Disneyland Trip: Monday: Day 1

We have been looking forward to this trip for a few months now...and it is finally here! We went with our friends and neighbors, the Cutlers, and decided that because Courtney would have her Best Friend on the vacation with us, that we should bring Kenna's Best Friend Mallory too! The girls were so excited! Off to the airport! Here they are on the shuttle to the airport here in Salt Lake City...

Our flight was delayed by and hour because of bad weather on the East coast and the plane arriving late into Salt Lake...luckily Courtney got a DSi for her birthday to help her pass the time!

Here's a look out the window of the plane as we were preparing to land in LA... Courtney promised Camilla that she would take some pictures for her since they were driving and she has never been in a plane.

Courtney showing me just how excited she is to land and start playing!

You know you drink way too much Diet Pepsi when your 10 year old nearly jumps out of her seat with excitement when she sees the "Diet Pepsi Plane"...which of course is actually "Korean Air"... I really need to cut back! (Sorry it is so blurry but I just had to include it!)

The three beautiful girls excited to FINALLY be in our rental car and headed for our hotel and some dinner!

After some dinner, we got settled in and the girls took showers to keep the morning routine a little easier! (Thank you ladies!!!) As soon as they finish writing in their journals it was "lights out"! We can hardly wait to get some sleep and head to the park in the morning!

McKenna's friend party... December 4th, 2010

It's hard to believe how much we did in one day! McKenna wanted to have a "laser tag" party, so we headed down to the new Jack and Jill lanes in Lehi with 15 of her closest friends! Here is the cake they provided...

What 15 year old would let her little sister and her sisters best friend come to their birthday party?! I can only think of one...

Here is the whole group of 18 kids... ready for pizza and some laser tag! It is funny that the boys all sat together and the girls sat together...

A big thanks to our neighbors and friends, the Davis's and the Cutler's that helped us get the kids down to the party from our house.. And here is the beautiful birthday girl!

This is a GREAT group of kids! I am so glad that my kids have such great friends!

What cute girls! They were so much fun!

Same for the guys! I loved that this group wanted to ride with me! They were hilarious!

Done with dinner... waiting to play!

After laser tag, we headed back to our house for a Christmas movie (ELF) and some popcorn and treats... Some of the kids decided to hang out with Dan and I and talk... gotta love that!

When the movie was over, everyone came out of our theater room to hang out and we quickly decided that it was time for a ping pong championship!

Who knew... this ended up being everyone's favorite part of the evening...

Waiting for a turn...

Apparently, he is a "keeper"... he is one funny kid!

Dan had a blast playing with the kids! They loved it!

We ended by playing "around the world"...everyone could play at once... even parents joined in as they came to pick up their kids...

What a fun night! What a great day! Happy Birthday Mckenna...we love and adore you! Thank you for being the amazing young woman that you are!

McKenna's 15th Birthday!

The day started out with McKenna opening her gifts from our family. She got new luggage, a bunch of new books she wanted, some new clothes...etc... Courtney was so excited to have McKenna open the gift from her. She had bought it months ago and couldn't wait to give it to her! She had bought her a bracelet with starfish, silverdollars, etc...on it. So Kenna!

We then found a fun surprise on our front door! All of the young women and leaders had given Kenna a "heart attack"! We left them on the door most of the day and then she moved them into her room...such cute notes from all her friends and leaders!

McKenna got a new hair cut a week ago! Gorgeous!!!! However, she looks a little older! My beautiful 15 year old daughter. It is hard to believe how grown up she is...I love my girl.

After breakfast, we headed to the "District" to meet the King side of the family for grandparent movie day. They have the tradition of taking all of the kids to a movie...and we parents tag along. We went and saw "Tangled". Love that movie! Afterwards everyone on both sides of the family came over for cake and to celebrate McKenna, Courtney, and Logans birthdays.

What a fun day...and it's just getting started!

Dinner in the Dark

Every year on December 1st, we have the tradition of "Dinner in the Dark". We make a really nice dinner, get out the Christmas dishes, and eat by candle and Christmas tree lights. It is one of our favorite traditions...

Decorating the upstairs tree...

At the Floyd house, we always decorate two trees. The one upstairs is the live tree and a decorated a little fancier. The one downstairs is our fake tree with all of our "family ornaments" on it. I spend most of my time upstairs during the day and I love having a tree to enjoy during the holidays. Dan and I had so much fun with Kenna decorating. Courtney was busy playing and came out it time to help put the ornaments on... This was a goofy shot of me tying red ribbons on the tree...

It turned out beautiful! I love this time of year!

The Roof and Temple Square

After our adventure into the woods looking for a Christmas tree, we headed home and got cleaned up and ready for a night on the town. We didn't tell the girls where we were going, just that they needed to dress really nice...but warm! It was a REALLY cold night...but we braved it for a walk around temple square to look at the lights. We had hoped to be there early enough to see the lights come on, but we didn't quite make it! It was beautiful and a great way to kick off the Christmas season!

Then we headed up to "The Roof" for dinner. We had made reservations a month earlier and couldn't wait for the girls to have this experience! Courtney loved the nutcracker!

Dan and Kenna...

An incredible picture of Courtney with the temple... the girls thought this was the BEST restraunt we have ever been to! What a view of the temple and the lights!

Me and my girls by the tree in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building...

Dan and the girls. What a wonderful day! I love this time of year!

Oh Christmas Tree...

We decided to get a "permit" to cut down a Christmas tree up in the Heber/Kamas area this year. Courtney and I made an early trip up to Heber on a VERY cold morning to stand in line and get our permit. On the day after Thanksgiving we headed out as a family with high hopes and lots of winter gear... Dan took this picture of me when we were stopped at a red light. I am rarely in pictures because I am always the one taking the pictures!

As we headed up the road to Mill Hollow from Heber, we didn't make it very far before we realized this wasn't a good idea...we would need snowmobiles to get much further on this road!

We decided to head up Daniels Canyon instead and tried to go out around Strawberry...but we couldn't make it far that way either. There had just been TOO MUCH snow! Even with 4-wheel drive we knew this dream of cutting down our tree just wasn't going to happen! Courtney wanted to jump out and play in the snow for a minute!

So after several hours with no luck, we ended up at a tree lot on state street in Orem.

A funny end to what we thought would be a great adventure! What a fun morning anyway!