Disneyland 2015

I'm officially a believer that Disneyland really is one of the happiest places and most magical! I can't believe how much I did remember and how much I forgot from when I was a kid. Granted a lot of it is really similar to Disney World, which we got to do a couple years ago, but still. The only thing I went in remembering is loving the Roger Rabbit and Star Tours ride. I hadn't even been there when California Adventures was a thing, but I still had fun. So going this year was beyond awesome, eating the treats was one of the best things, and having a hotel within walking distance was the best ever.

Flying to California was different for us, but I'm just glad we weren't one of the flights that got seriously delayed



Tired, but so ready to be there.

Can I just rave about how awesomely close to Disneyland our hotel was? We could see Tower of Terror and the fireworks from our window.

The plan was to hit Disneyland first, then California Adventures, and then do any second rides on the third day (or any that we missed). We hit a bunch of rides at Disneyland (we were really able to squeeze in more than I thought was possible) and then did a few over in California Adventures (including Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania)

 

I loved how it looked like it was sparkling

It was almost as great as I remember it :)

 

Day two in California Adventures was crazy! I mean I was told to hurry and get a fast pass for the Cars ride because the line is always insane. Well the line for the fast pass in the morning was insane so we decided to just go wait in line to ride the ride. I had figured out at this point that we should be able to hit up Universal Studios on Monday, but I wanted to ride all my favorite rides at least twice.  Even in the extreme heat and with our daily break in the afternoon we were still able to get all of the California Adventures in twice and a couple of the Disneyland ones again (I think I can confidently say at this point Tower of Terror is the best ride, but Haunted Mansion is the best at Disneyland)

Every time we rode this ride Larry looked extremely
Happy in the pictures. I loved it haha

 

 

From the big Ferris wheel

I'm such a fan of Little Mermaid

So glad she found happiness :)

I said extreme heat right?

 

California Screamin pic

Ending the day with ice cream
And root beer float is the best

The last day was, apart from the awful California Traffic, awesome and busy! We had ridden all the rides we liked in  Disneyland at least twice (three times on Tower of Terror at this point) and so we decided a trip to Universal  Studios is a must! Unfortunately they replaced the Backdraft "ride" that Larry loved and I wanted to see with the Transformers Ride, but it was still fun. In fact I think I liked the U.S. rides a bit better than the D.L. rides because I like the motion simulator type rides. We got done with those in time to get back to the hotel and Larry could get some school work done (yay for the font of the line pass we got!). I gave him an hour and then decided to hit up Disneyland for just a couple more rides. He joined me later, and we rode a few together, just depending on the line. It was a great last day packed with tons of fun!

I just had to get some ears

The start of Hogwarts
Coming 2016!!

Because we needed ice cream wherever we went

 

So overall it was an amazing trip. I felt at the time that I got enough from it, but now I'm kind of wanting to go back haha. Maybe next year. Although look at the awesome souvenir I got this time:

Best ever right?

And all the treats (in addition to the ice cream):

It was the best, I can't wait till we have kids and can go though....maybe ;)

Why my family is the best

So there are little moments that happen with my family that just remind me how lucky I am. I'll start with last night. Larry was playing Sims and he had created a character for me and a character for him that were living together. We'd always joke about what our characters were doing and how to get them to love each other. Well Larry asked if he should make them have a baby or not and since I had never seen a Sims family with a baby I said go for it. Well they ended up having a baby boy and I kept asking Larry what he was going to name it and he kept saying he didn't know and wouldn't really say anything while I was watching him over the shoulder. So I walked away to do stuff around the house and come back to this picture:

That's a baby naming site on the left there.
How adorable right?

I just love catching him in these moments, especially when he has no idea :)

Then today just happened to be grandparent's day, and I have the perfect example of how great my grandma is:

You guys, I can't even tell you how funny my grandma is and due it justice. She's hilarious when she wants to be. I secretly think I got a bit of my sense of humor from her. She's pretty awesome and this is just a great example of it.

So yeah, my family is pretty much the best...you should be a little jealous haha.

Why This Wednesday Rocked!

So I've thought not very hard and not very long about this, but I decided I HAVE to go to Disneyland this year! I was listening to my Disney Pandora station and I've heard so many people talk about the 60th Anniversary special going on now (which is diamonds from what I hear haha) and it just clicked that I really, really wanted to go and it's been so long since I've been to Disneyland and I didn't want to wait forever so I sent Larry a text letting him know and this is how the conversation went:

Me (1:50 PM): I REALLY want to go to Disneyland!
Him (1:50 PM): I bet you do lol
Me (1:51 PM): Like for real though...I want to take a three day weekend and go out there
Him (1:52 PM): Why
Me (1:56 PM): Because it's their 60th anniversary right now and it only goes till May and I haven't been since I was a kid and I want to see it before we have to wait 5 years or more! Lol
Him (2:16 PM...this is why I included the time): Dork lol
Me: (2:17 PM): I'm already pricing everything now lol

So it was pretty much decided then. Both of our PTO hours at work made it so we could actually take a 4 day weekend. We're going to fly out on Friday night, spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in the park, and then fly back early Tuesday. I'm so pumped. Larry feels that Universal Studios would've been a better choice so I told him if there's time we can hit that up, but I'm not going to include it in the plans just in case. I bought the plane tickets the day I thought of this, then got the hotel tickets once our work okay'd the time off requests, I got the rental car earlier this week, and then today I bought the Photo Pass Plus (woo hoo for having real pictures of the two of us on a vacation !!). All that's left is food and souvenirs now so we're good to go.

 

 

I've been talking non-stop with both my bosses about rides we HAVE to hit and what treats to get and all the tips and tricks. I want to learn more, but I still can't wait to go :) It will be our last vacation of the year since I had to use up my time off by October (it gets too busy to take any time off after that) so it'll be a good way to celebrate before we both get into our busy seasons at work.

Oh yeah, other reasons today was really great:

• I became a meme, sort of, in our lunch email today:

I freaking LOVE Great Harvest!!

• I got to meet with both bosses for my review and 1:1s and I got to give ideas on how to improve some things and they were very well received. My review went better then I expected (I always expect the worst for some reason). Plus I got to talk to them both about cats, Friends, and/or Disney today haha.
• I played basketball and won some peanut butter M&Ms (if I had to choose a favorite candy, this would definitely be it!!).

It was a great Wednesday today, but I'm still ready for the weekend haha.

Mississippi Time & Labor Day Weekend

My trip to Mississippi was definitely time well spent and needed with my parents. It started off with a layover in my favorite airport (Minnesota). I'm thinking I'll plan our next vacation to this city based on just this decoration:

I love bears and these sort of carvings, Minnesota is looking like a great city for me. Plus they have the Mall of America nearby :)

My mom had text me about a week before my trip saying they had decided to turn their guest room into an actual bedroom. I was pleasantly surprised to see the lovely setup they had for me:

Complete with flowers, magazines, and a back scratcher.
Could it be any cuter?

Unfortunately while showing me the add ins closets they had built in their extra room I was surprised with the below ugly bug (I'm not sure what it is with the bugs in Mississippi, but they are weird and gross):

It's called a Silverfish...look it up to see
How really gross it is!

The bonus of the first few days - aside from seeing my parents - was going into my first Piggly Wiggly store (this has been on my personal bucket list for a little while). I was so excited, I wanted to buy something to commemorate it. The best thing I could find was some chocolate milk haha.

Every morning a huge flock of birds would fly between my mom's tree and the neighbors huge bushes. The cats can't get enough of them. It was funny to see them watch it and start "chattering"

Speaking of the cats...I think they missed me as much as I missed them (same story with the dogs, but they didn't want to sit for pictures with me):

Mississippi currently has the largest Bass Pro Shop, it was made for tourists. When my mom told me we were going I was thinking "okay...I guess that sounds fun." But really, it's amazing! First off, they have live alligators there, they have a elevator that takes you up to this lookout point to see the Mississippi River, and quite a few places to eat. Plus they also have boats you can "try on for size". I really loved it, especially the amazingly soft sweat suit I found (Mom I still really want that for Christmas!).



Selfie in front of the shop to show off to the family

Live alligators

Mighty Mississippi

I also not only tried Alligator for the first time (spicy, but tastes just like chicken), but we also got my mom to try it! This is big as she hates trying anything new or weird. She wanted to resist at first, but we were excited we got her to do it...and she didn't regret it either.

 

 

One of the days we went to the Memphis Zoo. I'm pretty hesitant to go there since last time I cried watching a poor baby duck lose a fight with some otters. Luckily there was no death on this trip AND we got to watch the cutest bear swim around in front of us (this made up for not seeing the bears at my work party for sure). It was particularly adorable watching him put his snout in the water and blow bubbles, as well as using a stick to scratch the top of his nose. I swear I took about 50 pictures and 5 videos of just that part of it, only some of which I'll actually post.

Look at those claws!

The perfect nose scratcher...a stick

 

To say I was obsessed is an understatement

Some days we decided to do something girlie and so my step-dad would go shooting and the dogs would watch him drive away so sadly.

On this particular occasion we went to their botanical gardens. They were so amazing, they had cute little houses and areas for kids to play in and the most amazing setups with beautiful flowers and peaceful fountains. If it weren't for the extreme heat and lack of sunscreen I could've stayed all day

 

I also kind of made them switch plans around so I could see Ole Miss and the sorority and frat homes. I was not disappointed at all. We ended the day with a good deed by buying tons of toys, treats, and food for dogs that were recently rescued at a local shelter. They had more dogs than space and you could tell the poor things weren't comfortable around humans, but I know the shelter was glad to have the help. I loved visiting and petting the ones that didn't mind me so much.

 

 One of the days we went to the coast of the Mississippi  River and walked along the boardwalk. The River was extremely low, but the trees had started turning colors and it was so pretty. I could've done without the bugs and webs (I'm still not used to walking with my arms in front of me to clear them out). The biggest bonus was getting to see a live armadillo walking around and digging for food. It was funny because the whole trip my mom kept mentioning how they had seen one before and she wanted me to see how they run, but the display at the zoo was empty so she was upset about that, but then we finally got to see one. I also got to pet a wild frog, which was crazy.

You can see the sand bar at the bottom here

I guess the rock line is usually where the river is at

That's right...a selfie of a selfie

We ended the trip the best way ever, by participating in their "Go Ape" obstacle course in the trees (yes UP in the trees). This could not have been more fun. I want to do it every time we go back. It was definitely a workout though, but mostly because of the heat. I will say I'm officially sick of the bugs they have there. I was attacked bay a wasp and some random white spider bug, it was awful and made me fall off one of the obstacles, but was still a fun way to end an amazing trip. Plus it was nice working off enough calories that we could go get milkshakes afterwards.

Group pictures before

 

We thought we were so tough haha

I was smart and didn't schedule my flight home until 1 so I was able to enjoy most of the morning with my parents still. My mom and I decided to go for a walk and do a workout in Central Park (their local park that is amazing). Coming back to the smell of eggs and bacon was even better.

Overall it was one of the best trips, I'm sad it's over with now. I love my parents and I'm glad they'll be in Utah in November so it's not that long we have to wait to see each other again.