Happy Father's Day!

So blessed by these wonderful dads in my life...

my husband,

my Dad,

my father-in-law,

and my Grandpa.

Happy Father's Day to each of you!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives!  Love to you all!

Four Years

I realized today that we have had our blog now for four years (and three days).  As I look back over the last four years, I am amazed at how much we have accomplished, all of the adventures we have had, all of the ups and downs.

We started this blog as a way to keep family and friends up to date with our journey to adopt a little boy from Vietnam.  About six weeks later, we found out that we were pregnant with our Hannah.  Since then...

• We both quit our jobs at the other travel agency (at about five months pregnant!) and started our own Disney-focused travel agency.  Our company has grown more than we ever could have imagined, but more importantly, we are happier than we ever were at the other agency.  We love having the freedom to "skip" work for the day to go to the zoo with Hannah.  We have an amazing group of agents that are as Disney-crazy as we are (if not more!).
• Chet resigned from his worship minister position at the church in Irving to pursue his speaking ministry full time.  Even more doors opened up when a travel client contact heard what Chet was doing and was working for a Speaker's Bureau at the time.  Now, Kyle works as Chet's manager and we are so blessed to have him and his family in our lives.  (We just wished we lived closer to them!)  God continues to bless us in this ministry providing more opportunities for Chet (and his Dad) to speak to all different types of events.  They (and sometimes Hannah and I join them) travel across the country to speak to pro-life ministries, corporate events, churches, universities, and even a few government offices.  We are so blessed by these events and uplifted by meeting people with their own stories to tell.
• Our sweet little girl was born in March 2008 and is now a happy little three year old.  She blesses our lives more and more each day.  She makes us laugh with her sweet sense of humor, loves to dance and sing, do crafts with Mom, and play house with her babies.  She plays computer games with Daddy, loves going to school and to bible class, and loves to read.  She loves to play outside (as long as there are no bugs!), swim, and spend time with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We thank God for her every day!
• We have traveled to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and have been on more Disney cruises than I keep up with.  We have visited Baltimore, Hershey, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C, Denver, Nebraska, Nashville, Kansas City and Wichita, St. Louis, and many others that I can't think of right now.  With speaking and traveling for the travel business and vacation, there is a rarely a time that we are home for the entire month.  But I wouldn't trade our life for anything.  We have created amazing memories and feel that Hannah (and us, too!) learn so much by being out in the world and experiencing it rather than reading it from a book.  We love meeting new people, talking with them, and are blessed by their stories.
• This one is a hard one to write as not many know this.  We have struggled with fertility these last four (plus) years.  After struggling for over a year,  we decided to look into adoption.  Just a few short few weeks later, we got an incredible surprise.  We have been trying for a little brother or sister for almost two years now.  On Hannah's third birthday, we found out that she was going to be a big sister.  One month later, we discovered that the baby had stopped growing and I was trying to miscarry.  The loss of our little one is still a daily struggle for me only made easier by my sweet husband, precious daughter, and relying on God.  Please pray for us as we continue on this difficult road.

Thanks so much to all of you "involved" in our lives by reading our blog!  We are blessed by each one of you.

Here is a picture of my sweet girl at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens.  We headed out there a few weeks ago on that one random day that was only 80 degrees!  Perfect day for walking around, feeding the fish, and playing on the playground.

Arboretum

Now that school is out for the summer, we are going to try to do at least one outing a week to experience some fun and different things around town.  We live in such a large city with so much to do, yet, we haven't done much more than the zoo with Hannah.

Today, we headed to the Dallas Arboretum.  They are having a fun exhibit right now with Fairytale Castles and Peter Rabbit's village.  It was such a beautiful day to be outside.  Hannah loved walking through the castles and the houses in village that were made of flowers.

My favorite picture from the day!  Hannah has a habit of not looking at the camera if I ask her to smile.  I was able to snag this with the promise of a Cherry Limeade from Sonic, her favorite treat!

We'd love some different ideas and suggestions for fun things to do around Dallas/ Fort Worth with little ones (as well as friends to join us!).

Walt Disney World Highlights

As always, we had a wonderful time in Walt Disney World last week, maybe, even more so than usual.  This was a much needed time for us to get away and reconnect as a family, to recharge, and to escape from the reality of life. 

Hannah received this Cheshire cat as a gift from Alice in Wonderland. We were waiting for the afternoon parade, and a few cast members brought this to her, telling her that Alice wanted her to have it.  Definitely made our day, and especially Hannah's.  She showed her cat to everyone, proud to say that Alice gave it to her.

Love this picture!

Of course, we saw all of our friends, including the princesses.

We rode all of our favorite rides, plus a few "new" ones.  Hannah rode Splash Mountain for the first time.  She is finally tall enough for it.  We couldn't get her to ride the whole week until we decided we could do one more ride before we needed to leave.  She was so brave and only cried a few tears of relief after the last drop.  She proudly tells everyone now that she rode "the big hill!"

Disney always has beautiful landscaping, but this time of year is no exception.  Epcot hosts a Flower and Garden Festival every spring and this was my first time to go.  There are beautiful flower arrangements, a butterfly house, and topiaries of several favorite characters throughout the parks.

Hannah keeps telling us that she wants to ride "it's a small world" tomorrow.  Or maybe she'd like to go to Disneyland tomorrow.  Or tomorrow we'll go watch the Tinker Bell parade. She keeps telling me to fix the countdown so she can take off the circles so it will be time to go again.  If only it were that easy!  :)

School Program Follies

We made it back from Walt Disney World (pictures coming soon) just in time for Hannah's end of the year program and last day of school.  She loves singing and dancing and did a great job in her program this year... until she saw me taking a picture!  After that, she clammed up.  Sounds a little bit like last year's program.  Next year, we'll try to hide a little better and maybe she'll make it through the entire program!

Playing her trombone before she spotted us.

Walking out at the end of the program... this look means,
"Mom, I can't believe you are taking my picture again!"

Hannah and her best friend.  They are the only little girls in their class (for the second year!).  She is not going to be at the school next year and will definitely be missed.  Hannah may be ruling the class as the only girl next year!

Sharing Traditions

Happy Easter!  We headed to Cisco, Texas again for the annual Sneed family reunion at Lake Cisco Christian Camp.  It is always such an amazing weekend and such a blessing to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and (many) cousins that we usually only get to see once a year.  I believe Hannah is part of the fourth generation of this family that has been getting together since I was a baby.  It started with my grandparents generation: six brothers and two sisters along with all of their kids and grandchildren.

It was always so much fun going there year after year while growing up.  We'd meet up with cousins and have a blast exploring the camp, hiking, and hunting Easter eggs.  I will always treasure going to my great aunt's farm and singing hymns together as a family by the bonfire.  I love being able to share with Hannah the strong family connections and the rich Christian legacy that this family has passed down to each generation.

Hannah had a blast at "the camp."  She made fast friends with her cousins and spent almost the whole weekend outside, covered in sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and dirt.

Having fun with Uncle Jonathan!

Hannah and her Aunt Jamie playing basketball

Hunting Easter Eggs in the old Chapel

Almost all of the "little" cousins right after the egg hunt.
I have many pictures that look just like this from when we were kids.

Hannah and Zoe... they were good buddies the whole weekend.  

I am not sure of the technical relationship, but their grandparents are first cousins.

A Magical Moment

In "Disney language," special moments that happen in their parks, resorts, or on their ships are described as Magical Moments.  They are typically moments that you don't expect, they take your breath away, make you choke up, and usually make you a Disney Fan for the rest of your life.

We saw all of the characters multiple times during our week onboard the Disney Wonder.  It is Hannah's favorite thing to do when we are at any of the Disney Destinations, especially now because she loves getting them to "sign their name" in her autograph book.  She loves running up to them, handing them her book, giving them BIG hugs, and chatting with them.  Many of the characters love seeing her!  They give her big hugs and kisses, make hearts with their hands, and (those who can) chat with her for several minutes.  (I imagine they get tired of the screaming and pushy kids (and parents)!)

During this cruise we experienced something new that we had never even heard of before.  On the last night, all of the characters come out to the lobby for a "Till We Meet Again" meet and greet one last time before all of the guests go home.  During dinner that night, we received an invitation to meet with the characters prior to "Till We Meet Again" for a private meet and greet with about half a dozen other families.  It said because they enjoyed visiting with your family so much that the characters wanted one more chance.

We were expecting Mickey, Minnie, and maybe a few princesses but were totally blown away with who showed up!  We got to see Mickey & Minnie, Daisy & Donald, Goofy, Stitch, Peter Pan & Captain Hook, Ariel, Snow White, Tiana, Cinderella, Belle, as well as several pirates and other characters from the stage productions onboard.

The event was a big dance party and started off with Anne Marie (from one of the shows, Disney Dreams) taking Hannah's hand and pulling her into the sea of characters to dance and mingle.  We were blown away with the whole experience and were thrilled to see that not only were the characters excited to see Hannah but they also knew her name.  Hannah loved every minute of it and had a hard time settling down for the night afterwards.  Not only was this the highlight of our cruise, but it is an experience and a Magical Moment that we will treasure for a long time.

Hannah and Anne Marie, the main character from the show, Disney Dreams.  The award-winning show is a must do when on board the Disney Wonder or Disney Magic.  As you can see, Hannah was a little in awe with the whole experience.  Anne Marie grabbed Hannah by the hand at the beginning and took her into the crowd of characters almost faster than we could keep up.  She was so sweet and hung out with Hannah through most of the event taking her to other characters she wanted to meet.

Chatting with Snow White

Hanging out with Belle

A big bear hug from Mickey

Loving on Minnie

Minnie taking Hannah to meet others

Hugging Daisy 

Playing with Stitch