Diva Cousins

Keara's First Communion

Oh, what a special day today was! Today Keara made her first communion. Today we were reminded once again that God has blessed us in many wonderful ways and one of those blessings is our daughter Keara. You can imagine how we felt as she walked down the staircase in her white communion dress and veil. She looked so grown up. Despite her nerves she did a wonderful job and we had lots of family and friends there to celebrate her special day. I hope God's love will continue to guide Keara throughout her life. She is a wonderful person and we are thankful each and every day.

Kailei's Colon

Well, most of you are aware that Kailei challenges our skills as doctors and nurses. She continues to work hard in this area. After little sleep and stomach pains that concerned us, we decided to take her in to the real experts. We thought it was another UTI but instead discovered it was an impacted colon. From what we understand of the x-ray, the dark area around her right intestine is about all the room she has left. Everything that is white is in bad shape. Needless to say we will be working on getting her better. They say it could take from 3-6 months for her to really feel normal but the next few days we'll stay home and see what we can do to clean out her system.

Who Can Resist Those Dimples?

Daddy's Girls

Our Easter Best or The Best Easter

Despite the weather we had a great Easter. Got up early and headed out to church. Enjoyed breakfast out (although Keara insisted I told her she could have candy for breakfast). We hunted eggs afterwards and then headed over to Grammy's house. As usual, Grammy spoiled the kids and then spoiled us with a great turkey dinner. Zeb's brother's family joined us as well so we had a good time. I personally ate too much but enjoyed every bite. I especially enjoyed watching the cousins play together. So fun when they all get along so well.

Chocolate!

After 40 long days, Keara is able to have candy again. Needless to say it didn't take her but a minute to dive into her Easter basket. Next year she said she will give up spinach for lent.

Dying Eggs

I swear that as the kids get older the mess gets bigger as we dye our Easter eggs. This year was no exception but you can't say we don't have fun. Grammy joined us and we managed to dye 36 eggs in record time. We missed not having Nic and Sydney with us but you can't have everything perfect. As usual, the kids did a great job and we can't wait for the Easter Bunny to hide them.

Chinese With Friends

Most every Saturday you can find Kailei, Lily and Catie at JCCC practicing their Chinese. This is the second year these girls have been in class together and it is fun for the parents as we chit-chat while we wait for them. We haven't been as good about taking pictures this year so decided to take a shot while we could. We love going to JCCC with our friends.

Cinderella

Well, there's nothing like coming back from Disneyland and getting another shot of Cinderella. Turns out the rec center was putting on the show so we got our tickets and headed for the "theatre" with friends. The show was full of kids that varied in age and the girls just loved it. We also managed to squeeze in a little dinner after the show. A little shot of culture for everyone. We were not short of volunteers to star in the next princess show.

Shari

People think I'm crazy. About once a month I travel to Greeley to get my hair done. I've been seeing Shari for about 24 years. She's been with me through college, marriage, kids and continues to be there as I grow grey. I now bring the girls and my Mom ventures up with us at times so it has become a girls day of sorts.

Shari is a great person and friend. I managed to snag a picture of her and the girls last time I was up there so wanted to share.

If you ever need a good haircut, I highly recommend her. :)

More Disneyland Pictures Than You Will Ever Want to See

Vacation - Our Last Day

Well, five days can go by pretty fast and already we have reached the last day of our vacation. Today we woke up and got out the door in time for the park to open. We had a plan to visit all of our favorite rides again.

Upon entering the park we ran into more characters so we had to stop and get autographs and photos. As we were doing that Zeb took off and ran around the park trying to get a fast pass for the rides we wanted. One of the things I really wanted to do that we didn't have time for yet was see Tinkerbell and other fairies so we waited in line for their autographs and a photo op. Nic wasn't really thrilled but again he was a good sport.

Zeb still wasn't back so we headed to Fantasyland for another round on the Tea Cup ride and we also managed to find a short line for Mr. Toad's Wild ride. Zeb caught up with us here and we headed to Space Mountain. We also go the update that Indiana Jones was down again but the line for Splash Mountain was short if we wanted to do that. Since it was still chilly we decided to wait until later and headed over to California Adventure for another look at Soarin' Over California. We also decided to eat lunch over here in hopes of having some different options.

We found a tasty hotdog stand in Hollywood. While Zeb and I were still eating Keara and Nic went over to watch a show and ended up getting picked from the audience as helpers. We were so disappointed to miss it but Keara and Nic both got line drawings of Woody and Mickey as thank you's. We could just kick ourselves for not being over there but what can you do?

After lunch we headed back over to Disneyland and got a fast pass for Indiana Jones which was working again. We were on our way to Splash Mountain but it was down so we did the Big Thunder Railroad again. We then got some ice cream and headed over to Tom Sawyer Island and played around there for a while.

We almost headed back to the hotel but ended up joining the Disney Dance Party on main street. Kailei amused me when she yelled from the crowd at Alice in Wonderland, "Hey Alice, look up here! I'm over here!"

Nic, Keara and I took off before it ended to hit Indiana Jones while Zeb and Kailei did a few more rides. We met to do one last run on Space Mountain before we called it a day.

We treated the kids to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe which was fun and then bought one more souvenir to end our trip. Zeb and I reflected at dinner on our week and we were blessed. The kids were great - hardly a complaint. The weather was good. We really had a great time and we were glad we had this opportunity with the kids. I know times are hard for so many folks right now and I'm doubly blessed we were able to make this happen.

Highlights of the day for Chris and Zeb...

• Nic losing his lanyard and our good fortune that someone turned it in.
• Nic and Keara's excitement at getting picked from the audience to help.
• Kailei singing and dancing her way around the park.
• Our volcano dessert.
• Our 3:30am wake up call (what was I thinking in booking a 7:30am flight?).
• Kailei yelling to Alice in Wonderland.

Note to self: Never give up candy for lent while going on a vacation. It was sooooo hard.