Walt Disney World Day One...

On Saturday January 29th we took a bus from our resort to Animal Kingdom.  We were all surprised how we were able to just walk into the park with no line.  That was so nice.  One of the other nice things about staying at their resorts is that we can pull our first lightning lane at 7:00 before the park opens.  We were able to get one for the new Avatar ride but we also had to pay $59.64 in addition to our Genie+ fee for each day.  We also got one for the Safari and the Dinosaur ride but they were covered under the Genie.  I would say it was totally worth it to avoid standing in line for 90 plus minutes for the new rides.  

Took our first picture after we arrived then headed over to Pandora - the world of Avatar.  We waited in line for about 40 minutes to ride Na'vi River Journey.  It was pretty cool and Pandora was amazing to look at.  We took a couple of pictures while waiting in line.

We then went in line to see "A Celebration of Festival of the Lion King."  It's a 22 minute live show.  However while we were waiting they told us it was cancelled so then we went to see "It's Tough To Be A Bug". After we got some pictures by the Tree of Life.  I got a lady to take them for us.  I think it was funny how she got some of us not looking. haha!

As we were walking over to go on the Safari this guy was playing some cool music.  

The Safari was so much fun...our tour guide was pretty funny!

We took these pictures of a hippo on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, unfortunately we never saw any gorillas because it was so cold.  I don't think it ever got over 50 degrees with the wind chill factor that day.

We have to get our snacks.  

This was a pineapple sugar cookie from Zuri's Sweets Shop.  

It was fun how the guy that helped us was talking to Brady about Stranger Things.

We took these fun pictures while Scott was finding a restroom.

These were taken after the gorilla trail we went on.

Our lunch was at the Harambe Market.  

We had chicken and cilantro lime rice with a salad.  It was really good.  

It cost us $59.59

This was a pretty accurate picture for the day...haha!

We were all pretty disappointed that Expedition Everest was closed for refurbishment. 

Here we are waiting for KiteTails to start...

So fun seeing Timon and Rafiki come by to say hi and also members of the Duck Tales.

It was pretty cool watching these three-dimensional kites depicting young and old Simba, Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu.  They would fly behind two people on jet skis.

More snacks...this time buffalo chicken nachos and dole whip from the Trilo-Bites ($20.52). So yummy!

After two tries of watching this show we finally got in the 3rd time.  It was pretty cute!

We rode Avatar Flight of Passage around 4:00 and it was so cool!  It was a 3D ride but we riding these stationary bikes that made it feel like we were flying on real mountain banshees.  They made it so you could even feel the banshee breathing under you.  We flew all over Pandora and even under waves in the ocean.... so cool!

We went on the Dinosaur ride which was fun.  Brady explained to us the reason he was so scared when he rode in back in 2010 when he was six.  It was because he thought it was real but now he knows that they are just animatronics.  

We were so tired of the cold that we left around 5:30 unfortunately before they showed the Beacon Of Magic when magical fireflies gather to produce a warm and glorious light on the Tree of Life calling forth the EARidescent magic of nature.  As we were leaving we took a few more pictures before catching a bus back to the resort where we got some dinner.

After we ate we decided to take a bus to Disney Springs to do a little shopping and get some dessert.  We found mom a 50th WDW sweatshirt and I got a WDW backpack then we walked like forever trying to find Gideon's Bakehouse and once we finally did you had to be put in a virtual que to enter so we just got a picture outside and headed back to the resort and we got some dessert there.  We couldn't believe how huge that place was, it was like being at another park.

This little cheesecake was so cute and yummy too!

Brady was happy with his cupcake too!!

It was a fun day but boy are we exhausted!!  I walked 23,413 steps or 10.3 miles

WDW Here We Come...

Thursday January 27th Kacie drove home so she could fly out with us the next day to Orlando.  She arrived around 4:00.  She had a little visit with Grandpa and Grandma then we finished packing, had dinner and I went to bed around 9:00pm.  We got up around 4:00 am and Mom drove us to the airport which was nice to not have to pay for parking.  We got there around 6:00am to catch our 7:40 flight to Denver CO.  We then had a 5 hour layover which was brutal.  We had lunch there and while we were waiting at our gate we realized they changed it so we had to go to our new gate to catch our flight to Houston, TX.  We were originally suppose to flight straight to Orlando from Denver but they changed that too which was really frustrating.  Then once we got to Houston they made us get off to catch another plane to Orlando which was another change for us.  The flight across the Gulf of Mexico was pretty cool seeing all the coastal towns.  We finally made it to Orlando and I was so relieved we got all our luggage.  I was sure it was going to be lost due to all the changes.  Kacie paid for a shuttle for us to the POP Century Resort which was around $120 round trip.  It was so nice to not have to rent a car and we either rode a bus or took the sky-liner to the parks from our resort.  That was one of the major reasons why we picked this resort plus it was one of the cheaper resorts you could stay at.  It was pretty cute with all the decade decor.  Our room number was 7311 which was in the 80's section.  I think we arrived around 10:30 eastern time.  That was such a long day.  Another perk to staying at the resorts is you can get on at 7:00am to request the lightning lane for the more popular rides.

It was pretty fun how our staircase was in a giant Rubik's cube.  

C of I Basketball...

It was a fun game even though College of Idaho killed them 97 to 47...haha!

After the game we got some Chinese food.

 

January Birthdays...

January 16th we celebrated Wanda, Ryan and Tyson's birthdays.  

We had various soups, salad and rolls, plus cake and ice cream of course.  It was really good and a fun day!

Brady went with Mom and Dad to Weston and Lori's house to celebrate Aunt Barbara's birthday on January 21st.  Scott and I had already made plans to go with Jason to a C of I basketball game.

Reid's kids had a few days off because of Covid so he came with Brielle and Chad to replace Mom and Dad's furnace.  They came January 14th and they stayed until January 19th.  Reid worked really hard on it for 3 1/2 days.  The kids had fun helping grandpa feed his cows. 

 

Caleb, Puzzles & More...

On January 2nd Caleb received the Aaronic priesthood.  We are happy for him, he is so cute!

During our Sunday Come Follow Me of Don't Miss This they shared this picture of Heavenly Mother.  I thought it was pretty special!

On January 3rd I got the day off from work so I decided to take down all of my Christmas decorations and it took me the whole day to get it done.

Mom and Dad were able to stay awhile after Christmas at Rosie's house.  This is Caleb's favorite picture so Mom got this puzzle and they worked on it together while they were there.

Mom gave me these puzzles for my birthday and I finally got them done.  I hate it when I lose a puzzle piece.