the happiest place on earth

man our kids are spoiled...allison is barely three and she has already been to disneyland twice...not that she remembers the first time, she was just along for the ride. dan's parents were so generous and took all of their kids and grand kids to disneyland. we had so much fun with everyone and our kids were the perfect age to experience it again!

we took a lot of pictures so i will just pick a few to highlight the trip!

we got a personal visit with minnie and mickey. i thought allison would be so excited but she was scared of them. afterwards she said she wanted them to be little. i think she thought that they should be little like the figurines she plays with at home! i guess it makes sense...

i think logan was a little nervous to see the characters but he handled it better than allison and at least posed for a picture.

shortly after this lovely photo op in toon town allison had a mishap with the railing and the rocks. we're not sure exactly what happened because no one really saw. i think she was hanging from the railing and slipped and fell and smacked the back of her head on the rocks. they stopped the ride, called the paramedics and had her checked out....they were pretty efficient but i'm pretty sure they just wanted to cover all their bases so there wasn't a lawsuit :) she ended up having a big goose egg on the back of her head with a lot of blood and couldn't go on anymore fast rides but it was almost the end of the day so it ended up being ok. she did get a lot of sympathy looks from her bandage though...

i think this was at the end of our last day and although the kids don't look like it, they really did have a good time!

today is my dad's 60th birthday. so we decided to go to his grave site to celebrate his life and to remember him.

i have the sweetest little boy who inquires about a lot of things. he is a deep thinker and will often ponder some serious topics. i have had numerous discussions with him about the plan of salvation, our savior Jesus Christ, and resurrection. one night when i was putting him to bed we were talking about his great grandma who is getting older and we ended up both in tears as we talked about the plan of salvation. it was a tender moment as he had a glimpse into the wonderful plan our Heavenly Father has for us. 

before we left for the cemetery logan wanted to make something for his grandpa's birthday so he made picture of a rainbow. he also picked out some small toys to place by the headstone. i know these aren't the most important toys to him, but he was so serious as he picked something that he thought his grandpa would like. allison followed his actions and picked something to leave as well. they picked something that they made at a lowe's workshop but i like that they gave something that they had worked hard on and we so proud of.

i miss my dad a lot and often wonder how things would be different is he were still with us here on earth. but i am so thankful for these tender teaching moments where i can share my thoughts and feelings with my children. i am also thankful for the lessons they teach me...

splish splash

logan and allison were able to do swim lessons this summer. we signed up with some friends of ours so it made it even more fun. logan is a good swimmer and has always loved the water (except for a short few months one summer when he was scared...random...) he practiced his stroke this year and did great in his class.

allison is like a little fish in the water. she will jump in when no one is there and will swim to me a few feet and then back to the wall. i think she could have been in the next level skills wise but she was a little to young. next year for sure i think she will be swimming all around by herself!