Busy Month...

Yeah, I know it's been a long time...Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

This month we attended Blythe's graduation from USC. My dad is so happy that he doesn't have to pay anymore tuition! I swear if he hadn't been sick he would have done cartwheels in the parking lot! We are 3 very grateful children because our parents put us through college and we all graduated: 1 BYU, 2 USC. We know who got the best degree!!!

We took some family pictures together, thanks to Shane the photographer. He's not really a photographer, of course, but he took some decent pictures of us and he took us to a cute place to take them. I thought they turned out pretty good.


We also went to NC to see the NC Freemans (Matt's brother and family). We always have the best time with them. We attended their ward Christmas party and got to see Santa there. Zack freaked out and cried, but then when he saw him he calmed down and took a picture with him. We had a good time just being with them and can't wait to see them again soon.

Christmas was great. We spent it with my family. The best part was that it was 70+ outside and we didn't have to deal with any snow. I'm so thankful not to have that anymore! My mom bought us a little tree so that we'd have one in our cozy apartment. (Did I mention that we finally moved out and into an apartment while we are building our house?) Zack enjoyed his gifts from Santa (all Lightning McQueen as requested!), and Matt and I had exchanged gifts too. Matt has been purchasing guns and ammo, so that was part of his gifts, but he also got a couple of cd's. Matt spoiled me with a Cricut and nice scrapbook photo/paper trimmers and a punch I'd been really wanting.




Most importantly, Zack learned more about the true meaning of Christmas. When we would ask him "what does Christmas mean?", he would answer "Jesus" or "Baby Jesus". He would also say that it was Jesus' birthday, and he started singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus" in the bathtub a few nights ago!

Wish me luck...tomorrow I'm putting Zack in real underwear!!! He's finally made it! I'll have to give a final "potty training" report later!

Disney World...now that it's been almost 2 months!

After the big cruise, we decided to stay in FL a few more days and go to Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We were trying to see if Zack would have a change of heart about the "scariest" place on earth. We spent the first day at Hollywood Studios, and I think Zack found his "Happy Place".



There was just one little area that had Lightning McQueen and Mater in Radiator Springs. Zack was in heaven! It was so cute. We totally surprised him with that and his smile and excitement was worth it.


Halfway through the day we met up with Matt's sister's family and had fun with them in the park. These are just some pics with Zack and his cousins.



Matt rode the Aerosmith roller coaster 9 times. I liked the Little Mermaid show, the Great Movie ride, the Muppet show, and the Tower of Terror. We really liked the closing show with the lights and fireworks. That night our nephew Jeff stayed with us b/c the next day he was flying back to Utah and we wanted to spend some time with him. The Magic Kingdom was so much fun. This time Zack had a blast! We went to Pirates of the Caribbean first to break him in, and by the end of the ride he was fine. He rode it 5 more times with no fuss. We also made him do the Haunted Mansion twice, and he loved it both times. Zack's favorite rides were It's a Small World, Pirates, and Peter Pan's Flight. I couldn't believe how crowded it was for October, so we'll have to try another month next time. Zack couldn't ride the Star Tours ride, so we put him on this to make him think that he was riding in Star Wars.

This time we got to see a lot more characters than when we were at Disney Land. Zack would walk up, give them a hug, turn and pose for a picture, then walk away like he was a pro at it.



A few things I learned that I'll pass along for anyone who goes to Disney World/Land with kids:
A big stroller is great for carrying your junk and for naps.
A backpack is great for taking a camera, food/drinks, sunglasses, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, diapers, jackets, etc. and easy to grab when you park the stroller and go ride the attractions.
Don't buy the crap in the park, go to the local Wal-mart for souveniers (except for Mouse ears).
Food in Disney is terrible, so take lots of snacks and drinks-they really don't check that hard, and they pretty much let you take whatever if they see you with kids.
Take your own pictures-Disney Photo Pass sucks but you can hand your camera to those people and they'll take your picture for you.