Whew, Do You Ever Feel that You Need a Vacation to Recover from Your Vacation?

We recently returned from a fabulous vacation to Disneyland with my parents and my sister (with her family.). We had such a wonderful time. The lines were short, the weather gorgeous, the company great, and we stayed in a fabulous hotel.  The only problem was exhaustion. Seriously, my legs and feet were screaming by the end of the day (and we stayed until the last moment possible every night).

The kids were all at great ages to take to Disneyland. Lucas was just tall enough that he could ride all but the scariest of rides (and a few of the rides he insisted on riding freaked him out a bit, but he was determined to ride them all). Dane was even tall enough for Indiana Jones, and surprisingly, really enjoyed it. The older three enjoyed California Screaming (we rode it several times, since the wait time was never more than 15 minutes). Jared, Liam, Max and I LOVED Hollywood Tower of Terror (Joelle rode it, but wasn't a big fan). I think the family favorite ride had to be Toy Story Midway Mania, where we all donned 3-D glasses and enjoyed a Midway game experience. Nobody could beat Jared's high score, but we all sure gave it a good try.

The last several days have been filled with recovery from our vacation. I came home exhausted and needing to do laundry.

Here are a few photos from our trip for you to enjoy:

Back from Sac!

We had a great visit with our family while in Sacramento. It was an exhausting drive, both directions, but it was worth it to spend time with family. The purpose of the trip was to join the family in running the Alzheimer's Association 5k, attending the De Lucia reunion, and to celebrate Jared's sister Marcia's 50th birthday. We also spent time visiting my parents and sister.



Here are some photos from the trip:

Here's our family in the T-shirts we made for the run. It was a fun race. Jared and I ran together for almost the first 2 miles, when he stopped to walk a bit. I was able to run the whole thing, even after a month of no running. My ankle was sore for a day or two afterwards, but is fine now! I am so happy that I was able to run. I got about the same time as my last one aswell, so I didn't get worse for having to ride the bike instead of runing. Hopefully I can work back into a running schedule so I can improve.
Here's the backside of our shirts...they all say "Running for Mom" or "Running for Grandma". The image was designed by our 10 year old niece Rebekah.

Joelle, Liam and our niece and Nephews at the beginning of their 1/2 mile run
Liam totally amazed us and came in around 5th or 6th in his kids race (which had kids from age 6 to 9!). We watched a few older kids come around the corner and then here came Liam! I swear I screamed so loud!
Each kid got a medal for participating. Max ran with 2 of his cousins in the 1/4 mile race for kids 5 and under. He was so cute! Here is he is showing off his medal!
These 2 girls are adorable (Joelle and my niece Eliza, aren't they both beautiful?)! They ran the race together. It was so cute to see them coming around the corner, encouraging each other. What sweet girls!




On the way home from the reunion we were able to attend a birthday party for my good friend Lynnette's son, Spencer. He and Joelle have had a really cute friendship since they were in preschool together. They used to say that they were going to get married. They are still so cute together. Here they are enjoying their dinner:

Saturday night we swapped kids with my Sister in Law, she took Liam and Max (she is a VERY brave woman!!) so they could play with Dallin and Jake and we brought Eliza and Rebekah back to my parents house. They attended church with us at my parents ward, and after church Jared had to get a picture of these three beautiful girls!

It was truly a great trip. We had so much fun visiting with family and friends; our only complaint was that it wasn't long enough. We are planning to go back in November for Thanksgiving.

long time...no post

Ok, I realized that I never posted after we got back from our trip. We had a nice visit with family, and were able to celebrate my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary with out family. It was a wonderful night of good food, and fun entertainment provided by the families. It was a very quick trip though, and by the end we were all exhausted...here's a pic of the kids from the ride home



They look a little tired..LOL

Well, I am going scrapping with some friends this morning, so I better get ready!

Hope you all are doing well.

California Here we Come.....

We are off this morning (when hubby wakes up, since he works until 3:30 AM) to visit family in Sacramento. I am not looking forward to the long drive through the incredibly boring state of Nevada, but I will be glad to visit family and reunite with my daughter (who has spent over a week being spoiled by Grandma, Poppa and her aunt Stacy!). I may not post too much while we are gone, but look for an exciting announcement sometime in the evening on Friday the 6th (don't ya love it when someone keeps you hanging...I know you will come back and check it out on Friday, huh?)