February Disneyland 2020 Part 2

February 5, 2020 

Disneyland Day 2 

California Adventure

The morning started out rough. The rides we wanted to start on that we waited an hour in a specific spot for were not open yet. It was a little frustrating. So we walked through the whole park to find something open!

Before Radiator Racers!

DURING Radiator Racers!

We all loved it and had to go twice during the trip. Sadly the second round we didn't get seats together.

Derek and Connor went together the second time. It looks like Kael poo pooed out.

Merry Go Rounds never get old!

We needed something to do for a while and there were a lot of long waits. We went to the Brother Bear area by the Grizzly River run and found they had a rope swing the kids could try! It was so cute and fun to run around. It made us excited for Alaska as the kids all earned a spirit animal.

  We did a lot of little rides. It was so much fun!

 Silly Symphony Swings made me sick the first time, and then it was really nice the next two or three times. We went on it a lot.

Jumping Jelly Fish gave us beautiful views of the park.

 Goofy's Sky School used to be a favorite, but it just whips you so hard around the turns it hurts your back. But we loved having rides ALL the kids would go on.

When it was dark we finally got passes for Guardian's of the Galaxy Mission Breakout!

We have been waiting years to see the changes from the Tower of Terror.

Sadly the picture didn't show the girls, but it was so much fun and I screamed louder than I have in a long time. Poor Eden next to me had to endure my screams. After about 3 drops I was done, but it just kept going forever! Seemed to last a lot longer than I remember. After we were done all I could think of was this tiny girl on the end could love it then Connor would have laughed after we did it, and I wished we had brought him. He will love it the next time we go!

 We hung out super late for the "World of Color" show. We were so tired and our feet hurt so bad, but we hung out and waited and it was beautiful. Poor Elara slept through part of it.

It was really beautiful.

Day 3!!!

Kael and I chose the not spin so fast tea cup. Derek took the 3 littles for the spin insane tea cup.

Kael and I got brave in the middle, or Kael made me be brave and we started spinning and it turned out to be a lot of fun for this old Mom.

Toon town was perfect timing! Elara met her twin Minnie and zero lines at Go Go Gadget Coaster and we road it like 3 times.

 We were able to ride Space Mountain again and Connor stared off into the distance again. He loved it and we ALL loved Space Mountain. I think we all agreed it was a family favorite to ride together.

 We got to do the Rise of the Resistance again, and when our turn came we got kicked off half way through. BUT they let us come again and we got some awesome pictures we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It was so much fun even though it was slightly frustrating. The stormtroopers were actually really nice even though they were "suppose" to be mean.

 We got to see Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, Rey and R2D2!

 We rode Winnie the Pooh waiting for Star Wars rides.

Day 4
Drive to Phoenix

We dropped Derek off at the airport Friday Feb. 7th in the morning. When we drove off and were getting on the freeway the van died. Like just turned off died.
We made it to a gas station where I called Shannon's husband Dwayne for our rescue. He is always so kind to help us with any mechanical trouble we are having. We determined it should make it the 6 hour journey to their house where he could then take a look at the van.
It died a couple more times on the journey, BUT we made it!

Dwayne was able to look at the van the next two days and we determined it was burning oil like mad... It was SUPER low. Dwayne got us all fixed up and we didn't have problems on the drive home. I checked the oil frequently and did have to add oil about half way home, but we didn't have the van die on us!

We got to visit with Jon and Shannon's families and Uncle Josh Friday night and then we were able to visit with Uncle Jake and his family on Sunday and Uncle Josh and Aunt Emily and finally meet baby Joel!

I always struggle getting pictures when I visit Phoenix. I am having so much fun visiting everyone I just never pull my phone out! I made sure to take a picture with baby Joel and Gwennie and then with Jake and Nicole's kiddos with mine! I couldn't leave without getting their cute faces to come home with me and the kids.

 Jake had to leave for the airport for work, but I made sure to snag a photo with Nicole.

It was good to get home! I love vacations, but always need a vacation from my vacation. The kids had to jump back to school basically the very next day.

February is basically one of my favorite months. I love being able to celebrate Derek even though basically the whole month he celebrates us. 

For Valentines Day this year he took me van shopping. With the other van burning oil we made the difficult decision not to take it to Alaska. And if we needed another vehicle we decided to get something with all wheel drive. I love my toyota sienna way too much, so we went with a new model that had the AWD. It was difficult to say goodbye to Yoda because he had been so good to us. But Mando is a beast, and has sliding doors. I'm super in love with my new van and I'm grateful to Derek for taking me van shopping on his birthday!

Yoda
Mando

 In January because I didn't take any pictures I didn't document. However, Kael was able to receive the Aaronic Priesthood Sunday January 19th. His Dad ordained him and gave him an amazing blessing. In the circle he was able to be joined by many Pinkston men. It was such an amazing day.
The Pinkston's came in strong numbers to support the kid and our family and it was just an incredible experience. Shortly after on January 24th I was able to take Kael to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. It's so cool to take your kid to do grown up things. I am so proud of Kael and the choices he is making to try and become the best man he can someday. He is such an incredible example to his younger siblings.
In February, Kael was able to go to the temple with his Deacon's quorum and the other young men and young women in our ward. He was super excited to have this experience. They grabbed some photos of the youth and I'm grateful for them, so Kael can remember the first time he went to the temple with other young men and young women. I hope he can remember the feelings he had while in the temple and how it is such an amazing place to be.

In February I also decided I wanted to look for a new kitchen table to take to Alaska. We have officially outgrown our current table we purchased when we first moved to Texas. We had one less Connor, and our kids were a lot smaller. I wanted to be able to host people at our table when we had them over for dinner. After searching prices of tables and realizing how expensive they were I looked on online websites for used tables to purchase and found this gem! A lady made the table on her own. The wood on the table itself is in excellent condition and I decided with Heidi's and Derek's help to tackle making the table into what I want! I love the farmhouse style table, so I got to work! The benches needed to be fixed first. And I kept looking for some chairs that would go with the table and found 3 online for $20 as well! And the beginning of my work working skills began. I LOVED this project.

 I purchased new wood for the benches legs.

 Kael lost a LOT of teeth in February! He is officially toothless. He lost 8 teeth, 4 on each side. He only has his 4 molars left to go and he will finally have lost all his baby teeth! The kid is growing up. But, he can be a baby with no teeth again for a while.

 It's always warm enough in February for sprinklers under the trampoline. So, last year in Texas we decided to embrace and enjoy the heat in the winter and have some fun!

 After searching and searching online websites for used furniture I found some bed frames and a matching chest of drawers and night stand for the girls room! I LOVE them! It took some rearranging for it all to work, but it was worth it. In our new house in Alaska there will be a play room again and no toys in the kids rooms again, so it will make their rooms look so nice!

 I also found this bedframe for Connor's room for FREE online. I'm so excited to sand it down and repaint it once we get to Alaska. I decided it can get dinged up when the movers move it, and it'll make a nice project in Alaska.

 Elara wanted me to do an up hair do and this is what we came up with. I love it. I love having girls to do their hair and do girly things.

 I got all 4 kids in to the dentist at the same time. They lined all 4 up and cleaned their teeth. 3 of the 4 all had cavities... A Mom's nightmare. We got them all rescheduled to get the cavities fixed. They all went without laughing gas, and just got numbed and I am so proud of them! They are all growing up and becoming more brave and responsible each day!