The kids had a blast together!
The cousins were adorable, as usual!
We learned that this little guy really loves him some lasagna!
Becca's first time on a quad. Watch the gas!
Mallory was a little more cautious...
and here is the birthday girl!....
Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure fun...
Amber did well. Here she is with Grant, and Brooklynn (still in the tummy, of course)...
this is Mallory's look of terror before going on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. She loves this ride, and thought it was funny that at the end, the guy asked, "Which gentleman in here was screaming like a little girl?", and she pointed to Kris and said, "MY DADDY!" We got to see Mr. Incredible...
and Sulley from Monsters, Inc...
and...duh duh duh duh!!!!....CINDERELLA!!!!!
We saw Pixar on Parade, which was very cool. It was happy, colorful, and left us literally "Dancing in the Streets", which I think was actually the last song they played for it...
Just a few highlights, cause I took lots of pictures...Here's Tow Mater!...
We always have fun when we go to Amber's, and to the "Happiest Place on Earth"...
We ended up (after a move) with a poolside view at the Disneyland Hotel. Along with getting in to the concierge with our friends and getting to eat all the food up there and watch the fireworks, this was their favorite thing at the hotel...
Becca being a Tarzan...
On Wednesday, Becca did her team routine, and they got 1st place and 5th overall! We were proud of them! Then they went to a jazz master class with one of the judges. As you can see, they didn't group them by age or anything. The dance was difficult, but by the end, Becca was getting it...
They said they were the Cheetah Girls, and were posing and yelling "CHEETAHS!"- so silly, and so much attitude!
Becca and Crista on one of our several walks Downtown...
with the parrot in front of Rainforest Cafe...
I am so proud of Rebecca. She is one talented little dancin' diva!
More pictures of my divas doing their things (Bec's dance and Mal's gymnastics) to come...
Uncle Kelly was the official lighter of the fireworks!
He did a great job helping the kids! We were sorry to hear later that he singed the hair on his legs and burned his shirt! Afterwards, we headed to our nice hotel at Thanksgiving Point, and watched the town fireworks display from a grassy area there. Instead of the regular "oooh" and "ahh", I got the kids (Carter, Reilly, Becca and Mallory) to yell "pancake" every time they saw a round oval shaped one explode. They were funny, because they kept asking me if this was "finale time". Finally it was, and they all said "Awww! It's over???"
July 5th
The next day was a very special day! We got ready in our color-coordinated outfits and went to the park to take updated family pictures, since the Stohls now have two wonderful additions, Kevin's wife Stephanie, and Kelly and Angie's new baby, Laynie Lynne. Getting to the park proved to be a bit tricky, but we took a nice scenic drive through town with Uncle Sid, Kevin and Lance driving behind us (haha, Dennis!). We are thankful Cammi made it through the rush to get everyone situated at the park! From the park, we reassembled at Angie's parents house again to bless baby Laynie, and have a wonderful brunch prepared by Angie and her Mom...
Isn't she beautiful? She looks like a Stohl!
She had both of her Grandpas, Uncle Sid, Uncles Kris and Kevin, Uncle Lance, both of her Uncle Jasons and a couple of neighbors in her circle...
She had the three girl cousins (Becca, Reilly and Mallory) totally adoring and doting on her! Mallory was a natural at holding the baby, and the baby was good while she got passed around for all the kids to hold...
But of course, the boys love her too! Here are all 7 of the Stohl grandkids!
We also got to know Kevin's wife Stephanie. She is pretty and is very sweet! We are excited that she and Kevin are so happy, and excited to get to know her even better. We all loved her instantly. Here is Becca with Stephanie...
The rest of July 5th was spent near our hotel at Thanksgiving Point. It was a fun place, with a big dinosaur museum, movie theater, farm/petting zoo, gardens, food and shops. In between swimming in the hotel pool, we took the kids to the farm, where they fed goats, llamas, chickens, cattle, pigs and horses. They even got to milk a cow!
Kris fed a very big horse and got slobbered on...
Becca liked milking the cow a bit more than Mal did!
They ran around so much we finally decided to put them in jail!
After that, there was more swimming, and a trip for the adults to the movies, while grandma hosted a pajama party in her room for the grandkids (actually, they tried to do this every night, and by the last night, they actually decided they were too tired from all 3 late nights!)
Before leaving the Conference Center, we got another personal tour from Uncle Sid, who works there. We got to see the teleprompter booth, as well as the translating booths, then we walked around and looked at all the paintings and statues on all the levels, and went all the way up to the top, to take this picture...
We had to take a picture in front of the Christus...
and by the reflection pool in front of the temple...
After that, we took a train ride to Applebee's to eat lunch...
We ate breakfast one last time at the hotel- eggs, sausage, muffins, a whole spread (the girls' favorite was making their own waffles). We said our goodbyes and headed home. On the way home, we stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats to let the girls stand on the salt and see it up close. They took a few small rock souveniers, and Becca decided that she wanted to research salt when she got home. Mallory chose to research the state of Utah. Here they are at the Salt Flats...
It was a quick but very memorable and fun trip! We are greatly indebted to Judy and Cammi for being the main organizers of it, helping us all be together and have a great time!
