Disneyland!

It feels like so long ago that we were at Disneyland...we had so much fun taking the kids and can't wait to return someday!

We convinced my entire family to join us and had an amazing time. I easily have a thousand photos so I'll just share some highlights. :)

Walt's favorite rides were the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disneyland and the Toy Story ride in California Adventure. Both have controls and allow you to interact with the ride like a video game. Coincidence? Yeah, not.

Zuzu loved all things princess (they were the only characters she wasn't afraid of) and came home obsessed with Cinderella.

To help the kids get hyped up for the trip, we told Walt all about the "Jedi Academy" and how he could be trained in the ways of the force. We even showed him a video online of other kids doing it. He was SO excited. Little did we know, this experience is only given to a limited number of kids each day. It is so popular that you must be at the very front of the line the SECOND the park opens, run to the Launch Bay, and cross your fingers that you get in. I think there are something like 300 spots open each day (out of tens of thousands of kids). You can only sign up the day you plan to participate - you can't do it ahead of time. Also, your child must be present when you sign up at the crack of dawn. Well, dumb us - we had already promised Walt he could do it. So on the third day of our vacation we found ourselves up so very early in the morning, standing at the gate to Tomorrowland with hundreds of other parents all wearing Star Wars shirts.

I told Landon he had to bolt for the sign up as soon as they dropped the rope. He laughed at me and said, I'm not actually going to run... But sure enough, the second the park opened, the crowd surged towards the Launch Bay. I was laughing so hard while we ran with a stroller, 3 kids and 2 babies (my nieces wanted to do it too). We happened to follow another family through a shortcut and were 5th in line to sign up. It was insane, hilarious, slightly embarrassing and seriously worth all of the craziness.

Walt had the time of his life and literally thinks he can use the Force now. He was a little scared of Kylo Ren but had no problem taking on Darth Vader.

So yeah, we did that. And I'm glad.

Walt surprised us with his willingness to try every single ride. Even though it was clear on the first day that he was not loving rollercoasters - he went on every ride he was tall enough for. He would go once, declare if he liked the ride or not, and then would not go again if he didn't want to.

Even when we knew he wouldn't like something and tried to talk him out of going, he would insist on trying it out. Including Tower of Terror. He definitely didn't like THAT one!! We were so so proud of him for going on everything though. What a brave kid!

We maximized our time from dawn till dusk daily for 5 whole days and were still so sad when it was time to go home. Luckily my family all loves Disney and our next trip is already being talked about. I can't wait!

Portland!

Playing catchup again! Being an adult leaves little time for things like journaling/blogging, doesn't it? But I'll try to do a broad recap.

For Landon's Spring Break this year, we decided to head down to Portland, Oregon to visit his Grandpa Burgener.

I'm so glad we went! We have lived within a few hours of Grandpa and Betty for years and hadn't done a proper visit. They were very gracious and happy to see us.

While there, we figured we may as well do some epic exploring!! We've been to Portland twice before as a family (and I used to live near here as a young child), but we haven't had much chance to see the sites.

We decided to use our time to take a ride on the Portland Aerial Tram, visit Powell's, eat our weight in food at the Portland food trucks, and visit an ice cream hot spot called Salt & Straw. There's a lot of eating involved in visiting Portland. :)

The next day, we had a huge surprise for Walter. The OMSI Museum happened to have a traveling display the same time we were in town called Game Masters. It was about video game designers through the ages, and included actual game consoles, from 80s arcade games to the most recent Kinnect and Wii games. When I saw the advertisement, we discussed it at length. It was expensive. And we work pretty hard to stay OFF screens when we're together on vacation. But it just seemed like too great of a chance to pass up. Walt's favorite thing in the world on display in the town we were hanging out in? So in the end, we went. And literally this photo made it all worth it:

This was his face when we got close enough in the line for Walt to see the giant Mario/Zelda poster and realized what we were doing. He could NOT hold still. He tried out nearly every single game, we stayed for hours. He bounced from one thing to the next and told us all about the different Zeldas, Marios and Minecraft games. He asked lots of questions and we enjoyed chatting about game design and showing Walt some of the games from our childhood. He LOVED it. Sometimes, spoiling your kids is a perfect idea.

Meanwhile, Zuzu found some fun things to do, too.

They had a great children's play space and she spent about an hour exploring it while Walt continued gaming. :) Rumor has it there were several sections with science and art and some other stuff, but we never made it that far!

We had a great time. Each year, we've managed to scrape together enough money to do a little spring break trip, and I've loved all the memories we've made! We've seen some fun things around the PNW, and spent time with great family members. And of course, Walt's favorite thing in the world is staying in hotels. So there's that.

Peace out, Portland. Hopefully we'll see you again soon!

2016

I'm late on this - it's becoming a trend - (incidentally, if you want to keep up with us better find me on Instagram:)) but I still want to document!

This is what we thought 2015 would look like:

We did most of what we set out to do - a lot of work on our little apartment (we're starting to kind of love living in a small space, is that weird?), lots of trips to Idaho and a gorgeous campout in Olympic National Park. Landon's graduation did get pushed back slightly, and we never did get out campout with friends (but we did make time to see some of them!). We're still optimistic about everything we have going on.

In 2015 We:

• Checked 12 things off of our bucket list - we really need to amp it up!
• Lost a dear family friend. Love you forever Trev!
• Took an amazing family vacation to Victoria Island. 
• Celebrated one year of our Zuzu girl.
• Watched Zuzu learn to walk and talk and really come into her own.
• Spent a week with Grandma Laurene! We hope she comes again!
• Had a Mario party with our Nintendo loving 4-year old! (Who has since graduated to Link/Zelda)
• Watched Walt learn to read, spell his name, do Math, play Nintendo on his own, and just turn into an all-around big kid. 
• Celebrated Landon's 30th birthday with 30 gifts from 30 people he loves.
• Started Walt's 3rd and final year of preschool with a great group of kids.
• Explored the breath-taking Olympic National Park. 
• Talked the Camberlangos into spending Thanksgiving with us!
• Saw The Force Awakens (Actually Landon saw it FOUR times). For us it was a win.

In 2016 We Think We'll:

• Both be 30. We'll try to enjoy the next decade as much as the last!
• Spend spring break in Portland for a long-overdue visit to Grandpa Burgener. 
• Go whale watching. 
• Go to DISNEYLAND with the whole Jackson clan!
• Complete a successful (and hopefully last as a student) field season in Texas, Utah, and Montana. Well, just Landon will do this one.
• Survive Landon being gone for a month. Single momming is no joke.
• Celebrate said survival with a girls' trip to Utah to finally see NEWSIES!
• Squeeze a camping trip in there somewhere.
• Celebrate the end of our 20s by climbing the Grand Teton.
• Join a gym. See above.
• Begin our final year as students. (Target graduation date: June 2017)
• Send Walt to Kindergarten. Be still my heart.

I am really excited for the coming year. We've got big plans and a lot of changes heading our way. We'll enjoy Seattle, watch our kids grow, fulfill some of our own personal goals, and start to explore what's next for us. Even though we're hitting our 30s, I feel like the best is yet to come for our little family!

Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas. We always do! The kids were a blast this year, we loved being with both families. The only regret I have is that I didn't take more pictures! Here it is in a nutshell:

We started off in Boise at Finn's baby blessing - I was so glad we were all able to be together for that. After the blessing, Walt turned to me and said, "I had a good feeling while Finn was being blessed!" I'm really proud of my brother and super excited to watch him be a Dad.

We spent the next week at the Burgener's beautiful new home, playing with cousins:

 Loving Grandma and Grandpa:

Enjoying the snow and all of the Aunts and Uncles! We really missed Dallin, Trisha and Brigham.

 On Christmas Eve, after our usual traditions, we got to talk to Uncle Wes! I was a little embarrassed because Walt kept talking about Nintendo stuff and popping into the conversation, and I knew Elizabeth didn't get that much time to talk...but everyone was nice about it and we all loved seeing him!

 Santa came, and the kids were extremely spoiled. I'm not great at holding back on Christmas. It's the only time we really buy them anything and it's just too fun. Walt was pleased with lots of Zelda paraphernalia, and Zuzu got a baby, which she has pretty much been packing around since.

Then we transitioned to the Jackson home, where we had adventrous and celebrated "Second Christmas!"

 ...And of course saw Star Wars again.

It was a great holiday and we're always so grateful that we're able to spend some much time in Idaho! The blessings of a student life. :)