Evie Turns 4 On Easter Sunday in the Happiest Place on Earth!! Try Topping That! ;)

How do I even begin to describe the best trip that ever happened?! I seriously dream about this trip on a daily basis just to feel that same feeling of peace and happiness that I had throughout that entire trip. It took me months and months to plan it, which just happens to be my favorite part! I think I have more fun planning vacations than actually going on them! Mostly because it requires creativity and lots of daydreaming :); both of which are my forte.

Day 1 (Wednesday): We got up early and drove to Caliornia. The drive was smooth and the kids did great! I think we've trained them well with all of our vacations because they travel like professionals now :). We drove straight for the beach, as is tradition, and it was a glorious day! The sun was out, and the air was fresh! We played in the sand, chased sea gulls, did beach side races, threw the football, Austin pushed his favorite truck around in the surf, and Evie made two little girlfriends who shared their food with her and they built sand castles :). It really was the perfect day, that only got better with some beach yoga! There is something so peaceful about the ocean and my body was dying to do yoga while watching the surf and closing my eyes to the sound of the gulls. Perfection I tell ya..... After we started getting tired and hungry, we headed for the hotel where we checked in, got ourselves settled, and headed straight for the arcade because that's where the kids always want to be! It's small and the games are so bad, but that doesn't stop them haha! Then we grabbed food from the hotel cafe and ate in bed before we fell asleep, full and drunk on life :). 

Day 2 (Thursday): The next morning, we woke up to an incredible sight! The Easter Bunny had come while we were sleeping and filled the kids Easter Baskets with all sorts of goodies and toys/crafts to play with while we were at the hotel, along with pool toys for the pool! It was like that clever Easter Bunny somehow knew our itinerary and knew everything we would need to make it a successful trip! ;) The kids were in heaven and so amazed that the smart bunny somehow found us :). I think they were a little worried that they would be forgotten about since we weren't home for Easter. It technically wasn't Easter yet, but we were glad he came early because those gifts sure came in handy on our trip! After all of that excitement, we walked down the hall to the hotel cafe for breakfast. The mornings in California are always a bit nippy until the clouds clear, so we took things slow and it was wonderful. Then we took the party out to the pool and spent the ENTIRE DAY swimming and sunbathing! I'm not kidding. All. Day. Long! There were plenty of kids to play with (most of them European) and the kids had a blast!!

Day 3 (Friday): Today was Day 1 of Disneyland and we were up early and ready to go! It was an amazing day full of nonstop fun and we enjoyed every minute of it! Austin struggled in the beginning which was confusing because he was soooo excited all morning and then got super grumpy once we were there... who knows with kids.... they're slightly nuts. On every single ride he kept rolling his eyes and telling us how boring they were. So I finally got tired of it and picked him up into my arms in front of the Small World Ride and bit his face! It surprised him so much, he started laughing uncontrollably! That's one way to lighten the mood ;).

See him trying to cover up the fact that he's smiling!

Now THAT'S the happy boy we know and love!

It just takes your crazy Mama to bring it out :).

We ate Clarabelle Cow's ice cream, spinned too many times to count in the tea cups, met TONS of characters including the big mouse himself, and even mixed things up at the end of the day by heading over to Tom Sawyer's island to play in the caves and find all the treasure! Yet another amazing day in the happiest place on Earth :).

As you can see, we were determined to inherit King Arthur's throne! ;)

check out all that loot!

The kids love toon town and all the characters wandering around!

Austin took his job as driver very seriously! He's getting so big it kills me!

My whole world right here :)

Mom's favorite ride of all time :)

My handsome mouse, waiting for the girls to come out of the bathroom :).

Window shopping is so magical at Disneyland!

And bubbles always make long lines better!

Inside Mickey Mouse's house, we saw a birthday cake and had to take a picture because Evie is turning 4 on this trip! So of course Austin had to hold up 6 fingers...... ;)

Day 4 (Saturday): We were exhausted and slept in! This day was purposely planned to be a relaxation/pool day just for this reason. So we slept in, played at the arcade, and then went to the pool for yet another day of swimming! It was overcast today which made it a lot colder and less enjoyable for my sunbathing, but the kids didn't let it stop them! They still swam all day long and jumped in the hot tub whenever they started feeling chilly. And then guess who came to join in on the fun?! Grandpa Nate!!! I had invited everyone in the family on this trip, but he was the only person with a job who could afford to come (surprise, surprise) so he was the only one who came! But it was actually perfect because he does better in small groups anyway :). After swimming all day and chatting all afternoon with Grandpa, we all showered and went out to dinner at the hotel restaurant. The kids did great and it was such a yummy, enjoyable meal. We talked and talked, and then later, wen to the arcade one more time to reward the kids for their amazing behavior. I swear, they are so much better behaved when we are on vacation! Then, we went back to the hotel room to let Evie open up her birthday gifts! It wasn't her birthday until the next morning, but we wanted to be able to get to Disneyland before the park opened so we could have even more time for fun, so she got to open everything early. And guess what?! Mom and Dad got her a BEAUTIFUL Princess Elsa dress and crown to wear to Disneyland the next day on her birthday! Grandpa gave her a pure silver dollar coin like he has done every year since each kid was born. It was a great way to end the night :).

such a quiet, restful morning and a beautiful sight to wake up to! My heart was bursting at every angle on this trip!

Opening up her presents!

One happy princess right there :).

Day 5 (Easter Sunday/Evie's Birthday): Happy 4th Birthday baby girl!!! Oh what a beautiful birthday it was! She decided not to wear her crown because it kept falling off so she asked me to wear it, and off to the shuttle bus we went for our last day of fun at Disneyland! This time with Grandpa! He hadn't been to Disneyland since we went my Junior year of high school, and even then, he didn't get to see everything or ride everything because Briana was young and too scared to ride much. He had also never eaten a churro before, or tried the amazing Dole Whip Ice Cream while watching the show in the Tiki Room! We had so much to show him and so little time!!

We had one more surprise up our sleeves for the birthday girl and it turned out to be even more amazing than I had imagined! And trust me, I daydreamed about this surprise dozens of times :). For Evie's special 4th birthday, Mom and Dad paid for her to go to the Bippidy Boppidy Boutique! This is where little girls are turned into Princesses by their own special Fairy Godmothers! My own inner child had died and gone to heaven just hearing about this! Grandpa took Austin to Toon Town while Mom and Dad took Evie on her special birthday date :). After check in, we sat outside the castle doors waiting. Then, a Fairy Godmother came out of the castle and said, "Where is Princess Evelyne?" Evie was in shock and couldn't speak. I spoke up for her and said, "Here she is!" Then the Fairy Godmother came over to her and in total character the entire time, introduced herself and told Evie about her big birthday surprise! I've never seen Evie speechless. Usually we can't get the girl to shut up! So this was a mouth dropping moment and I was trying so hard not to cry the entire time. Then the Fairy Godmother told us (the King and Queen) to follow her and Princess Evelyne INSIDE THE CASTLE!!! Inside was tons of fancy princess dresses and now it was registering in Evie's head why she got a beautiful princess dress last night for her birthday ;). Then she was given the royal treatment by getting her hair, nails, and makeup done! She got to pick out the hair style she wanted and even chose to add pink and purple hair extensions to her hair because if you know Evie, pink and purple are her favorite ;). While the makeover was going on, her Fairy Godmother chattered on and on about how princess Elsa was just here this morning getting her own hair done and how we just missed her! There was sooooo much castle gossip she shared while Evie just saw there in total awe. The only word out of her mouth the entire time was "Yes." hahahahaha!!! She said yes to everything, even if it wasn't a yes or no question! Seriously though, that just shows you how enamored she was in the moment! After her makeover was done, she was spun around in the chair and got to look into the magic mirror where she was told she is the fairest in the land :). Even Josh was taken back by all the magic and in that moment I knew I had topped myself this time.  Evie couldn't wait to go show Grandpa and her brother and then spent the rest of the day running around Disneyland in complete princess attire. True to Evie's nature, It didn't stop her from swinging from a vine in Tarzan's treehouse or doing anything her brother did.

Shyly meeting her Fairy Godmother!

Following her around to the castle entrance...

Entering the Enchanted Chamber!

One very happy Princess among all the Princess dresses!

Getting beautified!

Mirror mirror on the wall.... who is the fairest of them all?   PRINCESS EVIE IS!!

Prettiest girl in the whole world. My heart is full :)

This was possibly the most magical thing we've ever done at Disneyland!

Daddy and his beautiful twin.

Standing in line for Minnie's house

Having tea inside Minnie's house!

Mom's favorite, the tea cups!!!

Grandpa bought us some cotton candy!

It was so fun seeing Nate get into the Disney spirit! He was so happy and care free, just along for the ride! That's not what I am used to seeing come out of him, so it was nice to enjoy those moments with him

 This was such a magical day and we were so glad we got to share it with Grandpa! It was definitely a trip for the books! Grandpa even splurged on the kids and bought them swords and shields in the gift shop to take home and continue the fun! We didn't want to go home and ended up staying way later than we usually do. We kept saying, "Okay, one last ride!" which turned into one more and one more. We finally finished the night with Peter Pan's Flight and by then, the kids were basically comatose. Just the way we like them! ;) Back at the hotel, we said goodnight and goodbye to Grandpa because he was leaving super early the next day. And we went to bed happier than we had felt in months. Well, since our last Disneyland trip. We didn't want to go home the next day and the kids were very unhappy about having to pack up. But all good things must come to an end, right? And this trip was too good to be true, which meant that the ending was going to be more rough than usual. But it was totally worth it! Every. Single. Delicious. Moment. was worth it's weight in gold :).

Birthday wishes and kisses from her best friend of all time!

After being turned into a Princess, the first thing she wanted to do was visit Minnie Mouse inside her house and show her! When we finally got to the front of the line, the first thing she did was run a full out spring into Minnie's arms yelling, "Minnie Mouse! It's my Birthday!!!" Such a beautiful, magical moment for my mouse loving princess :).

Inspirada Spring Festival 2019!!

Happy Spring!!! This has been one extremely long winter that we were glad to see the end of! Bring on the eggs and sunshine!

Every year our community puts on a Spring Festival and every year we make sure we are there to attend! It is soooo much fun! Bouncy houses, hula hoop competitions, food trucks, farmers market, face painting, and don't forget the big Easter Egg Hunt!! :). It brings out the child in all of us, and I just have to mention that I won the contest! I've never been able to hula hoop in my life, but for some reason, this time around, I finally got it! And I won! (hahaha!). Dad got his food truck bratwurst as he always does, and the kids lived in the bouncy houses all morning long. It really was such a picturesque day! I am so incredibly grateful to belong to such a beautiful community that does so many fun family events! We don't even attend half of them!!

Off to the park for a fun filled day!

Of course Evie had to be a full out bunny rabbit hahaha!

Best Friends Forever. Austin worships his Dad and it melts my heart :).

Austin wanted a red Easter egg because Red is his favorite :).

The face painting bunny worked her magic!

One happy boy right there!

Austin loved every minute of this awesome bouncy house obstacle course!

Evie was in bouncy house heaven!

Rockin' it at the hula hoop competition!

The race is on!!

Cutest little Easter Bunny that ever lived :).

Austin is getting so big and it's killing me! Instead of grabbing every egg in sight like he used to do, he was very picky about the eggs he chose. He spent most of his time walking by them all and only grabbing the best ones :).

"Wow, Mom! Look!"

Evie, however, was all over the place racing for every egg :).

Opening his specially picked eggs :).

Opening their eggs and finding surprises!

Some genius filled the eggs with chocolate coins and they melted all over the car in the 2 minute drive it took to get home....

Happy Birthday To MEEE!!!! Life at 31 :)

Life at 31 doesn't look too bad from this angle :)

I had a beautiful birthday this year that was full of love! Since my  birthday was on a Tuesday, Josh and I celebrated with a little weekend stay-cation before my actual birthday :). I dropped the kids off at Aunt Heidi and Uncle Dave's house because they offered to take them to my Mom's house out in Logandale for me as a Birthday gift! It was the perfect gift because then I could just head to the Aliante Hotel for a nice, relaxing weekend with the hubby without worrying about chauffeuring the kiddos back and forth :).

Preteding to ride Uncle Dave's motorcycle :)

The kids had so much fun! While the parents are away, the kids will play!

It was the perfect weekend! We relaxed by the pool a bit, but unfortunately it got stormy and they made us leave :(.... again, this spring weather has been really crappy this year! So instead we went inside and played Bingo with all the old people which was actually really fun and I would totally do it again! We also got to see a movie for the first time in a year! We saw Bohemian Rhapsody which seriously was incredible with the surround sound!! Such a great movie! We also ate to our hearts content and stayed up as late as we wanted because we got to sleep in as late as we wanted! That never happens in real life and it felt so luxurious! I also got to spend a morning at the spa getting a facial which was sooooo nice! That was my special gift from Josh :). Most of all, it was just nice being together. We talked and talked, and laughed and laughed. We felt so carefree and it was wonderful.

Relaxing by the pool! YESSSS!!!

Breakfast in bed was a must!

My facial was incredible and I felt like a spoiled princess in this moment!

But no matter how much I was loving the freedom, this little reminder in my book (a bookmark Austin made me) was enough to make me start missing my kiddos like crazy. I called them every night and loved hearing all their fun stories from their day! My life is dedicated to my children and I wouldn't have it any other way!

We checked out of the hotel on Sunday and picked up the kiddos at  my Mom's house. Her gift to me was the babysitting and I was totally okay with that! We spent most of the afternoon there at her house helping her move furniture around that she couldn't move by herself. She is still trying to figure out her life after the divorce and every time I go there she always has chores for me to do..... I was slightly irritated by it since it was my Birthday and all, but I tried to see past my own selfishness and remind myself that my Mom is like a child right now. She doesn't have the ability to see past her own needs and I have to be okay with that. You see, she told me that she would have a birthday cake and a birthday lunch waiting for me when we got there, but all she had waiting was a list of chores. So can you understand my slight irritation? Anyways, in the meantime, the kids had a blast running around outside and Josh had fun jumping on the trampoline with them. So it wasn't a total loss of a day. We got home late and had to hurriedly get laundry done, bags unpacked, lunches made, kids bathed, and everything ready for Monday because Josh and I both had to work the next day :(.

Then on Tuesday (my actual Birthday) I woke up super sick with a chest cold!! :( I started panicking that I had caught pneumonia again on my Birthday because I was struggling to breathe and that would just be my luck... But I pushed past it all day and refused to let my illness ruin my birthday! The kids made me a birthday breakfast of nutella toast, grapes, goldfish, and wheat thins :). It was the sweetest thing in the world and they were so proud of themselves! Austin was so excited to tell me that he was able to put the bread in the toaster, go poop, and come back just in time for the toast to pop up! I was suddenly totally grossed out by the fact that he didn't wash his hands and my toast had brown nutella on it. But i couldn't tell him that, and I ate it anyway :). I couldn't crush his little heart like that. Both kids had made me special cards at Grandmas house that they were excited to show me! I loved every misspelled word and stick figure more than gold!

My birthday breakfast surprise!!

Oh how I love those homemade cards :).

Then we took Austin to school and headed to Starbucks for my free birthday drink! Then Evie and I went to dance class and I happily watched my baby girl dance while I pondered on the beauty of life at this stage. Then my Mom showed up at dance class and got to watch Evie with me! She was supposed to show up in time to take Austin to school with me but she had decided to sleep longer instead and I chose to not be annoyed by it. Nothing was going to get me down on my day! At home my Mom made me the carrot cake she had promised and I got to work organizing the kids clothes to take inventory on what we needed for summer in hopes that the sun will grace us with its presence eventually!! Then I picked Austin up from school and was starting to feel REALLY sick and run down, but I pushed through it because, again, nothing was going to ruin my day! Josh brought home pizza and we all ate dinner and had birthday cake! The kids kept blowing out my candles before we could even finish the birthday song so it took about 4 rounds of song before I actually got to make my wish! haha! Then we played Twister and had a great time! It was a new game we had just gotten and the kids loved it! Then everyone took turns telling me what they love about me and the responses warmed my heart :). My Mom told me that since I was born, I've been the light in her life and she is so proud of the Mother I've become. Josh told me he loves how selfless and compassionate I am and is grateful for all I do for our little family. Evie told me that she loves me so much because I play with her. And Austin said he loves that his Mom is always trying to make him smarter and he really likes that :). THAT my friends is what life at 31 feels like. It is a simple party with simple pleasures, and lots of love from the people who matter most. And don't forget the constant laughter from kids who can't wait to blow out candles that aren't their own and from adults attempting crazy positions in a game that isn't easy unless you are a gymnast :). The happiness didn't last forever, unfortunately, because my Mom turned it into another chore for us to do for her (grrrrrrrr!!!!). She asked us to help her apply for a job in the middle of playing Twister and in that moment I seriously could have strangled her. Is it too much to have ONE DAY?! JUST ONE DAY ALL ABOUT ME?!! But this is seriously the story of my life. My Mom has always found a way to make everything about her, which is why I never allowed her in the room with me when I had my babies. There was no way I was going to let her ruin those moments for me, and I had no doubt that she would! But I swallowed my feelings, as I always do, and spent the rest of the night applying for jobs with her while Josh bathed the kids and my frustration grew and grew. I couldn't wait for her to get out of my house so I could go upstairs and spend the remaining minutes of my special day kissing my babies and hugging my husband. Can you tell that I am still feeling frustrated?! haha! That's the problem with swallowing your feelings, they never go away... Anyways, it was a good day nonetheless and I decided to stop blaming my Mom for her selfishness and just focus on all the good that had happened that day :).

Blowing out the candles (finally! haha!) and making my wish!

Evie was so excited that she blew the candle out for me! Just look at that face!

Evie and Mom kicking butt at Twister! We blew the boys out of the water! Must be all that yoga ;).

Life at 31 hasn't been anything glamorous, like it was at 30. But I feel a simple peace in my heart that I am right where I'm supposed to be. I don't long for adventure like I did last year. No, this year I long for simple, happy moments with the ones I love; memories to cherish for a lifetime. I am grateful to be alive another year and am excited for all the happy moments to come :). HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

My sweet, crazy family! I wouldn't have life any other way!

Although my Mom drives me crazy, I don't know what I'd do without her. She is an important part of our lives and the kids and I adore her. Now if she could just stop being so annoying! haha! ;)