Disney Pixie Hollow Prize Package Giveaway!
"Every moment of every day, CHOOSE.
Choose to do the right thing, the tough thing -not the familiar easy thing.
Choose the way of the warrior or the way of the coward.
Make your choice out of love instead of fear.
Choose from the heart.
Choose to live fully, not to sleepwalk thorough your life.
Choose to respond with the way you really feel, not the way you're supposed to feel.
Choose the mineral water over the soda;
Choose the lemon and olive oil over the blue cheese;
Choose the walk in the park over the ride to the mall.
Choose simplicity over extravagance.
Choose conversation over the television.
Choose to talk things out rather than stew in your anger overnight.
Choose compassion and generosity.
Choose to smile instead of frown.
Make your own choices in your own time and choose to stick with them."
-Rachel Snyder"
We passed the Chapel on our way into Yosemite. I was surprised it was there. I've seen photos where it looks like it is in the middle of a meadow, not off the side of the road with a small yard. I wanted to make it back and photograph it before we left. On our last morning there, Derek & I left to first go to the tree where I saw a tiny chocolate colored frog during my photography class. I knew he would like that frog when I saw it and told him about it. I promised I would take him to the tree to look for the frog. We rode the bus and walked back to the meadow to the tree. We didn't see the frog. We walked back to the road. I wasn't sure how to get to the Chapel but I had an idea.
I had to go to the Chapel for my dad. He worked in Yosemite for about a year and I know he had to have gone to this Chapel often. Not only for Sunday Mass, but knowing my dad, he probably went here other times. I felt the connection that he had been there.
I was taking a photography class at Yosemite. We got lucky and it was a small class of 3 moms with our instructor. Another mom saw this "8" sign and said she liked to take pictures of numbers to put in the scrapbooks so that when she is very old she can have a photo of what age her child was when they visited a location.
Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes!!!
We had a fabulous time. Actually we spent more time at California Adventure!!
I drove my 3 kids with Heidi and her 2 boys and met MaryBeth and her daughter.
So a total of 3 moms and 6 kids!
I got to see the "Happy Birthday" on the screen at the turnstyle, but didn't get a picture of it. 
We got our Birthday pins (Heidi & I). I didn't like mine!! Heidi's was Black sharpie, mine was thin blue sharpie and hard to read. Plus I wore a pale green Tinkerbell shirt and the whole birthday pin was hard to see and I think it got missed a lot. Heidi's was on her brown shirt and was noticed easily by lots of cast members.
NOTE : Don't wear a pale blue or green shirt when you are going to get a birthday pin! 
First we went straight to CA Screamin' and got right on.
3 of our group got in line for Toy Story so they were just entering the building when we got there, so that wait was super short. 
The boardwalk to the Swings is CLOSED from that direction so we had to walk all the way back across the Boardwalk. But we stopped for Ice Cream because it was so warm out, such a warm beautiful day!
We took the short cut through Bug's Land to Tower of Terror. I don't ride that ride and 3 others in our group didn't either. We waited in the gift shop.
I bought a car sticker and a key cover ... THEY Changed the AP Discount to any amount (it was $10) for purchases... whooo hoooo!
Next: Soarin' over California and then Silly Symphony Swings
3:30 over to Disneyland
Got a FP for Space Mtn. for 4:35 and waited to ride the ride for about 20 min. When we got off the ride, we were able to go right back on with the FP. However, the ride shut down and there was a good 20 min delay with the lights on and adding 5 new cars. The second ride was smoother than the first and I liked it better.
Rode Matterhorn, girls went on the left side, boys on the right. That was terribly rough!!
Small world was closed. 
Next The Haunted Mansion Ride. WOW it is so empty looking when it is Not Nightmare before Christmas!!
Dinner at French Market. First time having dinner there, had the Roast Beef dinner with mashed potatoes and vegetables... EXCELLENT. Next time I could share it with my husband. My son had a fruit box, the other 2 kids shared the chicken nuggets & fries from Stage Door cafe.
The rest of the group went to Indiana Jones and I walked back to Critter Country to Pooh Corner. There I bought my highly desired, anticipated Hunny Pot Caramel Apple!!!
Also a Tigger Tail for my daughter and Character Gummies for my son.
Met everyone at Indiana Jones and then back over to CA Adventure.
We walked back to CA Screamin' but it JUST Closed. booo hooo
so we rode King Triton's Carousel.
Then it was time to go. We were exhausted and I had a blister on my toe. yikes!
We did have tickets for the 8:15 Color of Wonder show, but we were all just too tired and the kids were still getting over colds.
We had a 1 1/2 hour drive home which was fun with the kids playing guessing games while Heidi & I had a wonderful chat.
What a Great Birthday!!!
Going to our first Bat Mitzvah for James' friend Eliana.
Masquerade Ball
We took the curlers out in the car after we arrived.
The curls fell out within 15 minutes. boohoo.
The phrase is sung in the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil: "O felix culpa quae talem et tantum meruit habere redemptorem," "O happy fault that merited such and so great a Redeemer."
Theologian Thomas Aquinas cited this line when he explained the principle that "God allows evils to happen in order to bring a greater good therefrom."
Uniting Original sin and the Divine Redeemer's Incarnation. He concluded that a higher state is not inhibited by sin.
Saint Ambrose also speaks of the fortunate ruin of Adam in the Garden of Eden in that his sin brought more good to humanity than if he had stayed perfectly innocent.
More lines from the Exsultet:
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast, when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night when first you saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their slavery and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.
O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says: "The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy."
The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled with God!
HAPPY EASTER!!
I mix the dough in the plastic ware, then let it rise for
about 2 hours. ... I used half of the dough for the 2 loaves.
Half way through baking.
All done! The cooling time takes forever!
Can't wait to break into and have some Lemon Curd on a huge slice.
Bread baking with the book "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day"
For fans of Queen and the Muppets.... What a combination! Hilarious and fun!!!
After Legoland, we had dinner. Then I realized it was sunset so we hurried out of the restaurant and down to the coast. I pulled over as soon as I could to park so we could catch the sunset. This is Carlsbad Beach.
Oct. 30, 2009
First a little background: My son's birth name is Derek. While learning to read, he asked if he was correct that a "c" made the "k" sound. I said yes. Next he wanted to know, "if his name ended with a "c" would it still sound the same?" Yes I said. He asked if he could spell it that way. I told him it was His name and he could spell it however he wanted. So ever since then, to the confusion of others, he spells his name Derec. I go back and forth depending on if I'm writing for others or for him. So on HIS cake I spelled it his way.
