Time Outs

I am a big fan of time outs. Not just for my kids, but for me.

Last week I told Kasen that I had to go to my room to be in a time out so nobody could come talk to me until I was out of time out. Later that weekend Kasen told Kyle that he was going to put himself in time out because he couldn't handle hearing Tai cry anymore! 

I had a couple good time outs after the one in my bedroom though too. Thursday morning I got to go with Kyle to the Jordan River Temple to take a time out from the world and everything in it. Our temple trips together always remind me how much I love Kyle. He makes me ice cream cones even when he's not eating one and I love it.

Friday and Saturday I got to go with Ashley to Time Out for Women again this year!

There were so many things that stood out to me, but lately the thing that has stood out to me most is the word CONFIDENCE. Ever since I read Hebrews 10:35 with Come Follow Me a couple weeks ago; "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." the word confidence keeps popping up around me.

At TOFW Anthony Sweat talked about the weakness of scripture because although they are God's words, they are not God's language. Records of revelations are not the revelations themselves so they need to be considered in the light of the Holy Spirit. Scriptures are a means to and end. We need to translate them, meaning put them into your own words or restate them personally.

So if I were to restate that scripture in Hebrews, to me it is saying, Do not throw away all the firm trust, assurances or certainty you've received for anything, because the reward and the promised blessings will be worth it in the end. Have the kind of confidence in Jesus Christ that nothing could deter you from obtaining eternal life.

So confidence is what I have started praying for.

Because I want that kind of confidence. The kind that seems stronger than faith. I want to feel confident in what to pray for, confident that I'll recognize answers, confidence in connecting with the YW I serve, confidence in knowing how to help others, I want confidence in how to articulate gospel knowledge and how to best share it with others, also I want confidence in my work as a photographer to the point that I always feel proud of my work.
The gospel already gives me so much confidence in so many ways. Confidence in myself as a daughter of God, confidence in my abilities to reach my goals, confidence in my Savior always being with me and confidence that everything will work out in the end.

The music at TOFW is really always the best part though. Nothing helps me feel the Spirit easier or faster than listening to gospel music and I love it! The Bonner Family sang some super great songs with the best lyrics! I might need to go get their CD.

"Hold on, be strong, you're never alone." and

"I am with you, this won't last forever." were 2 different lines I wrote down.

While I was gone for most of the weekend Kyle got the kids all packed up to go stay at Melanie's house for the weekend. They got to play with cousins and go shooting and have fun with dad. I LOVE that I can leave for days at a time and never worry about Kyle with the kids. Signs of an AMAZING dad! We're so lucky to have him.

 I used to never like doing things alone. And then I had kids. I had plans to get so much done while they were gone. I didn't get it all done, but the alone time was actually kinda nice for the things I was able to accomplish!

We went to Thanksgiving story time at the Library and made turkey brownies for Kasen's Thanksgiving feast at preschool.

I asked Kasen what he wanted to eat for Thanksgiving dinner and he said Cheetos and granola bars. When Mrs. Stephanie asked him what he's thankful for he said himself. And me. But he still wrote his name on his turkey feather.

She said, "Yeah your mom is pretty great."

Then he told her I am pretty too. AWE!! I love him!

He's so funny. Somewhere he has picked up the phrase "Shall we?" So it's what he asks us now when he wants to do something.

Other good news: Kasen can pour his own cereal and milk! He's been getting him and Tai their own breakfast before I ever even get out of bed for a couple weeks now. The second time I came out and saw them already eating breakfast I asked, "What are you guys doin?"

"Don't worry Mom! We already said the prayer and we asked for dads eye to feel better."

Cue mom's melting heart.

 The next day I came out and they had poured me a bowl of cereal too! It was all soggy by then, but still! They are the best ever. So THANKFUL for them.

Guess what else?! 

I have started Boos/Spooks in our neighborhoods, the first week of October, ever since we've been married, but for 7 years now we have never been Boo'ed back (Except when Ashley sent us a Boo from Logan when we were in Cedar City :) BUT it's okay because this year we got hit with a SNOWBALL! Yay, we got snowballed! I love passing around fun treats in the neighborhood, I think it's so fun. So we got to pass along a snowball. Yay! 

Saturday Peeka turned 3 so that's fun. I'm thankful that my kids have her. And that at least she has never peed on my furniture!

Disneyland

I have been telling Kyle for forever that I wanted to go to Disneyland before Tai turns 3 (and she's not free anymore) so earlier this year I mentioned it to Lindsay and Becca and we all decided to go together! Becca was our own personal travel agents and by July 1st our trip was booked. (We had to wait until the NFL schedule came out because the only way I could convince Kyle to go to Disneyland was him being able to see the Packers play in LA.)

And it was so much fun!

Becca convinced us to fly with them. Even though I love roadtrips and still think they are cheaper. Kasen and Tai were fantastic on the plane, but I would still be up for driving next time we go to California. I did good though because we packed our whole family in 2 backpacks and 2 carry on bags. Cause I refuse to pay money to check a bag.

When I told Kasen that we were going to fly on big airplane he said, "Mom, did you eat enough salt?" I told him yes so he said that I could go on the plane with them. Haha Can't believe he remembers that I need to eat more salt. On our way back home again I was telling him when we were about to take off and he said, "I know, everything is gonna look like toys."

 We arrived on Friday, November 1st and stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Garden City, still on Harbor Blvd. We walked down to eat at Red Robin and buy some groceries from Target (where we learned that they charge you .10 for every plastic grocery bag!!)and then headed to the water park there at our hotel. We spent most of our time in the lazy river. Also there was a channel on the TV that was just animated Disney movies all day long so we got to watch pieces of lots of Disney movies while we were there. So perfect!

 That night at the hotel they had a kids dance party! My kids were so tired though that this was the extent of Kasen's party. He laid on the floor and spun his glow sticks.

Saturday was our girls day! We decided that's when the lines would be longest and to bring the kids on the days the lines would be shorter. Jen and Tyson Candland just happened to be in California during their year long tour of the country so they got to come to Disneyland with us too!

 This was the last time we saw Jen dry. Because a TIDAL wave of water washed over the front of our log and she and Tyson got soaked! Also, we dispelled the myth of turkey legs being emu, but not before Becca asked, "But how would they get the meat on the bone?" Lindsay: "Emus have legs..."

Bahaha

 

Pumpkin spice beignet. Shaped like Mickey. Magically DELICIOUS. My tummy however, is not a fan of the Disney chimichanga...

Also, 4 adults actually do NOT fit inside one of these teacups. 2 of us ran for another tea cup right after this picture because we couldn't sit all the way down!

 Kasen threw up that day, back at the hotel with Kyle. Luckily it was a one time thing.

Sunday was the boys day. Kyle went to his first NFL game to see the Greenbay Packers in person. His ultimate dream, besides actually being in Lambeau Stadium. And he didn't take a single picture!

He did however get a picture right after that, on their way to see the Jazz play the Clippers.

He got to see the Packers and the Jazz. On the same day! They both lost...

 Mom's spent the day with the kids at the hotel doing their crafts, making pins, masks, going swimming again, playing ghost ghost boo and hide and go seek in the lobby and eating lunch at McDonald's. Where Kasen requested 2 yogurt parfaits instead of a happy meal.

Bright and early Monday morning we had our first family day at California Adventure! Where our Toy Story fun continued because we got to meet Bo Peep AND Woody! Tai was not into giving them hugs though.

The cast member with Woody was super excited about Kyle's Sid shirt too.

 We headed over to Cars Land and since Tai wasn't tall enough to ride Radiator Springs Racers, we walked around till she fell asleep. She woke up just in time to eat lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe though.

Also, Cars Land is amazing! This was my first time seeing it and Wow.

 

You will notice that Kasen always goes for the orange, his favorite color. He got to ride the orange car, the orange tea cup and the orange Dumbo elephant!

I just love them. Being able to bring them to Disneyland has been my dream since being a mom and I am so happy that we all got to come together and have so much fun.

My very most favorite part of the day was going to see Frozen live at their Hyperion theater.

OH MY GOSH

I had chills at least 3 times! It was amazing. When Elsa sings Let It Go and the stairs swing out over the audience as she's running up them- Ahhhhhh!

And then we got to go meet Elsa and Anna. Still no hugs from Tai, but she gave a giant smile and wave as we were walking away. Kasen was so cute with Tai when we were next in line. He put his arm around her and said, "Tai are you so excited to see Elsa?!"

He also got to meet Spiderman! And was loving shooting webs with him.

Then we stayed for World of Color, which also gives me chills.

During the song So Close I was telling Kyle how much I love him and he just thinks I'm weird. I don't care. Hearing Tai gasp and point at the parts she liked was just magical.

Tuesday was our family day at Disneyland!

Lindsay bought a bunch of Disney pins that the kids got to put on their lanyards. There are places around the park that you can go to trade your pins too.I never knew that was a thing.

Playing ring around the rosie while we waited in line.

There were so many Fantasy Land rides I was riding for the first time. Kyle was not at all impressed with the wait time to get on Peter Pan though. I really do like all the storybook type rides too, they are so cute and fun! And I was surprised at how many of the rides my kids were able to ride, I think there were only 3 between both parks that Kasen wasn't tall enough for.

 

I love how excited the kids were to sit by each other on the rides.

Kyle was trying to decide if he should take Kasen on Space Mountain and in the end we decided he wouldn't like it. Which we were right about because later when he rode the much smaller Gadget's Go Coaster in Toon Town he did a terrified scream the entire ride. It was so sad. But now we know he's Kyle's kid.

After that we sad down to watch the parade! It was way shorter than I expected it to be, but it was a nice mid day rest anyways.

I'm bummed Knox didn't make it into this picture! He was sleeping though.

Pins, popcorn buckets and pictures. That's us.

Stars Wars land also blew my mind. The details are incredible. And I'm not even a Star Wars fan.

The new ride was pretty fun. I rode it 4 times while we were there and I was the Gunner every single time. lol If you ask Kasen what his favorite ride at Disneyland was he will say the space ship ride. He got to ride it 3 times and helped Kyle pilot the ship twice.

As soon as we got home Wednesday night Kyle turned on Star Wars and Kasen was immediately excited that we saw Chewbacca at Disneyland.

I was super bugged taking Tai on the ride though because she was barely tall enough and had fallen asleep, but they kept making us try to measure her! 3x they made us stand her up and it was traumatizing her to have the workers sit and be rude about how if she wants to get on the ride she has to stand up blah blah blah. Like take a picture of her by the ruler that we can just show to everyone that doesn't believe she's tall enough. It was getting ridiculous. 

We saw Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore outside the ride, but decided not to wait to meet them.

Dole whips were calling.

We love Tiki Room Dole whips! It is a MUST that we have been craving since last time we were there in 2011.

We thought that Kasen didn't really like the Buzz Blasters ride, but then he asked us to go back to do it again and told me to make sure to shoot all the Z's, but that it's not real.

 We made our way to Toon Town to walk through Mickey's house and meet Mickey Mouse! Where Tai FINALLY dared to hug a character. The very last one we met. The video that Kyle has of her walking up and then turning to smile at him before hugging Mickey is adorable. She was bummed that Minnie wasn't home. Walking through her house she kept saying, "Minnie is my best friend."

Tai says her favorite ride is the horse ride, on this carousel right here. Kyle took Kasen back to ride Star Wars so I stayed in Fantasy Land with Tai for a little date to ride the carousel, Snow White, Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland together.

 Poor baby Tuck ended up throwing up that night. But for having 3 of the 6 kids throw up the very week we were at Disneyland, the timing actually was as good as it could be.
We kept ours awake at long as we could. The park closed at 10, but they were both asleep by 9:30. Completely worn out!

BEST. DAY. EVER.

And Merry Christmas to Kasen and Tai.

And just for funsies, a photo collage of all my Disney character photos.