I Left My Heart in San Francisco!

Every year, my parents go to the Poinsettia Bowl and the Holiday Bowl (football games) in San Diego.  This year they decided to add one more to the list: the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.  They also decided to take Diane and me along and make a weekend out of it.  We left super early in the morning on the 27th and drove up to Fremont to my uncle's house, where we were going to be sleeping that night.  After catching up a bit and eating dinner together, Uncle Dennis drove us to the BART station where we rode into San Francisco to the AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play.  Kinda weird to be watching a football game in a baseball stadium, but it worked!  

After the game, we hung out with Uncle Dennis and Aunt Carolyn for awhile before going to bed and waking up bright and early, oh so early, to get ready to go into the city.  Before going on this trip, we had all discussed some things that we wanted to do.  My priorities were a couple of bucket list items: the house from Full House and Lombard Street aka The Crookedest Street in the World.  We ended up doing BOTH of those PLUS seeing Coit Tower AND the Painted Ladies, which are 7 beautifully painted row houses in San Francisco.  It was awesome!

 The Painted Ladies behind me

Standing in front of the house from Full House

(just painted a different color)

 After San Francisco, we headed back to Uncle Dennis' house and, on the way, stopped in Niles.  Niles is a place where lots of old silent films were made and we took a tour of a very old theatre where people used to go to watch movies in the silent era and where they have resurrected this tradition and, again, show old silent films on Saturday nights.  Surprisingly, there are enough nostalgic people in the vicinity to make these movie nights quite popular; I kinda wished that I could've joined in the fun, since we were there on a Saturday, but we were leaving before showtime.  Maybe some other time...

We also stopped and saw Mission San Jose, which is in Fremont.  We didn't go inside because we were short on time and all of the missions I've been in thus far have been exactly the same, so we took a look and called it a day!

After having lunch at Uncle Dennis and Aunt Carolyn's house, we packed the car and headed down to San Jose to go to the Winchester Mystery House.  A few years back, Mom and I went on a road trip and toured it, but Dad and Diane had never been.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and the tour was just as good as last time.  Such an interesting place!

We spent the night in San Luis Obispo and then drove back up a bit to San Simeon to Hearst Castle.  This was a bucket list item for me and something that both of my parents had always wanted to see.  It did not disappoint!  Beautifully perched up on the tippy-top of the mountain, overlooking the ocean, is an exquisite mansion  with two bell towers, breathtakingly beautiful pools, and lush green gardens.  The architectural features are impressive and extremely old, taken from various countries over numerous centuries.  We also got to see a movie that explained the history of the mansion and how it came to be what it is. William Randolph Hearst felt that it would be a great place for people, who did not have the privilege of seeing the world, to see great things from far-away cultures and lands.  After his death, his family gave it to the State of California and it's now a state park.  If you ever have the chance to visit, do so!  It was awesome!

 After Hearst Castle, we went to Solvang, where we walked around a little bit and went to a smorgasbord for dinner.  I also got to visit one of my favorite stores ever, which can only be found in Solvang.  It's called Jule Hus and it is a Christmas store all year-round.  They have unique and beautiful nativities set up and if you see one you like, they'll pack it up for you and you can buy it right off the shelf.  This time, I found an adorable one in which all of the characters are children.  I think it'll be cool someday to use it to teach my kids about the first Christmas and the role of each of the people there.  I'm excited to put it up in my own apartment/house someday soon.  

After Solvang, we drove home.  Though we had a great time, we were all exhausted and ready to get home!  It was nice to have a little adventure to end the year on a good note!

Pirates Dinner Adventure! Arrrgggghhh!!!

I have an awesome bucket list and, every now and then, I get to check something off of it.  Pirates Dinner Adventure in Buena Park was on the list and on Saturday, I got to cross it off!  Scott had gone for his nephew's birthday a couple of years ago, but fortunately, it was a different show this time around.  When we first got there, we checked in and got our seat assignment and, as we entered the building, they took a picture of us.  There was a ship's wheel that we stood by and then there was a little dragon cracking out of an egg.  Neither of us knew at the time that the show we were seeing was called, "Rise of the Sea Dragon" and we were both so confused about why there was a funky looking dragon attached to the wheel.  We were laughing a little bit about it, but posed and smiled behind the wheel anyways.  Then, the lady taking the picture said, "I need you to both put your hand on the dragon's egg."  It seemed SO random to us and we both totally lost it.  Laughing SO hard!  Scott pulled it together at the last minute to smile for the picture, but I was clearly still laughing! haha!  We decided, however, that it was a pretty good picture still and ended up buying it!  

For your viewing pleasure, here we are with the dragon's egg!  Haha!

It wasn't until the salesperson approached us with our picture that she pointed out that the show was about a dragon.  Then it all made sense to us!  ;)

For the next hour and a half, we just walked around the building, indulging on complimentary appetizers, marveling at a very tall man (like taller than anyone either of us had ever seen), and just having a good time together.  Naturally, there had to be a few selfies to document my bucket list achievement:

We were on the purple team!

The show was awesome and alot of fun to see!  Dinner was good, but I have trouble eating chicken off the bones, so when an entire half chicken was placed on my table, I realized I would be going home a bit hungry and wished that I had ordered the kabobs instead.  BUT live and learn!  It was still an awesome night!  Plus, it ended with brownies a la mode, which made up for the chicken situation.  ;)  By the way, if you are celebrating your kid's birthday, I highly recommend this show.  All of the birthday kids got to go up on the ship and also participate in the show, which I thought was pretty cool!  After the show, we asked our server to take a picture for us and she asked if we wanted a picture with our pirate!  Ummmm...YES!!!  So, we went down by the ship and got a picture with the purple pirate, whom we had been rooting for all night.

In the show we saw, the purple pirate is the dumb one and does a whole bunch of stupid stuff the whole time, so that awesome look on his face is entirely appropriate!  After this, they kicked everyone out and, I'm proud to say that we didn't get lost driving to or from the show!  That's quite an accomplishment for the two of us!  It was such a fun night and I'm definitely glad to have gotten the chance to go!

And Then I Turned 29...

This year my birthday was especially special!  I got to share my day with my sweet nephew, Aaron, who was being baptized that day!  Early in the morning, Scott and I drove up to Victorville, followed soon after by the rest of my family.  Here's a pictures of Aaron with both sets of grandparents, and aunts.  His two uncles couldn't make it because Daniel lives in Utah and had to work and Evan is on a mission in Uganda, but we know they both would've loved to have been there, had circumstances permitted.  

After the baptism, we all headed to David and Melissa's house for lunch and birthday cake.

Although Aaron's birthday is on September 22nd, we celebrated together!  

I love sharing my birthday week with this cutie!

After the party had died down, Scott and I stayed a little longer and hung out with David and Melissa for awhile.  Then, we went to Northwoods Inn for dinner.  When we got to the restaurant, we discovered that the wait was nearly an hour, so we walked across the street and browsed a Halloween shop with some...ummmm...interesting costumes and then headed back to Northwoods for dinner.  That place is delicious!!!  They sang happy birthday to me at the restaurant in their unique style, which I love and then we had some yummy sherbet!

After dinner, I realized that we didn't actually ever get any birthday ice cream (sherbet is not real ice cream) and we stopped at a grocery store and got some peanut butter cup ice cream.  We went back to Scott's to eat ice cream and then just had a good time relaxing and enjoying each others' company.  This was seriously one of the best birthdays I've ever had because I spent it with the people that mean the most to me!  

I think 29 is going to be a good year!

The Hills are Alive!!!

September 21st.  The day we had all been waiting for:  The Sound of Music SING-ALONG at the Hollywood Bowl!!!

Some friends of ours had gone last year and said that it was absolutely amazing!  Basically, they play The Sound of Music on a huge screen at the Hollywood Bowl and anytime a song comes on, the words show up on the screen and everyone sings along.  It's basically like a big movie theater where it's perfectly ok to yell at the characters, boo them, warn them, and then break out into song.  An entire arena full of people who have lost their inhibitions.  Aunt Cheryl was the ring leader in getting us all to go and we were glad we joined in the fun!  

Before the movie, though, we decided to make a day of it.  We all met at Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Richard's house in the morning and then went to Travel Town in LA, where we got to see lots of train cars and play on the railroad tracks without any fear of dying!  Not too shabby!  It was fun to be with so much family and it reminded me of the many good time we had as children with our cousins, doing various things.

Then, we all rode on the little train together!

After our train ride, we had a picnic lunch and then headed to the Hollywood Bowl!

It was my first time there and it was a bucket list item!!!

There were so many people there, both crazy and normal ones!  Lots of people were in costume and, before the movie began, they had a costume parade and I gotta say that some people were extremely creative...and maybe slightly disturbed!  ;)  Here are some pictures of our night!!

We had so much fun and can't wait to go again next year!

If You Were a President, You'd Be Baberham Lincoln!

In September we all went to the Reagan Library to see the awesome exhibit it had on Abraham Lincoln.  I've been to this library many times now and I still think it's pretty cool every time we go.  We got to see one of the original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation, one of Lincoln's stovepipe hats, a bunch of cool things from the Civil War and, one of the bloody pillowcases from the night he was assassinated, and in general, lots of awesome historical documents and artifacts.  Of course, the best part is that we do these things together!

Afterwards we went to Denny's, like we usually do.  With the 4 little men, it's always a circus, but at least it's an awesome circus and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

On August 17th, my good friend Val got married in the Las Vegas Temple!  Yay for Val and Brian!  So, the previous day, a couple of friends (Kajsa and Sara) and I drove up to Vegas after work.  We were ready for a 6 hour drive because we knew that going to Vegas on a Friday night usually means hours of gridlock.  Fortunately we were wrong!  We took a little detour at the very beginning of our trip to avoid the first stretch of traffic and then it was smooth sailing the rest of the way up!  It was awesome!  Later we were talking to some friends that told us they drove up Friday morning and ran into awful traffic...probably all of the people trying to avoid the Friday night rush.  Works for us!  ;)

We all stayed in the Golden Nugget, which was nice!  Kajsa and Sara were staying in a room with Val and her friend, Jen, but when we got there, Val was out to dinner with her family.  So, we three girls got to hang out in my room for a little while.  Somehow, I was given a room upgrade and my room ended up being super crazy!  At first, I thought it was way dated (I don't really care about that stuff as long as the bed is comfy) and we all had a good laugh about the faux wood paneling, etc.  Then I realized that it was purposely made to look like that.  This is where we can make the distinction of "vintage" vs. "dated".  Anyhow, it was WAY more than 1 person needs and I thought it was pretty funny.  It had a huge sectional couch, a king-size bed, dual sinks, a huge entertainment center thingy, and even CDs to listen to during your stay.  Also, even with all of the lights turned on, it was still only "mood-lighting" at best.  That made me laugh too.  

Here are some pictures:

And yes, that is a TV in the middle of the bathroom mirror.  Crazy.

Anyhow, with such a big room and with three crazy girls that had been sitting in a car for 3 and a half hours, plus a little spare time, things got a little wild (well, as wild as three good Mormon girls get) and we decided to do what girls do at sleepovers.  This included the compulsory duckface photos, which will not be shared (haha), silly photo shoots (including the cliche mirror shot), and of course, a pillow fight and jumping on the bed!  We had lots of fun!

 When Val got back to the hotel, we all went over and hung out in her room for awhile.  It was lots of fun catching up and talking about how exciting the next day would be.  We even got to help her choose which necklace to wear with her wedding dress.  It was a great night and we were a so happy for Val!

I figured out how to use my camera's timer so we could have one of all of us together.

The next morning came WAY too early.  Val did her pictures before her sealing, so she was up and out the door pretty early.  The rest of us headed to the Temple a little later.  We got there and I waited outside for Melissa (who also got to be there for the sealing).  Once she got there, we went in and all got to be together in the Temple.  It's always such a cool thing to be in such a peaceful place for such a happy occasion, with people that you love!  Just such a wonderful feeling!  The sealing was beautiful and Brian and Val are officially married for eternity!

We waited outside in the Temple waiting room for a while and then ventured out into the 116 degree Vegas heat.  My chapstick melted in my purse and my deoderant melted in my car, but that's ok!  ;)  haha  The happy couple came out, looking radiant, of course!

 After the Temple, we all headed to Roy's Restaurant for a delicious luncheon.  It was fun to catch up with people that we love, but haven't gotten to talk to much, recently.  Here we are in our "Roy's" chef's hats!  Big kids deserve to have fun too!  ;)

Most of all, it was awesome to see Val so happy and in love!  

Overall, it was a great trip!