Dorla Dean

I love to visit my Grandparents in St. George. There is just something between my Grandma and me. She may not feel it as I do but she reminds me of me! These are some things I can think of that we have in common.
-Same height 5'2 (which is so inherited by her since my Mom is 5'9)
-Same shoe size
-Both clean freaks
-Both hate wearing closed shoes or socks (claustrophobic)
-Both love onions more than anything
-Both gain weight in the middle (legs stay pretty thin)
-Both are dark haired and dark eyed
-Both do not like ice cream with our pie
-Both are not public speakers
-Both love bread
-Both are super stubborn
-Both have a fear of death
-Both love shopping

When we are in St. George visiting there is nothing more that I love than to sit and talk to her for hours. Now I am not a talker or a very good listener but for some reason I love to hear what my Grandma has to say. She digs deep in her past and tells me the most interesting things. I learn something new every visit about the family. Usually we are chit chatting while she cooking up a wonderful meal. She is the very best cook I know.
This last visit she told me about a dream she had years ago. This dream was so important to me. It's something that I needed to hear. This is the dream:
My Grandma was in the kitchen and my Dad walked through the front door. She walked towards him and put both of her little hands on his face and said Jimmy you are okay? My Dad said yes I am fine. Then he walked in the family room and that was it. It was such a short dream but it meant so much to me and I know her too.
My Grandma is amazing and I wish she would just write a book or something because I want to remember everything. And for some reason she had this dream and for some reason she told it to me now and for some reason we happen to be down there for a baptism and for some reason LeeAnn chose to be baptized and for some reason I just needed to hear that dream. I guess things do happen for a reason.

Saint George

We made are way to St. George last weekend for a very special occasion. My Grandma Dorla has one living sibling and she is LeeAnn. LeeAnn is a hoot and we just love her so much. She truly brings spunk to every occasion. LeeAnn has been investigating the church for probably 10 years. Who knows how many missionaries she's gone through. Tyler and I called her the Eternal Investigator. She always knew the church was true but I think it was hard to commit, which I think it should take a good time to really know if you are willing to commit forever. This church we belong to is A LOT of work and you need to be all in it or it's not going to work. So the day finally came, for some reason it was time now. I am so proud of LeeAnn. She can now be an example for the rest of the family that may struggle with going to church or paying tithing or whatever. What was different with this set of lady Missionaries, I may never know but I hope they know what they have done. I hope they always remember LeeAnn and keep it touch with her. Hopefully in one year from now we will be witnessing her and her sweet husband being sealed together forever!

I was so glad to see so many family member's there to support LeeAnn. My family is amazing and they have such good hearts.

Tyler gave a talk on Baptism and of course he was crying so he makes everyone else cry.

LeeAnn, Me, my Grandma, and Olivia.

Also one thing I want to remember is after LeeAnn's husband Milt dunked her under the water she came up and said Hallelujah! Only LeeAnn, only LeeAnn.

2:47 AM

I wake up suddenly with a feeling of something is wrong. I go downstairs and it's super windy and I see someones pumpkin decor flying by. I look in the backyard and the trampoline is gone. I keep looking and there it is in the middle of the park. I wake up Tyler to go and get it. He gets mad because I am taking pictures at 2:47AM. I tell him to chill out. And that was our night.

Pick'n Pumpkins

I can't believe we have pumpkin picked with our friends the Hood's 5 years in a row! We love this tradition. Here's Olivia and Makenna growing up through the years...

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

DiSnEy LaNd

Yep, now I get it. I get why this is the happiest place on earth. I feel like a kid there. I just want to live in the castle and visit everyday. I just might start wearing Mickey Mouse sweat shirts now! I of course took sooo many pictures so I will try to keep it short and sweet. These are my favorites...
This is the plane ride there. Bless their little hearts.

The first night we went Trick-or-treating at California Adventure. We had Asian people come up to us and ask if they could have a picture with the "Incredibles" (I said that with an Asian accent).

I am sure Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were so glad to see Violet and Dash!

Second day- California Adventure
While I was riding the Tower of Terror, Drew was crying about how he wanted to ride it and Max happened to see him, so he gave Drew a big hug.


We could see the fireworks at Disneyland from California Adventure.

Handy Manny.

Mrs. Incredible.

Hollywood.

Third Day- Disneyland

Pluto.

Cars.

Me and the kids.

Minney.

Mickey.

Tyler and I at Fantasmic. Such an AWWW-esome show!

These are how the days would end. Pure exhaustion!

Olivia got to have lunch with all the princesses. Notice the smile before lunch.

After lunch. She lost her top tooth there.

Fourth day- both Disneyland and California adventure
Pixar Parade was sooo cute, I just love Pixar!




The fam.

Plane trip home.


My favorite ride- California Screamin
Tyler's favorite ride- Tower of Terror
Olivia's favorite ride- Mulholland Madness
Drew's favorite ride- Pirates of the Carribean

Olivia's least favorites- Indiana Jones and Space Mountain (hehehe)
Drew's least favorite- The haunted mansion
My least favorite- Autopia (I think the exhaust fumes took 5 years off my life)
Tyler's least favorite- It's a small world

Disneyland was wonderful, the hotel was perfect, the food was delicious, the weather was amazing, the people were so nice, and the kids were awesome. What a great vacation!

Wahooo

The day has finally come! We are going to the happiest place on earth today. This will be our first time to Disneyland. Tyler and I have gone when we were kids but we don't remember anything! So I am nervous and anxious because I really don't know what to expect. Drew and Liv have no idea! They know we are going to Disneyland but when you haven't been, I mean they are happy at McDonald's playplace. So they are going to get the shock of their lives. We are not taking little Alex. He would just slow us down, and we just want to go go go. So wish us luck and I am sure we will have a TON of pictures to share when we get back. Bye bye.

Sick Alex

This is what Alex does when he doesn't feel good. He's not crying. He's not throwing a fit. He's just sad. It just might be the cutest thing.

Salem?? Mona???

Not very many people know where these two towns are but dang it they need to be recognized! First on Friday we traveled down to Salem. So pretty but I quickly told Tyler to remind me never to move there. Just too out there, I need malls and Cafe Rio's really close by. Anyways Drew asks me if he can ride a horse EVERYDAY OF MY LIFE. So the mother that I am I thought I should make his little dream come true! (Not that he's never ridden a horse?) Tyler's cousin Kayla is a fabulous horse rider. I am sure she has some fancy name for what she's does but all I know is that she wears spandex pants, cute boots, and a helmet. And she's good. This is her horse Dewey (he's ginormous) that she keeps in Salem. The kids had a blast and now ALL I hear is when they can go back and ride Dewey, so my plan didn't work out so well.



Dewey you're huge!

So fun to ride the tractor with dead batteries.

Alex you're so sexy...

Then we headed down to Mona (AKA next to Nephi). This is where my roots begin? My cousin's first baby turned the big ONE! So fun to have Alex and his first cousin once removed??? so close in age. So this is Broadie boy and his big binge. He's so cute!

Here's the Nana from St. George (my Dad's Mom) with the Great-grandkids.


Love Kayla, love Dewey, love the Lynn family, thanks for everything!