disneyland

The Happiest Place on Earth? I may have to agree. Disneyland has having fun down to a science and my kids had a hay day. Having Brooke and Drew there with them was icing on the cake.

Since part of the NCAA tournament was in Anaheim, we decided to hit two birds with one stone. Brandon and Kram got to see a basketball game while Lori and I herded cats... er... kids around Anaheim. We walked around Downtown Disney and while it was neat, the kids were confused. Where were all the rides? We had to improvise. We hopped on a "train". When they announced it would take us to the parking structure, Lori and I cracked up. We rode it anyway and had a great time. The kids were less than impressed.

I had heard Rainforest Cafe was a great place to take kids, so we did that for lunch. Unfortunately, the kids did not like it. When a "storm" came every 30 minutes (complete with darkness, thunder, and lightning bursts), the kids would cry. So every 30 minutes thereafter, they covered their ears, hid under the table, and sang ABCs. So funny. We paid for the experience, but they would have been happier at McDonald's where is never got dark and scary.

As for the actual Disneyland - we did that too. The kids were in heaven. Zach's favorite ride was the Gadget Go Coaster and least favorite ride was Space Mountain. I tried to yell happily during the ride, but I was quite frightened myself. I was proud that he would even try it. Below is a picture of Pirate Zach on the Buzz ride.

Zach and Brooke would entertain themselves in the ride lines by playing I Spy. Drew would do "magic" while we toured the park and Halle just wanted to walk like the big kids.

Halle's favorite ride was the Astro Orbitor. She loved the spinning and she loved going high. She hated the Alice in Wonderland ride. At one point during the ride, she grabbed my hand and placed it over her face, then held on with an ironman grip. She also adored seeing Minnie Mouse, who is her favorite Disney character.

A highlight for Zach was going to a Jedi Training show. They chose people out of the audience and taught them how to be Jedis. Zach was super disappointed when he wasn't chosen, but his tears dried as soon as Darth Maul came out. He loved the entire show.

This picture sums it all up. Disneyland is fun. Disneyland is exciting. But Disneyland is also exhausting.

zach's first soccer game

Zach had his first soccer game yesterday. I was nervous that he wouldn't like it, but he loved it all. In fact, he's been wearing his soccer uniform for days. I ordered the wrong size for him and he ran around during the game trying to keep his shorts from falling down. Luckily there were no mishaps.

Last night when he said his prayers he said, "Thank you for my soccer game because I LOVED it!"

In the video, Zach is on the blue team and is #15. My favorite part of the video is at the end when he yells, "I kicked it!" He was so excited with the whole experience.

FRAJILE

This is what we've been doing. We are up to our necks in moving boxes, some containing FRAJILE items. Zach's been helping by labeling the boxes and Halle's been "helping" by pulling things out of the boxes quicker than we can put things in. We sold our house and have to be out by April 14. Lots to do. Who know we accumulated so much "stuff"?!?

We put on offer on this house in North Salt Lake and it was accepted:

Only problem is that the sale is contingent on the owners finding a new house. We are still looking at houses, but {cross my fingers} hope that this one pans out. In the interim, we'll be homeless and living with my parents/sister/whoever will let us stay. Thank goodness for family who loves us.

We also had a good St. Patrick's Day - complete with homemade leprechaun toques...

celebrity look alike

So you know how on occasions you get told you look like a certain celebrity. For example, I get told all the time how I look like Angelina Jolie and Brandon, Vin Diesel. I have found Halle's look alike celebrity. What do you think?

I think the resemblance is uncanny. We must have some Einstein blood in the genealogy lines. In fact, just the other day, Halle was babbling and I could have sworn I heard her mention something about the theory of relativity.

mls#

The sign is in the yard. We have an MLS#. I think it's official. I am having mixed feelings today.

Anyways, if you'd like to check it out (or, if even better, you have friends that want to purchase a lovely house), just look here.

recent Zach thoughts

Zach to Mom: "When I turn 21, I'll be an adult. Then I get to sleep with you and Daddy!"

After reading the word dirty...
Zach: "I thought dirty had two d's - dirdy."
Mom: "Nope. Dirty is spelled D-I-R-T-Y. You're just not saying it right."
Zach: "Then you don't say it right either."

are you serious?

2004 - So excited about our new house!

A couple days ago we met with our real estate agent (REA) to discuss a price for our house. Surprisingly, deciding on a price was easy. It was during the staging advice I thought I was going to pull my hair out.

I watch HGTV. I watch those real estate shows. I may even record some of them (but I'm not admitting anything). I thought I knew about staging. I thought I knew what would be expected of me. I was wrong. Besides the basic decluttering advice, here were some of the gems I was asked to do:

• Roll my rags - my RAGS!
  
• Put my soap dispensers on the right. It must be proven that houses with soap dispensers on the left do not sell.
  
• Put bows on my towels - bows! It looks good, I get it, but after cleaning my entire house before each showing, I need to take additional time from my kids to put BOWS on my towels!?!


• Fold my blankets so all the "bumps" were facing outward. Later, I peaked in my friend's closet, who is the most organized person I know, and even her blanket bumps weren't aligned. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was beginning to think I was a messy maniac.


• My favorite was when the REA walked into Zach's room, a room I had cleaned that very day, and said, "Just organize this and it will be great."

I did realize though that I'm a pleaser. We did what the REA asked and the house looked great. We got pictures taken yesterday. I'll make sure to post our MLS number when we get assigned one. That way, you can look at the pictures and tell me how great my soap dispensers look situated on the right.