Disneyland 2018

I have been waiting for a Robins family trip to Disneyland ever since I first met Bryan in 2011. Although it was 7 years in the making, it was well worth the wait. We had an absolute blast with all 10 of us together.


I'm just going to share a few an overload of pictures here.

Stay tuned for my Guide to Disneyland at Halloween! Insights into exclusive food to order, must-sees, and tips for Mickey's Halloween Party. Plus, a video!

Woody was quite the charmer. He had all sorts of flirting to do with Chim!

 

 Watching Del ride this by himself was the funniest thing!

 You can tell which rides we were on the most...

But really, with 5 days we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted to!

Everything about this place is magical!! Even the character drawings from water on the pathways. Seriously talented people.

If you look closely, Bryan has a different face in every single picture.   

 Ok, let me tell you about this picture. It's pretty early in the morning on our first day. We didn't have a set plan before we went to bed but I knew the parents were going to get checked in at our other hotel and pick up our tickets. The next thing I know, they're showing up saying we have to go get breakfast and that we're going straight into the park. No warning at all. Since I'm the new one in the family, all the kids were like, "Mary, just roll with it. Seriously, don't try to fight it. Just do what they say" I was like, what about a shower or changing clothes or any of that? They all said it could just happen later. So here I am, strolling through Disneyland, like a hot mess.

 

Penny wishes at Snow White's Wishing Well! This whole trip was so entertaining because of these cute kids. They were so good the whole time and were excited about everything. I've never been with kids except for when I went when I was little, so this was a special treat to be able to experience it with them!

 Just a little scrolling through the Mutual App while we waited for our flight ha!

Her face says it all. This little girl cracked me up the whole trip! She can be quite sassy but she knows what she wants and she's stickin' to it! At one point, Grandpa and I were suddenly in charge of the kids while all the big kids went on a ride. We took them on the teacups, bought them popcorn, and tried to keep them happy. I'm sure it was quite the funny duo to watch. 

I don't know what it is about this photo that cracks me up! He carried the rabbit like this the whole night and for some reason it reminded  me of the Brer Rabbit from Splash Mountain, all tied up waiting for his doom.

These two uncles take such good care of Troy. All he wanted to do was ride Astroblasters with them the whole time!

We got stuck on SO many rides this trip!! Here we are stuck on Splash Mountain, near the end, so they actually made us hop out of our logs and walk to the exit. Apparently it was major Disney goals for Bryan and Mikayla. They were so excited about walking off a ride haha!

Oh, and this is the day we wore our Disney shirts that Marianna made! They all had different Disney quotes that apparently went with our personalities. I'll share all of them later.

I loved hanging out with my boyfriend all week! The last time we were here was on our honeymoon!

BUBBLE MACHINE!

It was like winning the jackpot when we got to take the time lanyard through the ride line. I had NO IDEA Tyson and Jeff snuck into this picture!

Fun fact. My husband is incredibly good at this game/ride. Over the 5 days, he was in the top 10 of high scores for the ENTIRE PARK multiple times, his highest being 3rd.

Cousin Kathy and her son Kennedy joined us on Thursday! I didn't meet them at the wedding so it was fun to spend a few days with them!

I tried so hard to capture this. Hair twirl and thumb sucking all the time!

In the middle of this ride, the car started spinning, and Mia yelled out, "I'm gonna die!!!" It was the funniest thing!

We love Magic Mornings! We got to ride this 3 times without getting off

The new Incredicoaster wasn't my favorite! I think they did a good job with it but I miss California Screamin'.

This parade was so good! The music, the floats, everything!

I could seriously live in California. The weather is always perfect and PALM TREES. Need I say more?

So story behind the Pinocchios...they got a real one in a McDonald's happy meal once and ever since then Mikayla and Del have been messing with each other sticking it in random places. Mikayla got serious this time and printed out little Pinocchios to put in his food, clothes, etc. the whole trip.

 

book review: before we were yours

So far we are 2/2 for amazing books this book club year. If you haven’t read Before We Were Yours, it is a must-read! It’s been on my list ever since it came out last year. Historical fiction has always been one of my favorite genres and this captivating story made my love for this genre grow even stronger, I felt like I was flipping through pages so quickly because I just couldn’t wait to find out what happens.

It is taken from a real-life scandal that happened in Memphis, Tennessee where Georgia Tann would take children from poor families and adopt them to wealthy families all over the country. It is shocking that this went on from 1924-1950 and the records were not opened until 1990. She treated the children horribly, killed some of them, and would have mothers sign papers while they were sedated in the hospital, telling them their children had died and taking them instead.

So some of it was a bit difficult to read but it switches back and forth between a modern day story and the historical story of Georgia Tann with a little bit of mystery so it's not all devastating.

At our book club meeting we talked about how it was possible for Georgia to get away with this and how she even had the audacity to do it, but then realized that selling of children who may or may not have parents has happened numerous times throughout our world’s history.

Similar stories include The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright and the movie Lion which both tell about children taken in India and adopted to other places in the world.  Human trafficking is also  prevalent in our world today. You can learn more about Timothy Ballard's mission to end trafficking here.

We also talked about the resilience of children and how adaptable they can be to new situations and overcoming horrible things.

It's crazy to think about how because of this scandal, there are so many people who don't know who their real ancestors are or that they are even adopted at all!

That's why journaling is so important! Keeping a record of our lives and the lives of our families helps to preserve memories and understand links between generations. There is something so powerful about knowing where you come from and who you belong to.

Where did Fall go?

Just two weeks ago we were driving through the Alpine Loop and I wasn’t even wearing a jacket. It was the perfect fall weather, in my opinion.

Then, overnight it turned to WINTER. Cold, dark, gloomy. The day it started being dark in the morning was the day it suddenly started being more difficult to get up in the morning.

I’m all about crunchy leaves, bright blue skies, sun, and crisp air, but not freezing.

I’m hoping we’ll get a little bit of fall back because it was waaay too short!

Utah Valley Fires

The past month or so have been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Back in August, the Coal Hollow fire started because a tree was hit by lightning. It was close t o home but not so close that it directly affected people we knew. Mostly, it was a major inconvenience because our entire house smelled like smoke and we had to either escape Spanish Fork or hide out in our basements. A couple weeks later, it went away.

In September, a fire that they decided to let just burn, drastically took a turn for the worse when a long period of dry weather and high winds caused this fire to spread exponentially. What was just a little bit of smoke turned into extremely hazy, grey skies and billows of smoke coming over the tops of the mountains. One day while I was driving home from work, I was shocked and how scary those mountains looked. It seemed as if the fire was RIGHT THERE. I texted Bryan and asked if we were safe. His reply was, “actually no, I was just informed that we are in pre-evacuation.”

A million thoughts started running through my head. How close is this fire? Where will we go? Will we still have school? What are you supposed to bring? How much time will we have to leave?

After talking through it and looking at maps of where the fire was, we decided that it probably would not come all the way through the canyon to us, but that it is better to be prepared. I gathered important documents, some clothes, our wedding pictures, stuff from missions and Jerusalem, and my violin, packed them all up, and put them by the door. There they stayed for two weeks.

We were safe. But all around us, our world was being turned upside down. There were two fires that were merging into one. People in Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills, cities close by, were evacuated. Members of the Covered Bridge branch that meet in our church building were evacuated. Suddenly we were in the middle of a situation where people needed places to stay, basic necessities, and food to eat.

I read a facebook post of a girl who went to help her parents evacuate. She gave permission in the post to share, so I am going to because it wasn't until I read this that the whole thing really hit me.

"A fire is coming. You’re being evacuated. You only have 20 minutes to grab whatever you can. …What do you take?

It is 4:51 a.m. and I’m still awake. I can’t sleep. I can smell the smoke and the ash in the air, but maybe it’s because I just went outside to get something out of the car. I can smell the fire burning.

Only 15 hours ago I received a text telling me to prepare to evacuate my home at any time. By 5:00 p.m. (three hours later) we were ordered to evacuate our homes as quickly as possible. So, the question still stands… what do you take?

The entire time I was driving home to help my family evacuate I kept asking myself that same question. To my surprise, I could only think of a few things. They were items that, although seemingly pointless to others, were treasures to us. Items we could not replace. We didn’t haul out the flat screen TVs, we didn’t try to load up the couches. Instead, we grabbed the photo albums. We filled boxes and boxes with our albums. We took the wedding dresses. We removed precious paintings/photos from the wall.

And that’s it.

Because when you only have a few minutes to take everything… what do you take? What is most important?

Today I drove away from my home, perhaps seeing it as it is for the last time, with tears streaming down my face. I have always claimed to have grown up in the best place on earth. I consider my home to be a well-kept secret from most, as well as a sanctuary from the world. I drove away today, not just from a building I call my house – but an entire canyon I call my home. My heart is breaking knowing the fire might wipe it all out. However, no matter what happens I feel immensely blessed to have grown up in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

So, there’s a fire coming. You only have 20 minutes to evacuate. What do you take? What is most important?

Family.
The Gospel.

We already have it. When it comes right down to it, nothing else truly matters. How grateful I am that my family and I are safe and that we have the gospel in our lives. We may never see our home the same way again… but we also might. I believe in miracles. I believe in God. I believe He has a plan for us and He will guide us, as long as we listen.

Come what may, but we will pray. We will not stop praying. We will never stop praying. Prayer is one of the most powerful connections we have with God. So I beg you to pray with us. Pray for the firefighters. Pray for the winds to cease. Pray. Because with hundreds of prayers, we just might see a miracle.

And in the end, if we return to ashes, then we will rebuild. God is on our side.
But we will pray, and we will never stop praying.
Please pray.

I haven't lived here my whole life, but there are many who have. Many who have memories of girl's camp, hiking, camping, and canyon drives. People who can't imagine their lives without these mountains. It would be absolutely devastating if they were gone!

Smoke consumed our every day living, ash started falling from the sky, during the day the mountains that are basically in our backyard could not even be seen, and at night the sky was illuminated with flames, dangerously close to where all those people just left.

Our stake president called for a daily prayer at 7pm where everyone would stop wherever they were and say a prayer for safety and cooperating weather. The next Sunday the entire valley participated in a fast in hopes that our faith would be sufficient for a miracle.

And it wasn't even hours later that there was RAIN. It didn't last long, but there was rain!! It was the greatest manifestation of answers to prayer. The fires were long from being gone, but the most amazing thing was that not a single house or life was lost.

Firefighters and other EMS came from all over the state to help structure and fight the fires. Anywhere you went in Spanish Fork, you would see fire trucks of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

Donations came in like crazy that they actually started turning people away. Can you imagine that?? There was an abundance of those who were willing to help.

We have so much gratitude for all those who contributed to helping keep us safe and aided those who were displaced from their homes.

Here is a link to photos of the fires and firefighters.

Since then, we have had a plethora of rain and it is so nice to see clear skies again! Throughout, those weeks, what stuck out to me the most, was that even amidst the darkest of circumstances, faith really can conquer all and that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and does protect and care for us according to our faith. He answers prayers and all things are possible through Him!

book review: the gifts of imperfection

I don’t know if I love the genre title “self-help” but I love books that inspire you to be a better version of yourself. Our first book for book club this year was The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown and I loved it! It was very thought provoking and allowed for self-reflection. I also loved it because she made each of her points seem doable.

The tag line of the book is a guide to whole-hearted living. She doesn’t trick you into thinking this is some easy fix. She shares her experience and research in embracing the gifts of imperfection and stresses how this is a life-long work. We constantly have to be mindful of it and changing our thinking.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to live more intentionally and be more authentic.

We each picked one of the guideposts to work on for the next month. Mine was creativity. I feel like my schedule is always so jam-packed full of things that I never get to sit and create. I wanted to be more conscious of how I was spending my time and choose to produce more things for the internet instead of just being a consumer. It is so easy to waste time on social media getting good ideas that you never actually put any of them to use! I am currently working on a gallery wall for my downstairs and a guide to Disneyland at Halloween. These are my goals for being more creative! They are definitely still works in progress but they are coming along!

I would love to work on a different guidepost each month!