It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This past friday night we went up to the parks to see if they had more Christmas decorations up (before the advertised time), to our surprise, it was ALL up and running!! 

Since DCA is all new this year, so are all the Christmas decorations and entertainment! 

These are the Buena Vista Street (DCA's version of Main Street USA) Bell Ringers. They play and sing Christmas carols! So very cool! 

Every night (I think it's around 5pm) they have the Buena Vista Street tree lighting ceremony! 

This tree is so beautiful! I love all the old fashioned decorations, on the tree and everywhere on BVS. They even have a department store Santa with a little elf helper who hands out candy canes. 

Cars Land is all decked out!! There is so much Christmas detail, it is pretty amazing! 

We LOVE having a Starbucks in DCA, we were able to get our favorite peppermint hot chocolates while we walked around and enjoyed all the lights!! : ) 

Then we headed into DL to see what had been added since we were last there. 

So fun to see the tree and all the lights set up! 

Small World was even open before it was supposed to be. : ) 

The real surprise and huge cherry on top was that they did the Christmas fireworks and SNOW that night!! Below is a clip from the fireworks (sorry about the focus, our little point and shot had a hard time focusing on the always moving fireworks) : ) 

There is nothing like the snow at the parks! And it was extra special since it was the first of the season, and a total surprise!! : ) 

I just love how this came out : ) 

Such a fun way to keep off the Christmas season!! : ) 

PS: Plus, it was FREEZING that night, and everyone was all bundled up in coats and gloves. Really added to the Christmas spirit! We were loving it!! 

Mickeys Halloween party - Part 2

A week or so before Halloween Brody and I went to Mickeys Halloween party (a now long running tradition since they started it, around 6 years ago). We were having trouble figuring out what to be and everything we came up with never seemed very exciting or unique...until we came up with Mike and Celia from Monsters Inc. (one of my all time favorite movies!). It was so prefect too because (and here's where you might find out more than you want to know about us, haha), we call each other Googly Bear and Schmoopsie sometimes (the names have even appeared on Christmas gifts over the years, and....well, we'll leave it at, we have inside jokes tied to these characters and it was A LOT of fun to come up with the costumes! : ) 

I started Wednesday night and the party was Friday! Brody's was super easy, since you can pick up the shirt at DL. And I custom made us Trick-or-Treat bags for the night too---since the ones they had out are tiny and always seem to break. As always, I had SO much fun coming up with this and carrying out the idea! 

They always add so many more decorations and effects around the park for the party! It really makes it feel different from the everyday, and more of a Halloween party atmosphere. 

We ended up staying till the bitter end of it all, and ended up being the last of the guests on Main Street!! It was SO fun! We took some photos on the empty MS and the B&W one below is just one of them (I need to work on my camera set up when its on self timer, haha. We'll try again with all the Christmas decorations up! I have some favorites from the night, but would rather re-do them when we aren't in costume) : ) 

This was one of our favorite parts of the night! Because we ended up staying so long, we got to see them training new CM's how to make the famous Disneyland Candy Canes!! As I have said in years past when we  have gotten these canes, I am NOT a fan of candy canes, but these are so airy and the flavor is so light---they are amazing! And the trainer brought us out some samples of freshly made canes. They were just as good as we remembered! : ) 

We got stopped so many times and got so many complements on our costumes. : ) 

It was SUCH a fun night, with my Googly Bear! 

A little Christmas cheer

The morning after Halloween, I was getting ready to take down the decorations when Brody mentioned that he wouldn't mind it if we skipped Thanksgiving and went straight for the Christmas decorations. Well, I really couldn't resist that offer, and when he came home from work that evening...Christmas was everywhere! : ) 

The next night we started our Holiday movie nights! Popped a HUGE bowl of Kettle Corn, some waters, blankets and curled up to start out with our favorite, Home Alone! With no other lights but our Christmas lights on. : ) SUCH a fun night! Being on the go, the quiet nights at home can be a welcome change of pace. : ) 

Let the Holidays begin!! 

(PS- We have even listened to a bit of Christmas music! It's the best ) 

Mickeys Halloween Party Round 1

We all planned to go to Mickey's Halloween party with the Dallins while they were in town, and Sunday night we took out drive up to the DL parking lot to watch the fireworks and get the kids that much more excited for the next day (it had been two years since they were all last in the park). Here we all are piled into the back of the truck! : ) 

The guys after dinner and ready to start the party! 

Rya was even more of a snuggle bug in her Ladybug costume, and we couldn't get enough of her! 

Here is some of the group going through the treat trails 

Roey loved being up on Dads shoulders! And below we have Annah dancing in the spider light, and all of us on Big Thunder Mountain. 

Ride pics! Roey did Space Mountain, Star Tours and Big Thunder for the first time that night and loved them all!! : ) 

Mom and Dad with some loot and Roey showing off his Buzz level

Group photo at the end of the night, close to midnight! We were all a little sleepy with a bit of a sugar high! ; ) 

I just love how they decorate for the Halloween party! 

Walking back to the cars. 

It was SUCH a fun night!! And we are so happy we were able to go with them! : ) 

Such fun memories!! 

Dallin Kids pool day

Several weeks ago the Dallins were in town!! They stayed at my parents house for a few nights before going up to Ventura to stay at a beach house. It is always so fun to have them here....and the kids sure love my parents pool! Here are some photos of everyone enjoying some time together! 

I love little Rya all pressed up to the door wanting to join in : ) 

Roey curled up at the bottom of Brody's feet trying to see who was at the door

Everyone had so much fun! And I love capturing the moments. : ) 

The pool is sure lonely without these kids!