Trip to Arizona to see Grandparents come home from their mission! (February 2016)

Can I name all these people? Let's see: Front row, left to right: Ethan McCook, Clayton Hancock, Aneve McCook, Brent Whitt, Sophie Joslin, Hailey Hancock, Kate Hancock, Megan Hancock. Second row, left to right: Tiffany Hancock, Weston Lundell, Grant Lundell, Miles Hancock, Mic Whitt, Stephanie Hancock, Brayden Hancock. Third "row", left to right: Paige Hancock, Joseph Hancock, Laura Lundell, Lauren Joslin, Lindsey Joslin, Reed Hancock, Sheryl Hancock, Cody Whitt, Leslie Whitt, Kiersten Hancock, John and Cherece Hancock, LeAnn Chapman, Last "row"-ish: Ally Lundell, David Lundell, Sabrina Joslin, David Joslin, Marcus Whit, Jarom Lundell, and Lisa McCook. Wow! That's a big family. :)

We had a marvelously warm and sunny week in Arizona at the end of February! Lots of family. Joey's mom and dad just got back from a mission to New Jersey where they worked as CES instructors.

Anyway, I'm glad our kids have a wonderful Arizona heritage. Let's see, how about I let some photos do the talking. I'm not really sure what to add about our trip:

Don't overlook Grant in the back there! Here's Hailey (glasses) with her Arizona cousins on top of Uncle John and Aunt Cherece's suburban to get a better look at the Tucson Arizona temple construction. 

Fewer and fewer things are pulling us down to Tucson as the time goes on. But when this temple is complete I truly want to make that long trip down to go through the open house! It will be so special!

Grandpa Hancock took us hiking near his house. It was fun!


I'm officially giving this guy my "Best Husband of the Year" award. He does all he can to help our family, and he worked hard to make our Tucson trip memorable and special. I'm so lucky! Of course we had to stop at the local Walmart in Tucson to stock up on U of A apparel. It's a must. :)

Paige looks like she's about to have a seizure, but I'm pretty sure she's just blinking, haha!!

We also visited Sabino Canyon. So beautiful! I didn't realize at the time, but Joseph thoughtfully became the photographer as we hiked around. He's such a great daddy!

The kids' highlight was swimming in Vail, AZ with their cousins. We also had a very nice dinner and FHE with John and Cherece's family. We met Leslie and her boys at the playground the next day, but I guess we didn't get a picture of that. Her boys are getting so big and are cute.

This picture wasn't taken by a spectacular camera or edited in any way, it was just a perfect night at the temple and was the perfect time of day for absolutely perfect pictures. :)

Paige and I spent a couple days with my parents in Gilbert, AZ. Paige and I actually flew down and back up. I thought it would help keep my stress and anxiety in check. I don't mind driving, but when the baby starts crying and crying in the car seat sometimes my anxiety kick into full gear it gets to be overwhelming and then I start...crying too. Yep. Please don't judge if you can. It gets better as the babies get older. Less crying for everybody. :)

My mom and I did some sealings at the Mesa Temple. The night was beautiful, warm, and the fragrance of the flowers was very potent!

While the Love of my Life was driving 12 hours back to Utah with the older kids (how I love him!) I got to hang out with Paige in Gilbert. We spent some time at the local park. She loved going down the slide all by herself!!

I'm pretty sure Paige is too timid to cry for Grandpa! She just fell asleep on his lap.

Before my flight back to Utah my mom took me to breakfast. It was yummy. I've got such a great hubby to do all the driving and let me have extra fun and fly home!! He's the best! :)

Anyway, I appreciate my in-laws and all they did for us while we were in Tucson, and I appreciate my mom and dad for hosting Paigey and me in Gilbert. We had a nice, warm, sunny, family filled trip and my kids love their Arizona family and love to see them every chance they get!

Disneyland surprise! First trip ever for our kids!

Right after our fun family time in Las Vegas we headed to Disneyland! We didn't tell the kids. They thought we were headed back to Utah. It was a GREAT surprise!

I held my breath as we passed by the "Welcome to California" sign, wondering what the kids might say. But Miles and Hailey didn't notice!! Later on Miles noticed other signs saying how many miles until Los Angeles. He also noticed that all the cars had California licence plates. He knew we were in California, but he didn't know why yet!

We stayed at Dolphin Cove Resort, my Dad let us use his timeshare points to stay there, we were so thankful! It was very nice! When we pulled into the resort parking lot and went to check in, Hailey came with me. In the front office were pictures of Disney Land and Mickey Mouse everywhere!! There was a big sign that read, "We sell Disneyland tickets here!" That's when Hailey figured it out. She was jumping up and down and smiling so big! She was SOOO excited!

Cute, sweet Clayton didn't figure it out until that afternoon, it was a Saturday and we decided to drive over to Downtown Disney and walk around. When we got there and parked Clay was finally told by his excited siblings where we were.

We attended church on Sunday. It was such a great ward, and we were all spiritually fed. :)

On Monday it was DISNEY day! We had a blast!!

On Tuesday our friends the Borings came with us for one more day of Disneyland fun.

I am still California dreamin'.

Leaving for our Thanksgiving/big SURPRISE Disney trip! Mom and Dad were SO excited!

Hailey had just figured out where we were going when she had stepped into our hotel front desk to help me check in. We were driving to DownTown Disney in this photo. Miles knows by now. Clay still does not know, but he is intrigued to be in a place where it is "summer" as he said. Paige just wanted to be left alone so she could nap. She didn't care how cool our destination is, she just wanted to nap right at the moment.

My grandma had given each child 25 dollars to pick out a souvenir. At Downtown Disney Miles and Clay found a build your own race car store that intrigued them. You can pick out the tires, the body, the and some other parts and then assemble your car in the store.   

I guess all the children were in an "assemble your own toy" mood because after the boys assembled their cars and paid for them Hailey found a Build-a-bear workshop and quickly decided this is what she wanted to spend her money on. She is a stuffed animal girl. 

The next day was Sunday and we found a wonderful ward to attend close by. Afterwards we enjoyed delicious Sunday naps and then went to Brian and Mackenzie Boring's house for dinner and fun.

Monday morning. I highly recommend taking the Anaheim City Bus to Disneyland. It takes you right to the entrance, is a great price, and is probably faster or at least the same amount of time as parking in the parking garage and then taking their bus from the parking garage to Disneyland. Plus, you don't have to drive in traffic or decide what section of the garage to park in, etc. Joey and I discussed the logistics of getting from the hotel to Disney quite a bit--our options included walking, driving, or taking the city bus. Walking appealed until we realized we'd have to make a seriously tired 4 year old walk an entire mile back at the end of the day. Driving appealed to us until we realized we'd drive, then park just to get on a shuttle to get to the park anyway...the city bus was PERFECT! 

Yay! It was beautiful weather, and have you ever noticed that it smells like heaven everywhere you walk in Disneyland? How do they do that?

Ladies and Gentlemen--behold Mickey's Christmas tree. :) Clay is sticking his tongue out at you. Yes, you. 

Our first ride at Disneyland was Autopia. 

We had lots of fun looking at all the toys in the gift shops too.

Our kids LOVED the It's a Small World ride. It was Clay's, Paige's, and Hailey's favorite ride. I think we went on it a total of 4 different times. Miles liked it, but his favorites were Hyperspace Mountain and Indian Jones. Typical 9 year old boy favorites. :) 

About to enter the tunnel to "It's a small world" 

Paige especially loved this ride. She loved the music and all the animation and sparkles. Best baby ride at Disneyland for sure!

I have great memories of the "New Orleans" area of Disneyland, which is where Hailey and I did a little shopping. My grandma came with my family to Disneyland many years ago and we ate at a restaurant there. I guess that area just reminds me of her. :) 

Now, in my opinion you might as well skip the carousel, because you can do a carousel anywhere, and you can maximize funness in other areas of the park. But my kids were of a different opinion, so we went on the carousel a few times too. Yehaw! Ride that horse like a pro Clay!

Catching a quick Disneyland nap. 

I think it was so awesome that the Borings came to spend the day with us on Tuesday. I am grateful for their fun family. I hope we can do more things like this together as the years go on. 

Chewbacca is now a Disney guy. So we met him while he had some downtime from fighting the dark side.

And I guess Darth Vadar needed a break from his usual responsibilities too, because he just happened to available for photos and handshakes.


This picture cracks me up!! The storm troopers were out detaining people. Clay really wanted to get captured, but he wasn't captured--much to his disappointment!! Storm troopers are pretty smart guys, don't detain any whinny children! That's a can of worms those troopers don't want to deal with!

When you're taking a bath in a hotel bathtube, just expect mom's going to take pictures. 'Cause you're cute--that's why.

Thanksgiving 2015 at Aunt Lisa's and Uncle Aaron's

We spent Thanksgiving 2015 with Lisa and Aaron McCook, Joey's sister and her husband. It was lots of fun. Lots of family--most of Joey's family came. Lots of yummy food! Lindsey is a great photographer and so I'll snag some of her photos of this event to add...here's a couple from my phone. My kids are pretty crazy happy whenever they get to see cousins. They love their cousins and have been blessed with many good aunts and uncles and cousins. We are truly Thankful for all our family. Thanks McCooks for hosting us all!

Clay with his buddy/cousin Brayden. Clay used to call Brayden "Bubu" when he was 2. I think Clay thinks it's so cool that such a bigger boy wants to play with him.  

I wish I had more pictures of all the cousins who were there, but here's one of a few of the girls. From left to right: Hailey (7), Kiersten (14?), Megan (5), Kate (7), and Aneve (9). 

We got to see my brother Alex and his cute wife Jessica the night before, we found a delicious pizza place that had THE BEST pizza and hung out with them. It is always fun to see them. I really like Jessica, Alex picked a great wife. Why did I not take a picture? I was eating amazing pizza, and was probably micromanaging my 1 year old to boot, so no picture. :)

Yellowstone National Park

After spending about a week with my parents here we left for a trip to Yellowstone National Park, where we met up with Joseph's older brother and his family. More cousin fun. Yellowstone was amazing! I want to go back every year if I could! We saw bears (from very far off), bison, and elk.

We saw Old Faithful, lost Stephanie (the kids' 10 year old cousin) at Old Faithful and had to call the police and spent much time looking for her. Luckily, she was found, some tears of relief and probably just exhaustion were shed and then we moved on with the day.

Anyway, we loved all we saw, as well as the people we spent time with.

Miles, Clayton, Megan, Kate, Hailey, Paige, Kiersten, Stephanie, Brayden

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Miles, Clay, Paige, Joseph, Tiffany, and Hailey

Kate (7), Megan (5), Kiersten (14?), Stephanie (10), Brayden (12) and John and Cherece

Firehole River

I believe this was called Firehole River, the kids went swimming here.

Bison were everywhere!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Old Faithful

Grand Teton National Park, WY

Oh man, I LOVED all the wild flowers!