The Wonderful World of Disney

Disneyland is a magical place.

But it becomes even more magical when you see it through the eyes of a child.

Let me tell you, Emma's eyes transmitted every single magical moment. She was at the absolute PERFECT age for her first Disneyland trip. And Greg and I enjoyed every second of seeing her pure elation and joy. It was one of the BEST vacations we have ever enjoyed.

Here are the TOP 11 reasons Disneyland worked it's magic for the Adams Family:

#1 - Seeing the characters. Every single time Emma would see a character she would SCREAM at the top of her lungs. Mostly she would yell their name, but she would also often follow that with an "I Love You" and then immediately request to see them so that she could give them a "great big hug". She truly thought that each character was the "real thing" and it was so hysterical to watch.




#2 - Saturday we spent the day at Huntington Beach (post to come), but Saturday evening we enjoyed a wonderful time wandering around Downtown Disney. We ate at "Tortilla Joe's" where an employee made Emma a balloon that resembled Ariel. We spent way too much money at the Disney Store and enjoyed all of the live music while wandering the streets. We capped off the night by watching the fireworks right outside of the main gate.

#3 - Attending the Princess Fantasy Faire. You wait in line for an obscene amount of time to visit THREE WHOLE PRINCESSES live and in person. Emma was ecstatic. Tiana and Ariel happen to be two of her favorites - so we got lucky. Her face does not show her true glee, but I think she was a little star struck and shy.

#4 - Vacationing with Jeff (Greg's brother) and his wife Michelle. They were such wonderful travel companions and we had a BLAST. We shared a suite in the hotel, where we each had our own bedroom and bathroom. It was THE CLOSEST hotel to the Disneyland Main Gate, so we were thrilled with the location. As we kept Emma up each night until 11/12pm, she and prego Mama would come back to nap each afternoon, the close proximity made that super easy. The hotel was a great price and a fairly nice room.

#5 - New Disneyland toys. Hey, she's an only child for a mere 3 more months, so she may or may not have been completely spoiled with "stuff". Won't last much longer, so we hope she looks back on the pictures fondly. :)

#6 - Emma's first REAL roller coasters. Greg was thrilled that she was just barely tall enough to ride the Matterhorn and even more excited when she wanted to ride and it and was excited when she got off. She also rode the Toon Town roller coaster and basically all other rides for which she was tall enough. Emma never got scared, never refused to try a ride and always seemed thrilled at the experience. Greg was a VERY proud Daddy.

#7 - Seeing California Adventure's new show "World of Color". We had to wait in line early Thursday morning, then SPRINT to yet another line inside the park, just to get a ticket that said we could smoosh together with thousands of other people "standing room only". Nice. But, it was really worth it. They spent 75 million producing the show and DANG, it showed. Don't miss it, if you are in the area.

#8 - Seeing Disneyland decked out in their Halloween best. Super creative and festive.

#9 - Spending time together as a family. We specifically planned our trip BEFORE the baby boy came, so that we could have one last HOORAH with our little three-pack family. And we really enjoyed every second together. It was just perfect in every way. I doubt we'll be back for awhile, but boy did we make the most of the time we had.

#10 - New Minnie Ears.

#11 - The Tea Cups. They make me barf, so Greg and Emma had to ride them without me. But, they were definitely on the top of her favorite rides. She also requested to ride "Pirates", "Alice in Wonderland", "Dumbo" and "It's a Small World" multiple times. Luckily, we chose an excellent time of year to attend Disneyland, and never waited more than 20 minutes for ANY of the rides. Very nice indeed.

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, any thing your heart desires will come to you."

Why Disneyland should be mandated by law for children.

We just took the most wonderful trip to Disneyland!

I'll post more details and pictures soon, but I just had to get this video up.

Grandparents should feel obligated to watch it in entirety... :)

But, the rest of you can get a feel for Emma's excitement by scrolling to :55 (watch for 10 seconds) and minute 2:00 (watch for 5 seconds).

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I've always teased this guy because he has had the same group of friends since Junior High, some of them initiating in Elementary School. But, the truth is, with the friends he chose in his younger years I can see why he never strayed. He went for QUALITY, not quantity.

Greatest group of guys. Truly.


Luckily, all but one (miss you Jeff & Krystal!) of his close friends live in the Phoenix area. And even MORE importantly, all of his close friends married INCREDIBLE wives who have now taken their place as some of my dearest friends. In fact, the women folk probably see each other more than the men (thanks book club!).

So, when this guy decided to have a birthday, we decided we should all celebrate. I'm always looking for an excuse to get together with the gang, so Rob's birthday was a great one. Happy 33rd buddy.

This lady and her man pal hubby generously offered their home as the party spot. 5 pizzas, 4 drinks, 3 salads, 2 ice creams and 1 birthday cake later we were ready to go. A small miracle that our schedules all coordinated, with short notice planning, to gather on the same night (almost never happens).

Some serious fun ensued.

(Yes, we are in the bathroom laughing, and no we did not stay there all night. And pretty PLEASE don't compare our stomachs. I hate Lana and her non-pregnant belly.)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, their faces say it all.

LOVE. THESE. PEOPLE.

A man's growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Over the river and through the woods to OUR house Grandma Krebs came!

My Mom is the BEST. Sorry if you think your Mom is. Mine wins.

She comes all the way from Kentucky every 3-4 months to spend time with her parents who live in Mesa, my sister Laura and my family.

Her most recent visit was last week and she worked her little bum off helping us. Before her visit, I called and told her she might as well get a day care license while she visits because we desperately needed her babysitting assistance with Emma all week.

She happily obliged.

While she was here, I had my 178th sinus infection of my pregnancy (YEA! I can finally start taking my prescription allergy meds again!!) and she was able to help with Emma while I recovered. She also watched her while I taught both evening classes at SMCC, as Greg was swamped with work and rehearsals for "Lamb of God". Emma was so thrilled to have her Grandma Krebs here all week long and asked every day when we were going to see her.

We spent our Sunday evening over at Laura's new gorgeous townhome where she cooked us brinner (you know, breakfast for dinner) and some amazing pazookies (you know, pizza cookies). We desperately tried to get a picture of all the girls, but Emma would not have it. We skipped her nap that day and she was D-O-N-E playing nice.

Notice my Mom's sexy boot. She broke her ankle while at the Hill Cumorah Pageant this summer and is still recovering. She moves around rather quickly for her ailment. Didn't really slow her down much. Always a trooper.

Of course, one of the main reasons my Mom chose this weekend was to see the premiere performance of Rob Gardner's "Lamb of God". Greg was a soloist, playing Thomas the Apostle. She was glad she made the trip to see this incredible show. It really was so powerful. I was able to attend both nights thanks to BOTH Grandma's babysitting and wish I could see it a dozen more times.

Greg had a miracle with his voice on Friday. He had been suffering from some sinus congestion and Friday afternoon he called me from work and could barely talk. He was absolutely panicked. I told him to come home early and we could do some "google doctoring" with home remedies for his throat. On the way home he received a Priesthood blessing from his brother Jeff promising that he would be able to sing later that night. We were prayerful and he came home to "steam" his throat for the afternoon.

When he left the house, he was feeling much better, but I was still nervous. When he started to sing his solo (which happens to be the grand finale solo of the whole production) I was grasping my fingers so tightly I lost feeling in them. I knew he had three high notes to hit in the song... and with each one I closed my eyes and prayed "please, please, please". After he hit the third one BEAUTIFULLY, tears streamed down my face, and I knew we had witnessed a small miracle in our home. He had a message to sing and the Lord made it possible for him to do so. We were both so grateful.

My sister took a video of his solo during the dress rehearsal, but we're still having technical difficulties uploading it to you tube... so in the meantime, you can see the following video of "Hosanna", which has shots of Greg and I recording with the choir. When you look at my chubby self, please remember that I have an excuse for being my size, OK? :)

If you missed the show, you DO NOT want to miss ordering the CD at spiremusic.org. But, just as an FYI, although you will hear Greg and I mixed in with the choir, Greg does not sing any solos on the recording, he just performed in the live version. Thank you Rob Gardner for a memorable experience and life altering music! It is one we will always remember.

School Daze.

We done been learnin' and teachin' ourselves a whole lots a stuffs 'round here.

I was asked to teach two evening courses at South Mountain Community College again this semester. I was thrilled they invited me back. One course is the same study skills class as last semester which makes it easy for prep work. The second is a "Human Relations" course in the behavioral science department. It's brand new to me and there is no text book and no course materials... AT ALL. Makes preparation each week a bit daunting, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the course and have had a fantastic time teaching it to my wonderful students the last 3 weeks.

Both classes are only 10 weeks, so our crazy evening schedule during the week will only be temporary. I took a brief hiatus from Tempe Symphony so that I was not gone three evenings a week, but I'll start playing again in October for the second concert.

In the meantime, Miss Emma has been teaching her animals how to read...

And to make her outdoor reading more comfortable, she pulled her sleeping bag onto the patio, all by herself . You have to admit that reading on the cement would not be ideal.

We've also been teaching ourselves about more GREAT parks in the Phoenix area. One we tried a few weeks ago was the McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale. Emma's boyfriend Roman LOVES Thomas the Train and it did not take her long to latch on to the fetish as well. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... am I right? In any case, the railroad park was her DREAM come true.

The have a little train (that is suspiciously the same blue as Thomas...) that you can ride for $2. It pulls you all around the park and Emma had the time of her life, if you can't tell by her happier than life grin. Remind me never to ride a toy train again, it makes me look fat.

Emma has also been learning the joys of ripping off all couch cushions for some R & R with her stuffed animals.

And I finally got around to making Emma a new batch of homemade play dough so that I could continue her alphabet learning with these AWESOME letter stampers from Lakeshore Learning. Seriously one of the best purchases of Emma's little life. She loves them and so do I.

Our little baby boy has been learning how to kick his Mommy at all times of the day and night. I'm trying to teach him how to use "nice hands" and "nice feet". Not going so well. At least it means he is active, which is always good for a growing fetus.

Perspective.

I have two posts bouncing around in my brain, but this week has been an emotional roller coaster and so this perspective post takes priority.

Sunday evening was a difficult one for Greg's family. I'll spare details, but suffice it to say that his Father is dying of lung cancer and stress/tension levels are high. We didn't sleep well Sunday evening and woke up Monday feeling frustrated, exhausted and overwhelmed.

Around 10 am, Greg sent me an article regarding a Mormon Bishop who was shot in cold blood while doing paperwork at his California church (link here). Left a wife and six boys behind, the youngest only 6 months. I immediately responded that the article really put things into perspective for me and made our worries seem so trivial. Evidently the Lord had more perspective to show me.

Later Monday afternoon I read a BYU friend's blog about losing her father suddenly and unexpectedly to a heart attack. My heart ached for her and her family and again that perspective came filled with gratitude for my own father and for the blessing of "time" we have with Greg's father and the horrible cancer.

Two close friends are in the middle of the Invitro Fertilization process THIS WEEK, one even using our doctor. It brings back so many memories (good and bad) about this incredible miraculous surgery that can make it possible for infertile couples to have children of their own. Such an emotional time for them, and my empathy can not help but pour out in love and compassion.

Tuesday afternoon, another friend delivered horrible news about some friends who had lost their 3-year-old to a drowning the night before (link here). After sobbing for awhile, I realized that this week had been filled with messages and sorrow that I was to learn from. Other's strength simply amaze me when faced with adversity. I feel so weak and incapable some times.

But, we are here to learn. And grow. And develop.

This week has certainly helped me do just that.