Did I hear someone say California?

I had the opportunity to go home to California for a week and a half (July 27th-August 6th). I brought my friend Clarissa home with me and we had a blast! We did lots of things:

Well, I Went to the dentist 4 times (Clarissa hung out with Nicky and Lily), had a root canal, crown, and two cavities filled... lets just say I got to know the dentist quite well and my parents wallet is going to be on the empty side :(. I have been to the dentist every visit home for the past year! My mom said "You should make a goal on not going to the dentist next time you are home." Sounds like a good goal to me...hope to make it happen! ;)

I also Went to the eye doctor. It actually went pretty well. I just found out that on my left eye (my good eye) I have some tissue that is thinning. It could easily tear any time. The doctor said "so if you see any abnormal flashes of light, get to the eye doctor immediately." That is always a comforting statement :). I had to get new glasses as well.

At the age of 23, I feel like I'm falling apart! Clarissa's comment to me was "I've never been to the doctor in all my life as much as you have." I think this would be true for most of my friends.

Here comes the real fun...

We went to In-n-Out! Yumo!

Clarissa enjoying a In-n-out hamburger for the first time and a chocolate shake

We found out that Lily LOVES chocolate shakes...who knew? She drank most of my dad's. The funny thing was dad didn't think she would be able to suck hard enough to get any through the straw making the comment "She won't be able to suck hard enough to get any." Well she proved her grandpa wrong! Once she was finished with pop's she went for Clarissa's.
Lily kept us entertained!

We think this would be the perfect advertisement for In-n-out:

"In-n-out is so tasty that even your babies will crave it!"

We went to Laguna Beach (saw it from afar) to my favorite place, Top of the World!

This is Top of the World. It's all dark, so you can't see anything. It's this place that you can go and stand that overlooks Laguna Beach, the Ocean and has gorgeous sunsets. Sadly, it was a bit hazy there the night we went, but I loved it just the same!

We went to the Shake Shack!


Since Lily drank most of dad's shake, he insisted that he had to stop for another one.heehee. I had a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough shake. It was delicious. Now mom was back in Tustin babysitting Lily and she wasn't suppose to find out we went and got shakes on our way to Top of the World. She found out when she asked if I wanted to go get ice cream later that night and turned her down. (now anyone who knows me well, knows that turning down ice cream is totally out of character for me). She asked me where dad took me and I couldn't lie...sorry father for breaking our cover!

We went to the Newport Beach Temple

We drove around the temple after visiting Top of the World. It was gorgeous as ever. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of my own.

We went to DISNEYLAND and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE! we spent 15 hours there...boy were we tired saps by the end of that day! It was totally worth it though. Disneyland is one of my favorite places to visit. It really is one of the "Happiest places on earth" (to me, anyways).

Here we are after entering the gate at 8:30 Am, pumped and ready to go!

We survived Splash Mountain! I got soaked on my left side and Clarissa walked away without being wet!


Clarissa's favorite ride....Splash Mountain- NOT...she actually hated this ride. All the way while waiting in line I told her that she would love it...I was wrong. Once was enough for her! I'm glad she gave it a chance. This is one of my favorite rides! "Think of your Happy Place now."

Our souvenirs. Clarissa got a Minne hat and I of course a Mickey hat "It all started with a Mouse." We got our names sewn on the back...we were sportin' em well.

Now this truthfully was Clarissa's all time favorite ride...Space Mountain. I liked it as well. We got to go on it twice. We would have enjoyed going on it more, but 1 hr. long lines will do it for ya. "Get ready to head out into the galaxy!"

California Adventure...where adventure is surely to occur!

Soarin' over California. Clarissa loved this ride as well...it's the coolest ride out there!

Grizzly River Run- We got soaked...it was so hot out that it actually felt good!


Tower of Terror...my favorite- NOT! I've been on this ride several times and hate it every time.(the expression on my face here explains exactly how I feel about this ride). I went this time because Clarissa wanted to go. We bought the picture because I look so ridiculous! When we were buying the picture the cashier lady said "Oh it looks like you really enjoyed yourself (pointing to me). I said I had gone it several times and hate it, but went because it was Clarissa's first time to Disneyland/California Adventure and I didn't want her to go by herself. Minutes later, the lady came up and said "That was a very Disneyland thing to do, so here is a pin for you." The pin said "Honorary citizen of Disneyland. I felt special :). Clarissa also got pin that said "my first time" or something of that sort.

Here is us with our pins and the castle in the background. It was dark, so the castle is hard to see. We forgot to take pictures of it during the day:(. We were too consumed with rides! Clarissa said that the castle was smaller than she thought it would be.


We went to Newport Beach twice. Once with Nicky and Lily(she was quite entertaining) and the other by ourselves. We went boogie boardin' and beach cruisin'.

Beautiful Nicky and cute Lily

Lily is a bit unsure of the water. She likes to touch it, but when a wave comes...no thanks!

Us after boogie boardin'

A Beach Crusin' Day!

I have come to conclusion that the best days to have bad hair days are the ones when you go to the beach :)

Lily is one cute beach bum...

Miss Lil' was one social beach bum butterfly. As we getting ready to leave and clean up, Lily walked over, laid down and just stared at these girls(something a baby can get away with)...she's one early people watcher, if I say so myself. It was so cute, that pictures had to be taken.

When it was time to leave for good, Lily was courteous enough to wave goodbye to the girls.

My family went and stayed in Temecula for the weekend with Leticia for her birthday. We went to Old Town Temecula and Julian (a town that is famous for their homemade pie).

Sitting on a bench in Old Town Temecula

Outside the old jail

Did somebody say Razzles? Anyone who has seen the movie 13 going on 30 knows what I'm talking about. We found them and convinced pops to buy them for us. He didn't get the memo that we wanted a picture with them before we ate them and he ate his right away. He was therefore banned from the picture and had to be the photographer...men really don't listen, do they?...

We went to this delicious Italian restaurant for lunch in Julian. Their bread was so yummy!

We told the waitress it was Leticia's birthday, so she got Gilato ice cream. The whole restaurant sang "Happy Birthday", I think she felt special.

Outside the Italian Restaurant

Outside the Pie Restaurant called "Mom's." It is famous for it's pie! It is SO scrumptious!!

Father like daughter. One of the many things my dad and I have in common is our love of sweets. This mixed berry pie was mighty fine!

Birthday girl showing us her "pie face."

Happy Birthday Leticia! I hope you had a fabulous one!! It was such a fun day to be able to be able to celebrate your birthday as a family. Thanks for being a great Big sis and such a blessing to our family. The laughter, smiles and wonderful memories are ones that will continue onward throughout the years! You rock girlfriend! Love ya!

We did lots of other stuff like shopping, eating out, visiting friends. It was a ton of fun! We were on the go constantly and didn't relax much, but nonetheless it was a grand vacation (besides the whole dentist thing). I personally didn't want to leave. It was hard coming back to Rexburg and adjusting back to my life here. Truthfully, I've been homesick. I've wanted to go home and be with my family, go swimming with Nicky and Lily. I keep asking myself why I've choose to stay in Rexburg for the 7 week break. I have gotten a job cleaning at The Pines (where I'm currently living). I have the job until all the cleaning is done. This could be awhile, as the boys apartments are disgusting and there aren't that many of us cleaning. It's not my ideal job and I keep thinking, "ah, man I have to go cleaning tomorrow." I just wake up and put on smile on my face anyways. I try to remember all the amazing things in life and feel blessed to have job for a little bit. I get money taken off my rent, amount depending upon how many hours I work. It's all good with me. I hope to find a job for the Fall soon enough.