Disneyland '09

Our family took a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth last week. Nana & Poppy (my Mom and Dad) came with us to double the fun. Here's a rundown of the week in pictures (lots of pictures)...

Day 1:

We began the trip with our flight into Long Beach. It was $100 cheaper to fly into Long Beach than into Orange County (hence our choice in airports). Heck, I'll drive the extra 15 miles to save $100 a ticket! Here's some pics from the flight...

It was Cohen's first flight & he did great! He didn't make a peep the entire time...

First thing we did when we touched down was to stop at an In-and-Out Burger (just for my gal pals, Amy & Abby, who requested that I eat there for them)...

After lunch, we checked into our favorite little hotel on the planet (Candy Cane Inn...TOTALLY recommend it...right next door to Disney and well priced too) & then headed straight over to Disneyland to start on a few rides. It was obviously a great week to go to Disney...the weather was cloudy & cool everyday, which must have kept a lot of people away. The longest we waited in line for anything was about 45 minutes (that was the new Nemo ride). For everything else, the wait was usually only 5 - 15 minutes. It was awesome! Here we are just inside the entrance of the park...

Me, Nana & Cohen going into the Buzz Lightyear ride. Cohen didn't know what to think of it...

Mike & Aiden waiting in the 45 minute line for the Nemo ride. I'm not sure if it was worth it or not...

By the end of the evening, we had gone on lots of rides. I think we really wore the kids out, wouldn't you say?

Day 2:

Time for more Disney fun. Here we are waiting in line for the Matterhorn...

And, we tried to pull the sword out of the stone, but were unsuccessful...

We took a ride on King Arthur's Carousel...

Cohen was a big fan...

And then Connor went on the Indiana Jones ride with Mike & Poppy. I think all the creepy stuff that you walk by while you're waiting in line freaked him out, as you can see by his face in this picture...

We all went on the Jungle Cruise, which is a family favorite...

And then it was on to Splash Mountain. Here's my mom, me & Aiden on it. We're in the back. Aiden is sitting right next to me, but you can't see him because he's too short...

In fact, TECHNICALLY, Aiden was too short to go on Splash Mountain...along with all the other "fun rides". You TECHNICALLY have to be 40" to go on them. But when you are 39" (even with your big-soled shoes on) & you have an engineer as a dad that can make you some "special socks", then you can breeze on all of them! Shhhh! Don't tell our little secret!

After lunch, the sun decided to come out for a little bit. So, we decided to head back to the hotel & do some swimming. Cohen had a blast, even though he looks freaked out in this picture...

And, the big boys had fun bopping back and forth between the big pool, the hot tub & the kids pool. Here they are hanging out in the kids' pool...

Then that evening, we headed back over to Disney for some more rides. We ran into some really scary aliens while we were there...

And, once again, we wore the kids out...

Day 3:

On our third day there, the kids started out the morning with a little swimming, while the adults ate breakfast by the pool. It was pretty cool outside, but the pool water was really warm, so the kids had a blast...

Afterwards, we loaded onto the hotel's shuttle & headed back over to Disney...

We decided to head into California Adventure for this day. We met lots of friends while we were there. First, we ran into Pluto...


Next, it was Mr. Incredible...

And then Handy Manny...

Then we decided to go on Tower of Terror. Connor went on it last year at Disneyworld, and hasn't fully recovered yet. So, he chose to stay on the ground & watch. His little bro went though, thanks to his "special socks". Here's Poppy, Aiden, me, & Mike on the ride. We're in the back on the left side. Again, you can't really see Aiden...too short. Love those "special socks"...

Unfortunately, I think we've now scarred Aiden for life too. When we got off the ride, he announced that it was "totally awesome", but when he was asked if he wanted to go again, he firmly replied "NO". I still think it's cool that he tried it though...

Afterwards, we headed over to "A Bug's Land" to go on some of the kiddie rides. And, while we were there, we found someone who reminded us of someone in our family. Hmmmm...

Here we are on the "Chew Chew Train"...

And then, we ran into Aiden's two best friends in the whole world. Lightning McQueen...

And Mater...

Then we went on the river rapids ride. Here's Poppy, Connor & Mike...

And then Mike, Connor & I went on it...with a little protection for me. What?!? The hair was in jeopardy!!! I will do anything to protect it, including buying a $6.50 poncho...

As always, we wore the kids out again! This time, by 5:00 pm. Are you sensing a trend here?

We decided that, despite the fact that we had a sleeping child, we would hang out and wait for the Pixar Play Parade...

It was well worth it! Quite the little production! Disney can put on a good show, that's for sure...

Aiden woke up halfway through the parade, so we decided to go on more rides afterwards. The adults took turns going on the California Screamer & the kids had fun going on King Tritan's Undersea Carousel...

And, I know I talked about it last year, but I have to once again give Disney props for the Toy Story ride. So well done & so fun too! Love it! And, totally worth the 30 minute wait! Oh, by the way, I should mention that Aiden was famous this trip for needing to go to the bathroom right as we got to the front of a line! Seriously, it happened at least 63 times over the course of the week. Luckily, Disney is very understanding about this & will let your party wait off to the side while your child & an adult go to the bathroom. Then, when they return, your party is the first to get on the ride. Thanks for being so kid-friendly Disney!

Day 4:

It was back to the Magic Kingdom for this day in order to try to get Connor into Jedi Training. Last year, we had to go to the show 4 times at Disneyworld before Connor was picked. This time, he was picked on his first try. Maybe his Star Wars shirt helped him. Here he is fighting the evil Darth Vader...

And, here are all the graduates waiting to get their diplomas...

After Jedi Training, we ran into the Mad Hatter, who had the biggest nose I've ever seen...

And then headed over to Small World...

In Toon Town, we went into Mickey's house and, to our surprise, found Mickey himself...

As we were leaving, Aiden felt the need to give Mickey a kiss. Unfortunately, Aiden's lips only come up to about Mickey's crotch. Sorry Mickey.

After some time in Toon Town, we headed back into Fantasy Land & took a ride on the Teacups...

And, once again, wore our kids out. This picture cracks me up! Look how he's sleeping! Hilarious!!!

Day 5:

On Day 5, we drove down the coast about an hour to Carlsbad to go to the beach. When we were in California a few years ago, we stayed in a condo down there that belongs to one of my parents' co-workers & we just fell in love with the area. The beaches there are 164% better than the ones in Orange County & not nearly as crowded either. The boys had a blast...

Aiden was only 9-months-old the last time he was at a beach, so he had fun rediscovering sand...

The boys (Poppy & Mike included) built a sand castle, complete with protective dikes & moats, & reinforced with seaweed too (another Mike invention)...

Then the boys ventured out into the waves. It surprised me how brave both Connor & Aiden were! They both went pretty far out into the ocean & had a blast. Oh, by the way, you can see the sand castle in this picture too...

This was Cohen's first time at a beach, & he had a blast playing in the sand...

And eating it too. Yummy!!!

Then the boys took turns getting buried in the sand...

It was such a fun day! We even saw some dolphins too! I tried to get a picture, but you couldn't see them very good. Eventually, some thunderstorms rolled in, so we had to leave, but it was a great day! There was one casualty of the day though. When we first got to the beach, Mike started putting sunscreen on himself. He asked me if I would put sunscreen on the top of his back. He specifically asked for the TOP of his back, not the bottom. So, I put sunscreen on the TOP of his back. The result later that night was priceless. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Sorry Mike...

Day 6:

This was our last day at Disneyland. We just tried to do the few things we hadn't done yet & we re-did some of our favorities. Here are the boys on the Dumbo ride...

We ran into Peter Pan & Wendy. Wendy is looking very pregnant (bad costume design) & Peter Pan is apparently VERY gay (but, what can you expect from a grown man in tights?)...

We then decided to head over to Tom Sawyer Island so the boys could run around & explore a little bit. They've actually turned it into more of a Pirate Island lately. Here's the boys pulling a treasure chest (and accompaning skeleton) out of a shipwreck...

Coconut found some treasure of his own...

And Connor decided to do this fancy little pose on his treasure. Interesting. Maybe we spent a little too much time with Peter Pan...

We decided that we should probably get a family picture in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle. Cohen was sleeping though, so it's only a partial family picture...

We bought the boys some mouse ears. Connor's are pirate ears, Aiden's are Toy Story ears, & Cohen's are the classic ears...

We took a ride on the monorail over to Downtown Disney so the kids could play in the Lego Store. Here they are with Lego Darth Vader...

That night, we went on a few more rides in California Adventure & then headed back over to Magic Kingdom for a few last rides. We ended with Small World. Why do I love that ride so much?

Day 7:

This was our last day in California. We apparently were sick of taking pictures because we didn't take any all day long. We let the kids swim again that morning & then we drove down to Newport Beach to go shopping at Fashion Island (the greatest mall in the history of the world). After shopping for a few hours, it was time to head to the airport for our flight home.

It was such a fun vacation! Thanks to Nana & Poppy for coming with us! You guys are awesome! We all had a great time & decided that Disneyland really is the Happiest Place on Earth! --Lindsay

When the Lord Closes a Door, Somewhere He Opens a Window

I have lots of happy stuff to blog about...we went to Disneyland last week, I was a judge in the Miss Lehi pageant last night, I have a totally new & cute hairstyle, etc...but I'll blog those another day. Today, I just need to blog about today. Today has been one of those days where you wish you had never gotten out of bed (especially when you got out of bed at 3:00 am after only getting about 4 hours of sleep). You know the kind I'm talking about...days where you wake up thinking it's just going to be another normal, boring day...but then suddenly, you realize your whole life has been turned upside down in an instant & that there is nothing you can do about it. Well, today is one of those days. In the movie "The Sound of Music", Maria says, "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." Well, today, a door of my life was closed. Today, the weekend morning show that I have been a part of for the past five years was cancelled.

After my show got over this morning, my news director walked into our kitchen set & told my co-anchor, Mike, and me that we were having a meeting on the main set in just a few minutes. When we got up to the set, we noticed that every manager at the station was present, including our General Manager. When they all show up on a Sunday morning, you know something serious is about to go down. My news director started the meeting by saying that the show that we just finished was going to be the last weekend morning show at Channel 2...the show had been cancelled.

All of us were in complete shock. I don't think any of us saw it coming. It didn't make any sense. The show had great ratings (we were consistently the highest rated morning show out of all 4 networks in SLC...beating out every morning show almost everyday of the entire week) and the show was making good money. When we asked why, no one really had an answer for us. Our GM & ND just said that the head honchos who own the company had decided to make some cuts and this was one that they chose. Our GM said that he had fought extremely hard for the show, telling & showing "the powers that be" how they would actually LOSE money by cancelling the show. Apparently, they didn't care & there was no changing their minds. They said that weekend morning shows were being cut across the country, and there was no reason our station should be any different. All of us were speechless.

After the meeting was over, I went to clean all my stuff out of the weather office. The GM came up to me & asked me if he could see me in his office. "Oh great," I thought. "Here comes the 'thanks for all your great work' speech that they give each of the laid off employees." But, when I got into his office, he actually told me how valuable he felt I was to the station and that the station wanted to keep me. He offered me a promotion to the Weekend Evening Meteorologist position. I asked him what that entailed. He told me that his preference would be to have me start working full time...but out of respect for me & my desire to be at home with my kids as much as possible, he would allow me to take the job part time...16 hours a week. After thinking about it for a few minutes & saying a quick silent prayer, I felt it was the right thing to do & accepted the position.

It will be a big shift for me & for our entire family. The weekend morning show has just been such a perfect fit for us. My kids don't even realize I'm gone to work most the time because they sleep through about 90% of my shift...usually waking up about 30 minutes before I get home. With this shift, they will sleep through only about 25% of my shift. I guess it's not that bad...they'll be with their dad (who is "the fun parent" anyway) & they won't have a mom there to ruin all their fun by saying things like "Stop wrestling before you break EVERYTHING in this house" or "I'm serious...you MUST wear a coat outside when it is 15 degrees" or "Mike...the kids are going to throw up if you spin them around anymore!". So, I guess it will probably be a plus in the boys' book.

So, that's been my day today. I'm sorry to write such a depressing post. It's just been a really sad day. Overall though, I don't have ANYTHING to complain about...everyone in our family is healthy & happy, I have 3 super awesome little buddies for kids, & I am married to the most wonderful man on this planet (who also wins the award for "hottest butt"). Life is great! It's just sad to see my little show come to an end. I, along with my 2 co-anchors at the time, launched the show from scratch almost 5 years ago & turned it into an awesome show (if I do say so myself) that tens-of-thousands of households tuned into watch every weekend. It was one of my babies & I'm sad to talk about it in the past tense.

But, despite being sad, I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason...and, sooner or later, I will find out what the reason for this is as well. Maybe 5 or 10 years from now, I'll be really happy that it happened & I'll look back and say that I wouldn't change it for the world...we'll see.

Those of you that know me well know that I feel very deeply that I am supposed to be in my career field for whatever reason. I've always tried to figure out how to balance that feeling with the feeling that I need to be home with my kids too. I feel like the Lord has led me where I needed to be so that I could have both. This job, thanks to my GM's generosity, will also allow me to do both, so I am grateful for that. Maybe, for some reason, this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do right now. I don't know. It is a great opportunity & I'm excited for the start of a new adventure. Maybe this is the "window" that the Lord has opened for me. --Lindsay

p.s. I will be doing quiet a bit of fill-in during the week for the next few weeks & then I will start my new gig the beginning of July.