Pine View High Class of 2002

Guest post by Mommy:

While the Preslars were with us, Pete and I were able to sneak away to my 10 year high school reunion.  I'm such a young un' in so many ways, but 10 years since high school seems crazy!

It was pretty interesting to reconnect with my class.  We weren't a very big class at 363 or so, but I was really surprised at the people's names I couldn't remember and that I didn't even RECOGNIZE some of them.  Luckily, many of my good friends were there and we had an enjoyable evening breaking into the rest of the high school and scoping out our old stomping grounds.  The school has been remodeled and so it was interesting to see what had changed, but some parts are exactly the same.

The thing I wasn't entirely prepared for was that I didn't feel different.  It was like it was 10 years earlier and I was hanging out with my friends.  We all looked just about the same with the difference of maybe hairstyles and of course our bodies had morphed a bit since most of us had an average of 2 kids, but really not even then! (I'll lie and say I'm exactly the same size I was when I graduated!)

It was also gratifying to find out so many people remembered me and took the time to say hello.  I loved high school.  I was a happy teenager.  Of course my days were filled with the typical high school drama surrounding boys and misunderstandings between girls, but if you told me I could go back for a month...I would!  Maybe not go back and do the whole thing over...I do love where I am now, but I would certainly like the chance to be a senior walking the halls at PVHS with my class for even a day one more time.

A pretty good turn out!

We were the first in line to take silly pictures!

It's been fun being in same ward with Iva!

Preslar Cousins come South!

We were so lucky that after our trip up north and then our quicky trip to Disneyland we came home to our Preslar cousins at OUR HOUSE!

I was so excited that it made it a little easier that we were not going back to Disneyland.  (Cara actually put on her Minnie Ears and jumped up and down and told Mommy that we were going back to Disneyland! If these cousins hadn't been at our house, Mommy just might have done it!)

We enjoyed three glorious days and nights with our family.  It was hot but that was perfect because we spent the whole time trying to give our cousins some color!  We played at Sand Hollow reservoir with it's fun beautiful red sand, we went to our city pool and enjoyed sharing our favorite Hydro Tube with Chase, and we played outside in our new yard for HOURS.  Mommy even made sure to get a new little inflatable pool to add to the fun.  This led to many impromptu skinny dipping moments by all but Chase I think.  (Oh and of course the grown ups!)  We even put the sprinkler under the trampoline.

It was so fantastic.  There wasn't much crying or fighting really.  And I don't think anyone ever got bored....we had just received a bunch of new movies in the mail and we worked on watching all of them!  My mommy can never quite capture the hostess role as well as Rachel (who always cooks such wonderful meals for us and never ceases to make us feel at home..) but we sure hope they'll come back soon.

We missed our other cousins though and hopefully we'll get to see them this summer!

Day 2 at Disney

Ha! You thought Mommy and I would let you get away so easily from our Disneyland trip!  But no...there are still lots more photos.  Mommy is really hoping to get some of the videos that Grandma took while she was with us.  She has a GREAT video of me doing the Jumpin Jellyfish ride for the first time and LOVING it.

Day 2 was our sweet spot.  The park had no early entry AND we made it for the rope drop again.  Pretty sweet.  We were able to walk right on to Alice and then get in 3 more rides in the time it took us to ride Dumbo the day before!  Morning is the best time to go.  We also were trying to be sneaky and make it into California Adventure for their rope drop...which was a first for Mommy...but it backfired when Toy Story Mania ended up being CLOSED for minor repairs.  We did however get in rides on California Screamin' and Tower of Terror! Of course Screamin' was just for the big girls, but Aunt Hailey and Mommy got me on Tower of Terror once.  It wasn't as bad as the last time, but I was still pretty worried! Oh and I forgot to mention that I did Soarin' Over California for the first time on our first day.  I started crying while waiting in line because I thought I was taking a real airplane and leaving Disneyland and Grandma and Cara and Aunt Hailey!  Pretty cute.  Mommy explained it all the way thru and I really thought it was neat.  Actually that brings up an image for Mommy of how expert I became at checking my height.  The cast member would just start to say "Can I check..." and I would march right up to the pole, push my ears off my head, and stand ramrod straight underneath.  Perfect, every time.  The cast members thought it was hilarious!

Back to Day 2!  We were able to get a lot in including time in Belle's library and meeting Merida the new princess from Brave.  We also watched the parade and I would giggle and hop up and down anytime a princess or perform waved, looked, bobbed their head in my direction.  Grandma thought it was so much fun to watch the parade with me!

We stayed a little bit later on this final day but I chickened out at the fireworks when they started and went on Star Tours again even though I was nervous.  Of course it was a great ride.  I am still so glad Grandma and Aunt Hailey came with us to be silly in our favorite place.  And Mommy says she's sorry about all the Disneyland posts but it's our Year  of Disney!  We might never get another one just like it!

We got to shoot an arrow with Merida!!

Apparently Mommy said she wanted to eat nice people for lunch
that explains Maleficent! Also I got Tinkerbell once and I loved it!

This is the new fun Mad Tea Party set in CA!

I took these great pictures of Mommy and Cara!

Grandma and Aunt Hailey do Disney Right!

And now for yet another Disneyland post!  This is the Romney Year of Disney!  First of all, we have to give Grandma and Hailey thumbs up for dealing with our Mommy and her Colonel Disneyland attitude.  (I think she deserves a promotion from her previous title of Captain Disneyland...she's learned some new things! Honestly, if you are planning a trip to Disneyland and you read this blog call or email or text my Mom...she'll give you some tips!)

We started the day on the slightly sour note of having to pay the replacement fee for the annual passes and then even though we were there for the rope drop, there were other people with early morning entry and we discovered most of the popular rides had large lines already.  But it was all good.  We got on Dumbo first thing (after waiting in line for Alice only to have it break!) and the day just went up and up and up.

All these pictures just in line for Dumbo!

I think I did Space and Splash Mountain twice each and wanted to do more! We played in the water in Bug's Land, skipped the horrendous line for Toy Story Mania and showed Grandma Mommy's favorite surprise in the new Ariel ride.  Mr. Limpet!!

Seriously...Mommy just LOVES that fish!

We shared ice cream so nicely!

Oh yes and on the car ride to California, my Minnie ears, bought way back when I turned one and Mommy and Daddy were announcing the arrival of another baby, cracked.  And I was devastated!
Grandpa Great helped glue them back together but I still was hoping for new ears.  Mommy had planned on purchasing new ears for me for my birthday trip because my old one simply said "Sister" and not "Siena", but she relented and bought me these fancy princess ears that I LOVE!!!

Mommy is slightly frustrated by my new camera face...blank look, bizarre smile....

And for once, Cara actually wore her Minnie ears for most of the trip!  She usually puts them on grudgingly for photos, this time they were glued to her head!  We had a great end to our first day in Disneyland including many rides on Pirates and riding the Jumpin JellyFish in California Adventure for the first time.  Mommy will need to get the video of us from Grandma's phone.  I LOVED it.

Mommy surprised Grandma and Aunt Hailey by not staying even close to the midnight closing.  We hurried out as the fireworks were starting.  They were so loud and we got to see some of them but I really really hate how loud they are even if they are pretty.  Cara slept thru the noise however!

Grandma and Hailey Do California!

I think we might make this a two part post.  It's a little silly but Mommy has to complete 11 more posts in the month of June to come out on track for 100 posts in a year.  (Please excuse my Mommy and her tics.) However, we were so lucky that we got to go to Disneyland with Grandma and Aunt Hailey!  Grandpa, Uncle Marty, and Uncle Eric ditched all of us for 17 days or so and went and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.  (Of course, they also saw Victoria Falls, rafted the Zambezi, went on a private two day safari and saw LOTS of wild animals but the biggest part of the trip was the summit of Kili!)  Anyway, Mommy talked those two into packing into our little Prius and taking a quick 3 day getaway to California.  It was snug.  Boy was Grandma wedge in there between our carseats but she made it work and didn't even complain! It was fantastic.  We drove out on Monday afternoon right after my swimming lessons and got to spend the evening with Grandma and Grandpa Great and their dog Chloe.  It was so pleasant.  The whole trip was pleasant.  We only had one minor/major snafu in that Mommy realized at our Stateline Crossing and stop into California that she did NOT have our annual passes with her.  What a major bummer.  It was easily remedied but cost Mommy $40 big ones to replace our cards.  At least it wasn't the $400 it would have taken to buy us 2 two day park hopper passes.  We spent two days in Disneyland and then buzzed home Thursday just in time for the Preslar cousins to come visit our house!  It was really a quick trip!

I think that I will post pictures of our Disney trip in the second post.  This one deserves the pictures of our wonderful Grandparents who always open up their home to us and do things like make us pancakes and take us out to dinner.  We love you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!  We almost had Grandpa talked into spending a day in Disneyland with us but he could see that glint in Mommy's eye that said she doesn't take Disney slow and he bowed out.  But he really did make us some delicious pancakes for our final breakfast.  Grandma said that she remembers Grandpa making pancakes every Saturday morning growing up!

Aren't they awesome? Grandma's ears really make the picture!

Mmmm. Pancakes.

We missed our Daddy, but we finally managed to get a picture with Chloe!

We really loved sleeping at their house! Mommy wore us out!

The Preslar Cousins

Okay one of the best parts about our Rocky Shores visit was all the time spent with our Preslar Cousins.  I love Romney.  (Although lately I've taken to saying it "Romuhney"!)  I love their house, I love their toys, I love their backyard, I love their food...I love everything about them.  In fact, I was in tears when we had to leave and just kept moping in the car EVEN AFTER my Mommy told me that we were driving home just in time to sleep and get up and drive to Disneyland.  Silly me. But I just love them so much.  And we had lots of fun on our final day there.  Sunday was little Emma's THIRD birthday and we were lucky enough to be there for her tea party.  We enjoyed being little ladies for an afternoon.  Aunt Rachel makes such yummy food and puts so much effort in to making her kiddos feel special.

The Birthday Girl and her beautiful Momma

We love our Oma and Apa...and Kate with her guest kitty!

Apa and his little ladies!

And one of the best things had to be the party favors.  Awesome fluffy orange and pink tutus for all the little princesses!  They were in heaven!

Rocky Shores!

I apologize for the length of time in between posts.  I, however, doubt that there are many out there who stalk blogs like my Mommy on a daily basis.  We are just so exhausted.  It's only June 8th and we've done two major trips since starting the month!

Our first one was a late night blast up to Salt Lake City to stay with Aunt Rachel and Uncle Troy.  We had to be up there on Thursday night so that we could break down the doors at the Hogle Zoo and be first in line to get in to their new exhibit Rocky Shores on Friday morning!  It didn't quite work out like our Mommies planned.  They opened the exhibit an hour late with a ribbon cutting ceremony that was quite painful for little families who couldn't hear or understand what was being said!  But boy when they cut that rope/net thing, it opened up a land of beauty.

It was fantastic!  And all the animals were awake and swimming!  It was perfect.  We could walk right up and put our faces up to glass where the polar bear, Rizzo, was swimming!  And then Big Guy (Mommy's favorite) the rescued sea lion was sunning himself with a big old grin on his face.  The grizzly bear triplets were playful, the otters were swimming like crazy and the grounds themselves were squeaky shiny clean and nice to look at!  It was even better the next morning when we took our Daddies.  The polar bear got right up and shook off her fur on the glass right in our faces and then Big Guy was swimming his beautiful graceful circles learning where the rocks were!  (He's blind! But so beautiful and mellow that no one could euthanize him!)  Mommy loves that every animal has great rescue story behind it and that they are at the zoo and have seemingly doubled the space!

It was a great trip.  We actually went to the zoo three times.  We took our Daddy back on Friday night to show him the stuff and really enjoyed the other parts of the zoo in the later hour.

So there you go...one of 3 or 4 posts that needed to happen. Mommy and I will take a break and maybe get some more down.  (We've even been to Disneyland since we last posted!)