PJ Bunko

Internet....meet my delightfully wonderful Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jill. They're the GREATEST! Jill is the bunko queen of the universe and therefore the reason for this party, this post, and subsequent photos you shall partake of. Jill decided to start a new tradition, a once yearly Pajam Bunko game at their lovely home. We all come in our night finery, bring a $10.0o gift card to wherever, food to share and a trash talking capability not seen anywhere but the football fields of America. Seriously, one of the funnest parts is all the e-mails that fly back and forth before this night, they're quite hysterical. What can I say, i have a funny family and really funny cousins and in -laws and cousin in laws. I don't know how so much funny got concentrated in one family, but it did. Try not to be jealous. Anyway, FFF, First Friday in February marked this years extravaganza. Following are just SOME of the pics of the night.

Jill explaining to the head table how the game is to be done. The cute skinny girl is Laura, my cousins Drex's wife. She is perhaps one of the wittiest writers I've ever known. Let the GAMES begin!

I had to include this pic, not for Jere's charming look, but for my Dad and all his adorableness. He always has these flannel PJ sets, and I just think he's so cute.

This is Mckane rockin out a dice roll.

Oh what....how did ROB get to be part of this game? Well, 259 boys are honorary family members. And besides, Rob had nothing else to do on a Friday night. hahahahaha

Erics hair is indicative of just how NUTTY things can get at this shindig. The screaming, the shouting, the stress the laughter. Or, it's just that he is in hair crisis, as in, he's losing it and has decided to grow it out as his one last big hurrah. Oh Eric, you crazy guy you.

We had the privelage and honor of having Greg and Tammy (that's Emily in the pic, not Tammy) join us this year. I might not be able to love 2 people more than Tammy and Greg. They were a welcome addition, and, in case you're wondering, made it in on the 259 clause. ::smiles::

Lana and Hayden and Porters retarded fingers. Hayden is one of Danas twins, and I'm proud to say, due to my excellent rolling in this round, I released him from the "prison" of this table which he'd been stuck at the whole game. Oh, you're welcome Hayden, so welcome. It might be noted that he was laughing so hard during this round, it cracked me up. He's not generally known for showing much emotion in any form.

This is Drex, husband to the witty Laura, and a super brilliant cousin of mine. Apparently he was important enough to get to sit on the throne of all bunko thrones.

Oh you posers! That mystery girl is a friend of Jamyns from their ward.

I forgot to take a picture of the people who were up for "best Pj's" but Mckane was one of them. I think it was the fact that they were highwaters. He didn't win though. That honor went to Gret and Tammy who had Dr. Seuss pants and shirts that said Thing 1 and Thing 2. What's not winnerish about that?

Here's a shot of almost all the giftcards, hanging cleverly and beautifully from Jills entertainment center. Have i mentioned that Jill is genius at all things decorating, creative, churchy, or life? She owns Scrapbook.com and was doing scrapping LONG before it was the in thing to do. Man I love her!

And finally, here is Jere picking out his giftcard. You'll be shocked to know that he picked an i-tunes card. HA! The funny thing is, I brought that I-tunes card. He has a REEDICKULOUS amount of downloaded music. No really, it's far more money than I care to think about. However, a goodly amount of that has come from giftcards for Christmas, birthdays, bunko games, etc. If you must know, I got a Deseret Book gift card, and tragically, I have no idea where it is. Other giftcards were Panda Express, QT, Target, Golden Spoon, IKEA, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Cheesecake Factory. Listen, we do NOT mess around in the Shumway/Davis "259" family.

So, here's to you PJ Bunko! Thanks for all the laughter. Thanks for bringing our extended family together once again. A good time was certainly had by all.

Can't wait to see you all again next year!!

Disneymania continues...

Saturday morning dawned bright and early. We were determined to get to the park the MOMENT it opened so we could race in and get Indiana Jones and Matterhorn done before we met up with everyone at California Adventure. Holy COW! We were sore, and we had a good 11 hours ahead of us.

I was a speed walking DEMON on my way to Indiana Jones, I meant business people.

Just a quick pic underground, before we loaded the cars for Indy. As a side note...I'm not the biggest fan of that ride. I can totally go to Disney and NOT do it. It's too jerky, and frankly, sort of lame. I'd rather do the mountains a few times. After Indy we raced over to Matterhorn....

I included this pic 'cause it cracked me up. Jere was trying to get us in our bobsled, and instead, mostly got my bubbies. But hey, at least you see we went on the ride. Again, could do without it, it's just OK. It was on our way to the next park that I learned that my sweet docile, never cries baby boy had basically been crying the whole time we'd been gone. I talked to Jenny D. and well, Max was not so spectacular. I felt awful about this. Sad that he was unhappy, and horrible that my kind friend was having to deal with him. UGH!

Upon finishing those rides, and a quick stop on the Alice in Wonderland ride (cute) we met up with the fam at California Adventure. They were all on their second go round of California Screamin. May I just say, THAT IS THE GREATEST ride in either park. I LOVE that coaster. Sadly, I only got to go on it once that day.

Ahhh, Shane and Dixie have graced us with their presence. Why does she have to be so beautiful in this silly little shot?

After screamin, we ran over to the new Toy Story ride. Ok, THAT is a cute and fun ride. It's an interactive arcade game, sooooo cool! We had a blast on that one.

Jere was NOT messing around here folks, he takes his arcade games very seriously.

We then took in the Alladin show, which was quite spectacular. And a nice rest for the tootsies I might add. After that we fast passed Tower of Terror. We got my Dad to go. My Dad who got sick doing Soarin over California. My Dad who does NOT like roller coasters. He came on Tower of Terror. And guess what...he liked it, he liked it a lot. So much did he like it that he turned around and went again, AND made my Mom go. Anyway, this is us just chillin in line.

Adam, Julie and Troy, me and Jenny. We were practicing our "terror" faces. But apparently Jenny missed that memo and just made a silly smile face. Oh well, the rest of us could totally win Oscars for our scared look in my opinion. And in other thoughts, I should go around looking scared all the time, my jawline looks FANTASTIC!

Sitting down in our elevator. I WISH you could have seen the pic the ride took of Jeres face, it is the freaking funniest thing EVER! He truly does hate this ride, and gets ridiculously scared. Oh man, it was almost the ridiculous FIFTEEN dollars to buy the pic. Oh well, shoulda, woulda, coulda.

After Terror we spent some time in the animation place and wandered around. Then, we stopped for a photo op. I love this picture for the sheer size factor differences. You have Jere and I, and then two tiny little stick people sort of visible behind us. Oh Dixie, how I love ya.

After eating lunch and then doing Soarin over California, Jere finally won out and got a posse together to do the river ride. As you may recall, I don't LIKE water rides, so i stood my ground and said NO. Good thing too!

THIS is what happens when you do dumb things like go on a water ride. Poor Tatum, she got the brunt of the soaking. I mean literally, not a dry spot on her. She didn't take that very well. Before the ride she'd been telling us that she had cotton candy and she got some every time she went on a ride and was brave. She LOVED Screamin, loved Tower of Terrror, big fan of space mountain, etc. So, Troy said, well I'll throw you over the raft. She said, "no you won't." And he said, "yes, yes I will, I'm gonna throw you into the water." She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, then I'll just be really brave and I'll get more cotton candy." Love that girl. Apparently, when the first big wave washed o'er her, she was no longer brave, just upset, VERY upset.

In spite of getting quite wet, all were in good spirits (minus Tatum). In fact, Dixie said it was her FAVORITE ride of the day. What a wierdo.

After the Pixar parade, Jere and Julie went back to the hotel to change into dry clothes and get our sweatshirts. It was actually chilly on Saturday evening, as opposed to the saharan hotness of Friday. Anyway, the rest of us went to do Toy Story again, Dad needed a try at it. He was successful...don't even think he wasn't a centepide or pac man DEMON in his day.

Once Jere got back, we had a delicious dinner of the famed corndogs and then headed over to get in a couple more rides before the day ended. We did Thunder Mountain again, because I love it so, and then we did Mr. Toads. Again, why? It really is so uber lame! But, jere looks cute with the Toad man.

I included this pic 'cause, well, it's pretty, and Julie took it. We were now ready for the fireworks to begin.

Amy literally sat on this bench for 4 hours to secure a spot for us to see the fireworks. This is a shot just a few minutes before they were to begin. The best part? We couldn't sit and see them, since everyone else was standing in front of us. Oh well, at least we had a good standing spot.

Some more of our crew waiting for the fireworks to start. I actually videoed the fireworks, no pics to speak of.

This would be three VERY tired and slap happy ladies after the fireworks. When they ended, Amy and Tracie headed for the hotel, then drove home. The rest of our group dispersed to shop, ride rides, or whatever. The three of us sat on that bench and laughed, giggled, talked to Andrew a VERY nice and chatty Disneyland worker and talked. Finally at 10;30 we decided we'd better go get what shopping in that we could and head out.

The time had come to say goodbye to our grand Disney adventure. After 2 LONG days, a million miles of walking, delicious dining, crazy rides, lame rides, soaking clothes, laughter and tears, we took our worn out feet, aching muscles, wilted hair and headed home. Who knows when we'll return again, but it SURE was a fun Birthday adventure. Thanks EVERYONE for coming along and making it a memorable trip.

As a parting shot. This was taken Sunday morning as we were leaving the hotel. Tatum and Dane were so proud of their Mickey ears (so was Jere for that matter), so we gathered them for a little shot. I think it turned out adorably. We left here and had a little breakfast at I-Hop (another story, another time), gassed up and hit the road.

Until next time Disney. Thanks again.

Splash Mountain

This ride and picture deserved its own post. Well that, and the fact that it belongs in day one, and I didn't want to mess up my day two post with it. Anyway....it must be noted here that I DO NOT like water rides. In fact, I detest them. Why you ask? Well, because they get you ALL WET! I HATE getting wet, most especially if it messes up my hair. Yeah, I'm a little ocd about the hair, what can I say. So, splash mountain. Everyone wanted to go on it. I did not. There was some peer pressure. Jere wanted me to go. I went. Little word to the wise, it's never a good idea to put three fatties on one boat, just NOT smart. Because...A) the boat struggles to go and B) when you hit the watery parts, you get EXTRA wet. So, needless to say, I came off the ride SOAKED! I might as well have jumped in a pool fully clothed. Oh wait, I essentially did. So, I was NOT a very happy person when we got off the ride. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that the words I hate you might have been said. But, as you can see by the pic, we all pretty much got it, some worsse than others. It took a good many hours to fully dry out, but it did eventually happen.

The picture says it all. Everyone else had a better attitude than I. I did get over it eventually, and all was well. I know, I so need to get over my bad self. Maybe someday I will do that. Oh man, I have so much to work on. UGH!

Also, not noted on my day one post: Space Mountain. That ride is the BEST! The second time we went on it I sat by my Mom. It was so cute. She just giggled, and that made me smile inside. Have I mentioned that my parents are total rock stars? They bee bopped around Disneyland for 2 1/2 days like nobody's business. I'm so impressed with them and their youthful exuberance.

Fantasmic...really cool.

Many rides chose to be broken or shut down, uncool. Indiana Jones broke down all day long. Matterhorn, broke down for most of the day. Small World (not that I really care here) shut down until next week, and Haunted Mansion closed for awhile too. And, would you believe, we actually stood in line for Mr. Toads wild Ride (such a lame ride, not wild at all) and were almost in when they announced it had broke down. OY! Good thing day 2 was better.

Disneyland Day One

Click on all images to see them larger.







Ok FINE, the pressure from my five regular readers was too much, here it is, I hope you're happy. And my apologies, 'cause it is A LOT of pics, and that was VERY edited if you must know. So, peruse if you wish, run away if you want, but whatever you do, make a comment.


Things were not looking so sweel for our much anticipated trip to Happy land on Wednesday night. At about 8:00, out of nowhere Jere became uncontrollably freezing, aching from head to toe and a fever of 101. My response to this news was..."awesome." He over medicated himself with way to much ibuprofen and went to bed. He got up at 3 a.m. and took too much more, and still was sick in the morning. Again...."awesome." I called Dr. Dana (remember, she's my all knowing) and she said he had WAY too much ibuprofen, so now he must flush with a lot of water, and no more drugs for awhile. He was miserable!!! At some point in the mid morning he barfed. "Awesome". But, no worries peopel, we have power of the Priesthood on our side. My Dad and Adam gave him a blessing before they toodled out of town and Jere was ready for his healing. We finally headed out of town around 4:00, after a stop at Fry's for some gatorade and other needed drugs. Jere was buried under a blanket and moaning for the first few hours. But, somewhere on that ride between Blythe and Anaheim he shook off the sick. We finally arrived at around 10:30 p.m. (Blythe is not known for speedy service, we'll leave it at that) and pretty much fell into our bed. The next morning dawned bright and early with me first making a stop in the fitness closet (oh yes, i do not exaggerate, this room was no bigger than most of your closets. ) It had 2 crappy treadmills, a bike and some weight machine. I soldiered on and did my requisite walking, lifted a few weights and headedd back to the room. We were to all meet at 10:00 in front of the Disney railroad. Let the adventures begin!


Sitting on our shuttle bus, rip roarin, ready to go! That is Jeres sister Julie, who by the way was visiting Disneyland for her VERY FIRST TIME!

Here we are, all except Amy who got cut out by the retard man who took this picture for me. Sorry, i realize he was doing us a favor, but SERIOUSLY, can you really not see you're THAT off center. This picture was torturous, due to the hideously brightly beaming sunshine and the 100 billion degree heat. For reals people, it was January in California, I expected a touch a cool in the air. But mostly, mostly it was the blinding sun, keeping my eyes open was its own form of hell. So, we're all there, except Dixie and Shane who joined us on Saturday.

They gave me this charming Birthday button to wear around all day. I got birthday greetings all day from all the workers and total strangers too.

Me and my Daddio posing for our Birthday in the Magic Kingdom. let's not discuss how fat I look, no really, I said not to!

This was in line for Thunder Mountain Railroad. I LOVE that ride, and it was the first one we went to. I just thought this was SO adorable. Tatum wanted to sit with Jere on all rides if possible. She was so cute and excited about everything. And she and Jere have always had a special little bond.

Lana in all her pregnant glory totally snuck on the ride, and her baby is none the worse for it (we hope). How cute is this pic, it HAD to make the cut for my blog.

World, this is Amy, she's our friend. She is the one who totally scored us the super cheapo rooms and the discounted tickets. Many thanks to her for making this trip even more possible. Ummm, I tended to take a lot of self pictures on this trip, don't know what that was about.

This is Tarzan's Tree House. It is VERY tall. There are MANY steps. I climbed them all. Why?

I took this pic of us at the top of the tree house, just before Jere had his heart attack. Ok, I kid. He didn't actually HAVE a heart attack, but he thought about it. Did I mention.....400 steps? And for WHAT? It's really a dumb thing, but hey, it only added to my awesome exercise for the day.

To celebrate our day, and the fact that we were in Disneyland, we all ate (this is small portion of our group) at the Blue Bayou resteraunt. That is the one that overlooks the Pirates ride. Ummmm, not so much. I mean, I appreciated the time spent with everyone, and the idea of it. But holy overpriced food Batman, it was ridonkulous. When the cheapest thing on the menu is a $24.00 TWENTY FOUR DOLLAR sandwhich, I say move along people, move along. Frankly, I didn't love the sandwhich even. I'm ok to say, don't bother. But at least we did get a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday and some hideously choclaty mousse with a candle on it out of the deal.

Aren't we a stunning bunch waiting for "Honey I Shrunk the Audience."

There are 2 things that you had BETTER do when you go to Disneyland. One is, you MUST have a churro (they're just good there) and you MUST get a corndog. Somewhere there is a picture of me on the second day with another churro, next to Dixie, making a face. 'Cause I was going directly against her challenge on this one. A churro is most definitely not any form of produce. However, it WAS my birthday, i WAS on vacation and a churro HAD to be had. And you know what? It was goooooooood!

I went on the teacups. First time in twenty years. Dana and I had a ball.

Mom and I in line for Storybook Land. I've NEVER done that. Now I know why. Lame.

I'm heading into the mouth of Monstro. Do I look sufficiently scared?

We've reached the end of Day one. Jere believes that you can NOT go to Disneyland and not get one of the FIVE DOLLAR ice cream cones. I believe otherwise. However, it was the perfect end to his day. After 10 long hours of walking, climbing, standing, walking, standing, walking and standing some more, I was EXHAUSTED. We trudged out of the park, got on our bus and headed to our hotel. I literally stayed awake long enough to wash my face and put on my pj's. I bet you can't wait to see day number two. That will just have to wait. But, congrats on making it this far.

I'm a little bummed, 'cause I forgot to post the pic of us after Splash Mountain. I'll do it tomorrow. Let's just say, that ride does not for a happy me make!!

Mouse ears and churros -

Allyson

Sleeping Blooty

**This post title brought to you by Brooklyn. For all her brilliance and great speech ability, she simply can NOT say beauty. Her favorite movie is "Sleeping Blooty." It cracks me up so much, that sometimes, I just have her say it for my amusement. "Hey Brooklyn, what movie is that?" "Brooklyn, who is that princess?" You understand.

Anyway, the other night I went in to check on Maggs before bed, and I found her like this. Seriously, to be so kicked back in ones sleep, what must it be like? She has slept like this since birth. Meaning, totally wide open, spread apart, relaxed on her back. Even now, if she's ever on her stomach, it's rare and it doesn't last long. So, I was just amused at her hands behind her head and her foot fully kicked through the bar. I love this girl and her sleeping habits. Oh, and do note the totally cute new jammies I picked up at Costco the other day. Bumble bees and polkadots, what more could you ask for?


And, because I'm totally avoiding doing my Disneyland post (I'm overwhelmed and don't know where to start) I'll just throw in a couple more cute pics of little miss thang!

This is how awesome her hair looks when you take out the ponytails. I think she could take flight here, the wings are fully spread. And the tongue? It's her latest thing, constantly out looking special.

Finally, this picture captures the essence of Maggie. She had gone and pulled one of her discarded socks out of the laundry and insisted that I help her put it on. So, one sock on and one sock off. Sitting with her purse, her little foot crossed and a phone in her hand. What would I do without phones to keep her happy and occupied? She literally "talks" on them all day long, walking around saying "Hehwhoa?" and then proceeding to carry on who knows what kind of conversations. Man kids are great.

So, I totally didn't go to my swim this morning, since Dixie bailed on me and more importantly, Jere had a Dr.'s appointment in Scottsdale at 7:00 a.m. So, he needed me home so he could get ready and leave. It feels wierd to have missed a morning, this is my first one. But honestly, I needed the rest, Disneyland nearly did me in. But, wouldn't you know, Max is STILL asleep, and Maggie just let out her first yelp of the morning. Nice! So, guess I should go retrieve her and check on Max, as he's developed a yucky cough and he needs to eat soon.

Love to all, and I promise that I will try to pull together this Disneyland post, but it's just sooooo much to see and say.

Bumblebees and polkadots,

Allyson