We spent the last 10 days on vacation. We had a great time. We went with my sister and her family. She has two kids. And my parents went with us too. Here is what we did each day.

Day 1- Left after work to drive to Las Vegas and stayed at my grandma’s house. Got in late and went to bed.

Day 2- We went to Costco to get some food. Then we spent the rest of the day and early evening swimming. The kids were in the pool for almost 5 hours.

Day 3- Father’s Day! Drove to California. Got in before we could check into the hotel so we drove down to the beach. We walked out on Balboa Point and drove through Newport. Checked into the hotel, went to get some dinner, and went to bed early.

Day 4- Disneyland. With our vacation package we got into Toon Town an hour before it opened. This was prefect for the kids to meet the characters, get their signatures, and pictures taken. They also did a program where Mickey made all the kids Honorary Mayors of Toon Town like him. We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland. One scary thing did happen this day. We were getting off the Finding Nemo submarine ride and Jake walked off while we were getting Josh into his stroller. He was gone for about 15 minutes. We were running all over trying to find him. I just panicked. We got a security guard to help us. He was finally tracked down. When the security guard told me that they had someone that matched that description then I just started crying. It was him! He was so good the rest of the trip to hold someone’s hand even when we did not ask him to.

Day 5- Again with our vacation package we got in an hour before the park opened to visit Fantasyland. It was perfect because all those kid rides that have long lines we only had a 5 minute wait. Plus, Josh got to go on all the rides. We got all the Fantasyland rides done in an hour and half. We then spent the rest of the day at California Adventure. Jake loved both of the parades. He hated Tower of Terror. But he did get to meet his favorite characters, Lightning McQueen and Mater. Jake got picked to talk to Crush at the Animation place. Here is their conversation.
Crush-Next question from the kid in the striped shirt with four ears. (Jake wearing his Mickey ears) Do you listen better with four ears?
Jake- No, I just got these ears yesterday at Disneyland.
Crush- What’s your name?
Jake- Jake
Crush- Dude, you are Jammin’ Jake. What’s your question.
Jake- I like to play Mario Kart.
Crush- Oh, that must be a true or false question so I will go with the answer true.
Jake- What is your favorite game?
Crush- Hide and Seek. Do you like to play?
Jake-No because then I would have to play underwater with you.
Crush then played Hide and Seek with the audience. Jake loved talking to him.

Day 6- We got up to go to Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast. Jake had lunch for breakfast. He wanted Macaroni and Cheese, hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets. Then he had a Mickey waffle with bacon. We loved the breakfast. We had visits from Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Alice in Wonderland, and Baloo. We got to help Goofy make a cake too. Then we did whatever anybody wanted to do for a second time. Jake got to ride his favorites again: Pirates of the Carribean, Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, The Jungle Cruise, and Autotopia. The only ride he didn’t get to ride a second time that he wanted to was Star Tours. We also got to see Fantasmic which my mom so kindly waited with our spots for 3 hours so we could get good seats. After the show we watched the fireworks.

The boys were so good. Jake walked and walked complaining very little. Josh was a trooper to sit most of the day in his stroller and not be able to crawl very much. We were so tired each night when we got back to the hotel. Jake was asleep within minutes. Josh was really good to take naps in his stroller. On the last day of Disneyland Jake asked if he could sit in the stroller. We let him and he fell asleep in a few minutes. He was worn out! My mom was so nice to stay off some of the rides that Josh couldn’t ride. I really appreciate her so that I could enjoy doing things with Jake. Jake got a Buzz Lightyear gun with foam darts and Josh got some Disney characters to play with. My dad also bought each of the boys a frame and he got us a Castle Snowglobe.

Day 7- Checked out of our hotel. Drove down the coast towards San Diego. We went to the beach in La Jolla. Jake told us that he wasn’t going to get in the water and before we knew it he was laying down in the water. Josh liked getting his feet wet too. This was our coldest day of the whole trip. Checked into our hotel in San Diego.

Day 8- Sea World. We saw all the shows and aquariums. Jake’s favorite was the shark tank. Before we left I ordered the Showtime Picnic for lunch with Shamu. This was really fun. The kids got a lunch box of Shamu and the lunch was really good. We bought the boys each a t-shirt and Jake really wanted a shark squirt gun.

Day 9- Drove to Las Vegas. We had to hurry back so we could eat dinner at Red Rock. We then swam for a few hours before going to bed.

Day 10- Drove home.

There are 5 pages of pictures on our flickr account. To view all of them click on a picture to the right and it will take you to our account. The pictures start from the last day and go to the first of the trip. Video at http://www.youtube.com/user/kadidenhover There is not any video at Disneyland because it was too hard to hold or push a stroller with Josh and hold Jake’s hand to video. So we did get some of Goofy’s Kitchen, the beach, Sea World, and swimming in Las Vegas.

Josh is getting so big. He now can pull himself up the side of the couch. Then he cruises from end to end. He is so proud of himself and gets the biggest smile. He wants to be up on his feet the whole time I am holding him but when I try to walk with him he won’t do it. I don’t have any stats on his weight and height, but I do know that is getting so heavy to carry and I end up putting him in a stroller most of the time. We love you Josh!

Jake had his last soccer and t ball game a few weeks. He was so excited to get both of his trophies. He did a great job playing and we loved watching him! Trophy pictures to the right.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to walk through the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. This brings Jake’s and Josh’s total to 2 temples this year. They are so lucky. We actually got to watch the movie presentation this time. It was very interesting. The word Oquirrh is a Ute Indian word meaning shining mountain. Walking through the temple was such a neat experience. Jake had lots of questions like he did when we went through the Draper Temple. We looked through the mirrors in the Sealing Room and talked to Jake about how we are a forever family. Jake said his favorite part was the water like at the other temple. He told us soon he would be 12 and then he come come get in it. I hope that he remembers walking through both temples this year.
On a side note Kurt had to bear his testimony today about temples and temple work. I am glad we had this experience so he could share some thoughts about it. Pictures to the right.

Last week Jake took swim lessons. He took from the same place that we have gone for the last two years. He is doing so good at swimming. This year she worked with him on doing a back swim on top of improving his front swim, backfloat, and dive. He loves getting into the pool and swimming! See video here and pictures to the right.