Pittsburgh - Part 1

This summer we went out to Pittsburgh to visit Mandi and Clay. It was soooo much fun; they were awesome hosts. Pops also later joined us (don't worry another 'Pops does' serious will be published on Mandi's blog). This is going to be a long post because we did so many amazing things!!

OHIOPYLE

Our first day we spent in Ohiopyle National Park in Pennsylvania. Mandi and I were quite adventurous if I do say so myself. Many of you don't see us as the 'outdoorsy type'. Well prepared to be amazed....

This is our 'pre-hike' photo shoot by the river.

We then hiked the peninsula. The scenery while we hiked was beautiful! 

Maybe a little sacrilegious but doesn't he look like Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. haha 

Since it is a national park they have signs throughout the hike explaining the local animals and plants. One explained that there had been a hotel where we were hiking during the late 1800s and early 1900s. We started to look in the area and we kept finding old thick broken bottles, glass, porcelain, and bricks from the building. Coolest part of the hike. It got us a little turned around and lost but it was totally worth it.

Clay found this marble which we researched and found to be from that same time period. They took it home, hopefully its not some conduit for a creepy spirit. 

After the hike we went on the natural water slides which was incredibly terrifying and fun. 

Then we went to see another waterfall.

Best part about this waterfall. You don't even have to hike to get to it.

The back side of water!! Yep that's Mandi and me right there. Hiked down slippery, treacherous rocks to stand behind the waterfall. After those natural water slides we were feeling invincible. 

Hehe bet they didn't think I would post this. 

 Here we are looking out over the ravine.

WEST VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY

The second day we went to the West Virginia Penitentiary. It is was open from the mid 1800s to 1995. It is rated as the third most violent prison because of the deaths that occurred IN the prison. Over 900 deaths occurred in this prison and only 100 were executions. Get ready for some creepy, gruesome stories. This section is not for the faint of heart. Feel free to skip over if you can't handle it. I think the facial expressions in the picture below show how horrified we were by the stories we heard there. But it was extremely intriguing so I will share a few:)

We started out in a museum area where they talked about different events that occurred at the prison. One particular event was a huge riot that the prisoners created. They took guards has hostages and did horrible and unspeakable things to other prisoners in front of the guards. They were upset by the treatment they were receiving so they demanded to speak to the mayor (or someone like that:) to change conditions. They displayed the weapons they had made out of toothbrushes, socks & bricks, forks, as well as other normal day to day objects. You have to give them one thing they are quite creative. We toured the prison cells, the infirmary, the psych unit, and the sugar shack. Oh and we also went down to the pipe room where one prisoner was decapitated while on the toilet (told you it was bad).

Old Sparky

Mandi gettin her lunch.

In the infirmary they still have medical equipment such as x-ray machines and dental office equipment. It's like they just abandoned the building. Creepy. 

Ok guys there was a horrible presence in this cell. I could barely stand in there long enough to take the picture. This was one of the high security cells for prisoners who were extremely violent. In one of the prisons a man was backed up between the toilet and bed and murdered. Blood pouring out into the halls..... your welcome. 

We got locked in a cell. The tour guide pretended like ours was broken and kept us in there longer than everyone else. Luckily there wasn't a creepy presence in this one. 

The psych ward. Poor people were chained to their beds up here and layed in their own urine for days. So sad. In one room one prisoner did an unspeakable, gruesome thing (message me if you want the details;) and Mandi took a picture inside the room. After she took the picture we kept hearing strange noises. Way to go Mandi, angering the spirits. 

Well I will stop there. But really it was so cool to see. Moral of the story children: don't do bad things or else you will be stuck in a prison with crazy people and have to use the toilet in front of everyone.

PITTSBURGH & PIRATES

Pops joins us! Isn't this a cute picture of Pops. He rarely smiles in photos but he is in this one because he hugged me when he was sweaty....whatever makes him smile I guess. This is a trail by Mandi's house that used to be a railroad. 

After pops joined us we went into the city of Pittsburgh. The rivers, bridges, and skyline make it a unique and beautiful city. We started out at the strip district where they have a lot of cute little Italian grocery stores and restaurants. I had one of the best cannolis there. We then spent time walking around downtown Pittsburgh. After exploring the city we went to a Pirate's game.

The Duquesne Incline. We rode these to get up to a great view of the city. The steel workers would ride these to get to and from work. 

Mister Rogers and me. I love him. 

The beautiful view we had at the baseball game. It was my first baseball game.

This is the end of part 1 of the Pittsburgh adventures. Stay tuned for part 2.

Cari and Scott's Surfing Visit

B.J.'s brother and sister came out to visit us for a surfing trip! Scott has come out on a couple of other occasions and surfed but this was Cari's first time. I unfortunately had to work the first couple of days but was able to join them the last day. From the sounds of it Cari, Scott, and B.J. basically owned those waves. Here are some fun pics they took. It makes me sick how photogenic they all are. Even after being pummeled by the waves they look awesome. I married into a cute family :)

He's cute.

I don't know what it is but this family has this strange amazing talent of hand stands. Pretty rad. 

Cari's amazing one handed hand stand. She stayed like this for like 10 minutes.....;)

Then we chased the sunset for this awesome picture and watched dolphins! It was amazing! 

Thank you for coming! We had so much fun with you guys! 

Summer of 2014

Okay folks I decided it was about time to give you all the update on the happenings of our summer. B.J. had an internship for most of the summer so it was fun being able to spend the evenings together without the worry of homework. We spent time with family and explored a little bit more of California. Here is a peek into our summer.


NEW CAR

For the past year or so.... my old Saturn was struggling. The poor thing had smoke coming out the back and ferociously shook when stopped with the air conditioner on. It also suffered two rear ends since moving to California. I decided to let the poor thing go. I know many of you may have fond memories of riding in the old Princess Mobile with the sun roof open listening to songs such as 'Ridin Dirty' and 'Here in your Arms'. She will never be forgotten. When we put her up for sale we got so many interested buyers and sold her within 24 hours. As one man looking at the car put it, "Saturns are the BMW of the hood". I was sad to see her go, but to look on the bright side we got a new car!! The amount of technology and features in cars now-a-days is incredible. My favorite feature, the back-up camera! Now I can parallel park like a boss.

FOURTH OF JULY

We celebrated the Fourth of July with Ginger. We found a spot, that was basically on a freeway entrance, that overlooked Pasadena. We were able to watch the fireworks that were at the Rose Bowl. It was a beautiful view. 

SHOUT OUT TO 'THE GING'

I celebrated Ginger's birthday with her at Disneyland complete with a birthday pin and free dessert.

THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY

The Huntingon Library is actually in the ritzy neighborhood near by us. The Huntington Library was built and owned by Mr. Huntington and his aunt, who was the richest women in the U.S., whom he married. Yes, you read that right he married his aunt, at least they weren't blood related. Their family owned the railroads  out in California, thus had great amounts of wealth. The Huntington Library is now open to the public. On the land you can tour the couples mansion which includes their large art collection as well as the library they built to store all of their books. Mr. Huntington had an interest in collecting books. Any time he saw that a library was saleing their books he would buy the entire library to ensure he got the one or two books that he had a particular interest in. Oh to be rich. The land also includes 120 acres of specialized botanical gardens which includes a Rose Garden, Japanese Gardens, Chinese Gardens, Subtropical and Jungle Garden, a Desert Garden and many more. It was absolutely stunning and so fun to explore. Here are some pictures of the land created by people that have more money than they know what to do with. The pictures of course don't do it justice.

Part of their home. It was too big for me to fit in one shot.

The Library 

Too many books to fit in your house? Just build yourself a library. Why didn't I think about that. 

Of course a ritzy piece of land would not be complete without naked statues.....everywhere. 

The Chinese and Japanese Gardens

I felt like Mulan.

 Tropical Gardens (maybe? probably?)

On the property there is a mausoleum where the couples remains are now. Does it look familiar? It was designed and created by the same man that later constructed the Jefferson Memorial in D.C.

Sorry for my long random blog vomit. More summer posts to come!

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!