The Land of Disney... AGAIN

Scott and I REALLY enjoy going to California. After only 7 months, we decided to take another trip to Disneyland!
We pretty much do the same thing every time we go to Cali: go to Hollywood for a concert, then go to Disneyland.

Our classic Hollywood photo (We have about 3 of these now)

Scott's fav: The Terminator

Scott and his pal Rich (the bass player of our fav. band)

We spent the night in Hollywood and drove to Anaheim the next morning for the happiest place on earth. This year the theme for all the decor was Birthdays. Pretty fun- but not as cool as Halloween, that is the BEST time to go.

I really liked the upside down party hats with flowers in them on all the lamp posts. And they had some awesome hats that people were wearing. I didn't get any photos of them, but they were cool! We bought some hats of our own (trying to save our burning heads) at the Mad Hatter.

We then spent some time over at California Adventure (good not great). We only went a couple rides, but they were pretty awesome. Our favorite over there was the Hollywood Tower of Terror.

And the roller coaster called Screamer (I think). It was hysterical- it totally made our hair go all crazy. I was laughing so hard I was crying... good times.

That night we stayed to watch the fIrEwOrKs! It was really cool and quite spectacular!

Us, being bored and cold- waiting for the fireworks to get going.

It was pretty cool with Tinkerbell flying around the castle every now and again too.

After the show, I had to take a photo of the castle lit up. It's so cool and I love the reflection in the water as well. This picture doesn't do it justice- but you get the idea.

So it's cheesy- but I LOVE all things Pirates. The Pirates of the Caribbean is our ultimate FAVORITE (we rode it about six times and it never gets old), riding the pirate ship was awesome, and running all over the pirates lair was fun too.

Us, aboard the Pirate Ship!

Isn't it awesome!? Looks just like the one in the movie

Me, and the ship with Davey Jones' heart inside

We then ate at the Blue Bayou restaurant. (The restaurant you ride through on the Pirates of the Caribbean) It was DELICIOUS, by far the best food in Disneyland. And it is such a romantic setting- totally loved it!

Even the menus were cool

This is just a taste of our super fun trip- we have millions of photos. We had such a good time and I really enjoyed being with my honey at the happiest place on earth.

Vegas

As I said in a previous post... Scott went to Vegas for a convention and I met up with him later on in the week. My sister "Boots" and I drove down and had a blast! We stayed at the MGM Grand (good-not-great) and had a good time. I don't have too many photos but here are a few for now.

Classic Vegas Picture

Scott in front of the hotel- isn't my man so handsome??

The M&M and Coke stores were right next to our hotel. So we spent a lot of time there. It was pretty fun and nifty!

We went to this Mexican Restaurant in our hotel one night called 'Diego'. Not great... but we had an entertaining time.

Our hotel had 5 pools and they were awesome except for the fact that you could NEVER find a chair no matter what time you went. But it was gorgeous.

It was so warm there! Every day it was at LEAST 98 degrees. I LOVE the heat.

Other activities we enjoyed on our trip include shopping at the Outlets, eating Gelato at the Venetian, Rain Forest Cafe, and eating lots of m&m's. Lots of eating. Here is a video of the gondola rides in the Venetian hotel. We didn't ride them, but we had fun watching.

On our way home we had a difficult time with traffic. It took us an hour just to get out of Vegas and then on a random stretch of freeway in the middle of the desert we saw this:

A semi-truck somehow lost it's trailer and it caught on fire. It was crazy.

All in all- we had a fun time and definitely enjoyed getting away from it all for a couple days!

The OG

The family all decided to go out for dinner with the newly returned missionary. He couldn't think of a place to go and decided he hadn't been to Olive Garden in a while. It was our immediate family as well as our grandparents.

It's always nice to go out with the family. Lots of laughs and good times. Boots likes to pull faces in all her photos lately...

My honey ordered a super yummy drink:

He's so silly. And oh how I miss him! He is in Vegas for a conference right now. But I am leaving tomorrow morning with Boots to enjoy the sun and city!! Can't wait to see my hubby!

Awesome lighting in this one... makes my one cheek look swollen. Again- SO happy to have Joshwise back home with us! Thanks for the good times and laughs :)

Home Again!

My younger brother Josh has been serving an LDS mission in Hiroshima, Japan for the last two years and he is FINALLY returning home today! We are so happy and excited to see him again. He is such a great brother, friend and example to us all!

Everyone waiting at the airport. Don't you love our ONE balloon?

He came down the escalator (a video that I accidentally erased...) And of course there were lots of hugs, tears and smiles.

As you can see, our mom was SUPER excited to have her boy home! Lots of smiles :)

Scott and I with the man!
We are excited for him to be home and we are so proud of the work he has done! He speaks Japanese very well and has some awesome stories. Congratulations Josh and Welcome Home! We love you!