{Day 2:LA}

Day 2 we woke up to GORGEOUS weather.
It was a bit cooler then the first day-like 85 degrees,
and that set the tone for a lovely day.
We decided to take a day to hit up the beach
and just do whatever we felt like in LA.

We first headed to The Grove
to hit up the American Girl store.
(A fun little surprise for the girls.)
Extra was filming there and we saw
Maria Menunous filming in all her 75 lb. glory.
(She's tiny.)
Between this and watching Tori Spelling
film a movie in Utah last week
we feel almost like Hollywood A-listers.
Look for Trav on Dancing with the stars next season.
Oh, I'm funny.

The ladies loved the AG store
and wanted one of
EVERYTHING.
But we came away with a very small
something instead.
And they were thrilled enough.

My favorite part of the whole entire trip
was hitting up the Farmers Market.
Booths of fresh fruits and veggies,
Tons-and tons of authentic restaurants,
Loads of European pastry shops...

And candy shops galore.
It felt very much like we were
hanging out in SOL-downtown in Madrid.
It was really fun to have the kids there.
And you know what Trav found?
This restaurant in the heart of the Market.
And real Spanish Tortilla!
He was in pure heaven.

The ladies found Belguim waffles
with bananas and chocolate syrup.
Oh they were also pretty happy!

If you really care to hear about our

food choices for the day,
I had some spinach/mushroom crepes that were divine.
It was such a relaxing break to browse the market
and lunch in the sun.

Next we headed to Santa Monica after driving around
in Beverly Hills for a bit and stopping here for cookies.
(Camille, they were divine!)We basically browsed the pier,
and walked along the beach
while the ladies found seashells
and just enjoyed the sound of the waves.
A very different relaxing day compared to
our Disneyland days!

Afterwards we came back to the hotel and lounged
till dinner. I had to laugh at this picture because you
can just see how TUCKERED Sienna is here.
That kid is not used to going so hard everyday...
and by day 2 it was already taking it's toll.
Sure love her!Tomorrow: Disneyland

{Disney Day 1}

Ready for our little Disney re-cap?
It was warm!
It was great!
It was also kinda awful.
Trav's rib pain was really, really bothersome
making LONG days walking on asphalt
pretty hard on him.
At times I'd look over at him and
see him wincing as he breathed.
My friend Eileen said it best:
Cancer doesn't take a vacation.
OH but I wish it did!
Bless his heart.
He made it the best week he could for our
girls, and did his best to fake feeling well.
He's a good man, that T.

Anyhow,
let's get the re-cap started.
We began our trip with an overnight
stop in Vegas.
We had big plans to do something fun
while there...
and then we got there and remembered
how much we hate the strip.
So you know what we did?
We found a cheesecake factory
and ate in delight.
(And we only saw ONE very inappropriately
dressed lady. But man, when I say very....)
And we scored free red velvet cheesecake.
And it was really, really, really good.
The next morning we happily said goodbye
to Vegas and drove to California.
The ladies were really great on the drive.
I'm pretty sure it was due to the fact that
both of their Grandmas made sure they wouldn't be bored!
Thank you Grandmas!

And have you ever seen such adorable
travel partners?

You know what we found in California?
The sun!
And the color green. Oh how we love green!

We checked into our hotel.
Checked the temperature...95 degrees??
And headed to Disney.

(Our feet on Disney land)

And don't our ladies look excited and so sweet and serene?
Oh wait...maybe not!

Since last year they have opened

the new Ariel ride, so we hit that up first.
The wait was only 10 minutes...
so we were thinking it wasn't a very crowded day.

We found out as we headed to Disney that
we were wrong! Holy Moly,
it was a zoo! And it was SO awfully hot.
We got to Disney just as the parade was
starting and watched that for a minute and then
thought about going on Splash Mountain to
cool off...till we saw that the wait was 120 minutes.
Um...no.
We were very scared that the week was going to be awful.
(If you can't wait to find out how they were in the next
few posts, I'll tell you now that the crowds dissipated
completely after the first day and it was a completely better place to be!)

We went on all the fast moving lines that afternoon,
Small world, pirates, jungle cruise...
And then watched the fireworks.
And then we slept!
Oh boy, how we slept!We love that Disneyland.

{Instagram}

I've been pretty much sucking at blogging

due to my new obsession with instagram.

I'm in love with this app,
but it's pretty much made me forgo
my actual camera and only use my
iphone camera.

I'm setting a goal to change that.
(Not that I will instagram less...I'll just take pictures along with it.)

Do you instagram?
If so, I want to follow you!
Find me @haykidman.

(If my new obsession is instagram,
Adyson's is very much Mr. Beiber.)
Ugh.
(Drawn during Sacrament meeting, no less.)

Me teaching my dear friend Candace the glory
of the Instagram.....if only she would use it.

Homework time.

Waiting with my love at Huntsman.

Sienna the thug on a glasses kind of day.

{Our Valentines}

This year we got a little creative with our Valentines,
and had a lot of fun crafting them.
I'm not usually the craftiest of people,
so when I do actually make something,
I'm kinda proud of myself.
Anyhow, here are our Valentines this year.

We wrapped these mini cereal boxes
up with a cute bow and a red spoon
with a little tag that said,
"We Cerealsly like you."
We gave these to cousins a some of
their friends not in their class at school.
They turned out pretty cute.
(Idea found on pinterest).
For their teachers we made these darling
pop top cans filled with this delicious popcorn.
I wanted to make these for about a million
people but just didn't start saving cans in time.
I thought they turned out darling.

Since I didn't have enough cans I just
filled some bags with the rest of the popcorn.
Still pretty cute, I think.

But these Valentines the girls gave their classmates
turned out so adorable....but sadly, I can take
absolutely no credit for them.
One of my friends had all of these darling
plastic cases and came up with the Valentines
idea, as well as took the pictures...and gave me
the paper.
My friends are pretty much fabulous.

Aren't they darling?

Valentines morning the ladies awoke
to find their Valentine surprises
(Jewelry boxes and a few little things),
and a fun little table setting for breakfast.
Sadly, I had to nix the heart shaped pancakes because
Sienna was too sick...so we opted for heart shaped
toast. It was not very original, but they at least ate it...And then I put the camera away and snuggled
with my sick baby for the rest of the day.
I can't complain,
she's pretty adorable.

I hope you all had a fabulous V-day!

{Donuts with a BFF}

The ladies each brought home a letter
last week saying that Thursday was
donuts with a BFF and they were to
choose ANY person they'd like.

I waited for my invitation.

Then Dad walked in the door.
And they both begged him to come.

Both of them.

I'd be more hurt if I didn't get it completely.

Their Dad is kinda fabulous.
They had a grand time.

P.S.---if you don't read the cancer blog,
head on over there and read the latest post.
We are soliciting prayers, good wishes,
and happy thoughts.

Click here.

{Smitten}

Right now I am completely smitten
with my two little ladies.

Truth.


Lately they have become
the very best of friends.
I'm not gonna lie,
they have their moments where
they argue, but mostly they
want to spend every second together.


At bed time Adyson snuggles into Sienna's bed
and they read in the dark with their reading lights aglow.
It's the sweetest thing.

And each day after school,

they get their treat homework done
as fast as they can so they can play
dance class, teacher, and listen to Justin Beiber.
(I tried to prolong the Beiberfever...I really did,
but it hit them just like every other kid from 5 up. Boo.)

They even share friends
without any fighting.
Most of the time.
It's glorious!

I keep praying and hoping and crossing all my fingers and toes
that they continue their friendship.
A sister is something special.

I adore these ladies of mine.
Adore them.

Princess Party

About a month ago when Trav
went in for his treatment at the
Cancer Center, he was informed
that One Wish Inc. had paid for our
little ladies to go to the Princess Party
hosted by the Child and family support center
in the USU ballroom.

What a fun surprise for our girls!
And for us!

Not only did they let us have
such a great time at the party,
but they sent Snow White and Cinderella
over to invite the girls to the party!
(Sure wish my video upload would work!)

This couldn't have come at a better time.
Travis was feeling pretty terrible, and Sienna was
home with the flu.
We were all feeling pretty blue.
But nothing cheers you up like princesses
on your front porch.
Trust me.

They brought a huge bag full of surprises
for the girls. Princess dresses,
movies, tiaras, wands, a barbie..
I mean, the list is long and the ladies LOVED it.

We waited a very long week till the day of the party
and then it was time to go.
They got in their darling new dresses
and we headed up to the ballroom where they....Got their makeup done.
(Sienna chose black. Lovely.)Got their hair done...Made beautiful jewelry...Were given a rose from Prince Charming.Got their nails done...Met Snow White,
(And Cinderella, Rupunzel, Tinkerbell, Ariel, & Belle)

And on their way out they even ran into
the Fairy God Mother!It was such a fun day!
We are so grateful to
One wish
for donating this to our family.
If you read our Cancer Blog
you know that the past week
has been extremely tough on our family.
It was lovely to have a day to forget
everything that was going on
and just spoil our girls.
Thank you for thinking of us.
We really are so. very. thankful.

Click here to link up to One Wish Cache Valley.