Visitors!!

Ginger's Visit to Cali!

One of my best friends from Utah came out to visit us! We had so much fun with her and are so glad she came. Here are some of the adventures we had while she came to visit.

Medieval Times

One night we went to Medieval Times in Anaheim. They serve dinner which is all eaten without utensils. While eating they have a live show. Each section of the arena is a specific color which is determined by the crown you get upon entrance. They then have knights which are competing for the hand of the princess. Each knight matches one of the colors of crowns and that is who you root for. They have various 'sporting' events that they do with their horses and then in the end they compete to the death. It was very fun and a unique experience, but just a warning it is quite pricey.

I am fully aware that the lighting in the picture is awful and not the best quality, but its the only picture I have of us with our crowns, so deal with it. 

Here are all the knights competing for the hand of the Princess.  Our knight is the one in the yellow and red. He didn't win, which was lame. 

Our knight after the show. He threw those roses to us during the show. Not everyone got one so we are kind of a big deal. He was sweaty..... nasty!

Let's Make a Deal!

We then all were on the game show Let's Make a Deal. This is a game show where the audience members dress up in costumes in hope that Wayne Brady (nice perk to see him up close and personal;) calls them to compete for prizes. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately did not get called up. FYI: they pick who they are going to call up before you even get in the studio. I would have acted more perky if I knew they were watching me as I sat my lazy butt on the chair waiting for the show to start...acting far from perky! We are on episode 5014 which will be on television around October or November. They also will add clips from different shows to other showings. So look for us! We were right in front of the D.J.

If you come to California I would recommend getting tickets to be on a game show or talk show. They are free and a fun experience. 

It was Ginger's birthday in a couple of days so she decided to wear a birthday banner in hopes she would be more likely to be called up. Too bad everyone else was celebrating their birthday as well. Poor Ginger, it probably ended up decreasing her chances since they are not likely to call up more than one person with a birthday. Sad day.

B.J. dressed up as a lifeguard, Ginger dressed up as a nurse, and I dressed up like a ballerina.....Yep we are pretty creative. For those of you that don't know Ginger is a nurse, B.J. was a lifeguard, and I did ballet....so yea...

Hollywood Sign and the Observatory

After the filming of the show we took Ginger to a good location to get pictures of the Hollywood sign and then went to the observatory.

After about ten minutes of driving up scary, windy roads which should only be meant for one car we made it to a great location to take pictures of the sign. 

B.J. and Ginger on top of the observatory.

Disneyland

Ginger and I totally conquered Disneyland. We went when the park opened and left when it closed. We were able to do almost every ride in the park...which included all of the rides Ginger wanted to go on plus some! We also watched a lot of the shows such as the fireworks and parade. We had a lot of fun!

Guess what ride this is?? We got stuck on Splash Mountain. They had to help us out of the logs so we got to get up close and personal to the creatures in the ride. While we were waiting on the log flume the girl in front of us said that one time she was stuck on Indiana Jones for 45 minutes. She says (said in sarcastic tone) that they each got 20 free tickets to Disneyland. Although I wasn't sure if I believed this I was still excited. Unfortunately we were only stuck in the ride for like 10 minutes so we just got a ticket to get in the front of the line for any ride. We used that gem to get in front for Peter Pan. Why would we use it on a ride in Fantasyland you ask? Maybe because the line for that ride is usually a 45-60 minute wait. So yes we did get in front of all the little children and no we did not feel bad.

We chased Mickey down when we saw him come out for pictures. It's just what you have to do so you don't have to wait in the huge line. We only knocked over a couple of kids on the way... 

Yep we wore crowns all day. Don't judge, you're just jealous. 

Cute Minnie.

The "Ugly Witch" as one little girl called her (so rude). Poor lady, she probably tried out to be a princess but was then cast as the evil witch...

Ginger's Birthday

It was Ginger's birthday when she came to visit!

Micheal's Visit

My cousin Micheal served his mission in Brazil. One of the men he met in Brazil, as well of some of his friends and family members, came out to see the United States. Micheal brought them to see California. B.J. and I were working most of the time so we only got to spend time with them in the evenings when they got home from their activities. They were all so very kind; we enjoyed having them. Micheal was a great translator for us!

We have loved having visitors! Thank you Ginger, Micheal, and all of Micheal's friends for coming to visit!

More Disneyland Adventures

B.J. and I have spent a lot of time going to Disneyland. It seems like we are getting into Disneyland for free, since we have a season pass, so it makes us feel a little less guilty. We have enjoyed being able to stroll around Disney and see shows and other attractions that normally we wouldn't have had time for.  Here are some updates on our Disneyland Adventures.

B.J. and I were able to 'steer' one of the boats that travels around Tom Sawyer's island. We asked one of the cast members if we could. She said that anyone is allowed to and that we were lucky because most people wait an hour to be able to 'steer' the boat. 

Although we weren't really controlling the boat we were able to ring the big bells and sound the horn.

Our boat licence. Yes, you are reading that right, it is signed by Walt Disney himself. 

We found a gold dollar coin on Pirates of the Caribbean....so fitting. 

So this is a funny story.... Disneyland has an eating area outside of the park to keep coolers since they are not allowed in the park. We missed the big signs that said bags must go in a locker and for some reason thought it would be an great idea to leave it by a table. When we went out for lunch our cooler was gone. We asked one of the entrance cast members if they knew what happened. Well come to find out if you leave a bag alone it is considered potentially dangerous and their protocol is to call Anaheim PD to have them bring their dogs..... Wow that was embarrassing. So we had to go to Lost and Found to retrieve it. Since coolers are not allowed in the park, and Lost and Found is in the park, a cast member had to escort us, and what seemed like our big fat cooler, to the outside gate. Seriously SOOO embarrassing. Oh well, I guess we at least got this nifty sticker. Not sure many people have this one;)

Just cute. 

Fourth of July!

On the Fourth of July our city of San Gabriel had a parade and activities for children. Much to B.J.'s dismay we started our Fourth of July watching the parade. Don't worry I won't bore you with too many pictures from the parade, just a few. 

Yay California!

Look at this cute old man in his police bug!

Miss Taiwanese American. I'm posting this because of the crown. You could kill someone with that thing.

We then went to watch the fireworks at Disneyland. My mom would talk about how she remembered going to Disneyland on the Fourth of July and said that it was the most crowded she had seen it. So B.J. and I decided to go about five hours early, park ourselves on a bench, and wait for the fireworks. It actually was not very crowded during the day but when night came it was packed! Luckily we met another couple that became our 'bench buddies' so we would save each others' seats when we wanted a break from sitting in the sun. We were all really dedicated to saving each others' spot, I even told an elderly lady that she couldn't sit there because the seats were saved.....in my defense there were plenty of other benches around the park.....

The firework show was very patriotic. However, do you see that big, fat, ugly tree in the right corner of the picture??? Yea, that was our view of the fireworks. We were still able to see fireworks that were in front of the castle and hear the music, so I was still happy celebrating in Disneyland.
That weekend the park was still celebrating the Fourth so we went over to California Adventure for their patriotic addition to the World of Color. It was beautiful! We had a wonderful first Fourth of July in California!

Science Center and LA Temple

Los Angeles has a number of free and low cost museums to visit. We went to the California Science Center. We would recommend visiting this museum! It is very large, includes an aquarium, and is free! We didn't take too many pictures but here is some of what the museum has to offer!

Currently they have the Endeavour Space Shuttle at the museum. Of course this is not it. They charge $2.00 to see the shuttle. I guess B.J. and I were feeling extra cheap that day because we did not go in to see it. 

We then went to see the Los Angeles Temple.

I love the palm trees!

The temple has a beautiful view of LA.

Cari's Visit!

We have been so happy to already have had visitors come to California! Cari, B.J.'s sister, and her boys already had a trip planned to come to California with her in-laws before we planned our move. Cari was so nice to take time out of her already planned trip to spend time with us!

Cute Max is getting so big! 

The boys went to Legoland and Cari, being the genius mom she is, bought decently priced legs prior to their trip. So the boys were able to make their own creations after their visit to Legoland!  

A little blurry, but I love how both of them are laughing. Cute picture!

B.J. and Max chillin on the lawn. 

The following pictures are of us picking oranges!

Thank you Cari, Kade, Luke, Rhett, and Max for coming to visit!!! Also thank you to Cari's in-laws for allowing us to steal them for the weekend!