SUCCESS!!!

I know that this post will probably disappoint a lot of people who are hoping for another embarrassing or exciting story, but today I made my 3rd attempt at speaking in church and I guess the third time is a charm because I actually COMPLETED my talk for the 1st time ever!!! This is a little ridiculous since I am 27 years old and SHOULD be able to speak in sacrament, but it was a pretty big deal for me, so YEAH me!!! I honestly wasn't nervous at all, until about an hour before church and then I had a bit of a panic attack. Thank goodness for priesthood blessings or I don't think I would have made it!!! When we got to church, the program said "Speakers: To be announced". I think they were a little worried that we were going to chicken out so they didn't include our names on the program.
For those of you who may not know, let me give you a little history on my speaking disasters.... When I was 14 and gave my first sacrament meeting talk, I passed out at the pulpit, hit my head on the box they use to adjust the microphone and was out cold for 5 minutes!!! Somehow, I escaped any speaking assignments until Darren and I moved to Vegas. It had been 10 years since I passed out and Darren convinced me that it would be fine. So, I attempted to speak in that ward, and just as I got through our introduction, I felt really sick, went to sit down and threw up on the stand!!! I don't know if ANYONE has 2 stories that embarrassing!!! SO...My bishop in Las Vegas knew I shouldn't speak and passed it on to our new bishop when our ward was split. I was hoping that our Bishop in Vegas would pass the message on to our Bishop here when we moved, but no luck!
Last time I turned down a speaking assignment, I felt extremely guilty, so I decided to give it a shot and I actually made it! I don't know if this should actually count because I DID sit on a stool, which probably looked really odd, but it was a LOT better than throwing up or passing out! The good news is that I will not be known as "The girl who threw up" in this ward like our last ward (although I WILL probably be known as "the girl who sat on a stool") but I think that is an improvement. Baby steps, right? The bad news is that when I threw up last time, everyone came rushing to my aid, and that is how we made a lot of our good friends and even got some dinner invitations out of it - I guess we will have to look for new ways to make friends... ha ha! I was glad to avoid any major catastrophes and to avoid being the subject of everyone's "Guess what happened in my ward?" blog entry!!! I did talk a little too long...probably because I've never made it past the first paragraph before... and Darren didn't get to give much of his talk, but he was probably glad since I have left him as the only speaker in the past! Also, there are so many new people always moving into our ward (we average 4 or 5 new families a week) we probably won't have to speak again for quite awhile! Yeah!!! It is a great thing to have over with, especially since I was up until 2 am writing my talk and am exhausted!
Also, this weekend was Logan's birthday. We had a great couple of days and a really fun Buzz Lightyear party. I haven't gotten my pictures off the camera yet, but I will post them soon. I made a Buzz cake that turned out pretty good...Darren and I were up til 3:30 am frosting it! It was a little crazy, but Logan loved it! I can't believe that he is really 3 years old! It is a little hard for me. He had a great couple of days and was SO spoiled!!! He got some really fun stuff.
One other exciting note...Darren's 1st OFFICIAL day of work is tomorrow! He has spent a lot of time in the office setting everything up - We had no idea how much work and time getting started was going to take - but we are finally ready to go! He has seen a few patients here and there, but tomorrow is his first real day and he has a full day of patients scheduled. We are very excited to start earning a paycheck...It has been a long time for us and we have a LOT of bills to pay! It will be a little sad for me and the kids though. We have been having so much fun hanging out with him. It has been like a big vacation! I guess we have to get to real world sometime, right?

Sea World!

On Tuesday, we went to Sea World. Darren and I have not been there for 5 years, and we have never taken the kids, but we had a lot of fun, despite the somewhat cold temperatures! Both of the kids really got into all of the animals to see there, especially the killer whales! Logan is still talking about them. When we got there, it was one of the feeding times for the Dolphins. This is my favorite thing to do there because you can actually feed and touch them. I LOVE dolphins, and would one day love to swim with them, but feeding them will have to do ont he student budget and it was pretty cool. Logan and Rylee liked it too and even got to touch them as well. Then we went to the Dolphin show, which was fun - They can do such amazing things! Then we went to the Shamu show. Rylee really loved this show for some reason. She actually sat still, which is rare for her and a few minutes into the show, she started doing the sign for "Beautiful" over and over, which I thought was so cute! I actually almost started bawling, being the baby of a mom that I am - I thought it was so sweet! Those animals are truly amazing though! After that, we saw a lot of aquariums and other animals like sea turtles (one of Logan and Daddy's favorites) and flamingos and lots of fish! Then we went to a 4-D Elmo show. Logan wasn't too crazy about this. It was a little funny - He LOVED wearing the glasses (so did Rylee). Once the show started and anything appeared very close to him, he would slide the glasses down his nose and peer over so that he could see that it was really not that close. He was pretty nervous about it. Then we got sprayed with water several times, which nobody really liked, and then there was thunder and lightning that totally freaked him out! I don't know if we will ever get him into another 3D show again! It was hard to get him to try a regular movie after this because he kept waiting for the thunderstorm or to get sprayed with water. We went to the shark tank, which was really cool because the sharks were all around you. Then we saw the Sea Lions, which the kids LOVED! It was feeding time and the sea lions were barking and going crazy and the kids both thought that was hilarious and didn't want to leave. We saw the Sea Lion show and then went to see penguins, polar bears, walruses, baluga whales and the Clydesdale horses (why do these belong in Sea World?) Then we went and saw Shamu and were able to watch some training sessions and then we went to touch the sting rays. The kids liked doing that too. They were a little nervous, but both tried. We had a really fun day! Logan still gets so excited whenever he sees a killer whale or dolphin and loves to talk about our trip to SeaWorld! After our day there, we drove down to the beach and got some pizza. It was actually a little place Darren and I went on our honeymoon trip to San Diego. The slices were SO HUGE! It was really yummy! Then we walked along the beach a little. We were a little bummed it was so cold! The kids both fell asleep on the way back to the hotel - It was a full day but we all had a great time!

I thought this picture was so funny with Logan and the dolphins behind him. It looks fake or something. He had a great time feeding and petting the dolphins and watching the swim around.
Rylee at the tide pool - she loved touching the star fish and other stuff. Logan was a little afraid for some reason. Rylee had a really fun day and loved watching all the sea life and animals.
I love these guys!!! Logan, Darren and Rylee on the beach in San Diego. Too bad that we were FREEZING! It didn't feel like being on the beach.

Here are some more pics from our day in Sea World - Probably way more than you want to see, but I think they are cute!!!

Disneyland, Day 2

I am posting these backwards so that they hopefully make sense as you read them, but if you read this first, there is more coming...

We had lots of fun on our second day at Disneyland! It was finally a little bit warmer - Yeah for that! When we got there, Logan wanted to go straight the rockets, his favorite ride. It made Darren and I a little sick, so we weren't too excited, but we rode it anyway. Then we dragged him to the Matterhorn. He wasn't too excited to ride this one, but he made it and liked counting how many times he could see the Yeti (the abominable snowman). He rode first with Darren and then I made him ride it again with me because we did the kiddie swap and I didn't want to ride it alone. I had to drag him kicking and screaming with people staring at me like I was a bad parent. The ride operator kept telling me that I needed to keep him on the seat, so I had to forcibly hold him down to start. Once it got going, he did fine, but he did NOT want to ride it again. To reward him for his bravery, we headed over to the Petting Zoo, which he loves to visit and Rylee had a great time too. She would go up to the animals and watch them for a minute, then touch them quickly with one finger and then laugh and laugh! We were also able to meet Woody, which Logan LOVED and the Winnie the Pooh characters and ride the Pooh ride. After that, we headed over to California Adventure. There were some things that Logan really enjoyed. We saw the Aladdin show, and a fun thing called Turtle Talk with Crush that was interactive and Logan thought was hilarious! He also really liked the Playhouse Disney show with characters from Mickey's Clubhouse and Little Einstein's. We also spent some time at the Bug's Land. Logan enjoyed the kiddie rides a little more than the Matterhorn! He really liked the bumper cars! We went to the Pixar Parade, which was one of our highlights! It had all the characters from Logan's favorite Pixar movies, including Cars and Toy Story, so he was SUPER excited!!! Rylee really liked it too. She is easy to please and seemed to like pretty much everything we did. The California Adventure closed early, so we went back to Disneyland for a couple more rides. We rode all of Logan's favorites - The Carousel, the teacups, Dumbo and the Rockets. We discovered that Logan only liked the rides that were fully exposed and he could see everything that would be happening to him - He was a little wary after his run-in with that Matterhorn. The kids were totally exhausted by the time we left and Rylee looked totally passed out on the stroller ride home. We had a great time!!! We were so glad for a chance to go on a vacation together and spend time together as a family.

Logan was so funny about the map! He had to have it all the time and read it to us and tell us where we were going. He could find most of the rides on the map and was OBSESSED with holding it and always wanted us to show him where we were going next. I thought it was so funny!

Rylee loved pretty much everything at Disneyland, but especially enjoyed the Carousel! She always looked a little nervous when things started moving, but she did great with everything we did!

Logan's ride on the Matterhorn! He did great, even though he let us know he didn't want to ride it, he did fine once it got going and loves to tell everyone that he rode it. He always makes it clear though that he does not want to do it again!

Rylee playing peek a boo and posing for the camera while we waited for the parade. I loved her cute Mickey ears. She is such a cheese!

Here is a slide show of the rest of our pictures from the day. More than most people want to see, but it is mostly for me anyway...

Disneyland, Day 1

Even though we have been to Disneyland a lot, I still love going and get so excited! I think that Logan has also caught the bug from me and gets really excited and anxious about anything Disney related. Our first day was a lot of fun. Going in May was great - It wasn't too crowded and the hours were a little more child friendly - it opened late and closed early. We did miss seeing the Fireworks, though and it was a little cold for some of the time. We got to the park a little while before it opened so that we could make the mad dash to the Nemo ride. Since it is still fairly new, it is pretty busy most of the time. We were able to meet up with our friends from dental school, Joe and Jami Wilson and their kids Britney and Jace, and that was fun. They were celebrating being finished with dental school too. We sprinted straight to Nemo when the park opened and got right on. If you haven't been on that ride, you should go. It is really fun! Then we rode the Autopia (the little cars you can drive) because Logan spotted them from Nemo and wanted to ride them and didn't want to do anything else. I decided that it is easier to take a trip to Disneyland before your child forms opinions about everything you do! Logan had a certain way he wanted to do things and if he saw something he wanted to ride, we had to do it right away, which totally messed up some of my well laid travel plans! He also got really scared waiting in line for almost everything and didn't want to ride, but then would end up loving it. After the cars, we went to Fantasyland and rode a few things. We rode Peter Pan first and Logan really didn't want to, but ended up loving it. He told someone after, "You get in these cute little pirate ships and sail over Neverland." He was pretty funny! Then we rode Dumbo, the Carousel and Pinocchio and the Tea Cups. Logan really liked those! Then we went and rode the rockets because Rylee was asleep and Logan had been eyeing them all day. He really seemed to like things that spin and made Darren and I sick! After that, we rode Buzz Lightyear and Pirates and then we went over to Tom Sawyer Island and let the kids play around for awhile. They loved the chance to run and play and Logan loved exploring the caves and everything. Rylee also had so much fun toddling around and loved a chance to get out of her stroller for a bit. We have never really had time to do that before, but it was a fun break. Then we hurried to meet Buzz. This is always the biggest highlight for Logan - Buzz is Logan's favorite and seeing him so big and real is so exciting to him. It is something that we have to build into every trip to Disneyland! I think we have also finally discovered something that Rylee is afraid of - The Disney characters. She is so fearless, even on the rides, but she seemed terrified of most of the characters this time - especially if they got very close. (I'm blaming this on my sister who is 21 and still terrified of any character!!!) After we met Buzz, we went to Toontown and met Mickey and let the kids play around there, which they loved. We were also able to see Goofy and Minnie. Rylee especially enjoyed the playground and slide! She wanted to do it over and over and could climb it by herself! Then we grabbed some dinner and watched the parade. My kids always love that. Disney does a great job with the floats and the music and everything and my kids are totally in awe. Logan especially enjoys shows and stuff that he doesn't have to ride! After the parade, we were all so tired, we headed back to the hotel. It was a LONG walk and by the time we got back, both our kids were totally zonked out! We were so tired, but excited for one more day at Disneyland.

With our friends, The Wilson's, all ready to ride Nemo. We had so much fun hanging out with them in the morning!

Rylee didn't like most of the characters that we met, but she did LOVE Ariel! I think that she was totally mezmerized by all her sparkles!

Logan and his hero, Buzz! He LOVES getting a chance to meet him in person and talks about it all the time!
When we went to ToonTown, Goofy was just walking around in circles holding different kids' hands. Logan was able to grab a his hand for awhile and walked around and around with him. He thought that it was so funny!
Cute kids in front of the castle! We LOVE Disneyland!!!

Here are the rest of our pics from our first day: