California 2013

I just returned from a PERFECT weekend in California with my Mom, niece and her friend Ashley.

We left Friday afternoon and were surprised when we didn't run into any traffic (that should have been our first clue this was going to be an awesome weekend). We arrived, checked-in, unpacked and went to Wendy's. I am now addicted to the frosty waffle cones.

Saturday we started the day off at Topanga Beach.

This is a great place to take pictures and no one is ever there.

Mom wasn't paying attention and got hit by a big wave.

We attempted the cute "in the air" shot but Ashley and I had a hard time actually getting into the air since the sand made it hard to jump. Fail.

We spent most of the trip laughing. Sometimes laughing so hard we were crying

 (Good try Mom. You almost nailed it!)

After taking pictures we headed to Venice Beach.

The girls had never been there so we introduced them to the craziest beach in town!

It was there the guy in the pipe shop asked my Mom if she wanted a hit. He told her she had to be high on Venice. I'm thinking we might have been the only ones who weren't!

After shopping,

 (Just in case you wanted to see how the swimsuit looks on you if you have huge implants!)

people watching and eating yummy fruit,

we made our way back to the car. But not before catching the end of the sumo wrestling! What a sight.

We never actually got in the water, it was too cold. I'm pretty sure the water in California is always cold. And it was cool outside too so we would have froze. Reason #2 it was a perfect weekend, temperatures in the 70's!! It was actually cold at times and we all had to wear our jackets.

After we left the beach we went to the scariest Taco Bell I've ever been to. The counter where you order was closed off with bullet proof glass. They opened a little door to slide your food out to you. We decided not to eat inside after all. Scary.

Next we went to Downtown Disney to walk around. Bad idea. I knew I wouldn't be able to get that close to Disneyland and not go! We stopped a couple people to ask how crazy the lines were because I didn't want to spend $87 a ticket and only ride 5 rides. Surprisingly they said it wasn't too crazy and the longest line they waited in was 30 minutes. We found out they would be open 8-11pm Sunday so we decided we'd go. After all we were already there, might as well go. That night we went in the jacuzzi and tried to get to bed early so we could survive a full day at Disneyland.

Sunday we got to Disneyland around 9:30.

We went straight to the Nemo ride because neither one of the girls have been on that ride and that line is usually the longest. From there we went on the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, ate pasta/salad, went on Star Tours, Astro Blasters and Autopia. Then we took the Disneyland Railroad to Main street so Danielle could get a "Just Graduated" pin from City Hall and a graduation cap with Mickey ears that had her name engraved on the side. They had such cool graduation stuff.

It was there we saw Goofy and Pluto, the only characters we got our picture with!

After that we took the train to Toon Town. We didn't ride either ride in Toon Town because the Roger Rabbit line was long so we went straight to Fantasyland and rode Its a Small World, Pinocchio, Snow White, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan and the Mad Tea Party (tea cups). Then we walked through the castle to check out the new Fantasy Faire which my girls are going to love!

Next up we got fast passes for Indiana Jones, went on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean (or Carrots of the Pirabbean if you're delirious), ate clam chowder bread bowls, went to the Tiki Room, got our dole whips, went to the Haunted Mansion and then on the Pooh ride. As we were walking back to ride Indiana Jones the fireworks started so we got to watch those too. Disneyland has the best fireworks ever! At the last minute I decided not to go on Indiana Jones because I didn't want to hurt my back anymore than it is. As soon as the other 3 got off they said it was a good idea I didn't go. Guess it's worse than I remember.

We ended the night going on the monorail and shopping. We left around 12am. We were there 15 hours, rode 20 rides and made memories to last a lifetime! The longest line we waited in was 30 minutes, so hard to believe it was a holiday weekend and the beginning of summer.

Monday we went to Hollywood to eat at Hard Rock and walk around Hollywood Blvd.

We walked by Jimmel Kimmel Live and had to take a picture knowing that is where the famous "Channing all over your Tatum" took place (one of our many laughs from the trip).

We went in this new Sweets store which was awesome. They had every kind of candy you could imagine, the place was huge.

Then it was time to head home. Sadly, all good things must come to an end. We really had a perfect time. No traffic, beautiful weather and short lines at Disneyland. I think everyone left California for the weekend!

We made so many memories, laughed until we cried and kept a notebook of all the funny things that were said. The laugh of the trip was Mom petting her mustache.

Of course there was the "Channing all over your Tatum" song that got stuck in our head and our somewhat inappropriate theme song that we listened to no less than 20 times. That was Dustin's fault, he snuck it on the USB plug with all the other country music. All in all it was a wonderful trip!

Kindergarten Graduation

Today my sweet little Haylee graduated from Kindergarten.

Legacy held the cutest little graduation ceremony ever. The graduates said the Pledge of Allegiance, sang the Star Spangled Banner and a couple other songs.

Then they were called up on stage one by one to receive their diploma and shake the principals hand. The finale was them dancing to "Celebration" which was so adorable.

After the ceremony Haylee got her picture with Mrs. Lukens. She is such a sweet teacher and she loves her little Haylee.

We are so proud of our little graduate. She worked so hard this year and earned Principals Pride or Honor Roll all year long.

She made so many new friends this year (wish we could have taken her picture with all of them).

Way to go Haylee girl. We are so proud of our little 2013 graduate!

Weekend Recap

We had such a fun, busy weekend!

Friday night Josh took the girls to the Father/Daughter Ball hosted by our church.

It was at a resort in their ballroom and the girls said they felt like real Princesses.

They danced, visited the photo booth, ate cupcakes, filled their bags with candy from the candy buffet and got their pictures taken.

I love that Josh is such a wonderful Daddy and creates these wonderful memories with his girls. They are so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy.

I can't get over these pictures of Natalee and Josh. We were waiting for Haylee to finish getting ready and Natalee was being such a goofball.

I sure love that little girl!

While they were dancing the night away, my Mom and I were laughing our butts off at Harkins watching "The Big Wedding." Family dysfunction at it's best!

Saturday morning I had my Keurig House Party. I've never used a Keurig but now after experimenting and trying it out, I love it.

It is so simple to use and has way more fancy features than I'll ever use but it's great. Mine makes hot coffee, tea, cider, hot chocolate, iced tea and coffee and specialty cafe drinks like lattes. This could get addicting :)

After the House Party we went to Jessica's shower. My friend since 1st grade. She is having a little boy in August and already has the cutest little girl. I was sitting there with her and her sister in law Lauren (who is having her little boy Jackson today) and I was thinking how awesome it would be to have a little boy. And then I snapped back to reality :) When asked if I was going to have anymore I said "not unless it's a big big accident!" Ya, we're good.

Saturday night was Natalee's turn to spend the night at Grandma's. They had a blast watching movies, playing games and reading books. We decided we'd take Haylee out and have some fun and she wanted to go bowling.

I bought a Groupon deal for Brunswick in Gilbert and that place is awesome.

Not only do they have 44 lanes but I loved how you could customize the "bumpers" coming up for just the people in your group who wanted them.

And aside from bowling they had yummy food (to eat while bowling) and a big arcade game room. We had a lot of fun and will definitely go back.

Today we headed to the zoo Peach Festival at Schnepf Farms. That place was a mad house. Our plan was to eat a breakfast of peach pancakes topped with peaches and whipped cream, pick peaches and buy some peach cinnamon rolls.

Well when we got there at 9am we were told we couldn't eat breakfast until 12pm (they were giving out time return cards) so we decided to go to the bakery and just get some huge peach cinnamon rolls. Well we waited in line for 30 min and then we were told they ran out and the next batch wouldn't be ready for 40 min. We couldn't win. So the girls went on the train ride and then we decided to go pick peaches.

By then Natalee was whining because she was hungry and it was getting hot.

We ended up finding a few good peaches and the girls started eating them right away.

Grandma was the professional peach picker, she found all the juicy, plump peaches. All I found were small, hard peaches.

After that we sampled some of their yummy peach preserves, salsa, dips etc and then enjoyed a snow cone before heading home. Oh and we went to Buttercups Memorial so the girls could leave notes.

Poor Buttercup :( We love Schnepf Farms but it is always so crazy, guess everyone else and their Mom loves it too! We even saw Grant Hill and his family there. Well I didn't know it was him till we got home, but I told Josh "that guy looks like a basketball player or someone famous" and Josh said it looked like Grant Hill and then we even saw him pose for a picture with someone so we knew it had to be someone important. I did my research (twitter) when we got home and it was definitely him. That was pretty neat.

And now it's time to begin another crazy week! Haylee has her Kindergarten Graduation Tuesday, last day of school Thursday, my niece graduates Thursday, we leave for California on Friday and in between all of that I gotta go to the doctor for my back. It's gonna be a crazy busy week!