Teenagers and Disneyland

So it happened: my sweet little girl, Meghan, my firstborn, became a teenager this week. I can't believe how fast life is flying. When did she grow up? Mark and I are very proud of her. She's a good kid, a good student, and we are lucky to be her parents. Happy Birthday, Meggie!!

Of course, we like these two clowns also. Before we know it, they'll be teenagers too.



Well, the reason I haven't updated in so long is because we finally went on our annual trip to Disneyland. We wait for it all year, and it goes by so fast. Of course the week before we left and the week after we got home were crazy, so now it's the end of May all of a sudden. We went over Mother's Day weekend, which is a perfect time to go. The day we got down to SoCal we were able to spend time at my aunt and uncles' house. The kids swam and we visited with my cousins. That was fun. We did have to stop at In-n-Out, of course. We are getting one at home, but I'm afraid it won't be the same. I put in a lot of pics, but it was hard to choose because we had so many great memories of the trip.






Janie was my only taker for the big ferris wheel. Grandpa came too, but Grandma watched from the safety of the ground.



We were lucky enough to be joined by lots of family while we were here. Josh, Lauren, Mary, Matthew, and Emily came and met us, and Aunt Terri came down from Utah the same week and brought Eric, Melissa, Harrison, Isaac, and Grant.




We had a great time, as usual. It's hard to think of not coming back for a year, but we also realize we are very lucky to be able to go to Disneyland so often.


I don't have a good way to take pics of Derek's games, but here's an attempt. His team, the Reds, are 12-1 with 3 games left. He's had a fun year.

It's been another busy couple of weeks. The girls had their final dance recital of the year. They both did great. It's fun to have them do it, but I sure do love when we get to take some time off! Derek's in the middle of his baseball season and his team has only lost once. Derek does great on first base.



Here are some pics of the cousins over at Grandma Roden's house. Yes, the boys really are as goofy as they look--Derek and Dawson especially.




Janie started soccer and has had two games so far. She's really good at running around, and she's getting better at paying attention to where the ball is. Grandpa T is paying her for every time she kicks the ball. That seemed to motivate her in game 2.


Mark had his 38th birthday this week. I'm not sure how he got so old! We had a nice night with his parents and my parents coming over to celebrate with us.

On top of all that, Mark and I celebrated our 16th anniversary this weekend. Again, not quite sure where the time went. My sister-in-law, Bonnie just put wedding pics on their blog on their anniversary last week. She and Dan look the very same 11 years later. I will not be putting pics of our wedding here because it's sad how different we look! It has been a great 16 years, though, and I feel lucky to have such a good life. Janie topped off our month by being student of the month for her class. We are proud of the good friend that she is to everyone in her class.
We are looking forward to what I consider the best part of the year, late spring and summer. We have some fun things planned and feel very blessed to be able to do them.