15 hours of Disneyland.

I went to Disneyland with my family. And then like three weeks later I went back. 

But this time with my SLC friends.

Abby was on Spring Break and had never been to Disneyland. 

Wait, what!? That’s crazy. 

So when her and Aubry posed the questions of taking a roadtrip to California and going to Disneyland…how could I refuse that?

Abby and Aubry are probably my funniest friends. Especially combined. 

The thought of a 10 year car drive with them and Disneyland in the same trip was the best idea. Ever.

We had to wait and leave on Wednesday when I got off work. Which ended up being around 4:30. Needless to say it was a long car drive with a 3 AM arrival time to Granada Hills.

Coming back home is always a little difficult. And especially since I drove my car there. I was pretty close to just keeping me and Lulu in the valley and having Abbs and Aubs finding a new way back to the SLC.

Thursday consisted of going to the Santa Monica Pier and then laying by the pool cause we didn’t know the beach was going to have sub zero temps. 

We strolled Hollywood and then the Temple at night.

Friday was our Disneyland day! It was the happiest of days.

 We ate lots of fried food and went on every ride we wanted to. I will say—I love going with nieces and nephews and large groups of friends, but there is quite the difference of going to Dland with just two other really close friends. It was so fun and more manageable with just the three of us.

We laughed so hard and were completely exhauseted by the end of the day.

15 hour Disneyland trip.

We took it like Champs.

Except Abby when she got sick. Or slept. Depending on how you look at it. 

Saturday we were in Aubry’s hometown of Torrance. She gave us a great tour and we hit the beach for a bit so that Abby could feel the water of the Pacific Ocean. 

And allowed for this moment…

{This West Virginian redneck hick was really excited for the ocean}

We hot tubbed it up later and hung out with some of my NR3 crew. I am so glad they stopped by to say hi. I love them so much and miss them daily.

Some great moments and definite highlights of our road trip to CA:

-Abby eating all of the pretzels before we even left Salt Lake.

-Coming to the realization that Aubry has a really strong personality.

-Hearing for realsies every 10 seconds. 

-The break up song.

-eating everything fried.

-screaming “make it stop” and literally crying on Tower of Terror.

-making the worst decision ever of our Dland adventure by waiting till 11pm to get in line for Tower of Terror. Ok, actually Id like to forget that buuut we were super delirious during that wait and it was kinda hilarious

-Abby eating all of the Quake rice quakes by herself.

-getting made fun of for wanting to ride the Mater ride and yet it was probably the most fun we had on a ride together.

-getting stuck on the Mater ride. Like literally. We couldn’t get out of the seats.

-Abby and I riding the new Cars ride together after Aubry declaring she needs no friends at Disneyland.

-Abby sleeping the whole trip.

-Blaming everything bad on Mickey’s Fun Wheel. Worst ride ever, and really not fun at all.

-Janky.  Everything’s Janky.

-Practicing our Spice Girls lip sync for about 5 hours of our car ride.

-Did Aubry even go on the trip? Doesn’t seem like it from the photos.

-“Happy Birthday Abby!”

-Aubry talking to herself for TEN minutes while Abby and I laughed.

-laughing. We laughed a lot. 

the bachelor brings people together.

The bachelor is all about finding love, making connections and breaking down walls. 

Although highly unsuccessful at the above, the bachelor is truly successful in bringing friendships together. 

It doesnt matter how ridiculous the show gets, I wouldnt think twice to say that every girl in America watches the show. 

Monday nights are sacred. 

Through the years I can always recall the girls I gathered around with to watch the show, it alway makes it more fun to watch with friends. 

When I moved to California, I was a little sad because I didnt think I had anyone to watch the show with. 

I wrote about that bachelor season here. And some of my thoughts are the same. 

I slowly started inviting some girls over to watch the show. 

Some had never really seen it before, but who doesnt love some good girl drama and love? 

it easily became a commonality between me and my new friends. 

And before I knew it, about 13 girls gathered at my house each week to watch the show. 

It was the highlight of my week. 

And probably one of my most fondest memories will living my LA life. 

I will argue the case that our Bachelor viewing parties was one of the main things that brought that group of friends together. 

I got to know these girls so much better as we bonded every Monday. 

It really helped bring us together and solidified the amazing group of friends that I had. 

We laughed, cried and screamed together all season long. 

Those were great memories. 

And now, I believe the bachelor has done it again. 

I was no Sean fan, but I will watch The Bachelor till the day I die. 

{Or the sad day when they realize no one actually gets married and it gets cancelled.}

So when the season was starting up in January I knew it was time again to try my hand at the Bachelor parties. 

Living in SLC has been a little bit more difficult for me with making friends. Its just a different style of living. 

But the Sunday before and even at FHE that Monday, I invited a few girls to come watch the show. 

I didn't get as nearly as many girls to come watch, but had the same results. 

Abby, Aubry, Chelsey and I started watching it together each week. 

And bonded each episode. 

We passed our ice cream carton back and forth numerous times this season and probably laughed more from Aubry's hilarious commentary each week than the actual show. 

Making friends with these girls this year has been such a blessing and came at a time when I think we all kinda needed it the most. 

I am grateful that the Bachelor keeps creating my friendships for me.

We hate when we go more than a day without seeing each other and LOVE that we live just blocks away and are now in a desperate need to find something to look forward to each week.

SLC Perks.

Last week at church we got a little surprise visitor. 

None other than the apostle, Elder Dallin H. Oaks. 

No joke our Relief Society gasped when they announced he was in Elders Quorum. 

I was all ready to linger in the hall in between RS and SS to catch a glimpse but that was not needed since he walked in half way through our Relief Society lesson. 

Another gasp. 

It was one of those unreal moments to see an apostle sitting just a foot away. 

And so judge me if you will....I took a picture. I just couldnt help myself! 

My flash may or may not have gone off. I dont think he noticed. 

After RS he got up mingled and shook lots of hands, including my own hand!!

I overheard that he is gluten intolerant and is shorter than I expected. 

He stayed for Sunday School and instantly felt relief that I was not teaching! I would have had extreme anxiety to be teaching doctrine with an expert in the room. 

We were lucky enough to have him make lots of comments {only lucky cause of course we had a crazy non-ward member sitting in the back making weird comments}

 Just hearing his voice in person was surreal and amazing. 

It was also just such a good reminder of focusing at church. 

I feel like its a cliche statement to throw around at church about what if Christ walked in during church, how would we feel, what would we do? 

But that is exactly how I felt with an apostle walking in and I instantly had all of those thoughts running through my head. 

I need to put my phone away. 

I can only read my scriptures from my phone. No texting. No checking instagram. 

Glad I didn't wear that one dress that is a bit too short today... 

Are my tights too scandalous???

Do I need to make more comments?

I have to volunteer to read if I'm not commenting. 

I could go on and on...

Not only was I grateful to be in the presence of an Apostle, a man who literally is called of God, who can and does receive revelation from him. But more importantly for the reminder of letting go of distractions and staying focused on the true purpose of church, feeling the spirit and becoming closer to the Savior and our Heavenly Father. 

dland with the fam.

California. Disney. Family. 

All of the above happened a few weeks ago. 

Kelly and her kids decided to drive down to So Cal after a soccer tournament in St. George and obviously I couldnt be left out on all of the fun!

It's always so great to go back to California especially being with my whole family and all of the kids. 

We played games in the park, ate The Habit outside and went to Disneyland. 

Of course the weather was perfect leading up to our day at Disney. And then it was cold and rainy.

 But we made the most of it until we got on Dumbo. My least favorite ride since like ever. Laura and I waited for an hour to get on this ride with the little girls and then right as we got on it started to rain a ton. The only silver lining was that Kate and Mia requested I ride with them. 

However, this picture shows that I went by myself. Alas, I did not. 

The rest of the day was really great. 

{did Lyla just become my favorite!? What!? I did not just say that...}

I did have to leave Disneyland early to fly back to SLC. Which was pretty rough to leave the 2nd happiest place on earth and all of my family. 

Luckily I went back a few weeks later...coming soon!

let it snow....?

I am a firm believe in being jinxed. 

Just look at my wood cube key chain for proof. 

But apparently the key chain doesnt work, cause I have totally jinxed myself. 

I complain about Utah and then I move here. 

I complain about hating the snow and it is the worst winter in the past ten years.
It has been pretty rough. And I would say its just about to get better, but I don't want to jinx that either.
We have had some pretty rough snow storms where it just never seems to stop. And then if that wasn't bad we endured a terrible January with literally freezing weather.

Weeks of 7 degrees as the high.
Who knew I would ever shout for joy when we got to the high 20s during those weeks!!

Then we had the freezing rain storm. I didn't even know that was possible. But I had to scrape off the thickest layer of ice off my car that morning.

I have used my snow scraper more these past few months more than I ever did in the 4 years I lived in Provo.
I have {kinda} learned how to shovel my driveway. I like it in the sense that it gives me a great sense of accomplishment. And it counts as a work out too, right?

Have I mentioned that it has been rough??
It has been quite the adjustment coming back to this cold state.
Sometimes I had the urge to cry as I drove through the countless snow storms.
But then there were the mornings on my way to work I woke up to fresh layer of snow. And its so pretty, peaceful and serene...that I have to be ok with it.
The one good thing about snow is the skiing.

I went with Amy a few weeks ago and had a blast.

 Despite my first black diamond run ever to save her goggles, we had a really good time and endured a snow storm on the mountain.

Spring might...maybe...hopefully...will be on the horizon soon.
But who am I kidding, its Utah. We are bound to have a snow storm in June.
knock on wood.