happiest place on earth...

We decided to fly to California for the sake of time.  We flew out of PROVO.  Awesome.

We would totally do that again.  Even though the flight was full and it was slightly delayed leaving Provo, it arrived in LA on time.  We were on a flight with 47 people who were attending a "happy, happy hipster wedding at the Los Angeles Temple on November 15."  It was like being on a flight with a whole bunch of Kardashians.  I don't even know what that means.   They were on our return flight on Sunday as well.  The wedding went well, apparently.

Anyway, good idea.  Would definitely do that again.  GO Provo Airport!!

So, Cole had NO IDEA at all that we were going to Disneyland.  We kept it secret until we all got up that morning and there was a suitcase in the middle of the floor.  Cole asked why there was a suitcase and Rick told him that he had been chosen as the lucky student from Chinese Immersion that would be flying to China to spend the rest of the school year with his Chinese Teacher's family.  That was not what he wanted to hear.  He cried the whole way to the airport and was not completely convinced that we were going to Disneyland until all of us were on the plane and buckled into our seats.

He's so funny.  I think he was the only person on the plane that was actually listening to the flight instructor.

We scheduled a limo to pick us up at the airport.  Cole didn't know it.  Then this baby pulled up to the curb.  His eyes were this big for the entire ride to Disneyland.  

2 reasons for the Limo:

1.  When scheduling that far in advance, it's nearly the same price as scheduling a shuttle, however...

2.  It doesn't have to stop every 10 minutes and unload a group of people, and therefore, the ride to Disneyland is a non-stop ride that takes half the time as a shuttle.  

First stop:  Space Mountain.

This was also the first ride that we went on when we went to DisneyWorld a few years ago.  

We like the traumatize the kids right from the get go.

We made sure Cole was in the front seat, just like last time.

We're so mean like that.

Another favorite from our first day was Cars-land.  It was a good idea to hit Radiator Springs Racer on a Thursday evening.  The lines were relatively short (OK 45 minutes, but whatever) and it's totally cool to do this one at night.  We did make it one other time with a fast pass.  Certainly a favorite!!

Notice Cole holding onto his seatbelt for dear life!!

We also hit a few other rides in Cars Land.  This is from Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and is similar to the teacups.  We loved it and laughed so hard.  Everything from Cars Land is so cute.  

Maybe I should watch the movie.

Poor Rick was sporting a knee injury that peaked on Thursday with the rupture of cyst and lots and lots of swelling.  His activities were kept at a minimum. 

It was pretty sweat celebrating the holidays with lights and music and 70* temperatures.

Certainly put me in the holiday spirit.

The next morning we started out at DisneyLand with Brandi & Jason and a few other dozen friends from Highland.

The River Safari.

Brings new meaning to the "duck face".

Friday night kid pic back at Cars Land.

These 2 opted out on the Tower of Terror.

Can't say that I blame them.

 Cole loved the Bug's Life bumper cars.

On the first night, we saw this guitar player singing just outside the entrance to Disneyland.

We got brave on the second night.  We asked him if he knew Stubborn Love by the Lumineers.  (we knew he did because we heard him play it the night before.)  He played it and the girls sang.  They were proud of the the fact that they helped him earn lots of tips for that song.  It was pretty fun.

There was almost never more than a 10 minute wait for this ride:  California Screamin'.

It's a roller coaster.  Summer and Sierra ran ahead to ride it before we got there.

Cole was pretty nervous to ride.  He was actually crying.  I felt like the worst parent ever for making him ride a roller coaster.  There was a mom and her son in line ahead of us.  They were so funny, the mom kept telling the son to tell Cole that he was so scared the first time, but now he just loves the roller coaster.  I was reassured myself, since I was slightly petrified to ride the roller coaster.  We had a cute worker named Jenna that reassured him that it would be OK and he would love it.  And he did.

(Seriously though, what parent just forces a kid to stand on their tip toes while silently crying to qualify to ride a dang scary roller coaster???)

 Toy Story Midway Mania was also a favorite.  (we didn't ride this one in DW because of the ridiculously long wait times)  It was really fun to do this one with Cole.  He loved it.

The lines were pretty short and we were able to do this one multiple times.

 Rick and Sierra

 Other favorites:  Soarin',  Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Autotopia (Cole) and the beignets at New Orleans Square.

Things we did once and that was enough:  Matterhorn Bobsleds, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Things we missed but will be sure to hit next time:  Grizzly Rapids, Monster's Inc., and Club 33.

Cole's Birthday Week

Cole turns 8 this week.

On Thursday.

November 28.

Thanksgiving Day.

We realized at least a year ago that Cole would turn the magical number of 8 on Thanksgiving Day.

How cool is that?  kinda like turning 13 on Friday the 13th.

I'd like to take complete credit for all of those coincidences.  thankyouverymuch.

Cole is such a fun addition to our family.

Life would be pretty boring around here without him.

Here are some pictures from Disneyland last week.

We took Cole on the Ferris Wheel.

It was fine, until it started to move...

Then Cole started to panic.

He grabbed the cage behind him and the seat below him...

Then he tried to jump onto the floor...

Then he thought the ride was over...

And we went around again.

I'n not sure I have ever seen Rick laugh that hard.

That definitely made the top 5 things we'll remember about this vacay.

(I wish I had a pic of him hitting the floor of our little cart.  I was laughing too hard, but we may have a video clip…)

Choir Christmas Performance

It's that time of year again...

Wednesday, December 18 will be the Carols & Confections.

It's a fun Christmas Choir performance that the choir does each year.

The entire auditorium is decorated for Christmas and there are tasty refreshments after the performance.

Tickets are on sale now.

If you purchase tickets from Summer by Friday, November 22, a portion of each ticket sale will go towards choir tour expenses for Summer.

Contact Summer if you are interested in purchasing a ticket.

PS.  Summer & Sierra are auditioning on Tuesday for a solo spot.

syllables and emphasis

We had the funniest conversation at dinner a few nights ago and it was so funny that we keep reliving it almost every day.  So, I had to record it here, although it won't be nearly as funny as the real thing.  And it might sound better if read out loud.  

The pictures and the story are completely unrelated.  Cole just wanted me to get some action shots of him running and jumping...

We were eating dinner and Sierra was talking about the word:

SERRATED

as in serrated knife.

She says SERrated.  But the kids in her science class say serRATed.

And Summer says, "you are putting the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong syllAble."

And Cole asked that whole thing meant.

So we tried explaining syllables to Cole.

I used the example of Sierra's name:

SIerra or siERRa or sierrA

And we all took turns saying Sierra's name out loud with different emphasis.

Then we tried it with Summer's name:

SUMmer or summER.

So, of course, Cole tried to emphasize different syllables in his name:

CCCCCCole or cOOOOOle or coLLLLLLLE and even colUHHHHHH

It was the funniest thing ever.  And maybe using names wasn't the best choice to explain syllables.

Here's a question for you?  How many syllables do YOU think there are in the word mayonnaise?

or how about isle?

Summer had an assignment when she was in school in Mississippi.  For her homework she/we had to determine how many syllables were in a list of words.

Mayonnaise was on the list.  And clearly there is an O in the middle of the word and I'm sure that in the dictionary there 3 syllables in this word.  But I say MAY NAZE.  clearly 2 syllables.

But, slow it down a little and add a big O in the middle.  may O naze.

That is Mississippi pronunciation and there are obviously 3 syllables.

Now, isle.  

In this sentence:

"I found the cheerios in the cereal isle"

there are 2 syllables in isle.  like this:  I ull.

but, not in Mississippi.  it's one syllable.  as in:

"I buy my pickled frog legs in the vegetable AL"

And please take the full 3 seconds to pronounce that A.

It was a very complicated assignment for her/us.

emPHAsis on the wrong syllAble can be a very confusing subject.

busy bees

The bees are getting a little smoke to calm them down.

Lifting the hive lid to check the progress.

Looking for the queen and eggs

Look at all those worker bees

Starting to draw out comb on this frame

honey and brood chambers

Rick has been stung a couple of times.  Once, he just went to peek on the bees and one bee wasn't happy about that at all.  He chased Rick all over the yard.  Rick was jumping and swatting at the bee.  He almost got away, but the bee was persistent and chased him to the road and finally stung him on the arm.  

This hive is in the back yard.  These bees are lazy and the queen is a dud.

We decided to do 2 hives just for the fun of it.  That turned out to be a good idea.  We were able to compare the 2 hives throughout the summer since we were new to the beekeeping business.  

I have found the bees to be fascinating and I am enjoying learning more about bee keeping.

I had originally let this be Rick's project.  (you know, never learn to milk the cow, Grandma Ethel said)

But, it really is fun to sit on the front porch and watch the bees.  

Sierra even has her own bee suit now (or whatever it's called)

We didn't get an early enough start this year to allow the bees to produce enough honey for us and for them.  So, no honey extraction this year.  

Those cute little bees need to the honey all to themselves to make it through the winter.  

(And we'll be shocked if the lazy hive in the back even survives, poor things.)

All State Choir

Most fun people I know went to St. George for fall break.  But not us.

We were lucky enough to participate in All State Choir.  Thankyouverymuch.

Summer practiced all day and all night of fall break.

(And even missed the Mindy Gledhill Concert that we went to…)

So, on Saturday, we went up to the big city for a performance on Temple Square.

Summer had ridden the bus to Salt Lake in the morning, so we met her after rehearsal for something to eat before the performance.  We brought Kelly with us.  He thinks we are crazy.

We ate at CheeseCake Factory. (which is the only time I have eaten at Cheese Cake Factory besides once in Seattle and twice in Vegas.  (we don't get out much)) 

After we ate and window shopped at Anthropology we headed over to Temple Square.

(Who knew that there would be such a huge line to get it.)

There were 659 students that participated from all over the State of Utah.

They told us that photos were only allowed BEFORE the performance, but once they started singing there would be no photography.  Can you see Summer in the photo below?  She is on the left.

During one of the practices, Summer had a girl ask her a question…it went like this:

Do you know where Scofield is?  yes

Do you have a cabin there:  yes

Do you go to Pleasant Valley Days?  yes

Do you perform?  yes

Do you always win?  yes

SO THAT'S HOW I KNOW YOU!!!!  I thought you looked familiar.

Selfie fun before the performance.

Pictures at the temple.  The weather was perfect.

We took a few minutes to just sit and stare at the temple.  We looked at all of the little details and wondered how those early Mormon settlers ever figured out how to build such a magnificent structure with such limited resources.

All State Choir.  I had no idea such a thing even existed.

Sierra's Quilt

Sierra wants a new color for her bedroom.

She found a cute poster that is the inspiration for her updated bedroom.

I told her I would make the quilt and she would clean out her room and when both of these projects are completed then we would paint her room.

Well, the quilt is done, just waiting for Sierra to get her room cleaned out.

Sierra chose the colors and helped me decide what pattern to do on the quilt.

And we did something a little crazy that I'd never done before…

I ordered the fabric for the quilt online.

It was on sale and I found a free shipping code.

The whole idea made me nervous.

However, the fabric was Moda, so I knew that it would be quilting quality.

I was just worried about the color.  But, I think we did OK.

It's a little darker than it appears in the photo since it was taken outside in the bright sun.

I didn't have much extra to work with on the binding so I did it by hand this time rather than on the machine.  It takes forever, but I think it worked out better by doing it by hand.

I think it's time for a quilt for my bed…after I paint Sierra's room.