The Good Life With Disney

Three years ago this month we moved to Southern California, and while I willingly agreed to move I did make one demand....Disneyland passes! The first time we took our girls I cried as I walked through those gates! I'm sure not too many of you know this, but to this day even though we go often I still get rather emotional! Yup if you look close you may see a tear falling. Um yeah I'm that weird, but I have my reasons! 1st I can not express how grateful I am that we are in a position to buy passes. 2nd I'm still a little bit in awe that we actually live in Southern California and that we can just go to Disneyland pretty much whenever we want. 3rd walking through those gates transforms me back into a child, all of a sudden the world is magical and anything is possible. 4th I'm with my girls and to see the looks on their faces and the excitement in their little eyes is truly priceless!

One of the benefits of visiting Disneyland so much is for whatever reason we seem to end up there when they are filming commercials, we have now seen them film 5 times.

On this day they were filming Mickey's new Soundsational parade

But my most favorite commercial and the inspiration behind this post is this one...

That commercial is my favorite! For me it captures all the feelings that I feel while I'm at Disneyland with my girls. I also love it because on the day it was filmed was one of the best days we have ever had a Disneyland. The park was closing really early, so not too many people were there. Actually it felt almost empty. We walked onto all the rides, we watched the ducks, we explored Tom Sawyers Island, we window shopped, the girls meet Pinocchio and Gepetto for the first time, and we took a nice long break and ate dinner while watching them film. Actually every corner we came too we would run into the film crew. It is fun to watch the filming, the actors and all the people who "make" it happen!

I know Disneyland isn't for everyone, but for me it has become a place where I can transform back into a kid and along side my girls dream of magical places and play pretend in lands far far away! Here are just a few of our favorite "Good Life With Disney" moments

I would say we don't just have a good life, it's a great life and I LOVE it!

Good Bye October!

Today was a great crazy day! It was so crazy that I actually forgot to take Kayla to speech therapy! Um yeah this is a little embarrassing because a half hour before we were to leave I was actually getting her ready to go, the next thought I had about it was at our neighbors house for a block party and it's 5:30pm! With my crazy schedule I knew this would happen one day! I'm just happy I didn't forget to pick someone up or drop someone off at the wrong place! Sooo other than me being absent minded, today was really fun!

We started our day at Jenna's "Literacy Day" parade

Then went to Kayla's school to hear her class sing Halloween songs

We decided to use Jenna's homework pass so we would could have a fun night stress free!

Our neighbors planned a fun block party

The girls had to model their costumes before the trick-o-treating got under way!

Justin took our girls trick-o-treating. I enjoyed staying home and passing out candy to all the cute kids. First time I have done this and have decided it's now my job forever! The girls came home, gorged them selves on candy and surprisingly went to bed without too much complaining!

Of course we have been up to a lot more than just Halloween this month!

Jenna is loving soccer

We went desert camping at the Whitney Pockets, I love this annual trip and think it's absolutely beautiful!

I was released from my young women calling as 2nd counselor only to be called back again under a new president. I am grateful beyond words that I was kept in, I love serving in Young Women and think our girls are amazing!

This is technically from September but I'm so proud of Jenna that I have to add it, she learned how to ice skate at her friends birthday party and loved it so much that she will be taking lessons after soccer is over!

That has been our month and now I say bring on November!!!

And speaking of November...

I love, love, love Thanksgiving! I'm looking forward to having our friends and family over, planning the menu, the cooking, setting the table, decorating our house and figuring out how to fit all our loved ones into my not so big kitchen! Thanksgiving always makes me feel grateful for what I have and tonight as I look over my blog I'm feeling very thankful for my life, my friends, my girls and for Justin, my life is not perfect, but it's filled with happy things that fill me with joy and for me that's enough:)

Two more reasons I love my kids

1st. Kayla. While in the bath tonight she was washing her body singing a little song about the body parts she was washing..."washing my elbow's, now I'm washing my hands" but my favorite part was when she sang "washing my little boobies, that will be big someday"!!! yup that will keep a smile on my face for a few days!

2nd Jenna. As I was putting her to bed she asked why some people have less money now than a little while ago (her wording) she must have heard us talking about the economy. So after explaining to her that jobs are a little harder to come by now, and that a lot of people make less money than they used too. She asked if tomorrow she could take all the money out of her piggy bank and go to all our neighbors houses and ask if they are poor and if they are she will give them her money. Now that brought tears to my eyes because yesterday she counted out her money to see how close she was to buying a Rapunzel dress from Disneyland. I used this little moment to teach about welfare and helping the poor. I told her if she really wanted to help she could contribute a small part of her allowance to fast offerings and explained to her how that money goes directly to people who need food and help paying their bills....she enthusiastically said yes and asked how much do they need! I just love these small teaching moments that happen spontaneously:)

The real me

I'm not big on posting all my drama on FB. I really don't like to hear people whine on FB. I often find myself thinking suck it up and get over it. I just don't think posting negative feelings ever portrays yourself in a good light. Yes I know I have done this very thing a time or two, but I really try hard not to put those feelings out in the cyber world.
That said I realize that posting only the positive happy things in my life may give the illusion that my world is perfect, that we are just happy people going to Disneyland all the time and soaking up sun at the beach!
The truth of it is my life is a crazy chaotic roller coaster! This is my own fault of course! So to reassure you all that I'm not perfect (I laughed when someone told me that!) I decided to put her and everyones mind at ease and share some of my imperfections...so enjoy!
I'm not that great at making sure clothes, shoes, lunches are put out/made the night before school, you will often find me yelling and frantically searching for a missing shoe while shouting "How hard can it be! you come home, you take off your shoe, you put it on the shoe rack" I find I don't have a clue what to pack for snack time 1 minute before we are to leave for school, so my kids end up having odd things packed in their lunch bag. We are often searching for "matching" clean socks in the sock basket that holds most of our socks, it maybe gets matched and folded once a month (thank you btw to Little Mismatched you have truly made my life much easier!). I will wait till I have 12 loads of laundry to do before doing it. Yes I will wash one pair of pants just because nothing is sorted, it's 11pm at night and I just remembered my husband has nothing to wear the next day...I see the gasp of horror on your face at such waste! My house does get deep cleaned once a week and everything will be put away in it's proper place, but you come over a hour after I finish and you would never know! I don't always pick up the toys before my kids go to bed. I often leave dishes in my sink overnight. I'm horrible at planning menu's and find I'm constantly going to the store at 4pm to pick up chicken...and yes I have a freezer full them but well they are frozen and I have this whole thing about defrosting meat in the microwave (ya I probably could use some therapy over that) and well my list could go on, and on.
To tell the absolute truth I don't always feel like going to soccer games or helping out at the school. I hate homework and I become very grumpy while helping with it, thank goodness the kids have Justin because he is way better at homework than I am. He is patient and kind and I am yelling "what do you mean is that a 15??? we have been working on 15 all night!!!!!!"
And while I love my kids dearly and think they are wonderful they are not perfect, but I don't need them to be perfect or the best at everything. If they put forth their best effort and try their hardest then I am happy....heck I'm happy even if they don't I mean we all get lazy sometimes!!!
So if you read my super happy post about how much fun we are having and how great our life is know this
1. I blog about happy things because this is becoming my journal and I want to remember the happy times.
2.I know my kids will remember me being grumpy but maybe they will look back on these post and it will help them to remember that the good truly out weighed the bad.
3. I'm not always naturally happy person, it is something that I have to work at. I do have mornings when I force myself out of bed so sometimes when I'm struggling the most at working on happiness I write down all the good things in my life, it lifts me up, helps me to remember all the wonderful blessings I have been given and gives me the motivation to try harder the next day!
Yup this is me in a nut shell, don't believe me go talk to my neighbor she can vouch for me...I'm sure she hears our craziness on a daily basis!
But to sum things up I do have to say I love my crazy life, I may get overwhelmed and yell, but there is a whole lot of love in our home, we show kindness and gratitude for each other, we say sorry, we work hard together, play hard together, are always there for each other, but most importantly we say I love you to each other and really that's all we need!

Where were you?

I remember as a child my Mom talking to me about the day Kennedy was assassinated, she told me she would never forget the exact moment she found out the president had been shot and then proceeded to give me every detail of that day in a way that made me understand even as a small child what a terrible thing that was. I remember thinking that I hoped nothing in my lifetime would impact me in that way.

Now I am a adult of 33 and if you ask me where were you? I will tell you in my car on the way to work, I know exactly what you are asking. The morning of September 11 has been burned into my memory in way that I never thought was possible.

We were living in some apartments by Wal-Mart off Redwood road. I got into my car that morning and heard reports on the radio that the pentagon was on fire and speculation about it being related to the planes crashing into the twin towers. I wanted the radio to give me more information, I wanted to know everything! But the news anchor on KSL just kept saying I think our country is under attack, I'm sure he said more but that's all I processed. I got to work and went into the waiting room where the TV was. I watched with my co-workers the awful scene of the twin towers on fire, and then to our horror the first tower fell! Looking back that was worst moment, you just knew it was only a matter of time before the next tower went down. It's funny what stays with you in times like that....I remember going back to my office to put my things away and walking past my boss' office, she was on the phone laughing with someone, it seemed eery to hear laughing, hundreds of people just died before my eyes how could laughing be allowed? I went back into the waiting room and watched until the second tower fell. In that moment I just wanted to find Justin, while I knew I was safe I wanted to be safe with him. I don't know how any of us managed to get through that day. In the days that followed I remember almost every car had a yellow ribbon tied to it, our country had come together in a way I had never seen and I had never more proud of my country, to call myself an American.

10 years later the hurt is still there, the sorrow still consumes me this time of year.

I have not talked to my girls about what happened that day, I feared they were too little, how do you explain such horrible things to such innocence? The flag at Jenna's school was at half mast on Friday and as I sat waiting for the bell to ring I knew we needed to talk with the girls about 9-11. I asked Jenna on the way home what she knew and was relieved when she had no clue what I was talking about.

So tonight I have been pondering how I to tell them, wondering how much needs to be said. I have read articles on how to talk to your kids about 9-11 what to say, what not to say. Then I remembered that conversation I had as a child with my mom. It did not leave me scared or nervous just sad over someone dying. So I'm going to keep it simple, tell them about it the same way my mom told me about Kennedy's assassination. I hope that they will remember 9-11 the way I think about Kennedy from my mom's perspective .

So much has happened in the past 10 years and 9-11 changed our country in a way that I don't think anyone anticipated. I know I'm just one person, I didn't know anyone who died that day, I have never been to New York or to the Pentagon but it was my country that was attacked and therefore they attacked me as well. So today I'm honoring the hero's of 9-11. My prayers are with those who lost their loved ones and with our military who ten years later are still fighting for our freedom, may God bless them and bring them home safe.

Finally, my greatest hope is that my children's generation will be spared what so many generations before us have not, from Pearl Harbor, to Kennedy and finally 9-11, I pray my girls will never have a " never forget" moment.

The end of August has come so I thought I would give a little update about what we have been up to!  Jenna has started playing soccer, she is loving it and is practicing hard we are excited for her first game which is next month!  We spent a lot of time in Utah which was really nice, although we missed Justin like crazy!  Poor guy worked insane hours the end of July and beginning of August I'm afraid he didn't enjoy summer as much as we did!  But he did manage to give us a week of working a regular schedule, so we took the kids to Disneyland which was super fun, love the changes to DCA and of course the new star tours ride is worth waiting in line for!  We also took the girls to an Angels game! It was Kayla's first major league baseball game, and mine too! We all loved it, had great seats, ate Angel Dogs, popcorn and cotton candy, and the Angels crushed the Orials so what could be better?   We also made one last trip to the beach for our ward beach party, and it was the perfect way to end our summer fun! 

Now we are in full school mode! I'm on the PTA board this year which I now realize I'm a little crazy for joining! Justin says I'm a lot crazy! Last week was fairly busy getting everything ready for school to start but I do think it's totally worth it!  I'm so impressed by what the PTA does for our kids from buying new soccer goals to providing fun assemblies, field trips, and art supplies all the things that make school fun comes from the PTA! Alright enough about that, I will get off my soap box and move on to the first day of school! 

Jenna Started 1st Grade on Monday!!!

Saying goody bye to Kayla!

At her OWN desk, no more sharing a table!

I almost started crying like a baby walking Jenna into her classroom, it took everything I had to hold back the tears!  I really didn't think I would get so emotional, but well it was hard leaving her with a new teacher for 6 hours!  She is doing great though. I can't believe how fast she is growing up and her little personality is changing everyday! She did not choose one pink outfit for school (although she did only choose skirts and leggings, just NOT pink!). She is now into Monster High, not Barbies, and she has decided to be Draculaura for Halloween.  We told her she could either dance or play soft ball after soccer is over; she told us she is dying to play soft ball. When asking who she plays with at recess it is always Bailey - her best friend, and a whole list boys! She still will play princess and tea party but I see her growing out of it and it makes me really sad... but I love that she is coming into her own person and I'm just happy to see her happy!  

Moving on to Kayla Renaie!

Our Little poser!

Jenna sending her little sister off!

Concentrating very hard on cutting out that apple, love the tongue sticking out!

Ms. Tami and Ms. Heather

Daddy and Kayla reading!

 Our sweet Kayla started her 2nd year of preschool today, she is now going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings!  She is happy to be back in school, her class this year has 8 boys and 3 girls which I just think is kinda funny.  She will probably be going to a district speech therapy class on Tuesday mornings, she was tested yesterday to see if she qualifies for the program and I'm sure she got in, but we won't get the official report until Friday.  It is the same program Jenna went through and I really liked it. Jenna had great success with it and I'm hoping for the same with Kayla.  Kayla has also started stuttering a little bit and she is harder  to understand than Jenna was at this age, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that they can help her once she gets accepted. The poor thing gets really upset when no one can understand what she wants. I can't say I blame her, I would be mad too if I could not communicate what I needed!  She is also starting dance class this fall and is very excited! She wants to take a tap/ballet class. She dances everywhere she goes - just spontaneous dancing, and everyday she asks when her class will start! She is our little princess right now, and while her favorite color is still green, pink is a close 2nd... yes, she is still all girl! If I let her she will wear nothing but princess dresses all day long. Most of the time I let her - she is our baby and I want her to stay little for as long as possible!


Well that is what has been going on in the Montoya family. September will be here tomorrow which means summer is really over, time to get into a new school routine and back to being busy!

2011 Summer Swimming Lessons!

Summer swim lessons have come to a end!

So Thought I would share a few of my favorite moments!

Jenna is our little fish, she has no fear and did great this year!

Kayla is not so fond of the water to say the most she just tolerated class, but eventually did everything asked by her teacher!

I tried uploading videos to this post but well blogger would not play them so I'm publishing this in multiple post (user error I'm sure!)

Hope you enjoy the videos the girls are sad swim is over, but for me I'm kinda glad! It's a lot of work taking them 5 day's a week in the hot sun!