Home Again

{Our gang in San Juan, Puerto Rico- Frosts, Cobias and Partridges}

We are home from our dreamy, dreamy cruise vacation. We really had the BEST time and it was truly the most relaxing vacation of my life. I LOVED uplugging from the world for an entire week and spending the time connecting with Allen. We had plenty of fun too on the ship and in our ports. I have a lot to blog about but we shared the picture taking duties with our friends so we will have to wait until we get all the pictures in one place.

The kids did great with my parents, though I'm pretty sure my parents are happy their child raising days are behind them! We missed the kids but knew they were in great, capable hands. We only talked to them once the entire week! It was honestly a little bit hard to leave the vacation behind and return to the real world of parenting and responsibilities. The week before our trip was insane getting ready to go and this week has been insane attempting to catch up, but it was all worth it for our week in paradise! I'll be back soon!

Summer Break, Week 1

Last Tuesday was our first official day of summer break. And let me tell you, after Tuesday I feared for my summer sanity. Luckily, we have gotten into a great routine since then and so far things are pretty smooth sailing.

Tuesday the kids got up and completed their daily checklist. I've found that my kids do REALLY well with structure and clear expectations. I decided to keep things very simple and created summer clipboards for them. The expectations for the day are laid out for them and there has been minimal whining and complaining about chores and school work. I am being really flexible with things so we honestly don't get to everything on the list every day and I'm totally fine with that.

A closeup (the extra chores change every day and I write them in each morning - this week they cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, dusted, washed windows in the car, pulled weeds, etc.)

The play list is what they can expect when we don't have other plans for the day. Tuesday is the reading program at the library so we factored that in and Wednesday's are free movie day at the local theater. I don't expect we'll do them every week but they're on the schedule if we have nothing else going on.

After their checklists were done, we went to the store to restock our craft supplies, made a craft, had a picnic at the park, rode bikes/scooters, made cookies, watched a movie and had Popsicles. Even with all that the kids still said they were bored which made me really nervous for the rest of the summer.

Wednesday was the first day of swim team for Carter and Makenna. They both really enjoyed it and it will be my sanity saver this summer. Swim team is every weekday morning from 9-10 a.m., with meets on Saturdays. It is a time commitment but I love having somewhere to be every morning and love that the kids are getting exercise and having fun at the same time.

After swim team we met up with some friends to spend some time at the local children's museum. I love having passes to the museum and the zoo because I can go for a couple of hours and not feel like I have to stay forever to get my money's worth.

After swim team on Thursday, I took the kids to see

it's a weird story made even weirder in the Tim Burton adaptation but my kids liked it a lot and thought having a lunch of popcorn, soda and candy was the best. They rounded out the day with a couple hours playing in the sprinklers.

Friday afternoon we checked into a local Radisson hotel that just opened a big indoor water park. The kids were SO excited and it definitely didn't disappoint. We were able to check in and start playing at 2 p.m. and Allen joined us around 4:00. The park includes two big water slides, a lazy river, a huge kids play area, a water basketball court, a water obstacle course, a huge indoor/outdoor hot tub and an indoor Flowrider ride (a wakeboarding/surfing practice course). It was awesome and we had so much fun.

Allen & Carter on the Flowrider:

Carter was actually pretty good by the time we left and he loved it. Al was a total daredevil doing flips and tricks on his board.

Obstacle Course:

Hot tub (where Addie would have stayed the entire time if we had let her):

We randomly ended up running into some friends in our ward who were there the same night so our girls got to play together. (And seriously, 1 week into summer would you look at that tan line on her shoulder?! She's well on her way to being my little indian girl already!)

After for playing for several hours we went out to dinner and then came back to the hotel for a quick dip in the hot tub before hitting the sack.

The next morning we went out to breakfast and then were back at the waterpark by 9:00 a.m. We played all morning until the park closed at 1:00 p.m. I tried to get a picture of all three kids right as we were leaving and this is what I ended up with. We were clearly ready to head home and get everyone down for naps!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back sometime this year.

It was a GREAT first week of summer and I'm really looking forward to the rest of summer. My kids are at such fun ages right now and are pretty self sufficient and fun to be with!

Christmas Day!

I have a few posts to get done before the new year. I am determined to be caught up before 2010 hits! Christmas this year was super fun and BUSY. On Christmas Eve we got together with two families in our ward for dinner and to act out the nativity. It was so much fun. So fun that we all forgot to take any pictures. Ah well. We did it, it was great.

We were really prepared for Christmas this year so on Christmas eve all we had to do was stuff stockings and put everything beneath the tree. We watched a movie together and were in bed by 10 p.m. An early record in our marriage for sure! We took bets on when we thought the kids would wake up and guessed it would be around 5:30 since Carter commonly wakes up that early anyway. To our surprise they didn't' get up until about 7:00! It was crazy fun opening stockings and presents after that. The kids were thrilled with their loot this year, even though we felt like we were cutting back a bit because of our Disney trip.

Before stockings:

Before the unwrapping frenzy:

Carter + loot:

It was the year of Wii games for Carter. He bought several sets of Legos as his souvenir on our trip so we cut back on the Lego sets this year. He also received a giftcard to pick out another set of Legos. His favorite present was probably the entire set of Harry Potter Books he got from my parents!

Makenna + loot:


She loved everything she got. Favorites are her American Girl doll, Hello Kitty Slippers, princess scooter and her Sugar Plum Fairy Nutcracker.

Addie + loot:

She for sure LOVES her new bike a ton. If she is awake she is sitting/playing on it. I also found some bristle blocks (had them myself as a kid) and she has loved those too.

After unwrapping, breakfast and a little bit of playtime we jumped in the car and headed to Show Low for a few days. We literally piled all the boxes and wrapping paper in the middle of the room and left it there. So unlike us and so not fun to come home to. However, it was SO fun to be in SL for a couple of days. Allen's mom, his youngest brother Jake, younger brother Joel plus wife Ami and son Dane and his sister LJ and husband Adam were all there. It was great. We did what we do best at the ranch - eat and hang out! On the 26th we played in the snow and rode the 4 wheelers. The adults went to dinner and out to see Sherlock Holmes (ALL of us loved the movie)that night. Sunday we went to church, had lunch together and then headed back to ABQ. It was a super short visit but very fun! I was able to read Hunger Games and The Help over the weekend and LOVED both books.

Roasting marshmallows in the snow!On the way out of town we stopped to get gas and got this late Christmas "present." Ugh. A lady backed right into us as we were pumping gas. It was no biggie and we already have the claim all worked out and an appt. to get the car fixed next week.

Since we've been home we've been getting things back to normal and played lots with our new toys! We've also been to the rec center to swim, out to lunch, to the Children's museum and still have a couple things to squeeze in before school starts next week.

It was a very merry Christmas here and we hope yours was too!

Legoland Recap

On Thursday during our week in California we headed BACK to Legoland for the day. I mentioned before that we had promised Carter a trip to LL for his 7th birthday way back when we lived in AZ. Since it's quite a bit more effort to get there now, we decided to tack a day onto this trip instead of making another trip for his birthday.

We honestly had no idea what to expect but after having spent a few days at Disneyland we were kind of let down. First, a lot of the rides are water based and all of those were closed for the winter. Several of their other bigger rides were closed for annual maintenance. It was a bit of a bummer. Second, there were only a couple of really big rides and the rest were pretty tame. Unfortunately LL has really strict height regulations and Addie was only allowed on ONE ride the entire day. It was lame. Especially considering that a lot of the rides she was allowed on at DL were way less tame than the LL rides. So it was kind of a bummer all around since someone had to stay with Addison the entire day.

What we did like about Legoland were all the Lego creations they had around the park. It was pretty awesome to see what they built out of Legos. We also really liked that they had a lot of outdoor play structures and spaces (hence something to do with Addison during the day). We loved the mini factory tour and the delicious apple fries. The park was absolutely DEAD the day we were there so we got to ride everything a lot. On one roller coaster the operator just let us keep going around and around since there was no one in line!

Here are a few pictures of our day:

We Loved Lego Miniland. They replicated many cities all built out of Legos. Here are the kids in front of part of NYC. We found out that Al's current boss was the project manager over the creation of Miniland many years ago. Pretty cool!

Disneyland Recap

Get ready for the mother of all posts! This Disneyland vacation has been in the works for the past 18 months, since the last time we went to Disney. I told Allen during our previous visit that I wanted to go in December 2009 to experience it at Christmastime. We plotted and planned how to make it happen and in the end were able to do it very inexpensively (relatively, of course). We saved our credit card points for the entire 18 months and had just enough to pay for all of our tickets. Our hotel was also free due to all of the travel Allen did for work this last year. Anyway, long story short, we anticipated this vacation for a long time.

I had been watching the Anaheim weather for a few weeks and was so sad when I saw the forecast for the week we were going - pouring rain for all 5 park days. I was worried but we prepared the best we could with rain gear for everyone. We arrived on Sunday the 6th and met my friend Mindy and her son Charlie who were vacationing with us. We had also promised Carter that we would take him to Legoland for his 7th birthday (when we were living in AZ and LL was only 5 hours away) so we decided to tack on a day at LL as part of our trip.

Monday morning we woke to pouring rain, just as forecasted. We picked up Mindy/Charlie at their hotel and drove the 1.5 hours to LL only to get there and find that it was closed due to the weather. Ugh. We turned around and tried to decide what to do for the rest of the day and decided to just spend a half day at Disneyland. Once we got there and got everyone settled in their rain gear (the rainboots I bought for the kids on a whim were the best thing I did for this trip! Saved us!) we ended up having a GREAT first day. I didn't take many pictures this day since it truly did pour rain the entire day. Here's one of the kids right as we were walking into the park (No, I have no idea what Carter was doing here):

The silver lining was that we were able to walk onto every single ride that day. We rode more that first half day than you would normally ride in a couple normal days at DL. It was awesome!! And guess what? Monday was the only day it rained on our entire vacation! Woohoo! Because of the forecast the crowds were really minimal and we had such a great week.

On Tuesday we had sunshine and rushed to the park for Makenna's appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which is new to Disneyland. As soon as I heard about it I knew it would be THE experience for Makenna. At the boutique you get to pick a hairstyle, have your hair, nails and makeup done, pick out a crown and jewelry, all completed by your own fairy godmother who sprinkles you with fairy dust at the end. At the end you get to keep all your makeup/nailpolish and get a princess sash and backpack. To say she was in heaven would be putting it lightly. She adored the experience!

The big reveal:

I could hardly drag her away from the mirror the entire day. At one point in the bathroom she was looking at herself and said, "Mom, I just look SO dang cute I can't stand it." She got a lot of compliments on her hair everywhere we went and loved when she got to meet the princesses all dolled up! It was a magical experience for her and as is typical with Disney, they did it right.

The requisite family-in-front-of-the-castle picture:

I spent a lot of the rest of the day waiting in line to meet the princesses and the fairies at Pixie Hollow while everyone else rode rides. We are definitely at a crossroads with the kids and characters. Makenna still LOVES meeting them and Carter is pretty much not interested. So Kenna and I met a lot of characters while Carter rode rides with Allen.

I have to say, the Christmas decorations were seriously amazing. They even change a few of the rides up for the holiday season. We LOVED riding It's a Small World as the entire ride is changed to reflect holiday traditions around the world. The haunted mansion was also AMAZING as it turns into the Nightmare before Christmas. We rode and rerode both of those rides.

Mind and I got these huge turkey legs this afternoon for a "snack" and had to take a picture because it was cracking us up. We both tried to stay as low carb as possible during the week and pretty much failed miserably:


And yes, I have officially entered the realm of Disney Dorkdom as I bought myself a pair of ears this trip. I just couldn't help it. I *heart* Disneyland!!!

We headed to CA Adventure for a couple of hours that night and wanted to get on the new Toy Story ride. It was another HUGE favorite for us and the only ride we actually had to wait in line for the entire week. (We loved it so much that the kids will be getting the Wii game based on the ride for Christmas this year.) Carter also discovered California Screamin' which ended up being one of his favorite rides. We rode that one a lot too. Such a fun, crazy roller coaster. Makenna was devastated that she was too short to ride and cried every time we left her to ride it. It was really solidified for us this trip just how big of thrill seekers our kids are. They weren't scared even once, even on the scary/intense rides. It made it so fun to ride and ride.

In front of the CA Adventure tree:

Wednesday was another early morning as we had a character breakfast scheduled at Goofy's Kitchen at 8:00 a.m. We ate there the last time we were at DL and had a great experience. This time we still felt like the food was awesome but that the characters were lacking a bit. We only met about half as many characters this time. We still had a grand time and ate waaaaaay too much.

I made these shirts for the girls. They were so easy and only took me about 1 hour to do both. I also had a girl in my ward make these darling Minnie Mouse bows. You can't see them in the picture but they were so cute. Makenna chose to wear her princess hair for the second day in a row:

Our group at Goofy's Kitchen:

Group hug while dancing with the characters:I have tons more pics of the kids with the characters at the breakfast but you get the idea. Before heading in the parks for the day we took some traditional shots.

Carter with the C:

Frost Family F:Disneyland Entrance:

We spent most of this day at CA Adventure and had a great time. We still loved Soaring over CA but really loved the coaster and TS ride the best there this time. We also ate at our favorite place in the parks - the Sourdough breadbowl place. Yum! (we actually ate there twice on this trip).

That evening we headed back to DL to see the holiday parade. We just happened to have really great seats and LOVED it. They redo the parade just for Christmas and it was amazing. Addie fell asleep in Allen's arms and he ended up holding her for about an hour while she slept.

Our family in front of Small World all lit up for Christmas. It was beautiful!

Thursday: Legoland. Will do a separate post for our day here!

Friday: We decided to pack in as much riding as we possibly could in both parks. I didn't even bring my big camera to the park this day because rain was forecasted (it never rained!!) and I knew we wanted to ride a ton. A few random ride shots:

M, Mind and I going into IASM (just look at that amazing garland/wreath):

Outside Tower of Terror. This ended up being both Carter and Allen's favorite ride out of both parks:We spent time going back and forth to the parks this day and tried to stretch kids later so that we could stay for the DL fireworks/holiday show. We almost gave a up a couple of times but decided to keep pushing them. I AM SO GLAD we stayed. I cannot say enough good things about the holiday fireworks. Both Al and I were in tears by the end (he will kill me for posting this). It's hard to adequately describe but it is fireworks to holiday music and was just awe inspiring. It was honestly the perfect way to end our week at DL.

We had such a magical vacation. I'm sure you get that from this post. This was a great time of year to go as the crowds were so low and magic is high. We rode every single ride in both parks at least once and just loved it! I am so happy we were able to make this vacation happen this year. Many, many fun family memories were made that we will cherish forever! And don't worry, we are already planning our next Disney vacation!

Be back soon with a Legoland recap! Whew!