Disney World!

A few weeks ago we were fortunate to go to Disney World for a week. We went with my Mom and Dad and had a marvelous time! I've been so excited to take Brinley all year long because she LOVES all things Disney, especially the princesses. I will never forget the look on her face the moment we walk into the Magic Kingdom and she saw Cinderella's castle. She was in pure childhood heaven and we loved watching her experience her imagination come to life!

The girls all ready to go on our first day. We started the first day off in fantasy land. We went on Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Small World, Peter Pan, and the Carousel.

Brinley loved all the rides but didn't ever want to go on Snow White again because she said it was too scary. Julianne just loved seeing all the moving objects and colors.

Waiting to get on Snow White.

On Winnie the Pooh ride.

On the Carousel.
This is what Julianne would do while waiting in line. She was so patient. After Fastasy Land we headed over to good ole' Splash Mountain (my favorite ride ever). To our surprise when we went to get in line, we found out that Brinley was tall enough to go! She had no clue what she was in for so we decided to take advantage.

I must admit that she did a lot better than expected. I've never seen her hold on to us so tight as she did while going down the hills. After we went down the "BIG" one, I asked if she wanted to go again and she said NO!! It was a one timer for her.

After that whenever we tried to go on any type of water ride, like Small World or Jungle Cruise we had to convince her that there would be NO HILLS before she would get on.

Here we are at the beginning.

Going down! If you can zoom in our faces are really funny. Brinley is terrified. For dinner we went to the Crystal Palace and got to eat with Winnie the Pooh and friends. It was so much fun. Julianne was the CUTEST when the characters would come by the table. She would try and grab their faces to kiss them and just start squealing.

Jules loving Winnie.

Us with cute Piglet.
At night we went to Tomorrow Land and rode Space Mountain (Greg's favorite ride) and then went to this funny Monsters Inc. comedy club.

Then it was back to Fantasy land to go on some more rides. Dumbo was a big hit.

By the end of day one, we were exhausted but we still had 6 days to go.

On Monday we went to Epcot.
The first thing we did was the Nemo ride and talking with Crush the turtle. They were both really cute!

Then somehow my Dad and Greg talked me into going on Mission to Mars. It's a ride that simulates you being blasted off in a rocket to Mars.

The thought of flying in a rocket, to me, would be the cruelest form of punishment. I hate flying. It has been one of the most challenging things about living so far away, and having to fly to Utah all the time. It scares me in a way that nothing else does, so WHY would I ever go on a ride that makes you "feel" as if it's really happening?


Here we are waiting.

There are two options when you get inside, a less intense mission and a more intense one. Dad and Greg of course made me go in the more intense one and I have never been more scared to go on a ride in my life.

It really was VERY intense, not as bad as my imagination thought it would be, but still, I will never go on it again.

After the ride we went around to all the different countries. It was really fun to see all the different buildings.

MEXICO:

NORWAY:

CHINA:

ITALY:

Brinley was so excited to see these plants of Lady and the Tramp. She LOVES the movie!

JAPAN:

FRANCE:

Brinley was so sad because we got there right when they were leaving.

For dinner Brinley had a dream come true. She got to eat with the Princesses! It was so cute and they were so nice and sweet to her.

When we walked in, we were greeted by Belle.

The first Princess that came to the table was Cinderella. She was so nice!


Right after Cinderella, Snow White came over.

Next was Mary Poppins. She's not a Princess, but Brinley loves that movie, so she was way excited!

Last but not least was Jasmine.

Brinley loved her because she got to hold her hand while all the Princesses did a parade around the resturant with all the little girls. At the end Jasmine twirled her around. Brinley got the biggest smile on her face. She is still talking about it!

It was another fun tiring day!

Day three

We went to Animal Kingdom. It started raining in the morning, but luckily cleared right up.

Waiting to get on the Jungle Safari ride.

Because of the rain, all the animals were out and active.





After the Safari, my Dad, Greg and I went on the roller coaster Everest. It was really fun! Then we went and saw the cute 3D bugs life show.

Next we went and saw this awesome Lion King show. While we waited for it to start we met some more fun characters.

The Lion King show
Then we went and saw the cutest Nemo show. All of us loved it!

Greg and I took Brinley on the water rapids ride. As you can see Brinley and I were smart to use our poncho's. Greg on the other hand got soaked!

Julianne did really well all day!
And this is how we got Brinley to sit and stay in the stroller.

It was another wonderful day!

On Wednesday my Dad and I went to Universal Studios to see the new Harry Potter attractions. My Mom and Greg took the little girls back to the Magic Kingdom and just hung out at the pool.

Harry Potter World was so neat! I loved how they portrayed everything.

The first thing I wanted to do was go on the ride in the castle that I had heard so many wonderful things about. We got there right as it opened and walked straight to the ride. There was no wait yet, however right when we were about to get on the ride BROKE!!!! I have never in my life felt so bummed. It was really the ONLY reason I wanted to go to Universal. We waited for about 30 min to make sure they couldn't fix it fast, but then they told us all to leave. I was so sad.

We went on all the other major attractions in Harry World, then went and saw the rest of the park. We kept walking back every hour or so to see if the ride was running yet, but it never was. SO SAD!!!

Then right before we had to leave we decided to go look one last time.

When we got there the workers were setting up the chains to make the lines and there was a few people waiting. We asked what was going on and they told us the ride was not opened yet and they didn't know if was going to open for the rest of the day.

I told my dad that we needed to just wait until we HAD to leave to catch our bus, because if we found ot they did open the ride we would regret it forever.

We waited and waited and waited.....

It was 5 min before we HAD to leave and my Dad was ready to throw in the towel. I said wait just one more minute!!!

Then a miracle happened! A guy came out and whispered into the workers ear and they suddenly started letting people in the castle! Because we had waited we were at the beginging and walked right on the ride!

It was sooooo cool! I'm so happy that we finally got on!

After we got back we went and ate dinner in Downtown Disney. It was sooo yummy!

After dinner we went to the mother of all Disney stores! I love Disney stores especially in Disney World.

We let the girls each get something. Brinley chose a darling little stuffed Lady. She loves it.

Then I had Brinley choose something for Julianne and she picked for her a little Simba.

Brinley with her Lady.

On Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. We mostly just rode the rides we wanted to for the last time and watched a few parades and shows.

And then the time came to say goodbye the beautiful castle!

We'll miss it!
For our final day we went to Hollywood Studios. My Mom got sick so she stayed behind. We sure missed her and all her help with the kidos!

We didn't stay the whole day but still saw, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, went on on Tower of Terror and the Toy Story ride!

Finally on the last day we were able to go swimming in the pool!
On Saturday it was time to say goodbye! It was a long and fun week.

Greg and I said to each other all the time how glad we were that we had Grandparents with us. We could not have done it without them!

Thanks so much for coming with us Mom and Dad.

We love Disney World!

Happy #3 Brinley!

Yesterday our little princess turned three years old! I can't believe it. We went to Disney World all last week (I'll post pics later on that) and practically celebrated her birthday everyday!

When she woke up she got to eat breakfast on her new princess plate, bowel, place mat and cup that she got from Disney World. She LOVED it!

When we asked her what she wanted to have for her birthday dinner she said "cheese steaks." We couldn't argue with that! The girl has good taste. They were heavenly as always.



Then that night we had a little party for her with some of our friends. She wanted cupcakes of course.


Brinley with her buddy Samantha.


Brinley with all her presents. She got clothes, littlest pet shop stuff, coloring books, and her very own bike! She was so excited!

US with the birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Brinley! You're the best! We love you!

Valentines part 2

Our Valentines Day continued to be wonderful as the day went on. Since it was just not an option to go out because of the crowds and the kids, we decided to cook our own delicious dinner. I must say it was just that!

We decided to make something we don't usually have, so we chose Salmon. I found this yummy peach salsa recipe to make with it and it turned out awesome! Then I made Greek rice and a strawberry salad with feta. We also made Rosemary bread that we dipped it balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese. It was SOOOO good, every bit of it. I'm so glad that Greg and I both enjoy fish! Brinley even loves it too!

Because I was so busy making stuff all day, I didn't have time to make a dessert, which we all know is really the BEST part of any dinner. I was so bummed, but my honey gave me the greatest surprise. After we got done eating, he and Brinley went into our room and a second later I saw her walk into the kitchen holding this! I almost cried I was so excited. This is my all time favorite dessert ever, and I'm not even a big cake fan. This is a Great Wall of Chocolate from P.F Changs. It's amazing and worth every calorie.

Greg also surprised me with some roses and for the girls he gave each of them a Tinkerbell balloon. Brinley's favorite part of going Grocery shopping is looking at the Disney balloons, so she was in heaven! She played with it all night long. I even saw her trying to "put it to sleep" under the covers in her bed. Julianne just loved tugging on the string and watching it go up and down.

After we put Julianne to sleep, we let Brinley stay up and watch a movie with us. She's been wanting to see The Princess and the Frog so that's what we watched. She loved it! We enjoyed it too.

I hope you all had a Happy Valentines Day too and were able to spend it with people you love!

Me and my Valentine!

Happy Valentines Day

We hope everyone is having a Happy Valentines Day. What a happy day this is! We've been having a wonderful time so far and thank you weather for finally warming up! For the first time in months we were able to go for a walk outside in the stroller! Heavenly.


My two loves!

What would we do without that little face?

Brinley with her two loves right now, Rudolph and Panda.

Our only attempt of getting a picture of all 3 of us.

Is January over yet????

I'm soooooo ready for this month to be over!! It's SOOOO stinkin' cold here and we are getting VERY bored being indoors all day!

To top it off, Greg has been studying day and night, for 3 weeks, for his boards that he is taking on Tuesday of this week (FINALLY)!!

January in PA is usually bad, but for some reason it seems so much worse this year. I guess it's just making it easier for me to leave here come May.

Anyway, it also didn't help that we had a very sick baby for a week and maybe got about 3 hours of sleep each night. Luckily she is better and sleeping through the night again, but she has decided to boycott naps!! When I lay her down she just sits and talks and plays in her crib. She has been sleeping for maybe an hour during the day! So, as you can guess, I get nothing done which makes the days even LONGER!!!!

Oh well! Hopefully things get better once Greg is around more. If any of you have any fun suggestions of things you do with your kids when you have to stay in, I would LOVE the ideas!!!! A Mom can only play dress up so many times!!!!!

Oh and as a side note, our Julianne turned 9 months old! She is getting so BIG. She is in the 95% for her height! We sure love her and all her sweetness.

A little glimps of Chirstmas and my birthday

Most of the pictures we took of our Utah trip are on my Dads camera, so I only have a few, but we had a great time as always! We spent every minute we could with family and friends! We were able to see almost everyone on our list. For the most part we all stayed pretty healthy. All of us took our turns with the usual dry winter cold, but other than that we were great!

We were able to have some really fun get together's. Most of which I sadly don't have pictures of, but I thought I would write them down anyway. Our first was with some of our old dental school pals. It's always so fun to be with them! I miss them all dearly.

Then, thanks to my awesome sister in law, Greg and I were able to go to the David Arculetta concert with the Mormon tabernacle choir. He was amazing. I've always enjoyed him ever since I watched him on American Idol.

On the Monday before Christmas we got together with Kajsa and Monty, and Heather and Scott. When we're all together you know you're in for a lot of laughs. We played Cranium and Greg and I won! I love that game. You really get to know what people's strengths and weaknesses are.

Next was our annual Gibson family dinner/devotional. Each family member takes a turn conducting and this year was my Uncle Kents turn. He had the coolest idea. Each family member ( we only have 17 people in this family mind you) came up to the front and sat in a chair, while sitting each person in the room had to write two nice things about them. After we got through writing for each person, we went around and got to share with everyone what we wrote. It was so neat! It was incredible to be able to say to everyone how great you thought they all are. It was perfect because I rarely see them and I loved getting the opportunity to express how much they all mean to me.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandpa's and Maryann's for our annual shrimp fest. It's always one of our favorite meals of the year, especially for Greg. I can't even count how many shrimps he packs away. We also play bingo and then open presents. It was such a fun night.

We loved watching the girls on Christmas morning. Brinley got VERY into the whole Santa thing this year (it made for great bribes all month long.) The thing she wanted most of all was a Rudolf the red nosed reindeer. So a few days before Christmas we told her Santa was letting her go to one of his workshops to help make her own Rudolf. We took her to build a bear. She was thrilled! And that little deer has not left her side since.

It was Julianne's first Christmas and she was as cute as could be! I couldn't believe how much she loved all her gifts. It was so much fun!

On Christmas afternoon we all met at Greg's parents for lunch. It was really fun to be all together and Brinley LOVED playing with all her fun cousins. The day after Christmas we went to my Mom and Dads with my Brothers family for a yummy prime rib dinner. It was delicious and so much fun to hang our with my brother, Kristin and little Christain boy. When we move to St. Louis we'll only be about 5 hours away from them.

On Tuesday we got together with all the "fab 8" and wives. It's always a night filled with a lot of laughs and good memories. I can't believe how well we all get along! I love them all.

The next night we got together with one of my best friends Holly and her husband Blake. She made us a way yummy dinner and we had a great time! I always wish we lived by them! Her and Blake are so much fun to be with.

The next week all of Greg's siblings and parents got together to go to the New Yorker. We LOVE that place! It was so fun to be all together with just the adults and since it was close to my birthday they brought me out a little cake. It was delicious!

On the day of my birthday we had to fly out, so we celebrated the day before. We out to dinner with all my cousins and aunt and uncle. It was a blast! Then, thinking the night was over, we drove back to my parents and Greg told me he had to stop at the store to get some ice cream for a party his Mom was having later on in the week. I thought it was a little strange, seeing that we weren't going to be there for that party, but would still be providing ice cream, but oh well, I didn't think too much of it.

After leaving the store we pulled up to my parents house, I walked in the door and went up stairs, turned on my kitchen light and all of the sudden people were singing and there was a cake. Greg had planned a little surprise birthday celebration for me. It was my friend Heather and her family, that I'm very close to. It was so sweet! I'm so glad that I got to see them again before I left. We had a great little get together and it was so much fun! I had a great birthday. Thanks so much honey for putting that all together for me. I love ya!

Our trip was great! We loved it so much. It was fun to think that this was our last trip where we would be flying back to Philly.