My New Cousins in Disneyland

Did I mention I have the absolute best cousins?? On my dad's side of the family I have always been extremely close to all of my cousins. I always looked forward to seeing them. I have so many fun memories with them such as playing Steal the Flag, Annie Annie Over, and making stellar music videos. I always felt so lucky to have such a close family. Until recently my sister and I were the only grandkids on my mom's side of the family. I'm sure most of you know the story but we discovered we had two more sets of loving aunts and uncles as well as 11 awesome cousins. From the moment we met them I felt just as I did with my cousins on my dad's side that I had known all of my life. We bonded immediately, almost as if we hadn't missed a moment in each other's lives. Every time we get together we have so much fun and I often find myself imagining how it would have been growing up with them. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. This past week one of the families came out out to California. B.J. and I were able to spend a couple of evenings with them at Disneyland! It was such a blast to be with them. They are so much fun!

Uncle Rick

My cousin Kalen recently came home from his mission. It was so good to see him! As you see from the picture below he let me put pink ears on his head and convince him to buy a Frozen cell phone cover. This guy's awesome! We have missed him!

Awesome Disney employee that hopped in our picture. Found out after he is from Ogden, Utah. 

 My cousin's + B.J.'s awesome poses on Splash Mountain.

Sleeping on the ride. 

Tyson missed the memo...

My awesome cousins. We missed Kylee, Tyler, ChaRee and Rick in this picture. 

We had so much fun with our amazing cousins. We missed Ryan's family! Let's start planning the next trip for a family reunion!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun Memorial Day Weekend! On Friday after work we headed to Disneyland for their 24 Hour day. We stayed until 6:00 AM on Saturday! It was exhausting but quite an experience.

On Memorial Day we spent the day at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. It was very large and beautiful! I would recommend paying a visit if you come to LA.

Our little city made it in to the museum. The San Gabriel Mission was the first mission established in California.

I was also able to find a piece of my Disney at the museum. The first picture is Walt Disney's animation stand where he created Mickey Mouse!

 

Currently the museum has a butterfly exhibit. You get to go inside a green house with hundreds of butterflies. It was so beautiful!

1 Year Older and 1 Year of Disney

This past month I celebrated my birthday at Disneyland (where else would I). The week before my birthday my friend Ginger took me to Disneyland. Her present to me was to pay for any treats I wanted! I know you all are jealous and drooling. When you are at Disneyland you are overwhelmed by the delicious scents swirling around you. At this point calories and your figure don't really matter, however the cost sometimes can turn you away. So this gift was amazing. From Mickey shaped pretzels to funnel cakes topped with brownies, I had it all. Thanks Ginger for the gift to my taste buds!

Not an attractive picture AT ALL but the Mickey pretzel is too cute not to share. 

Behind Big Thunder Mountain they have a place where they have horses and goats. When we pass the area I look at B.J. with innocent childlike eyes and ask that we go pet them. B.J. always give me a look that says 'I paid for a season pass to ride rides not watch you pet goats'. Ginger was kind enough to join me in petting the goats. They were SO cute.

I am happy to report the goats LOVED me. They all swarmed me to get some love and attention. 

On the actual day of my birthday B.J. and I again went to Disneyland. Since it was the day before Easter all of the Disney bunnies were out to take pictures! If you know me, you know this was an absolute magical day seeing as I love bunnies. 

Isn't Thumper cute! I had a bunny named Thumper so I had to get a picture with him. B.J. was kind enough to make three separate trips back to Thumper to make sure I got a picture.

B.J. surprised me with two fancy meals at Disneyland. We shared a Monte Cristo at The Blue Bayou and for the first time ate at the Carthay Circle. Both were amazing. 

B.J. even let me pet the goats again and rode the carousel. He really let me indulge my inner five year old self. 

The first time riding the carousel in our entire year of having our season passes. He looks thrilled...

Shelley and Karen this next picture is for you....

When Mandi came to visit Pops bought her a birthday hat. He insisted I buy one for my birthday and sent money specifically for the hat. Thanks Pops!

Girl's Trip + A Pops

While B.J. is in the Physical Therapy Program he is going to be required to go out on several internships. Some are two weeks while others are 16 weeks. We decided that it would be a good idea if he offered to go out of state for the shorter ones in hopes that he would get one close to our home for the longer internships. He had his first two week internship and he decided to go back to Utah. For the first week and a half that he was gone my sister, Mandi, was nice enough to come out and keep me company. Her husband stayed back home for work so it was just a girls trip!

She came shortly before her birthday, left just one day before, so I decided to surprise her with some decor and gifts.

We made a trip to Hollywood while she was here. We started out shopping at The Grove. There we lived out our childhood dream by going into the American Girl Doll Store and finished the shopping trip by buying candy at the candy store. We didn't waste any time looking at the high end fashion stores, we went straight for the best stores.

In the American Girl Doll Store. Yes, we still want to buy everything there.

After "shopping" at the grove we decided to go see the red carpet! We were there just a few hours prior to the Oscars starting.

Mandi and I mostly planned out places we were going to eat when she came.....so that's mostly what we did. Otherwise we just hung out around the house. I also came home to this every day.....

It was a 'chilly' 69 degrees when Mandi was here. The neighbors thought she was a lunatic sun bathing in such frigid temperatures. I truly do think they believe she has 'issues'.

I bet your all wondering where the " + Pops" comes into the picture. You guessed it the one and only pops came about a week after Mandi got into town. It was fun to have the little family back together. We sure did miss mom though, although we know she was there because there is no way she would miss a trip to California!

When pops was here we went to the beach with my friend Ginger. On our way to pick up Ginger we saw a film crew in a neighborhood nearby. Because Ginger was running late, as usual ;) Mandi and I had our dad drop us off a block away. Mandi and I then casually strolled down the block and checked out what was being filmed. It was Modern Family! We were so excited, but had to act cool to contain our excitement. We believe that they were filming outside, what they use as Mitchell and Cameron's house. There we saw Claire, the mom on Modern Family!

There she is back by the car. Sorry we only got a shot of the back of her head. Like I said we had to act cool so they wouldn't kick us out. We couldn't be snappin a ton of shots. 

After our first star sighting we picked up the Ging and headed to the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day at the beach. We wished we had brought our bathing suits. 

The Pops and his new hat.

Ginger's candid photography. 

.....and a poopdeck.

While Mandi was working from my house and I was out at work Pop's was itching to use his Disney season pass. He made a quick trip and bought Mandi goodies from Disneyland for her birthday. He also brought some cinnamon rolls home for all of us. Did I mention we have the best pops?

The birthday ears and Mandi's favorite, Disneyland Candy Apples. Along with a fork full of Disney cinnamon roll.

I had so much fun with my family. They helped keep me company so I wasn't alone while B.J. was away. Thank you for coming to see me! Next family trip, Pittsburgh! 

Shelley's Day Out

My cousin Shelley came out to visit!! If you are confused by the title please take a break to watch Baby's Day Out.

Okay so if you don't have time to watch the show just yet, or you just can't stop reading the blog because it is already so captivating, I will give you a brief synopsis. This hilarious, yet classic film, is about a baby who escapes a set of kidnappers and is now venturing out into New York City on his own. It shows the many times he narrowly escapes tragedies while  exploring the Big Apple. As this was Shelley's first big trip on her own I thought it to be fitting...

We had a blast, as usual. While she was here we spent every moment possible at Disneyland. The first day was an absolute magical day; the Disney gods were watching out for us. We were invited to go through a special VIP door for the Haunted Mansion which got us in the front of the line. I guess they knew we were as important as presidents, celebrities, etc, etc...

Later that day we were walking through Tomorrowland and came across a band playing. From behind we said "That looks like the Beatles". Well sure enough it was them!! Well a copycat band, minor detail. Both Shelley and I LOVE the Beatles so we spent the rest of the evening admiring the band members, I mean music.... Everyone else in the crowd had about 20-40 years on us but we didn't mind. Party like the old people, that's how we roll. 

I tried to scan the crowd with this next video so you could see the age of the crowd compared to us. 

I know, crazy right?? They look just like them!!

They took breaks and would come out dressed as the next 'phase' of the Beatles.

At the end of the concert John Lennon threw his guitar pick to us but sadly his throw was just too short and didn't make it to us. Such a shame. Although he was flashing me peace and love signs to me throughout the concert, so that was enough to make my day.

The next day we went to Disneyland it was EXTREMELY crowded. Poor Shelley came on stupid 'Dapper Day' where the weirdos come out of the wood works dressed in old fashion attire. Seriously I don't know that I have seen it that crowded. However, that visit I had Shelley watch the World of Color for the first time, which is always incredible.

We bought these little beauties (the crowns if you are confused). They didn't quite fit us like we had hoped.....maybe because they are meant for a five year old's head.....who knows. 

DWEEB STRINGS. 

We had fun posing for the pictures on the rides. When Shelley's sister Karen came to California she had the same look on her face every time a picture was taken on a ride. It was this "I'm sick and don't know what's going on" look. Then her two year old son, Jackson, was covering his eyes on each ride. We decided to pose in honor of them. We call it "The Karen and Jackson Series". (Sorry for the very poor quality of photos, but this is for you Karen)

Finally, our picture that now has become a tradition. We missed Karen in this photo:(

Come back sooooon Shelley and Karen!!

Christmas

This year we bought our first Christmas tree! B.J. amused me and supported me in spending money to buy Disney Christmas decorations for our tree.

On Christmas day we spent the morning alone, opening our gifts together.

Later that day my friend, Ginger, came by as well as the missionaries. We really did have a lot of fun, I guess too much because I didn't even take any pictures...... The next day pops came with his friend. We of course spent time at Disneyland, again no pictures. Sorry this is a lame post, but I had to share my Disney decor.

I will make up for the lack of Christmas pictures by posting some Christmas pictures from Disneyland.

To make up for the lame post here is a picture for your enjoyment.

This is how we celebrate Christmas in Cali. Notice the shirtless man on the roof with the snowman decoration.