April's birthday

For my birthday David surprised me with a new sewing machine. I was so surprised! And I was grateful that it came with a free sewing class to learn how to use it.

 The girls immediately wanted me to make them dresses, so I found this simple pattern online and whipped up some dresses/skirts for all of us. It has been fun to actually have a machine that works and finally be able to convince myself that the last machine's inability to work was not ALL due to "user's error".

Easter

Easter this year seemed pretty low key. We dyed eggs, attended a few egg hunts, had a party at Oma's house and got a visit from the Eater Bunny.

Getting Registered

Soon after getting back from Disney World, it was time to get Charlotte registered for Kindergarten. It was an exciting day for her!!

Nine Feels Fine

Carmen celebrated her 9th Birthday while on our trip. Beforehand, we went and had lunch with her at school and brought cupcakes for her class. It's always an enlightening experience to eat lunch in a school cafeteria. Lucky for us, she requested Chick-fil-a!

For Carmen's birthday she went on an African Safari, ate lunch in China, went on a time machine back to the dark age, visited the iconic Epcot "golf ball", swam with Nemo, had pizza and cupcakes for dinner and finished the day with a cozy viewing of the classic movie Cinderella.

 Carmen we love you! We are so proud to have you as a part of our family. You are an awesome big sister. You are smart and creative and sure help to keep your mother in line! You think deeply and you are an amazing artist. I'm blown away at some of the things I've seen you draw or paint. I know you have so much talent inside of you just waiting to be discovered. It's hard for us to believe that we are already half way through our time with you at home. In 9 more years we hope you'll be preparing to head off to school and grander adventures.

Fort Lauderdale Temple

The Fort Lauderdale Temple Open house was taking place the same week that we were in Florida.  It was a long 4 hours one way and we lost a day at Disney World, but I think the trip was worth it. Our children had the chance to walk inside a temple of the Lord, an opportunity most members of the church don't have until they are adults! And it was beautiful inside. The spirit was there for sure. 

The girls asked a lot of questions that I was happy to answer for them. And I tried to make a really big deal about the brides room and how amazingly beautiful it was. It really was beyond any other temple room I've ever seen. I wanted to impress upon their minds how important it would be for them to be married in the Temple and emphasized how beautiful the brides room always are.

Spring Break - The Parks

Finally to the parks! First up was Magic Kingdom. Dallin is ready with his McQueen shirt on and car in hand!

We got there early and waited for the gates to open. There was a fun little show before they opened the gates.

What trip to Disney would be complete without a picture in front of the castle?!

Charlotte and I on the race track - she made me drive. 

Who doesn't love the tea cups? Actually, David really doesn't like them, but he went on them to prove to the girls that it's okay to go on rides that scare you.

Next up, Animal Kingdom. This day was also Carmen's birthday.

Train ride with Dallin

The Safari was so much fun! We loved it, unfortunately it was the only thing we loved in Animal Kingdom.

So after the Safari we headed to Epcot. I was pretty excited to finally see the iconic "Golf Ball".

We ate some yummy lunch in China. The kids all wanted pictures in front of this building. But they wanted them with every combination of family members we could make... I'll only add a few.

We had a fast pass to ride on the test race track - but poor Dallin wasn't tall enough. It's the only ride that we wanted to go on that Dallin wasn't able to do. So I stayed behind while everyone else rode the ride. We hung out and played in a mock race car they had out front. When you ask the girls what their favorite ride was, they mention this one. I'm a little sad I didn't get to experience it.

I was also able to console him with a Mater car to go with his McQueen.

Epcot is the most beautiful park by far. Gorgeous flowers and gardens can be seen everywhere!

I lost count of how many of these 3D shows we saw!

The last day we were at Hollywood Studios. This was the park I was least excited about visiting, but it turned out to be my favorite! I didn't get pictures but it had my favorite ride, Toy Story Mania. And we saw a really impressive stunt show called Lights, Motor, Action. The highlight for Dallin was when the real Lightning McQueen came out and raced around the track!

 This was a Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area that turned out to be pretty awesome.

 ...especially the parts where you got wet.

 We took an Art of Animation class where we learned from a Disney 

animator how to draw Winnie the Pooh.

 I was pretty impressed with our drawings! These are in order oldest to youngest.  Later that night was we were looking at the pictures again, Aliza asked me who Winnie the Pooh is....

By day 5 we were all pretty tired and we could tell it was time to head home.

 Charlotte after the long walk back to the bus, ready to go home.

Dallin didn't stay awake very long once we were in the car and headed out of town.