California Adventure!!!

We spent our second day in Cali at California Adventure. Since it was a weekday, it wasn't too crowded. We went on all of the rides in Bugs Land, then hit the splash pad area for a bit.

 

For lunch, we ate at Ariel's Grotto. It was such a fun dining experience with 3 course meals and princesses popping in throughout. As we walked into the restaurant, we got to meet Ariel. Sadie slowly walked up to her and would answer her questions without looking her in the eyes haha. As soon as we walked away though, she kept talking about her and the other princesses we met. I think she was definitely starstruck :) 

After lunch, we headed to Cars Land. Mater was parked outside the Cozy Cone Motel so we hopped in line to say "Hi". Sadie wasn't nervous of him until he started talking to her haha. She posed for a few pictures though and still brings him up, and how we touched his teeth and talked with him. She did love seeing him and Lightning McQueen in the parade later. We went on several rides in Cars Land and even managed to get Sadie onto the Radiator Springs Racers. She's technically 3 inches too short.. but there aren't any drops or bumps that could knock her out. It just goes 45mph at one point (but we knew she would love it), so we made sure she was buckled good and also held onto her tight ;) We all loved it!

As it was getting dark, we hopped on the carousel then rode the giant Mickey ferris wheel after. We grabbed some food then looked for a prime spot to watch World of Color. When we learned it wasn't for another hour, we lost motivation to stay. We were all exhausted and ready to head back to our hotel.

We were planning on driving home after our beach day on Saturday, but decided to prolong our trip through Sunday. We drove up to Newport and stayed in a really nice Marriott hotel. We played at the beach and then walked across the street from our hotel to a mall. We explored and let Sadie play around the fountains. For dinner, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory there. Sadie insisted on drinking out of her favorite souvenir, a Chip cup. Cutie!

The next day was Mother's Day. Will ordered room service for my "breakfast in bed". I had crunchy french toast (basically they dipped the batter-covered bread in a frosted flake type cereal before cooking) served with bacon and fresh strawberries. It was delicious! We headed to Newport Beach but didn't stay too long since it was really, really windy. From there, we headed back home to make it to my mom's Mother's Day Dinner. It was such a fun weekend!

Disneyland!!!

Last weekend, we snuck away to California for a few days. We've been dying to take Sadie back to Disneyland since she is at such a fun age for it and recognizes so many of the characters. It also helps that she still gets in for free until August ;)

Minnie and Pluto greeted us right when we walked in! Sadie took some warming up when meeting the characters in person, but each one focused some attention on her favorite thing in the world, her "Daddy Puppy", and she would smile and really enjoy that. I was so impressed with how the characters knew just how to break through the shyness.

We were able to go on almost 15 rides throughout the day, and none of the wait times were more than 25 minutes. Sadie really impressed us with how patient she was though. She would just collect little pebbles or play with sticks and leaves along the fences. She is so creative!

For lunch, we went to our favorite place, Cafe Orleans in Adventure Land. We discovered this restaurant's amazing gumbo and Monte Cristo with fruit dip (salivating as we speak) last fall when we went there with Will's family. This will definitely continue to be a Disneyland tradition of ours!

It didn't take long after eating lunch for Sadie to fall asleep in the stroller. Will and I had each gotten a fast pass to a different "big kid ride" to take turns on while she slept. I went on the Matterhorn and Will did Splash Mountain. He ended up with soaked socks and shoes.. but luckily, Disneyland sells everything (with a mouse print on it of course haha). 

After Sadie had gotten her beauty rest, she had plenty of energy to keep going. We headed over to Toon Town and went on her very first (little) rollercoaster! Will wrapped his arm around her in case she got scared but apparently she was yelling "Wee!!" right along with everyone else haha. 

For dinner, we ate at The River Belle Terrace overlooking the riverfront in Frontierland. It was delicious! Then as the sun was going down it started to get chilly, so we bought Sadie the cutest Minnie Mouse hoodie. We hung around for The Main Street Electrical Parade and are so glad we did! It is one of the original Disneyland parades that hasn't been used in 20 years and is only back for a limited time. It had the classic characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck, but also originals like Alice in Wonderland and Pete's Dragon with their own floats. The music was really catchy and Sadie clapped and waved to each character from on top of Will's shoulders. It was a magical day!

Will's Birthday

Will doesn't love to be the center of attention, so when his birthday rolls around and he actually allows us to put the spotlight on him, it's the greatest! This year, he requested Snooze for his birthday breakfast.. after sleeping in of course. The night before, I laid out some birthday balloons and little notes/pictures for him to find after he woke up. Sadie thought the balloons were a present for her too :) 

Unfortunately, Will couldn't take the whole day off from working.. but Sadie and I kept him company as he drove to and from a couple of jobs. Thank goodness for the iPad to distract Sadie so we could have good adult conversation! We've both already forgotten where we went for dinner later that night haha, but we invited my side of the family over for dessert (and Facetimed with Will's family when we sang to him). 

It was a lively party, and ended with my niece diving into the pool fully clothed to retrieve our lost pool key haha. But between the chorus of 20+ people singing "Happy Birthday" to him and enjoying his favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate cake, it's safe to say that Will felt the love. Happy belated birthday, babe! 

Easter

I'm finally catching up on our fun Easter festivities...  Holidays are so much fun with a toddler! The week before Easter, my friend Lauren threw an Easter breakfast in her backyard with pancakes fresh off the griddle, a yummy egg breakfast casserole, and fruit. After we ate and let the kids play around, we went around the corner to a retention basin and had a giant egg hunt. We had all brought a dozen filled eggs, so there were tooonnnnsss to find. Sadie and I still finished off our basket of goodies before we even headed home though... haha.

With her cousin, Jackie

This year, we also heard about an egg hunt going on in downtown Mesa. We went with my friend Jordan and her daughter Jaycee and had an awesome time! We walked from store to store filling up the girls' baskets and even made it there early enough to get a free pre-filled basket donated from Walmart (with barbies, play jewelry, and candy in it). There was a photo booth set up for pictures with the Easter Bunny and I just knew Sadie wouldn't like it so we decided to skip it. Surprisingly though, at the end both her and Jaycee asked to see him so we hopped in line and got the sweetest photos of them! I was shocked!

By the time Easter weekend rolled around, we were on a sugar high. We flew up to Salt Lake to be with our Utah family for the holiday. We enjoyed shopping and a movie together, yummy food as always (thanks Liz), and Sadie had the best time with her cousins Clara and Charlie. We even got to visit some of our close friends and their baby girls for a few hours. It felt like we had never left.

On Saturday afternoon, Will's parents threw an egg hunt in the backyard for the grandkids. They got so many little toys, matching jammies, and of course treats. It's always a fun time at Nana's house! Later that day, we got all dressed up and had family pictures taken by the state capitol. Everything was in bloom and just gorgeous. It had been 5 & 1/2 yrs. since we had a formal family photo taken of Will's side of the family, so it was long overdue. The kids were good sports :)

On Sunday, the kids found the baskets the Easter Bunny had left them and had fun playing with the goodies inside before we went to church. I felt my Heavenly Father's and Savior's love so strongly that Sunday. I'm eternally grateful for His great atoning sacrifice and giving us the means to be with our family after death. I can't imagine going through life without that knowledge.

It was a wonderful Easter!