Sunday, September 29, 2013

bye bye baby!

Today Jon left for the airport to set out on a new adventure in Saudi Arabia. All sorts of emotions are churning within me:
-excitement because I know it is the first step for us to begin our journey there, and soon we will be able to experience life in a new place, learning about a different cultures together
-worry because it is a country he and I know pretty much nothing about, sadness because I know we will be apart for a few months
-relief because I know in a few months time we will be debt free... 

It will be a long few months, but am so grateful my parents have opened their house to me and the kids so I would not be alone during this long, difficult wait. They have been such a big help this far and I know they will continue to help me and support me until Jon and I are reunited again.
I am also very grateful for technology and the fact that even though Jon will be on the opposite side of the world, we will still be able to talk and see each other via Skype or FaceTime, email, and chat messaging (what a blessing!)
It hasn't even been a day and it seems like it's been forever already, and I cannot wait until we are all settled in our new place in Saudi.

Eden's baby blessing!


We were able to bless Eden today! We were glad to have Jon's parents drive up. Starr and Scarlet (Jon's sister and our little niece) flew down  from Montana for the occasion. And we were so happy to have my family there as well. We loved having so many people supporting us during this special time!
Jon's parents!




Kiki and Scarlet!


Family Picture minus Branon and Sam



My parents!




Eden is fussing in most of the photos!
I'm such a mean mom for putting him through all those pictures,
 but I do take LOTS and LOTS of pictures so... he better get used to it! lol!




Wednesday, September 18, 2013

I want to go to Disney Land!


I woke up early Saturday morning turned to Jon and said: "I want to go to Disney Land!"
His response to me was: "Okay"
...so after a hour or two online figuring out details and sorting things out, we were good to go. We left that very day to LA for some serious family fun!

The kids excited, waiting for the rental car!


The night we arrived we stayed in a hotel near Disney, than booked the rest of our nights in LA at our Worldmark timeshare in Anaheim (which was less than 10 minutes walk to Disney)

All loaded up and ready to go to Disneyland!


Eden is such a good baby, he pretty much slept the whole time we were at the park!


We headed to Pirates of the Caribbean first, and after not even 2 minutes into the ride, the boats stopped moving. Well, after twenty minutes of sitting in the dark, in the boat with "please remain seated, we are experiencing some technical difficulty, the ride with resume in just a few minutes", the crew turned the lights on and had security personnel escort us out of the boats. That was quite an exciting way to start our day at Disney! We did get fast passes for the ride so it wasn't so bad!



Kiki was a little nervous because it was pitch black!



Enjoying some shade!


Winnie the Pooh! Kiki loved that ride!





But when it was time to meeting Pooh and the rest of the characters she chickened out!




Kia Ora's favorite thing by far at Disney was the parade. 
We would see it twice a day, the two days we were there.
And everytime Tinkerbell or the princesses would come by she would shout and say:
"Hi Princesses! Hi Belle! Hi Cendrillon! Hi....(she would call them all by name), it's me Kiki! Hi!"
It was so fun to see her so happy and excited!




After a long long first day everyone was pooped out!




Jon and I glad for the peace and quiet, organizing the following day at the park!


Planning made us a little hungry for pizza!


Geared up and ready for day 2 at one of the funnest places on earth!


Jon sporting not his one and only but his one of many BANDANA!


Kiki loved Julien's Mickey ears!


I didn't realize it would be so hot in California mid September.
I had to stop by the gift shop and get Eden something cooler to wear! 
It was the only onsie his size in all the shops!




















Kiki loves to hold Eden's hand! ALL THE TIME!!!!!
Which is great, except when he needs to sleep!


Kiki too scared to pose with Rapunzel or Tangled (as she calls her) so Jon had to hop in the picture!


Quick stop at Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country for some mighty good food!
In fact we loved the sandwiches so much that we ate lunch there the 2 days we spent at the park!


Our little set up to keep Eden nice and cool!



Kiki happy as can be!


Jon, Julien and Logan loved to go to splash mountain to cool off. 
They must have done that ride close to 5 or 6 times!


Kiki and Me waiting for the boys - Eden to finish their scary ride (Nightmare Before Christmas)!


Jon waiting in line at the Tiki Juice Bar for some AMAZING pineapple ice cream floats!
Pineapple ice cream in pineapple juice! It was so so good!



Julien was such a big helper and a great big brother pushing the stroller and giving Eden the bottle!


Family Pic!


It's a Small Small World!
This ride changed a lot since I saw it last. 
It was a lot better than I remembered!



The kids loved Toon Town!





I love this picture of Jon and Kiki walking hand in hand!


Logan loved posing with all the cars! 
He is such a cute kid!


Kiki's first ride!
I think she was a little scared!


Julien and Logan made themselves their very own light sabers!
They loved custom making them and putting them to use of course!


Today was yet again a long and tiring but wonderfully fun filled day!



After such a wonderful getaway we were all ready to go home! 
In second thought one more day would have been great!


I think this girl had a blast! Wouldn't you say?