We Can Conquer The World: April 2014

This Easter, we stayed home. We made these little eggs for Charlie because he loves Despicable Me. He calls the minions "nanas" (as in "bananas") because there is a short video where they fight over a banana. After a nap, the Easter Bunny found us and Charlie hunted for his treats. He was definitely better at it this year than he was last year.

We borrowed the neighbor's yard too because they were out of town for the weekend.

Counting our eggs to make sure we got them all.

I see one!

Peeps! Charlie was probably most excited about his Peeps.

He took one tiny bite of this chocolate bunny and then put it down and wanted his hands cleaned.

Easter dinner - honey glazed ham, twice-baked potatoes, green bean casserole, jello and deviled eggs. YUM!

Last spring, I had decided to see if I could take the band to Disneyland. I got it approved through the Board of Ed, and some parents got behind it and started fundraising. They did an amazing job and the final cost per student was $350 instead of $800+. It took about 1 year+ in planning and preparation, but I think it was worth it.

We drove to St. George on Wednesday, April 2nd and spent the night there. We drove the rest of the way to Anaheim on Thursday where we had the rest of the day to spend in the parks. (Disneyland and California Adventure) On Friday, the kids had the backstage recording workshop in the afternoon, and then their performance at festival at 10:00 at night. They received silver ratings and were placed 4th out of 7 in their category. I was proud of them. They competed against Woods Cross High School in Utah which has a HUGE music program and multiple AP Music classes. On Saturday, the kids performed in Disneyland, played until midnight, and then we boarded the bus and drove home, getting back late Sunday afternoon. The kids had a fun time seeing me with Mollie. It was good that I was pregnant, because some of them wouldn't have been able to tell the difference otherwise. (They're not too observant...)

As mentioned before, Chad was at President's Club that weekend, so I somehow convinced Mollie to come out and chaperone with me. (Chad's mom stayed with Charlie in Ammon.) She met us at Disneyland after flying into LAX. We had so much fun! And Kyle and Jess and Heather were able to come play with us too. We had dinner at a yummy pizza place in Downtown Disney (thanks Kyle and Jess!) and they got to hear the band play on Saturday. We dropped Mollie off in Provo on the way back so she could visit with Erin before going back to Boston. It was so fun to see everyone. Besides a TERRIBLE bus driver, it was a great trip! The crappy schedule meant we had late nights and very early mornings, but it was a fun Spring Break nonetheless. And I survived taking 31 teenagers to Disneyland as a (barely) 26-year-old, 7-months-pregnant band director. (Bonneville High School went to San Diego the same weekend and they ended up with a kid in the hospital for heat exhaustion.)

Me and some of my students just inside the Disneyland gate. WE MADE IT!!!

I made sure the kids had food vouchers so no one could complain they didn't have money for food. Here's one of our meals in the French Quarter.

World of Color - Thursday night, California Adventure.

Mollie and I were standing around when a California Adventure worker came over and asked us if we wanted a bench to sit on. Uhm. Yes!! So he led us over to a park bench which gave us the PERFECT view until someone sat in front of us. (I think it was because I was pregnant. Mollie thinks it was because the worker was trying to boot some obnoxious people off of the benches. Either way, it was our lucky day.) And coincidentally, a group of my students came and stood/sat(?) behind us.

Friday we spent most of the day in California Adventure with Kyle, Jess and Heather. It was one of those days that was freezing in the shade and hot in the sun. (That's why the jackets come on and off in the pictures.)

View from the top of the Ferris Wheel - California Adventure.

Heather was so cute! She made me wish I could have brought Charlie. When we originally planned the trip last year, we thought we would bring him and have him stay with Kari and Eric or something, but none of that worked out. But, while he would have had fun, it would've been sad to drag him around all day to try to get our money's worth out of the visit. Disneyland is not for the really young unless it involves lots of snacks and a long nap.

Carousel - California Adventure.

Heather and I stayed and rode the carousel a few more times while Kyle, Jess and Mollie when on Soarin' Over California. Or some other such ride that Heather and I couldn't go on.

My ride options were pretty limited, but we did get to go on this tractor ride in California Adventure.

Trying to use up our extra food coupons. CHURROS!!

The only picture of me and Mickey. (He's on the back of the trolley.)

Saturday morning, we made sure to hit up Cars Land to find a gift for Charlie and take some pictures.

We were waiting in line to get our picture taken with Mater when they closed the line and said we'd have to wait, but we could get our picture taken with Lightning McQueen instead. OKAY!! (This is one of Charlie's favorite movies right now.)