling too. Every gesture is perfect and so characteristic. Josh did insist Grandma be in some of the pictures too.

They had all sorts of interesting things you could go to. This guy is making a dolphin ice sculpture right in front of us in about 5 minutes. We also learned how to draw Mickey, make some of the food they served, how to fold napkins and how to fold the cool animals they make with towels. Among other things.

There were some family crafts. Brittany, Josh and I made these masks. The kids made some crafts in the clubs too. Libby and Abby weren't as interested in the clubs but my boys thought the video games were great.

One day there was a puppet show in the club Josh was in so he became all inspired and wanted to do a puppet show of his own. He talked Abby into participating and before you knew it we were all given tickets and invitations to attend a special show in Grandma and Grandpa's room. I love imagination!

 Of course we had to spend some time in this cool pool and the other pool.

 William was the nice parent who jumped in and let Josh ride him. That way I could munch fruit and talk to my sister.

Every night we went to an amazing show. Different every night. Some nights it was a Disney musical, there were a couple of hysterical comics and a ventriloquist. That is one of the things I really loved about the Disney cruise. We never had to worry that a show we took our kids to would be inappropriate. Not to mention they were all excellent. They also had a movie theater where we finally saw Brave, The Avengers, and The Odd Life of Timothy Green. So much fun, I already miss it so much!

Getting Onboard

I haven't blogged in a long time, guess I didn't have much to say. But brace yourself, I am about to flood this ole blog with posts. They may not be of much interest to anyone outside of my family but because this blog acts as my journal/scrapbook here they come! We have some incredibly generous grandparents who took us on the ultimate family adventure. A Disney cruise. Yes you heard right! It was more amazing than we even dreamed so there will be many posts in the next week detailing our adventures. Feel free to come back later if you get bored!

We all got ourselves to the dock in different was so when we all gathered in the right place with plenty of time I was able to relax.

As you prepared to get on the boat they had actual Mater, Finn McMisslle and Lightning McQueen cars for you to check out.

That is our ship the Disney Wonder behind Matthew. Looks excited doesn't he?

Inside there was an amazing chandelier created by the same artist that has his amazing work in Abravenal Hall here in Salt Lake. He works with blown glass but had an extra challenge in this piece. He had to use plastic instead. It was so amazing!

We bumped into Minne and started taking pictures, something we would do many,  many times in the next week. We started exploring the ship and found a club with huge murals. It seemed an easy way to take pictures with some of our favorite characters!

The girls with The Incredibles.

Josh with Mikey and Sulley

And my own little old man Matthew!

Up on deck we found Goofy! One thing I have learned going through my pictures is that I am shorter than I think I am. When did that happen?

Finally the big kids went to check out the kid clubs and Josh, Abby and I found the Mickey pool. That is his hand behind Josh's right shoulder and his ear right behind him. Thus began our week of incredible fun! Brace yourself, there is so much more coming!

Turning 10

This my boy. He had a birthday on the first day of school, tragic in the world of  boys. So of course I had to try and compensate. Sunday was family birthday party. Note the soccer ball cake. Harder to make than one might think.

On the actual day I picked him up from school and took him straight to Boondocks with his brother. Bumper boats and the race track.

He is pretty darn good in that thing now. The goal was to get good enough to beat his dad when they went back that evening after a birthday dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Gloria. Then on Friday we had a marathon party for his friends that included Cherry Hill, pizza and the new Spiderman movie. Whew! I am tired just typing all that. But he is a great kid and he deserved to be celebrated. But now wonder I am enjoying the peace of this second week of school. Happy Birthday Matthew, welcome to the double digits!

Doll Making!

Now that my kids are back in school I am itching for a few new projects. I haven't made any Gingham Girls in ages so I think I will start a batch for Christmas ordering next week. If anyone wants a custom order, made to look like a certain little girl let me know!

First Day of School

What a crazy week! I always seem to forget how insanely nuts the first week of school is. The new early schedule, homework, trying to work around sports games and practices plus those vital back to school nights which are my only shot at having some impression of the people teaching Brittany. Throw in a first grader who is not used to this, two days of getting out early and a boy who had the horrible fate of having his birthday land on the first day of school (that deserves its one blog post). Oh, and my computer wasn't working so I couldn't blog if I wanted to. But here they are on the first day, I did at least take the picture! 8th grade, 5th grade and 1st grade. Sniff, sniff.

 The first grader just about did me in. There he goes with his best buddy Gage. Gage's mom and I are friends so me conspired to get them in the same class. Brilliant. The minute he saw Gage his anxiety was cut in half.

My baby! At that big desk! How did this happen. I did feel a little teary at school but now that the second week is about to start I am ready to celebrate.  I can clean my house in the morning and it will stay that way! At least until they come home. Here's to a great year!

Family Pictures 2012

 During our family reunion this summer a monumental effort was made to take some new family pictures, we were long over-due and the family has grown so much. This is my personal favorite. Members of our clan are not to big on public displays of affection so that make is it even more fun.

 The original members of the William's family. All grown up!

The whole gang. I have to say this turned out really well, and I can hardly wait to hang it on our wall!

My obsession with Colored Skinny Jeans

One big item on Brittany's school shopping list this year was colored skinny jeans. The more colors the better. So we did our best Super-Shopper and found a couple of good deals on a couple of pairs. But I have a problem with thinking I can do something for cheaper. So after we had two pair of cute skinnies and I figured I had nothing to lose I started experimenting. I found a pair of white jeans at the thrift store for a couple of dollars. I picked up some purple  rit dye and went to town. I did learn a few things. I tried this again a week later for myself and improved on the process so what I learned is to dye the item in the more water the better. When I did the purple pair I put them in my biggest stainless steel bowl. It wasn't quite big enough and resulted in some uneven areas where the dye pooled. When I did my orange pair  I used a big 5 gallon bucket and they turned out much more uniform. I also added salt to help them keep their color. My cost on each pair was under 5 buck for me and 7 for Brittany. That means she can have a whole rainbow!

The Girl in the Bubble Plays with a Kitty

Brittany is allergic to cats. Sadly this means she never gets to have the fun of playing with one. Last week our neighbors were out of town and their kitty was lonely I guess and followed me home. He sat on the front porch meowing. Brittany sat down at the sidelight and started to play with him through the glass. They sat there like that for a long time playing. It looked like she was the girl in the bubble playing with the kitten!

Cherry Hill

 The summer is coming to an end. It has been another fun summer at our favorite water hole Cherry Hill. Big progress for Josh this year, he can carry his own tube up Cardiac Canyon.

 He does a pretty good job of hanging on too.

Josh and his buddy Gage. I can't believe how big these two are. Sun, water and friends. What a great summer!

Hogle Zoo 2012

 For the last three years we have had a great tradition of meeting with some long-time friends. We became friends with the Franks when we lived in Syracuse. Jen and I helped Brittany and Emme become friends when they were practically babies. They were both only children when they started playing together and look at the group of kids we have now!

 They are growing up to be such great young women, I am so proud  of them both.

 The boys. It's good that these boys seem to enjoy the same things. You would never know they usually only  see each other once  year. They had a great time, aren't they cute little birdies?

 Hogle Zoo has a great new habitat for the polar bears this year. It was fantastic! There was a whole glass wall so you could see them below water too. This guy was really putting on a great show!

 Josh liked the little elephant family. The baby is right behind the mother.

Just like their mothers these two girls picked up their friendship right where they left it and chatted the day away. I have visions of them as college roommates someday. Hey, a  mom can dream! I so enjoyed my time visiting with Jen too, we have got to get together more often! So grateful that we can at least count on our annual Hogle Zoo expedition!

Swimming with our Crazy Dad!

Part of the fun of going to Park City is staying in the fabulous condo William finds for us, which of course has a pool. This year it became even more fun when the spikey ball the boys were playing with ruptured. Our inventive dad decided it would make a perfect swim cap. So he hid Josh from me and then they told me to look. Wow! What a face and hair!

Of course we immediately had to destroy the other ball we had to make another and a father and son team was born.

Then Matthew had to try it. Aren't they cute little aliens? I tell ya, you go to the pool with boys and come home with human anemones!