'Tis the time of year

Somehow the first few weeks of December seemed to slip away from me and here we are a week before Christmas and a two weeks before 2013.  We have kept busy the past few weeks though, here are a few thing that we have done-

We decorated the Christmas tree, though most of the ornaments are on the top two-thirds of the tree to keep them away from little hands and on the tree. 

Had friends over for an annual dinner and actually had all of us here for the first time in many years.

Went to Grandma Helen's funeral.

And had out of town family over for Sunday dinner

We went to the zoo for the Zoo Lights- and missed the cold and crowds

Went to the Bradley family breakfast and ate delicious food and saw Santa

Sent out Christmas cards- the kids were my licking and stamping brigade. James decided that he had to soak is tongue in a glass of water after.

We took the kids to the Dickens festival, something that Christian I remember going to when we were kids, the kids loved it.

We made fudge and delivered it to our neighbors.

And we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa Bradley home from the Germany.

It has been a busy few weeks and there seems to be no end in sight for a while, but at least we are having adventures!

Bellamy Family Breakfast

Growing up I remember loving to attending Bellamy family activities. I have a plethora of  cousins and we would get together once a month for Family Home Evening and for Thanksgivings and Christmas Eves. Christmas Eve's were an adventure. All piling into Nan's living room singing together and anticipating not only the gifts but our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of roast beef sandwiches. As we grew we still pilled into that room though it was a lot harder to fit the meal was still the same.  Of course it came to the point that there were just to many of us to keep getting together and Thanksgivings and Christmas Eves ended as did the Family Home Evenings. 

Though I still saw a few of my cousins now and then the only real contact I had with them was on Facebook or for a few minutes once a year at a larger family reunion. Truth is, I missed my cousins. I liked sharing time with them and talking with them. I liked being able to recall shared memories. So taking the idea from my husband's family I organized the first Bellamy Family breakfast-

We didn't have everyone there but we had quite a few. We ate, talked and the kids even played a few games.

I loved watching my kids get to know my cousin's kids and become good friends.

At the end (after some had left) we took a picture of Nan and all her grandchildren still at the party. I loved watching Matty take to Jessie and not leaving her alone all day. Or Eve coloring with Tori. It was just fun to watch them all.

I enjoyed being able to see my cousins and spending time with them. I can't wait to do it next year. 

Bradleys visit Disneyland- part 2, the conclusion

Previously- The Bradleys set out to restore Disney to its magical place in Natalie's heart. There were rides, food, and visits with characters. Oh and no Tiki Time Outs (a system invented on the first trip when we couldn't leave the park during a tantrum so time outs were held in the Tiki room). So far so good.

So here is one thing I love about a five day pass in Disneyland- you are in no rush. You can stop and just relax and you don't mind waiting for parades or shows, because you know you have a ton of time to do what you  want, not once, not twice, but as many time as you would like. 

Okay that said Wednesday morning saw us back in Disneyland and we had what I now call the "Disney Miracle" it was Disney's little way of showing me that we were on good terms again *wink* as we got off the Autopia and headed over to Space Mountain there were the big four- Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto. In my twenty-eight years of going to Disneyland I have never seen the four of them together for a photo op. We woke Matty up from his nap (yup it was that big of a deal) and posed for our photo. It is now my favorite memory and keepsake from the trip.  

After seeing a plethora of cougars and aggies in the park we decided it was our day to celebrate our Utes.  It was fun to hear people yell Go Utes as we walked by.


Oh and we did stop and see Tink. That was the one character the kids asked to see.

So Matty loved every ride he went on. He would go on and just say "Whee" in fact while the other kids were riding Star Wars with dad (nine times in total) we would go and ride Buzz Lightyear.

Now Matty has never seen Toy Story or any of its sequels. He has no idea who Buzz was but after the first time we rode Buzz he fell in love and every where we went he would see a sign for Buzz and say "bu, hi" And would wave to the picture. Finally I found out when and where Buzz Lightyear was going to be and Matty and I waited to see him. I love the picture and the time that Buzz spent with him. He was so good with him and Matty was happy.

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My other boy was very happy that we spent as much time as possible in CarsLand. The pictures there were some of the only times we didn't have to coax smiles out of him.

We ended our day seeing the Magical Wonderful Worlds of Extreme Color (I can never remember the real name of that show.) The kids loved it, till James realized that he couldn't see and spent the show on dad's shoulders.

Matty knocked out on my shoulders and then was able to sleep through a diaper change and the putting on pajamas.

After Wednesday I was still shocked to find we had two more days. We supposidly got in the park in an hour early but by the time we got through the line (after getting there 40 minutes before the lines opened) we only got in 20 minutes early.  We still had fun though and spent some time playing in Toon Town or as I now call it Toonton. 

Oh and we played in Bug's Land- Something I had never done before but which the kids all really loved.

I took the girls on Tower of Terror, poor Eve decided at the last second that she didn't want to go, it was a bit late for that decision though and there were many, many tears shed. She had already been on it early in the week but I guess she forgot she hated it.

It was very rainy that afternoon, one thing I enjoyed because it cleared out the park. Because of this I finally got my family to take a picture that I had wanted to take since Tuesday.

We also ran into Mickey. Another of Matty's favorites.

Again I was so grateful for the characters that took so much time with Matty. Mickey and Buzz were the only ones he would go all the way to visit though.

Matty loved to find new places to sleep, and he was quite good at it. This is yet another sleeping shot while we are Aladdin. A show the kids loved and could not quit quoting the rest of our stay.

Our last day in the Park I wanted to do something special. Growing up we had always had breakfast in the park with the characters. This changed a bit since I was little, they are now served in fancy restaurants with rather nice food choices. We took the kids to one as a celebration of our last day in Disneyland. And they all loved it, only James seemed unimpressed. 

We filled our days with one last time on favorite rides and hoping the wind would not prevent the fireworks. One highlight on our last day was that It's a Small World repopened. Matty loved it the other kids were not fans. In fact Eve came up with the following list of why she hated the ride:


1- The song gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out for hours.
2- It's not fast
3- It's just annoying.

I guess she was lucky that I took her on Space Mountain instead of having to ride it three more times with dad and the boys

We played in Pirates Lair and I found these three monkies in need of a home...we thought we might bring them along with us, just this one time.

The kids then had the chance to captain the Mark Twain. That was when I found out that James is a much better boat pilot then he was a car driver.

So that was our trip. There were no problems, no tears, no time outs. We had a wonderful time and as I walked away that night, after watching fireworks and Fantasmic, I already wanted to go back.

So Disneyland you're back in our hearts and we are all drinking the Disney Kool-aid again.

Bradleys visit Disneyland-part 1

I remember many trips to Disneyland as a young girl with my family. It was a favorite vacation spot for our family and one that we looked forward to visit with eager anticipation. This anticipation and love did not leave any of the Bellamy siblings (or parents) as adults and it was something that we each eagerly shared with our own families.  Two and a half years ago as a new bride and mother I took my new family to Disneyland. I had dreams of what this magical place would be like for my family only to find after three days of dealing with tears, tantrums, anger, timeouts, and full out fits that Disney was no longer a magical place. I remember leaving Disneyland that day, tears of my own flowing down my check the magic of Disneyland having been dashed. 

Fast forward two years, we decided to try again. I had had two years to forget cope come to terms with  well I had had two years and Disney does those great commercials that make we want to jump on a plane and experience the magic once again. So we decided to try again, we were going to redeem Disneyland for the Bradley family and with that we started planning our November trip.  We decided to go in November, when crowds were at a minimum. We bought out tickets early, before they went up in price, I found a killer deal on a hotel suite near the park, and then we found airfare at a reasonable price. So that was it. Armed with an arsenal of  mended dreams, treats, and plenty of pixie dust we headed off. 

We were so eager  to leave that Sunday morning we were at the airport two hours before our flight departure. That eagerness may have been caused by mom and dad wanting to keep the house in the state it was and not give the hurricane aptly named four kids descend and leave us in a rush to clean up. I was just grateful that Christian thought ahead to have bring the entertainment center so the kids could watch Mulan before we boarded.

When we got to California we were very happy to find the weather was in the 90s. We had fun that first night exploring Downtown Disney and the kids especially liked seeing them make the candied apples.

Oh and the super cool legos statues.

Disneyland turned out to be an adventure, the kids were all super brave and all rode every ride they were tall enough for at least once. There were no fits, there were no screaming parties, they all rode. Some once, some several times. James even uttered the now very helpful advice, "If you are riding the Materhorn and are afraid of Yetis, just look the other way."

Matty loved it. He especially loved seeing the characters. He would run up and say "Hi" and then stand and smile at them.

The girls got to see some princesses, though I was grateful that we never waited more than three minutes to see anyone.

Oh the girls also thought ti was fun to pretend they were proper drivers. One thing we did learn on this trip is James is a horrible driver, even when a car is on a track,  and I will not be letting that child get a licence at sixteen.

So day one was a success. We were six happy Bradley's loving our vacation.

Day two saw us visiting California Adventure. After waiting for 30 minutes to get into the Park, Matty promptly went to sleep in his stroller so he and I stood in line for 45 minutes to get fast passes for the new Radiator Springs Car ride. This of course was the longest line we waited in all week long. 

I also discovered that Matty likes merry-go-round but does not like to be kept waiting for the ride. He was very happy to start his carsouel, but we were off a few minutes later when the ride still had not started. Oh the joys of a toddler attention span. 

One thing I love about going to Disneyland in November is that day by day you see the  park transform for Christmas, we found this little corner of Christmas cheer.

Finally we made it to Carsland, the place James had been waiting to visit for...well since he found out that it existed. He loved it there, his face had a huge grin from the moment we walked in till we left. He loved it.

Matty loved the Monster's Inc. ride. We went on it three times in a row.

We ended our day seeing Goofy! What a great day!

The kids had a fun time with day two, and I loved being in Disneyland while the election came to a head. I could go back to the hotel and see the results and not have to wait through everything. Fabulous.

Disneyland was slowly being redeemed. There had been no Tiki time outs as yet, no threats of Tiki time outs. We still had three more days, but there was a glimmer of  hope that maybe, just maybe we might all survive with the Disney dreams intact this time.

Eve turns eight!

On Halloween Eve our Eve turned eight.  Eve is really a delightful child. She is a happy girl and smart as whip. Eve loves to make friends and is quick with a smile. I think her favorite role is that of big sister. She loves playing with Matty and is with him every chance she can get. She has developed quite the talent for art as well.  We feel so grateful that she is our daughter. 

For her birthday we just had Grammy and Poppa over for cake. It was chocolate, of course. Eve also was sporting some awesome braids that day. 

Since eight is a very special birthday in our church Eve also had the chance to be baptized this weekend.  She was darling and we were very happy that she made the decision to be baptized.

We love you Evie! Happy birthday!