Day 2~ Buena Vista Studio

Uncle Brigham was able to give us a behind the scenes tour of Disney's Buena Vista Studios where a lot of the movies are not only dreamed up but also created.

We had the chance to meet with different people and have them explain and show how they create a lot of the movie and TV magic!

We were able to go into the Disney archive rooms and see many of the original props from some big movies and TV series....here is the chest where Davey Jones Heart was!

There was still a little blood left!

We were able to go on some of the ABC sets that were filmed there at the studio.....

Brother & Sisters Set.

And the highlight for the kids a private screening of Toy Story 3 before it came out! AWESOME!

After we headed to Brigham & Michelle's house for a BBQ & swimming!

Carter wants to move there...he ran from the pool to the tramp to the pitching machine...I am sure they would not mind one more kid. They would hardly notice him!

Of course he managed to work himself into a basketball game. I don't think he even realized that he was about 3 feet shorter and 10 years younger.....the older cousins were so great with him though and even let him block some of their shots!

Another day we did not want to end....

Day 1~Balboa Beach

I think we could live at the beach and never go home. Between the waves and the sand it is hours of fun for everyone.

They BIG BOYS!

Carter thinks his 2 older cousins are the coolest kids he knows!

They spent awhile going up and down the pier checking out all the fisherman's catches.

Carter thought is was awesome yet disgusting!

Most of our not so small family and more....

Cute Aunt Melly and Baby Wes....you would guess he was hers huh!

Little Kit Kat LOVES the water she spent quite a bit of time just checkin things out, wishing she could jump in from there!

After lunch on the pier we headed down to the beach....They Taylors are big baseball fans...so first order of business was to set up a baseball game. Cute "Great" Uncle Brad does not even have kids under 17 any more and spent about and hour playing and pitching to all the smaller cousins. After the game Brad said:

"Carter I was throwing you all my junk, my heat, and my curve balls and you hit them all!"

Carter said, "I know that's because I am pretty good!"

(Humble Child)

Notice how focused he is...

After a mean baseball game it was down to the water for some sand castle building and wave jumping with cousins!

Carter could not get enough!

Kate spent most of the time moving from person to person stealing snacks....she was not so sure about the waves though!

Love The Beach!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Yes all of this came from 2 people falling in love and having children!

8 Children

1 Adopted Child

41 Grandkids

6 Great Grandkids

Can you believe it! We are even missing 8 people! We went to LA for the Taylor Reunion and it was AMAZING! I was crying more then my kids when it was time to leave....

I hope that I can be like my grandparents when I grow up, they truly are amazing! After 55 years of marriage they still hold hands and open doors for each other. They have put family first and made it a huge priority to always get family together. It really is an incredible family and I am so happy that my little family gets to be a part of it.

All of the older cousins were so great with my kids. They loved all the attention!

The Damrons & Grandma and Grandpa!

The Edgrens

The Foulgers

I am so grateful for my grandparents and their example to me. I am grateful for their wisdom, stories, and testimonies. Pretty much I am just so grateful for them and the opportunities they create to create such amazing family memories!

Swim Lesson Take 1!

Another successful season of swim lesson with Coach Hovik! Here are the boys...Cute, Cute!
And the rest of of the class! Nice work buddy!
You are quite the fishy!

I love the back ground of this picture...moms, moms, & more moms! We have had a nice June (For Phoenix) so it has been fun to be able to catch up and touch base with all the moms! Thank goodness for friends! Thank you ladies for the laughs, advice, & encouragement!

Swimming, Swimming, & More Swimming...

We are about 2 weeks into summer and we are LOVIN every minute! Maybe not the 110 we got this week, but everything else. I was not sure if I was going to like not having a schedule, but I have LOVED it. It is so nice to just plan what we want to do and what time we can make it. We have lived in pools for the past few weeks and my children are FISH! This pool is one of Carter's FAVS.
Carter & Caden....I actually got them to look at me for a minute! Miracle!
Carter is a huge fan of water slides..goes forwards, backwards and twists!

After seeing his friend Caden go off the diving board he decided he had to do it too....

BUT it was not just off this regular one.....

YES!!! That is my little 4 year old jumping off the HIGH dive! I could not believe it! It must be a total FREE FALL for him! He LOVED it and went about 10 times!

I could not believe it.....just the climb up the ladder made me nervous!

Kate is not giving me a break either! She totally thinks she can swim, she goes under, blows bubbles.....PRETTY much NO fear which =TOTALLY scary!
Her 4 favorite things are at the pool though:
1. Her friend Lucy....I told them to smile and me and they both turned around (Stinkers)

2. LOTS of snacks!

3. "NIMMING! NIMMING, NIMMING!" That is what Kate calls swimming...Noticed she is soaked that is from going under a million times!

4. And her THUMB....that goes everywhere though, bonus!

Fun, Fun, Fun! Now I just wish my car was not 120 degrees when we are finished swimming! Can't have it all though I guess! I am so grateful for friends & family that let us play in their pools everyday!

Happy Memorial Weekend!

We had a GREAT Memorial Weekend full of swimming, BBQ's, friends and family! Kate was very patriotic and spent most of the weekend eating and stealing other peoples drinks! They seemed to be much better then her watered down apple juice!
This was probably the 6th drink I took away from her...

Then it would normally end up all over her and the ground too!

Carter has turned into a great swimmer....a little fish that did not want to get out!
I think he swam for 12 hours this weekend!

He also got in lots of friend time...It does not get much better!

There was also lots of "High Flying"! It is what the Gorilla does at the Suns games!

One of the highlights for Carter was Ryan! Ryan would throw the kids into the pool based on orders: high-regular, high-high, kinda-high. Here is the line to get thrown in....

Sometimes you would get balls thrown at you too....

Kate wanted a little air-time too!

This is for my mom and sisters. I was always teased about my small mouth..needless to say Kate did not get that! One of the few moments it was not full of food!

After hours of swimming, jumping, chasing the boys moved on to the Wii Room!

I wish every weekend was a 3 day weekend!

Pizzeria Bianco

After a 30 day reservation we were able to try the Famous Pizzeria Bianco! According to Oprah it is one of the best pizza places in the nation. The restaurant only seats 40, has a small menu and can have up to a 4 hour wait. So thanks to Natalie she called a month in an advanced and got the one reservation they give out a night! Fun was had by all!