Recently, we took a trip down south to Disneyland. We had a blast! My sister Jill takes each of her kids to Disneyland for their 2nd birthday. We've never been able to go in years past, so we were excited to join them this time. Grandma and Grandpa Murray were there too, along with longtime family friends the Lozadas, and Means. It's a bit of a challenge coordinating such a big group, but it was worth it. The kids especially loved playing with their cousins.
It had been couple of years since we had last gone, so for Aubrey, it was like the "first time". She was the perfect age. Like most little girls she was in princess heaven. Her most recent obsession has been The Little Mermaid, so meeting Ariel was a dream come true. She found it especially hilarious that her little sister Mackenzie got to sit on Ariel's tail.
This trip to Disneyland was monumental for our family. We were finally able to move beyond Fantasyland to some of the bigger and better rides. Aubrey (Our little daredevil) was finally tall enough to go on nearly all of the rides, which she did without a hesitation. Tyler has always been much too scared in the past for the "big rides", but this time he stepped up his game. With the support of his cousins he went on every big ride in both parks. I especially loved watching his face on the "Tower of Terror". That ride scares me, so I was proud to see him do it.
The best part of our trip was winning a "Dream Pass" as part of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams". A Dream Pass is basically a fast pass for all of the rides. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. We were standing near the exit of Autotopia when a Disney worker approached us and said, "Congratulations!" and handed us each a pass. It was awesome! We didn't have to wait at all that day. We actually had a hard time using up the passes and had several rides left when we were leaving the park. We ended up giving them away to a family on our way out. As always, we were sad to leave and head back to reality, but we bought season passes so hopefully, we'll be back soon!
Christmas isn't Christmas without some family drama or trauma, right?! Well this year Aubrey took a flying leap off of the stage at the church onto her face. Cousin Connor got a new basketball from Santa so all of the boys headed to the gym to play basketball. Aubrey wanted to go watch. A few of the younger kids, including Aubrey, were on the stage and someone closed the curtains. Aubrey was dancing and twirling on the stage and went running through the curtains, not realizing that the edge was just on the other side. She flew off and landed right on her face. We thought that she would lose her teeth since her gums were black from the bruising and her nose and top lip also took quite a beating. It was scary for a little 4 year old but the only permanent damage is one chipped tooth and a scar above her lip. We feel really lucky!
After last year's posh retreat at a three story cabin in Mammoth Lakes CA, Mancation '07 returned to it's roots in good ol' Hatch, Utah. This year marked the "Year of The Stache", as all participants were required to sport facial hair normally seen at a NASCAR event. There is bound to be some fun when 11 guys get together and pretend to be a bunch of rednecks! 
