Cake-face!

Jeff made a chocolate cake after dinner tonight. The minute the kids heard the beaters going, they ran to the kitchen to wait for one. Yay for chocolate cake!!

Signs of spring!

Since today is the first day of spring I thought I would do some springy pictures today. Macro photography is something I want to work on this spring. Here are a few telltale signs of spring around our yard today.

One week until Spring Break, yay! I will have to work some, but school will be out and I don't have court all week. I am counting down the days. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

It's that time

time for spring soccer to start! Mylie is on a new team this year, appropriately named the "Sparkly Princesses!" Oh, she was thrilled beyond words when she found out the name of her team. We had our first practice last night. She looks so grown up to me! Look how tall she is.

Blakey kept Daddy pretty busy during practice. I don't think he stopped moving for the whole hour!

Vacation, part 3 {Disneyland}

We woke up Tuesday morning so excited to go to Disneyland! {Poor Jeff spent a good part of Monday night throwing up, but thankfully seemed to have recovered by Tuesday morning.} Not only did we get to go to Disneyland, but we got to go in an hour early!! {Gramma knows how to get good tickets.}

Posing by the California "R" for Ritchie. Check out the uber cute shirts that Aunt Courtney made for all the kiddos.

Minnie was the first character we spotted in the park. Aunt Bailey and Minnie posing with all the little girls.

Ben and Holli go to Disneyland almost every year so they were our official Disney guides and led us around the park. It was fabulous to have their experience. We went on Buzz Lightyear {too fun} then to the Nemo Submarine Ride. We had to wait in line a bit for that one and so Papa thought he would love on baby Lila a bit. So cute!

After that we headed to Space Mountain. Courtney, Jason, Jeff and I went together. Jeff and Jason loved it and laughed the whole time. Courtney and I both nearly puked. Then we went to Star Tours, Jeff took Mylie, I opted to just sit for a few minutes! Gramma took Blake on the rockets, he loved it. Aunt Holli took Eliza and Blake and Eliza were so cute waiting in line and watching the rockets.

Then we headed to Fantasyland and the first sighting of the princess castle, yay! Oh there were so many fun rides there. The carousel, Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Storybook, Alice in Wonderland and the Tea Cups.

Papa with his grandsons on Dumbo.

In the afternoon we headed to Adventureland! We started with the Jungle Cruise, which is always fun and funny. It was so funny because at one point when the tour guide was narrating the scene she told everyone to duck because the natives were shooting arrows. I don't know if I have ever seen Max move so fast. It was hilarious! After that we went on Pirates, I love Pirates. Blake and Mylie loved it too. Then kids went to play at the treehouse and the adults switched off taking turns going on Indiana Jones. Holy cow, I love that ride. It was so much fun. It is so fun going on rides with Jeff, he giggles like a little girl the whole time.

After that was Splash Mountain. It is so funny because Mylie {I thought} is kind of scared of heights. She won't climb to the top of the Carl's Jr playland, but that girl went on Splash Mountain and LOVED it. So funny. Holli and I took the little kids on the Winnie the Pooh ride while everyone else was on Splash Mountain. We went to the Haunted House {which Mylie, Papa and agreed was kind of freaky}.

By this point Mylie was about to have a coronary. The girl is my daughter and she wanted to shop. She had saved her pennies for so long ($30 of change in fact) and had almost $60 of spending money. She had gotten her ears {princess ears, so cute!} but wanted to shop more.

So everyone else went to Thunder Mountain and we went to the Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique for princess stuff galore! She did quite well looking at everything and asking how much they cost. She was certainly much more conscientious about spenging when it was her own money.

We met up with everyone at the Tiki Room. They have a Dole pineapple stand outside of it and we had delish pineapple soft serve ice cream. I don't think I had been to the Tiki Room before and it was hilarious! It was a show and had singing birds. Blake danced like a madman the whole time. It was so hilarious. After that we headed for the parade. It was so fun to see some of the characters and watch Max and Bailey dance to the music. Mom and Dad offered to take all the kids and feed them so that all the adults could go out for a kid free dinner. Didn't take long for us to agree to that!

Wednesday morning we first went to Toontown. It was so cool!! Blake was a big fan of all the cars he could sit in and pretend to drive.

We checked out some of the character's houses and then Mylie and Jeff and Blake and Gramma went on the Toontown roller coaster. Mylie, in fact, went three times. Blake had this look on his face when he got off and I asked him if he wanted to go again and he yelled, "NO!" We stopped to buy Blake a Disney baseball hat which he then refused to wear and Mylie some socks because she was getting a blister. {Would you like to know that a 2-pack of Minnie socks costs $12.95, yikes!}

Mylie and I then headed to the Princess Fantasy Faire. Apparently the princesses don't just walk around like the other characters, they are in the area and you wait to see them. And wait. And wait. Seriously, we were in line for well over an hour. Mylie was starting to get a bit ancy. But she was excited, she loves princesses. She especially loves Snow White, her most favorite princess. Right before we got to our turn {like 2 people in front of us} they switched the princesses and Snow White was one of the new princesses. When we turned the corner and she saw her she literally started jumping she was so excited. We first met Jasmine, then Sleeping Beauty and her prince and then Snow White. This is my favorite picture from our whole trip. Mylie is telling Snow White that she is her favorite princess. {This one is getting blown up big for her room.}

Jeff and Blake kept busy while we were in line going on a bunch of rides, including Autopia, where you got to drive a car. Yep, Blakey loved that. Soon after this we all headed over to California Adventure Park. We had lunch and then we on California Soaring, which was super cool. I have a issue with heights, so I was unsure about going on it, but am so glad I did. You sit in airplane seats and there is a big screen {like an imax} and it appears that you are soaring over California. The scenery is gorgeous and the infuse scents into the ride, so for instance when you are flying over the orange trees, you can smell them. Super cool. Mylie was sitting next to me and I was holing her in the seat for dear life. Not that she was scared, just me.

We went on a fun Monster's Inc ride and then the rest of my crazy family wanted to go on the Tower of Terror, seriously? No way. Jeff and I took all the kids to Bug's Life and went on the kiddie rides. Later we found another carousel and went on that a few times. My crazy family then went on Califoria Screamin', nope. We got in line for the Toy Story ride. So cool, it was 3-D and like and arcade almost where you played arcarde games {like shooting, ring toss} from the ride. We waited in line a LONG time, but it was super cool.

After that we went to the parade in California Adventure which was so very cool. Many of the Pixar characters were there and the kids loved it! Eliza was totally getting into it.

And Lila was bouncing and grinning the whole time!

After the parade, Gramma and Papa took the kids and the grown-ups went back to Disneyland. We had so much fun and fit a lot in. We went on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Indiana Jones. Then they suggested Thunder Mountain Rail. I don't really like roller coasters and was not going to go on it, but I did and I loved it!! Of course when I was younger I went on it many times, but I am much older now, and much more afraid. I screamed like a girl, but loved it! We finished off the night with one last rendezvous on the Buzz Lightyear ride. It was a competition to see who could get the most points. Jason was the bomb-diggity.

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Ben told us it was a short walk ... hahaha. We had a great time and super good cheesecake. What a fun night!

Our tickets were supposed to be 2 day tickets, but ended up being 3 day tickets. Ben and his family decided to stay a 3rd day, we weren't going to, it was going to be a long drive back, but we couldn't resist and stayed on Thursday until 1:30 or so. We went on Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, the carousel, It's a Small World, Autopia and the Toontown Roller Coaster.

We did a little shopping {Mickey and Minnie Mouses for the kids} and then it was time to leave.

Mylie had sad tears because she never wanted to leave Disneyland, which made me have sad tears because I never wanted to leave either.

We had a great uneventful drive home. We were on the road by 2, stopped in Vegas for dinner and then stayed in Cedar City that night {we got in about 10:45}. We headed out the next morning, stopped for lunch in South Salt Lake and then pulled in to our house around 7 that night. We were so grateful that all of us traveled safely and know that we were being watched over.

We had a fabulous time!! We loved spending the time with family. There were many, many memories made last week!!

Vacation, part 2 {the beach}

After lunch it was off to the beach. I love the beach, I really do. It has been 3 years since we have been to the ocean. Mylie was Blake's age at that time.

We headed to Huntington Beach. Max, Bailey, Mylie and Jeff went out to collect shells.

Blake and Eliza were very happy to play in the sand. I took Blake out into the water once, but he wasn't a big fan.

Oh how I love this little boy and all his expressions!

Mylie was off with Jeff the whole time (they are in the middle there) collecting shells. They walked all the way to the other side of the pier. {Take note of the restaurant at the end of the pier there, I'll come back to that.}

Blake was in heaven with a whole beach full of sand, a shovel and a bucket. Fill it up, dump it out, repeat. He was so covered in sand, there may still be some in his ears a week later. He and I saw a guy driving a big remote control all over the beach and he was so fascinated watching it.

After a few hours, Gramma, Papa, Courtney, Jason and Lila arrived at the beach and the whole Craig Ritchie family was reunited after 6 months. What a fabulous feeling to have everyone together.

We played for a while longer at the beach and then got the kids all dried and into warmer clothes and headed down the pier to Ruby's, a 50s diner right at the end of the pier. There were burgers, shakes, onion rings, great conversation and lots of laughs.

After dinner {and once again, grateful for the GPS} we all headed to our hotel. Gramma did good, we were right across the street from Disneyland. Could it really be? Only one more sleep 'til Disneyland??

Vacation, part 1 {aquarium}

Vacation was seriously fabulous!! We left Friday afternoon after work. The kids almost didn't make it to Mountain Home (an hour away), but got all of their naughtyness out of their system, phew! We stopped in Twin Falls for dinner (hello Cafe Rio) and then drove to South Salt Lake for the night. We got up the next morning and met Bailey for breakfast (can you say Mimi's, yum!). After breakfast we were off to Las Vegas. There was a very special little person waiting there to see us!

Lila {and her parents} were staying in Las Vegas on their way to Disneyland. We were staying at the same hotel as them and just couldn't wait to get there. We haven't seen her since October, when she was a tiny 2 month old. Now she is a tiny, smiley, giggly 6 month old. She loved me, really she did! Everytime she saw me she would break out into a huge smile and she has these to-die-for dimples. Mylie and Blake loved her and she pretty much reciprocated. Blake would call her Yiya. So cute! They kept playing peek-a-boo with her and she would giggle like mad. So cute!

Courtney and Jason had dinner plans with some friends. We took our kids to dinner and then drove down the strip to show them all the lights. Mylie promptly fell asleep, but Blake was enamored with all the lights and kept saying "wow, wow, wow." I kid you not, right as we drove past the Hooters Hotel, Blake yelled, "woo woo!" Oh we were laughing so hard.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and played more with the baby. They were staying in Las Vegas until Monday so we told them goodbye for a few days and we were off to California. We stopped in Barstow at In and Out (because you just have to when you are in California). We made it to our hotel in the Long Beach area to meet Ben and Holli and their family there. Bailey flew in that night and Ben picked her up at the airport. We all went to dinner that night and were so excited for the next day!

Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We were so excited about this! Our family loves going to the zoo or anything like it. We couldn't wait for the aquarium! Mylie was excited to see all the bright colored fish.


They had some great areas for kids to pet the stingrays and the star fish. Blake was fired up because that meant he got to get out of his stroller!

There was an area to walk through with these beautifully colored birds. Max tried so hard to get one to land on his arm.

My two favorite little boys, watching the seals.

There was a fun play area, we'll just call him Captain Blakey.

Apparently Mylie didn't realize about the water, hehe.

Neither did Blake.

I'm not sure whose daughter she is, with the camera out taking pictures of everything.

Look at those colors. Gorgeous!

After the aquarium we went across the street to Bubba Gumps for lunch ... on the patio. Yes people, it was February and we were sitting out on the patio enjoying a delightful lunch. I actually had to get the sunscreen out and put some on Blake during lunch. Oh it was so lovely to have sunshine and to see blue skies. It made my spirits soar.

Magical!

One of my favorite moments at Disneyland came after Mylie and I stood in line for a long time to meet the princesses. She was excited, but getting restless. Its a long time for a little one to wait. But then, we turned the corner and saw the princesses ... first Jasmine, then Sleeping Beauty {and her prince} and then at the end, her most favorite princess in the whole world ... Snow White. She was so excited! When we got to Snow White, she went up to her and told her that she is her favorite princess. I happened to catch just that moment. I can't wait to blow this up big and hang it in her room.

As we were driving away from Disneyland on Thursday afternoon, Jeff asked me if it was what I remembered. This was my third trip to Disney, the first when I was 7 and the second a few weeks before my 17th birthday. I told him it was different. When I went last it was about the rides and the roller coasters. This time, it was about the magic, about watching my children's eyes light up. This was Jeff's first trip to Disneyland and I asked him if it was what he thought it would be. He told me {as I had guessed} that he liked it much more than he thought he would. We talked about how it is so happy and magical without being hokey or cheesy.

It was, without a doubt, a perfect vacation. Thank you Mom and Dad, for helping to make it possible! Thanks to my sibs and their families for being so much fun! We have been planning this trip for what feels like forever. We started planning in July of 2008, while sitting in a hotel room in Jackson. We have planned and saved and looked forward to this so much!

When we were walking out of the park on Thursday afternoon Mylie started crying. Not bratty, tantrum crying, but broken hearted tears rolling down her face because she didn't ever want to leave Disneyland. That made me start crying too. We will definitely be going back!