DISNEYWORLD
The first week of May we had a most FABULOUS trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida with Julie and TJ. It was one of those trips that was so much fun that you really had to be there to appreciate how much fun we actually had! From the minute we arrived to the minute we left it was a blast! Truely everything we had hoped for and more! Here are a few pics! (Currently I am working on a dvd of all our pics! We'll post it when it is finished!)
The Christoffersons
The Brinkerhoffs
The Reunion! 
Sisters! 
The Goofballs 
Cute (not so) Baby Boys
A few weeks before our trip, Julie and I mapped out our day to day plan of what parks we would go to and what the "must do's" were for each park so from the start of each day, to the end of each day, we were on the go. With all that we had going on everyday, the kids were troopers! It was so fun watching them have fun!
Here is a quick run down of each day!
Sunday- Arrive, check into our hotel "Disney's Saratogo Springs"
Monday- Character Breakfast and then off to the Magic Kingdom
Tuesday- Guys golf in am, MGM studios
Wednesday- Blizzard Beach
Thursday - Guys golf early am, Animal Kingdom
Friday- Guys golf/ Girls Spa early am, Epcot Center, dinner at the resort pool
Saturday- Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney
Some of the highlights of the trip were of course our first day at the Magic Kingdom...simply magical with Garett and Natalie both being tall enough to ride the "big kid" rides. Favorites of everyone were Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain! Garett announced at the end of the that he had gone on "all the mountains".
Tuesday the highligts were Tower of Terror, Rock n' roller coaster, and Fantasmic at the end of the day!
Wednesday had TONS of highlights. The kids LOVED the water slides. Natalie's favorites were the "toboggan" slides, Jackson conquered the steepest of steep slide reaching 52 miles per hour, TWICE (along with TJ, Spencer, and Marilee). Logan LOVED the big huge "Flamily slide" where we all fit into one big tube. He also LOVED the kids slides and with a life jacket on went down a tube slide and a straight slide by himself. The best part of the day was the zipline when Garett and Natalie got up the courage to ride the zipline and after a dramatic mount, with many many people watching, Garett's dismount was a full flip into the water (see video below) It was AWESOME!!
Thursday was the Animal kingdom and the most anticipated ride of the week "EVEREST"! Everyone except Auntie Julie, Brady and Logan conquered that puppy (with a little bribing for G, Jackson, Annie and Natalie). They were all soooooo happy they did it! Thursday night was an evening at the "HOOP DI DOO REVIEW". It's a dinner show that we had heard great things about but by the time we made our reservations only the 9:30 show was available. We dragged the kids all the way there! By the time the show started they were pretty much all asleep! But, by the end, they were wide awake, singing and clapping along. After it was over Annie's words were " I LOOOVVVVEEEEDDDDD that!" We all did!
Friday's highlight at Epcot was the Test Track where you ride in a car on an adventurous test track! And you can't forget "Turtle Talk" with Crush from "Finding Nemo". It's a must do at either Epcot or California Adventure!
Saturday was back to the Magic Kingdom where Brady and Logan finally got to ride the carousel and Dumbo! They loved them all! Brady could hardly contain himself as we were walking to the carousel. He was soooo excited!
All in all it was a GREAT week and we are planning to head back in a few years! It is definately the perfect Family Vacation!!
PVB's
After returning from Florida I had a SEVERE case of the PVB's! I always do after returning from a vacation but its always worse when that vacation is with my family! I wish we lived closer!!! Anyway, upon our return, we had a few more soccer and football games to finish off for Spencer and Annie. Both had GREAT seasons and are getting better and better every year! Spence even had the chance to play quarterback this season, which he LOVED and is hoping to continue doing in the fall season --- with pads!!
Tuff Guys (Spencer and his best friend Brady)
Soccer Stars (Annie and her soccer friend Keelyn)
Annie taking a breather
Spencer at QuarterbackBILLINGS MONTANA
The Sunday after returning from our Trip I was scheduled to fly up to Billings, Montana to speak at a Youth Fireside. I usually don't get nervous to speak or teach or anything but this time I was STRESSED beyond stress. I think because of the fact that I was being flown up by the Stake put A LOT of pressure on. The night before I left I found out that my mom and dad were driving down from Calgary to hear me. AHHHHH, more pressure...It ended up great (I think) though. Having my parents there was a huge comfort as I knew at least 2 people in the room still loved me no matter what I said. It was a great experience and though I was super stressed, it was so fun to see our friends the Walkers and speak to their youth! I'm glad they asked me.
GARETT'S BIRTHDAY
Upon my return from Billings (which just by the by, is an experience in and of itself just getting there and back! Small plane, drunk man sitting next to me, know it all travellers who "fly from Billings to Denver ALL the time", lots of turbulence and flight attendants who think they are funny but are not!) the last week of school was upon us. Class parties, teacher gifts, Garett's preschool graduation and Garett's 5th birthday. It was very busy but very fun!!
I need to take a minute and do a "Garett tribute". I can't believe he is 5 years old! It is so crazy that time has passed sooooo quickly. He was the sweetest, calmest, best baby and not much has changed except his size. He is still a sweet, tender, go with the flow kid. He LOVES anything superhero, Harry Potter or Pirates and has turned into quite a popular little man. Not just with his friends, but also with the ladies. You honestly haven't seen cute until you've seen the look on his face when a little girl in his class (who will remain unnames) says hello to him. It is HILARIOUS!! Anyway, we had 12 little boys over for his birthday party. He kept asking to invite more people but I had to cut it off! I LOVE you G-man!!
PIRATES and SCHOOLS OUT
One thing the kids have been looking forward to for the past year is the release of the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 movie! For #2 Adam took Spencer and Annie to the first midnight showing! They had so much fun that this year they decided to do it again. This time it wasn't the midnight show as they released it on Thursday Evening at 8pm. Garett went with them. As is tradition we took a picture!
Alright now, where am I....O yes, the Wednesday after G's Birthday was the last day of school for the kids! Annie told me on Tuesday morning that she was so sad that school was over. She LOVES school and did very well this year. Both Spence and Annie were blessed with what I think are the best teachers in the school. They both have such a great ability to know exactly what my kids need when they need it! They were the kind of teachers who just "got" Spencer and Annie. I always get nervous as the school year ends and the next one approaches. Its scary to start over with a new teacher and hope they "get" your child. We'll see what next fall brings....
LAS VEGAS
The day school got out, I jetted off with my girlfriends for our annual girls trip. We flew to Las Vegas and then drove up to St. George where my friend Erin's parents let us stay in their home there. It was SOOOOOOOO much fun! We hiked at Zions National Park, ate lots of food, hung out at the pool, got massages and pedicures and shopped in Vegas on our last day! What could be better than all that? ( A HUGE shout out to my AWESOME in laws (especially MarJane who came early) for coming to help Adam with the kids! They are so supportive and loving to us and the kids! We are so blessed to have them!)
Yvette, Tamara, Brecken, Neeley, Mindy, Erin, Marilee and Tanya
The Pizza Factory Owner
At the Pool!
Repacking my suitcase after shopping in Vegas!!
YOUTH CONFERENCE
After returning home from our Girls Trip another busy week was ahead as Adam and I had to finish plans and preparations for our Stake Youth Conference. We were the coordinators again this year! I was worried about it being as good as last year (we did "The Amazing Race" for our Ward Youth Conference...AWESOME...I'll share if you ask:-) . After a crazy week of getting ready, Saturday came! Once again it turned out to be a GREAT Youth Conference. Sunday night after the Fireside I told Adam that as stressful as it is to do Youth Conference that if I was asked I would do it all again tomorrow! The youth are so fun to be with and I love the spirit I feel when I am around them, learning about the Gospel!
RIBS
Adam's ribs are pretty much healed. He's been able to Golf a few times, and actually even golfed a few rounds in Florida. His score wasn't as good as he wanted but at least he was on the board. He golfed with Spencer on Saturday and said everything felt pretty good!
So that brings me to now. Tuesday afternoon, sitting inside on a cold stormy day, trying to catch up on laundry, house cleaning and most of all blogging! We leave tomorrow for Utah for my Grandma's 80th Birthday Family Reunion! Should be fun! Hopefully I'll do better at blogging the events of the weekend as soon as they happen :-)
So, by popular demand, there you have it! I'm sure I've missed some good stories and juicy details somewhere but hopefully I'll stay up on my blog through the summer and I'll be able to give more of the day to day, week to week crazy happenings of my life in more detail!
That's all!
