Saturday, March 30th:
 |
| We greeted the fam by sitting on lawn chairs on our driveway with our legs crossed, haha |
 |
| The kids look THRILLED! This was also their first time seeing our house. |
 |
| Dad paying homage to the king bed they gave us--its origin is from mom and dad's first apartment! |
 |
| After dinner at TGIF we went food shopping at Target. My two favorite boys :) |
Sunday, March 31st (Easter) :
 |
| My family came to listen to me speak in church and then we had a nice Easter lunch and decorated Easter eggs. |
 |
| Right about when that guy snapped his shin in half in that basketball game...... |
 |
| Wow |
 |
| Then after we prepped food for Easter dinner we went on a drive to the Orlando Temple. |
 |
| I kept telling myself over and over, "This is what life is all about." Walking hand in hand with Jared, walking with my family, outside the temple...it doesn't get better than that. We missed Mikele though. |
Monday, April 1st: I had to work all day and the family went to St. Pete's beach and had a great time.
Tuesday, April 2nd: I had to work 8-12 that morning but then met up with the fam at Islands
of Adventure (the park located next to Universal Studios). They explored Harry Potter World
that morning and absolutely loved it! Jace seriously loved it and I’m so
glad he did. I met them at lunch at “Mythos.” We then went over to the other park, Universal Studios, and
first explored the I Love Lucy museum. It was so fun to see!! It
was cute to see my mom so excited too; she grew up watching that show and just
loves Lucille Ball. We then went and saw the Horror Makeup show, and that
was one of the highlights of the trip, hands down. The show was about how
they apply horror makeup, but the two hosts of the show were the absolute best
part, especially the female host. Oh my gosh. My whole family was
crying we were laughing so hard. The funny part is, is that Aly is
soooooooo funny, and this lady had the same type of humor, so it was hilarious
to see Aly laughing so hard, because she was essentially laughing at her own
type of humor. It was so funny. “You don’t speak English?
Perrrfect!” “Francelina…” “Hi, I’m Chip (with a lisp)” “Nice to see you
again, sir” “It’s okay for your mom to drink beer because she’s home all day
with you”, etc etc. SOOOOOOOOO funny. We then went and got a shake
from the malte shoppe. It was so fun! One of the highlights of the
trip for me was that my dad bought us so many treats ;) When Jared and I go to the Disney parks we have a great time but always walk past the treats and restaurants and just sigh...haha. We then went and watched a Twister show, themed around the movie “Twister” and
all the crazy twisters that have happened in history. We then sat on the
law in front of the roller coasters and met a cute black family from Alabama,
the mom looked like a black Rachel McAdams, haha she really did. We then took a picture
outside in front of the park, and I felt so much love for my family. It
was such a wonderful day. Jared had work and school, and it was good to
return home to him that night!
 |
| We rented a wheelchair for my mom because of her feet and the kids definitely got more use out of it :) |
 |
| This picture was in the malte shoppe and it looks just like my Grandma Stephenson! |
Wednesday, April 3rd: Animal Kingdom! Probably my favorite day! We started out the
day by seeing the show “Lion King.” It was SO amazing and my family
absolutely LOVED it! I loved seeing them so happy. We then went on
the Safari which was a blast, we sat on the back row and it was sooooo bumpy,
got lunch, saw Finding Nemo (which was great but my fam didn’t love it as much
as Lion King), rode the RAPIDS and got SOAKED (sooooo fun and will be a memory
forever) – I got completely soaked, water came directly over my head and all
the way down my back, so hilarious, rode EVEREST as a family and it was SO FUN,
my mom even went on it and she was so funny! It was so fun to do it all
together and see their reactions. Saw a Bugs Life, got funnel cakes and
Lauren got bird poo on her, it started to POUR. So funny. Absolute
downpour. Went back to the condo (my parents were renting a timeshare my
Aunt Pam has) called Tuscana Resort just south of Disney in
ChampionsGate. Watched American Idol, then J joined us after class (he
was still wet from the rapids hahahaha) and then we went home.
 |
| Hi fam! I'm running to you! |
 |
| Waiting for the Lion King to start |
 |
| We have taken this exact same picture about once a year. Two years ago on our honeymoon, last year sometime, and again this year. |
 |
| Aly the tourist, hahaha |
 |
| Safari Ride |
 |
| On the trolly to the parking lot as it was pouring |
 |
| As we were leaving the park it started to pour harder than I've ever seen my entire life! |
Thurs April 4: We were supposed to go to Magic Kingdom this
day but it was raining so we switched things up. I called my manager
Robin and asked to come in this morning instead of the next morning which she
agreed to, so I worked from 8:45 – 12:45 and then my fam and Jared met me in
the parking lot at work, after which we went on a drive thru tour of Orange Lake, which
was so fun to show my family. Ate lunch at Panera Bread, went to Jared’ s
school and showed them, went with dad to the Apple Store and got everything
switched over. The fam was chilling at my and Jared's house the whole time (my parents loved
sleeping on their old king bed in our guest room! Such a family heirloom :)), then we went to
Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner which was delicious! Fun times in the
parking lot after dinner, me telling them the story of running into the antenna
attached to the trunk of our red car and how I must have been the perfect height for the top of the antenna to stab me directly in the eye, laughing so hard, taking pictures, so much
joy. Aly slept at our house that night so we could drive her to the
airport the next morning (she had to leave a day early because she had a
volleyball tournament), and before we went to bed she and I listened to youtube
songs together like Taylor Swift’s “22,” Demi Lovato's “Heart Attack,” Rascal
Flatts “Changed,” and that one country song “Done.” Aly is so
funny. I love her!
 |
| Panera Bread (like Zupas) |
 |
| Driving to Jared's school. My bro is such a cutie! |
 |
| At Jared's school |
 |
| Isn't it gorgeous? |
 |
| Mom taking a nap on the family heirloom |
 |
| At dinner |
 |
| Oh my! |
 |
| Favorite picture! |
 |
| After dinner, listening to music, before we went to bed |
 |
| from Jace |
Friday, April 5: Today we went to Magic Kingdom. It was
kind of raining in the morning. We first went to the Monsters Inc Laugh
Floor which was funny but not as funny as past times (the funniest time was
with the Jepsens), Jared ran around and was so kind about always getting fast
passes for us, went on Buzz Lightyear, Thunder Mountain (rode this many times
thanks to fast passes!), Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, new Fantasy Land, got
La Fou’s frew, Gaston was hilarious, funnel cake, shopping, then said bye at
their condo. One of the things I loved about this trip was that Jared was
so kind to run and get fast passes for us and planned our days in a way where
we got to do so much and never had to stand in line because of fast
passes. It was amazing! My family also sometimes is slower and
likes more to relax on vacation instead of go-go-go, so I thought they might
not want to do a lot at the parks, but they impressed me (especially my mom!)
with how much they wanted to do and how enthusiastic they were. It was so
great. It will be a week to remember for sure!!! I love them so
much.
 |
| Said goodbye to my appendage of four wonderful years. Hahaha. So many memories with that computer. |
 |
| Gaston's Tavern in the new Fantasy Land |
 |
He. Was. Hilarious. Some quotes from him:
"Your name is Mia? That's my favorite name because it has 'me' in it!"
"I just made your day!"
"The pleasure was all yours."
"I'm going to rename you Gaston!"
"Au revoir, in French that means get out of here! |
 |
| Funnel cake #1,435 |
 |
| Amputee |
 |
| Hahahahaha dad |
 |
| Lauren wanted the shirt off the manequin and there were no other shirts in the store so....they carried it to the cashier, haha |
What a fun week!!!
