Disneyland Vacation

The week in between Christmas and New Years we went with my family to California to go to Disneyland for three days. It was a trip that had been planned since last February and even though it had been planned for so long, my sisters and I really had no idea how we were going to pay for the whole trip. We're each in different seasons of life but one thing we all have in common is right now we're all...well, poor. It is what it is.

Well to our surprise, our main gift from our parents this year was they had planned to pay for the whole trip. Tickets, hotel, gas, food, pretty much everything. Needless to say many of us cried when we read the poem they wrote letting us know, including ahemAlbertahem.

The week we went was insanely busy, it was even in the papers here in AZ how busy it was. They even had to turn people away who came to buy new tickets. We were like sardines crammed into Disneyland but it was still a blast. Exhausting, but a blast. It was Ruby's second time but now she was old enough to actually understand and enjoy rides and stuff!

She surprisingly loved being in this carrier. We got it for Sophie but Ruby wanted to try and ended up loving it!

We only saw a few characters...but this was her face for every one

We were so exhausted at the end of each day!

Love.this.picture.

Having the girls there with us definitely made it more magical. The times I was having the most fun were when we were in Fantasyland, Toon Town, or A Bugs Life Land doing things that Ruby could do and watching her have so much fun. Kids really do make things more fun :)

It was such a fun trip, thanks Mom and Dad!

Christmas

Christmas this year was really fun. I really liked going to church on Christmas, it reminded me what it is all about. Our ward choir put on a beautiful musical program...that I enjoyed from the Mother's Lounge. The joys of a newborn :)

Before the actual day of Christmas though....

We went to McCormick train park in Scottsdale a few days before to let Ruby ride the train. She loves cars and trains right now so we thought she'd love it! The line was over two hours long though, so we went and rode the smaller volunteer train. She was stone faced the whole time but I think she really liked it.

On Christmas Eve we had our traditional party with my mom's side of the family. This year felt different though because it is the first Christmas without Papa. He's always been such a big part of our Christmas Eve traditions and loved to watch all his grandkids open presents. So this year, before going over Grammy's house for dinner and presents, we went and visited Papa. It was really special and I'm sure will become a tradition.

Ruby loved participating in the Secret Santa gift exchange between all the cousins. Technically they're all my first cousins, but ever since we older girls got married we got kicked out of the cousin exchange and now do the White Elephant exchange with the adults. So now our kids take our places!

Christmas Day was great. Since we had church at 2 we did all our present opening with the girls before we had to get ready for church. Christmas this year was simple, and small, but perfect.

Ruby loved opening her presents, even the clothes which I thought she would find boring. It's a good thing too because that's mostly what she got!

Bowling with daddy down the hallway

Then Sophie woke up and we opened presents with her.

Can you tell what our favorite gift was this year?

After church we went over to my parents house, where we got a big surprise and the girls opened their gifts from grandma and grandpa.

In hindsight, I don't know why I fretted so much about Christmas. I was so worried about what to get the girls and the fact that we couldn't get them much this year, or much for each other, but it ended up being a perfect day spent with family, laughs, tears, and a whole lot of love.