Can It Be Spring, Please?

I am so ready for spring! I'm done with the snow! I think that little taste of the good life (warm weather) last week made it that much harder to see the snow again. I often wonder why I live in Utah. I am not fond of the cold at all. If our families would pick up and move with us, I'd do it! I really do love it here...I just always say this after it snows.

Isabelle was so excited to play outside on her swingset last week. She bawled when we had to come inside! This summer will be so much fun! Warmer weather brings more chores- yardwork, but I love working in my flower gardens, and I think life just seems easier during the summer months. In the winter at 8 o'clock, you think it's time for bed. In the summer, we head out for ice cream or a walk. I love it! I am just so excited.

Isabelle has such big plans for summer because everything she wants to do, we tell her we'll do it when it's warm- eat breakfast on the deck, play in her little playhouse, go to the zoo, ride the Front Runner, go on bike rides, go to Lagoon. Luckily, we leave for Hawaii next week and I figure that by the time we get back, spring will have sprung!

"I Not Princess, I You!"

My beautiful little girl thinks that her name is "You". It's hilarious! If anyone asks her what her name is, she tells them it's "You". I never realized just how often we refer to her as You, but when you start paying attention to it, it's a lot. We aren't just saying, "hey you!" but things like, "I love you," "can you bring that to Mommy?" "do you need to go potty?" So she has decided that this is her name. If I say to her, "Are you my princess?" she tells me, "I not princess, I You." We passed a guy in the mall and he said, "oh look, an angel." Isabelle turned to me with her eyebrows furrowed and said, "I not angel, I You!" Sometimes she gets pretty upset about it too. If we ask her if she's cute, or call her sweetie, or any other nickname, we usually get the same response. She does respond to Isabelle, and occasionally she'll say her name, but for the most part, she has decided that she would prefer to go by "You."

Some of her other common phrases lately- "Gosh", "shoot", and my favorite, "Calm down Daddy!"(even if we're just talking.)

Disneyland Pictures

Disneyland!!!

I love this picture. Isabelle is wearing her "my dad rocks" shirt!

We had a fantastic trip to Disneyland! Isabelle had so much fun and loved every minute of it. It truly is just such a magical place. When we walked in and started walking down Main Street, I almost started to cry. I don't know why, it's just like you enter into a different world where everything is carefree and fun.

Our first day was filled with traveling and settling in. Isabelle was so excited to ride a baby airplane far away in the sky. She had been talking about it for weeks. She did pretty well on the flight although I don't think she thought it was all that it was cracked up to be. Luckily, the flight there was pretty empty, so she was able to move around from seat to seat to keep entertained. Not safe, I know, but we didn't bring her carseat on the plane, and she wasn't too easy to restrain. There was a nice, interesting grandma across the aisle from us who really wanted to help out, and told us all about her life and her recent trip to Mardi Gras. Isabelle liked her quite a bit and blew her kisses after the flight. When we got to California, we took a shuttle to our hotel. We got to stay at the Disneyland Hotel and James was so thrilled! It's always been something he's wanted to do. Isabelle had a special package waiting for her at the hotel- a Belle dress and some fun princess stuff and Disney toys. It was quite convenient being that close to the park and riding the Monorail in each day. That night we walked a long way to eat dinner at my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, PF Chang's. Delicious! There was a shopping area right next to it, so we looked around after dinner.
Isabelle loved the phones in the hotel room. Here she is with her new princess stuff.


Our first day at Disneyland was probably the best, becuase it wasn't crowded at all. Lines were short so we were able to check out a lot of things quickly. The best part of the day was the Princess Luncheon my mom, Isabelle and I were able to go to. When we went to Disneyland last year, we went to the luncheon with all of the girls and had a great time. Isabelle wasn't too into it last year, but this year she loved it. She wore her beautiful Belle dress and looked so adorable! When we came downstairs at Ariel's Grotto, we met Ariel first thing. It took Isabelle a minute to warm up and catch on to what was going on. Then we were seated at our table and they brought out three plates of appetizers with fresh fruit, salad, jellos, vegies, and a whole bunch of good stuff. They had about seven choices for dinner. I had a delicious meal complete with a dessert tray with about six different desserts. During lunch, the princesses were announced and came out one at a time to meet all of the kids and take pictures with them and sign autographs. We met Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Cinderella, and Belle. The characters are so good at their jobs. They are so sweet to the kids and every movement is just like a princess. In fact, Ariel was over in her spot dancing even when she was alone. Isabelle loved the princesses so much. When Belle bent down to talk to her, Isabelle went down too, just like her. They ended up sitting on the ground together. Isabelle gave each princess a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was so cute! Isabelle was so worn out after the luncheon. She slept for quite a while and we took turns going on big people rides.





The next two days we just rode rides and hung out at the parks all day. I can't believe how much you walk in a day at Disneyland! I needed it though for all of the food I ate! We had so many yummy treats. Isabelle was so cute and we spoiled her so much. Anything she wanted to eat, she got! It was hard to say no to her even though you pay so much for everything there. She desperately wanted a hot dog in between lunch and dinner one day and I can't believe we paid $7 for the stinking thing! She came home with lots of fun toys and a purse, and other fun stuff. She's quite the little shopper. Everywhere we went, she'd find stuff and take it up to the counter and say, "I wanna buy this." Then she'd pull out her pretend money and she thought she was good to go. If only it were that easy!

We saw one fun parade at California Adventures. It had all of Isabelle's favorite characters in it- those from Monster's Inc. and the Incredibles, plus the Toy Story and Cars characters. She was so excited! She cheered and danced the whole time. I was disappointed because they had no parades at Disneyland and no fireworks. I guess they're cutting back just like everyone else, but those things are always so much fun.
Watching the parade with Daddy

Isabelle loved Dumbo!


We had such a great time and I always hate for vacations to end and to come back to reality. Isabelle loved all of the rides so much, especially Dumbo, the Teacups, Small World, Monster's Inc., the train, and the Monorail. I think it's inspired us to get season passes to Lagoon. When I asked her what her favorite part about the trip was, she said, "um, airplane." When I asked her what her favorite thing at Disneyland was, she said, "um, Papa." I thought that was so cute! I was so glad my parents were able to come with us. I don't think it would've been near as fun for any of us if they weren't there.


We're going to Hawaii next month for a trip that James won from his work. We're taking Isabelle with us. The plane rides were tricky enough just going to California with our recently potty-trained two year old, that I have no idea how a six hour plane ride will go. If anyone has any tips or advice for flights with kids, please let me know. We put her in her carseat on the flight home, but she wasn't too thrilled. I think it worked better though. She did trick me by saying she had to go potty, just so she could get out, and then she wouldn't get back in. She wouldn't go potty on the plane because it scared her to death. I couldn't blame her though!

Anyway, this was a long post with lots and lots of pictures, but we had a wonderful family trip and I was so happy we got to go. I hope we are able to make Disneyland a family tradition for years to come!
I love the castle!