D Family Does Disney

 I won't say much about this post, as the pics speak for themselves. But essentially, we had a few days in the LA area on our way to Japan for consultations for Noah. We had essentially one free day for Disney. We have never taken the boys to Disney yet, so we were excited to squeeze in something.  We have 3 little boys, however, so it is not surprising that we chose to do California Adventure instead of the Magic Kingdom. We had heard all the rage about the new "Cars Land", and we all couldn't wait to see what the hype was about! It was terrific! We had a fantastic day! The boys were in heaven, and once again Disney you pulled out all the stops! We loved it!

Catch you next time Magic Kingdom! (and BTW, Tokyo also has a Disneyland, but Cars Land is only in California. Easy choice)

 Ronan was a BIG fan of the train ride in the Bug's Life area. We did it more times than I care to count. Still fun though. Love my boys.

 Also, the version of "tea cups", is the ladybug ride in A Bug's Life. 

 I Love this pic I got of the three of them.

 Perhaps the best part of the day though, was the parade! We all loved it so much. 

I even got Miles to pose with Mater for me. Even if he wouldn't smile. Ronan is hiding behind the camera guy! He was not into getting that close to Mater once it was actually his turn. Silly boy.

 Also, we fulfilled Porter's dream of going to Ride Makers. Where you pick your own pieces to make your own RC car. It was all he wanted for his birthday, and essentially this whole trip to Disney was centered around getting this for him! He was absolutely beaming!

 My favorite picture of the day. Miles is on a mission!!

Mission Fun Accomplished!

It's Official.

This Boy.

Chose to be Baptized this summer as a official member of the 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

And we couldn't be happier or prouder of him.

In our Church, children are not baptized when they are babies, but instead once they turn 8 years old, should they choose to. Porter was very excited about getting baptized, and was so happy when he finally turned 8! Since we had his big friend party several weeks before his birthday, and we were moving a couple of days after his birthday, (with more party time once we saw family on our way through LA)-  on the day of he just got a cake! It was an ice cream cake though. So life was good.

This summer was total chaos with the move to Tokyo, and all of the moving parts- but the big moving part that we were most excited about was getting everything set to be able to baptize Porter with some of my extended family around while we stopped for a week in LA. We did it at the church building that my brother and his wife go to. ( I love our Church for that, it's the same wherever we go, and it always feels like home!) We were also able to have Grandma and Grandpa come, along with my twin sis and some of our favorite little cousins. Not everyone could come, but as we were doing it on the road, we were thrilled with the turnout and the wonderful time we had.  It was such a special day, and we hope that Porter continues to know what a good and important choice he made that day. 

 He was Baptized and Confirmed by Noah, and it was so wonderful. 

His Uncle Grant and Grandpa also gave wonderful little talks, and it was a beautiful day.

 We loved having everyone who came there! Porter felt so special.

 Afterward, we went to a park, and enjoyed a delicious dinner and treats. 

(Huge thanks to my Mom and awesome SIL Aubrye for all their help in pulling things together while we scurried all over SoCal that week!) They always put together a delicious spread!

Also. A thanks to pinterest. for all the awesome printables!

I just went with a bunch of bright colors for the color scheme, and it was darling. 

Also, a tradition in our family is to get your very first set of real-deal, "nice" scriptures- with your name embossed. He was so excited to get his very own!

 Also, he got his special quilt that Grandma made for him. 

A very happy boy indeed, and a wonderful day in the memory of our family!

 I'll leave you with a couple more of his 8 year-old baptism photoshoot.

Love this handsome guy!!

Miles 2 Year Photoshoot

Before I forget, here are the pics of Miles' 2 year photoshoot!

Love my boy!

This is as close to putting Two fingers up as he could get….

(he can do it now, a few months later)

Now, that's a good lookin' redhead if I have ever seen one!!!

Ft. McHenry

 So yes. I'm just going for it. I'm on a roll, so I'm going to put in a few posts that I didn't think I'd ever get around to. I must document the moments of American History we get to see. It goes with our job description I think. So real quick, for the 4th of July we took the kids to Ft. McHenry. It was awesome. 

There was all sorts of patriotism going on, and great re-enactments! 

Nothing beats watching Old Glory gallantly streaming oe'r the ramparts!

A very cool place, and so happy we took the opportunity to take the kids. 

Let it not be said that they never learned about the history of the Star Spangled Banner.

Proof.

 All kidding aside, it was really quite the experience to go on the 4th of July and truly think about the events, and the historic importance it holds for our country. 

It was truly a day we came away feeling so grateful for all of our many freedoms, and this wonderful country we are privileged to call home.

Oe'r the Ramparts we walked

 They are making a new replica (by hand)  Old Glory that will go in the Smithsonian. They let people put in stitches if they wanted to. It will be awesome.

 Porter ready to put in a stitch. 

 A good day.

8 is Great!

 So Porter also had a birthday last year! I know. shocking right? What is shocking is that I'm still just getting to it on the blog. Anyway, my amazing little firstborn is now 8 years old! AACK! 

I seem to be able to handle the birthdays of my other kids a little bit easier (but not much), but for some reason, every single birthday Porter has it completely throws me! I can't believe he is that much older every time. My baby is truly growing up. I think it is in my mind, I can't possibly have a child who is already 8 years old can I? Him being the oldest is par for the course I guess. 

As this was the first real year that he was in the same country as most of his friends from school 

(no offense to his 7th birthday full of lifelong friends and cousins),  he was begging, planning and talking about his birthday party for months prior.  He attended others parties all year long and couldn't wait for his turn! We ended up doing his party about a month before his birthday, however, since many of his friends would be leaving just before. We kind of turned it into his B-day/ going away party for everyone. One last hurrah for end of the school year with all his buddies. 

We decided (rather he insisted) that he wanted a Laser Tag party, 

with Skylander cupcakes. 

Done and done. 

After the success of his 7th party at the bowling alley, I decided that giving someone else the reigns with in weeks of a packout is definitely the way to go! 

I whipped up some awesome cupcake toppers if I do say so myself, and threw together some cute gift bags, then let the "game master" take it from there! 

Besides, 10 little boys is definitely a kind of chaos that is best contained in a laser tag arena!

That much was clear to me! 

Such little angels!

Oh wait...

 Cute boys of mine.

blowing out 8 candles!

Opening presents!

And of course, we need a great big birthday group hug!!!

He was so lucky this year to have such a great little group of friends to play with all year. 

Truly blessed. He misses these guys like crazy now that we are in Japan. 

 Happy Birthday Porter! You are such a fantastic, loveable, smart and talented little boy. We are so proud of you and the great example you are to us! Love you!