The Happiest Place on Earth!

We were able to go down to Disneyland last week with my oldest brother and his family and my parents. It was a jam packed 4 days (3 of those at Disneyland) and we were all pretty much exhausted by the end, but it was the most fun we've had in a long time. We went there when we first moved out of Utah but Kiara was only 14 months old. It was so much fun to see her recognize all of the characters and themes this time--she loved it!

She also loved having her cousins around 24-7.

We've decided to make it a tradition to take a picture outside of Snow White's castle every time we go. Here is the 2007 version:

And present day:

I think the only thing that hasn't changed since then is that Bunny-Bear is still permanently attached to Kiara! He's really part of the family!

We were so excited to have Grandma & Papa with us on this trip. Kiara really can't get enough of either of them.

Kiara's favorite part of our trip was the splash park in California Adventure. She loves water as much as Katie and couldn't have been happier than she was in that park!

One of the greatest things about Disneyland is you throw all of your normal rules out the window and get away with stuff you normally can't. For instance, stealing Dad's ice cream cone for which he just stood in line for 20 minutes! It's a good thing she's cute!

The best thing about our trip was just being able to be together as a family and enjoy each other's company. We can't wait to go back soon!

Catch up

We have been pretty neglectful of this blog so we'll try and hit some of the main highlights of the past few months and then stay caught up in the future. Here is what we've been up to:

• We celebrated Halloween. Kiara was a Red Sox cheerleader and Ben and Katie were Red Sox fans. Kiara was the only one cute enough for a picture!
  
• We visited Merritt Lake in Oakland, CA and ended up walking over 3 miles around it!
  
• Kiara decided she likes to dunk her head when she's in the bath but it dries her hair out to get it wet too much so we improvised ourselves a little shower cap. She loved it!
  
• We've done a lot of reading. Kiara really likes books, especially reading them to Mom & Dad.
  
• We've been to the park A LOT and enjoyed the nice weather.
  
• We went on a tour of a minor league baseball park and Kiara loved following the mascot around.
  
• We made 3 trips to Utah (In October to see our newest nephew/cousin, November for Thanksgiving and December for 2 weeks for Christmas). While we were there we did lots and lots of playing with cousins.
  
• We had a blast bowling with most of the cousins.
  
• We played in the snow and Kiara decided she didn't like wearing gloves or a snow suit. She sure looked cute in them though!
  
• We played with our Utah friends
  
• Ben & Katie celebrated their 5 year anniversary!
  
• We went to a petting zoo with our cousins and aunts and Kiara rode a pony for the first time. She loved it so much she didn't want to get off!
  
• Back home we went to the zoo
  
• We took some naps
  
• We played in the rain and had fun splashing in puddles
  
• We tried cornrows in Kiara's hair but after a week decided we like the curls better.
  
• We played in our "spaceship" (also used as a clothes dryer)!
  
• We had some cuddle time
  
• We attempted potty training and found gumballs were a great incentive. We also found that we're not quite ready to committ to potty training so we'll try again in a couple of months!
  
• We played basketball
  
• We told some stories
  
• We played dress up
  
• We had a power outage for a few hours and decided to turn it in to a campout. That was a huge hit!
  
• We hung out and relaxed
  
• We sat on Santa's lap (well we didn't, Kiara did!)
  
• We had a FABULOUS Christmas in Utah
  
• And basically just enjoyed being a family and being together. Oh, and we gave a lot of hugs and kisses to this adorable little thing: