Bond- James Bond and my teenage boy

I tried uploading his half time show but I am wondering if it is too big for blogs to deal with or something. They are doing James Bond for the half time show. And if I do say so myself my boy is more handsome than James Bond ever was!!! Band was my thing in highschool so to see him out there gives me such pride!!!

This is Calenda. She is in our ward. There is another member in the band as well who plays clarinet but it was crazy just trying to get these pictures much less add one more kid in there. I am so proud of them all!!!
Can you see my boy in action????

.

So many wonderful shows at Disney!!!

There are sooo many wonderful shows at Disney. I have never had the opportunity to take my kids to see theater productions so these shows were such a treat for us. Finding Nemo was just wonderful. It made us feel like we were really under the sea with them. My camera doesn't take very good "night" pictures so it was to the video option on my camera to capture some of it. I loved it so much there I just can't wait to get back. They had a night time Electrical parade that was just oh just so magical. I know I keep using that word but it really is the best way to describe it. But I again my camera doesn't do good night time pictures and I was so mesmerized by it all that I just didn't have time to get the camera set up to do video. Tomorrow, The Lion King!!!!

Animal Kingdom, where we really fit in!!! Day 3

After having two very full days at the other parks it seemed as though Animal Kingdom gave us just the needed "slow" day. We had heard so much about the safari that we really wanted to try that first so we did. We went on the safari two times in a row just hoping to catch a glimpse of the big lion. I love this picture of everyone waiting in line for the next truck to pick us up.

We were all speculating what animal we would be able to see. Emma really really badly wanted to see baby elephants. I really really wanted to see the big Lion.

We saw rhinoceros and


Giraffe and
Big mama elephants, and
even the lioness, but the big Lion was sleeping and we could only see the top of his mane and there were no baby elephants to be seen. However even though Emma and I didn't get to see the animals we set out to see it really was fascinating watching these animals in their natural habitat. They were completely at home where they were and we loved being able to see them.
We even saw this tree that grew upside down. These trees store water in their roots so they can stand to be leafless for 9 months out of the year.


Matthew actually took this shot. These were the trucks that we were in during the safari. Its what you would completely expect to be in if we were in Africa taking a safari there. The flamingos he got in the shot were actually babies and they told us that flamingos eat so many shrimp that is why they turn pink. Babies are all white until they eat enough shrimp to change their color.

This was the very majestic tree that was in the middle of the animal kingdom park. It really was very beautiful!!!



They seem to really fit in with the Gorillas !!!!

These animals were carved into the tree and the side of the mountain. They really were just beautiful!!! Matthew is just in heaven sitting near this beautiful fountain. They way they had everything set up was just very nice. It was as if they found room for us humans to fit into all the animals home.

Tomorrow, see all the video clip we got from the wonderful shows we saw at animal kingdom.

The most magical place on earth Day 2

Magic Kingdom:Truly a very magical place!!!! This was my favorite park by far. There are so many wonderful things about all the different parks but this seems to feel like all the Disney movies you grow up watching just come to life!!!



First tomorrow land. Very fun are that bring Toy Story and Buzz and Lilo and Stitch to life. This was a rocket ride that Matthew just loved. He could actually steer it and really its the best ride for me. Not too much just right. Those of you that know me know that I get motion sick very easily.


The idea of being able to "steer" their own ship just excited them all!!!


The Stitch ride was not a highlight for me or Matthew. It actually scared Matthew. But we got to me Stitch afterward and that made it all just fine for him.

Who doesn't love Buzz lightyear??? There was this fun little ride that everyone could ride and be a part of Buzz's life and world.

Its nice to take a break and have something to cool you off!!! Ice cream can always hit the spot when you need to rest for feet for a minute!!

This was a huge highlight for me. I had really hoped that the younger kids would meet some of the Characters that they know really well. We just happened to come up on Mickey and Minnie taking pictures with everyone and the older kids took off to ride something the younger ones couldn't. Sarah is like me in the motion sick department so she hung out with me. Even as old as I am it was so much fun and magical meeting these Characters that you see so much and have grown up watching. Minnie was so cute and just loved Eliza. And Matthew gave them both the biggest hug I have ever seen him give anyone. Eliza wanted to tell Minnie about her flower on her head. So when we were done with the pictures I said Minnie, Eliza wanted to show you her flower. I swear she spent a good 2 minutes touching and smelling and just spending time with Eliza. Thats a very long time when you are talking about everyone taking pictures with them. She finally bent down and put her nose on Eliza's and then kissed her. Ohhhhhh it just made me melt seeing Eliza watch her and want to be with her.

Then the dreaded tea cups. There is no way I could ride these so we let them go on there own. They had so much fun just spinning them as fast as they could get them to go. I felt sick just watching them. But they all loved it!! Even Sarah.

This was Mickey's philharmagic show. It was this 3D show that brought Mickey's orchestra to life. There were instruments and animals flying out of the screen and water hitting us at times and puffs of air. Oh I absolutely looooooooooved this one!!!!!
Being behind the camera doesn't give me a chance to get very many with me in them but the ones I have I love!!! This was just sooo much fun I can't even really express it. It really was a touching experience for me. I was celebrating my triumph over my stomach issues I had in '09. This was our first really big family vacation and oh was it so worth it. I loved being with my family and not having anything be a distraction like work, laundry, phone, tv. None of that came in the way and it was fabulous!!!!
Stay tuned for a little piece of Hollywood Tomorrow.

Our Secret Family Vacation

So I had been itching for a long time to just get away with just my family unit and away from all responsibilities. I mentioned it to my sister in law and she vowed she would help me do some research to put together a family vacation. Well she happen to find me a deal that couldn't be beat. So we secretly planned for several reasons. One we just didn't want to have to answer the questions how much longer till we go. But also just because I thought it would be fun. They didn't even think we were going to do anything for our Mardi Gras vacation time until just days before. And we have gone someone I think probably every year we have been here. So I came up with a plan to give them letters every hour so that they could unscramble the letters. They thought we we were just going camping in Florida

By about hour 4 all the boys had figured it out and we were just dying to spill the news and couldn't keep it a secret any longer. It really did kill Tom and I when it got closer and closer to time to leave to keep that secret. So once all the older boys knew we decided to let them together tell the younger kids where we were going. I uploaded the video twice and I can't seem to get it to work. Let me know if you can view it or not.


The words were spelled out on the window for the rest of the trip.


So first we went to Epcot. It actually was my least favorite park we saw out of them all.

They thought it would be cool to TRY and hold up the Epcot ball. I am not even sure what it is called. So we did split up some during our trip. I took the younger kids to see the under the sea nemo adventure ride. We boarded large clams and took a ride.

I couldn't get very good dark pictures with my camera but this is the one I could get. It looked like these jellyfish were going to touch us. It was very up and close under the sea.

I just love a lot of the sweet tender pictures of the family together that I got.

This was our first time on the bus from the hotel on our way to epcot. They were so excited they could hardly stand it.

I think everyone was so excited to get started I didn't take the time to take the picture the best way but this was the first thing we came across when we got to Epcot. Woody made out of flowers and bushes. Very cool looking!!!
At Epcot there is a whole cool section that is devoted to different areas around the world. Matthew loves the Eifle Tower so I had to get a shot of this. I think when they are a little older they will appreciate taking more time in this area of the park.


We actually ate lunch at Liberty Inn (American food) but I didn't get a picture of it for some reason. The other place we actually stopped and spent a little time was Marocco. Nathan really wanted to stop there and look around. He loved all the tile and just how everything looked. A man in one of the shops wrote his name in Arabic and a little thing he could keep. Nathan thought it was very cool they write from right to left. This is where we actually lost Matthew. Very scary but actually I was never worried. We stopped to watch acrobatic act they were putting on in the streets and as soon as it was over he got lost in the crowd that dispersed as quickly as it formed. We found him back in Marocco playing near the fountain. He loved that thing when we were there so luckily that is where we found him.
Another fountain. Matthew really wanted to just take all the money out of the fountain.

Day two of our fabulous family trip tomorrow!! Keep tuned. And hey let me know if you can see the video.

Havin fun!!!

We went to spend some time with my side of the family after Christmas. It was probably the best trip we have ever had. It was so relaxing and just enjoyable. I hung out with my sisters.

The kids and their cousins hung out together.





We played with the only baby in the family right now. (Never happened so far with our family only have one baby around)
We played with each others hair(a must when there are girls around)

We just relaxed.
We goofed around(always a given when we are all together)
And we played LOTS of games. Totally my kind of relaxing holiday!!!! We actually had everyone at mom's except one sister. It was almost perfect!!!
What a wonderful holiday!!!!!