School is in full swing. Which just means that we are all in a busy schedule. Piano and music lessons, scouts, soccer, and Elise has started tumbling. She takes with her best friend Halle and they are so fun together. Elise has a dancer body, so now she just needs to get stronger. She is so girlie this is something perfect for her. She has been really funny lately--everything is so cute to her and so she kisses cute things. Well, we were in the school restroom and there was a cute little toilet (just her size). Yep, she kissed it. Ew gross. She was licking her flip flop the other day when she dropped some food on it. Hm. Is this helping her boost her immunities or just making her sick? She is wonderful though.
Weston and Aidan are in soccer. Weston is doing great, as always and loves his teammates and coach. He really understands the game and is very athletic (odd, given his DNA). He really is enjoying watching football with his dad and uncles (go Utes). He is such a smart and responsible kid. He also had a job a thon and ran about 2.4 miles in 20 minutes (he will be an amazing runner if he keeps this up).
Aidan's soccer coach is his dad. Yippee. No one would volunteer to coach and if there wasn't a coach, they wouldn't be able to play. So Scott stepped up and is coaching something he doesn't know a whole lot about. But he must be doing something right because the team is doing great. Aidan has really improved and makes a point almost every game. He also attended a Cub-O-Ree and earned so many awards.
Bren decided not to do soccer, but he will be starting Karate in October. He has adjusted well to being in school all day. He lost both his front teeth and has the cutest smile. He is enjoying Let's Play Music, and is really tuning his ears.
We did get to go through the Ogden Temple Open House and that was beautiful. I am glad we get these opportunities so often. My friend Sonya went with the family she is staying with and she really loved it as well. I have loved having her be here with me. I especially love shopping at Walmart with her. It was so nice to have someone to talk to anytime and the kids just adored her. She went to Texas to settle down and she will be missed. But, we plan on visiting her and having her here again.
Disneyland!! Scott's mom loves Disneyland and oddly enough, she has never come with us when we have gone. So, she called me up and basically planned a trip to DL for our family. Since DL is such a busy place, we tried to plan it during a less busy time (btw, there is no "non" busy time there), so we actually pulled the kids out of school to go. We left mid day on a Wednesday and drove all the way until we ran out of gas (almost...) and then filled up and ate, and then went on arriving around 9:30. Our hotel was within close walking distance to DL and was nice enough. Scott's parents and his brother, Cameron arrived as well. We spent the entire first day at DL. Scott's mom knows this park better than anyone and she knows how to work it to our advantage. We would get the fast passes and then go on other rides as we waited for our turn to go. I am not much of a fan of rides... so a lot of the time I would take Elise on other fun but younger rides while the big kids went on their rides. Their favorite rides were Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, and Space Mountain were some of their favorites. I was so proud of all the boys for trying each ride and being so brave--and really they liked them once they tried them!
The second day we spent the day at California Adventure and their favorite rides there were California Screamer, Soaring over California and the River Run. They even went on Tower of Terror (though Aidan wasn't a fan of that...). We stopped for treats about every hour... ate a lot of ice cream, fried foods, sugary foods and lots that were both fried and sugary.
On Saturday, Scott's sister Lauren and her husband and their kids joined us. We went to DL first and ran all the fun rides again and did more rides in CA. It was so much fun, but for me, and Elise, the funnest part was seeing the Princesses! We met Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White (twice), and we met Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Rapunzel. Then we stood in line for 30 minutes to get a Fast Pass in order to meet Ana and Elsa. Then once it was time to go meet them, we stood in line for another 30 minutes. And finally, the moment--we met the much loved princesses. Elise had been dressed in her amazing princess dress that Scott's mom made. Elise wanted to dress like Elsa, but she wears a blue dress. So, we convinced her this is one of Elsa's other dresses and it is pink!!!!!! She looked stunning and acted just like a princess. And of course she got so many comments about how great she looked. Mom Daw is very talented and the dress really is amazing. Elise will wear the dress for Halloween and then it will go in the costume bucket for the next grand daughter.
We all went to dinner at a sports place so the boys could watch the Utah game. After, I took Elise and Brennan and Scott took the big boys and they went on big kid rides while I took the littles a few more kid rides. Our favorite is Mater's Junkyard. We lasted so long and then I took the kids back to the hotel, but Scott and the bigs stayed until almost midnight. They were able to go on Splash Mountain over and over again, just staying on the ride because no one else was there. Sunday morning, we packed up, said our goodbyes, and left. We made it home by evening. Then the next day, back to normal life! But what a way to end September.
