Grandma Perkins

On February 14, my dear sweet Grandma Perkins passed away at the age of 96. She was a very quiet, peaceful person who loved everyone, and exuded peace. Her home was a haven for many, and her kindness and prayers knew no judgement. I loved to spend summer days at her home; reading magazines, taking walks, exploring the farm, and playing with cousins. Her kind demeanor inspired many, including me. I will miss you, Grandma.

Disneyland Fun

Here are some reasons Disneyland was SO GREAT!

This is the best picture we have (from a corrupted memory disk) of the precious and coveted Fast Pass, and another reason we LOVE Disneyland and the Year Of A Million Dreams. This got us on most of the major rides in Disneyland and California Adventure without having to wait in the stand-by line, cutting our wait time by tons on a busy and beautiful Friday. It was perfect.

When the Peter Pan ride stops in the middle and all the lights go on and you have to wait for the ride to start operating again, there is nothing more to do than take pictures and constantly reassure the freaked out 3 year old. I thought it was fun.

OK, Great ride for a hot summer day when you want a little refreshment. Not so fun if you're riding orange 26 on a cool winter night. May I suggest ponchos?

It's only fun to be imprisioned at Disneyland, where the jail bars are rubber. So FUN!

"Does everyone tell you that you look just like me?" said Cinderella to a bashfully beaming Amelia.

Only at Disneyland, at Goofy's Kitchen,

will you find such breakfast (brunch) items as hot dogs, pizza, and ice cream.

Yes, they have it all here, even painless dentistry, and a dental school upstairs. I'm sure it had to be more fun than Case Western School of Dental Medicine.

Not every kid can say that they conducted a firefighter band with a chipmunk. What a riot!

By dinnertime Emma had had enough, and slept halfway through our "princess dinner" at Ariel's Grotto. I guess it's a good thing becuase this is the only way we got a picture of Emma with any character. Thank you Disney for thinking this was as sweet as I did.

Disneyland

We just spent the last week at the happiest place on earth. It was so so so so so fun. We all had a blast. My good pictures are on a disk that is not cooperating, and I'm very much hoping that it's not a permanent condition. The thought makes me want to cry. I did take some with our video camera, but the good ones...that remains to be seen.

First thing we did there was a tour of the park called "Discover the Magic." It was so much fun. Jeanne and Dean, two really cute Disneyland employees dressed as explorer guides, came out with a treasure map. They had the kids flying and playing games and pretending to be pirates through the park as we searched for the clues, got front row seats on a couple of rides, and collected puzzle pieces. The grand finale was a personal session with none other than Mickey!! And it just stayed fun, the entire time. We wiped ourselves out, but we had an amazingly wonderful fantastic time. Before we came home on Saturday we spent a couple hours at Huntington Beach. Amelia, looking out the car window, said,"There's sand there!" And then Emma, as we walked towards the ocean exclaimed, "I see the pool!"

I'm elated!!! As I was searching for my video pictures, I found a folder I was not familiar with. IT HAS MY PICTURES!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am about that!!!

I'm going to go play with my pictures. I'll write more later.

Girls

Girls.

Where do I begin?

• Tea Parties
• Cheerleading
• Dressing up
• Swimsuits

All a part of our everyday routine. And they are only 2 and 3. Emma is such an independent little thing. She changes her clothes as often as I change her diaper...that is unless she HAS to wear undies that day, then we're changing her clothes as often as we change the wet undies. There's not much cooperation with the potty training thing yet. She'll get the hang of it eventually, she's such a smart girl. Her nickname, "stinker bell." Amelia is almost the opposite of independent. Although she is strong willed, she waits for me to do anything with her, and is on my hip all day long. She made our biscuits for dinner last night. Rolled them, cut them, and put them on the baking sheet. A illustrative example...right now, as I try to get these pictures on (a couple days late), the girls, instead of dancing with their Bella Cheerleader, are hanging on my arms and sorting through papers that don't need sorted. I love those girls to pieces.

Sam's Pictures and Swimming Suits

Sam decided yesterday that taking pictures is really fun. In fact, he's going to be a professional photographer when he retires from his football career. (But they have to play every single Sunday, so maybe he'll just play in college.) He took some pretty cute shots that I thought I would share.Love the eyes, if we could just get past that little speck of chocolate...

You can see she adores grandma and grandpa's dog, Maddie.

And then there is Emma who got a new swim suit this week. (Crazy 8: fun new website, reasonable prices) Every morning she begs for her swim suit, and chases me around the house until I will find it for her, unless she is feeling ambitious, and she finds it herself. But then I am still met with the plea to help her put it on. And then if we have to go somewhere that she needs to be fully clothed (which would be anywhere we go seeing that the temperature has barely crept above 10 degrees this whole week.)she promptly tells me, "I'll wear it under." The other day I said, let's go outside, and she ran to the coat closet and pulled out the hat. I'm sure that will help:)

My Family

I have a goal to blog once a week. I haven't even looked at my pictures from Christmas, or from when my parents were visiting. But, I did look through these pictures we took when we were in Pocatello for a Lester family Christmas gathering the weekend before Christmas. Can I just say how much I adore my family? I don't know that a person could be as fortunate as I am to have such a supportive and caring husband with a great sense of humor. He's such a great dad, too. I don't know where to begin with the kids. I just adore every single one of them. I'm so blessed.

Look What I Did

Mom. this is mostly for you. When my mom was here for Christmas we had to visit the quilt shop in town. They had the most darling line of coordinating fabric and I got this brilliant idea that I would make aprons for the girls. Of course, I have lots of brilliant ideas like that: the quilts for the boys room, purses for the cousins, the nativity set like the one we had growing up... I was thinking that the chances of getting these done were pretty slim to none unless I really got after it. So, I spent the last two nights sewing until midnight, and I have some pretty cute aprons to show for it. I quite like my creation. Clearly, I left some room to grow, but these little models could make anything look good!

*Please note that the top binding around the neck isn't finished. I didn't want to wake the girls up at midnight to be sure it fit over thier heads right.