Day 1 at Disneyland

It rained a bit off and on throughout the day but it was still a great day at Disneyland. We got lucky and managed to get onto to Radiator Springs Racers when it opened up after being closed. The wait after that was literally hours! On to the pictures.....

Taylor is Going to Disneyland

We are headed to Disneyland this week. This is the video of Taylor finding out that he we are going. To be really honest, he didn't believe us at first. He thought we were teasing him and it was all a joke. When he realized we were really going, he became a lot more excited but I didn't get it on film... Oh well, he's still really cute and super excited. Next year, I am just going to buy the kids 3 pinatas! 

Taylor Finds Out About Disneyland

This is linked through my facebook page- It's the fastest way to add the video. hopefully you can see it.
 

The completed treasure map puzzle.

Taylor and his pirate birthday cake.

 The final haul of gifts. Taylor was very happy about the whole day!

The rest of Jake's notes....

I've been working so the blog is a bit behind.  Here are the pics of all of the letters that Jake has brought to Taylor. His treasure chest is full and he is so excited! The first picture is what he woke up to this morning, the entire living room had gold dubloons hanging from the ceiling. I guess Jake found some pixie dust!                                               

 Jake brought another treasure chest as his gift to Taylor. It's small and has another lock on it. Taylor has gone crazy today searching for treasure keys.... He also brought him a bag full of pirate treasure loot bags for Taylor to take to his  kindergarten class. They were all thrilled with their loot! There's also a picture of Taylor laying on the ground starring at his treasure. It's so hard to be patient for such a long time when you can see the presents but can't touch them!

T

 Taylor was so angry when he saw that Mr. Smee and his crew brought him a present. It was cute hearing Jessica tell him that it was ok and that Mr. Smee was nice when Capt. Hook wasn't around! Stay tuned for the big reveal....

Greetings from Peter Pan

This morning Taylor had a new present in his treasure chest. This one is from Peter Pan. Needless to say, Taylor is pretty excited and has a hard time staying in bed past 7 am! Above is the note from Jake.

Taylor's Birthday Adventures

Thursday morning, a week before his birthday, Taylor had a huge surprise when he woke up. Jake from the Disney show Jake and the Neverland Pirates had come to our home. He brought Taylor a locked see thru treasure chest with a birthday present inside! Jake works like Marty (see the posts below) and travels back to Neverland at night while Taylor sleeps. He told Taylor that each night he will bring back a present from one of his Neverland friends. Izzy and Cubby have already sent their presents and Taylor can hardly stand it! It's great that the see thru treasure chest allows him to see and not touch. I will try to keep the blog updated with some of Jake's antics, I have a feeling he has a few tricks up his sleeve...

Jake with the treasure chest. There are 2 keyed padlocks on the chest that you can't see.










The first note Jake left.

















The second note Jake left

I went to pick Taylor up from Kindergarten and I guess Jake wanted to come. This is what Taylor found when he got into the car. He loved it and was so excited to see Jake. He spent the entire ride home speculating how Jake managed to get himself into the car and buckled up! LOL! More updates to follow....

Slacker....

I have decided that when attending school (again) that certain things take priority over others. Blogging apparently has not been a priority....

So, yes, we are all still alive and doing well. The kids (and Ryan) are back in school after a long summer of playing, fighting, sleeping in, and well just being kids. All three of them are in school now with Taylor starting kindergarten; they seem to be adjusting well and enjoying the new school year. I am loving the few hours of complete silence that I get to do my own school work in- sometimes it's a little too quiet (must be the side effect of being a mom!).

The kids continue to grow. Kelsi is up to 5'7" and I hope she is finished growing. Jessica is just over 5'1" and she says she hopes she is done growing... something about becoming a professional gymnast and you can't be over a certain height. Taylor has grown tons in the last year. I think he is making up for being on the small side at birth. We just took family pics- see facebook or the sidebar, they turned out to be very cute and I am loving the new camera we just bought.

As you can see by the above ticker, we are headed to Disneyland in three weeks! Taylor is the only one not in the know. We are going for his and Ryan's birthday so he is getting a huge surprise on his birthday. I am going to video his reaction- I'll try to remember to post it here LOL!! The vacation is really the reason I'm updating the blog- Grandma likes to see updates when we are on vacation and this is the easiest way to do it... and the truth is out.

A New Year in our Life

I feel like we are always changing (and improving) our lives. Ryan just started his second semester of school and he is doing amazing- not that I had any doubt, but when you can pass all your classes without even needing to take the finals, I would say that's amazing! Now he just needs to figure out which direction this whole college thing is going to take him... I personally don't mind what he studies as long as he ends up happy with what he is doing.  I have started working at UVRMC on the mom/baby unit and I am loving it!! I could do without the night shift but I do enjoy being a part of so many people's happiest moments.

I realized a few months ago just how long he will need to be in school and I started to seriously think about this. The main question I was pondering was when I would go back to school. Should I wait until he is done and then start or just get it over with??? The idea of being in school for another 6 years between the 2 of us was just too overwhelming for me! I knew that I needed to finish so I decided we might as well go at the same time and get it all over with!

So, I have applied, filled out all of the silly paperwork, sent in my transcripts, talked to my guidance counselor entirely too many times and, yes, I have been accepted into an RN to Master's Program! I will be going through Western Governor's University. It is a strictly online program that gives me credit for the fact that I am already working as an RN and will take me through my Master's in Healthcare Administration. I am a bit apprehensive about starting school again but I also have the opinion that 2 years will pass regardless- am I going to just work or improve myself? I have chosen to improve myself. I think the biggest difference with going to school this time is that I can work at my own pace. There won't be too many overwhelming deadlines and I am already really close to having my Bachelor's Degree which helps a ton when it comes to moving up with Intermountain Health Care.

Life is bound to be stressful in the next few years but I keep telling myself that it will never be as bad as that last semester of Nursing School! I can hardly remember that last semester- I think my mind is blocking it out to protect me!!! Even with the stress, I feel like we are really moving in the right direction. I just hope that our kids can gain one valuable lesson from all of this.... go to college when your young! Of course, that being said, I never would have become a nurse if I had finished college in my 20s... wish us luck!