The trip of a Lifetime!

Disneyland was absolutely magical, the trip of a lifetime!
Aubrey was chosen as Triton's carousel princess. The ride could not begin until she gave her royal OK. She was given the royal crown and waved a princess wave to all her royal subjects. A kind gentleman on the next ride recognized Aubrey and yelled out "look kids it's Princess Aubrey!" Aubrey looked up in amazement and with pure joy in her eyes said "I'm a real Princess!"

These are our bug eyes for the Bug's Life, It's Tough to Be A Bug 3-d Show. It was complete with sounds, smells, stinging wasps and creepy crawly things. Mom even had to hide her eyes a couple of times.
This picture says it all! We went to Princess land and the kids participated in becoming coronated Princesses and Knights. After the show the kids were invited out onto the ballroom floor to dance. Princess Aubrey giving Sir Dalyn some pointers.

Much to Garrett's joy and pretend dismay he and Dalyn were picked to be Cinderella's Prince Charmings in her story. At the end they each got a kiss from Cinderella herself. Garrett tried really hard to hide his huge smile =)

Character Breakfast, so much fun! We had a huge breakfast and were visited by several Dinsey characters. They talked and played with the kids. A must do at least for one trip to Disneyland.

Ok, this picture brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it! This is why we take family vacations! This is a precious moment captured forever in time. What a wonderful opportunity for us to bond as a family and create such great memories. Disney is pure magic for kids this age. This was the perfect time to go!

So now I am a true Disney Tourist. No longer can call myself a CA girl!

This was Garrett's favorite activity BY FAR! He was chosen to be a Jedi in training and then fight Darth Mal! After this he bought a light saber with his own money and practiced the training sequence over and over. He even taught Dalyn the moves so they could practice on each other. He kept saying over and over, I can't believe I fought Darth Mal! It was the highlight of his trip and a memory he won't soon forget!
This was the kids treat from Disneyland. They were so excited about their huge suckers! We had a contest to see how long they could make them last (pretty good idea on Mom and Dad's part, huh!)
Of course we rode Dumbo! Although the kids favorite ride- all three- was Materhorn. We didn't think Dalyn was old enough but as soon as he saw his brother and sister get off the ride he was bound and determined to get on. He made the height cut off by his a hair (thanks to mom's spiky hairstyling) and then had a the time of his life. Dalyn was by far our most courageous on the rides. If he had been a bit taller I'm sure he would have ridden all the wild roller coasters.
Dalyn was Chosen again to be a prince with Belle this time! I think Belle was smitten. She was taken with his big brown eyes and princely manners.

Over all it was magnificent. The crowds were light, so the kids were chosen for so many special shows and adventures. The longest line we waited in was 25 min. The kids enjoyed our day at the beach as much if not more than Disneyland. We visited with the Irvings and enjoyed catching up with them. We had a wonderful time!

Our busy March

Acutally our busy March fell on one weekend. We celebrated Aubrey's Birthday on Sat morning with a Unicorn Party at our house with about 10 friends, decorated Easter eggs that afternoon, Dad took mom out for her Birthday Dinner on Sat night followed by a very humbling game of raquetball (it's been a long time!). Then Sun morning (easter) we had our Easter breakfast, got dressed in our matching Easter outfits (mom and dad looked cute too in all our yellow and black, but it was a bit crazy that morning for picts) our new Entertainment Center was delivered (yes on Easter morning! Crazy, but if we were not there it was shipped back to North Carolina at our cost). Got home from church had our Easter dinner, had a brief Easter devotional, had our Easter Egg hunt and ate Easter candy and oohed and ahhed over the great swim suits Grandma and Grandpa sent until it was bedtime! Whew!!! A weekend in true Gundersen style.

He loves me!

What's this you might ask?

...
Oh, just something that was waiting for me when I got home tonight. Caleb said the horse and buggy maliman brought it late.

Yes, that's right, I am going to a Ball with my prince. I've been dying to go to one ever since I saw Enchanted (it may sound lame, but I love cheesy things like that). I think I mentioned it once and my huddy-dubby researched it and found one just for me. Boy am I lucky!

Where is Emma????

It's 10:07 PM on Monday night. I go upstairs to get ready for bed and check in on the kids to make sure they are covered up and ready for a blissful night of sleep. Ethan is sleeping peacefully, Ashlyn is snuggled in bed surrounded by countless stuffed animals, and Emma is...Emma is...not in her bed. She's not in Ashlyn's bed. She's not underneath her bed. She's not in my room. She's not in my bathroom. She's not in the kid's bathroom. She's not in the closet...okay, I'm getting a little panicky now. I solicit Josh's help. She's not in the toy room downstairs, not the kitchen, not the garage, not the living room....where could she be???!!! Back upstairs...there's one place we haven't looked - the toy box. Yes, my friends, Emma had climbed into the toy box, shut the lid, and fallen asleep. What could be more cozy than sleeping in a crammed box on top of your toys? Definitely not your bed.:)

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

Free Child

This child is up for free adoption. Inquiries should be sent to his parents. The picture below depicts the child in juvenile detention, eating his evening ration of bread and water.



Be warned that the child may cause permanent damage to personal property without remorse. In the last 48 hours he has:

• Broken his bed
• Urinated on the floor
• Defecated on the floor, and smeared the feces over 10 square feet
  
• Urinated on the floor again
• Been taken out of church (out of the building, not just the room) for disrupting the congregation
• Escaped from a 4-point car seat harness (yes, like Houdini)
  

This boy has the unique ability to teach his behaviors to younger children. This afternoon, Graham took his diaper off for the first time and peed on his floor from inside his crib. (If you want to borrow our steam carpet cleaner, you can't, because we use it on a regular basis.)

Did I mention he's three? Did I mention we'll pay the shipping costs for the adoption?

One more warning: he's absolutely adorable and his laugh is contagious, so forgiveness and forgetfulness come all too easily...it's part of his plot.

Easter Eggstravaganza!

I think we took over 100 pictures on Easter Day. I had so many to choose from, I had to do these collages to blog as many pictures as possible.:) We had fun with the Popes doing a little Easter Egg "Pick-up" in the backyard (it wasn't much of a hunt).:) Here are some of my favorite memories from this Easter.

During the Easter Egg Hunt, Ashlyn had found lots of the dyed eggs. When she found her first plastic Easter egg she exclaimed, "Look, there are real eggs, too!"

Emma's magnificent dance moves during the swimsuit fashion show.

Eating the most decadent, rich, chocolate frosting-filled chocolate cake...and officially ODing on chocolate.

Ashlyn, Emma and Ethan being absolute angels during church (truly, a miracle, seeing as it was Stake Conference).

Ashlyn teaching Ethan about the "resseration" of Jesus Christ with the pictures she had colored.

Emma pretending to eat the easter eggs because they were "chocolate" and "so nummy".

Ethan's sweet smile (but that's every day).

And, last but not least, being able to celebrate this wonderful holiday with family. Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I was debating about whether to get Easter dresses this year...Cassi talked me into it.:) The girls were so excited to dress-up like princesses (Emma took a little convincing) and Ethan was as handsome as could be. I've decided that it was a nice way to say that this Sunday was special and different from every other Sunday. We hope your Easter was just as special, fun, and filled with gratitude for our Savior, Jesus Christ - who made all of this possible, and so much more.

Easter Fashions

Easter just isn't the same without swim attire from Grandma & Grandpa Gundersen. We hope you enjoy the show as much as we did.



Emma gets all of her moves from her mother.

THANK YOU GRANDMA & GRANDPA!!!

Mr. Mischevous

We were both sitting in the toy room together, Coop was playing and I was watching a movie while Caleb was upstairs studying. I guess I was really into the movie and Coop was being so quiet I didn't bother to look over in the corner. This is what I found when I did :-) He thought he was so funny!

Happy St. Patty's Day Yesterday!

Sunny California

Cooper and I headed out to sunny California to visit Caleb's sister last week and had a blast in that warm, wonderful weather. Gabrielle (Caleb's sister) just moved into a new house and solicited my assistance in organizing the boxes. As we all know, I love to organize so to be doing so in California as well was awesome. We took many trips to the pool and had fun playing with cousins. Thanks to Gay it was a fun-filled, free couple days!

No Fear

He does this all on his own, no coaxing! He must take after his dad!

Fairy Tea Party

Ashlyn and I got to go to the Fairy Tea Party at the Library last Saturday with our friends Diana and Samantha. We had so much fun! We dressed up all pretty, saw the ballerinas dance (that was Ashlyn's favorite part), got to curtsey in front of the Fairy King, and ate yummy fairy treats. We had a blast. We just can't wait until next year when Emma can come, too!

Kisses!

We have one sweet boy!

Digiscrapping

Ok Dad, I have to say thank you, thank you, thank you for the Photshop! I absolutely love it! I still am in the process of transitioning from paper Scrapbooking to Digiscrapping so here are just a couple of my first pages. I'm still learning but I have decided it's the best new thing since sliced bread! (I still haven't journaled them yet so that is why there is an empty space.)

This is only the beginning!

My First Haircut

Not even 8 months old, and we need our first haircut. This may seem pretty old to some of you, but this is a rarity in the Dahmer Household. Both Ashlyn and Emma didn't have their first haircuts until at least 18 months.:) Good job, Daddy. We have one handsome son!

10 Months

Do you ever have those days where you think your kid is just the cutest kid in the whole world?

If your like me, on those days, you go crazy with the camera ;-)