The Reagan Library

Some of my family and I visited the Reagan Library last Saturday!  I'd been there twice before, but this time we were going to see a special exhibit called "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives".  It had lots of cool Disney memorabilia, including costumes from some of the movies, the filming model of the submarine used in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and of the ship used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, etc.  It was a really awesome exhibit!  We also looked around the actual museum and, of course, toured the former Air Force One that Reagan, and several others before him, flew on.  Afterwards, we went to Denny's for dinner and then drove home.  It was a really fun day!

What Happens in Vegas...

...is, of course, documented on my blog!  The week before Spring Break, I was feeling super down and ultra stressed.   I came to the conclusion that I did not want to spend a week at home doing nothing and stewing about all of things going on, so I randomly started looking up plane tickets.  I haven't been to Washington DC and Virginia in awhile, but plane tickets were about $1,200.  Ummm...yeah right!  I looked up several other places and because I would be leaving in less than a week, ticket prices to pretty much anywhere were astronomical.  So, I decided to look up flights to Vegas and ended up booking!  I promised my sister I would house/dog-sit for her from Monday through Wednesday, so I decided to fly out early Thursday morning and fly home on Saturday night.  When my parents saw what I was planning, they asked if they could join me and, of course, I said yes.  They drove to Vegas Wednesday afternoon and picked me up from the airport the next morning.  We went to the hotel so that I could drop off my stuff and change into presentable clothes (I fly in the comfiest/most ghetto clothes ever...don't judge me!  haha) and then we went to the Luxor to get tickets for the Titanic exhibit and decided to get lunch at the buffet there.  Then, we went to Hoover Dam, which was awesome!  I had never been there before and it was definitely a bucket list item.

That evening, my mom and I took a walk down the Strip, specifically to see the fountains at the Bellagio and the Volcano at the Mirage.  Since our hotel, The Excalibur, and the Bellagio and Mirage are at opposite ends of the Strip, we took quite a walk, but it was fun to spend time together and see Vegas.  Here are some pics from our evening:

In front of the hotel we stayed in!

Just a shot of me and my mama!

I finally got to see the fountains in front of The Bellagio!

 In front of The Mirage before the volcano show!

 The Volcano was awesome!  Now I can check it off my bucket list!

At the end of the night, we took a taxi back to the hotel and got some much needed rest!

The next day, we went back to The Luxor to see the Titanic exhibit.  I saw it last year when Nancy and I went to Vegas for my birthday on a sister trip, but it was so good, I definitely didn't mind seeing it again and I was really excited for my parents to see it.

Afterwards, Mom and I went to the Vegas Temple to do a session.  Dad's back was killing him, so he didn't end up going with us, which was a major bummer, but we still had a really nice evening.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel, went to Denny's for breakfast, and then headed back down the Strip to go to the M&Ms store and the Coca-Cola store.

Our favorite part of the Coke store was that you could get a soda float with any type of Coke brand soda and they had red cream!  Soooo delish!  My parents shared a float and I got my own!

After we were done with the Vegas scene, we drove back to the temple so that we could get pictures of it in the daylight; then, we went to grab some dinner at Long John Silver's, where my I forced my parents to wear magical pirate hats!  Don't let their faces fool you, they were so excited to wear those things and couldn't wait to put them on!  ;)

After that, my parents dropped me off at the airport and they headed home.  As it turned out, we boarded the plane and then sat on the runway for an hour an forty minutes.  It was awesome!  haha NOT!  My parents actually beat me home eventhough they were driving and I was flying.  Oh well!  I had a great weekend and really can't complain about the little airline snafu at the very last minute.  I'm really glad that a  Spring Break that was going to be super lame turned out to be such a great adventure!

Lakes, Cherry Blossoms, and Gigantic Birds. Oh My!

I was watching the news the other night and, as a backdrop behind the weather report, they showed a picture of a lake with a bunch of beautiful cherry blossom trees around it.  Then, the weatherman said that it was a shot of the lake in Van Nuys and that all of the cherry blossom trees had been donated awhile back and that they were in bloom.  

The next day, I was feeling bored, so I decided to google "Van Nuys", "cherry blossoms", "lake" and it popped right up!  It's called Lake Balboa and it is gorgeous.  I decided to go there, so I threw the address in  my GPS and off I went!  Seriously, I think that the GPS was sent straight from Heaven.  If you know me, you know I get lost, pretty much, everywhere I go.  It's the rule, not the exception.  BUT now, I can go wherever I want with pretty solid confidence that I won't get lost forever and be found in fetal position in a ditch in the middle of nowhere.  Yes.  Anyhow, I headed out to Van Nuys and drove on a whole bunch of fancy freeways and made it there safely!  It really wasn't actually that hard to find; it's just that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I find a new location without getting lost :).  

I made it!!!

I had never heard of it, but apparently EVERYONE else had.  There were SO many people there, but the park is so large that it didn't feel crowded at all.  If you have children, this is the place to be.  There's a huge (and pretty deluxe) play area just a safe distance away from the lake.  There are walking/bike paths and, just as was shown on the news, there were beautiful cherry blossoms in bloom all around the lake!

As you can see, there are lots of birds there, and big scary swans...

Seriously.  That man was insane for standing so close to it.  May I also add that this photo was taken right before that big ol' bird started to bite him. Repeatedly...On. The. Shoulder.  Ummm Hmmm...that's what he gets for invading it's space.  When I see a large bird, I give it all the space in the world.  Nuff said!  :)

I walked around the lake and just took in the beauty of it.  The lake was man-made, but was still pretty and peaceful.  As usual, on my solo outings, I relied on the kindness of strangers to snap some pics so I could be in a few.  I always feel so grateful that people are willing to indulge me in my obsession with relentless picture-taking.  :)

It made for a nice little outing and a fun, spontaneous Spring Break diversion!

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

On March 2nd, I had the opportunity to see "The Sound of Music" at the Candlelight Pavilion in Claremont.  If you've ever been, you know that they put on amazing shows and, since it's dinner theater, have quite delicious food!  Scott celebrated his birthday on February 28th and so this was basically part of the birthday fun!  We had a great time and the show was phenomenal!  It was also cool that we got to sit in one of the boxes on the terrace; we got the Emerald Room because we both agree that being Irish is super awesome!  :)  Anyhow, it was just a really fun night and I always enjoy being in the company of someone that makes me laugh, and with whom I can be my goofy self with!  Here are a couple of pictures from our evening:

Julian!

For Lincoln's Birthday weekend (another random holiday we get off), my parents went to San Diego for the long weekend.  It was awesome because I got some much-needed time to myself and because they got some time away too.  As mentioned in earlier posts, I have been doing alot of things from my bucket list lately and my parents have kind of gotten into it too.  It's become a bit like their own bucket list and my dad, in particular, takes every chance he can get to help me check something else off of the list.  So, when he noticed that Julian, a little, old mining town near San Diego, was on the list, he decided to add that into their weekend, on Saturday, and invite me to drive down to join them for the day.  So, I went for it.  It turned out to be much more of an adventure than we had planned.  First, I had never been there before and had no idea where I was going.  Since I get lost pretty much everywhere I go, I decided to just do whatever my GPS told me to do.  Fool proof, right???  WRONG!!! My GPS told me to get off the freeway in Temecula and take highways the rest of the way.  Well, all of a sudden, I was not on a regular highway; I found myself on winding mountain roads with sharp turns and narrow passages on the edge of cliffs, without any type of railing.  I was supposed to be on this road for about an hour and a half and after awhile, I just thought...oh well, I'm just taking the scenic route and it's just part of the adventure.  Then, there was snow.  Yes.  Snow.  I had never driven in snow before and all of a sudden, it was everywhere.  Ummm...I didn't plan for snow, but I figured that I would come out of the mountains and the snow would be gone and it would be a bright, sunshine-y day.  My mistake was in thinking that Julian was going to be, roughly, the same climate as San Diego.  As I drove onward, the snow got thicker and thicker.  I was a little bit nervous about driving in it, but was in awe of how beautiful it was.  The white blankets of undisturbed snow were absolutely gorgeous.  

As I pulled into Julian to meet up with my parents, there was still snow everywhere and there were huge banks of snow down the middle of the street and on the sides of the road.  I called my mom and she told me where to meet them and, fortunately, they keep a bag of scarves, gloves, etc. in the back of their car, so I was able to use some of those.  I had a beanie and a jacket with me, but was happy to have a toasty neck  and hands.

The first thing we did was to walk down the main road and find the little bakery we had planned on for lunch.  We had to wait about 30 minutes, so we used the time to walk around a little and see what was there.  I found a little shop that sold accessories, like hats, scarves, sunglasses, etc. and bought a new hat there.  I was really surprised at how affordable things were there.  Usually, tourist attractions/towns jack up the prices of everything, so Julian was like a breath of fresh air.  After browsing for a bit, we went back to the restaurant for lunch.  We each ordered a caramel apple cider and were expecting a little Denny's size mug, but instead, they brought us these:

...and they were delish!

We also got some water to drink and they brought it in glass mugs shaped like cowboy boots!  SO cute!

I bought one from the restaurant as a souvenir for the day.

After lunch (which was so yummy), we walked around a little more and then called it a day, as far as Julian was concerned.  There are more things to do there, like a mine train, and some other tours, but we decided to save those for a day when we wouldn't have to walk around on ice and snow.  Here are a couple more pictures from our Julian adventure:

The place behind us is where we ate lunch.

The Town Hall has a little scavenger hunt you can do, but they were closed because of the snow, so maybe next time we'll do that.

My mom and I by this crazy-cool sign and a bunch of snow.

After leaving Julian, we went to the visitor's center for the Battle of Pascual, which I had never been to.  We also stopped at the San Diego Archaeological Center, but we missed it by a couple of hours.  I guess this just means we'll have to tackle it on ANOTHER adventure.  Shucks!  ;)

Here are some pics at the visitor's center:

We had a really great day together!

Because I had the day off...

One of the great things about being a teacher is that you get some of the smaller holidays off.  Mid-January, we had the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. day and I went on a little adventure.  Lately, I've been trying to work off of my bucket list for all of my grand (and not so grand) adventures.  Last time I went to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, I had to go for school, it was raining, and I couldn't just look around for my enjoyment; I had a checklist of stuff I had to see and do.  So, I'd been wanting to go back and do it at my own pace.  I mentioned that I was considering going to my mom and she mentioned it to my dad and all of a sudden, it was decided that we were all going to go!  I was excited to have the company, so it all worked out.  We took our time and saw some cool stuff, as well as some ridiculous stuff and had a great time.  We got to see the Burghers of Calais, which I love because of the awesome story behind it.  It was also pretty cool because we had also gotten to see it at the Met, in New York City, this past summer.

We also saw this piece of "art".  I know that the arts are somewhat subjective, but really???

I do, however, like that it's orange.

Heres's The Thinker:

Us in front of the museum:

Just a couple of days before we went on this adventure, my parents had been watching one of those "California's Gold" types of shows with Huell Howser and he went to this place, called Galco's, that sells all kinds of old drinks that you can't find anywhere anymore, and they're all sold in the glass bottles.  My mom looked it up and discovered that it was only a few minutes from the museum, so we went there too.  It was pretty cool!  My parents, especially my dad, were able to take a walk down memory lane and reacquaint themselves with sodas they hadn't had since they were kids.  As for me, I got to hear their old memories and become acquainted with some new flavors.  It was fun!  Plus, the guy (the owner), who was giving the tour on the TV show was actually there and he showed us around a bit.

After we left Galco's, we went to dinner at one of our very favorite restaurants, North Woods Inn, in Covina.  Yum!

Afterwards, we headed home, but decided to make one last stop, at Richie's Diner, by Victoria Gardens because I had never been there and my dad wanted to show me that they also sell some of the old time-y sodas in the glass bottles.  They don't have nearly the selection that we found at Galco's, but still had a few gems.  All in all, it was a very fun day!

Flashback: 2012

It's that time of year again!  Where does the time go???  Here's a (relatively) quick recount of how I spent 2012.

January

January was a slow month for me.  My parents, my sister and I went to Florida the week before Christmas and my allergies went crazy!  So, I ended up losing my voice until about halfway through February.  I was still teaching my 6th graders at Alder Middle School, which I loved!  I'm so grateful that my students were so patient and merciful while I was trying to get my voice back.  However voiceless I may have been, I did manage to survive an AVID field trip to UCLA.  I had never been to that campus before and I actually really enjoyed being there with the kids, who thought that having a Taco Bell and an arcade on campus was the epitome of cool!  That day, 120 future Bruins were born.  

Also in January, my friend, Jake, whom I've been friends with for about 8 years, moved to Hawaii!  It was sad, but so good for him to pursue different and exciting opportunities!  Of course, we couldn't let him go without a party!  Here I am with my buddy:

Anyhow, nothing too spectacular in January...mainly just stayed quiet (literally-the doctor put me on complete vocal rest for a minimum of 3 days---ugh!) so that I could get my voice back!

February

In February, I was still recovering and trying to get my voice back.  I spent lots of time at home, did things with my family, went fishing, planned the Ward Valentine's Day activity (Cupcake Wars), and got to go to an awesome cousin night with all of my cousins that live in the area.  

Here are some of my favorite people at our Cupcake Wars activity:

 The 3 of us planned the activity together:

Here's a shot from our cousin night!

I love my family!

March 

On March 2nd, I finished up with my class of 6th graders and would be moving onto 8th grade the following Monday.  It was sad for me to say goodbye to them, but I also felt a great sense of accomplishment.  I consider myself very blessed to have gotten to work with these kids!

This is my 1st and 2nd period class

This is my 3rd and 4th period class

This is my 6th period class

These kids were awesome and I loved being their teacher for the 6 months that I was there!

That week, Scott celebrated his birthday, so on Saturday, we went on an adventure to the Queen Mary.  I purposely made it a day of things he had never done before, so it would be a very different and fun day.  Here we are on the ship:

After the Queen Mary, we went to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles for dinner, where we had the most bizarre  waitress!  She cracked us up and we had a great time!

The following Monday, I started teaching my 8th graders.  They hadn't had a teacher all year and no sub had stayed with them for more than a couple of weeks, so I had a big job ahead of me and holy moly did they give me a run for my money!  There were moments when I thought I would never make it out alive, but thanks to lots of encouragement from family and close friends, I made it through!  It took about a month, but I was able to tame them and have them under control.  

Mid-March, Val moved to Alaska (yes!  Alaska!)  for several months for a new job opportunity.  I was sad to see her go, but happy for her to have a new adventure.  Here's Sara, Val, and me at the going away party:

Then came St. Patrick's Day, which is my 2nd favorite holiday (right after Christmas)!  We had our traditional corned beef, cabbage, and russet potatoes.  Yum!  This year, Uncle Dennis stayed with us for about a week, so he got to be there too.  It was nice to visit with him!

And, of course, Nancy's birthday party!  I threw her a Fancy Nancy party, so everyone had to get "fancy" for some pictures!

 Here's the cake I made for her!  Thanks Pinterest!  :)

Easter was in early April this year, so the last weekend in March, I got to take my nephews out Easter Egging!  We watched the Peanuts Easter movie and the boys colored Easter egg coloring pages.  We took them, along with a bag of candy to Scott's house and to Nancy's house.  The boys had never done it before, so they were super excited!  I love my nephews and I love taking them to do fun things!

Joey coloring

Cy, Aaron, and Jonathan watching the movie and coloring

"Egging" Scott's house

"Egging" Nancy's house

March was a busy month, but it was also lots of fun!

April 

Easter was at the very beginning of April and it was interesting because we had the missionaries over for dinner and my friend, Sara, also came because her parents were out of town and she was going to spend it alone.  Hopefully we were better company!  ;)  The boys dyed Easter eggs and we did science time experiments with Peeps and food coloring, milk, and dish soap.

 Science Time!!!

April is also when the kids at work take the big state test. They make you take down ALL of your posters, pictures...everything!  My classroom was already huge and pretty warehouse-like, so taking down the few decorations there were made it almost unbearable.  So, I decided to make huge, brightly colored banners that I could leave up during the test.  Sara and I got together to make those.  We ordered pizza and had a great time!

I also got to have a little San Diego day-trip!  It started with a temple session and then a mellow walk around Old Town, which included a delicious root beer float, and then a trip to Phil's BBQ for dinner.

May 

May was a crazy month!  It started out with me throwing a birthday party for Sara.  I'm not spectacular at party throwing and pretty much everything went wrong.  Fortunately, Scott saved the day and we got everything whipped into shape before people started showing up.  Most importantly, Sara had a great time, so mission accomplished!

Then, Melissa graduated from Barstow Community College with an AS in Math and Science!  Go Wiss!!!

And, of course, we had to have a party!

On a little more sober note, Ruth Ann, my step-grandma, of 20 years, passed away.  She was 89 and had lived a good life, so it wasn't a tragedy, but we definitely miss her and were sad to see her go.  Fortunately, we know that we'll see her again.  We had her funeral on May 25th, which was the last day of school, which meant that I didn't get to do the last day of school with my 8th graders, but they understood.  It was so crazy that I was actually sad to say goodbye to them.  When I first started in that class, I didn't know if I would make it out alive, but was soon able to bond with them and grew to really like them.  

Here are some pics of them:

1st Period Newspaper Class

3rd and 4th Period--Language Arts and Social Studies

5th and 6th Period Language Arts and Social Studies

I miss these kids!

Anyhow, after Ruth Ann's funeral, I met up with Scott and we went out to lunch at BJ's to celebrate that he had finished his term at school and that I had finished the school year.  Afterwards, we shot some hoops in his backyard and hung out for a little while until it was time for me to head home get ready for my flight to Boston.  Here we are in his backyard.  His mom was awesome enough to snap some pics for us.

That evening, my parents and I flew to Boston (with a layover in Phoenix), where we met up with my sister, whose flight got in a couple of hours after ours.  We had the most amazing and packed 12 day vacation ever!  I've already blogged about this trip in, possibly, the longest post ever, so I will try to keep this section reasonably short.  Here are just a few highlights:

Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal

The Sacred Grove

Niagara Falls!!!

Times Square

Serendipity in NYC

Enjoying one of Junior's famous Brooklyn Eggcreams

My mom and I got to play the big piano from the movie "Big" in FAO Schwartz

The Federal Building in NYC, where George Washington took the Oath of Office

The Cheers bar in Boston

I finally got to have a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity in NYC!

June 

June started out with us on the road.  We didn't get back from our vacation until June 6th, and though we had tons of fun, we were SO ready to be home!  I took it pretty easy for awhile when we got back and took advantage of the lazy days of summer.  

I "kidnapped" my cousin's kids and took them on an impromptu photo scavenger hunt!

 I played at Ikea with Nancy, David, Wiss, and the boys!

 Went to family parties!

 And went swimming with my nephews!

I also went on adventure with Carlos, Sara, and Gus to the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.  I love this place; it's amazing every single time!

July 

July was busy with a bunch of little things going on.

We celebrated Independence Day as a family...

...went to the Safari Park in San Diego...

 ...partied it up in Old Town,

 ...and hung with the fishies at Sea World!

I got to go to the circus, which I LOVE!!!

And got to hang with Scott, Cy, and Jonathan at John's Incredible Pizza!  The boys love their new buddy!

In addition to this stuff, I also got to celebrate birthdays with Josh, Dylan, Danny, and Joey, and see "The Wizard of Oz" (featuring Scott) at the Lewis Family Playhouse...twice!  If you ever get a chance to see a show there, you should do it.  They do a fantastic job!

At the end of the month, Daniel and Tyisa were having Baby Danny's 1st birthday party in Utah, where they live.  I had planned on going up with my parents to join the party, but some stuff came up and I couldn't go a week ahead of time (when they were going), so I stayed home alone.  I love spending some time alone, so I was okay with that, but I was bummed that I was missing a chance to see my brother and see his little man turn one.  On Friday, I was feeling kinda bummed, bored, and lonely, and made a spur of the moment decision to go to Utah that night to get there for the party on Saturday afternoon.  Then, I decided that it would be even more fun to take my 3 oldest nephews with me.  So, I called my brother and his wife, got permission, and about 2 hours later, we were on the road.  We kept it a secret from Diane, Daniel, and Tyisa and definitely surprised them!  It was a great day!

All buckled up and ready to get on the road!

 In our hotel room, just about to get back on the road!

 At Brick Oven Pizza in Provo to celebrate Diane's birthday!

 At Baby Danny's 1st birthday party!

He really loved his cake!   ;)

July was busy and full of adventure!

August 

In August, I got a job!!!  3 years ago, I got my first full-time teaching job and I LOVED it, but was laid off at the end of the year due to budget cuts.  It sucked.  After 3 years of subbing and getting a bunch of experience that I never wanted, but am grateful that I now have, I was hired to teach 5th grade!  Here's how my classroom looked the day before school started.  The school year officially started on August 6th.

The weekend after the first week back at work, there was a statewide YSA Conference, which I went to.  It was way better than the last one, I'm grateful to say.  That same Saturday night, there was a meteor shower, which my family rarely misses.  So, Nancy, Josh, Dylan, and I went up the hill to meet up with David, Melissa, and the boys.  We ended up going out toward the airport in a really dark area so that we could see tons of shooting stars, which we did!  It was a really great show!  When I got to David's house, there was a little frog in their front yard (they live across the street from a lake).  So, I mentioned it to them and David and Melissa went out and caught it!  Needless to say, a fantastic science time followed.  We did not harm the frog at all, just looked at it and caught it as it escaped and hopped around the kitchen.  Fantastic!  : ) We set it free before going to see the meteor shower.

Here's the cute little froggy chillin' on Melissa's hand.

The next weekend, I got to do something that I had never done before.  Scott and I got together and tried to learn how to make balloon animals.  I totally sucked at it, but had a good time anyways, and Scott actually turned out to be pretty adept at making balloon hats!  So, he made a bunch of them to play with!

Yes, I know.  We make those hats look good!  ; )

The last weekend in August, I decided that I absolutely had to get away, so I went to San Diego...it always makes me happy!  Instead of doing the usual Old Town, Sea World, Zoo/Safari Park trip, I decided to just roll with it.  I wanted to do a session in the San Diego Temple, so I started there, and then I just Googled a bunch of addresses to various places and figured I would decide which one of them to do once I got there.  Instead, I did ALL of them!  I went from the Temple, to Seaport Village, to the beach on Coronado Island, to Phil's BBQ.  It was such a nice, relaxing day and I'm SO grateful I took some time to just do stuff I wanted to do.

The beautiful San Diego Temple!

 Seaport Village!

 Coronado Island!

The Del!

Sunset over Coronado Beach!

Such a wonderful day...and month!

September 

Well...you better pull up a chair and get comfy because September was the longest month. Ever.  It's not that it was super busy or extraordinary full of wonderful things (or bad things, for that matter), it was just looong. Here are some of the things that made it good:  

Labor Day marked the first day off of school for the year.  My parents and I went to San Diego on Friday night and stopped for dinner at this random pizza place, which was near Oceanside.  We got some super greasy pizza and listened to an extraordinarily loud garage band with crazy, drunk, old people.  Nice.  Well, it got better from there...thank goodness!  We got to San Diego and checked into our room and ate some Oreos.  I, then, proceeded to make a cape out of the bedspread and ran around like a crazy person for awhile (this is why people keep me around!), and then my mom and I went to the airport to pick up my sister, who was flying in from Salt Lake City for the long weekend.  

Me and my cape!  ; )

The following day, we woke up fairly early and went to Sea World, which I LOVE!!!  We had a fun day and walked around at our leisure.  I will also add that, this day, I got my first sunburn in like 10 years, and it was hardcore!  I still have a major farmer tan on my arms, thanks to that burn!  lol

Also, I got to check something off of my bucket list!  I have always wanted to get a real pearl straight from the oyster, so I snuck away from my family and did just that!

Here I am picking out my oyster!

And there's the pearl!

 It was WAY cool and I got a really pretty flower necklace setting and chain for it too!!!

After several hours at Sea World, we headed to Aunt Cheryl's house.  Uncle Dennis, Aunt Carolyn, and Bradley and Ashlee were in town, so we got together for dinner and to sing some songs (as per our family tradition).  My family sits around and sings songs together with a guitar...or two...or three.  Sometimes there's even a banjo!  We sing songs together.  We mainly sing folk songs, but the repertoire has grown and diversified over the years.  We all just make up our own parts and it's just alot of fun for us.  Honestly, it's one of my favorite traditions!  

 Here we are!  Doing our thing!

Dylan was super fascinated by the guitar and Uncle Dennis decided to let him give it a try.  Uncle Dennis played the notes while Dylan strummed, so it was like he was really playing a song.  It was precious and Dyl was so proud!  :)

After the singing, some people went home and others stayed behind.  We were sitting in the family room hanging out and then things went downhill!  lol  We sparked in the dark, which is awesome, and then decided to make ugly faces for pictures.  Soon, it turned into a contest to see who could make the ugliest face!  The pictures are amazing!!!  haha  However, to protect the innocent, I will not post them here! ;)

On September 16th, Kristi and Alex blessed their baby girl, Kayla, and so we all got together.  Daniel, Tyisa, and Danny were in town because Tyisa's brother had gotten married the previous day, so Daniel and Danny came to the gathering after the blessing and it was fun to see them.  

And here are all of my nephews together!  It's a rare shot, but a good one!

I love these little guys!

At the very end of the month, I celebrated my 28th birthday!  Since my birthday was on Friday, I played hooky from work and went to Solvang.  I left right after work on Thursday and enjoyed the drive with my windows down and my music up, breathing in the refreshing beach air!  I lazed around my hotel room for the evening and in the morning, I went to Quicksilver Ranch, The Santa Inez Mission, Solvang, a pumpkin patch, and an apple orchard.  Afterwards, I went to dinner at Andersen's Split Pea Soup.  It was a good day!  Here are some shots of the day:

It was a good birthday!

The next day, I started home, but stopped in Santa Barbara to go to the Santa Barbara Mission, the Natural History Museum, and a restaurant called Jane.  It was a nice leisurely day!  After I got home, I spent some time with my parents and then went over to Scott's.  It was a great birthday weekend!

October 

On October 1st, my family got together to celebrate my birthday.  We went to Northwoods Inn in Covina and had dinner together.  It was nice to have the family together; it's all I really wanted for my birthday, and I got it!  

On Columbus Day, I did something life-changing:  I bought a new bed!  I know, I know.  Why am I including this in my blog?  Well, it was kind of a big deal!  As it is, I have difficulty sleeping and the fact that I was sleeping in the same bed I'd had since like 7th grade was not making those hours of tossing and turning any more comfortable.  So, I got a new one AND I upgraded to a queen!  So, eventhough I might be super lame for counting this as a highlight, I'm going to do it anyways!  ;)  Oh!  and also, getting a bed in a larger size meant that I HAD to get new bedding.  Make that life-changing times 2!

Later in the month, I was hanging out with my nephews and Nancy and Jacob invited us to go to a huge pumpkin patch, in Yucaipa, with them.  So, we went and played for awhile and had a good time.  

After the pumpkin patch, we went to see the Redlands Temple...

...and then to McDonald's for ice cream cones!

We had a good day together!

Finally, Halloween came and went.  I didn't do anything for Halloween this year, but I did dress up for work.  We made Halloween a theme day where everyone could dress up as a book character.  Since I've been secretly dying to make a tutu, I used this as an excuse and made one for my Fancy Nancy costume!

Here I am. At work. In a tutu.  What makes it even better is the fact that Halloween fell during the week of parent conferences, so I actually conducted about 6 conferences in this outfit!  AND I had bus curb duty, where I had to stand in front of the school to monitor and guide traffic.  In a tutu.  Awesome?  I think YES!  :)

November 

At the beginning of November, we had a day off of work for Veteran's Day.  It was perfect timing because I was desperate for a little adventure, so I kidnapped Sara and we drove to Beverly Hills to get cupcakes.  Yep!  All the way to Beverly Hills JUST for cupcakes!  We went to a little shoppe called Sprinkles and got a couple to try and then some to share with the folks back at home.  We asked strangers to help us capture the essence of the day:

Yum!

 Then, we went to the LA Temple Visitors Center and then took pictures in front of the Temple.

We had a good time and it was worth the drive!  Everyone needs an adventure every now and then!  As we drove home in LA traffic, we turned up the music and sang and danced like crazy people, which captured the attention of several other drivers!  haha  Good times!

At the end of November, our Sea World passes were going to expire, so we went for one last hurrah.  We had a fun day.  I love Sea World and I can't wait to renew my pass so I can go again.

They have super cool stuff at Christmas time!

I love petting the sting rays!

I got to see some of the Harlem Globetrotters!  I have ALWAYS wanted to see them perform and now I have.  There were only 3 of them there and they just did a short performance, but it was awesome!

My dad revealed his acute fear of turtles and surfboards!  haha

And lastly, we got to see Polar Express 4D that they always put on at Christmas time and got to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Mission Bay while waiting to see the show.  I love this place!

It's become a tradition for my family to go to Bass Pro Shop to see their Christmas stuff and take pictures with Santa.  As always, it was awesome!

Jonathan wasn't sure why we were putting him under such torture and handing him off to a stranger!  lol

I just love their winter wonderland!

The boys love the rocks, the water and the animals!

This was after we got home, but I love this picture, so I'm including it anyways!

Thanksgiving came and went and it was a good day, but what happened the day AFTER Thanksgiving is really what's newsworthy.  On November 17th, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!  So, the day after Thanksgiving, we had a big party for them.  All of us kids worked together and put on a dinner for them and invited a bunch of family.  It was a success and we were SO happy when we pulled it off.  Everyone had a good time and, most importantly, we were all together!

Here's everyone that came.  This picture is a miracle!  haha  I set my camera on a wall/ledge thingy, set the timer, and ran!  It took like 47 tries.  No. Really.  ;)

All of us kids!

Our little family!  <3 nbsp="nbsp" p="p">

The more I think about it, there is absolutely nothing in the world that matters to me more than my family.  I'm so grateful for them.  We're not perfect, but we love each other...faults and all!

Lastly, we finished off November with a visit to Upland Stake's annual Creche Festival.  They've been doing this for 20+ years, but none of us had ever been, so my parents and I went to check it out.  Here are some of the adorable Peanuts nativities!

It's not necessarily something I'd do every year, but it was fun to see.

December

December is the month of birthdays and family events.  My mom turned 61 on December 2nd and we celebrated on the 1st with a family party.  As usual, it was crazy with a bunch of little boys running around; my nephews love to wrestle and there was some WWE action going on.  They also had a dance party where my 2 year old nephew started busting his break dancing moves.  Where does he get this stuff?!?!  lol  Seriously, though, all of my nephews have some serious moves.  Love them!

On December 7th, I got to go to the wedding of two people that are very important to me.  One of them has been one of my best friends for years and the other is like a little brother to me and, pretty much, has been since he was born.  Here are Laura and Edward coming out of the Redlands Temple after getting married.

Such a wonderful couple!!!

It was a really great and happy day for all involved!

The following night, December 8th, I went to see the Living Nativity performance in Rancho Cucamonga.  Scott was playing a wise man in it and had been growing a beard for the past 2 months for this.  The whole set-up was awesome!  Amazing sets, small petting zoo, cookies and cocoa, and, of course, the most important part: the commemoration of our Savior's birth.  Daniel, Tyisa, and Danny were in town for Edward and Laura's wedding and so they came along, as well as my parents, and my cousin's 2 oldest kids (I was babysitting them that night).  After the performance, people could go and interact with the actors, and, of course, I took the kiddos up to talk to my favorite wise man!

Scott and me after his performance

Then, I took Hailey and Matthew to see the animals and get cookies; the cookies were probably their favorite part of the night!  lol

Next, we went to my house, where both kids decided that we needed more cookies and cocoa so that we could properly enjoy rapid-fire viewings of Frosty the Snowman.  It was fun to hang out with them since I don't typically see them.

Another awesome thing about the night is that I got to hang out with my baby brother, his wife, and Baby Danny.

Love them!!

On the 12th, my dad turned 64 years old!  As per family tradition, we got our tree and decorated it and then had birthday pie.  It was a super rainy night, so we were very fortunate to have gotten our tree in the small window of dryness.  

December 14th was our last day of school before Christmas Break and it was a wonderful day!  Teaching can be super exhausting and this break always seems to come just in the nick of time.  I took it very easy the first week, knowing that the following week would be very hectic.  However, I did go on a small adventure, with some friends, down to Newport Beach to see the boat parade.  Basically, a bunch of people decorate their boats with Christmas lights and then drive them around the shore, where people sit on blankets, etc. and watch as they parade by.  It was fun!  I loved being with people that I hadn't been able to see in a while.

Me, Val, Sara, and Iris

One of the boats all decorated and lit up!

A couple of days later, life got crazy because everyone and their mamma came to town!  Uncle Mike, Daniel, Tyisa, and Baby Danny, and Diane all got in on Friday.  On Saturday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm and spent, pretty much, the entire day there.  It was a lot of fun, but way exhausting! That evening, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Carloyn, and Bradley and Ashlee came to town from Northern California and Idaho.   By the time we were done at Knott's, it was too late to see them, but not to worry: Wheeler-palooza-Part 1 was just around the corner.  Before I go onto that, here are some Knott's pics.

The next day was crazy!!!  I was freaking out because I had to sing in church.  Being part of the choir isn't a big deal for me, but I was also singing in a trio, which was terrifying.  Fortunately, I have wonderful people in my life that gave me the support and encouragement I needed to get me through.  The song went fine.  Thank  Heavens!!!  I went straight from church to our big family gathering and dinner at Aunt Cheryl's house.  We ate dinner and then sat around in a big circle and sang Christmas songs with the ol' guitar!  I love this tradition.  Judge me, if you will.  ;)

After we'd all chosen a song to sing, we had our Christmas pageant.  We used to do this when I was little and we haven't done it in years.  BUT now that the next generation is getting old enough, we decided to bust out the costumes, many of which were the exact same costumes we wore as kids.  I had a moment when the gold and silver sandals came out.  I miss my grandma so much (she died when I was 7) and those things were SO her.

They don't look like much, but when you're a little kid and someone busts out these sparkly babies (that now, somehow, just don't seem that sparkly), you can't help but to fall in love.  ;)  haha

I was already in the Christmas Spirit, but I'm pretty sure that my heart grew three sizes anyways! <3 p="p">

The next day was Christmas Eve, which is the day my family has it's big celebration!

This year, we took it easy and ordered pizza for dinner, then we put together goody plates and went Christmas Caroling, which we have done every year since I can remember.  I love our traditions!  Then, we went home and opened presents and enjoyed each other's company.  I beat everyone into submission and got some pretty sweet pics too!  ;)

The boys!

The girls!

We would've gotten one of all of the baby boys too, but they were busy beating each other up!  haha Just kidding...kinda ;)

The next couple of days were pretty mellow, with not much going on.  I went to see Les Miserables and then met up with Valerie, Josef, Kajsa, Carlos, and Carlos' girlfriend at Applebee's.  It was nice just to have some low-key fun.  On the 28th, Scott and I planned to do something together.  We hadn't been able to do  much during his school term and were taking advantage of the carefreeness (is that a word???  Spellchecker says no, but I say it is today!) of winter break.  We ended up at the San Diego Safari Park and had a great time.  Here are some pics of the magic:

And then, of course, we went someplace fabulous for dinner since we were both starving!

This guy is seriously the BEST!

So, 2012 was incredibly busy, challenging, nerve-wracking, emotional, happy, growth-inspiring, and magnificent.  It had its ups and downs, its surprises and heartbreaks, but I made it through!  I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who blessed me with incredible opportunities, as well as opposition, and provided me with wonderful people who helped me get through even the darkest moments.  

Here's to a fantastic 2013!