Disney on Ice

Last night for Leah's birthday we took the girls to this:We got our tickets right before the show, and so the best seats we could get were these:

We were so high up there, the girls could hardly see anything! The stage lights blocked part of the stage and Leah could barely see over the big heads that were sitting in front of us. We were saying to the girls, "Do you see Mickey and Minnie way down there?" trying to get them excited about the show. So Dan scoped it out and at intermission we pulled the old move-down-to-the-closest-empty-seats trick . . . . which for last night, was on the 4th row! So much better! So, our view for the second half of the show was this:Needless to say, the girls were so much more into it!

When the second half started and the skaters all came out, Annie turned to us and excitedly exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Look! They're all on ice skates!" Poor girl . . . . that definitely taught us you gotta have good seats for things like this!

Leah is so into Donald Duck in this video! She wants to make sure we all know that she sees Donald.

Happy Birthday Leah!

Leah's Birthday Party

We had an early birthday party for Leah while we were in Utah! It was a fun little party. I give all the credit to my sweet sister Stephanie . . . . she bought all the supplies on sale in California, and brought them all to Utah with her! Thanks Steph! We had the party in the Brinton's basement. Oh how I'm jealous of their perfect party basement!

Getting ready for the party to start:

Blowing out the candles! (Don't mind my silly cousins making faces in the background at the beginning:)

Eating cupcakes! Opening presents! Emmy is envious of her present to Leah:)

I was shocked when I learned Steph lugged an entire pinata in her suitcase all the way from California! She bought it for only 39 cents! The kids all loved the pinata and grew very fond of the pink pony during the week before the party. They played with it, petted it, gave their dolls and stuffed animals rides on it, and even named it "Bubblegum." We were afraid they were too attached to beat it to death . . . . but we were wrong! They knew there was candy in it, and only one way to get to the candy!

Annie
ScottyLeahEmilyHalle2nd cousin Hailey and my cousin's wife, Andi

After many feeble attempts by the kids, we told my brother Jeff to finish off Bubblegum for good!

Candy!!

Trip to Utah - Part 2

The last week of my trip was spent with my family. My siblings had the week off of school for "ski week" (yes, in California we have a week off of school every February so people can go on vacation to ski) and so we all stayed at the Brinton's house in Provo for a fabulous week together. Highlights of the week:

An afternoon of tubing at Soldier Hollow! This was my first time going to this place, and it was a total blast! Annie went with me and she was so brave, I was so proud of her. We zoomed down those hills so fast, and she hung in there for 3 whole runs. After that though, she decided she would rather play in the snow with her cousin Scotty.

Going to the BYU Bookstore, eating sweets from the candy counter, buying a pink BYU blanket, and bowling at the BYU Games Center.

Shopping! I love shopping with my mom and sisters. We hit the mall a few times, the Park City Outlets (again), the Bare Minerals counter at Nordstrom (thanks again, Mom!), a cute furniture store, and got a few things for my birthday:) Here's Annie in a dress shop . . . . she thought all these "princess dresses" were "so beautiful!"

Meeting up with our friends from Ohio, the Collins, for an afternoon at Trafalga. Annie loved seeing Amber again, and we had a great time visiting and letting the kids play games, mini-golf, eat dippin' dots, etc. Thanks for all the sweet hook-ups, Brintons and Jeff!

Eating out! We love eating out in Provo . . . . this week's itinerary included Brick Oven, Cafe Rio, Macaroni Grill, P.F. Chang's, and Toucano's. This is at Toucano's - I'm sitting next to my cute sil, Katherine.

And of course, just hanging out with my family!

Trip to Utah - Part 1

The girls and I just got back last night from our 10 day trip to Utah. We had a great trip. We flew out on Wednesday, the 11th, which was also my birthday. Not the best way to spend your birthday (packing and traveling all day), but at least I could look forward to a fun week ahead! The first few days were spent with the Walton side of the family for a girls' trip. Lisa flew in from Georgia, Mary flew in from Vancouver, and Amy and Elisha were already in Utah. It was fun to see them and hang out, even if it was only for a few days! Highlights of the Walton Girls' Trip:

• Staying at Scott & Elisha's new house in Kaysville - nice to be able to picture them there now!
• Shopping trip to the Park City Outlets - always fun!
• The five of us girls going to the Bountiful Temple together - so beautiful.
• Eating delicious homemade white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for my birthday - thank you Elisha!
• Watching a chick flick in our pjs - I love the music in Mamma Mia!
• Going out to lunch - Ruby Tuesday in Park City, Cafe Rio in Sandy
• Dinner and spending Friday night at the Thompson's in Orem - fun to catch up with Dan's extended fam.
• Seeing Amy's croproom at Quickutz and crashing one of Amy & Lisa's serious scrapbooking sessions (which was the reason for this whole trip to begin with) - thanks for including me girls!
• Annie and Leah spending some quality time with their grandma Walton and also their cousin Molly - here they are hanging out while the moms shop!

Little Lady

OVER TIME

Two things (among many) that I know Sarah loves are birthdays and the San Jose Sharks. So when these two things happen to coincide, i.e., the Sharks are in town to play the Bluejackets on a night close to her birthday, it's a recipe for the perfect birthday present. And like a vacation for two or some new lingerie, we all know that the best birthday presents are the ones that both people can enjoy. I know you probably think it's like buying your wife a new cordless drill or beard trimmer, but Sarah really loves to go to Sharks games. Just ask the person who sat in front of us at the game. Sarah screamed his ear off when the Sharks scored to tie the game 2-2 with 2 minutes left in the third. It was a sell out crowd, and a great game that went into overtime, but ultimately the Bluejackets won. The guy who sat in front of us made sure to share his enthusiasm directly at us. With a blatant tone of in-your-face he pointed to Sarah and said, "You screamed way too loud on that last goal." We got a kick out of it. It was a great night despite the loss. The Sharks lead the NHL with fewest losses, but two of those have come from overtime losses to Columbus.

I bought the tickets off of some guy on craigslist for a pretty good discount. Without maneuvering my head from side to side, this was my "unobstructed" view of the ice. This was also our new "friend" who had to deal with our cheering and commentary.