McKenna's Princess Disneyland party

The family vacation was planned perfectly so that we could have McKenna's birthday while we were at Disneyland.  She was so excited to be going there for her birthday, and more importantly that her cousins were going to be there for it.
In the morning we got up and wished her happy birthday then got ready and went to Disneyland for a little bit.  Around lunch time we came home and the kids ate, and then the party started to commence.
All the girls had princess dresses which they had brought, and we gave McKenna's to her for her birthday.  They got dressed up and then I did there hair and put some princess makeup on them.  They were all so excited and they all looked so cute! They played together for a while and showed everyone how pretty they were.

Then we sang to McKenna and had cake and ice cream.  Since she was princess Aurora, we had to get her an Aurora cake, and she was so happy about that.  After cake and ice cream, she got a special call from Prince Philip.  He asked her lots of questions and told her to look for him at the castle when she went back to Disneyland because he would try to be there to meet her if he could.  The girls kept giggling and were so excited to hear him on the phone.  It was so cool to see how much fun they were having.

She opened presents and got some really fun things.  She got a Ken doll which she has been wanting forever, a light up pillow pet, some cute clothes, some princess jewelry, and of course her princess dress. She was so thankful for all her presents and so excited to play with them.
After that we headed back to Disneyland to ride more things and go on the Radiator Springs ride which we had been waiting for all day.  It was such a fun time with everyone. We had a blast, and McKenna said she had a wonderful birthday.

They had fireworks at night which we told McKenna were just for her for her birthday, and she was so happy when we told her that.  They all sat and watched the fireworks while eating ice cream bars.  It was such a fun day and I am so glad we could make it a magical birthday for her.
McKenna is such a sweet and wonderful little girl. She is always so willing to help others, and watches out for her brother which I love.  She is getting so good at reading and writing and is such a smart little girl.  She amazes me everyday with her joy and her love for life.  She definitely keeps me on the go, but I couldn't have asked for a better daughter.  We love her so much and are so blessed she is a part of our family.  She is going to do great things, and I am excited to have a front row seat to her life.
 She was tuckered out at the end of  the day though, she couldn't even stay awake.  My wonderful sleeping beauty :)

Last day of Kindergarten

McKenna has officially survived Kindergarten, or should I say I survived it.  I can't believe she is done and moving onto 1st grade in the Fall.  It will be so weird to have her gone all day :( On some level though I am kind of looking forward to it, don't judge me!
There was feild day the last day, so I took Graysen and watched her do all the fun activities.  She wasn't too happy when I dropped her off for her last day though, she is sad she won't have school for a while.

 It was so fun to see her run races, do a sponge game and eat snow cones with her friends and her brother.  Graysen wanted so badly to do everything big sister was doing, he loves her!

I am glad she had such a great year and it is fun to see the progress she made since the beginning of the year.  I loved volunteering too and seeing how much all the kids have improved from the first of the year.  It is amazing, and their teacher is wonderful! I will definitely miss her as McKenna's teacher for sure. Time to move on to bigger and better things right.....upward and onward!
Love my little girl, and so happy that she is having such a positive experience with school and learning so much and having fun.

End of the year Kindergarten performance

McKenna had an end of the year performance at school and Grandma Allen came down so she could see her and celebrate the end of the school year with us.
We went to Burger King for lunch and had fun playing together before school, and then we dropped McKenna off and came back later to watch her performance.  Daddy was able to get off work to come see it as well which McKenna was so happy about. Graysen of course was excited to cheer her on too.

She seriously was the cutest thing up there.  She was singing all the songs so loud and had a big smile on her face the whole time.  I loved watching her, she just melted my heart. She is such a joy and a light to us, I am so lucky to have her as my daughter.

Daddy brought her some pretty flowers for afterwards which she was over the moon about.  She definitely has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

 McKenna had to have a picture with her wonderful teacher Mrs. Bridges. She loved her and had so much fun being in her class.

The little pig with the stick house

McKenna's class put on little skits at school for all the parents to come and watch.  They actually wrote their own scripts based off the story and figured out the characters and everything. They had to add some new characters since there were more of them then the story.
McKenna's group did the story of the three little pigs.  McKenna was the pig who made his house out of sticks.  Their story added a woman who sold them their materials to build their houses.  Well the Hay and the Sticks were free, but the bricks cost a dollar because they were so strong.

It was so fun to watch them act out these skits and to see how creative they were.  It is such a good way for them to get use to talking in front of groups and speaking loud and clear.  It was such a great learning experience for them.
I was also volunteering in her class so I wasn't able to get too many pictures, but at least I got some.  I love my little piggy, she did such a good job, I am really proud of her.

Jacksonville

While we were in Florida going to Disney World, we also had the special experience and privilege of seeing our niece Keara get baptized.  It was really wonderful to be able to be there on such a momentous and special day in her life.  She looked so pretty in her white dress.  She is the first Grandchild to be baptized, so it was extra special.

I was so proud of her that she decided to make the decision to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was so neat to have mostly everyone in our family there.  What a neat experience for all the younger kids as well to get to see one of their cousins get baptized and for them to hopefully want to follow in their footsteps.
McKenna I know is looking forward to the day she can be baptized, and I am excited for that day too, but I am OK that she has not reached that point yet :)

It was fun spending time at my sisters gorgeous house and to be able to just hang out and let the kids all play together.    There was a little lake in the back of Annie's house which the kids liked to play in.  I thought this was so cute that Grandma was out there with the grand kids, and I don't know what Graysen found but it looks like he was having fun so as long as he didn't fall in I was okay.

Aside from almost dropping my phone in the lake because someone told me there was a spider on me...It was a very pretty lake and it was fun sitting out there talking and being together and watching the kids have fun.
 It is a really pretty area and I am glad I got to see it and be there with everyone. Just some of us hanging out.

Hollywood Studios

Today was kind of a low key day.  We hit up Hollywood studios, but there wasn't much to do for little kids, so we just kind of walked around.  It was so hot though so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.  The kids were so good and just made the most of it by just sitting around and playing with bubbles or playing rock paper scissors. They were troopers.

 We saw the Beauty and the Beast show there which the kids really liked, and the adults went on the Tower of Terror which was really fun.  You can't really see the picture that great, but we are in the upper right corner.

Mostly it was a lot of waiting around, but it was fun just being together.

We took the kids back early and swam in the pool and played.  It was kind of nice not to be gone the whole day doing stuff. We also went to a restaurant called Island Breeze which was really good and it was nice to go to a nice restaurant. Just some of the gang.

Magic Kingdom day 2

We had a lot of fun the second day in the Magic Kingdom.  It really is so magical, I just love it. we just did more rides and enjoyed having fun with eachother.

We got McKenna and Graysen some Minnie and Mickey mouse ears with their names on them, they were so happy! I just couldn't resist they were just too cute.
Grandma and Grandpa also took them to pick out a special toy from the Disney store and McKenna got a kitty (what, who would have guessed that,) and Graysen got a Pluto dog.  They wanted to take them everywhere after that. It was cute that Graysen got Pluto because we got a picture and autograph from him while we were there.

The electric parade was that night so we went back to the hotel and had dinner and relaxed and then came back for the parade.  It was so awesome to see.  Graysen unfortunately didn't even make it pass the waiting before he was out cold in the stroller.   Let me tell you though, if you are at Disney World with a front row spot saved for your family, you will be surprised at how little space you actually have when the parade starts.  We had this big old spot saved for all our family and people just kept encroaching and soon we were reduced to sitting almost on top of each other.  Some even tried to sit in front of us which we put an end to right away.  We didn't stake out the spots and wait forever just so someone could just plop down right in front of us.

Anyway, it was worth it because we had a great view and the kids were just mesmerized. There was a really cool show on the castle as well afterwards, with music and different images projected onto the castle.  It was so sweet to see Travis holding McKenna and just watching it together.   It doesn't get much better than that, unless of course I could have done something about all the rude people around me like the person who kept shining their stupid phone video light right in everyone's face when they were watching the show, but hey the rudeness of people and how people act in public places is a whole other blog post.

The kids were just exhausted though after such a long fun day.  I loved how they fell asleep on eachother on the monorail. Poor girls couldn't keep their eyes open.

Bottom line, the kids had an awesome day, as did I.  I love DisneyWorld and I am sad it is over :(  It always goes by too fast when you are having fun, and I am so glad I got to share this special experience with my little fam and of course my parents and siblings with their kids.  Here are all the cute grand kids minus Lincoln which I am not sure where he was, and of course Jackson, Callie and Ryan who couldn't be there and whom we missed lots.