Halloween

Harry Potter Family

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. We were the "Harry Potter" Family and you would be amazed at how cool our costumes were. (At least we thought so). Britton was Harry, Ashlyn was Hermoine, Treyson was Ron, I was Professor McGonagall and Scott was Snape. Scott's was the coolest costume because a lot of people thought he looked just like him.

Brielle as Ginny

Treyson at his preschool parade

Doing his funny face

Britton as Harry Potter

Treyson as Ron

Ashlyn as Hermoine

Scott as Snape

Janan as Professor McGonagall

So after the kids Parades at school we went home and decided to go visit my Grandma so she could see our costumes. After our short visit we ran back home so we could attend the Annual Neighborhood Potluck Dinner. We do it every year before trick or treating. We have Hotdogs, Hot chocolate, Homemade Rootbeer and then everyone brings a side. It is just a good way to start out the Trick or Treating. We all meet and then when it's over we all know its time to start Trick or Treating. My parents came down for the night as did Whitney, Bryan, and Parker. It was a good time by all. Thanks Dad for passing out the candy.


Dueling it out

Dad and Brielle

Snape dueling the Harry Potter Foursome

Our sweet little girl

Visiting with Great Grandma

Halloween Preparations

For Family Home Evening this week we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. We had planted pumpkins this year in our garden. When all was said and done we had 26 pumpkins. We gave a few to family, a few to friends, put a few in the yard for decorations and then carved a few. We still have quite a few left. The kids sure enjoyed planting, taking care of, picking and then carving our pumpkins this year.

Treyson and his pumpkin

We also had pumpkin chocolate chips cookies for our dessert. They were really yummy as you can tell by Brielle's face.

Disneyland DAY 3

Disneyland DAY 3

This day we spent hitting all the rides we hadn't done yet. We got there for our Early Entry Day by 8:30. We got in line and as soon as they let us go I ran to get on Finding Nemo. The entire time this ride always had a HUGE line. So I ran. Well because of that we were able to get on within 15 minutes and at least that was done. We then went to the Matterhorn to get that ride done.



The kids in Mickey's House

We then went to Toon Town because we hadn't hit that part of the park yet. We went ahead and did all rides in Toon Town. We even stood in line to see Mickey and Minnie. It was a much nicer day and you could tell by the crowds. We waited in more lines today than any of the previous days.

Minnie Mouse

Mickey Mouse

We then headed back to the little kids area where we realized we hadn't done two rides. It's funny but we stood in line at these two lines longer than any other ride (besides California Screaming) this trip.

Casey's Train Ride

They had some way cool Halloween decorations set up. This was near the Big Thunder Railroad where Woody was. The area had coloring and crafts to do

We then went to California Park Again to hit a few things there. We saw
a scary show with all the bad guys and hit our favorite rides again.

We have course had to go on Soaring over California again. Everyone
in the family liked that ride. While Mom was waiting for dad to go we
went and took our pictures near the Car Characters.

Here's Mickey Mouse at night (Pumpkin).

Standing in front of the Candy Corn

Disneyland DAY 2

Disneyland-Monday, October 15th

Treyson and Mommy on a ride

The kids at just taking a rest

So after our fun morning at California Park we decided to head back over to Disneyland. It was a little busier here, but not bad at all. We decided to hit some of the big rides. Treyson really wanted to go on Splash Mountain. So we headed over there. This year at Disneyland they are having there Year of A Million Years. While Scott was in line, a man came up to him and asked how many people were in his party. He told them 6. The man told him he had 4 Fast Pass tickets to give to us. They were tickets that allowed us to go on as many Fast Pass Rides as we wanted. If you know about Fast Pass you can put your ticket it on several of the TOP Rides at Disneyland and it will let you come back at a later time and go to the front of the line. Well with Fast Pass you can only have one at a time. With these tickets we just kept going on ride after ride going to the front of the line. We went on Splash Mountain like 5 times, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain a few times, Indiana Jones a few times, and Big Thunder Railroad about 6 times and other Fast Pass Rides. We loved going to the front of the lines.

They were giving out other passes that let you go ONCE on each of the Fast Pass Rides and then you were done. Several of the employees when they saw our passes said, "You are really lucky!! They don't give those kinds out very often." It made it a WONDERFUL and FUN Day. Because of it we were able to go on all the BIG RIDES several times and knew that the next day we wouldn't have to go on them again.

Mickey Mouse

Us at Bugs Land

Bugs Land

Spinning and Spinning- Only Mom would go on each rides

Bug Bumper Cars

The Haunted Mansion

This ride was really cool because during this time of the year they do a mix of Halloween and Christmas decorations and story. Ashlyn liked it better this way than the way it usually is. They close the Mansion for a few weeks before October. Then they will close it again in November to get ready for the Christmas decorations. It was really cool!!!

October 14th-Sunday and the Beach

NEWPORT BEACH

We decided that we needed to take Sunday easy because it is the Sabbath and we wanted our kids to know that even on vacation it is important. We decided we would get up early and go to church. So we all got up, got dressed and was to church by 9. Too bad it was Stake Conference and no one was there. (Some other people forgot and they were at the building and told us). So after giving Church a good try we decided to go back to the Hotel and have a little church meeting by ourselves.

After that we decided we would go to the Ocean and take a lunch. We headed down to Newport Beach. It was beautiful. The waves were coming in and there were a lot of boarders. It was a little cold because it was October but of course our kids didn't mind. We took their suits just in case and it was a good thing. They loved playing in the waves and on the beach. But of course we had sand everywhere.

Here are a few pictures of our Beach day.

Treyson picking up shells

That's what Treyson wanted to do on our California trip. He wanted to find seashells on the beach. So for a few hours this is what we did. Of course we had to bring them home so now we have a shell collection at home. The kids loved the waves but not the salt. It's funny they didn't even notice it was COLD!!!

Our Britton at the Beach

Brielle enjoying a drink

On the wharf

The four kids

Sea World-Saturday October 13

SEA WORLD-San Diego

We headed down to San Diego on Saturday to enjoy a wonderful day at Sea World. When I came as a kid many years ago my favorite part was Sea World. I even liked it better than Disneyland. So we always try to make this part of our trip. Well this was a fun day especially because the crowds were not that bad. It was raining in the morning and stayed cloudy all day so it wasn't busy. We took our jackets in and used them throughout the day and of course our rain ponchos.

The first show we saw was Pets Rule. The seats were all soaked so it was a good thing we had out ponchos. They couldn't do there entire show because of the weather but still the kids enjoyed it.

We then went to the Dolphin Show. The two oldest kids wanted to get wet so they sat in the front. The rest of us sat further out of the Soak Zone. They had a fun time at the show and the younger kids enjoyed seeing these cool animals.

Treyson at the Dolphin Show

Dolphins

We then headed over to feed the dolphins. That was SOOOO cool. You buy some fish and then they come up to you and you get to touch and feed them. The kids sure enjoyed this.

Of course who could forget Shamu. We had a wonderful time at this show. Dad took the three oldest kids to the front to get soaked. They were so disappointed that they didn't get wet. Shamu forgot their section during the whole show. But they still had a good time.

Ash and Brit watching a show

The Flamingos

Clyde and Seymore's Risky Rescue

We also hit all the rides (Shipwreck Reef, Atlantis, and Wild Arctic. It was so much fun. After watching all the shows we then headed around the park looking at all the exhibits. But by the end of the day with three parks in a row we were very tired.
But as always Sea World was WAY FUN!!!!