Happy MacKay Day!

this year happy mackay day was on a friday, and kent had it off work! =o] that right there makes it happy!

here are the awards i made for the kids. it was a bit of a fiasco to get them done because our printer ran out of ink and i had to made a late night target run, but all's well that ends well, right? =o]

seth, the merry mackay!

jenna, the "me do it!" mackay!

caleb, the mix and measure mackay!

natalie, the master librarian mackay!

they were all happy about their awards, which are now being proudly displayed by their pictures on the mantle =o]

here are the books for the family this year =o] the shutterfly book i made is actually for valentine's day, but i couldn't wait that long! it is a collection of love stories starting with ours, then our parents, and then our grandparents. at the end it talks about ways to give and receive love. i LOVE it =o] oh and i am also in the process of doing my annual family photo book update, but didn't quite make the deadline. in fact, i didn't even remember it was a tradition until the day of ha ha

(caleb was less than thrilled at first with the sacrament book, but has since read it at least 4 times)

after breakfast we headed down to... LEGO LAND!! we got free kid passes through the summer reading program at our library. awesome, right? ever since their aunt melissa introduced them to the "everything is awesome" song, the kid's love for all things lego has grown by leaps and bounds. so to say they were excited to go would be an understatement!

there was so much to do and see, it was kind of overwhelming. and we are used to disneyland, so it was weird to be in this huge park with all these people trying to figure out where to go and how to get there instead of already having a plan with tons of shortcuts and tricks up our sleeves. but it was still a blast! seth and i checked out the lego statues while kent and the older kids went into some crazy fun house thing. 

and then i feed seth a snack while kent and the older kids went on a ride (are you sensing a theme here? lol)

then jenna and seth and i waited and had a snack while the others went on this big slide.

next kent and caleb waited in line for this roller coaster (caleb told me later he "screamed the entire ride!!")

while the rest of us went exploring around for a bit

then the older two went on this jousting ride

and we decided it was high time for lunch!! there was a pizza and pasta buffet with a salad bar that cost an arm and a leg but tasted oh so good and refueled us for the next round!

kent and caleb went off to another roller coaster while the rest of us explored some more!

(one of the stops was a fairy tale boat ride)

we got in line to meet lucy (the attendant called her wildstyle but my kids call her lucy "because that is her real name mom.") they all love the movie and were so excited to get to meet her!

caleb and kent walked up just as we were getting to meet her and this picture is caleb's protest at not getting to meet emmett ha ha ha 

we went inside and onto the actual set of the lego movie used in the film! it was super cool!! they had a lady spouting off facts about the movie and set. this was one of my favorite parts of the day for sure!

next we took a much needed break in this little free play area. the kids got to run around and do whatever they wanted! i tried to walk around with seth in the stroller to make him go to sleep but it didn't work.  

then we went on our one and only ride as a whole family: the duplo train lol

after a bit more free play we made the trek over to the mini star wars land. it was amazing! there was so much detail! 

they had each of the characters and of course the kids wanted to get their picture taken with their favorites =o] jenna is not pictured because it was redzone nap time and she was in the stroller. we were having to carry her a lot and since she is heavier than seth we made the switch. try going to a theme park and doing everything you would normally do, but strap either an 18 lb sack or a 27 lb sack to your arms= ME ALL DAY LONG!!!!

we wandered around the USA mini land- WOW!! seriously impressive! i am grateful it wasn't that hot or we would not have even attempted this. 

(our only family shot from the day)

we decided it was time for some ice cream and then caught this show, which was actually surprisingly funny and well done. i fed seth another snack while we soaked up the shade and sweets.

the next event is not pictured. they went to this outdoor crazy climbing fun zone thing while i tried to walk around with seth in the stroller to let him sleep. didn't work. i came back to find that jenna had taken a bad fall and was sporting a huge bruise above her eyebrow, poor thing. not good times.

so we walked back over to the duplo land again and then waited for the older kids and kent to do the one last ride they wanted to, while i nursed seth and let jenna hang out. we saw tons of cool stuff on the way, like this:  

she bounces back, this one!

of course seth fell asleep as soon as i started nursing him. but it was sweet for him to sleep on my shoulder which he hasn't done in months =o]

i was able to transfer him to the stroller, a testament to how exhausted he was, and experienced for the first time all day sitting down with no one touching me =o] it didn't last for more than ten minutes though because some screaming kid woke him up lol

then we saw emmett was out so we went and met him, which jenna felt SO happy about and told the other kids about it as soon as we saw them.

the line took FOREVER (what doesn't when you have grumpy/crying littles???) but the kids enjoyed it once they finally got on =o] here is the picture i got of them from down below

and here are the pictures kent got from right behind them =o]

i guess you had to pedal and natalie said it was really hard lol

then at last it was time to get to buy a souvenir! the original plan was to spend the night in san diego and make a weekend out of it, but we couldn't find a hotel in our price range so we decided to just head back when we were done (which was totally a blessing in disguise because it would have been a trying night at best lol) SO we splurged on the souvenirs instead and let their price ceiling be higher than usual. they were beyond excited at the possibilities!! 

we got a magnet for the fridge and an ornament for the trip tree as usual. but additionally, kent and i each got a shirt, the three older kids each picked a lego set, and seth got a beach towel (since we only have three lol). on the way out we spotted some harry potter candy and got it to save for natalie's birthday party =o]

the drive home was LONG. but at least jenna slept for about 20 minutes. after feeding seth all the rest of the food we had to give him, i got to sit peacefully and read my book. well as peacefully as one can in traffic with a car full of children. ;o]

after a simple dinner of pizza and salad we all hit the sack early, but not before busting out the legos of course!

saturday was filled with family fun at home. a pancake breakfast was followed by just hanging out and getting things done really, but it was a good time. then we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant: souplantation aka sweet tomatoes!

i got to try ratatouille for the first time YUM!!  

caleb is improving his photo bombing skills ha ha

when we got home it was baths and bedtime routines and then a movie for kent and i before bed =o]

oh i forgot to mention that on the way to lego land we discussed some family goals for the next year. we also discussed our expectations/vision/goals/hopes for education (academic, social, and physical subcategories) it was highly entertaining and is definitely becoming a tradition! on sunday i typed up the goals and printed them out to hang up on the wall in the family room:

we each contributed one goal. can you tell what our family problems are?? lol we have an ant problem. our house is a disaster. we freak out. (caleb said this next one but he aimed it at jenna) we have accidents. we have a hard time with reverence and staying in our own classes at church. and this next one is not really a problem, but it is something that will significantly ease our home life once attained. my cousin and i were joking about making a movie called "what happened while i was nursing: a horror film" because of all the atrocities committed while trying to nurse! i am trying to enjoy nursing seth while i still can, but come november we will all sigh in relief to close that chapter of our family's life! 

and there you have it. another happy mackay day come and gone! we are so grateful to be a family. we love the traditions we have and the memories we are creating. i love developing our family culture and environment as we work together to draw closer together and to heaven. hooray for family!!