Disneyland

We took our first family vacation to Disneyland. It was definitely something we will always remember! Marli is loving the Disney Princesses so we thought this would be the perfect time to go. After our last day there we all said what our favorite part was. Funny enough, the princesses were not mentioned once! Marli's favorites were the rollercoasters, the parade and her favorite characters? Chip and Dale. She did actually love seeing the princesses dance in the parade, loved walking through Minnie Mouses house, and both of the Toy Story rides. We loved just being there to see her reaction to each new adventure in Disneyland, and Laney was nice enough to just come along for the ride.

This is Marli as we left our driveway. Thanks to Presli we listened to every Disney Princess song over and over on our 10 hour drive. Whatever keeps our little princess happy.

Here we are at the "happiest place on earth". And from the look on Marli's face in most of these pictures I would say that is true.

They make the most adorable candy apples there and this Minnie Mouse one happened to be our favorite. It was almost too cute to eat...almost:)

I crouched down in this picture to be next to Marli, but then she wanted to crouch down to. Lucky for us, candy apples are "too messy" for Reno's liking so we happily ate his share.

After our first day we gave Marli this Sleeping Beauty crown and dress to wear to breakfast the next morning with the princesses. She was so excited for the new dress ups. After she put them on she asked, "Mom, do I get to take these home?" and when I told her yes she gave me the biggest hug.

This picture is so funny to me because it pretty much sums up our experience at breakfast with the Princesses. This was the one event we thought Marli would love the most. And I think the thought of it she did love, but when it came down to seeing the Princesses she played her typical hard-to-get self. And Laney who is usually such an angel was hungry and tired and didn't make things any easier.

Here are all her pictures with the characters. At least she smiled in most of the pictures even if she didn't want to stand next to any of them. The funniest part of all this is now she can't stop looking at these pictures and talking about how she saw all the princesses.

Marli and her Prince -

Wednesday was actually Reno's birthday and what better way to celebrate then to go to breakfast with the princesses. I hope Marli appreciates what a great daddy she has!!

3-D glasses - Getting ready to break records on the Toy Story ride

I think this face shows how Laney probably felt most of the trip. She was so nice to just go along with whatever her crazy family was doing

3 straight days in Disneyland can be exhausting!! Marli only made it through half of the Pirates of the Carribean ride before she fell asleep. I think we all felt like this by the time it was time to go home.

Apparently she likes the characters when they aren't so "real"

Tara and Will came and met us there one day and it was so fun to see them! Marli and Will became fast friends and probably hold the record for how many times you can ride the carousel in a row. Thanks Tara for driving all the way up and for all the great tips! I know you want to trade in the sunny Cali weather for snow so we can be neighbors again... ha!ha!

Laney's favorite part of Disneyland was charming all the people behind us while we stood in line.

Disneyland at Christmas time really is amazing!

Marli LOVED the sparkly castle!

Good-bye Disneyland! Until next time...

Happy Birthday Grandma Gunn!!

My Grandma just turned 90 yrs old! The day after Thanksgiving we had a big celebration for her. She is such a sweet, sweet lady. I love her so much! I am so grateful that I have been able to live so close to her (and not just because she ALWAYS has a full cookie jar and bowls of candy:)).

Here is most of her posterity - kids, grandkids, and 100+ great-grandkids!

I love this picture - it shows my Grandma's sweet angel smile

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with all my siblings at my parent's house. This was our first time doing it with just our siblings and it was so much fun! After dinner we went to Reno's Grandparent's house to spend time with his family. Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pics so most of these are ones I got from my brother-in-law.

All the cousins

Luke, Macie and Marli getting a headstart on dinner by eating their party favors.

"HUGE"

The other day Marli flexed her muscles and said, "Look Mom, I'm huge huh!". Just when I was wondering where she got that, she said - "Dad's huge too, huh Mom". So now we all know what Reno says to Marli when he shows her his muscles :)

Check out those thighs - Now thats what we call huge!

More costumes

A couple of weeks after Halloween was Noah's birthday party. Jodi threw such a cute "super-hero" party. All the kids were supposed to come dressed with capes or super-hero costumes. Well, I guess we didn't get our fix for dressing up on Halloween, because we decided to all dress up as a family. My brother's family were all super-hero's for Halloween so they let us borrow these awesome costumes.

Happy Halloween

This year we celebrated Halloween all weekend. Friday we had a party with my family then that night we had our annual friends party. Saturday we carved pumpkins, went to the ward INDOOR "Halloween Festival" then did some trick-or-treating at Reno's cousins and grandparents houses. Sunday was pretty low-key, but Marli did want to wear her fairy dress all that day too. Our costumes this year were pretty fun - Laney was a darling peacock (that we borrowed from Troy and Jodi) Marli was a purple fairy, and Reno and I pretty much went as ourselves - AKA Jesse James and Kat Von D.

Crazy Cousins.

My mom puts together the funnest Halloween party for the grandkids every year.

Jesse and Kat.

We were hoping our costume would win us the crow trophy this year, but we had some stiff competition. How can you compete with two giant chickens? I think my favorite was still Kylee's purple overalls though

Congrats to Mugs and Ty, the winners this year! I'm not sure if it was the red tights or the self-inflating fan that helped win all the votes

The 3 scary monsters.

Thanks Jess and Devin for hosting such a great party!

Carving pumpkins - You can see how not excited Marli was to get her hands in the goo.

Marli and Presli emptying all the candy bowls

Any time someone asked Marli what she was going to be for Halloween she would say a princess. Then I would say "No Marli, I thought you were going to be a fairy" and her reply was always "No, I already am a fairy - see!" Then she would lift her arms above her head a spin around. So I guess this wasn't really dressing up for her because in her mind, she already is a fairy

6 Months Old

Laney turned 6 months old this weekend! I cannot say enough about how sweet this little girl is. She seriously has been such a good baby. Here are some of my favorite things about her:
*She will give you a smile 99% of the times you look at her.
*She thinks Marli is the greatest person on earth and will laugh at almost anything she does.

*She loves to snuggle with her little bunny Thumper.

*She has the yummiest chubby cheeks and legs - Everytime I say "Ooh, Laney is so yummy!" Marli will tell me, "No, Laney's not yummy - food is yummy."
*Has just learned how to roll over, and look how cute she is - so proud to be laying on her tummy.
- Sidenote to this - EVERY TIME Laney rolls over (which is pretty much everytime I lay her down now) Marli will say "Good job Laney!! Good Girl!". (So nice to have a big sister that is such a good cheerleader)

Dress-Ups

Marli has been loving the dress-ups lately! I think she thinks the whole month of October is for dressing up. Any time she can, she is wearing something sparkly, twirly, or just plain funny. It doesn't help that she is also loving princesses right now so she has to put on her dress everytime she watches their movie. This is one of my favorite parts of having a little girl. I love watching her in her fantasy land as she pretends she is a princess, fairy, ballerina, or whatever other pretty thing she is admiring that day.

Right now Marli's favorite movies are Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. She always starts dancing when watching the movie. Then she will ask me to sing the music that goes with each princess. The other day Marli asked me the cutest thing, she said "Mom, will you sing the song so I can dance with my prince?" When I asked her who her prince was she of course answered "Daddy!". So here is a video of Marli dancing with her prince.

Golfing at the "Diamond Castle"

Marli has a Barbie movie about a diamond castle, so every time we pass trafalga she says "Look Mom! There's the diamond castle. I want to go there!" So last weekend we finally took her golfing at the "Diamond Castle". To be honest, I think she was a little disappointed when she saw it close up - she kept wanting to go inside it. We still had a great time golfing - Marli had a huge celebration every time she hit the ball in the hole (usually from only inches away).

Laney was a good sport and just watched us while all bundled up in the stroller

APX Party 2010

This year's end-of-the-year party was a Black Tie Event. It was really fun seeing everyone all dressed up. I felt like I was at prom again. We went to dinner first as an office, then went to the "Event" at the Salt Lake Country Club. Reno looked great in his tux and it was soo fun to have a fancy night out!

We had such a fun group of wives in our office this year. All the girls looked beautiful in their dresses!
The next night NitroCircus came to APX, and I had no clue who they were:)

They put on an awesome show! Marli loved seeing all the motorcycles "flying" in the air, but her favorite part was seeing the Jazz Bear.

Marli can be quite a pill these days when it comes to taking family pictures so I had to take this pic to show that she really was having a good time.