Happy Easter

Luckily, we had a 3 day weekend for all of our Easter activities! Egg Hunt with Playgroup

Peckam Park for lunch, an egg hunt and feeding the ducks.

Friday, Fully Loaded
Blake had the day off, and we were able to convince Michelle and Ray to also take a day. We met for lunch at Texadelphia. While eating lunch, we made dinner plans for Cheesecake Factory. Since we were already down there, we decided to pass the time at the Galleria Mall and the Houston Zoo.Ahh, look who's becoming friends!

Easter Festival at Barker's Ridge
Dwama and Papa's neighborhood at a great party planned for kids.Petting ZooPony RidesFace Painting
Toddler Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Dying

Later that night Sammie met up with Lauren, Avery and Davey to dye eggs and eat snacks.
This is Sam "looking at me" and "smiling." Whatever.

Easter Sunday
The Easter Bunny brought Sam a new dress, tee-ball set, glitter markers and Easter books. She as too busy organizing her stuff to smile for me. She loved her dress! She would twirl and say, "Look at me! I Sleep Jewoolie!" Unfortunately, it rained all night and the next morning, so our eggs full of unwrapped candy were quite a mess!We had dinner at Dwama & Pappa's with Deesh, Ray and Melissa. We decorated cookies and had another egg hunt!

A Week In California

After months of planning, thousands of dollars and millions of emails, the long awaited trip to California has come and gone! There is nothing better than a wedding to bring a family together again. We don't realize how much we had missed everyone!"A Lifetime Joy"

10 brothers and sisters. All married and sealed in the temple. Wishing Andy were there!
In memory of Mom Holiday. Now that the group is complete, it is time to start planning the sister's retreat!

"Airpain!" Samantha was very excited to go on the airplane, "I wanna go up high! Mama, higher!"Confining a toddler, in the throws on her terrible twos, to an airplane seat for 3 hours in nothing short of a nightmare. Aunt Melissa let Sam borrow her portable DVD player. Wow, did this work miracles!

Early mornings and late nights left the kids exhausted! Sam slept in her clothes almost every night. Who knew putting her to bed could be so easy!

Sam had fun everyday! We hope she remembers it all! Everyone made fun of me for taking nearly 200 pictures a day. Surprisingly enough, I only have about 100 good ones to help us remember this great reunion of loved ones.

Sea World in San Diego

After all the wedding festivities were over, we headed to Sea World the next day. All the kids were exhausted, but managed to have one more day of over-stimulation. Sam's cousin Jessica got to be in the Shamu program! Samantha was happy one minute and then throwing a tantrum the next. She was just so tired! I'm only showing the happy pictures. That way, I might actually forget how awful she can be. We spent most of our time in the fish tanks. She loved pressing her nose up against the glass, waving and screaming, "hi fish!" She also loved the belugas, penguins and the flamingos.

Elmo's Playground was a hit! She was 1/4" too small for most of the bouncing areas, but she got to ride the rides and climb the ropes and play in the baby area.

Our last stop was Atlantis. I think this was the only ride I rode the entire weekend.

I couldn't resist posting these pictures of Blake and Craig on the ride...maybe a bit too frightening for Craig!

Nate & Brittany's Wedding

April 2, 2009
Nate & Brittany Holiday
Newport Beach Temple
With that many people, someone was bound to forget their temple recommend...I just never would have guessed it was gonna be me!27 Cousins
All but 3 of them were in California. Sam was overwhelmed to say the least.

Brittany! I want Brittany!
Sam couldn't stop asking for Brittany at the reception. She looked like a beautiful princess, no wonder Sam couldn't get enough of her.

10 Brothers & Sisters
This was the first time in 12 years EVERYONE was together.

Huntington Beach

The entire family went to Huntington Beach on Wednesday before the wedding dinner. Sam has never been too keen on sand. As you can see, the first half of this beach trip was no different. Luckily, her cousin Sydney eased her into it. Before long, she was being buried in the sand! We spent our final day, Saturday, at the Hyatt Regency on Huntington Beach. A full day of swimming at the pool, playing on the beach and the gals being pampered in the spa. Finally! A relaxing day that actually felt like a vacation.

Disneyland

As you can all guess, Samantha was in heaven at Disneyland. Even though she was overwhelmed and exhausted, we spent 2 days visiting her favorite characters and play areas.

Sleep Jewoolie's Castle
She knew exactly who lived here! Too bad the fireworks show made it look dark and scary.Minnie Mouse & Friends Breakfast
The first day we got there really early and went on Dumbo, Tea-Cups, It's a Small World and then met all the cousins for a character breakfast on Main Street. She about lost her mind when Minnie Mouse walked in. Carousel Rides
Sam would've been happy riding the carousel over and over and over. We should have listened to her instead of making the mistake of taking her on rides like: Peter Pan, Toad's Cars, Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean...all disasters. Celebration & Pixar Parades
Sam LOVED the parades. She danced to the music and waved at all her favorite characters. The Pixar Parade in California Adventure had bubbles floating down from the sky...lots of bubbles. Almost lost her.

A Bug's Life Land
We spent a lot of time in this play area and also the ropes and slides playground in California Adventure. She, of course, hated the Bug's Life 3D movie. Scared the pants off of her. Princess Lunch at Ariel's Grotto
Worth every penny! Sammie got to meet Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and her favorite Sleeping Beauty. The food was really good and each princess spent a lot of time with her.

Tinkerbell at Pixie Hollow
Sam gets a little shy and nervous when she meets her favorite characters. She always shows them her shirt as an icebreaker...it's pretty funny to watch. When she met Tinkerbell and Rosetta it was no different. Luckily, we got one really good photo out of the bunch.

Mickey! Mickey! Turn Around!

She doesn't like to go up and take pictures with the characters, but loves to shout and holler at a distance. Mickey did eventually wave and shake her hand.

Toon Town
In California Adventure they have a show called, Playhouse Disney Live on Stage featuring Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! As everyone knows, this is Sam's favorite show. She loved every minute of it! Once it was over, she requested a second trip to Toon Town. Poor thing was so tired this whole week...sometimes she just laid down where she was to rest.