Manti

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Also known as LDS or Mormon. I love having the church in my life. It has brought me the most joy and peace. It has giving me the most precious things in my life which are my husband and my little girl. And I don't only have them in this life but I have them for time and for all eternity. Yes you heard me, time and all eternity. We believe families can be together forever. How this is to be done is, you get sealed as a family in one of our sacred temples. I feel that temples are the closest thing to heaven we have on earth.

Well, I have a friend who has been working on getting sealed to her family for 10 years. I have seen this family come a long way. It has been an amazing thing! I have seen so much peace come into their lives. And yesterday they did it! They were sealed as a family for time and all eternity. I had the privilege to be there and witness this beautiful ordinance be preform. It took place in Manti, Utah so it was in the Manti Temple. My friend picked this temple because she has had family married there and it is an important temple to her.

And here is the beautiful building.

This is my friend, Marlene.
She was kind enough to come and pick me up and drive all the way down there and back.

Here are the sweet little children who were sealed to their parents. There is nothing more pure and innocent then to see little children dressed in white inside the temple. I feel it is the closest thing to Christ that there is.

Here is my friend, Arlene and her husband with her parents.

Here she is with her husband, Troy.

Had to get a picture of the stairs.

One with some of their family.

And one of Me, Arlene and Marlene.

And now some pictures of the breath taking temple:

I really like how this picture turned out.

It reads: Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord.
Our temples are dedicated to be scared houses for the Lord.

Here is one of the happy family as we were living the temple.

Their sweet little girl.

And this is what the view was from our car.

It was such a wonderful experience and I am so glad I was able to go. One of my favorite moments was when Troy brought Arlene into the Celestial room. His face was so lite up and he was glowing. They looked like the happiest couple on earth.

"What is the Celestial room?" you ask. It is the most scared room in the temple. It is a room that represents Heaven, where our Heavenly Father and our brother, Jesus Christ live.

I am so glad I was able to go. I wasn't so sure I would be able to go because I don't have a dependable car and I wasn't sure who was going to watch Ayla all day. So I want to thank Marlene for letting me car pole with her and thank my mom for watching Ayla all day.

Thank You!!

I also want to tell my friend, Arlene and her family that I am so happy for them and I am so proud of them! And thank you for letting me be a part of it!

Disneyland!

This post is about our trip to Disneyland!

I went with my Dad and my sister, Marion to celebrate Marion graduating from nursing school. She had never been to Disneyland and so I wanted to do something huge for her graduation! And you don't get any better than Disneyland!

We flew out on a Monday and that Monday evening we went to the beach.

Me and Dad

Marion and me

Dad and Marion

Me trying to kiss my Dad.

Girls just want to have fun!!

And of course I had to put my feet in the water.
It isn't every day that I get to see the ocean.

Marion

Dad

Me

On Tuesday we got up early and we went to Disneyland when it opened.

Had to get pictures in front of the castle.

My turn

My turn again.

Notice the fanny pack around my waist? This was the first time I had ever worn one of these babies. I'm not a fan of them but I am now, when I go to Disneyland at least. It was so much easier wearing this than having to hold on to a bag. It was hands free!!!

I had to get a picture with the painting of Sleeping Beauty! I can't even tell you how much I love this film. It is my favorite Disney film of all time! It brings me back to being a little girl. I can't even tell you how many times I watched this film as a little girl and I still watch it today. I even have a Maleficent costume that I have worn for the past 3 Halloweens. You can see last Halloween here.

Had to get one with the Mickey display.

My turn

Had to get one of Marion and Dad with the Walt Disney statue.

It is a must when you go to Disneyland, in my opinion.

Up in Tarzan's tree house.

This time all 3 of us are in the picture thanks to the sweet lady who took our picture.

Found this in the gift shop and made Marion put it on. I felt it was appropriate for the occasion.

That nigh,t we went to the parade. At least that is what I thought it was going to be. It ended up just being a dance party in the street. I was a disappointed. I wanted Marion to be able to see all the Disney characters. But oh well. Disneyland is still my favorite theme park of all time. It is one of my favorite places to be. At least Marion got to see Kermit and Miss Piggy!

On Wednesday we got up early again and went to Disneyland when it opened. We only were there until 4 pm. Then we had to head to the airport and fly home. :(

We had park hopper passes so we went to both parks. Here is Marion and Dad with one of my favorite rides, the Tower of Terror.

My turn.

And guess what? My turn again.

This is an illusion of a street they have right over by Tower of Terror. Marion wouldn't go near it. It made her kind of sick just looking at it. But Dad got near it. It doesn't bother me but Marion says it just doesn't look right and it was making her a little dizzy.

Here is Dad and Marion on the Columbia ship ride. This was our last ride before heading to the airport.

And of course, my turn.

We had so much fun and it was the prefect time to go there. We got on rides in less than 20 minutes. We rode a total of 28 rides in the day and a half that we were there. My Dad kept track.

I did really well without having Ayla with us, better than I thought I would. I notice the 2 year olds weren't having as much fun as the 5 year olds. It just got me excited to bring Ayla back for her 5th birthday. Besides, I had gone for my sister and we wouldn't have been able to do what we did with Ayla there.

Some of my highlights were:

*Getting to ride the Haunted Mansion the first time without Nightmare before Christmas in it. I prefer it to be in its original state. It is now my second favorite ride next to Pirates of the Caribbean.*

*I also got to finally ride the roller coaster at California Adventure. The first time I went there was on my honeymoon and it was closed. And the second time I was there, I was pregnant so I couldn't ride it. But I got to ride it this time and we rode it 4 times. It was a blast!!!*

*The new shop, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutque. I loved this shop! It was so cute! It was a Cinderella themed shop. It made it so little girls could go inside and transform into a princess. They had all the different kinds of princess dresses and accessories. They also had a salon set up where the girls could get there hair, makeup and nails done. The women in there were dressed as handmaids and they pampered those little girls while listening to princess songs the Disney princesses sing. I can't wait to take Ayla in there! I would have loved that as a kid!*

The only disapointment I have is that we didn't get to see the old parade and see all the characters. We didn't even get to see one princess. Plus, Marion didn't want to wait in line to meet characters but that was okay because we got a lot of riding in.

I can't even tell you how much fun we had. I love Disneyland!! I can't wait to take Ayla!!

And when I do, it will be all about Ayla. I look forward to riding all the kiddie rides with her. I don't plan on taking her on the Haunted Mansion or Pirates until she is older. I think it would give her nightmares. Kurt and I will just have to take turns riding those rides by ourselves. And if we have another kid by then, we are still going to go even if they are 2 and they are going with us. It will be fun with just our little family because at that time we will be there for Ayla's 5th birthday present and we will be able to focus just on the kids.

Potty Training!

I know I said the next post would be Disneyland but that post will have to wait. I need to document something.

I was not wanting to potty train Ayla until she was 3 but she has shown a lot of interest in it. I have been putting her on the potty here and there. I haven't been really persistent but Ayla has been persistently taking off her diapers. So today I decided to put her on the potty and she went number 1. I was shocked and excited at the same time! I congratulated her and praised her for a job well done.

I know we have a long way to go on training her. We are just going to take it slow unless Ayla persists. I am not going to put her in pull ups until she gets going in the toilet down. That way she will know the difference between a diaper and big girl underwear, aka, pull ups.

Mommy is so proud of you Ayla!! Way to go!!

My Sister, Marion's Graduation!

I have been wanting to post this post for a while now. I have just been busy. Man, May has been busy!

Anyway, my sister, Marion graduated from the U of U college of Nursing. Her nursing degree was quite the struggle. I went through the emotional roller coaster of Nursing school with my sister. I felt in a way that I was graduating. So I wanted it to be a big deal for my sister because it is a big deal.

First off she asked me to do the invitations.
This is not a very good picture but at least you can kinda tell how they turned out. I was proud of them.

I also made her this cake.
I think it turned out wonderful, though I had some difficulties while building it. I guess you can have bad cake days right? I felt it turned out though. This is what I was busy with the first week of May along with shopping with Marion and getting ready for her party the night of her graduation. We even went to a BBQ that week with her nursing class. Like I said, it was busy.

Here is the Graduate!

I went with Marion early so I could be there for her pictures and take pictures of her and her nursing friends.

I dressed in black, red and white for the occasion.

Got one of Marion holding the U.

Then I made her go and sit next to the U.

And of course a standing one.

Our good friend, Melissa came early too.

Marion with her friend Caroline.

The next four pictures, I don't know everyone's name except for Caroline.

Here is one with her boyfriend, Monty just before the graduation. He got her the lay around her neck. Isn't it pretty?

This is the group of people who came for her graduation. They took up 2 rows.

Now for some after graduation pictures:

Lane and our sister-in-law, Carolyn.

One with our brother, Robert and our Dad.

And one with our mom.

This one is with Monty, his sister, Gina (on Marion's right) and their step sister.

One with Colton and Rachelle, Monty's sister.

Melissa and Marion.

After graduation we had the party.

It was a good turn out.

Marion and her friend Steph.

I even had Ayla in red and white.

We got to see old friends.
This is Marion's best friend, Heather from high school.

And Jolyne. She is on the right side of Marion.
We have known Jolyne for a long time. Marion and her go all the way back to kindergarten.

Marion with her friend, Michelle and her daughter, Maddison.

Marion cutting her cake.

I decided to get in her cap and gown.
After all, I graduated with her. We did it Marion!!!!

I had fun getting pictures with everyone too.

Me and Melissa.

Me and Jolyne.

I love this one of my dad surrounded by us girls!

Had to get one of Marion with Uncle Ernie.

Jolyne is so awesome. She got Marion these roses.

In the end I was the proud owner of the sash Marion wore around her neck. These are for the people who helped them get through school. Thanks Marion. I will cherish it forever.

After graduation, I had to get ready for Disneyland. Yes, we went to Disneyland to celebrate. I will post that next. I think this post is long enough.