California, Universal, Disneyland and more

We cashed the kids Christmas present in right after Kali and Mason's wedding.  I was a bit nervous going this week with Covid numbers so high and the night before we left, Aria woke up not feeling well.  Luckily it wasn't covid and she got over it quickly so we decided to go for it.  I'm so glad we did as it was a great week and had so much fun.

Sunday we woke up really early and drove down to California.  We made good time because we didn't want to hit the Las Vegas traffic Sunday afternoon.  We of course stopped by the Aria to take her traditional pictures.  We stayed at a hotel in Pasadena.  I took the kids on a tour of La Canada, where I grew up, our ward building, my elementary and High School, where my mom grew up, etc.  I'm sure it wasn't that exciting but fun for me to see my town again and what has changed.

Monday we went to Universal Studios.  The kids listened to every Harry Potter book over the last year or so and wanted to see Harry Potter land.  They had a fun Harry Potter ride that they loved and we went on it several times along with all the other rides there. At the end of the day, Siena wanted to go see the animal show a 2nd time and it was fun because she got called up on stage to help with one of the dog tricks.  She was excited to get called up and was a fun experience for her.  We even tried the butter beer they serve (no not real beer). The park didn't open until 10 and closed at 6 so not the longest day which was good considering our week ahead.

Tuesday we checked out of our hotel and took a tour around LA/Hollywood.  We went to travel town and rode the little train, rode horses at Griffith Park, saw the Hollywood sign.  We went to the Hollywood walk of stars which I realized my kids really don't know names of famous people but we found a few they knew.  Then we ended driving by the LA temple and headed down to the Brian's.  That night was eventful as they found mouse in their pantry and Brett caught it and ran around the house scaring everyone.  It was so funny.

Wednesday was our Disneyland day.  Cousin Emmy came with us which made it fun because no one had to sit by themselves.  We got there an hour before it opened and was standing inside main street by 7:40am for the 8am opening.  We ended the night at 8pm as the kids ran in circles getting on Thunder Mountain about 5 times in a row.  My kids could care less about the cutesy rides and are all about the fun roller coaster big rides.  We got on Millenium Falcon twice and luckily got on Rise of the Resistance once as it kept breaking down so we were glad we got to get on it.  I realized Matterhorn is way too bumpy for me now and still love Space Mountain the most.  We had gusty cool weather but was glad we got some sunshine as well.

Thursday we got up early again and headed back for another day, also getting there before it opened, this time to California Adventure.  The kids favorite rides was Guardians of the Galaxy, Spiderman, and Incredicoaster.  The new spiderman ride was fun and I like the Cars racer ride and Soarin too.  We closed the park down at 8pm.  I felt like this day was the busiest of the 3 parks and we definitely waited in the longest lines but still a super fun day.

Friday we headed to Newport beach.  We rode the ferry across which I always love.  It was breezy but a still sunny and beautiful day there.  The kids played in the sand for 4 hours and never got bored.  Then we headed to the Corona Del Mar tide pools which the kids love to explore.  That night the kids got in the hot tub and we got take out mexican food.

Saturday we drove the whole way home again, making sure we made it home in time for Jaron to get to his 9:15pm indoor soccer game!  

It was such a fun trip and had been 4 years since we had been to Disneyland so it was definitely time to go again.  Next trip to California I think we'll take them to Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain to give them new roller coasters to ride.

January 2022

 A new year!  Covid started spiking again with the Omicron variant and made for a very long month.  Our district even did 2 days of online school between a long 3 day weekend to help numbers go down.  Doing online school was a little stressful.  You would think after doing this 2 years ago it wouldn't be a big deal but it was still hard getting all 3 kids to get all their stuff done.  It was easier since all 3 kids now have their own laptops.  It also brought up a lot of memories and feelings of is this starting all over again. Luckily it really was just 2 days and we were all happy when they were able to go back to school.

All the kids got to do some fun things without their parents this month.

Jaron was invited by his friend Graham to the Globetrotters game in a suite.  Jaron loved watching the cook tricks they did and was very impressed by their dunking skills.

The girls got to go skiing with their class during a school day.  We were a bit nervous because the online school days were the 2 days leading up to their scheduled ski trip and we weren't sure if they were going to extend it and they would have to cancel the ski trip.  But they got to go and had a great time.  They even learned how to go up the ski lift and got some good runs in.

Leading up to Christmas Aria started writing notes to Shane and I every. single. night. asking us for a horse or horse lessons for Christmas.  This is the compilation of all the notes I saved.  There were a few more I found after I took this picture.  We are going to give her lessons again but need to wait until it gets a little warmer.  As for buying a horse or miniature horse...not happening much to her dismay.

We've had a lot of deer in our backyard as usual for winter time.  But it was fun to come home one night and see the deer hanging out right next to our driveway.

We have our annual Goold Family Football trophy and as the championship came up we realized that Siena was ahead and had Georgia winning the whole thing but if Alabama were to win it would be a 3 2 way tie between Siena, Aria and Lilly.  We made a fun night out of it with some food, treats and a fun watch party.  Georgia won, which we were all happy about since everyone is sick of Alabama winning, except for Aria who was sad she didn't win.  Siena won the trophy.  We had the trophy presentation during the super bowl this year and now we get the trophy for another year in our home.

The funny thing about the game was that Aria and Siena kept not really watching.  They did wood carving crafts and read their books, barely looking up until the very end.

Jaron had to create an invention for school.  Siena gave him the idea of the Skounter.  A skittle counter, or measurer that helps to put an equal amount of each color skittle into the bag.  It turned out cute and I thought he did a great job with it.

Jaron isn't as much of a fan of reading as the girls are.  But he had to read a fantasy book for his book report this month and I came in to check on him at 11:00pm one night and found him like that.  He said the book had gotten too good to put down and he had just 2 pages left.  I couldn't be too mad as I've done that a lot of time and thought it was cute he was so into his book.

The big event of January was cousin Kali got married to Mason Phelps.  We had showers, temple nights, wedding dinner, wedding and reception.  We are so excited for them and they are so cute together.  It was a fun month celebrating and loved the beautiful reception Jennifer put together where she thought of every, single detail.