JENSEN ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SUGAR COOKIE DECORATING!

The Jensens come over every October and we decorate Halloween sugar cookies while listening to a Halloween remix tape Jared and I created and I have to say - its kinda the bomb diggity! It's always a good time with them and a rainy day makes it even better - less cookies decorated and more kids playing in the rain! We even sang Happy Birthday to the October birthday grandkids (Eli, Millie and Ava).

DISNEYLAND!

Emma got a trip for her birthday, the twins got a trip for their birthday - why stop with Eli?! I talked Jared into letting us take Eli to Disneyland for his birthday - I was thinking a quick drive up in the morning, do Mickey's Halloween Party, stay the night and then drive home. Jared didn't want to drive up the same day as we do the park so he wanted to stay 2 nights and at that point I thought why not take the whole family! So the the day before Eli's birthday we loaded everyone up in the car - they knew we were going some where but had no clue where. About 20 minutes into the car ride I couldn't wait any longer - yes I had been looking forward to this for 2 months now...I gave Eli a paper and he had to solve the puzzle to figure out where we were going! I have learned something this year - Tyson is a puzzle solving machine - he gets them all so quickly - before anyone else - and he figured this one out too and quickly got super excited and then whispered it to Tyler!

The day before we left I had to go and get me some Disney nails done - yes Disneyland is my happy place. 

We got there that evening and stopped and had dinner at Lucille's and then checked into the hotel. The kids were super excited - when they got up to the room they found gifts waiting for them - it was Disney shirts and new sweatshirts. For the first time we were going to try Mickey's Halloween Party and I didn't want them to get tired of being in costume all day so we went with Disney shirts instead! The next morning we woke up and Eli found the room decorated for his birthday and then we got some breakfast and killed time before we could get into the park. We couldn't get in until 3pm but were told to get in line early - glad we did - we were in the front and they started letting us all in 15 minutes early. The park was AWESOME - completely decorated for Halloween and even more so for the party - it was cool to go back the next day and see a lot of the decor disappeared over night - they do make it more magical for the party. At 6pm trick-or-treating starts so we would hop in a few lines for candy and then ride some rides! Finally all the boys were tall enough for all the rides! Eli got to walk around with a birthday pin on since it was his birthday and he loved all the shout-outs he got through out the day!  We stayed till they shut the park down! 

We ran into Emma's friend Noelle! 

The next morning we got up and got ready and headed back again - my dad would be very disappointed - I remember every time we went to Disneyland as a family we would get there before it opened, make our way to end of the Main street and wait behind the tape and then as soon as they let us in we would take off running to Star Tours - happy times! The Jensens roll a little different - we get there just after it opens and head to Frontier Land instead. One of the things Tyson really wanted to do was make sure and get picked to do the Jedi In Training - but he needed Eli to do it with him - Tyler was of course going to sit that one out because that would be to much attention on him. We got there early and got to sit in the front row and ate lunch while we waited for it to start. As soon as it came time to pick, we put on our happy faces and jumped up and down and the very first one picked was Eli, then the guy started to turn away and look at the other side but I am pretty sure the force was with him and he turned back our way and picked Tyson!! They were picked #1 and #2 - it was perfect!! They LOVED it!! We were so happy for them.  We stayed again till the park kicked us out, saw Fantasmic, the firework show and rode all the rides we wanted until our heart was content! The boys never complained and were full of energy until we took the tram ride to the parking garage - then they came crashing down. This is probably the last time we get to carry sleeping babies out of the park. Melt my heart. Love vacationing with this family of mine and love the magical memories we get to make together! 

 They picked who they wanted to ride this ride with and then held hands - love.

 Every time this kid goes he gets a picture with his namesake.

The first time Tyson hated this ride, the second time he tolerated it, the last time he opened his eyes for it finally and when we got off the ride he told me he was finally getting brave and would like to ride it again, or course it was the last time on that ride, dang it!

Until next time....