Project: Halloween Marquee

Marquee lighted letters are all over the place right now.. Have been at my house for a couple of years, nbd.  ;)

(Check my Christmas board)

Anyway, I decided this year I would make a Halloween sign.. Scratch that, I started this last year but didn't get very far.. I decided I'd finish it this year and add on to my Halloween wreath.

Here's the finished product:

You will need:

- About $25-$35 and someone to drill holes for you (if you're a mess with drills like me)

- MDF or similar wooden board (approximately 2 feet by 4 feet)

- "BOO" wooden letters

- Purple glitter

- Purple acrylic paint

- Purple lights

- Wood or craft glue

- Foam paintbrush

- Cookie sheets (3)

I started with a trip to Hobby Lobby.. of course! These board letters run about $5 each.

I totally forgot to take a pic before we drilled holes.. just imagine them less "holey". 

Fun fact: you can use their 40% off coupon (found at www.hobbylobby.com ) on multiple items IF you bring your kiddos with you. Seriously. Even my 5 month old baby counts as "one person per day". Get in on that!

I also grabbed this purple glitter and acrylic paint while I was there.

The paint is about $1 and the glitter was $3. I also snagged these amazing purple lights for $5 while I was there. 

These are seasonal so grab them while you can. So out the door from Hobby Lobby without coupons it runs about $25. I got mine for under $20 ;) 

We had some leftover boards from a couple of projects so I had Micah cut them down to size and paint white for me (he said that a piece that size would be about $5-$10 FYI). My sweet hubs also drilled the holes in the letters for me. I spaced them out about every 1 inch.. and yes, it took foreeeeever for my OCD to be happy with the spacing. On the O's I started at the top with one in the center, if that helps your perfectionism too.  ;)

Next step: Painting

Once the holes were in, I painted them purple with a foam paintbrush. Put the letter inside of the cookie sheet and paint it there... You'll understand why later. The acrylic paint washes out so clean up is so simple. I painted one layer to basically cover the board purple. Make sure you paint the edges. I had a lot of wood still visible through the thin layer but it doesn't matter. 

Next step: Glitter

The second coat needs to be thicker, working in sections as you go, and you'll need to move a little fast with the process I did. I painted the top 1/3 ish of the letter with a little bit thicker layer of paint than the first coat and while it was still wet, I poured a handful of glitter into one hand and sprinkled it across the wet paint, putting a pretty thick amount on there. 

Repeat the steps till the whole letter is covered in fresh paint and glitter. 

I waited about 2 minutes before picking the letter up and tipping it on its side to get the excess glitter off. 

This is where that cookie sheet comes in SUPER handy as it catches all of the stray glitter. My husband HATES glitter. Seriously HATES it because I may or may not have spilled an entire container of glitter in my family room... and we may or may not have had glitter all over our entire house for the following month. I dunno, it might have happened.. or not. 

(Spoiler: it totally happened)

Anyway, get all the excess glitter off and place the finished letter in a new cookie sheet. You can put it on paper towels if you don't have a ton of cookie sheets. 

Baking up some scares. 

Repeat the process for all letters, giving yourself ample time between stages for the paint to set and glitter to attach. 

Another way you could attach the glitter is with glue, skipping the painting process altogether. That's what I did with my Christmas marquee and it worked well but it took a lot longer to get all the glitter on and it dried a lot faster than the paint did this time so I had a few more seconds per stage to get the glitter on. 

Another reason to use cookie sheets with the glitter: I had TONS of it left over at the end because I poured the excess glitter on the cookie sheet back into the glitter tube. 

I barely even used 1/4th of the container. Lots left for future glitter projects, sorry hubs! ;)

Once your letters are all dry, the only thing left to do is glue the letters down, drill the holes, and string the lights through. 

Next step: Gluing

I used some basic craft glue that frankly, is pretty old and past its prime. After squishing some hardened chunks out of the tube, I got enough glue to paint onto the backs of the letters and glue down. Make sure you make small pencil or pen marks around the edges of the letters so as you are placing the letter back on your board, you know where to put it without having to re-measure. 

To help the letters stick, I used a cookie sheet and stood on it for about 5 min. each. 

Having your phone handy is pretty nice so you can peruse Instagram while you wait. ;)

Next step: Drilling

Here's the setup. 

And FYI my hubby used a 23/64 drill bit. 

I didn't take a pic as we did the drilling because it was a mess.. And little disaster. Micah (my hubs and project manager haha!) started drilling the holes without me aaaaaand the letters totally moved as he drilled. Suck! Thankfully it was only on about half of the first letter so we could salvage it, but man it took a while. I took off the letter and we had to re-drill the holes, which was really complicated and hard because there were already holes really close to where we needed them to be, so the drill kept "walking" into the already drilled hole. About 20 minutes later we finally had the first letter done. For the remaining letters, I held them to the board as Micah drilled.

Once that was finished, I re-glued the letter on and we took the project upstairs to put the lights through. 

Make sure they're all working before you start. I had to replace one bulb. Start at the top, with the B and with the "female" end of the light cord, aka the end that doesn't have the plug to go into the wall. 

I basically put the bulbs in as far as they could stretch.  Some I had to just string a random bulb across the back as you can see. 

Continue down to the last letter and secure all the wires down as best you can. I used packing tape but you can use any tape that's strong enough to hold the wire in place. I definitely wouldn't do painter's tape FYI.. I tried that with my Christmas light marquee and it was a total disaster. I ended with about a foot of extra wire which is perfect for different placement options. 

Once you've finished taping, stand up the board and check out your handiwork! You can attach 3M to the back and hang it on the wall or just prop it up. Mine will sit out on my porch, spooking up the street with its light.  :)

Happy crafting!

xoxo

Mandi

My First Half Marathon

On August 15th I completed 13 miles (oh and don't forget that 0.1) running the Hobble Creek half marathon and it was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done. I trained for about 9 weeks and made several mistakes along the way, but ultimately I crossed the finish line and got my medal. 

The night before the race, Maegan & I drove down to Springville. We had booked a hotel there so we didn't have to wake up at 2am.. Kill me! Olive Garden was pretty close to where we picked up our running packets, so we went there for dinner and carb loaded. :) soooo many breadsticks!

We stayed in the Days Inn in Springville and it was pretty average, as far as hotels go, but we didn't really care terribly.. All we needed was a bed and wifi. That night we streamed the movie "Barely Lethal" from Maegan's laptop and painted our nails.. The movie was surprisingly hilarious!

4am came waaaaay too soon. We got dressed and packed our bags with super sleepy eyes. I had shirts made for us for the race.. Pretty amazing!

Minor problem with the shirt: it's heavy cotton and a pretty normal neckline, so it didn't breathe feel well. More on that later...

Denny's was on the menu for breakfast -- aka the only thing open at 5am -- and it didn't disappoint! We ate it on the bus ride up to the race. 

The busses dropped us off 3/4 a mile away (uphill) and we seriously had to walk. Uphill. To the starting line. Suuuuucked. 

After a quick potty break and some awesome selfies, we were starting to feel the anticipation. 

Maegan and I trained together for most of the runs so we knew each other's pace and balanced each other out.. I like to go fast, she likes to go slow, so we meet somewhere in between.

We stretched out and lined up with the 529 other racers... And then we ran! 

A few things went wrong on my half marathon... Things I definitely wouldn't do and things I would do (if I were to do another half). 

First: Don't wear a camelbak. I'll repeat that.. Don't. Wear. A. Camelbak. I trained with it for weeks and totally got used to its weight, hardly even noticed it once I got going... But goodness, it was awful!! I really love the ease of getting a quick sip of water and how my hands aren't encumbered with water bottles, but it was such a bad idea for this race. It has to buckle at your chest and waist, to prevent any bouncing around, which is normally just fine. But that combined with the extreme physical exertion of running thirteen (point one) miles in the hot sun was terrible. 

Second: Don't wear a super thick cotton shirt.. Even if it is super freakin cute! Because I had the camelbak, I had to wear a t-shirt so it wouldn't rub my back raw. The problem with this t-shirt was it was a thick cotton, didn't breathe, and had a high collar with long-ish sleeves. Combine that with my camelbak that had a buckle at the chest and waist, I had zero airflow to my torso. 

So back to the race...

The first couple miles are always hard to really get into the groove but we pushed through and actually were keeping to my goal of 10-11 minute miles. Poor Maegan's music wasn't working so she was running in silence for the first while. Once we hit mile 3 I was feeling pretty good, into the groove and keeping our time. We were eating Gu's every 3 miles or so and trying to drink our water regularly too. At mile 6, our almost halfway point, we were right about at the pace time that we ran our 10k in July, of 1:08. 

I was feeling great and a photographer snapped a couple of pics of us mid-run. 

Then...

I started getting all tingly feeling like I did on my last really long run. My arms and legs were covered in goosebumps (mind you, it was 95 degrees outside) and I had the strangest and worst feeling as a chilly tingle ran from my collarbones up my neck, to my temples. I've passed out several times before and know that awful floaty feeling all too well, so I started walking. A lot. I also was drinking more water, taking the Gu's as we plugged along.. But man, the next 3 miles I felt so off and terrible. My muscles and lungs were totally fine, my body just felt so wrong, like I was going to fall over at any moment. So frustrating!!! After the race I was talking to my mom and she said it was heat stroke, that it's happened to her before too (she has been a runner for years). 

Around mile 9 Maegan ran ahead of me and I kept trying to rehydrate my body and eat the nasty Gu's to give my body some more sugar & energy (it didn't make an ounce of a difference FYI). 

At mile 10 Maegan was waiting for me at the water station. I had started running shortly after she went ahead of me so thankfully she wasn't waiting for very long. She said she didn't want me to pass out and have no one find me or have something bad happen so she decided to stick with me to the end. I was definitely grateful for the company and motivation to keep moving (cuz I felt like I could lay down on the ground and sleep forever)... But I also felt seriously awful that she wasn't running the race like she wanted to.

We continued at a pretty slow pace, alternating between running and walking (more walking than running) and got to mile 12 when Maegan pulled off to run on her own ahead. 

The next mile took an eternity and I fought back tears the whole way.. A couple snuck their way out but I quickly wiped them away. I had such high expectations, goals for the race, and absolutely never thought my first half marathon would be so disappointing. I trained for 9 weeks, ran regularly, bought new shoes, stocked up on Gu's, and read just about every article I could find to prepare for the race. The one thing I couldn't train for was heat stroke. I didn't anticipate how my choices to wear a thick shirt and camelbak would ruin the entire run. 

As I neared the end, a darling old man ran up to me and slowed to walk next to me. He said "we're almost there!" and totally made me smile. He was 79 years old. We walked together for a minute then he started running again. 

At the last corner I started to run again and Maegan joined me for the last stretch. As I crossed the finish line I was relieved to be done but also so upset about how long it took me and the circumstances.

I walked over to the volunteer who was cutting the timing chips off the shoes and then grabbed a t-shirt. Micah and the kids were waiting for me and while it was great to see them, I was also embarrassed and frustrated at my results. 

We took some pics, got our results printed, and had the boys go get the cars so we could go grab some food. 

Back at the car, I took my shoes off and saw this massive freakin blister!

 

Kill me!!

I popped it with the safety pin from my running bib.. So gross! That was one of about 7 blisters I got. We then drove to the restaurant Malawi in Provo and ate a ton of delicious pizza, then went our separate ways home. 

Ultimately, the race was a good check off on the bucket list and I enjoyed the first half of the half... But the second half was absolutely miserable. 

I finished the race in 2:54:59 minutes, 13:21 per mile, overall placed 528/531, in women 304/307, and in my age group 34/34. I was 3 away from last place, the very last in the 25-29 age group. It's absolutely heartbreaking to me that I sucked so bad. If I ever do another half marathon, here's what I'll do differently:

First: Get really comfortable with 10k's. I've only run two of them, and only one this year. Also, regardless of what other runners say, I will run the full distance multiple times before the actual race. I'm a pretty visual runner and really like to see the progress, and if I run on a course multiple times, I love to know where the mile markers are and how much longer I have to run. 

Second: Wear the right gear. I won't do another race with a backpack or a full t-shirt again. It's too constricting and far too cumbersome to deal with.. And apparently I don't do well being hot, but I'm pretty sure I already knew that. ;) 

All I can say now about the race is I'm SO glad it's done with so I can start enjoying running again. :)

xoxo

Mandi

Training For A Halfie

My goal this summer/fall is to run a half marathon and I made it official by registering for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon last week..

So in 9 short weeks I'll be trekking along on a 13.1 mile course. Kill me.

I first made up a training schedule for the coming weeks..

The only change to it I'll be doing is probably only running 10 miles max before the race. That advice was given to me by some serious running professionals on a FB page, simply that on race day I'll have more energy/adrenaline and the 3 miles won't affect me much. And Micah made the point that even if I run to the 10 mile marker and I'm done.. I still have to finish somehow so I'll have to power through it.

So I'm going to post and update as I go my progress with the training program. 

Week 1

Run 1 -- 6.15.15 -- 3.5 miles

I ran with Maegan (she's doing the halfie with me) at her house and it was the worst run ever. There is a very long straight away road that doesn't have any curve or hills on it so you'd think it would be great.. However it also is by a farming field and the only visual marker to see progress is a good 1/2 mile in the distance. Apparently I am motivated by visual cues to see my progress or varying landscapes.. Because it totally felt like I was on a treadmill. Kill me. My other problem was I decided to try out a camelbak with the run because we were trying to do 4 miles and I know we need to rehydrate ourselves if we go further than 3 miles. That was a mistake because it bounced all over my back & unfortunately I wore a tank top sooo I have a really painful rug burn spot on my shoulder blade now. Awesome. 

Anyway, it also was a super intense lightning storm that night with crazy bolts striking so close we felt the electricity in the air.. All the hairs on my body stood on end and it freaked me out! Growing up in Washington I was around storms my whole life and heard about a lot of deaths from people being out during them.. So we cut our run a little short and only went about 3.5 miles instead. This run was long, slow, and painful. It had me genuinely regretting signing up for the halfie so let's hope the next run is better. 

Run 2 -- 6.17.15 -- 2.5 miles

Tonight's run was amazing! I actually had that runners high and stoked on life feeling afterwards and enjoyed the run during. Seriously huge difference from my last run!

Maegan and I ran 2.5miles, as slated on my schedule but I changed up our pace a bit. I found an article that recommended doing a run/walk routine to help lengthen and strengthen runs to make a half marathon more doable.  

We are in week 3 on this schedule ps. 

I decided to try it out and incorporate the run 5 min walk 1 min idea. 

Our run was in between my neighborhood and Maegan's, doing a decent downhill, big uphill, steady downhill then flat straight away, and then turning around to come back... And I've gotta say, I had SUCH a good run!! The uphills made my muscles burn but then the downhill was an amazing motivator to just slightly give me an edge to keep moving. 

That loop was really fun for me and it taught me that I am motivated by little accomplishments along the way.. Like making it up the whole hill without stopping. And the run/walk mentality really helped me keep running even though I felt like stopping.. I'd see the 1 or 2 minutes remaining in that split and knew I could power through till the time ran out. I'll definitely be implementing this style on my Saturday run too. 

I'm SO happy this run was as fun as it was and motivated me again to keep with it!

Run 3 -- 6.20.15 -- 5 miles

Tonight's run was SO much fun! Maegan and I ran 5 miles, incorporating the run/walk ratio of 9:1 and really stuck with it. The course we took was flat with some decent hills (up and down) and was genuinely a really good run. It was challenging, don't get me wrong.. But it was still a good run because we both felt like our bodies weren't tired or giving our, the one crappy thing was we were SO thirsty! Around then 2.5 mile marker we both realized we were parched. Next long run we will have to bring water.. Just maybe not a camelbak. ;) 

It isn't showing mile 5 for some reason (and now the app completely deleted this run.. awesome) but each mile was really on pace because of the run/walk plan we're doing. Totally has me pumped to think we ran almost half of our halfie distance and if we had water we could've gone further! 

Week 1 Total Miles - 11

Week 2

Run 1 -- 6.22.15 -- 4 miles

Tonight was hilarious.. Maegan and I met at Blackridge Elementary again and were about to cross the street to start our run, when a minivan pulled up to the red light.. The side door rolled open and a high schooler boy was sitting in the doorframe, staring at us. He did a Bieber flip of his shaggy hair and yelled "you're hot!" and seriously stared at us for the entire red light hahaha! The driver yelled something too but we couldn't hear & they then drove off. So funny. We ran almost the same loop as on Saturday but with a slight variation. Our goal was 4 miles and we did a 4:1 run/walk ratio. It was a really good solid run, our miles averaging at 12 min.

My right shin started hurting this weekend & I attributed it to being out of the running groove and just my muscles warming up.. Well it started hurting pretty badly during the run. Hello shin splints. So stupid. Hopefully with the ibuprofen I took when I got home & the super long & hot shower I took while I massaged my legs helps work out the angry shins. 

Week 4 Total Miles - 4

Week 3

Run 1 -- 6.29.15 -- 5 miles

Tonight was the first time I ran since last week. I had Olive's 2nd birthday party prep going on and my right shin was just achey enough that it made me a little nervous. So instead of doing the scheduled 4 miles, I did 5, with a camelbak. 

This time I wore a shirt, cinched it really tight, only filled the pack up to 20 ounces, and I sucked all of the air out of it. I didn't even feel the weight difference and hardly thought of the pack.. Except it rubbed a bit on my right side of my neck because I tightened it just a little bit too much. Overall though, the pack saved me because my 5 miles was long & hot but I had the water to help out. With about 1/2 mile to go, I ran out of water. It was a motivator to get up that stupid hill by the gas station haha! 

I started using Strava for the running app and I've gotta say it's pretty sweet.  :)

Run 2 -- 7.2.15 -- 3 miles 

We ran by Maegan's house this time & I've just decided that I'm not a fan of that long flat road! It is totally unmotivating to feel zero progress and see the markers sooo far off in the distance. But we made the run, handled the whole thing and it was pretty enjoyable, despite that long annoying road. 

Week 3 Total Miles - 8

Week 4 

Run 1 -- 7.11.15 -- 5k

I totally threw things off with my trip to Disneyland on July 5th - 10th but it was soooo worth it! I didn't run again until my 5k race, the Bubble Run. 

Micah ran the race with me and that was just about the ONLY redeeming quality to the race. Seriously. It was on a dirt path, there were SO many strollers and kids we were forced to walk SO frequently, there was a massive bottle neck when we had to cross a teeny tiny bridge, and the foam aka bubbles was barely even a factor.. Terribly organized. I definitely won't be doing this race again. My feet and shoes were pretty jacked unfortunately.. Stained blue! But it came off on the wash thank goodness. Micah and I grabbed breakfast together afterwards and had a good time together, so that was fun. :) 

Week 4 Total Miles - 4

Week 5

Run 1 -- 7.13.15 -- 3.5 miles 

We began our downhill training, taking a trip up to Yellow Fork Canyon. It's a pretty curvy and rolling hilly course so it's similar to what our halfie will be. The one major downside is the lack of a shoulder to run on, so we were forced to hug the side of the road and jump off the road altogether if a car came behind us. The run was good though & I think we both really enjoyed it. 

Run 2 -- 7.15.15 -- 4.1 miles

We ran from my house over to Butterfield Park, a 4 mile loop. It was a HOT run but actually really fun. My feet definitely were feeling the miles unfortunately. New shoes were going to have to be bought soon. 

Week 5 Total Miles - 7.6

Week 6

Run 1 -- 7.20.15 -- 6.1

This run was great but SO frustrating too! We started up Yellow Fork again and planned on rocking an 8 mile run. We unfortunately were tricked by the gps and thought the course we found would be 8 miles, when in actuality it was barely over 6. Awesome. The run was hard but good. It was the longest distance we had run together this season and man my feet were NOT happy about it! 

[side note, I bought new shoes!]

They are the Asics Gel Kayano 21 shoe and holy crap lemme just say I'm in LOVE with them! I tried on 8 or 9 pairs of shoes and this was the pair that was the most firmly fitting and yet gave me a really soft squishy support for my pronation with my lack of arches. Seriously coziest ever. 

Run 2 -- 7.24.15 -- 10k RACE

Our Deseret News Classic run was on Pioneer Day in the heart of downtown.. SO much fun! My new shoes arrived in the mall the day before the race [thank you Brittany for your Amazon Prime!] and I wore them on race day. I knew I'd get blisters in my new shoes but I also knew I'd get them with my old shoes.. Might as well break them in a little!

It was a great race! Tough and exhausting but great! Maegan and I ran across the finish line arm in arm, placing 27 & 28 out of 48 in our age bracket. Not great but hey, not last!

Run 3 -- 7.25.15 -- 1 mile

I went for a quick little 1 mile run the day after the race, just to warm up my muscles and help stretch out the kinks a little. Thank goodness it felt amazing and it actually helped my muscles a TON!

Week 6 Total Miles - 13.3

Week 7

Run 1 -- 7.27.15 -- 2.3 miles 

This run was supposed to be a longer run, 6 miles, but Maegan had killer shin pain so we had to cut it short. Total bummer since I wasn't sore or tired at all! Ah next time. 

Run 2 -- 8.1.15 -- 9.4 miles

Longest run to date and MAN it was tough! We started the run pretty late into the morning [8:30am] so we were unfortunately running when it was hot and sunny outside. Yuck. It took us forever, I felt like I was going to pass out at one point [I do that kinda all the time so it was legitimately scary for a minute] and Maegan was exhausted. It was a hot hot hot run. But we did it, logged the miles and fought for every stupid step. Ugh. 

Week 7 Total Miles - 11.7

Week 8

Run 1 -- 8.6.15 -- 3 miles

I ran without my camelbak this run and I felt amaaaaazing! Totally had a ton of crazy energy and seriously had to fight to slow down my pace so Maegan wasn't left way behind. We finished the run and I still has so much energy to spare, it made me consider not bringing the backpack for my halfie. Seriously contemplating it. We'll see. But one week away from the race!

Week 8 Total Miles - 3

Week 9

Race Day!

Check the next post for my first Half Marathon details. 

xoxo

Mandi

Disneyland!!

I took Olive on a quick trip to Cali and we had a BLAST!!!

Back on Olive's birthday when Brittany & I took Olive & Karter to the curiousity museum, she told me she was going to Disneyland in July, just her and Karter, and that if anyone wanted to go the invite was open. 

Sooooooooooo....

Olive & I went with her!

Sunday, July 5th

We flew out early Sunday morning, totally getting hooked up with Brittany's family working for the airlines. I sorta kinda maybe a little bit fibbed about Liv's birthday so that she could be a lap baby still... She only turned 2 like two weeks ago so it's not that big of a deal, right?!

Anyway she was amazing & we had a really uneventful flight into Cali. 

We grabbed our bags (I forgot my carseat till Britt reminded me!) then hopped on the shuttle to Fox car rental. 

After a couple of falls, lots of Tetris work, and a super super wet diaper, we finally got our car settled and on our way.

The kiddos fell asleep in the car, so we stopped at Taco Bell and had lunch in the car while we roughly planned out our trip. Both Britt and I have super laid back approaches to vacations so it worked out really well & we didn't have any pressure on ourselves to rush from one place to the next. Just wanted to enjoy and soak up as much Disney Magic as we could. My kinda trip.  

We got to our hotel, the Holiday Inn about 3 blocks away from downtown Disney and unloaded our bizz. Funny enough, that's the exact same hotel that Micah and I stayed in with Maegan & Austin when we went to Disneyland last, about 3 years ago. 

These two found their new fave game ever: going in and out of the closet and running around like crazies!

Next on the agenda was a Target trip for food & snacks and some dinner for the babes. 

These two little lovers were holding hands and totally smooched while we shopped! I love them. 

After getting all our snacks & waters, we dropped them off at the hotel then drove to Downtown Disney. We shopped for a bit then grabbed dinner at Tortilla Jo's. It was pretty yummy and the kiddos got some balloon animals.. That were super creepy versions of Mickey and Minnie. 

And looked pretty inappropriate from a different angle...  :O

Definitely the worst $5 balloon animal ever!

We put the kids and ourselves to bed after some light shopping. Liv was sleeping in my bed with me and was amazing! I think because she was so tired she fell asleep really easily, but it was secretly the best ever having her sleep in my bed.. I love getting cuddles from my little miss but never wanted to co-sleep with her for fear of rolling on top of her or setting a crappy schedule where she HAS to sleep with Micah and me. We all fell asleep pretty fast, too excited for tomorrow's adventures to start!

Disneyland 

Day 1

Brittany and I got up early, got the littles ready and fed, and packed up the strollers before 8am. We got to the park right at 9am, totally proud of ourselves because we definitely are not morning people or punctual. Sacrifices for Disney!!

The Disney band was playing at the entrance, right where we wanted to take our pics so we decided to go feed Liv and Karter breakfast then go back later and get the standard entrance pic. We sat outside a cafe while we fed the babes and mapped out our day. 

First Disneyland pic of many to come!

We headed to Tomorrowland first and decided on the Buzz Lightyear ride (can't remember the name, don't judge!) since the line was pretty short. The Astro Orbiter line was way long but Liv was staring sooo longingly at it. Next ride Liv. 

Livi was terrified of the Buzz ride and was crying her little face off when we got out.. Poor thing. Although she now knows who Buzz is and actually really likes him! Silly girl. 

After kicking around Tomorrowland for a bit, we headed over to the castle.. And took a million pics along the way. 

Do ya think she's got enough badges?!

Over in Fantasyland, we got some pictures with the princesses (Liv of course freaked out) and Karter was a total rockstar. 

Blurry but hilarious all the same. Eventually Liv won't be afraid of everything!

We went on Pirates next and it was awesome! I haven't been on that ride in Disneyland in seriously probably 15 years! It was closed when I went 3 years ago and the one in DisneyWorld isn't the same so it was a really fun ride for me. 

Our phones were dying and Britt needed her charger, so we walked back to downtown Disney (huge workout btw!) to get lunch & be our halfway point back to the hotel... And we ate at Earl of Sandwich!!! Holy crap I freakin LOVE them. 

Liv and Karter took power naps while Britt ran back to the hotel for her charger. 

On our way back into the park (again, a total killer pushing our babes in strollers), we stopped to take the necessary pic at the entrance. 

We headed in through Main Street and saw Mickey there, a line formed to meet him & take pictures, so we wandered over and waited to meet him too. Livi was the most excited to meet him than any other character, yet she was still totally freaked out.. But just as we left she wanted to give him a high five. Silly Livi. 

We headed into the Hall of Presidents to feed the kiddos and charge our phones for a minute. It was absolutely FREEZING in there! At first it was a welcome break from the heat but man.. After about 10 minutes I was huddling under Karter's blanket!

Once our phones were decently charged and the littles were fed, we scooted out onto Main Street to catch the parade. 

After a few minutes I remembered we had fast passes to Indiana Jones right then so we bolted over to Adventureland. 

Brittany and I traded off with the babes, one person running into the ride, then the other swapping places goes on the ride while the other babysits. I went on the ride first and LOVED it!! Man, I haven't been on it in again, about 3 years? Anyway, it was really fun and totally better than I remember it being. 

We went to Toontown shortly after and let Livi and Karter out of their strollers so they could pull on all the fun sound-making doors and handles. Poor Liv was totally terrified of the loud sounds so we didn't stay long in that area. I did, however, manage to torture her by putting her in jail. 

Happiest place on Earth, right? ;)

Next on the list was the Toontown rollercoaster. It actually was really fast and it was a decently long ride too. 

We waited in line for about a half hour and when we got to the carts, the worker measured Liv (she passed by about 4 inches) while Karter was seriously like 1/2 an inch off. Total crap. 

We ran over to the teacups next and had. BLAST!! Liv was bouncing on her tippy toes, bursting with excitement, wanting to go on that ride more badly than she had any other ride thus far. 

Seriously giggles for days!

We then went about 10 feet and onto Casey's Train, sitting in the monkey cage car (naturally) and let Livi and Karter wander around in it, taking in all the fun it was being in the train. 

She's totes obsessed with trains now. 

After the train ride, we ate dinner at Pinocchio's restaurant and charged our phones again. 

These fireworks were the perfect icing on a perfect day. 

We rider-swapped again to hit up the Matterhorn next and lemme tell you.. it's changed SO much, for the better!! It's smoother, faster, funner (yep I went there), and Yeti-er! There were 3 or so different locations that the yeti jumps out at you.. pretty amazing!!  

We strolled to the castle again to grab some pics together. A super sweet lesi couple took our pic after I had taken theirs and I'm positive that we looked like we were a couple too, haha!

The babes were still out cold, so we wandered and shopped for a moment, but then left and took some empty streets pics. 

when we got back to the room, the kiddos transferred to their beds so easily and slept like angels. 

California Adventure

Day 2

I had only been to CA one time previously, and I totally forgot how amazing it was! way more kid friendly than I remember. 

Livi was just as stoked for the day as she was yesterday.. maybe even more excited. 

Ariel was a MASSIVE hit with Liv. as in she cried when we left the ride. she was talking about Ariel the whole day.. it melted my heart!

after Ariel we hopped on the Zepher ride and Livi was soooo enamored with the view! she kept saying "waaaaaoooww" as we flew around. 

seriously, can she get any cuter?!

we caught Buzz after our lunch (pasta at a yummy cafe that I can't remember the name of) and Livi for some reason, remembered his name immediately after and talked about him for the next hour straight.. even though she was way sad about taking a pic with him. silly Livi.  

even peek-a-boo didn't make her giggle. 

next we went on the Ferris wheel.. the swinging carriages btw. Britt was dying, it was hilarious! the kids were super brave but it was way more intense of swinging than I remembered before!! when I went with Maegan & Austin last, poor Maegan was literally crying on the ride.. so sadly hilarious!

oh these two lovers

is your heart a puddle yet??

Liv was totally all smiles on the Ferris wheel.. super brave little miss!!

next was King Triton's merry go round. as expected, Liv loved it. such a happy girl!

after this, the babes took a power nap and we swapped to hit up the California screamin' roller coaster. it was closed when I went last so it was a totally new ride for me and holy crap, it did not disappoint! way fast, pretty long actually, and a very unique type of roller coaster. unfortunately I got a wicked bad headache right after.. some ibuprofen & a Coke worked their magic and we went on our way. 

we headed over to bugs land after and went on some cute little kiddie rides.

Cars Land was next and it was DARLING! it was under construction when I went last so it was all new for me. the cars racing through the canyon was SO much fun! 

we swapped places for this one while the babes napped & I fed them some snacks. 

the kiddie ride of Mater's tractors was actually surprisingly strong in the whipping from side to side. and I accidentally smashed Liv into the side.. then I learned my lesson haha. 

turtle talk with Crush was next and it was sooo cute! while we waited for it to be open, we fed the babes in their main "lobby" and watched all of the animation shows. so. freakin. amazing. 

the end to the night was the world of color. we had a pretty good location and showed up a few minutes before it started the show was a newer one, celebrating 60 years of Disney Magic.. but to be honest I prefer the classic show better. 

Livi was a little afraid of the steam but otherwise loved the show. Karter was tired and didn't want to stick around for a bunch of water that he couldn't touch haha so it was a little rough in some moments. 

we ran through a couple of places last minute, did some shopping, then headed back to the hotel. 

Liv clearly had a lot of energy left. 

Disneyland

Day 3

we woke up semi on time, hopped on the monorail for once, and took it into the party. 

first on our agenda was tomorrowland. we started with Finding Nemo subs, or as I knew it as a kid, the yellow submarine. 

Livi was curious about it all until there was a "leak" in the hull and it was pitch black with red strobe light.. she hated that. 

after Nemo, we stayed close and did Autopia. Karter just BARELY slid through the height check.. thank goodness for gel and spikey hair!

I forgot that you have to actually drive be car.. and since I put Liv in the drivers seat, I had to reach all around her to not kill us. 

she thought it was so funny! silly Livi. 

we swapped to go on Space Mountain and I remembered why I didn't really care for the ride.. it's way too dark and disorienting to me!! yuck. but Britt loved it. 

fantasyland was next, so we started with dumbo. Liv unfortunately fell asleep like right then and was pretty sad & sensitive when we were waiting in line. 

Britt wrangled the kids as dad-mom today. 

after a few more fantasyland rides and fun. we headed to New Orleans for the haunted mansion next. 

LOVE this ride!!

Livi then chose this moment to have a big tantrum.. when we were waiting for the parade to start & got prime seats.

big bubbly nose, so cute!

we went on Astro Orbiters as Livi's last eight of the trip.

after the ride, we went back to our parade seats for the show... and it was amazing!!!

almost right after the "paint the night" parade, the fireworks were exploding above us.

leaving the park was really hard.. to say the least. the firework show made me cry (as it always does) and the thought that our girls weekend was over, that my magical time in the parks had ended.. I was definitely teary as we walked out of the gates. 

Liv, per the norm, stretched out as big as she possibly could.. that's my girl!

the next morning we packed, through our crap in the car & drove to the airport. 

Liv was the perfect travel buddy.. she slept on my lap for like 1/3 the flight and she was happy and playing quietly the remainder. 

it felt like it took us forever to land, and this is why.

we were re-directed multiple times because of traffic on the Tarmac.  we finally landed and found our bags & husbands.

We had an incredible time, made memories that will last us a lifetime, and spent a wonderful 4 days with amazing people in the happiest place on earth. Till next time Disney!

xoxo

Mandi