Disney Movie Nights

10 days before our trip to Disneyland I had the idea to watch a Disney movie every day to countdown to our trip. I had to feed us dinner anyway, so it wasn't that much extra work to plan a meal based on each movie. Our kids are very familiar with almost all of the Disney movies, so it wasn't like we really needed to watch them, but it was just really fun!

I had leftover egg rolls and sauce in our freezer from Christmas Eve, so all I had to do was defrost and cook those and make some fried rice. We typically watch Mulan around this time of year anyway for Lunar New Year, so this was an obvious choice.

I had Tandoori Chicken and Indian Rice (from OBB Savoring the Seasons cookbook) with Naan already on our menu and since India is close to Saudi Arabia, I thought that would work for Aladdin. I also frosted some graham crackers and put some sprinkles on for a special (very easy) "magic carpet" treat.

This day was the Super Bowl, so we planned to watch Zootopia before church (a movie morning). I made donuts (these with this glaze and some pink food coloring and sprinkles) because of the big donut in Zootopia. (I don't like chocolate donuts, so I did pink since the writing on the donut is pink.)

So many options for Beauty and the Beast food. I settled on soup du jour (broccoli cheese soup), a baguette (french bread), and the grey stuff (seriously so delicious). 

We had cannonballs (meatballs) for our Peter Pan movie night. Although I realized after that Pirate's Booty would have worked too! 

We always have Jambalaya and watch Princess and the Frog for Mardi Gras (and we were going to be at Disneyland on Mardi Gras), so this night was a must!

We had a busy night ahead of us, so I decided to let the kids watch Alice in Wonderland with their friends after school. Our kids have seen this movie, but it's not one they are super familiar with, so this was a good review.

I made "drink me" drinks and "eat me" cakes - both super easy. I drank one of the drinks and discovered sadly that Kool-Aid Bursts are one of those foods that you thought was good as a kid, but is not good as an adult.

I made Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with shell noodles for our Little Mermaid movie night. Unfortunately we all thought it was disgusting. The texture was right on, but something about the taste was off.

We had to do a Toy Story movie night and we kept it super simple by ordering pizza from "Pizza Planet" since we were busy taking care of last minute things before our trip. 

We wanted to introduce the kids to Fantasia since they had never seen it and we were planning on going to see Fantasmic at Disneyland. They liked the parts with Mickey, but were not interested in the rest of it. I kept it super simple with Mickey Waffles since we were leaving the next morning!

This was super fun and something we might have to make a tradition for before each Disney trip!

Five on Friday

1. We pretty much missed the whole first week of the Olympics while we were at Disneyland, but we've tried to make the most of the second week with lots of Olympic binge watching. On Monday we had an Olympic FHE. I pulled out the flag banner I made for the 2016 Summer Olympics, we had a quick lesson on the Olympic flag and what it represents, and we had Olympic Ring Sugar Cookies for our treat. The best part though was the Winter Olympic activities Rog planned for us. We had speed skating races around our counter, had a curling competition with bracelets, and did a relay race with hardboiled eggs and spoons. (That last one was kind of random, but it was fun.)

2. We just finished reading the third Harry Potter on Sunday and our neighbors (who finished it a couple weeks ago) had been patiently waiting for us to finish, so we could watch the third movie together. It was looking like our schedules wouldn't align for a couple weeks, but then my RS presidency meeting got canceled on Tuesday night (because of snow) and we were able to do it that night. I tried Our Best Bites' recipe for Butterbeer and while it wasn't as good as what you can get at Universal Studios, it was still a fun treat.

3. Since all of our snow days were in December and January last year, I mistakenly thought when we made it to February we had made it a whole school year without one. We got home from Disneyland just in time to have a week full of snow days. Church was let out an hour early on Sunday, Monday would have been a snow day if it weren't already President's Day, school was let out 2 hours early on Tuesday, and school was cancelled both Wednesday and Thursday. It was so nice to finally send the big kids off to school today and have a normal day with just me and Logan!

4. While we were at Disneyland, the transportation office called to let me know our bus route was getting a new schedule. Since we were already early in the route I thought for sure they were changing it back to how it was last year when we were at the end of the route and we'd be able to sleep in a bit. No such luck, we are still early in the route and they are starting earlier, so we have to be at the bus stop at least 10 minutes earlier which means we have to get up 10 minutes earlier. We were already getting up at 7:00, so I'm not happy about this change! I tried to convince the kids that we should start a carpool with some of our neighbors just for the morning, but they (mostly Peyton) insist they want to ride the bus. School doesn't start until 8:30, so getting picked up at 7:39 seems a little ridiculous to me, but you can't beat the convenience of the bus!

5. I'm still on a Disney high this week, so I framed my pins from this Disneyland trip.

We hung some other frames in the craft room a few months ago, but waited to hang the 2016 frame since by then we knew we were going to Disneyland again soon. It was nice to finally get 2016 hung and have this wall done - until of course we go to Disneyland again!

While I was at it, I printed off some pictures from our trip and reworked my Disney bulletin board. I'm getting close(ish) to finishing the craft room, so hopefully soon I'll be posting about that!

And that was our week!

Super Saturday

October 14th was Super Saturday. Shannah, my activities coordinator, had just had a baby, so we told her to take this activity off. It was quite the undertaking and nearly took over my life in September and the first two weeks of October! But it was also fun and very rewarding. I learned so so much and am planning on doing it again, so I can apply the things I learned and make it even better the second time.

 We combined with the Sunnyside ward. Trish Davis, the Sunnyside RS president, is amazing to work with. Her 2nd counselor over activities works a lot, so Trish is much more involved in activities than the RS president in our ward is.

I made this poster to advertise the event.

We invited the Young Women to attend and also had them help with the nursery. After the event the 1st counselor in our presidency said she didn't know the Young Women were invited. This made me want to scream because it was right there on the poster as well as in every email we sent out about the event. She had some stressful stuff going on at the time, but it makes me crazy how people don't read things!

Sunnyside went a little crazy and offered 11 projects/classes. Next year I'm going to recommend that they stick to 6 solid offerings! They did temple plaques, ruler growth charts, blessings jars, lighted potpourri jars, simmering potpourri jars, Jacob's ladder wooden toys, cards and gift tags, painted coasters, tile coasters, skin exfoliates, and a cupcake fondant class. 

Our ward offered 6 projects/classes. 

Christmas Burlap Bags

We offered the first bag free and then charged $1 for each bag after that. We had a few do just 1, but most people who signed up for this one signed up for a lot!

For Super Saturday we bought burlap bags off Amazon, so no one would have to sew 80 burlap bags. I cut out vinyl stencils with my Silhouette. We had three options - a tree, a snowflake, and a reindeer.

I decided to make these for the homemade gift I gave our family for Christmas. I sewed my bags because I preferred the look of homemade burlap bags, but of course I was only making 15. I put a cinnamon pinecone in the bags I gave out. 

Family Home Evening Board

We offered these for $5 each and we had 10 sign up.

I brought my computer and printer to the church, so I didn't have to worry about collecting information before the event. These boards could be personalized to work for families of all sizes. Some did an opening prayer and a closing prayer if they had 6 in their family or others combined a few or dropped a few if they had less in their family.

I had a 1-inch circle punch (for mom, dad, and shorter names like Logan) and a 1 1/4-inch circle punch (for longer names like Corbyn and Peyton). I had a few different gray options for the backing paper and then I just brought all my scrapbook paper, so they could personalize the color for the names. I used jumbo clear gems for the tops. And I got the frames from IKEA.

Glass Etching

We charged $2 per dish etched and we did about 25 dishes total. Most people did a few dishes each. We said they could do a 9x13, a 9x9, a 6x10, or a bread pan. Most signed up for the 9x13 option and a few signed up for the 6x10 or 9x9 options, but no one signed up to do a bread pan. In addition to dish size, they had to sign up for what name they wanted etched and what font they wanted. I had 3 font options.

This was super easy. I cut the names with my Silhouette. (Only trick is you have to remember to mirror the image before you cut it!) We bought all our vinyl and transfer tape from Expressions Vinyl and did a big order, so we got free shipping + 10% off. 

We ran into a problem with older Pyrex dishes though. The glass etching bottle said that it wouldn't work on all Pyrex, but I figured they just had to say that. It worked on all the Pyrex dishes I did and most of them are from when we got married almost 11 years ago, but it didn't work for some of the older ladies who brought their Pyrex dishes from when they got married 20+ years ago. So if we do this again, I'll definitely mention that! Everyone was super nice about it and understood it wasn't our fault. I offered to cut more vinyl for anyone who wanted to buy a new dish and etch that one and I tried to refund the money for those who didn't want to do that, but they wouldn't let me. 

Framed Signs

Jill Ellison (wife of the 1st counselor in the Stake President) did these and they were super popular! She charged $9 and we had 19 people sign up for a total of 33 signs. She had this Grateful Thankful Blessed option as well as a Home Sweet Home option. If we do something like this again, we'll have to put a limit on them because some people signed up for a bunch and they take a lot of prep work beforehand. 

I signed up for one, but was way too busy to make mine during the actual event. I finally got around to making it in January when I had a few ladies over to finish theirs with me.

Bow Class

Kristen Tutt makes bows and sells them on Etsy. She was kind enough to teach a class on how to make them and everyone could make up to 3 bows for free. It was a super popular class and I really wish I could have attended. We had 30+ sign up for this class although not everyone who signed up attended.

I wish I took a picture of the Relief Society room all set up for this because it was quite the job getting it all ready. We used the skinny seminary tables (that I've learned are common to churches where early morning seminary is held outside of Utah) and had extension cords/power strips galore. We had about 15 glue guns set up, so no one would have to share with too many people.

Cupcake Tips and Tricks

Finally we had a cupcake decorating class taught by one of the ladies on my committee, Sandy Valentine. She taught how to make a Minnie Mouse cupcake, a rose swirl cupcake, and a Cookie Monster cupcake. We had about 15 sign up - although again, not everyone who signed up came.

I drew this map on a white board for everyone to see as they walked in. After I finished, I stepped back and realized I should have done it bigger, but there was no way I was going to erase it and do it again!

For lunch we had people sign up to bring crockpot soups. We provided rolls from Great Harvest and Pumpkin Snickerdoodles for dessert. (I made a huge batch of about 150 cookies a few weeks before the event and froze them.) We also had wassail and apple cider. We all brought our autumn decorations to decorate the food tables.

This was before the event.

During the event.

And my kitchen after I had unloaded my car after the event.

Only 2 of these crockpots are mine. I had borrowed 3 since I was doing all the drinks and 1 soup.

We went out to Applebee's to celebrate Super Saturday being done that night! Although we weren't technically done since not everyone who signed up came. We had a few activities to finish up projects, but those were easy after the main event!

Flashback Friday - Disneyland November 2016

We were planning on going to Disneyland this October (with a little baby) since we've never been for Halloween before, but now I'm hoping to be too pregnant in October to go. So we decided to go in February instead! It's supposed to be a good time to go (less crowds) and my sister is also coming with her family (plus my parents are coming too), so we're really excited. 

My motto for this trip is, "When life gives you lemons (a miscarriage), go to Disneyland!"

Anyway, it seemed ridiculous to me to go to Disneyland without having blogged about our last Disneyland trip (over a year ago 🙈), so here we go!

Roger didn't have enough vacation time built up, so he didn't get to come with us. My parents met us there and stayed in the same hotel room as us to help me with the kids. We got a room at Del Sol with two queens, a bunk bed, and a crib for Logan, so it worked out perfectly.

We flew on a Sunday and had a layover in Sacramento on the way down. Logan enjoyed watching the planes and then fell asleep in my arms on the second flight (heaven). 

We had said we would go to the Newport Beach temple that afternoon/evening and walk around, but we figured out it would have taken hours each way to get there using mass transit and we couldn't take an Uber because we didn't bring carseats. (The shuttle we took from the airport to our hotel had carseats provided.) Then we figured out that our Annual Passes weren't good the last day we were going to be there (Veteran's Day), so our resolve to not go to Disneyland on Sunday was shaken. We ate an early dinner at Denny's. (This picture! 😂)

And then we went into California Adventure and saw the sneak peak of Moana.

And the new Frozen show. We rationalized that these are cultural things. At least that was better than riding rides on Sunday, right? 😉 

I'm not going to attempt a summary for each day. It's been so long and I definitely can't remember all the details! Rather I'll talk about the highlights.

Rides

Peyton was finally tall enough to ride the Matterhorn!

It's one of my favorites and she loved it too. (Corbyn doesn't like it too much because he thinks the Abominable Snowman is scary, but he will ride it.)

She was also tall enough to ride Grizzly River Run.

She was grateful for that because we had some really hot days and it felt nice to cool off!

Corbyn was tall enough to ride California Screamin'. He was nervous the first time he rode.

But much more confident the next day. 👍

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad selfies are the best selfies.

Star Tours (and Star Wars in general) is not my thing. Rog normally takes the kids on it, but since he wasn't there it fell to me. I had to take this picture as proof since I didn't think Rog would actually believe that I took them.

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is still Corbyn's favorite.

Even though we all know Toy Story Mania is way better. We had a morning where we got there before everyone else and we rode it over and over until the line got too long!

We knew this was going to be our last time riding Tower of Terror before they changed it to be Guardian's of the Galaxy. 👎

They were getting Christmas all set up while we were there and we got to ride "it's a small world" Holiday. I'm a no-Christmas-until-after-Thanksgiving purist, so it seemed too early for Christmas for me. But that ride is beautiful all lit up for Christmas.

Characters

Corbyn and Peyton love Nightmare Before Christmas, so they were beyond excited to meet Jack Skellington. I think they were a little nervous when they actually got in there though. Can't blame them - he is kind of scary.

No matter how old you get, it's always fun to see Mickey!

Chip (or Dale) was collecting acorns on Main Street. Peyton joined him and thought it was the best thing ever. So fun!

Buzz was not out at all the week we were there (and when we asked they said he hadn't been out for at least a month). I don't know why. We only got to see him during a parade and Logan wasn't even with us. 😢

We did get to see Woody though.

We had the best time meeting Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps from Zootopia. Judy had Logan laughing so hard!

We visited Mickey at his house early in the day and he was just inside the door. We liked this better than when he's all the way down in his studio.

Little kids and Mickey's nose. Always.

😍😍😍

Logan was obsessed with Pluto this trip.

He loved him!

We didn't meet a lot of princesses, but we did meet Tiana.

And meeting Rapunzel may have been the highlight of the trip for Peyton. She wore her Little Adventures Rapunzel dress and her new Rapunzel hat she picked as her souvenir and it was pretty much perfect!

Food

We always love the corn chowder in a bread bowl from the French Market Restaurant. I'd never realized they turn it into Mickey with the inside of the bowl before though. Makes it that much better!

We tried the Boysen Apple Freeze from Maurice's Treats. It was good, not great.

I'm not sure how this is possible, but I think this was our first time trying the famous corn dogs!

I heard they had a Matterhorn Macaroon and I had to try one. It ended up being way too much coconut for me, but it was oh so cute!

Shows

Mickey and the Magical Map has become a favorite and is a must-see show for us.

We went to the Holiday World of Color which ends with huge bubble hearts floating in the air. We prefer the regular World of Color, but this was fun to do once.

I ended up carrying a sleeping Peyton back to the hotel after.

Toon Town

We had never taken the time to take the kids to Toon Town, so we made sure to fit it in this trip. We went one night when it was dark and soon realized it would be better to come back in the light.

So we did the next morning. The kids had fun playing.

And exploring everything Toon Town has to offer.

So many fun photo opps in there!

Other Fun Pictures

I wasn't ready to be in the Christmas spirit, but the castle sure was beautiful.

As is Radiator Springs at night!

Trying on hats is always fun and makes for cute pictures.

Seeing the ducks may have been Logan's favorite part of this day. I just love this picture!

Grandma and Grandpa took Logan back to the hotel most afternoons for a nap, but he did take an occasional stroller nap.

During those afternoon naps, I got to hang out with the big kids at the park. We had some fun adventures. I took them through the Sleeping Beauty Castle one afternoon and they thought it was pretty cool.

Souvenirs

Corbyn was so excited to build his own lightsaber. I was clueless, so it was a good thing the employees helped him!

Corbyn and Peyton both really wanted a stretched penny, so we made that happen.

As I said, Peyton got a Rapunzel hat and Logan got an "it's a small world" bath toy. And I got a Monster's University hat.

Our Last Day

I still can't believe we forgot to check the calendar and ended up with a day where our passes weren't valid. We made the most of it though. The Lego Store in Downtown Disney is a fun one to visit.

We didn't bring our swimsuits because we hardly ever end up using them, but since we had this extra day we found Peyton a cheap swimsuit at one of the stores along Harbor Boulevard. 

Corbyn wore some athletic shorts.

Logan wore just a swim diaper and we bought him this little tube to float around in. And my mom had brought her swimsuit, so she let me wear that. 

They don't heat the pool at Del Sol and even though it had been a hot week, the pool is in the shade and it was cold in that water! The big kids didn't mind, but I don't think Logan lasted too long!

We flew home on Saturday and we were all glad to see Dad after a week away from him!

We had so much fun and made so many memories with our annual passes! I can't wait to get back there in just 10 days! And maybe this time I won't wait over a year to blog about it. 😂