Celebrate Happy!

Three years ago my family all went to Disneyland together. I was two weeks away from giving birth to Jace at the time. Loren and I decided to go again with everyone in three years, giving time for Jace to be a little older. Crazy enough, three years came and went and it was finally time to head to Disneyland! We told our kids at Christmas and spent the next six months listening to Disneyland music, watching all the Disney movies like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Incredibles and studying the Disneyland maps to get a feel for where all the rides are. 

On July 1st we packed up our car and started the drive to California! We caravanned with my parents and Todd. We made a pit stop in Salt Lake to grab something from Nate, who was catching a flight out the next day.  

A few hours later we stopped in Fillmore for lunch. We met up with Cam and Mary and Em and Tyson. I couldn't get over how sweet little Annie is! At just three weeks she handled the drive like a champ.

We ate dinner at Golden Corral and spent the night at a Hotel in Saint George thanks to my dad. The kids had a blast in the huge pool and hot tub. Unfortunately Lydia had some really awful stomach pain that night. My dad, Todd and Loren gave her a blessing and she was able to sleep and felt much better in the morning. So grateful for the power of the priesthood. Everyone enjoyed the continental breakfast the next morning, especially Hudson who ate four bowls of fruit loops. 

Traffic was pretty rough the next day but we finally made it to our house in Anaheim! We unloaded all our luggage, got settled in, bought groceries at Costco and prepared everything we'd need for an early Disney morning. Loren and I packed lunches for in the park to try and save a little money. 

We woke up the next morning bright and early and headed to Disneyland! We parked in the Toy Story parking lot where we went through security and had to fold up our stroller to hop on a bus to take us to the park entrance. I rented a double stroller from a local company who delivered it to our Airbnb and picked it up at the end of our stay. It worked out really well.

Waiting for the bus.

The feeling of walking into the park for the first time in 13 years was electric! It felt so good to be there! The kids were so excited.

Nate, Mom, Dad, Brayden, Todd

Our first ride of the day was Indiana Jones. We used the rider swap feature which is if you have a child too young to ride, one person waits with the kid while the others ride and then when they finish, the other person waiting can go through the lightening lane with one other person. Loren stayed with the boys first and they went on Jungle Cruise and the Tikki room. 

After that Cam, Mary, Em and Tysons family's had a character breakfast so the rest of us went on Rise of the Resistance. I stayed with Jace since he wasn't quite tall enough and we shared some blue milk. It was really good!

Hudson ended up going on Rise five times while we were there. It was his absolute favorite and all of his Star Wars dreams came true. 

Winnie the Pooh

We rode the Mark Twain riverboat which I've actually never done. Pretty neat!

Annie handled Disney like a champ. I was impressed with how Em and Tyson worked together to take care of Annie and also experience Disney magic. 

Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters

Astro Orbitor

Thunder Mountain! One of my favorites.

I was worried about long lines but the longest line we waited in was 35 minutes for Peter Pan. It was amazing! The magic key holders are blocked out in July and I think that made the lines a lot shorter. It worked out great.

I wish I could say that the kids were happy and fun to be with the whole time but Hudson really struggled at one point that first day. He and Jace both fell asleep in the stroller. We saw that Peter Pan was only a 25 minute wait, which was crazy good, so we hurried over. I told Loren to wake up the boys and get in line. Loren was hesitant but I insisted thinking they would really miss out if they didn't go on it. Waking Hudson up was a big mistake. He was really groggy and once we were halfway through the line he threw a huge fit and pushed past everyone behind us and right out of the line. Loren left the line to follow him and I was left holding a sleeping Jace in a hot, sunny line. I realized I had made a mistake and as much as I wanted the kids to experience all the magic and have a good time, I had to let some things go. I had to go at their pace. After that, Loren and I let Hudson choose what he wanted to do and never woke him from a nap again. He did much better after that. 

Casey Junior Circus Train

Lucy found Repunzel!

We had dinner that night at the Golden Horseshoe. 

Its a Small World

Space Mountain is my favorite!

Rise of the Resistance again.

We got home and put the kids to bed around 1 am our time. It was a little brutal waking them up at 6:30 the next morning. 

We started the day at Tiana's to beat the crowd. The line gets longer when it warms up. We were all absolutely soaked and the boys didn't bring sandals. Brayd had to buy some new socks. The girls throughly enjoyed the tidal wave of water that came over them sitting in the front.  

The line for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway was just as fun as the ride! So many fun things to see and music to dance to. 

We had a super cool encounter with Mr Incredible. He took Lydia down to the stage and danced with her. She loved it!

Brayden wins the photo contest.

We hopped over to California Adventure after lunch and had a blast on Maters in Cars Land.

Todd and Brad took their life into their hands on Mickey's Deathwheel. 

Little Mermaid was a nice reprieve from the heat.

We caught the end of the parade.

Jace's favorite part of California Adventure was watching the Incredicoaster scream by. He could have sat here all day. 

Grandpa bought us all a nice, cold treat. 

We had a lighting lane for Toy Story and used the rider swap option. When the second party went to scan their tickets, the cast member told them we could all ride again if we wanted through the lightening lane line. I've heard of cast members spreading pixie dust but didn't think it would happen to us. What a fun thing!

We loved Radiator Springs Racers! Especially Hudson.

We had really good dinner that night at an Asian restaurant. 

Turtle talk with Crush was one of the highlights of the day as he talked with Addy. It was so cute and Crush was hilarious. 

Loren and I took a picture at this same spot thirteen years ago when we were first married. Look how far we've come!

That evening we watched the World of Color Happiness show. It was amazing and the kids loved it! Our favorite part was at the end when they released these weird smoke filled bubbles that just dissolved when you touched them. Such a fun night!! Great way to end the Fourth of July.

As we we were leaving the show, we decided to jump on Mission Breakout before it closed. The boys fell asleep in the stroller as it was 11:30 our time. They finished the ride and we walked back to the bus to take us to our cars. We had to take everything out of the stroller, wake up the boys and fold up the stroller to get it on the bus. Not going to lie, it was a big hassle. I was holding a crying Jace, Nate was holding a squirmy Hudson and Todd was trying to keep the stroller out of everyone's way. About three minutes into the bus ride, Hudson started shaking and said he really needed to use the bathroom. He started sobbing saying he couldn't hold it. So holding a moaning Jace in one hand and sobbing Hudson in the other, I was this close to jumping off the bus. I didn't want Hudson to have an accident on Nate so I held him close to me asking him to try and hold it. It was the longest five minutes of my life and when we finally got to the lot, I jumped off the bus and started sprinting for the car, looking for any tree or bush we could use on the way. There was nothing so all we could do was throw everything in the car as fast as possible and make a mad dash for home. 

Needless to say, the next park day we parked at a different parking lot and walked ten minutes through Downtown Disney just so we wouldn't have to haul the boys out of the stroller and fold it up later that night. It worked so much better.  

The next two days were our rest days and boy did we need them! The kids slept in and then swam in the pool for hours. 

We forced them out of the pool to rest for a couple hours before they went back in.

That evening the adults had our swim time. Ever tried to run as fast as you can in a circle in the water? Didn't work quite as well as it did when we were kids. 

The next day was Sunday. We drove about 15 minutes to the nearest church and went to Sacrament meeting. There was a nice spirit and it was fun to show my kids that the church is a worldwide church. After Sacrament meeting we found a park and had lunch while the kids played. Then we came back home and the kids swam again. They loved swimming with dad. 

We celebrated Addy's 5th birthday. I'm not sure how you can beat spending your birthday at Disneyland!

My mom has been sharing stories of our ancestors with the kids for the past few months. She started with the kids great-great grandma, Rhoda Burris and worked her way down from there. This time she brought baby pictures of her kids and we had to guess who they were. Em and I, of course, got them all right. It was a fun night with each other.  

We started our last Disney Day at Soarin' Over the World in California Adventure. It's one of my favorite rides.

Jace chillin' at his favorite spot. 

Excited for the Incredicoaster!

This was my first time riding Guardians. It was slightly terrifying to say the least. I always love to see what my siblings come up with. 

Thanks to Todd for the super flattering photo. 

We found a great spot for lunch. 

Guardians round two. 

It was fun to visit during Disney's 70th anniversary. The theme was "Celebrate Happy".

It was funny how they both fell asleep in the same position. We hopped back over to Disneyland after lunch.

Smugglers Run. I drove with Lucy and it was quite exciting!

Meeting Boba Fett was a highlight!

Star Ward land was amazing. It was such a cool vibe.

Grandma and Grandpa got the kids cool pins and suckers.

The Paint the Night Parade is Disney's best parade and is only going on for a year for the 70th celebration. Because of that, it's super competitive to get a good spot to see it. Loren and I stumbled upon an open bench about two hours before the starting time. I was amazed at our good luck! I was worried we'd have to wait until the late parade at 10:50 pm. Some of us hung out there to save our spot while others went on rides. It worked out great. 

Rise for the 5th time.

Brayd and Nate thought they could jump on Its a Small World before the parade started. They ended up getting stuck the ride but the music kept going. Not a great life choice. Luckily they made it with five minutes to spare.

The parade was amazing! Definitely worth the two hour wait!

After the parade we realized we hadn't taken a family picture yet. 

Then we ran up to Star Wars Land to catch a fireworks show to close out the night. 

We were grateful we didn't have to fold up the stroller that night. The boys were exhausted. We were too! Lydia said we walked twelve miles every park day which equaled around 24,000 steps per day. 

Nate's photos kill me.

The last day we packed up our stuff and went to Downtown Disney to let the kids pick out their souvenirs. Hudson chose this guy and a lightsaber. Lydia bought a Mickey snow globe, a shirt and a lightsaber. Allie bought a little shoulder Groot and a lightsaber. Jace also got a lightsaber. 

We drove to Saint George that night and stayed in an Airbnb with Cam and Mary. The next day we finally made it home. What a wonderful trip! We made some amazing memories together and I'm so grateful we were able to do it with my family. We're already excited to go back!