80 degrees and a Sunburn with a smile!

Alex and I have been looking forward to this vacation for quite a while. Much needed and such a great deal, with great friends.

We took off to California with a dream in our hearts and cold weather behind us!

We stayed in Leeds, with Pat and George, for the first night to help break up the drive.

Pat and George are Mandi's grandparents in all sense of the title. They were fantastic hosts and just TOO CUTE!!

They didn't even mind us keeping them awake with our uncontrolable laughter.

Pat and George were so nice to take us in. They felt bad only having Pb&J, however I would like to point out a few things that made this one of the BEST Pb&J's EVER.

Have you ever seen EXTRA crunchy peanut butter, topped off with BUMBLEBERRY jam? It was fantastic!

What a beautiful Southern Utah morning

George was in aw every morning at how the hills lit on fire with the rising sun

We woke up to watching our breath as we tried to figure out why the car wouldn't start and wondering if our vacation was going to be getting a late start.

Thank goodness someone was awake that early to jump start our car.

*Note to other drivers of the Chevy Trail Blazer - DO NOT leave the cooler plugged in all night.

Officially the Happiest Place on Earth.

Let the Memories begin!

Adam once proposed to Mandi at this very fountain on this very Valentine's weekend a few years ago. Once he lost his wedding ring, Mandi knew the perfect way to give him another one.

Make a wish..... He was so surprised!

Did you know you can go up inside the castle now? It had been closed since the 60's or 70's and they've just reopened it.

Who knew it was Aurora's caslte... I always thought it belonged to Cinderella

Adam was really excited about the Peter Pan ride :)

This Toy Story ride turned out to be one of Alex's favorites - it has a video game aspect and he kicked trash on all of it. However, the spinning was not how the likes to play.

Let's take a ride through California

Toy Story seriously is the bomb! No Army pun intended.

She's not an official princess, otherwise she'd be my favorite. Tied with Belle and Ariel for sure!

So glad they added this ride. In all of it's splendor, I sat admiring.

OOH spooky Hold on tight or you might disappear

I love this ride!!

I was trying to concentrate on hold my hands up, like I was told, hence hair in my face. Apparently everyone else knows when these cameras are going to snap a picture, except me.

Just grillin up some hot dogs for dinner. Oh yeah, we brought a microwave too.

One of the best roller coasters. I LOVE it.

We had to wait in line for an hour, with our fast pass tickets in order to see the World of Color show. It was well worth it.

I was so happy to see Sebastian, Little Mermaid has been a favorite for a long time.

This water show was amazing! The things they can do just amaze me.

Fire is such a good way to end a show

Electronica... there are no words. But don't you LOVE Adam's face!!

I found a house/door my size!!!

We were waiting in line for the Alice ride, which broke down twice, and we ended up waiting for an hour. It was our last hour of the night so we didn't really mind.

Plus we got some good ghost stories out of it...Timmy ;)

We FINALLY got to ride the Alice in Wonderland ride!

He actually ASKED ME to drive!! Is that because I know how to drive with steering wheels on the right side? It is British blood that runs through my veins

Our camera was to good for the effect we were going for, but I love her happy smile :)

OF COURSE there's a green cup!

Yay, Adam made it into a picture!

Ironically this ride broke down RIGHT AFTER we got off.

Let me say it just one more time, I don't like water rapid rides.

I did not conquer a fear, but I do not like it to be said I won't try things I hate....

Evidence of the SOAKING wet pants and lack of a smile.

Lego lovers eat your hearts out

Jungle ride is always so funny!

For someone who loves pickles as much as me, this GIANT pickle was heaven at the Happiest Place on Earth

Yo ho, one of the best rides!!

No we're not trying to escape, just see what's on the other side of the wall.

$11 and we got what?.... That's why we brought our own griddle and microwave, to make meals in our hotel room for a mere $1.50 per person.

Every time we went on a ride they'd tell me to make a face for the camera.

I NEVER knew when the camera was coming. This time however I decided to hold my face like this the WHOLE ride, just to make sure ;)

Mandi and I planned breakfast for the boys on Valentine's morning.

Complete with hashbrowns, sausage, and pink, heart shaped waffles. Yeah that's right, we brought a griddle and a waffle iron to our hotel. It ROCKED

He was such a good sport about being woken up to eat breakfast.

For the cereal man, this was an upgrade for sure ;)

Is it possible that you can love someone so much there are not words to express?

Feelings to be shared and moments held in a memory for the things you wish to never forget.

Hold them tight, your memories, your feelings, your time with them. For although tomorrow is another day you will be blessed for having them, never take for granted the precious gift, to love.

It was such a great time and much needed vacation!

Thanks for all the good times!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Eye for Me

I woke up Friday morning with something in my eye.....

I actually couldn't even see out if it to find out what was up.
Once I got Alex to finish taking pictures of my "disease" I cleaned it out to find.....

Something I didn't want to see. RED. my whole left eye was just like the inside of a Christmas cinnamon bear. YIKES. At least it wasn't a work day.
I began with a regimen of eye drops and warm packs hoping it was just a little dry. Hmm I seemed to be the only one thinking it was nothing. Alex recommended I wait to go to the Dr. until Saturday, in case it was nothing and went away.
Of course my luck was like the movie "Ground Hog Day." I woke up Saturday and it was the exact same thing again. So.... I waited a few hours before I was once again seriously encouraged to call a Dr. In case it was pink eye and needed to be taken care of.
*Side note* I do NOT like going to the Dr. office when "something is wrong" I know they're going to charge me $25 just to tell me something is wrong and then give me an Rx that costs way too much, and I won't get it anyway. Isn't insurance awesome!

So I made the appointment, sat in the waiting room for 30 min, in the patient room for 5 min, with the assistant who said, "Oh you've got the Stink EYE!" Really? and you're not even the Dr. good thing I had you check me out :(
Sure enough the Dr. poked his head in and said, "ooh nasty looking eye you got there. Looks like pink eye, or some kind of bacteria or virus. Either way it'll run it's course in about 72 hours. But let's just give you this antibiotic you have to put a ribbon of goo on the inside of your eyelid and blink"
*Another side note* I DON'T let anything touch my eyeball. Are you serious? It's hard enough just to get eye drops in. It's drama enough with that.
So I left feeling like I'd just been told everything we researched on WebMD and turned in the Rx at the pharmacy.... Hmm pay $90 for the scrip or wait till Monday morning and I'll be ok.... What do you think?

Wear an eye patch instead of course!
Thanks Ryan and Jenny. It was put to very good use.
Although I did have to miss snowboarding and felt diseased with my Stank Eye for a few days, I am all better now and can FINALLY wear make up to work again.
Yeah, who decided to take our staff picture today of all days without make up :(
Oh well, at least it's Finally February ;)

I'm blogging, can you believe it!?!?! I am amazed, inspired and depressed by how much other people blog and yet apparently I'm lucky if I make it once every 2 months.... sheesh. Who has the time these days?

Can you believe that excuse!? I have a husband who works and goes to school, till all hours of the night sometimes, continues to study and even has time to relax and watch an episode of the Soup or play a video game. Yet all I do is work, make dinner and feel achey. I know I could do better at this thing called life, but part of me just doesn't want to. I write in my journal, every so often, less than I should, and blogging feels like a journal. Lately I probably blog more than I write in my journal. I'd like to say it's easier, but at the same time, not so much. Although my hand definitely doesn't ache as much after I blog it's also not tangible. I write things in my journal I wouldn't want others to see, things I may or may not want to remember and move on from, or enjoy when I reread them.

Blogging is not really for myself it is a journal for others. I know there are not many who even follow this blog. Mostly those family members who live far away…. Some friends I don’t see frequently and bless your hearts for all caring what goes on in our lives.

To say it plainly, I’ve gotten lazy. Some days I enjoy being lazy. Other days I wish I could be like my mother-in-law who uses every minute of every day, and then some. Work is sucking my life away…. I need to change my attitude, I realize that. It’s hard in January, I hate this month, can I get some sunshine?….. Again, working on changing my attitude about that. In fact, I even started a list about the things I did like about January. First thing on the list “it’s almost over.”

For today this blog is more about getting my feelings off my chest…. it happens once in a while. A good release is healthy, right?

And an update, if that’s what you seek. I still work in the same office, Alex has the same job at America First, for now, and going to school at UVU. Sometimes life throws you curves and you complain about it. I’m not saying a curve up, or down, just a curve in general. I would welcome one of those right now. Just something different. Something to look forward to. Maybe a drive to California ;)

I’ll see you again after next Tuesday when it’s February J

David ARCHULETTA!! Need I say more?

Last weekend I had the opportunity to see DAVID ARCHULETTA.... and the Mormon Tabernacle choir, on temple square.
Little did we know how many people would be there just to see this infamous performance that we had almost no time to eat dinner. Amanda and I were amazingly fast.
(thanks to the Normans for an awesome evening)After we RAN, literally in our Sunday dress clothes, to get in the longest of all long lines, we ended up waiting.... the lines were ridiculous.
Apparently somewhere along the lines of 1.5 million people put in for tickets to this concert, and we drew out, LUCKY!

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside :( but we were "so freaking out cause like we got to see DAVID!" hahaha I wish we'd been that excited. I didn't even know who was performing with them until we got there. Low and behold did I know Michael York would be there too. we were so blessed that night. What an experience.
I've never really paid attention to David Archuletta (I don't even know if I'm spelling that right) but he's actually a very good singer.

This is how excited Mikki was after just seeing David... not quite the same faces we had on, but she holds in the excitement very well. You should have seen her swinging her arms and singing David songs all the way home... :)

Two nights later my niece PorSha had her Christmas performance. It's a singing and dance group and they were very cute. It helps that she's such a ham.

Her group had such cute costumes... she wanted to wear it to bed and to church the next day.

I was so impressed by her solo. She was supposed to have a partner who we guess didn't show up, but that didn't even phase her.

I LOVE HER FACE!!!

As I sit here blogging this Christmas Eve, I've figured something out. Nothing matters but family. Not just biological family, but everyone in your life that you consider family. We literally are all brothers and sisters and I get so excited just thinking about how awesome my family is!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Is it really December already?

I LOVE FIVE GUYS!!
Elaina and I decided to head over to one of our favorite places for a warm bite to eat at the beginning of November... Little did we know how cold it would actually get.

Peanuts and french fries. They are truly the best. We actually didn't eat many of the peanuts, but had to have some out of tradition.

One of my favorite memories this year will be the Hogwarts Harry Potter Party my mom and I went to the night of the premier. We didn't see the movie until the next week after Thanksgiving, but it was a perfect way to get ready.
Platform 9 3/4

We got galleons to spend

Couldn't decide where to start....

Finally chose professor Trelawney to have our fortunes told - I'm a little fickle and mom's "inbetween worlds"....

When we visited care of magical creatures, they convinced my mom to touch the GIANT BOA!!

We both tried butterbeer. A lot different than I had expected but fun to try at least once.

We were both sorted into our houses. I was Ravencaw and mom was Hufflepuff.

We also got to play Quidditch, got our very own wands, treats from Honeydukes, jokes from Zonko's and a little magic of our own.

Mom made me a scarf for Harry Potter #4 and it was the perfect place to wear it. I LOVE Harry Potter. From a true skeptic to a believer. We had so much fun that night.

Then it got a lot colder and we had a ridiculous snow storm. It was so crazy that halfway through the day we went outside to scrape our cars of.... I couldn't even reach the top of my car to get it all. I can't wait for a garage some day :)

That wasn't enough to stop my brothers on Thanksgiving morning at 15 degrees.
They are dye-hard "Turkey bowler's" That's where all the boys from our old neighborhood get together Thanksgiving morning and play football at the park by my parents house. However this year with the snow, only my two crazy brothers were there.
Jacob was determined to do a diving catch.

and Ben's just the type to go all out regardless. Yep, he caught it.

My dad had a nice warm fire when we got home and we warmed up quick.
We took a trip up to the Martin's for a quick visit and soon it was turkey time.

We had a great Thanksgiving. My sister had heart surgery, that she's been waiting for for a long time. Ben and his family were staying with us for a few days and it all went by so fast.

This weekend we went to temple square with some friends of ours. When we got to their house, their tree was all decorated in Blue LED lights. Alex was in heaven.

Our plan to get hot chocolate when we got downtown was foiled when the place was closed :( Luckily for us it wasn't really that cold, however it was raining. Weird, we weren't expecting that at all.

We did have a good time though and hopefully we'll get back down when it's not raining.

We love Christmas

Even if it is snowing.....or raining :)