MARCH 2

California

Poor Michael Joe all totally sicky, congested, coughing, chest hurt, miserable. Scheduled filming Thunderclap for right after our Disney world trip so we had to do it. 
March 18-21
Because of his sickness Stephanie did not fight him on getting a hotel instead of staying with them so we had a mini getaway from the kids as they stayed with her for the whole trip. Me and girls went over to Sophs during most of the day to help with Jimmy & hang out with Mack and Mason. Twas a good little concentrated dose of everyone. Michael just shot for 2 full days & did not get much time to play. I, on the other hand, probably got too much time to play. I went to see Lucero the first morning & then shopped downtown for a bit after. Got MJ a cool Mickey clock & myself silly things. The next day, because the girls didnt finish with school before noon so I had the morning to work and then go to hobby lobby. Somewhat productive, I got hanging wire for the rest of MJ’s office pics I need to hang and mod podge for the puzzle I need to glue! Also too much fun shopping for thank you gifties downtown for Soph and Tia and Avo;) also got a few things for Easter baskets, ate an in n out burger and headed back downtown to revisit vintage, rustic roots & farmhouse  ran into Amy at farmhouse. She always looks fabulous, checking out jellycats for her granddaughter. Sweet. She settled on a blanket bunny & book. I could not pick a dessert jelly so I just left them all behind this time. 
Poor Soph. Alone mostly with all the kids! Anyway exhausting time for MJ & Soph and Brett..not crazy for me.. a little bit of a reprieve actually it turned into, which I feel both guilty about yet thankful for! Of course Stephanie and Avo washed ALL of the girls clothes!! So appreciate that too so coming home won’t be a massive to do of laundry this time. Whew. I was spoiled. Oh I did assist Soph in making dinner both nights a tad… boiled some carrots and potatoes for corned beef time & grated cheese for enchilada night. Ugh I’m terrible. The kitchen is so foreign to me nowadays! Oh well. Maybe someday I’ll be interested…😝

Junk journaling with my Noey

I am so happy these girls look forward to Young Women’s activities weekly!!!

Heart to heart with Boo bOO bear

Oh just antiquing…

MAIL from Ant Lili and Tia Sophia! 

This was a fun time 😅 me and the girls scrubbed the table with a combo of toothpaste, granite cleaner & baking soda to lift out stains that we didn’t realize we were making when we colored the other day!! It actually was a fun little bonding moment. 

Play date with sweetest Elise. Sia was so incredibly happy! 

Slime making, lots of dancing and giggling and coloring. 

Scripture study with the daddy over the balcony ;) 

THUNDERCLAP and the janitor. Hehe. Love this one! Hung in MJ’s gym. So perfect. 

Our front yard looks like this sometimes. Sweet deer. 

These kitties LOVE this gal! 

March 30

Fasting today for the first time in way too many years. Feeling the need to reset in a lot of ways. We watched a show last night called Messiah in America. Had some beautiful moments. The Savior just walking slowly around taking his time with each individual…I appreciated that & I know that’s how it will be. He will want to listen to each of us, know our thoughts, feelings, hearts & heartaches..all of it! He will hold our faces and kiss our heads and stroke our hair and we will KNOW & feel His all consuming love for us. 
I came across and IG video the other day..AI generated where a girl dressed in jeans and a white t shirt is running upstairs to her Savior until they embrace. My favorite part of this (because I know I will most certainly feel this way, not being able to wait to embrace Him) is that He is also running toward her with a huge smile on his face. What a precious time that will be. Overwhelm in the best possible way. 
Being able to view these things and then have them in my mind to review is so special and sacred. 
Being uplifted through the arts…I also have a picture in my closet (one of my very favorites) a lamb stands within clear view, closeup and in the background you see the Savior, crouched, running toward His lamb, His precious Brother to save & bring back. 

DISNEYWORLD

Almost 5 hour flight to Florida! Not bad because I had a crochet project, we got a meal (really amazing French toast for me!) & had screens in front of our faces. I listened to music, watched a show with Michael Joe and started My Fair Lady. The girls fend for themselves and love it. Ordering drinks, grabbing snacks as they come around :) I sat with MJ on this one, Sia sat alone & Noelle and Gwinna buddied up. 
Sia was not happy to be sat next to someone else but was totally content with her airbuds and WiFi pretty quickly.
Michaels first statement about Florida.. “it’s like a big sweaty armpit.” The airport was WILD! Tight and humid & smelly. When we got out though it was not awful. 70s the whole visit which was so great! I came prepared with some kind of dry powder stuff and fans which I did not need to use at all. 
We did Boma for dinner at the animal kingdom lodge. Peanut butter rice & some kind of lamb/beef egg thing. So so good! 
Oh Sia sat next to a guy who was carving a lion out of wood in the Hotel and he taught her how to say lion, mom, dad, grandfather, & hello in Swahili. Sweetie guy. 
Twas very magical & fun to wake up to zebras & giraffes in our backyard in this resort.

 
Day one
Magic Kingdom-
We left the hotel way too early & were among the dumb dumb early birds waiting in lines for 20 minutes and shopping around for 20 more! Oops but not. One of shopping opportunities! We didn’t realize but we did get in early & right in line for 40 min wait for Peter Pan! Much more magical & covered line! I loved that because it extended the ride for me! The ride even felt longer to me. More scenery & color..maybe just in my mind but it was such a good start! 
It’s a small world..covered line which I appreciated too. 5 minute wait! So lovely. 
Ordered WAY too much food while on this ride which was so good! Oh man all food on this trip was AMAZE. (The friars nook) Sausage, bagels & beneigts(ordered 3 for each girl accidentally!!!) for breakfast. ha. They didn’t mind. Sia especially (ate every bit) powdered sugar flying everywhere. Such great weather too. I expected muggy and hot but it truly felt like California to me. 
Then we did the Philharmagic show which I have to note was one of Michael’s favorites of the day. It is so fun. Inserting Donald Duck throughout different movies with other Disney characters:)
Little mermaid after which none of us thought was quite like the California one..many characters not moving, not as loud musically or colorful..something. Ariel wasn’t even dancing. Stalled like 3 different times which is normal ;) ha. 
Then me, Sia, & Noelle began our 80 minute wait for the 7 dwarves mine train… Sia did not last. We got in touch with MJ and Gwinna who had gone to the CArousel of Progress ride and sent her back them at the beginning of the line. The line was cute & interactive but the ride was so short & Noelle and I concluded not worth it and likely never again:) we had to settle since big thunder mountain was closed. 
Noelle wanted a turkey leg (Gaston’s tavern) for lunch which worked out since gwinna & Sia are by brace faces & could not. They ate with MJ at the diamond Horseshoe (which he described as an awesome Thanksgiving meal) we grabbed grapes and a turkey leg and wandered around ye olde Christmas shop  oh another note is that pin trading was fun to do on This trip! Noelle ended up trading a random Christmas pin with a cute Easter egg looking Daisy & Sia traded her fox and hound with Minnie who looked gingerbready & a castle one with Mickey icr creams on it! Such fun ones. We got way too many pins on this trip but they are too fun to pass up!!!! Winnie the Pooh hunny for me!
As I am writing this (we are flying to California) I don’t understand how we fit so much in. We were able to grab dole whip and do tiki room for Funsie…even though when I looked over at MJ he was rolling his eyes at me (may be one we can skip in the future. Then we had fast passes for PIrates which Gwinna did not want to do so she skipped with MJ…even though! This version was WAY shorter and only one drop. Yikes. Not like Disneyland! 
We all went on carousel of progress together and “there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” song is on repeat in our minds right now. Fun, sweet one which really demonstrated how much Walt Disney loves people and progress and how valuable our time is. One of Gwinna’s favorites!
At some point during this day we got silhouettes cut out for us and I don’t even want to write about it because it was disappointing. Gwinna is the only one I can see that it’s her! Ugh. Mine and Michaels is awful. I’m all hunchy & it truly doesn’t like like either of us. Ohhh well… 
Fast pass or lightening lane for haunted mansion which we concluded we also love the ride and the line and the house better in Disneyland. BUT a fun thing is we got stuck in there for a while overlooking the dining room scene. Me & Sia were enjoying our lives and talking about how the ghosts looked so real. And then we wondered who had the opportunity to be stuck in the laying back position with all pressure off the feet and envied them for a moment as we went through that part  
I made reservations for Be our Guest restaurant which was really magical and cool. Beast walked through a few times & we took our sweet time enjoying a long dinner with all of the courses. Sia got to paint a teacup for dessert & I ordered French onion soup for the first time ever in my life and YUM. Mom was right. Ha. 
Sia opted out of Tiana but me & Noelle were so excited!!! Loved it. Lightning lane so we ran through twice. There were 3 pretty awesome, significant drops before the big one! Loved that .. I also personally love the movie so it was such a fun atmosphere & the music was perfect. Mama odie on the way up was more fun than the rabbit all sad & tied up. Misty, colorful water was magical too while ticking up up up & overall it was just a smoother ride. The nostalgic factor I will miss but overall I am happy with the Change in this one!!! 
Lovely way to end the night and I didn’t even realize it til later but I got a selfie of the whole family while on this one.
Bus ride home...me and Noelle sat in the dark happy & exhausted.  

Day 2 
EPCOT
Started today. Happy 14th anniversary! 
slept in later today so we wouldn’t lose steam. Me and gals did a Boma breakfast! So good. Scrambled eggs with goat cheese and chives and an amazing grain salad bowl with golden raisins & quinoa and such mixed in. Also a weird combo but somehow worked was papaya, grapefruit and avocado. 
Our first fast lane was for Remys Ratatouille at 10:20. Such a great one! From the mice’s perspective… huge food & scenery. Shopped around in France for a bit & then at at Chefs De France wherein me & gwinna got the BEST Mac & cheese of our lives! Covered with guyere cheese. YUM. I needed melted cheese this day .. just the perfect meal. So many beautiful flowery figures and oh my goodness everywhere we walked smelled amazing. Flowers all over. 
We took a boat back over to the beginning and rode Spaceship earth which felt like a very old ride but was educational and got stuck a few time and Michael looked back and me and told me to get off my phone when it would start back up ;) ha. 
Short film festival after this. SUCH a sweet one (of course I don’t remember the name) with a dog that follows the beginnings of a family. He is put on a diet when a woman enters the picture & realizes his owner is so sad when they break up for a time. Dog gains joy again when a meatball flies over to him when a baby comes into the family! So so cute. A cutsie bird one too & of course a fun Mickey and all characters one at the beginning. 
Soarin. Same everywhere. Love it. 
A worker behind was asking people if they were ready to fly to Germany and Thailand and then he mentioned Utah & some lady behind was like “ugh I don’t think anyone wants to go to Utah!” I was ready to fight! Hahahaaa..no I did give Michael a look though and mouthed “I do!” to him!!!! Hello!? We love Utah. 
We took another boat ride across and poor Noelle! As we were getting on the boat blood started to flood out of her nose. White shirt. Thankfully I overpacked dude wipes and was so prepared!!! Cleaned her up and stopped it before we could get to the other side to get TP up there:) 
Teppan Edo for dinner. So awesome & fun to see the meal cooked in front of you, cool onion volcano built & the guy just made it look all too easy! Such good food and Sauces. Some kind of small dark chocolate lava cake! One of the best I’ve had. I could have eaten a few more….not really but  
Frozen ever after ride. Me Sia and Noelle (felt bad after because the drop is not crazy and Gwinna could have handled it but she got in her own head about it) Sweet & short & magical. 
She and Mj did journey with Figment one together & had fun with that. I always felt better when they were having fun somewhere else:) 
This was a nice, slower day:) 
When we got back to the hotel we got “birthday cakes” a vanilla and a chocolate that Michael was disappointed with and called “pudding!” I, on the other hand, (and the girls) LOVED the chocolate one and ate entirely too much of it immediately! 
(When MJ came home on his own after Hollywood park he did end up eating more of his white cake;)) 

Day 3
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS 
Cheaper breakfast today at the grab and go in hotel. Hard boiled eggs and parfaits!
Wore my Birkenstocks because my tennis shoes were actually killing my arches!? Weird. Fast passes for Runaway Railway first. Fun feature about this were all of the cemented celebrity hands and signatures out front. The line overall was not nearly as fun as in Disneyland. Same fun ride though :) 
We ran over to meet EDNA MODE! Sia needed an autograph & it was the only full family picture we got! She is just fabulous. Midway mania after this. I sat btwn Gwinna & Noelle…too lazy to shoot! Ha. That seemed like a longer one and Michael gave me another look as if to say “not worth the wait” at one point but I enjoyed the line. Felt as though we were toys in Andy’s room! Everything oversized. Door, nightstand, cool Christmas lights! So fun. 
Next was an outdoor beauty & the beast live show. Fun with huge characters :) 
My family looked a little bit bored though  
ABC Commissary lunch - great Mediterranean salad with pita bread. 
Michael, Sia and Gwinna went into “Walt Disney presents” while it was
Hollywood tower for me & Noey! Fast passes, ran through twice because she loved it!!!! YAY!!! AND it did not make me sick!!! So so happy about that. Still my absolute favorite ride. I told Noelle to just let herself fly & let go the second time! Ha. She tried but could not do it. Next time!! Yay. Mj said I looked like a little happiest kid in our picture. Tis just the best!
We got on smugglers run (didn’t even realize they had that one) because I got a fast pass for it mid day! Yay! Sia and dad piloted, Noey and Gwinna were in the middle seats and me and a single riding girl were the fixers:) good time, not crazy like my first time on it! Sia loves this one! Who knew!? 
Another note: Star Wars land way bigger and better in Disneyland. Oh! Another note Noelle and gwinna kinda cut a guy off at one point (and crowds were not even crazy here! Bigger spaces all over! So nice) but he gestured with both hands up and looked annoyed and I just thought “wow guy! Never go to Disneyland!” 
Hollywood Brown Derby for early dinner. Girls picked out faces of who was who on the walls :) nice quiet dark cool. Mj said the BEST bread he’s ever had. If they had kept bringing it he would have kept eating it. Better pork here than at Be our Guest dinner. 
After dinner we figured we were reinvigorated to wait in a 55 minute line for rise of the resistance (Gwinna’s must-go-on ride!) it ended up being longer and Michael 1. Wasn’t thrilled about it 2. Needed to go the bathroom so he got out of line when they announced it was an unforeseen delay at least 5 different times. Lots of people got out of line but we stayed strong sitting down & girls remembered they had sour candy their dad had bought earlier that they snacked on:) we were at the very front of the line because so many people left for fireworks when the worker hung up the phone and announced to move all the way forward. Lots of cheering and clapping! Hehe fun! 
The people right in front of us had left the line like 2 minutes before this happened!!! 
We were determined to get on.
We made it. This ride always scares me and excites me. Such a cool experience to be in it completely!
MJ headed home since it was our last one but me and girls had to do muppet vision!!! One of the very last times it will ever be shown. Such a cool theater and hilarious show. I love the old hecklers & miss piggy is my favorite. All angry & loving herself  so great. 

Day 4
Back to Boma breakfast with the gals while Michael worked out & ate his built bars;) too good not to do again. Michael Joes 40th birthday. Mom and dad called from Italy to sing to him in Italian as they were heading through their town to find puddles for dad to take photos of. Cute peoples. 
Animal Kingdom dia! Perfect for MJ day! Rainforest cafe lunch which was a fun experience with the thunderstorms and moving animals & MJ was so happy with the food. Yay! Always felt good when we all loved the food but especially him:) 
Oh another side note: I saw MEN do double takes at Michael’s arms multiples times. Funny. 
It’s tough to be a bug show! They announced before that this was the last 3 days it will ever be shown before it turns into something zootopia! I’m so happy the girls got to experience it. I forgot it was a little bit of a scary one but so fun! 3D..bugs crawling under us and getting poked and sprayed but stink bugs! Ha. 
Also one of Michael’s favorite movies! Perfect. 
Me and girls did Kali river rapids and got SOAKED by the one drop on the ride. Such a shorter one than in California park but fun. My sweatshirt stayed totally wet the rest of the day. 
After this me and Noelle did expedition Everest which was a crazy yeti, backwards at one point roller coaster. Fun & a crazy feeling that shows on Noeys face in the picture! I loved it. That was one we didn’t repeat though ;) 
Tiffins dinner. Such an odd one. Took way too long to be seated and served … good dinner though. Spicy Shrimp and grits and mine had baby popcorn in it!? So weird but it worked!!! Dessert was a no go for all of us though and was such a bummer because if we had known we would have done simple dole whip again. Me and Noelle got fancy “chocolate bar” that was spicy in the after taste with some kind of alcohol in the mousse..just too fancy and weird. Sias creme brûlée was not even that.tiny and fancy. 
Kilamanjaro safari was last on our list and it was so fun & sweet to see the animal buddies closer up. Funny commentaries from kids behind us kept making gwinna laugh. 
Back home flight was lovely. Noelle was the peacemaker in deciding to sit “alone” but with a stranger. I watched Top Gun: Maverick and Atlantis! I just love movies. Overnight oats were our last breakfast option, not as good but still ok for an in flight meal :) 
Girls ran over for birthday party for Layla upon getting home basically and when they came back it looked like they’d been to Hawaii;) 
Perfect calm before the storm. Gwinna woke up the next day needing only me. We knew. She had become a woman overnight and I have been expecting it for such a long time that it was such a tender mercy and huge, beautiful relief to have the luxury of being there for her in the comfort of our home. Thank GOODNESS. She was in pain and slightly drama & I just smiled and comforted and knew it would go this way and she will be just fine fine fine :) 
Two days later we are traveling. She is a brave girl and can do hard things and her main motivation is seeing Asher! Yaaay! Could not have been more perfectly timed. 

MAGIC KINGDOM
Philharmagic
Mine train
Mermaid 
Peter Pan 
Small world 
Christmas shop 
Tiki / dole whip 
Carousel of progress
Pirates 1:10
Haunted mansion 2:55
DINNER (be our guest) 3:50
Tiana 7:35
EPCOT
Remys ratatouille 10:20
Spaceship earth 1:25
Short film festival 2:30 
Chefs de France (lunch) 12
Soarin 3:20 
Frozen Ever after
Journey with figment (dad & Gwinna) 
Teppan Edo (dinner) 4:40
HOLLYWOOD
Runaway Railway 11:35
MidwY mania in btwn … 
Beauty and the beast show 12:30 (starts at 1:00!
Walk up lunch (ABC commissary)
Twilight tower 3:15 
Smuggler 3:55
Rise of the resistance 
Muppet vision
Hollywood brown derby (dinner) 5:10 
Walt Disney presents 
ANIMAL KINGDOM 
Rainforest lunch 11:30
Tough to be a bug 1:10
Kali river 2:15
Expedition Everest 3:15
Tiffins (dinner) 4:05
Kilamanjaro safari 

Back home flight was lovely. Noelle was the peacemaker in deciding to sit “alone” but with a stranger. I watched Top Gun: Maverick and Atlantis! I just love movies. Overnight oats were our last breakfast option, not as good but still ok for an in flight meal :) 
Girls ran over for birthday party for Layla upon getting home basically and when they came back it looked like they’d been to Hawaii;) 
Perfect calm before the storm. Gwinna woke up the next day needing only me. We knew. She had become a woman overnight and I have been expecting it for such a long time that it was such a tender mercy and huge, beautiful relief to have the luxury of being there for her in the comfort of our home. Thank GOODNESS. She was in pain and slightly drama & I just smiled and comforted and knew it would go this way and she will be just fine fine fine :) 
Two days later we are traveling. She is a brave girl and can do hard things and her main motivation is seeing Asher! Yaaay! Could not have been more perfectly timed.