Thanksgiving

We were in Las Vegas with Dave's family this year for Thanksgiving. The boys had a lot of fun playing with their many boy cousins. Dave has 4 sisters and 1 brother, between all of us we've had 20 kids. And out of those 20 kids, only 5 are girls. :) It was great to get away for a couple of days, relax and play at "Grandma & Grandpa's house". :)

Outside

Me and the boys spent the morning outside yesterday.
Dylan had a T-Ball game and then we headed over to one of our favorite parks.

Let's Go Play!!!

Since it was the weekend before Thanksgiving and Dave wasn't busy with work (yay!), we decided to go play at D-land on Friday! The first ride we HAD to go on was the new 4-D "Toy Story Mania!" ride at California Adventure Park. The boys were funny with their 3-D glasses and the ride was a blast! :) The boys also ventured into "A Bug's Land", they both loved the water area and Dylan got soaked in another water game, he was lovin' every minute. :) We also caught the Pixar Parade on our way over to Disneyland, Dylan loves seeing Lightning McQueen and Connor was too cute trying to catch the bubbles from the parade. :) The other ride we HAD to go on was "It's a Small World". It's been closed since we got our passes and it just reopened. I was particularly excited about going on it since I loved this ride when I was a kid. It was really neat to go on it now with my own kids, and watch my boys look around at everything in awe just like I did as a child. Because tonight was the first night with all of the Christmas decorations up at Disneyland, "It's a Small World" was extra special because it was all lit up with lights.

"You've got to move it, move it"

We saw "Madagascar 2" for Family Home Evening tonight. Afterwards we went to our fave candy store, Powell's Sweet Shoppe, for our FHE treat. Later, the silly little bros were too cute after their bath tonight both in their camo dino pj's. :)

Game Day

Dylan had a T-Ball game this morning. I decided to take some shots of Dylan on the bench cheering on his team. My favorite, though, is a shot I took from behind and loved it even more in black and white. Dylan did great covering 1st base in the outfield again. He is really liking T-Ball so we'll be signing him up again.

Date w/ Dylio

I could tell all week that Dylan needed some one-on-one time so he and I went out on a date tonight. Dylan wanted to eat at In 'N Out for dinner. On the way there, we danced in the car to some beats. :) Dylan was so flippin' cute eating his burger I couldn't resist taking a pic of him. After dinner, he wanted to go to the playground at the mall. We also explored the mall for other fun things to do. We rode the escalator and the elevator, threw pennies in the indoor fountains, Dylan jumped around on the laser floor game (not sure what it's called) and we hit the pet store to see all the dogs. But the best was when Dylan got an unexpected sneak peek of Santa!!! A little surprised the big guy was already there, but the benefit was that Dylan got an exclusive moment with Santa when he was able to wave hello to him because there was no one in line. Dylan thought the mechanical bear by Santa was pretty cool, too. :)

Wonderful Dichotomy

Our lesson for Family Home Evening last night was about being thankful for our blessings, largely inspired by the fact that Thanksgiving is coming soon. When we asked Dylan to share with us the blessings he's thankful for, he gave us the following in this order:

I am a Child of God

Jesus

Pres. Monson

Connor

Mom

Dad

Friends

His Costume & Mask

The Beach

Disneyland

Preschool

And there you have it, the master list of what our 4 1/2 yr old is thankful for. Just when Dave and I think that perhaps we may actually be pulling this parenting thing off, we are reminded of when earlier that day we told Dylan that we thought it would be nice of him to give some of his Halloween candy away and he promptly yelled "No! It's my candy and I want it all for me!!!"

It's a wonderful dichotomy. :)

Music to my Ears

Out of absolutely nowhere today, I overheard Dylan singing the song "Elevation" by U2. What?! It was so random, but of course so hilariously fabulous. He remembered the melody really well, even the part where Bono goes high in the chorus. My kids never cease to amaze me, and I will never cease to raise them without the knowledge that U2 is undoubtedly the best band in the world. :)

"Beach Park"

Dave took Dylan to the "beach park" this afternoon to spend some one-on-one time with him. Dylan loves going there...um, what kid wouldn't? It's this cool little park at Aliso Creek Beach in Laguna Beach. I told Dave to bring the camera and take some pics. He got some great shots of Dylan playing and of the beach...