Family Disney Trip 2015

Yesterday was my little sister's 21st birthday and she decided she wanted to spend her big weekend with her family at Disney World. We all had an amazing time and I'm so thankful that we got to spend some quality family time together (1st time since Thanksgiving)! Warning: there is going to be major picture overload.

Thursday after work, my parents flew into Orlando and I picked them up while Caroline and Stephen met us at the hotel. After a round of hugs, we headed out to Downtown Disney for some dinner and dessert (you know, the usual - Earl of Sandwich and Ghirardelli).  

We stayed at the All Star Music - perfect hotel for a quick weekend trip

Now that I have my new phone, I can finally take outfit pictures lol

Shirt / Purse / Pants / Shoes / Scarf - old

Friday we woke up and headed on over to Epcot for the day. The way we got our Fastpasses, everything was scheduled for the evening so we took our time getting over to Epcot. We ate a late lunch at Germany and enjoyed doing our own thing around the park. Thankfully, it didn't get too crowded till later that evening and we missed the rain which was a super plus! Also, the Flower and Garden Festival was going on so it was neat to see all the Disney-themed garden areas. We were planning on staying during magic hours (9pm-11pm) to finish some bigger rides but ended up finishing everything by 9pm and headed home for some cake. 

Thanks for the photobomb, mom ;)

They have a new lumberjack show in Canada which was super fun

Inside the butterfly garden

We usually don't deal with trying to see the characters but we needed to add another Fastpass so we opted for the Character Spot. I'm really glad we did and got some good family pictures with the characters.

Since lunch at Germany is a big buffet, we stopped at a food stand in America and got pulled pork sliders with cole slaw on top for dinner. These were delicious and the perfect size!

Funny story - when I went to pick up the cake from Publix, the baker handed it to me and said happy 2nd birthday. I was like are you for real? It's supposed to be 21! Thankfully they were able to scrape off the 2nd and replace it with a 21st. Worst case, we would've gotten a good laugh. 

Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed over to Magic Kingdom before the park opened. As soon as it opened, we were at the front of the line pushing with everyone else to get to the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster and ended up with a less than 5 minute wait! The rest of the day we spent doing various rides then we had a lunch reservation at the new Beauty and the Beast restaurant at 2pm. After lunch we headed back to the hotel for long naps before heading back out to the park for some late night magic hours. The park stayed open for magic hours until 2am, we made it until about 1am. 

We made it to the Mine Train!

She got the first row

Snagged an outfit picture while waiting on them to ride Space Mountain

Shirt (similar) / Shorts / Purse / Shoes

Stephen legit got all the points on the Buzz Lightyear ride

A mamma duck and her 2 babies were wondering around the outside eating area and I about died

As you can tell, we had fun taking pictures on the new grassy area before it got crowded

On our way into lunch at Belle's Castle!

The food was ah-mazing and super unique to Disney

Had to take a mean muggin picture with Triton

Thankfully, the Dole Whip counter was open past midnight. Unfortunately, they don't have vanilla ice cream anymore...

Sunday, was Caroline's official birthday! Caroline, Stephen and I woke up and headed over to Hollywood Studios. My parents had to fly back home so they didn't join us on Sunday. Unfortunately, we got to the park 15 min too late and missed the window to get into line for Toy Story Mania - it was an hour wait and the park had only been open 15 min! Most all the shows/activities are being closed down so there wasn't too much to do. We did squeeze in the Great Movie ride, (Caroline rode) Rockin Roller Coaster, we did a drawing class and then found the Cinderella carriage to take pictures in front of. After that, we headed home to get ready for another week of work.

Caroline decided that since we have drawn Bolt before and she doesn't like Bolt, that she was going to draw her own character... lol

And like that, our trip was over! These weekend seem to go by way too fast, but thankfully we'll see everyone again next month for Memorial Day which makes the goodbyes a little easier. 

Ummm so super fail - I didn't realize the Lilly Pulitzer line at Target was a ONE TIME EVENT!!! Also, didn't think it'd really sell out in 15 minutes either. So now I'm super bummed since we missed out on the whole event and now I'll never have a Lilly dress (super dramatic, I know) :/ (And Stephen thought all the hype was a joke...) I'm going to keep checking the Orlando Target for returns in the next few days but I feel like since I wear a pretty standard size, people won't be returning much that I can snag. My mom did find some hair ties for me :) 

Linking up with Biana. 

Five on Friday | Disney Weekend!

One
Last night, my family came into town for a big Disney weekend! My sister decided she wanted spend her 21st birthday with all of us at Disney so we jumped on it and booked a long weekend. Today, we're going to Epcot, tomorrow we're doing Magic Kingdom and Sunday Hollywood Studios. I'm so happy to see my family again (first time since thanksgiving)!! You can keep up with our weekend on Instagram.

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Two
On top of a weekend at Disney, Lilly Pulitzer for Target is being released on Sunday!! I'm so excited to run over there after Hollywood Studios with my sister to do some b-day shopping!

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Three
If you missed it this week, I was nominated for the Liebster Award and had fun answering 11 questions that Ashley created. Check out the post here to see my answers, the other girls I nominated and their 11 questions.

Four
If you love the Avengers or Family Feud, then you'll love this video from Jimmy Kimmel with the cast of the Avengers competing on Family Feud.

Five
I found this scripture art on Pinterest the other day and wanted to share :)

Leibster Award

I was recently nominated by Ashley for the Leibster Award! Thanks for the nom, Ashley - be sure to go check out her blog and say hi :)

I haven't ever done a "get-to-know-me" question and answer post so I was really excited when Ashley nominated me. I plan to do a round of "facts about me" on my birthday in July so stay tuned :)

1/ Where is your favorite place to vacation?

My favorite vacation spot is Hilton Head Island in SC. My family has been going there just about every year since I was a baby - I have so many sweet memories from the Island. Usually we go with our family friends from TN and always have a blast. This year, Stephen gets to experience it for the first time!

2/ Do you have one book you recommend us to read?

The Bible

3/ What is your nemesis? 

Puke... I seriously can't. I don't know what I'm going to do when Stephen gets sick or when I have kids... I'll get over it sometime. I feel like George (in this video) anytime someone around me is going to get sick.

4/ What is your favorite part of the day?

When I come home and get to see Stephen :)

5/ Tell us your biggest to-do on your bucket list.

Buy a house... can't wait for this one to happen but who knows when.

6/ What is your favorite beauty product?

I'm trying to get better with makeup but right now, it's my foundation and mascara. I don't use any specific type of mascara - just whatever wand looks neat and my foundation is Neutrogena. Those are two makeup items I rarely leave the house without.

7/ Have you been keeping up with the Master's this weekend? If so, who are you cheering on?

I have not.. it's not as much fun watching it without my dad so I really only ever watch golf with him. I am cheering for Rory Mcllroy - he is my boy in golf!

8/ If you could hold/be around/pet one animal/reptile without it harming you, what would it be?

I just die when it comes to Mini-dachshunds... they are so stinking adorable. I.can't.even. when I'm around those little guys.

9/ What is your favorite hobby or thing to do in your free time? I don't have anything specific but I love spending time doing whatever with Stephen - traveling, playing tennis, riding bikes, watching TV, walking around daydreaming, anything really!
10/ Why did you start blogging? I LOVE to follow other people's blogs and wanted to join in on the fun :) also, our families don't live near us so it's a way to keep them updated and document everything. Looking back on it, I wish I started blogging sooner so I could capture our engagement and wedding but oh well.
11/ Do you have any pets? Introduce them to us! Stephen and I don't have any pets but my family still has our dog that we got for Christmas in 1999. She's a miniature beagle and is the cutest thing in the world but she's a SUPER stinker... she enjoys spending her days terrorizing my mom ;) Here are my nominees: Chalk Southern to Me Davis Duo Home Sweet Ruby Katie Elizabeth Lisa Loves John The New Mrs.
Here are your questions: 1. What's your favorite family tradition? 2. What's your favorite holiday? 3. If you could live anywhere in America, where would it be? 4. What is one thing you could not live without? 5. What is your favorite store? 6. What is your favorite way to relax/unwind? 7. What would your dream vacation be? 8. Do you like chocolate or vanilla better? 9. What did you want to be when you were a kid? 10. What's your favorite room in your house/apartment and why? 11. What was your most recent purchase?

Weekending

This weekend was just what the Dr. ordered. I feel like the past few weekends have been super busy (I was gone pretty much every weekend since the last weekend of February) so we were really looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend at home.

Friday, with the help of a friend, I threw a baby shower for one of my co-workers, Jessica. We had a great time and we loved getting to shower Jessica and baby Camden!

My friend came up with the great idea to decorate diapers for some laughter during late night changes. Everyone seemed to enjoy decorating the diapers and they came up with come great things! 

We had the cake made at Publix and they did an amazing job customizing it for us! 

Some pre-lunch goodies

A few weekends ago, I had the best chocolate covered pretzels at my friend's bridal shower so I wanted to make some for the baby shower. I totally forgot to get a picture of them at the actual shower so here they are drying...

More gifts arrived.. this was before anyone got there lol Also, ignore my finger in the picture... super fail

After the shower, we all went back to work on a sugar high and then later that afternoon it was time to get my new phone! Usually it takes about 20 minutes to drive from work to the shopping area... Friday it took 45 minutes so I missed my appt to pick it up. I was told I'd either have to make an appt on Saturday (the store is an hour away from my apt.) or wait 3 hours in line. I figured since I just drove 45 min to get there I might as well wait. I walked over to Ulta and found a new lipstick that I'm super excited about then wandered back to Best Buy and awkwardly waited in the comfy TV room recliners. Thankfully the wait was only about 1 hour and not 3 so I was able to get my phone and head home! I'm loving is so far and can't wait to test the camera out more!

Saturday, we  Stephen slept in then we headed out to a nearby pool to spend the day at. We just LOVED relaxing with the beautiful weather and spending time at the pool. We can't wait to keep going throughout the summer :) Afterwards, we headed to Downtown Disney for a late lunch - our usual of Earl of Sandwich and Ghirardelli's. We just loved finally relaxing and taking our time.

I'm a couple of chapters in and so far, it's very interesting!

Sunday was pretty lazy - church, Publix, laundry, nap and cutting Stephen's hair. My mom, however, threw a fun Master's party and I had to share some of her fun photos! So wish we could be there!

They had a chipping contest in the backyard

  

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Linking up with Biana.