L-3 Rented out Lagoon for their work party this year so we got to take Jayda and Bentley for their first time. Jayda was feeling brave and so Bryce took her on the white rollercoaster as her first ride. Well, she HATED it. She was so traumatized that we had to drag her onto the kiddie rides sobbing after that. There are a few that I didn't even make her go on. It was pretty humorous to see a 7 year old on bawling her eyes out on the rides with the 2 year olds.

 Bentley started soccer and is such a lucky boy to have his dad for a coach. He loves it but doesn't touch the ball. He likes to run around and be right where the ball is but does not love to be kicked or pushed around.

 The whole family took a trip to Disneyland and stayed in a beach house at Newport Beach. All of the kids loved the rides and did a fantastic job.

August

 Hiked up to Cecret lake with our friends the Millards and the Parkers. This was a new hike for us and was very fun for all ages.

   Jayda started 2nd grade at Oak Hills Elementary with Mrs. Cross.

 

 We made fairy gardens to put in the back yard.

  Uncle Shawn and Aunt Krissy were in town so we did a guys night and a girls night. The girls went to Arella and practiced kissy faces with my selfie stick.

July

 We visited Nani at work and walked around temple square.

 We got to see the 24th of July parade in downtown SL as well.

May

 Bentley graduated from Simon Says preschool and will miss his teacher Miss Mindy. 

 I got to go with Jayda's class on their field trip to Red Butte Gardens. 

 Jayda performed at Dance Impression's end of year recital. She did amazing as always and it is so fun to watch.

Time for a new home

At the beginning of February we found out that one of our neighbors had sold their home for way more than we ever thought we would be able to sell ours for which was a huge surprise because nothing had been selling in our townhomes for the past year. We thought about selling but were nervous about where we would go and all of the details of it, but once we decided it was time to try, we both had a feeling of peace that we were doing the right thing.
We spend the next 2 weeks getting everything ready and listed and then took off on our vacation to Hawaii. 2 days after we got home our home was sold for full asking price. It was such a miracle and such a huge blessing to be able to leave the house vacant and not deal with showings and 3 kids.
The problem now was that we were having a hard time even finding houses we were interested in looking at. There was 1 home that I was so excited to see, and I called on it 4 hours after if was listed and it was already under contract. A few weeks went by and we knew that we had one week left to find a place to buy or find a place to rent. We prayed that this would be the week we could find a home. On Thursday I saw this house and they weren't showing it until the open house on Friday. I knew as soon as I saw the outside it was where we were meant to be and by a series of other miracles and beating out other competing offers we bought it and moved in on April 24th. 

February

The best thing we decided to do was take a trip to Hawaii with just our little family. We stayed at the Disney resort Aulani and made such fun memories together. The plane rides were long and certainly not easy, but the kids did better than we expected.

 The beach was perfectly manicured and the waves were small which made a great experience for the kids. They were so excited to run around in the waves and play in the sand. Anniston wanted nothing to do with the sand and would not even put her feet down until the last day we were there.

 Bentley ran fearlessly into the waves and was having a great time until he got pummeled by one and had a face full of sand. He was also freezing because it was 6:30 am.

 Colorful coy fish.

 Auntie's beach house was a blast. We went inside to explore and ended up having a dance party with Chip and Dale.

 In my arms is where Anniston spent most of her Hawaii vacation.

 The little island men called Menehune were everywhere and we went on treasure hunts and found them all around the entire resort.

 The last day we were there we had the chance to feed the coy fish.

 The best shaved ice ever!

 Surfing party on the lawn where we learned how to surf.

 The kids learned how to boogie board.

 Bryce, Jayda and Bentley snorkeled in the private snorkeling reef but Bentley and Jayda were a bit scared and decided the water was too cold. Bryce loved it and we were able to watch him swim around from an under water window.

 Our family loved the free classes they had like learning how to draw Disney annimation cells and build our own paddle boat with Uncle.

 The luau was incredible and had fire dancers and incredible singers.

 Nani and Papa gave the kids money to pick out souvenirs so they all chose stuffed animals of course. The stitch animals fold out into pillows for the plane ride home.

 The kids finally got  brave enough to try out the slides and crazy splashing in Menehune cove and it turned out to be their favorite place. I love that they tried new things on this trip and were able to overcome some fears.