More Christmas Fun

Danny and Jen brought the girls over to my parents house on Sat. to have a little craft party. One last excuse for the cousins to get together and play before we moved.

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They made foam snowflakes and gingerbread houses. They had lots of fun. I am glad that Kathryn and Emma love their cousins so much. I know it will be hard for them to be away. I hope that it will just make it more special when we get to see them!

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Emma got really into decorating the Gingerbread House! Usually these kind of things only keep her attention for a few minutes. But she sat and put candy and frosting on that thing for a good half-an-hour! It was so cute! She even decorated up under the roof on the windows! Her attention to detail is amazing! ha ha ha!

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Grampa even got in on the action! He decorated a tree! Precious!

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We had a lot of fun and want Jen, Danny and the Girls how much we love them and appreciate all they do for us! We will miss you guys a lot!

Christmas Morning!!!!

I never have been overly excited for Christmas Morning - ask my parents. They always had to wake me up and almost pull me from bed on that exciting morning. I guess I always knew that the presents would wait and my sleep was much more important! :) I am still that way! Just let me sleep in! I will be a much more pleasant person! he he he!

The girls woke up at about 8am. Not too shabby. We got a little more sleep than I thought we would!

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I decided I have become my father! Let me explain - My dad would wake us up and then make us all stay in my parents' room while he went and made sure that Santa had come aka. - he turned on the Christmas Tree lights, got his camera ready (or sat and swore because he had no film and or batteries for his camera, but someone else must be to blame, because he would never do that.... sorry, got off of the subject!) Anyway, he would take soooo long and make us so anxious to go in and see what there was waiting for us. After he knew we could no longer wait, he finally told us we could come out. Then he would make us wait until he got into position to take pics of us as we entered the Front Room and saw the presents.

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So, that brings me to how I have become my father. When the girls came in and woke me up, I got up and told them they had to stay in with daddy. Then I went to the bathroom, got a drink, washed my face, brushed my hair, found my camera (which I had remembered to charge the night before!) Then I finally went in and told them they could come out. But, since we were at my parents' house this year, I made them go jump on Gramma and Grampa to wake them up! Then I finally let them go and tear into the Christmas Joy!

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Merry Christmas!

ChRiStMaS EvE!

This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Wilson side of the family. We met everyone for dinner at Iggy's in Layton. It was yummy! Mat and I had never been there, so it was pretty fun. I would suggest it to anyone who hasn't been there!

The gang.

Kat drinking MY fruit smoothie! It hurt my head, so I didn't mind sharing!

Emma loves her Grampas!

After dinner we headed over to Mom and Dad Wilson's to have a 'Christmas Edition' of Family Home Evening. It was nice. We read the story of the Night Before Christmas and then one about Jesus's Birth. We sang a few songs and enjoyed a few laughs!

Then we exchanged gifts. The girls got spoiled - of course! The both got these cute teddy bears that glow when you push their paw. Kind of a nite light and toy in one!

Kat got lots of art stuff - her favorite!

Emma got a cute purse with all the accessories she could ever need! **Please note the chap stick - or 'lip lick' that she has all over her mouth! That girl kills me when it comes to putting chap stick on!
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We headed back to my parent's house for bed and I almost forgot to let them open ONE present. Of course, it is always the same thing - jammies! I didn't do matching this year, but they still look cute! Kat got HSM3 jammies and slippers and Emma got reindeer jammies and Tinkerbell slippers. Yeah! (Mat and I both got new fleece pants and thermal t's - Thanks Old Navy!)

Our New Home...

I thought that everyone would like to see a picture of our new home...

Here it is! It is very roomy and quite cute. The girls have been busy helping decorate, adding their own touches of color and inspiration!

Orlando - Day 7 (Friday)

It is our last day of fun here in Orlando. Tomorrow we fly home, so we are gonna take the girls to Epcot since they didn't go with us yesterday. Hopefully it won't be that busy since it is Friday! We are taking Ellie, my niece, with us. We would take Ryan, my other nice, but she was not being a very good girl and had to stay in time out!

Finding Nemo!

At Epcot, they had a "Finding Nemo" ride. It was very cute. They had real fish in aquariums but then had computer animation on top of it. The girls loved it. Then they had a bunch of fish tanks and aquariums to look at and see lots of kinds of fish. The girls had a fun time trying to find "Nemo" in each tank!

Epcot had 'Kidcot' stations at different stops along the way for the kids to color a cut out of what they had looked at or learned. Then they could attach the cutouts to a lanyard or a mask. By the end of the day, the girls had quite a collection! It was a fun things for them to do along the way of learning. They had the station in each country as well.

Ellie and Kat coloring their cutouts at a Kidcot station.

We found sleeping Beauty along the way and the girls had to have their picture taken!

We let the girls pick any snack they wanted. They all picked snowcones! (I had a funnel cake and Mat had Fish and Chips! Yum!)



Takin' a break and havin' a snack!

Kat and Ellie with their masks completed!

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Well, what a week it has been! Some days were a little stressful, some cold & rainy, some made me sick! Mostly it was a very fun-filled adventure! We saw a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, and rode a lot of rides! We made memories that will last a long time and that is why my parents like to take us on these kinds of adventures!

I am very thankful for my parents and all that they do for us. The girls won't realize how much these trips really mean until they are older, but I understand how important it is to spend time with loved ones - especially as we will begin our move soon!

Thanks Mom & Dad! I know it was a little stressful at times for you as well - trying to make everyone happy. But we are all thankful for what you do for us!

I love you!

Orlando - Day 6 (Thursday)

Yup, It's Thursday...



We all slept in a little again today! Yippee! My favorite way to start the day! (I am not a morning person at all!) The girls went swimming with Grampa and the cousins after breakfast. It was the first day that it was actually warm enough to swim! Kind of sad, huh? The locals probably still thought we were nuts!



Mat and I headed to Epcot - gasp! - ALONE!!!! We left the girls with my parents to meet up with later and headed out!



I have secretly been looking forward to this day for weeks! I called ahead and made reservations for lunch at the restaurant in "Italy" at Epcot. So it was my chance to leave the girls at home and go eat some good Italian food! I also knew before the trip that by this point in the week we would need a little break from the girls!



It was so relaxing to be by ourselves. We wandered around 'the world' until it was time to check in at the restaurant. The food was yummy! And all of the staff was Italian!! It was very cool.

Epcot was interesting to walk around; not as crazy as the other parks. It wasn't very crowded either, so it was nice!







Our 'little Italy'.






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After a while at Epcot we met up with the fam at Disney's Hollywood for a few shows and the main event, 'Fantasmic'.

We got in line and waited 'til they opened the doors for us to sit. We had to wait about an hour and a half for the show to start! But, we did have awesome seats, so I guess it makes up for it. Oh, wait, not really! Sitting for that long with a bunch of kids is not worth it!! Oh well!

All of us waiting! (Seems to be a lot of pictures of us waiting around, huh?)

Emma was freaked out before the show even started! She does not like loud sounds; when she figured out there were fireworks, she was not happy!

When the show actually started, Emma began to scream & scream. Poor Mat; he took her up away from most people, but Emma kept screaming. He ended up taking her all the way out and missing the whole show! I didn't know this until afterwards. I figured that once the show started she would be ok. She usually is alright once she sees that it is pretty and fun. But, not this time. I felt really bad that Mat missed the whole thing, but he is a trooper and I love him for it!

The show was really cool. Mickey came out at first and started the show with some fireworks, and then scenes from movies played on water spraying in front of the stage. The story is of Mickey's Dream and fighting Evil with our own Hopes and Dreams. It showed scenes from most of the princess movies and that was really neat.

There were scenes from some movies actually played out on the stage. Most of those were about the villains from movies. I didn't realize just how scary it would be to put all of the bad together! Disney movies have a lot of evil to them!

Of course, it ends with Mickey defeating the bad guys and all is well in the land of Disney!

It was a good show - not really worth sitting for so long and especially when I found out Mat and Em had missed the whole thing! Oh well, you live and you learn!
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It was a fun day, kind of relaxing 'cause we didn't do a whole lot of rides and stuff. Tomorrow is our last day here; we fly home on Sat. I think we will take the girls to Epcot tomorrow so they can see some of that stuff...

Orlando - Day 5 (Wednesday)

It's Wednesday already!?!

After an eventful week so far, we decided we would stay at the resort and sleep in this morning! My parents and Danny and Jen headed to Epcot while we relaxed a little. We decided we wanted to go back to the Magic Kingdom to see the parade and fireworks.

***It is kind of silly, because they have a "Mickey's Christmas Party" most nights of the week (which you have to pay an additional $60+ to go to!) so the only nights we could see the fireworks here were Sunday and Wednesday.***

So, today we figured we would be able to make it 'til later. After Emma's nap we headed out.

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We got to the park just in time for the parade! More waiting! It seems we start to get silly when we have to wait for more than two minutes! Kat started taking pictures of us (this is one of the only ones that actually was in focus!)

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Kat started punching Mat...

And then Mat started punching Kat...

Don't worry, no daughters or fathers were harmed in the making of this post.

There we are! Oh, so cute...

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Finally!!!! The parade started!!!

Emma was a little unsure of the Dancing Pooh! (he, he, get it? Dancing Pooh! He, he, I am hilarious!)

I learned from my mistakes at DisneyLand; during parades there I took careful pics of all the floats and dancers. I almost missed Kathryn's face as Ariel looked right at her and waved. After that I realized that it is the girls' faces that I wanted to capture, not necessarily the floats and parade. I love the look on their faces as they see the princesses and characters for the first time, or when they look right at my girls and smile. It just makes it all worth it!

Precious....

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Kat loved the parade, especially when the characters looked right down at her.

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Belle is MY favorite princess, always has been. So I was excited when I saw her and took a pic when she was by us.

This is my favorite picture of Emma. Belle looked right at her and waved. Emma was a little surprised, but then she got this look on her face of amazement and shyness. Does it get any better?

I love seeing all of the original characters, most of which my girls sadly do not know of.

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We rode rides for much of the afternoon and then headed to the castle for a Princess Show.

The girls!

The lengths a Dad will go to for his Princess!

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And now for the fireworks!

The castle is amazing at night! It changes colors and is so magical!

As the fireworks started, Tinkerbell flew right over us! Emma was so excited! She is in love with Tink right now, so it was awesome to see her fly above us! Em couldn't stop smiling!

Disney sure knows how to throw a firework show!

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Another one bites the dust! Another one down!

I wonder what awaits us tomorrow....