DisneyWorld with Jack

It may have taken a few years but finally Jack got to experience Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios! Disney opened up this expansion back in Aug. of 2019 and the boys and I were fortunate to go in January of 2020 with Marilee and Wyatt as an early birthday present for the boys.  We were lucky as a couple months later everything closed down for Covid.  Between Jack's commuting schedule, the kids schedules, and me being in no hurry to go again, our biggest Star Wars fan of the family though had yet to go.  Our neighbors saved the day though by offering us some of their Club 33 passes which pushed me to find a time that would work when I could go with Jack. The beauty of their passes is you get like 14 fast passes with each ticket which makes a big difference on how much you can see in a day.  After being spoiled with our SeaWorld passes while Jack worked there, it's been hard to get excited about waiting in a line to ride a ride but this made the transition a lot nicer.  Paul and Sage were able to go a couple weeks ago and finally Jack and I were able to find a weekend when he was in town, Sage wasn't racing in a regatta, we had no visitors, and the weather was good! 

Time to break out some good walking shoes... Luckily we had preferred parking which made getting in and out of four parks in one day a tiny bit easier.

Our first stop was Animal Kingdom! The Avatar ride never disappoints.  

Next we were off to Hollywood Studios!  We knew this is where we'd spend the majority of our time and boy was Jack in heaven.  He truly was like a kid in a candy shop taking it all in.  

The grounds at Epcot!

We ended our day at Magic Kingdom watching the fireworks...well watching them as we raced through the park to try to beat the crowds who would all soon be flooding the exits too. 

I was pretty proud of this photo I captured as we were leaving! 

Surprisingly we made it through four parks,  got on twelve rides and enjoyed a break for lunch and a late night snack. Jack will tell you his favorite rides were all the Star Wars ones.  Mine was by far the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at Epcot. Our legs may feel like they could fall off but it was all worth it to see Jack so happy! 

Until next time...which will probably be once grandkids come...haha!

Beautiful Utah in February!

There are times I enjoy the cold winter weather of Utah and there are times I don't.  This was definitely one of the times I did.  It's been a long time since Utah has seen any kind or substantial snowfall but this year has been different.  It's appearing it will be a record breaking year and judging from how beautiful Deer Creek looked as we drove around it on our way to checking out the house, I have to assume after years of drought, spring will look different and hopefully all the lakes and reservoirs will recover some of the losses they've felt over the last decade.  

Here is a beautiful view of Mt. Timp from the plane.

If there is one drive I never get tired of it's the one between my parent's house in Provo, to what will soon be our home in Heber.  How beautiful it was to see the backside of Timp and to see Deer Creek covered with snow and all the fishermen with their tents set up on top of the ice.  Something I would NEVER be caught doing!!! Timp looks beautiful no matter the time of year but seeing her covered with all that snow is really jaw dropping.  

If there's another thing I never get tired of it's spending time with this guy.  Oh how we are looking forward to living full time in the same state together...

I don't know what we'd do without these two.  They have been such a tremendous help to us over the years from watching kids to hosting extended visits, but how nice it will be to finally live near them so I can repay them for all the help they've been to us over the years.

Uncle Paul to the rescue!

While it took a little arm pulling, we were finally able to talk Paul into leaving the snowy Utah weather to come hang out in the sunny Florida weather. For this particular trip, we timed his visit so that after he arrived here I could take off to Utah, leaving him to hang out with Sage and Nova. Now Sage doesn't really need looking after, but Nova does.  Yes, our sweet dog has major anxiety and since he no longer fits in his carryon case, he has to stay behind but with Sage's busy schedule it makes it so hard because we can't leave him in his kennel for the whole day and unfortunately when we've left him to wander the house in the past while we were out, he has been known to do a lot of damage. So how grateful we were to Paul coming to the rescue!  

Within minutes of arriving, Paul had a new best friend.

Thanks to the generosity of our next door neighbors who shared some of their Disney Club 33 passes with us, Paul and Sage were able to spend an afternoon at DisneyWorld.  Unfortunately the only day Sage could go was Saturday, which unfortunately happened to be the one Saturday she was scheduled to take her ACT exam. But that didn't stop them from rushing over to the parks right after she finished the test.  Thankfully they each had over a dozen fast passes that came with their tickets so they were able to cover quite a bit of ground.  And aside from some very tired legs, from covering four parks, they said it was so fun!

Thank you Paul for holding down the fort!  We love you!!!

They're finally back!

After over an 18 month hiatus, how wonderful it was to finally get my parents back out for a visit. Between me traveling to Utah to deal with the home construction and therefore getting to see them more frequently and them dealing with health issues and finding travel a bit more challenging as they get older, it had been a minute since they had been here. But how nice it was to finally have them return for a relaxing visit.  From lounging by the pool and a ride on the lake, to a leisurely walk around Kelly Park, to lunch at Disney Springs, we always have a lovely time.  I can't express enough how grateful I am to have been blessed with such kind and loving parents.