Thanksgiving Weekend 2016

Thanksgiving was held in Alton this year. Even though Grandma and Grandpa Heaton live in Cedar they chose to celebrate this holiday at "home".  It was a fun filled weekend!

On Wednesday these little ones along with Uncle Kirk went wood cutting. Our only source of heat for our new house is a wood burning stove. We wanted to get 2 truck loads if possible. Aunt Harmony sent these 2 out the door with some homemade lemonade popsicles.  Yum, yum.

We found a great patch of dead trees to cut down. 

Uncle Kirk looking for a tree.

After our big Thanksgiving Feast several of us went Christmas Tree hunting.

There was plenty of snow for a little snow ball fight.  

Brayden did his best against Uncle Jim. 

These two tried to go sledding on their bums. 

It didn't work to well but they had fun.

Madelyn found this tree. She fell in love... Kory and I thought it was a bit sparse but she thought it would be perfect!

Happy Girl sporting her sparse tree. 

Kylie found a tree for her bedroom. Was so happy Daddy cut it down for her. 

I have a great husband! Knowing I wasn't too keen on Madelyn's tree we found another that was quite a bit more full. Once Madelyn was able to see the difference she too thought this new tree would be perfect. She decided to put her tree in her room. 

Knowing that both Girl rooms were going to have their own Christmas Tree, this little guy felt left out. He saw this young'n on the side of the road and talked his dad into letting him cut it down.  

Daddy even let Brayden run the chain saw. One excited little boy!

On Saturday we went to the local high school to watch our Dad play in the Turkey Tournament. He had already played 2 games and these old men had won! Now it was time to play for the annual championship. 

Emily, Rachel and Issie Bee were in charge of the entrance fees. 

Emily loved collecting money and working on her math skills when she had to give back change. 

Look at these guys! They all graduated between 1990 -2000 

The opposing team fighting for the championship all graduated withing the past 5 years. We were definitely playing against the youngn's

Go Daddy, go.....

Some foul shots...

Despite our best efforts we lost the championship.

Still to come in 2nd place.... Not to bad!

We stayed with Harmony and Dustin for the weekend. This guy was bit bored in a house full of girls but he survived! Once the other boy cousins showed up this young man disappeared. He stayed at Heather and Jim's for the rest of the time.

These two cuties had a great time together. Kylie is 4 and Issie Bee recently turned 5. They will both be starting Kindergarten next year. 

Caught Madelyn with food in her mouth. These two took it upon themselves to keep the kitchen stocked with goodies. They made pretzel bites, caramel squares, cookies and more.  

We had a great time with our extended family!

We certainly have lots to be Thankful for.

Disney Land

We just got back from an awesome family vacation. 

We went to Disney Land! I haven't been to Disney Land since I was about 14 and Kory was about 17. Our kids had never been.  Last year some friends of ours invited us to go with them the following fall. We pinched our pennies and made it work.  In the end we had 3 families, 6 adults and 14 kids. We traveled together, stayed at the same hotel and hung out at the parks together. It was great!

A few years ago we went to Lego Land. I made us all matching shirts. What I loved about it the most was that we were all wearing the same color. It made it so easy to spot each other in a crowd. Knowing we were going to be at Disney Land and California Adventure for a total of 4 days I wanted to make sure we had some matching shirts. 

Hunter chose Captn' Jack Sparrow. Mom was Fiona.Dad had Shrek (our 1st date was seeing Shrek at the movie theaters). Brayden was Baymax. Madelyn chose Mike Wazowski

Emily the Little Mermaid and Kylie of course chose Elsa.  I think they turned out great!

Monday we all wore our Mickey shirt.

While daddy and the big kids were on a ride Kylie and I went exploring. 

We found Princess Tiana from Princess and a Frog. 

The famous Dumbo ride. Kylie was excited to have her turn after a 10 minute wait. Hunter having watching Dumbo fly around in a circle over and over wasn't to sure he wanted to be on it. He survived!

These 2 were dubbed the "twins". These 2 are the best of friends. Owen and Kylie are both 4. They use to be in the same church class until we both moved. They now go to the same preschool tue/thur and I watch Owen a few hours after pre school while his mom is at work. Kylie gets to hang out at Owens house when I have a notary assignment during the day. They get along so well with one another. 

 One of Kylies favorite rides was the carousel.  

Emily decided she wanted to give it a try to.  

Daddy and Kylie waiting in line for the Peter Pan ride. They ended up waiting almost 45 minutes for this silly ride. It was the longest we ever waited during the 4 days we were here playing.  

Emily wanted her picture taken at the castle. Although it was only Nov 7 Disney Land had already decorated for Christmas. 

The infamous Splash Mountain. Kory (wearing yellow hat), Hunter in front of him and Madelyn at the front. This ended up being one of the favorite rides. Especially for Brayden.

We saw Storm Troopers rounding up children.  

Emily and Kylie getting ready to go on the rocket!  

We found Pluto! 

The park opened at 10 am and closed at 9 pm. We brought our own lunch and snacks to eat in the park. By the time the park closed and we headed back to the hotel everyone was exhausted. This little man fell asleep on the way back. We stayed in a hotel that was literally right across the street from the entrance. It took us an average of 7 minutes to walk from our hotel door to the ticket entrance. It was great being so close!

On Tuesday we decided to go to California Adventures. The absolute most favorite ride for everyone was Grizzly Rapids. California is having a heat wave right now. Instead of the normal high 60's to mid 70's it was in the high 90's. We were hot! This ride helped cool everyone off. Unfortunately it was one ride that Kylie was just a few inches to short to go on.  

There are spots during on the river while traveling that has geysers shoot up out of the water. Depending on where your sitting you may get drenched. The geyser was shooting up just as we came towards it. Luckily (for me) it stopped just as we crossed it's path. I love Hunter and Madelyns expressions.   

We didn't get to wet this time.  There was a time that Madelyn got off this wet soaking wet. She didn't have a dry spot on her clothes or body. She looked like she had jumped into the pool clothes and all. She loved it!

This is the ride Scream'n. It is the 8th longest roller coaster in the world. It has a 108 foot drop and in 4 seconds you go 0 mph to 55 mph. This was not the ride for me! 

But my older kids and Kory loved it.  

Here's Madelyn living up to the rides name. I love Hunters expression sitting right next to her. Emily is behind Maddie and Kory behind Hunter. 

We found another carousel for Kylie. This time Daddy took her.  

One of my favorite rides was Toy Story. Love the 3D glasses. This ride doesn't give fast passes so we had to wait a good 30 minutes. But to me this ride was worth it.

Kylie loved this spinning lady bug ride. She giggled the whole time.

Honda's Autopia where we all got to drive our own cars. Madelyn and Emily rode together. Brayden drove me while Kylie drove Daddy. Hunter was lucky to get his own car but I wasn't able to get any pictures.  

Another ride on Toy Story!

Madelyn and Emily getting ready to go on Thunder Mountain. That was the one roller coaster I did enjoy. It was perfect for me.  

The two favorite rides for Kylie was Winney the Pooh is Disney and the Little Mermaid in California Adventure.  

Winney the Pooh was right next to Splash Mountain so every time the big kids went on it Kylie and I went to our ride.  

We loved our time in these parks. We were there when they opened and stayed pretty late each night. It was great being there with other families. We let the older 5 kids ages 12-17 go off together and do their own things. Meanwhile us parents were able to take the 4-10 year old's on the rides they wanted. The nights we got back to the hotel before 10 pm the kids swam while the adults rested our tired bodies in the hot tub. It is definitely a week we will remember.  So many memories were made. I love my family!