So how was your trip?

Well, I'm glad that's over.  Disneyland was a lot of fun for Maxine.  Not so much for Jack and Juliet.  Jack's favorite part of the day occurred when two birds landed near our lunch table and nibbled crumbs by our feet.  Sweet.  Jack wasn't a big ride fan except for "It's a Small World."  Juliet had fits of unhappiness.  She wanted to play in the stroller but only when it was stationary; moving was not allowed.  She also did not want to be held as we walked or want anyone else to sit in her stroller seat as it was being pushed along.  So she went from ride to ride yelling and screaming if she was being held or in the stroller.  As long as we were sitting by the stroller and she could play with it without moving, she was great.  

But there were moments of happiness squeezed in between the screaming and meltdowns.  King Arthur's Carousel was a big hit.

Jack said the only thing he wanted to do all day was meet Mickey Mouse.  I love the look on his face.

I think Juliet's favorite part of the day was devouring half a bag of cotton candy with me while we waited for Merril, Max, and Jack to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So we did okay.  I think the trip would've been better if it'd just been me and Maxine at Disneyland.  Jack and Juliet just got too tired.

The kids were worn out after Disneyland and slept like logs.  The next day we went to the beach.  It was a little chilly when we first got to the beach (probably 70) but the kids forgot about it after a bit.  Maxine collected shells and posed for the camera.  "Concentrate Danielson!"

Jack drove his toy trucks in the sand.

Juliet frolicked in the surf and sand.

Merril surfed.

When we go back to California, I want to hit Sea World.  I remember it being a lot of fun too!

I just wrecked my car again, I'm goin' to Disneyland!

There's a song about Disneyland, called Dizz Knee Land, by a band called Dada and Merril sings it often.  It's a silly song in which a delinquent does all this crazy stuff and says he's going to Disneyland.  Examples, "I just robbed a grocery store.  I'm going to dizz knee land!  I just got cuffed again.  I'm going to dizz knee land!"  I'm guessing they had to spell it dizz knee land so that Disney couldn't sue.  

ANYWAY, we decided to go to Disneyland today.  I know, pick your jaw up off the floor.  Merril's less than thrilled, I'm indifferent, Maxine has enough excitement to run all the way to California.  I like Disneyland, truly.  I'm just not a big fan of taking kids to Disneyland because I'm going to pay a lot of money to have a rough day.  But Maxine has waited, patiently.  We always said, "Maybe next summer because Jack's a baby.....maybe next summer because Mommy's pregnant....maybe next summer because Juliet's a baby."  Well, we ran out of excuses.  It's time.  

Ward BBQ...

Went to a ward barbeque a few weeks back and a lady in the ward takes pictures.  She sends out an email with a link to download the pictures.  I nabbed these.

The pictures I have of me and Juliet usually include the side of my arm from holding the camera myself.  It's easier to get Juliet to smile for a person instead of saying 'cheese' in her ear.

Here's a rare one:  Merril and me in a picture without the timer being set or instructing Maxine to, "make sure and get both of us in the picture."

There were a lot of cupcakes at said barbeque.  I saw Jack nab about 4 and stuff them in his mouth before I could run over and stop him.  However Juliet would simply eat the frosting and leave the remnants on the table.

Sorry I haven't blogged as much lately.  I've been priming the room in the basement.  It's primed and ready for paint but the priming took 4 days and frankly, I wish I were done. Instead, I have to spend another 3 days to actually paint the room.  Seriously, painters don't get paid nearly enough.  I'm still looking good to make my goal of finishing by June 17th, Juliet's 2nd birthday.  *sigh*  

Painting the Sistine Chapel...

Okay, so we're not painting the Sistine Chapel but I feel really bad for Michaelangelo and my ceiling isn't nearly that big.  *funny side bit* At the exit of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, there were a ton of souvenir places selling prints of the finger of Adam reaching for the finger of the Lord and Merril said, "Those are nice."  I said, "Yeah but we just saw the original."  He said, "That scene is in the Sistine Chapel?!?"  I was like, "Yeah.  That's the reason we came to the Sistine Chapel, to see the finger of the Lord!  I'm sorry you missed it."  It had taken us nearly 3 hours to get to through to the Sistine Chapel so there was no way we were going back.  Which means I'm going back to Rome some day so Merril can actually see it next time.  

Anyhoo, I'm painting the ceiling in the basement.  Correction:  I'm priming the ceiling in the basement.  Seriously, I've decided that ceilings don't really need paint.  They're good with just primer, right?  The thought of covering the whole ceiling again with paint just makes my neck hurt.  The primer makes the ceiling look like a real room though!  Hee hee!

Hey, does anyone know if I'm supposed to seal those hair-line cracks in my cement floor before I put down carpet or tile? 

Electrify...

Today, I feel like a major obstacle (mostly mental) has been surmounted in the basement project.  I had an electrician come and wire the breakers and connect the breaker box to the panel on the outside of the house.  Here's the breaker box with the wiring half finished.  The electrician had to run and get more breakers at this point.

Here's the box all wired up!  Outlets, switches, and light fixtures will have to be wired up before we can flip the breakers on.  I'm so excited!!  

I could have light by this weekend....if I bought some lights and put them up.

New bicycle!!

For Mother's Day, Merril said he was getting me "the best Mother's Day present ever!" Mother's Day arrived and I received a bicycle!  The gift was actually the brainchild of Maxine.  Merril was fishing for Mother's Day ideas and casually asked Maxine what I might want.  She answered with "a new car."  Merril said that probably wasn't going to happen but was there something else I might want.  She said, "How about we get a bike for Mommy?"  Merril said, "Actually that's a pretty good idea!"

Before now, we've never had enough bikes to ride together as a family, either Merril or I would have to stay home.  But today, we took a trip to Maverick and bought ice cream and Reece's Peanut Butter cups.  I rode my bike to Young Women's the other night too.  

So I asked Maxine, "What should we get Daddy for Father's Day?"  She said, "I can't think of anything."  Bummer, me either.

Waiting for oatmeal...

Juliet cracks me up.  She has an overwhelming abundance of personality.  However, yesterday morning she woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Here she is waiting for her breakfast.  
"Seriously Mom, are you done yet?"

Can-O-Rama!

Our family home evening consisted of teaching the kids the importance of self-reliance and food storage.  Then we canned some food!  The sealer we borrowed from the cannery was slick!  It wasn't completely automated, like the one at the cannery, but used a torque wrench to seal cans.  I had to lean all my weight onto the wrench to get enough torque to seal the cans.  Merril, on the other hand, could just stand there and do it.  Merril's holding the first can off the assembly line.  

Maxine was good at writing the date on the labels and affixing labels to the cans.  She'd also write on the boxes.  Jack was good at touching all the wheat that went into the cans.

We canned a bag of wheat and then put the kids to bed.  Merril and I finished the bulk of the canning on Monday night.  I went to Wal-Mart and purchased different kinds of noodles, cornmeal, and cream of wheat to can.  I finished canning those up Tuesday night.  We ended up canning 115 cans of food.  Harmons was having a sale on Morning Moos milk so I bought 6 cans of regular milk and 2 cans of chocolate milk.  I also bought some salt, honey and crisco (for oil). The only thing left to purchase are some buckets for the sugar and a 55-gallon drum for water.  I've heard that canned sugar can take on a metallic taste so I decided plastic buckets are going to be the way to go.  

I also bought a ton of soap and toothpaste.  In an emergency, I want to be as clean as possible.  Merril and I estimated that we have around 6 months of food storage.  We figure that's a good start for now!  My next task is to learn how to use my pressure cooker to bottle some chicken, beef stew meat and hamburger.  Yikes!  

Canning madness...

I picked up the sealer from the cannery today and bought a bunch of food and cans.  All told, I left with 50 lbs of beans, 50 lbs. of rice, 150 lbs. of wheat, 15 lbs. of apple slices, 50 lbs. of oats, 25 lbs. of dried onions (I like onions), 50 lbs. of flour, and 37 lbs. of milk alternative.  I'm still going to Wal-Mart and buying a can's worth of cornmeal, cream of wheat, and a bunch of different noodles.  I'll be canning 108 cans worth of food.  Juliet's excited.It's not everything we need but I figure it's a good start.  I asked Merril what he'd like to have in our food storage and he said a .30-06 rifle.  Ummmm.....okay.