"Serving God and others persistently with full heart and soul turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual strength." -Henry B. Eyring

Jeff was recently released from the Bishopric. In his testimony he stated that being released is bittersweet, somewhat like going home from his mission. He is excited for new opportunities to grow in different church callings, but he'll never forget these past 5 years 9 months and the blessings we've received because of his service. Life for us has changed. Kamryn was 4 years old and London was almost 2 years old when Jeff was put in the Bishopric. They've grown up knowing that if Daddy wasn't home or work, he was at church performing his duties. London took the news the hardest, she cried and felt sad for Jeff. I think she took it like he was being fired. After some explaining, she understands now but still worries that her Daddy is a little sad because he was released. I'm so proud of my husband, proud of his strength, hard work and dedication to his calling. But, I'm especially the most grateful for his time management skills and that he made his family a priority when he was at home.

Epcot

I loved Epcot and would have loved it even more had we not brought children with us. They did a good job and everything, but compared to the first day at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot was a little boring for the kids.


Stitch was actually my favorite Character that we met. He's naughty most of the time and ended up throwing Kamryn's autograph book on the ground after he was done signing it. The worker that was helping said that it wasn't very nice to do and he should apologize after which Stitch did a curtsy to Kamryn. Then for pictures, he had to be the center of attention. It was quite funny.


We ended up getting fast passes to Soarin which was the last thing that we did at Epcot. Turned out to be a great way to end the day.






Autographs with Marie.


This was as close as he got to his favorite (Disney) princess.


All Sullivan wanted to look at and play with was WATER! I don't blame him, it was hot.




One thing the girls did was the Kim Possible Mission. It was right up Kam's alley. It was basically a scavenger hunt through out Epcot. The girls had a lot of fun with it.


Snow White was a hit with Sullivan. She definitely gave my little cutie some attention and he loved it. Even when we were done and said our good-byes, he perched his little self down and lovingly gazed at her. He was so cute...possibly his first crush!


Playing the Bongos.


At this point in the day, the kids are getting more and more tired and cranky. We have a little while longer to waste until we can go on Soarin and then be done for the day. So, we found this little interactive play area in an air conditioned building and hung out there for a bit. We took the kids to this savings educational/fun activity...not sure what it was called anymore. But it was fun and it cooled the kids off.




That night we went back to Planet Hollywood and I got to eat my most favorite food in the whole world, or so it was until I tried it again. For some reason it didn't taste like how I remembered it. Boo! It was still yummy though and I was just grateful I had the opportunity to try it again.

Magic Kingdom

Loaded up in our rental van, almost there!!!


After parking the van you need to take a shuttle and then after you buy your tickets you still need to take the monorail to the park and quite a bit of a walk to get into the park. It was crazy getting there!

Waiting in line to buy our tickets.

After purchasing our tickets and learning that it was our first time to Disney World, they gave us these "1st visit" buttons. I thought we might get some kind of special treatment if we wore them, but I was wrong.






All wet after Splash Mountain!

I love that Sullivan is the only one that doesn't looked at all phased that we are dropping 50 feet at the moment.

Pirates Rule. K...the ride in California is much better, just sayin! It was still fun though.


First celebrity meet and greet. Sullivan thought it was pretty cool.



That's how he rolled.




A must take photo.

The Haunted Mansion. The line forked and we chose to take the longer path which had some fun things to do and look at. The kids loved it.

They look like quadruplets.

Touch these instruments and they play.

London's most important thing to accomplish while in Disney World would have to be meet her most favorite princess Rapunzel. We waited for well over an hour and a half in the hot sun while Jeff and Ashley took Sullivan and kept him entertained. I was frustrated and hot waiting that long, but seeing how happy my girls were when they met Rapunzel made it worth it. Rapunzel played her part well and chatted with each girl about Pazcal and her dress etc.,. She made my girls feel like princesses themselves. It was a great experience. Ever since that moment we started referring to our most important things to accomplish in Disney World as our "Rapunzel's."


After Ranpunzel, we ate lunch and headed to the next ride.

Waiting for the Jungle Cruise ride was TORTURE! It was mid-day, Sullivan fell asleep in Jeff's arms and looks like he's suffering from heat exhaustion and we waited in line for well over an hour.






If Sullivan had a "Rapunzel" (most important thing to accomplish), it would have been meeting Buzz Lightyear. We actually spotted him on our way to the Buzz Lightyear ride, but he was finishing up for the day. Poor Sullivan cried so hard when I told him. We took this picture from a distance and the girls and I set to distracting him from his pain...so. sad.

A rest and sunscreen application stop. The sweet boy next to us saw how bright red Sullivan was an offered him his fan for a bit.

This picture cracks me up!!! I'm slightly competitive, k...I'm pretty competitive. Not so much that I get upset over it, but I do like to win. The ride has lazer guns that you shoot and when you hit the Zurg targets it keeps score. I rode with Ashley and I was so into trying to beat Jeff that I hardly had the time to answer her questions as to what to do and what to shoot. She looks confused in this photo and I look hard core. ;) Love it.



It is a vacation miracle!!! The girls are getting along together and are actually acting like they love each other like sisters should. Of course I had to capture the love on film. The pic doesn't do this justice. Kam decided she wanted to sit by London. They walked into the ride with their arms draped over each others shoulders. It totally brought tears to my eyes!

Side note...if a ride wait time is about 10 minutes or less in Disney World then know that it is a dumb ride. The Lilo and Stitch ride was awful!

We had to use up some time before the fireworks and parade, so we hit up a couple of stores. The girls both earned $100 to spend at Disney World by doing chores and they were super excited to spend every last penny. When the cashier noticed that our girls didn't get to go to the princess boutique (gives princess makeovers) like most of the little girls do, she asked my permission to give them some fairy dust. She asked them to close their eyes and make a wish and then she sprinkled them with glitter. They loved it, they loved it so much that when we got home they attempted to do the same thing with the Walmart glitter that I have (chunky glitter) and a week later I'm still trying to get the huge pieces of glitter out of their hair and off of my floors.



We scouted out the perfect spot for the electrical parade.






What we've been waiting for all day! The fireworks show did not disappoint! It was a great ending to a great day!

Unfortunately, it seemed like all of the people in the park had the exact same idea as we did and we ALL left the park at the same time. The lines to get on the monorail and shuttle were HUGE! Poor Jeff was carrying a sleeping 40 lb boy the whole time since we had to return our stroller. It was worth it though.