"Jason Hymas, you just graduated from medical school!  What are you going to do next?"

"I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!"

We started promising Chelsey, and, subsequently Emily, a trip to Disneyland when "Daddy is a doctor," almost three years ago!  To believe that the time had actually come to take our little princesses to the "happiest place on earth" was very hard to believe!  We shared our plan with my family and invited anyone to come along, and it turned into a gigantic family reunion.  My brother Jeff just returned home from his mission to Arcadia California, just minutes away from Disneyland, so it worked perfectly as both a time for the family to be all together again and as a chance for my parents to tour Jeff's mission.  We met up as a family in St. George, Utah, and drove the next day to Anaheim, where we all stayed together in a beautiful Spanish-style home two blocks from Disneyland.  Can't you just picture it: five days in Disneyland!  We had so much fun!  I can't believe it is over!   I definitely had so much fun planning for this trip over the last two years, and I can't wait to plan the next one.  Anyone in?

Disneyland Excitement!

Chelsey the first day, standing in line to get in - you couldn't wipe that smile off her face!

Emily's favorite ride in the whole park

Cute picture taken while the family rode Grizzly River Run

"Ooooooooo, aliens!"

Fun Moments

Toy Story ride line

Chelsey soaked after Grizzly River Run

What Splash Mountain ride is complete without a wet bum picture?

No explanation needed

Our honorary bugs waiting for the show

I Don't Know if You'd Call This Our Favorite Ride...

...judging by the way Ryan was crying when the ride was over and me having to sit out with him for the next ride....it looks like Ryan has inherited his mother's tendency for motion sickness!  Oh, well, we still managed to enjoy ourselves!

Meeting Disney Characters Equals Standing In Long Lines!

Meeting the Princesses

You know, when I was younger, the princesses were just walking around Disneyland, and you shoved your way to the front for a quick picture before someone else jumped in.  Now-a-days, you wait in line for quite a while (luckily, ours was only about 35 minutes) to see three random princesses.  Well, we were so lucky when we got to the front of the line and saw Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, our daughters' favorite princesses.  But did you know they leave in between girls, even in the same party?!  Savannah, our niece, went first, and talked with Sleeping Beauty, then moved on to Cinderella while Chelsey had her dream-come-true moment with Sleeping Beauty.  But in between Savannah and our girls Cinderella up and disappears!  So sad for Emily!  Her favorite, all gone!  Luckily she's three and gets over things quickly.  And we did see Cinderella from really, really far away in California Adventure, so Emily counts it as seeing her favorite princess.  Oh, to be three again....life is so simple!

 

Chelsey, so proud to meet Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine.

"Emily, smile!"  "I am smiling!"  Hmmm.

Emily loves Jasmine, but definitely would not get any closer

Ariel, whom I might say, was not the friendliest of princesses...

Belle, who really loved talking with our girls

Ryan running for his life

Oh, Yeah, the Rides!!

This picture was just too funny not to include - look at Emily: the only time we ever got her on Splash Mountain!

My first ride on Tower of Terror - and I was so scared!

This was moments before someone in our cart, no names mentioned, rushed to the restroom for a little throw-up session

Lindsay trying to prevent her bunny ears...I have two hands, Linds!

Ahhhhhhhh!

We Silly Lofgrans Love Disneyland!

Our new family picture, minus one baby left in Idaho

Clandestine photo on Splash Mountain

Squashed (and I do mean tightly) on the Nemo ride

Riding Grizzly River Run

(Emily was too short to ride, so I sacrificed by not riding a single time.  Darn.... you know how much I love getting wet on rides and sitting in wet pants for hours....)

Having WAY too much fun on the shuttle ride to the parking lot

Cousins!

In line for the Toy Story ride

(Emily, Chelsey, and Laurel)

Chilling by the pool at our awesome reunion house

(Emily, Elayna, Emma, Chelsey, Maddy, Laurel, Anders, Anna, and Rachel)

Chelsey and Savannah - twins!

Chelsey, Emily, and Savannah, figuring out where to go first

Madison and Ryan - a love/hate relationship

Leaving Disneyland....*sniff*

Poor Emily, only stayed awake once on the many walks back to the house

Best $3 splurge we ever made!

The last night we let the girls stay late and see the fireworks, which may have been one of the best things we did all week --so much fun!

Goodbye, Mickey face!  We'll see you again soon, hopefully!

Important Milestone

Our good ol' van made it to California and back.

We have put almost 20,000 miles on our van in two years.  Between about five trips across the country and our residency interview loop, those miles are really packing on!  Whew, good thing traveling will be at a minimum for the next three years!