Day 1 Magic Kingdom

So I'm months behind on blogging.  But wanted to get our Disney pictures on before I forget.  Day 1 we went to Magic Kingdom.  Our whole family was there, my parents, brother and his family and Conor brought a friend. We got there bright and early and walked on most of the rides in the morning.  Later on we had to wait longer.

All the cousins at the house before we left for the day

Buzz light year was first

Then this little girl gave me a bumpy ride

Worn out

Celebrating Zoe's 9th Birthday with a cake

Hoodoo Third Annual trip

Well it finally snowed enough this year to make our Annual trip up to the snow.  This time we stayed in a house with the Blake family at Belknap Hotsprings.  The kids really enjoyed soaking in the hotsprings.  All the kids snowboarded this year.  Conor brought his friend Dylan and Parker brought his friend Colton.  We had eight kids with us alone.  Chase did really well for his first time snowboarding.  The older boys spent time on the other parts of the mountain. We celebrated Parker's birthday with a cake on Friday night, I still can't believe he's now 15.

Hope's 1 year Gotcha day

Wow I cannot believe it's already been a year since we met Hope.  She was such a scared little girl when we first me her and now she is a strong willed big girl!  She has grown so much physically, mentally and emotionally in this year.  It took her about five months to warm up to her dad and men in general.  She is super smart and can name all the uppercase alphabet, colors and shapes.  We are working on numbers and lowercase letters now.  She started consistently using the toilet about two weeks before we went to China to get her sister and did awesome the whole time in China with it.  She's had a little regression now once home but not too bad.  She loves to sing and dance, copy her older siblings and read books.  She is learning now how to share with her little sister.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings!  We love you so much baby girl!

Tree's of Mystery

Last week we had a great trip down south to visit my grandmother.  She lives alone in a mobile home park three hours south of us.  This was the first time I've seen her house since she's moved in.  It's a cute three bedroom home.  My aunt, cousins, brother and cousins little girl also came to stay the weekend.  But before they arrived on my birthday we headed to the coast for the day.  We first stopped at Tree's of mystery's.  It had been awhile since we've visited here.  Chase was just a baby.  I've been wanting to take the kids back for years and we just never made it that far.  The kids really enjoyed talking with the huge Paul and his ox.  Zoe asked Paul why he had a hairy chest, Paul didn't know how to answer this question.  We then walked through the park.  The large and unique trees never seize to amaze me.  We ended the visit with a trip up to the top of the mountain on a sky tram.  After we got on Grandma had some anxiety and we were not able to get off at the top.
Afterwards we headed to Crescent City where we let the kids play on the beach for a little bit and then had some yummy lunch at my favorite spot.  On the way back we stopped at a favorite meat place and purchased some ham for the next nights dinner along with some pepperoni and jerky!

The next day we celebrated my cousins little girls birthday.  Bri will be 8 in September but we will not see her for the birthday.  So we gave her our present early.  It was an American doll and carrier.  She loved it.  We spent the rest of the weekend swimming at their other grandmas and just hanging with family.