The last two times our family has been to Florida we visited in May

A great time to visit, crowds are still light at WDW and the summer sun has not officially started to beam down

This year Rob and I decided to surprise the girls with a trip to Florida in January, this was their late Christmas present

We were genius to schedule a January trip, the warm Florida sun was good for my soul and helped us make it through the awful winter that we have had on the east coast

 

Pulled in early Sunday morning, caught a few minutes of sleep and then dressed for church and a visit to the Orland, FL temple grounds.  Loving the palm trees that were on the grounds

Hit the parks early Monday morning, our first stop was the Magic Kingdom

 

My crew waiting for It's a Small World

 

Jocelyn's dream, getting to meet Rapunzel

 

A thumbs up for Space Mountain

 

Always our favorite character, Mary Poppins!  We were walking out of the park for the day and I caught her out of the corner of my eye.  Made a mad dash with the kids and were able to talk to her for a good 5 minutes.  She is a witty woman and such a delight.

 

Tuesday was full of wizard magic with a visit to Island of Adventure.  This park brought back memories for Rob and I.  We had visited here 14 years earlier while Rob was going through training in Georgia.  A lot has changed, including the addition of the Harry Potter World.  This portion of the park was the whole reason for the visit.  I have three girls that are addicted to Harry Potter.  They loved every minute of including the butter beer, the candy and wizard shops and the rides.

 

Wednesday was a bright and sunny day spent at Epcot, my favorite park!  Jo was thrilled to meet Mickey Mouse

 

Having fun exploring Nemo

Our little lunch treat in Paris.  Also bought a few baguettes which we topped with cheese and prosciutto that we had stuffed in our cooler.  What a delicious lunch!  It felt like Paris for a few minutes.

We were back at the Magic Kingdom for little one's birthday on Thursday

Trying to survive the Tower of Terror of Friday.  Thumbs up for this ride, except Samantha.  She hates to ride but does it once each time we go :)

 

Jo and Rob loving the Toy Story arcade ride

 

Back in NYC?

 

Taking a picture with my California babies

 

Finished our trip out at the Animal Kingdom.  It was nice to end here, a favorite park for the whole family and nice and laid back

The "carnivore" family, accurately describes us.  We typically pop a batch of popcorn 2-3 a week and just love it!

 

 

Goodbye Florida, hope to see you next winter!

Jo Jo and a birthday

Leading up to this little one turning 5 it was all talk of a princess birthday party

Little did she know she would be celebrating with the real princess' in WDW

Who can complain about a birthday at the Magic Kingdom

It was interesting to see her fascination of Frozen quickly take hold while we were in Florida

Thanks to G&G Bonner sending her a Anna doll, she was in heaven!

 

She is also in love with Tangled and had a cute little outfit to wear on her birthday

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!!

Where have 12 years gone??

 

I am so proud of how much Samantha and Madison have grown over the past few years.  This birthday for me was a scary one, I couldn't believe that my oldest were entering into Young Women, starting to babysit and turning into teenagers, in more ways than one :)

The favorite part of a birthday in our house is planning the meal menu for the day.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Things are decided months in advance!  As we got closer to the date I noticed that their birthday was falling on the first Sunday of the month, fast Sunday.  We compromised and extended the birthday meals into two days.  Breakfast (French toast, eggs, bacon, juice) and lunch on Saturday and then their birthday dinner (homemade tamales, rice, black beans, chips) on Sunday.  Topped off the meal with a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

 

I was reading a blog a few months back that mentioned a temple trip for your child when they turn 12.  What an awesome idea!  Unfortunately the D.C. temple closed for cleaning the day after their birthday and opened back up the week we were going to be in Florida.  My hubby suggested driving up to NYC for the day.  I looked at him with a blank stare and my jaw dropped to the ground, I am the one usually suggesting trips to NYC.

 

We left bright and early on Friday, January 10th.  Dropped the younger two off at our friends home and braved the icy, snowy roads that had closed schools for the morning.  As we made it slowly through NJ I knew we would not make our 11 a.m. scheduled time, called the temple and they fortunately had a 2 p.m. slot.  Perfect, now we would have time to grab a NY pizza pie before heading to the temple.  Walked to our favorite pizza shop to find it closed :(  Thankfully found a yummy alternative around the corner and filled our bellies with yummy food.

 

 

The temple was awesome!  Rob was able to do confirmations and baptisms for both the girls.  A member of the temple presidency spoke to our little family for a few minutes .  It was a wonderful, peaceful experience that hopefully Madison and Samantha will always remember.  After we left Samantha said, "that was so neat, I want to go back again!"

 

We spent a few more hours walking the city, darting into stores to warm up and enjoying middle eastern food in the theater district before grabbing a slice of cheesecake for the road.

 

Happy Birthday to my favorite twins!

December in a flash

December was here and gone before I knew it...

a little recap of the fun that was going on in our lives

 

 Making a trip to the temple with Natalie.  She left the next day :(  Jo still cries for her, especially when she is in trouble.  "I want Natalie!"

 

J getting to play the part of Mary in our ward Christmas song

 

A visit with the man in the big red suit.  Everytime we asked her what she wanted for Christmas it was a different answer. 

 

Big sister putting in her request

 

Enjoying a few snow days  

 

 

A big girl getaway with these two goofs.  They had a two day swim meet in Virginia.  Rather then battle the beltway two days in a row I splurged and got a hotel room Friday night.  It was a great weekend; going out to eat, shopping in craft stores, watching back to back episodes on food network and seeing them beat all their past swim times.

 

Participating in the annual Morris, Christensen, Holman Christmas musical show.  I think this was our 4th year in a row, it's a great tradition and a great way to make all those music lessons worth the effort.

 

M&S participating in their first middle school band concert

 

Annual Gingerbread houses with the Hagedorn's

 

J's creation

 

M's masterpiece

 

S's design, the classic gingerbread outhouse

 

A's grand design

 

 Another visit to the temple visitor center with all the girls

 

Lunch stop at District Taco on Christmas Eve, a new tradition!

We love this place :)

 

 

Visiting the Botanical Garden at the Capital

 

 

Stop off at the National Tree

 

 

Our Christmas morning surprise, a family trip to Walt Disney World in January!