Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Had a blast at Disney World



Hailey and I took the kids out to Orlando for a Disney World trip this past week and had a great time.  We have tried to always take the kids with us when going out of town, or at least as frequent as we can and we realized this time how much easier it has become at their current ages.  Hailey left about 12 hours before me as I had to get work done and she took Ady and Max.  She said they were the easiest ever to fly with.  I took Lucy late that night and she did not sleep once, but she was great.  I did not even have the car seat to strap her into as it would not fit so we gate checked it.  I am not sure exactly why I share all this other than their current ages really allowed us to enjoy this family trip a ton! 
Here the kids are being as calm as they can be on the first morning awake, just looking out at the park in the distance


This was the best Snow White ever.  She was flirting it up with Max big time and he had no idea what to say or do

"rolling" Kandell Style in the Disney Double Stroller that we made a Triple


Walking around Disney with 3 kids is no easy task at any age.  The weather was great, we all got sun burnt and thank Heaven for the Disney stroller rental.  Oh on a side note for anyone thinking about a trip to Disney World as opposed to Disneyland.  I would not suggest the extra money for the park hopper if you have kids under 9-10 yrs old.  We thought we would get to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, etc but these parks are not like in California where you can just walk to them quickly.  To get from one park to the next you have to take shuttles etc and it is very time consuming not to mention most of what young kids want to see is at Magic Kingdom.  So there, that is my money and time saving advice for anyone thinking about Disney World


I sure got my working out in each day. From sun up to sun down if I could not get 3 kids in the stroller, then one was on my shoulders it seemed.

They are trying to make sad faces as we are checking out of the hotel
These two princesses were in HEAVEN every day. 


I love this picture.  I think it really captures our spirits this trip, we all had a blast just being a fun family!



Monday, March 3, 2014

Can you believe it is already March?

Hailey and I took a relaxing weekend getaway to Cabo Mexico and had a great time!
In late February Hailey and I had the opportunity to sneak away for a quick weekend of sun and relaxing down to beautiful Cabo, Mexico.  Most people do not realize that you can get their direct from Salt Lake and it takes just a bit over 2 hours!  We had a great time just relaxing and spending some time together.  We try to take our kids with us as much as we can when we go out of town, but I have to say, this time it was quite nice to just have some adult time!


Last weekend we took the kiddos skiing in Park City and hung out all day with the Desatoff family.  We went skiing at the Park City mountain resort and had such a fun time.  At first the kids, especially Adyson, were a bit overwhelmed by the difference in size between the Park City Resort and where they normally go at Sundance.  After a run or two it was much better.  There was one hill/run that was over 3 miles long!  Can you imagine?  I thought it was awesome to see how cousin Sophie played the roll of oldest cousin and I was so impressed with how kind and supportive she was being to Ady while Ady was struggling at first.  Way to go Sophie!  We had dinner with Mariah and Danny and all the kids later that night at a local sushi bar.
On the ski lift at Park City Mountain Resort with Mariah, Sophie, and Oliver Desatoff



Little Lucy and Hailey roasting Smores in Park City
The night before we went skiing we actually stayed in Deer Valley with the kids and they just loved all camping out in a room together.  You forget how cool the kids think it is to be laid out all over the floor in the same room with mom and dad.  They loved roasting marshmallows and making Smores too.  We had a great time.

Ady and her schoolmates doing their science project

Both Ady and Max had science fairs this past month.  I was able to attend Adyson's project and Hailey went to support Max.  What was really cool is that Ady and her class did something very similar to the project I did while I grade school.  Her class was trying to determine which soil types filtered water the best and also how to create wells to get water out from the ground.  I was very impressed with her and Hailey said Max did a great job too.

Ady continues to want to be in the kitchen as much as she can.  It is a daily request to help with dinner or make something.  She made the famous Smoot Family Flavor All the other day (similar to a home made ranch dressing) and here below she wanted to make cookies from scratch.  They turned out very tasty.

Ady loves the kitchen and cooking.  We rarely ever bake and these cookies were from Scratch!


Grandma Sue was in town the final week of February and is still here until tomorrow.  She has been spending lots of quality time with the grandkids.  My sister Lisa has been talking up the waffle luv truck so I thought I would take my mom while she was in town and she loved them.  Here is a link to their site.
We took my mom to the famous WAFFLE LUV truck while she was in town
Adyson has begun dance competition season and the two pics below are of that.  My sister Lisa brought all her kids (4 of them) with the help of my mom, over to Thanksgiving point to support Ady.  It was so awesome to see, Easton, Zach and Max all staring and oohing and awwing as the girls danced.  You would have thought they were more interested in Dance than a video game.  Anyway we are so proud of Ady, she took first place in her division both on her solo and team dance.  Way to go Ady.

Our little nephew Tyler looks like he could be my very own

Ady and her dance friends after their small group number