Off to Vegas

Our bags are packed and we are ready to GO!!! Vegas here we come!

Sprout was ALL about the airplane!

We now take up a row PLUS a seat. Sprout and E were little buddies...

... and duke sat across the isle from me. He was a good sport and he slept most of the way. 

We arrived in Vegas and Pa took us on a walk to see the horses! 

Sprout was a big fan!

He even got Pa to be a horse too!! We are so happy to be in Vegas! Let summer time begin!!!

Jakob's New York "Conference"

 Jakob told me that he had a conference in New York and I didn't even think twice about it. I usually ask if it's about anything exciting but all I knew was that it was a quick trip. Jakob isn't exactly one to give out details without someone asking. It turns out that he was one of Tortoises representatives to ring the Opening Bell. 

He said that a few people were asked to attend, but only a handful were asked to stand on the podium during the bell ringing. It's a lot of big talk for something I don't understand but it was a big deal fro Jakob (and apparently for other people!) so it is a big deal to me!

You ring that bell babe! I am so gosh darn proud of this man and all of the hard work that he does. He is a valued member of his team and it continually shows! Way to go love!

Canada - Week 3

The day after Mom and Dad returned from Florida, Sprout and I left to go to Canada. The people sitting next to me were absolute angels and the guy was a Dad. He played a teased Sprout and Sprout loved every second of it!

As far as brithday presents go, I think I gave her one of the best presents ever!

It was my Mama's 60th birthday. On the way home I told her I was famished and requested that we stop some where. Sprout had fallen asleep so we decided to go to the Wendy's drive through. Mama got a $2 burger and a free senior soda. I paid. Haha. As we were gong through the drive through I turned to her and said, I guess it is your 60th, I'll share my fires with you. It was actually hilarious. 

My mom was watching my brothers dog and Sprout was very interested in her. Kota is a good puppy. 

That night we went over to a friends house for ladies game night and we had a ball just visiting and making up songs about Mama. Most of them were down right hilarious. 

We spent a lot of time at my Mom's school and the girls would just swoon over Sprout.

One of the afternoons we drove out to the cemetry where my Mama's family rests. 

It is in the middle of no where, between two cow fields and I love it! 

This is one of my cousin's head stone. He was pinned between a truck and it cut him in half. Gruesome yes, but the fact that they put a truck and "loved by most" on his headstone just bothers most of us. I mentioned this to Mom Tobler so I figured I'd take a picture of it. 

My Great-Grandma.

And G-pa. I wasn't able to go to his funeral and while at the time I was very upset about it, I know that it was 100% for the best. It amazes me how well our Father in Heaven knows us, knows what we can and can not handle before we do. It was so nice to be able to go out to the cemetry and just sit by myself for a minute.

This was also the first time that I got to see my father's headstone and the first time I have been back since his funeral almost 3 years ago. His headstone was beautiful and I found myself silently crying. While I have felt my father's presence a few times since his passing, I felt his very close while I was there. 

 After a minute I went back to the car to get my Mama and Sprout. Sprout raced over to Opa's headstone and just stood there and laughed and laughed. It was the first time "meeting" his name sake but I know for a fact that Dad and Sprout knew each other in Heaven before his came to us. It was as if he was chatting with an old friend. 

On the way home we picked up some french fries. Sprout had a great time feeding them to Kota.

Tis boy loves to sweep. He played with that broom for 45 minutes before bedtime. 

Getting groceries before taking Oma to school.

We got to visit with Opa and Oma Zapf and it was one of the highlights of my trip. 

Sprout loved playing in this little fountain. Opa and Oma's yard looks like the temple grounds. It's so clean and well kept. Inside of thier house is all white with crystal. We stayed outside to keep Sprout happy but I always feel so much peace when I visit Opa and Oma.

They even gave Sprout his own mini crystal glass.

Watering the plants. Both Opa and Oma were sick so they din't want to snuggle to take pictures and get us sick. WE sure do love them though!

Doniars = pure happiness!

Spatula wars!

Back to the airport! I love this piece of art done of Downtown Edmonton. It is in the international airport terminal. 

Back to Vegas. What a wonderful and easy trip. I love Canada and am so grateful that we got to come and visit even just for a short while. So excited to come back home and see Duke and E!

Disney Land - Best Day E V E R!

 I am not even going to appologize for the amount of pictures we took. Just saying, get a snack, you're going to be here awhile. We have been wanting to go o Disney Land with Monkey and Dallas for quite some time now, but then the kids got older and we felt guilty going without at least one of them so we decided that E was old enough to remember and old enough to rock out a very eventful day. So we flew out to Vegas for Spring break and Mama, Daddy and E headed off to Disney Land. We waited until we were in the car to tell her where we were going so Duke wouldn't feel left out. Duke and Sprout stayed in Vegas with Mom Tobler (Thanks Mom!) and we were off. E had a blast jumping on the bed. It was her first time in a hotel. 

 

 The next moring we were up at 6:00 to be in line by 6:45. E was a total trooper. We were so beyond excited to be going with Monkey and Dallas!!!!

 

 

 

 When Dallas asked E what she wanted to do E told her that she wanted to see Mickey and Minnie and ride rides. SO that is exactly what we did! As soon as we got through the door there was Mickey. Not even a line!!! 

 

 First sight of the castle.

 We stood in line for our first ride and immediately Dallas grabbed E's hand and said, I need you, NOW. So we jumped out of line and headed to the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Dallas had scheduled her an appointment but it was for 5:30 (which was pretty late.) Dallas asked if they could fit her in right then and they said yes. E was their very first customer of the day. They had some beautiful dresses.

 We headed back to get changed and poor Peanut was shell shocked. I pulled out a Belle dress that I had bought for her in Vegas, and she started to cry and asked to go home. She was so overwhelmed and understandably. I explained what was going on and after a hug and a couple of minutes to process she was ready. Here is her before shot. 

 My favorite part was this mask they used to keep the spray from getting in her eyes. I have got to get me one of those. 

Hair and Nails. 

 Makeup. E went for a very conservative blue. :)

E's mini tiara.

Prepping for the pixie dust!

All done. By now she was totally into it! 

Love the mini Mickey hair clip!!!

Then she got another crown and a wand and went for a mini photo shoot! It was DARLING!

 

 

 

The grand reveal to Daddy! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Aunt Dallas! E felt so special it was just the cutest thing!!

Time for some rides!

 Got to spin in the "fastest" teacup.

It's A Small World. This ride reminds me of my Mama and it was one of E's very favorites. I love all of the costumes. It is just so well done!

 Had a costume change to go and meet Minnie by now it was getting pretty warm. E really enjoyed Minnie's house. this was the longest line we stood in all day. (About an hour) Everything else we waited no longer than 30 minutes. It was awesome!!

 

  

 

 

This may be my favorite picture of the whole trip. I honestly cannot say enough good things about Monkey and Dallas on this trip (or in general for that matter.) They were THE BEST tour guides. They knew the lay of the land, they had planned out our itinerary so we would get to see all of the shows and cover as much of the park as possible, but they also said whatever E wants to do that is what we will do. Dallas was completely okay when E didn't want to be dressed up any more. They were here for E and it was amazing. I am getting emotional just typing. We sure love you guys!

We convinced E to try a little roller coaster. Monkey is terrifed of them as well so it was quite the treat. E decided she wanted to ride with Aunt Dallas. Guys, my only regret this entire trip was that I didn't record E riding this ride. She started out with her hands up and within half a second went from smiling to screaming in pure terror. She screamed so loud and her face, my gosh her face was hilarious. I laughed so hard I cried. And while I know it shouldn't be funny it was the funniest thing ever. E decided from then on that she wasn't a fan of roller coasters, just like Uncle Monkey. 

From then on, those two were thick as thieves. She would ask him if the ride was okay before she got on any ride. They were soooo cute!

E was also obsessed with her map. She would pull it out and check it every chance she got. Here she is riding the big boat and she was busy sitting in the corner studying her map. She would point to a place she wanted to go and that's where we'd go. 

After some lunch I told E that we should go and see the Princesses before they had to go to bed. I asked if she wanted to put her dress back on, she said no. I asked why and she said that she didn't like when people called her princess, or when they stared or called her Belle. She was really embarrassed by it all. I asked if she liked the dress and she said yes, but that she didn't like the attention. So I told her that she didn't have to wear it. I then told her that her friend Emery wore a dress to see the princesses. She paused for a minute and then said, show me. :) :). So I pulled out my phone and showed her pictures of Emery all dressed up. That did the trick. She went full princess mode right down to an emergency application of make up before we went into the castle. 

Meeting the princesses was a highlight for sure!

E also saw Jasmine walk by and watched a show that had Rapunzel and Flynn. She was very excited and I'm so glad she decided to go see them. Her favorite though was Belle, they had a great chat. 

Jakob's favorite ride was the story book ride. He was really into the boats. I think he could have done this one five or six times. 

Then it was time to leave the park and go to dinner. 

Outside of the Lego Store. 

Dallas had reserved us a table at Goofy's Kitchen. I have never been before so this was a total treat and E loved it!

 Eskimo's from Dale.

Hugs from Pluto.

 And some dancing. 

Big hugs from Chip.

And Goofy.

Birthday Cupcakes from Minnie.

We asked E if she wanted to go back and she said that she was really tired. This girl was a champ!!! Total rock star from start to finish. No temper tantrums. Always smiling, she was the best and I was impressed. She went 18 hours non stop. So Uncle Monkey, Daddy and E headed back to the hotel and Dallas and I headed back to the park. We had about an hour until the park shut down so we decided to do all of the roller coasters. The lines were pretty long but we did single rider and rode all of them. Love Space Mountain and the Star Wars ride (I really wish Jakob would have gone on that). By the end of the day we had rode all of the rides but two, Peter Pan and a rocket one in Tomorrow Land. We crushed that park and we had a great time!

I came back to the hotel at 1:30am and my little girl was sound asleep. My body was soar all over and I was ready for bed. What a fun day! We had the greatest time! Thanks again Dallas and Monkey for coming with us and to Mom and Dad for keeping Bear and Sprout. We are very excited to go with Duke in a couple of years.