Happy Birthday To Me

I felt like my birthday started a day early this year. The day before I turned 27, I got a nice one hour massage, and I got my hair done at the salon which happens about twice a year:) My sister Tina came over in the afternoon to help me do my hair because she is a curly hair expert and I have been embracing my curls lately. She showed me the ropes of getting your hair to hold curls better, and let me use her new and improved diffuser. A gallon of mousse, some intense scrunching, and a good diffusing, and I was left with some major volume! It was a very fun evening.

(this is the BEST humidifier known to man, or just to my sister and I if you are looking for one)

  When I woke up on my birthday, we ate breakfast, and then Kevin took the kids so I could get ready for the day. I took my sweet time getting ready and enjoyed a quiet house! When he came home it was time to go to Joe's BBQ for lunch. I got in our van and realized how squeaky clean it was. Kevin had taken the kids to his mom's house so he could do a deep clean of the inside of the van. It had not been cleaned for ages and so it was a wonderful surprise!I took a picture so I could remember how clean the floor mats looked before they got covered with food particles and boogers.

   The food at Joe's was delicious as always, and I picked up a free dessert to go at Liberty Market across the street. Their cinnamon rolls are the size of my children's heads!

  After lunch, we went home and put Dallin to bed. Kevin offered to entertain the girls so I could go do some shopping. I had a Forever 21 gift card and Kevin had given me a new i-phone on Valentine's Day, so I wanted to get a case for it. I headed to AZ Mills Mall in my super clean minivan:)

When I got there I started looking for a kiosk that sells phone cases, but couldn't seem to find one. Then some guy with a french accent came out of nowhere and started asking me about what kind of eyeshadow I use. Due to my lack or direction and momentary weakness, I  and ended up at his makeup kiosk while he brushed every color of eyeshadow on the tops of my hands. Usually I don't even bother with people like him in the mall, but I did need some eyeshadow and so I went along with it. After agreeing to purchase one eyeshadow, he sat me down and started cleaning the makeup off my face which I was not expecting. I was not looking for a makeover at the moment, and I did not like the fact that he was messing up my makeup. Then he put some products on my face and went on and on about foundation and blah blah blah... He did not seem impressed that I used clean and clear brand face products. Then he got out some blush and told me to make a fishy face so he could apply it properly. I tried, but couldn't stop laughing. He kept saying "Stop laughing Mayleesa!" over and over, but it was no use. My makeover was finally done and I was not at all impressed by my "transformation." I told him I didn't want anything else, and he rung up my eyeshadow and let me go. I did some shopping at Forever 21, JC Penny's and bought a new phone case before I headed home. 

 The open house for Brenna and Brooke's kindergarten was that night, so we dropped Dallin off at the grandparent's house and took the girls. Since the girls were born a few days after the September cutoff, they had to be screened before they could register for Kindergarten. We waited for a LONG time,

 (in which I did a LOT of this)

 but finally got them both screened and they both passed. We were all starving by that point, and so we dropped the girls off at the grandparents and went to Red Robin for dinner. I opened Kevin's gifts and had some yummy food. When we went to pick up the kids, my in laws had a cheesecake ready with candles. We had cake and called it a day. I felt seriously spoiled from all the wonderful things I was able to do on my birthday, and most of all spending time with family.

Happy Birthday to Me! 

Three Days of Disney

We went to Disneyland in January with Kevin's parents and younger brother. Last year's trip was really fun, but once again I was a little concerned about a certain boy that doesn't travel well, and I'm not talking about Kevin.

I fretted over it for a while, but once the day came to leave he did OK. There was a lot of crying, and his usual 3 hour nap turned into a 45 minute one in the car. We kept giving him snacks, upon more snacks, and played random games of peek-a-boo and whatever else we could come up with to distract him. Rest stops and meals at restaurants made it bearable for all of us. It's funny what we parents are willing to do to keep our kids comfortable. When the sun kept glaring on Dallin's face Kevin fashioned this fancy headdress, and it did the trick. He may look like he is flipping off the passing drivers, but he isn't...that I know of.

We stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel since Kevin's parent's are in the Disney Vacation Club, which was really nice! The hotel is right next to a park entrance, so it made things really convenient! Coming back for naps and meals was a cinch. We opted for 3 day park hopper tickets so we could take our time and make sure we got all the rides in that we wanted.

 Splash Mountain was both of the girl's favorite ride. They were just the right height to go on most of the rides which was awesome! The park wasn't too busy so there were only a few rides we had to wait in line for.

I realized on this trip that I had never been on the Space Mountain ride before. Crazy how you can go to a park half a dozen times and never go on that ride. It was a fun one. I found these cute ewoks in the store just outside, and was tempted to buy one. I grew up watching the movie "The Ewok Adventure," and so I am very fond of the little furry woodland creatures. They were WAY too expensive though, so a picture with them was just the trick:)

 I thought it would be cool to climb up on top of the wooden shelf pictured right behind me (for fun photo opp purposes) but some employee lady shooed me off! Bah humbug! She took this picture for us though so I guess I can't complain although we seem to be glowing for some reason.

The girls brought their dress up clothes from home, and wore them on the 3rd day to the park. It was really fun for them, and they looked super cute! When some of the characters were talking to them, they called Brenna a "Princess Rapunzel" but didn't know what to call Brooke because she was wearing a My Little Pony dress.

The longest line we waited in (other then Indiana Jones) was Autotopia. The girls loved driving though, so it was way worth it. Brooke kept running into the sides and stalling, and I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. I don't think she appreciated it as much. Another 12 years and I wont' be laughing anymore when she runs into things.

So the first day at Disneyland, I found this "Happy Birthday" pin lying on the floor. I thought it would be cool to wear. You know...for fun. I thought that it was like Chuck-E-Cheeses where all the birthday guests get a hat or something to show that they are part of the party. Then, as I was walking around all these employees started telling me Happy Birthday and calling me Sam. It was kind of fun, and sort of sneaky. Kevin wore it the next day so he could feel super special, and then after that he decided he just didn't feel right about it. That was the point where we shunned the pin. It was fun while it lasted though:)

Some of the longest lines were to see the Disney characters. Fortunately we got a few in really early in the day so we wouldn't have to wait very long. We wanted to take the girls to see the princesses like last year, but the wait was about 2 hours! One day while we were pushing the girls through Disneyland, 3 of the Disney Princesses walked right into us and said hello to the girls. It was awesome!

We usually split up into two groups so that some of the adults could go on their rides, while the others kept the kids. The merry go round was perfect to keep the kids entertained while the others got to go on whatever they pleased.

We managed to get a lot in over the three days we were there, and it was such a fun trip! On the way home Dallin did a little bit better in the car which was nice. Now for a random story....As we were traveling home, the girls needed to go to the bathroom really bad. We got off at the nearest exit, but the only bathrooms were at this old gas station that charged you a dollar to use them. I mean come on! They can't be that nice looking! So we decided against that, and since there were no other bathrooms close by we took them to a dirt lot with some trees just down the road. We figured they could just do a quick squat and run since they just needed to pee. So as I am taking turns spotting the girls as they do their business, I notice that we are only a stones throw away from this rickety, old house. It is not only rickety and old, but it has mangled baby dolls strapped to the front door. It was like one of those houses in the horror movies I'm to afraid to watch, and we are practically peeing on their front lawn. So we high tail it out of there before some psycho with a chain saw saw us, and made note to never pee in that area again.