Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge!

We landed in Orlando at about 5:00 in the morning Florida time, which is 3:00 Utah time and we were beat. We picked up our luggage and made our way to the Magical Express. We had to wait quite awhile for the bus to come, and we were the 5th or 6th stop so it took more time than normal to get to our resort. We were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge this trip in the Kidani Village. Doug and Matt and their families had flown in the day before so they had the villa already. We all hung in there for awhile, crashed on the couches, and had breakfast. A few of the kids braved the pool at Kidani Village for awhile but it was pretty cold.

We had pizza for lunch and then we got my dad and Suzanne and the girls all checked into their room. Their location was great, they were right by the lobby. Our condo was at the very furthest end of the hallway, it was not easy or quick to get to. We had fun checking out the animals from the balcony and through the windows along the walk to our room.

Once everyone was settled we took the shuttle to Jambo house to check it out.

It had warmed up a little, but Caleb was the only one still in a swimming suit so he took advantage of the empty pool while we were there.

The rest of us enjoyed the sun and warmth.

We went to the gift shop and the lodge, and then hopped on a bus to Disney Springs in search of Mickey shirts for the cruise and a Disney churro.


We found both, thanks to our tour guide Jacob. Good thing he had a map.

We hit World of Disney, Lego, and a bunch of other stores, but the NBA store was the favorite. We got a cool magnet for the cruise ship door. Next time we will be doing the NBA Experience for sure.

We then went back to the hotel, did some gift shop shopping, had dinner, let the kids swim for a bit and went to bed.

Basketball and Vacation!

Wednesday, January 29th, the kids went to school and I spent the day finishing getting ready for our vacation. It was finally time!! That evening Grandpa Carlile picked up the girls, he took them to dinner at Dairy Keen and then they headed for the airport. The rest of us raced to Orem for Jacob's basketball game. And it was an intense one. But they WON! It was a very exciting game.

The minute it was over we raced to Joe's house in North Salt Lake, picked him up and raced to the airport. We were a little nervous about time, but we made it. 

We were officially on our way to Orlando for Disney World and our Disney Cruise.

January Sports

January is always filled with swimming and basketball. And we love it. Here are a few pictures of Brooke and Jacob. I have no idea where all my pictures of Caleb and Brielle are. I need to find some. But for now...

The white and black uniform is for Jacob's South Summit team. He loves that his name is on his jersey.

I stole these pictures of Brooke diving from the swim photographer.

Caleb loves shooting with Jake's team at half time. He just pretends he's one of them. I'm not sure Jacob loves it, but he's a good brother and never says anything.

An Exciting Weekend

Saturday January 18th we were up early to get ready and do some cleaning. Then we went to Kamas to watch Caleb play basketball. After that we drove to Joe's house in Salt Lake to meet the rest of the family and participate in little Graham's blessing. He is the cutest kid. We were so happy we could be a part of it.

Afterwards we went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and Matt's family at Crown Burger. From there Grandma and Grandpa headed to Lehi with my boys for another basketball game of Caleb's. We went back to Heber with Matt's family. Charles and I had to go to Park City for a dinner at the Christian Center. When we got home we visited with the family for awhile. It was nice to have them here. I felt bad leaving them all.

The next morning, January 19th, at 8:00 Charles was able to ordain Caleb to the office of a deacon, and Jacob to the office of a teacher. I cannot believe they are that old! Caleb has been so excited to pass the sacrament. I'm so proud of those 2 boys.

Matt headed home after church and we had shish-k-bobs with both sets of grandparents. Afterward the Balch's headed home and we sang Happy Birthday to Grandpa Carlile.

It was a fun and eventful weekend with family. After a long nap we decided to get all of our light sabers in working order  for the cruise.

Some Random January Happenings

This is the only picture I have from New Year's Eve, but we had a nice evening at home. The girls were out with their friends. Matt and Jenna gave us this puzzle and I had so much fun doing it. It made me so excited for our upcoming trip.



January 2-4 the girls had a swim meet in St. George. I went down on the 3rd to watch them. I had fun hanging out with my dad and Suzanne for the weekend, and the girls got to come home with me. They each took a turn driving which was so fun for them and so stressful for me. We made it home alive. They really did a great job.



January 9th Brielle had her CAPS recognition night. We got to go to UVU and see what her and her group had been working on all term.


For Christmas one of the things Brooke asked for was to paint her room, so the first free weekend we had we jumped on it. She was tired of the yellow with blue stars. I was kind of sad to see it go. She went with a blue/gray color. It looks nice and she's pretty happy with it.

On the 16th I got my braces off, best day ever! In the end I ended up having them for a year and 2 weeks. Not too bad. Charles was pretty bummed he wasn't getting his off at the same time. Soon. Hopefully.

Working in Park City gets pretty hairy on a bad snow day. People swarm there to ski the nice new snow, and traffic is a nightmare. It is pretty though!

I know this is a super weird picture but one of my favorite things is when I get into my find my people app and I see that all 6 of us are in the same place. I like all my people at home with me. It makes me happy.