The Clarks: October

Whoa! October was one jam-packed month!

Over the General Conference weekend, Jay Dee and Coleen came to visit. It's always fun to have visitors. We managed to go to soccer games, out to dinner and to a movie.

Loved catching this moment of my girls snuggling!

Jayson's aunt and uncle, Terry and Wayne Coleman, live in Meridian and have started a tradition every General Conference weekend where they invite us over for the sharing of conference notes and root beer floats. The October conference get together is extra fun for the cousins because they get to pick a pumpkin from the Coleman's pumpkin patch.

Sweet sleepy sisters as we drove to UT

So fun to take our girls to their first BYU game! It has been years since I have been. We loved everything; the weather, the food :) and the company!

(love Sophie's face in this one)

DISNEYLAND!!!

I have been dreaming about taking our girls to Disneyland. I knew they were old enough to enjoy it and I was so excited when an opportunity came up for us to go. (Back in August, Jayson's cousin Jeff told us his family was going to CA in October and that we should come. Jayson said it would be fun, so right then and there Jeff called and booked the hotel for us! The more Jayson and I talked about it, we decided it would be good timing for us.)

We were so excited to take our girls for the first time that we invited my parents and brother's family to join us (of course my other siblings were invited, but couldn't come because of timing)

We stayed in Laguna Beach so were about a 45 minute drive from Disneyland. We got to Disneyland on Tuesday morning and went right to the Magic Kingdom. It was so amazing! The girls were in heaven and loved looking at everything.

1st ride- Peter Pan!

I was super impressed with how well the girls were able to wait in line.
They were troopers!

Dumbo

We met up with Princess Eloise and went to the Finding Nemo ride. The girls loved it, but were a bit nervous when it got dark- they all snuggled close to Jayson for protection.

It's A Small World!

(it was now getting a little warm and the girls were feeling a bit tired)

Space Mountain!
I almost tricked Savannah into coming on this one and I was so glad I didn't.
The ride was all decked out for Halloween and was super creepy with a lot of goblins and ghosts.

We brought our big stroller, but decided it was necessary to rent another one. Since we stayed at Disneyland for the day we brought lots of treats, sweaters, and tylenol :)

We had a long walk from one end of Disneyland to California Adventure for lunch.

Both girls took the opportunity to take a nice nap!

We surprised the girls with lunch at Ariel's Grotto! I was happy they napped, but was anxious for them to wake up because I had a surprise for them (new princess dresses!!)

The lunch was super delicious and I loved how organized it was. Every 15 minutes a new princess would enter the room and make her way around to see everyone. The girls were in complete heaven and I think the adults had just as much or maybe more fun watching the girls.

Although the lunch was pretty pricey I would do it again because it was so nice to sit down, have a nice lunch and have the princesses come to you. Afterward, I felt like we had seen the most important princesses and we didn't have to wait in the long lines around the park.

Jayson and I waited with all the kids while my parents and Courtney and Jason went on Soarin' California. Three nice grandmas stopped us and asked if they could take pictures of our girls in their princesses dresses. I didn't say anything to the girls and they just posed automatically! It was one of my favorite moments of the trip! They were so cute.

California Adventure was wonderful and I wished we could have stayed longer!

I decided to be brave and go on the California Screamin with Jason. I loved it!

Sophie whispering something special into Poppi's ear

Sophie had a complete love affair with her Minnie Mouse high heels. She wore them all around Disneyland for 2 days and loved showing them to everyone. She never complained about her feet hurting, but by the end she had some pretty serious blisters.

Making scary faces in front of Tower of Terror

Cars Land!

It was super crowded so we didn't go on as many rides as we would have liked to,

but it was just as fun to walk around and look at everything.

DAY 2!!

Mickey's Halloween Party! Since we bought tickets to the Halloween party we didn't need to buy regular day passes. It was nice to have a slower morning at the hotel and let the girls play at the beach for a little bit before getting decked out and ready for more Disney.

I loved going at Halloween and seeing all the decorations that were up.

Disney just knows how to decorate!

Our first time trying the Dole Whip and it was delicious!

We got into the park at 3pm and then at 8pm everyone else was kicked out and only the party people could stay. A big part of the Halloween party that was advertised was the trick or treating. We learned the hard way that you shouldn't try and trick or treat at the beginning of the party (we waited in line for 20 minutes for 2 mini snickers). We finally decided to ditch the candy and go on rides- which was the right choice. The lines for the rides were completely empty! We walked onto almost all the rides we wanted to. A little later in the evening when the trick or treating lines died down we let the girls get a little more candy.

Winnie the Pooh ride

Since there was no line for Splash Mountain we tricked Savannah into coming with us. She was so cute! She loved all of it except for the last big drop- then she told us with an irritated voice, "Mom, my beautiful dress is all wet!" I love that she wasn't worried about it being scary, just that her dress was all wet.

Poor Soph couldn't quite stay awake for the fireworks...

We stood right by the Princess Pavilion during the fireworks so we could be first in line for the

Princess Parade. The girls loved seeing a new set of princesses.

Sophie showing off her shoes to Mulan

Disneyland was such a huge success!!! I was so happy that my parents and brother's family came. It was so much fun to watch the girls enjoy everything. The weather was great and it was a really fun time of year to go. I can't wait for our next trip. We have made a few plans for next time- stay at least 3 days and stay closer to the park.