The Happiest Place on Earth

I don't know who was more excited to go to Disneyland - Tyler, Tyson, or me! Poor Lydia got too much sun at the beach the day before and Tyson and I were up all night comforting her and, in Tyson's case, driving around the city looking for a pharmacy. But, in the wee hours of the morning, her fever broke, we got a few hours of sleep, and woke up rarin' to go!

Being a member of the media, Tyson gets free tickets to Disneyland. Wahoo!

This is my favorite picture. I was so worried about Lydia going all day without her naps, but here she is after she learned how to sleep in the stroller! What a cutie.

Can you see Tyler down there? :-)

It was fun to have so many family members be able to come for Tyler and Lydia's 1st Disneyland experience. Besides our little family, we had my Mom and Dad, Justin, Michelle, Levi, and Uncle Matthew.

Tyson was on the flipcam, while I was on the Canon T1i.

Lydia's favorite ride - It's a Small World.

Tyson's and one of Tyler's favorite rides - The Teacups.

Lydia was a trooper! We even stopped and stayed for the fireworks as we were heading for the gate to go home because the kids were doing so well.

We had a blast! My favorite ride this time was Peter Pan's Flight, in case anyone wondered. :-)

Some things we learned:

-Save time for shopping on Main Street. It's so much fun!

-There is a Baby Center off of Main Street to nurse privately and change diapers on a real changing table.

-Go, if possible during off season and stay for two days so we can spread rides out (and repeat favorites).

-Even though we were staying at J&M's home in Oceanside, we definitely liked having a hotel close by after a full day of Disneyland.

-The Tiki Room show is a nice sit-down-but-still-be-entertained break. And the Dole pineapple ice cream outside is the best (though the line for it was longer than some of the ride lines)!

Camp Pendleton Beach Day

Justin works on Camp Pendleton so we got to go on base (it's huge!) to say hi and go to the tank museum.

There is also a beautiful beach so we decided to just stay on base for our beach day. The water was too cold for swimming, but the sand was great!

Tyler the Worker Man was very serious about playing in the sand.

What's this stuff?

I shall taste it.

After brushing the sand out of her mouth, I took Lydia down to touch the ocean for the first time.

She wasn't a fan.

It was the perfect day at the beach!

Though next time we will put sunscreen on earlier no matter how nice the breeze is!

California Here We Come!

Our first family vacation with the four of us! Leaving on April 2nd, we took 2 days to drive out to Oceanside, CA to stay for the week.

This picture pretty much epitomizes what Tyler did the whole trip. He was thrilled with all the rocks from Utah to California and back.

A couple of days into our trip, Lydia learned to fall asleep anywhere, anyhow. But Daddy's arms are her favorite.

And with any road trip, adventure is bound to happen. Tyson and I are pretty positive we saw a dead body in the back of a red pickup truck. An old man was just flung into the open bed of the truck next to what looked like an oxygen tank. A couple hours later we passed the truck again and the body was propped up more and it was staring at me. Maybe he was alive after all...And then when we pulled off the Scipio exit to get gas and feed Lydia, look what we saw -

There was a full on petting zoo in the middle of nowhere, Utah! And it was free! Definitely worth a Scipio detour.

We arrived in Las Vega just in time for Tyson to attend Priesthood Session. And I got to visit Corrin, one of my best friends and roommates from my BYU days, and her 6 day old baby girl, Sophie!

When we finally made it to Justin and Michelle's house in Oceanside, I think we all felt like this -

The fun thing about this trip is that my Mom and Dad and big brother Matthew were able to meet up with us too. We were just 2 people shy of a complete Hillier Family reunion. Justin and Michelle took us all down to the Oceanside Pier (the longest wooden pier on the western United States coast) on Sunday night. Just photoshop me in there next to Tyson. :-)

We were so excited to get to come spend some time with this little guy. Levi and Lydia being stroller buddies.

Uncle Matthew and Lydia at the pier.

Looking back toward the city of Oceanside.

We stayed for the beautiful sunset.

Levi's done.

So is Lydia.

Back at J&M's house. Tyler and Uncle Justin swung for over an hour in that hammock. If Tyler had a say, that would have been his bed for the night. We're so happy to be here!

Early Spring Celebration

My Dad was born on the 1st day of Spring. So every year we celebrate Spring Celebration. Some of his favorite things are his grandkids, good food, and astronomy so add all three together and we've got one great night!

Rodizio's Brazilian food at the Gateway, yum! Tyler's favorite utensil is currently a pair of tongs - no, I'm serious. He got some for Christmas. Imagine his joy when he found out that everyone at Rodizios gets to use tongs!

Lydia has discovered a love for rice crispies. She's gotten really good at maneuvering those tiny little things to her mouth.

Lydia learning at the Planetarium.

Tyler and Opa on the moon.

Mama and Lydia posing in front of the Earth.

Hanging out on Mars.