DISNEYLAND!!!

More pictures soon to come....

Last week, my friend Amy and I went to Disneyland….for 4 days!! It totally rocked! I hadn’t been for 5 years so it was tons of fun to go back, especially with Amy who is a Disneyland nut. We like to do Disneyland the same so it worked out perfectly. You might think I’m a little too old for Disneyland, but I’ll never be! I love it!

The only bad thing about the week was that it was Spring Break in California the same time we went, which we didn’t realize. It was so bad on Friday and Saturday that we could barely walk from point A to point B. Lines were super long too, but we had the FastPass system down pretty good.

Since I hadn’t been for 5 years, I got to go on the new Space Mountain, the Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Buzz Lightyear, the new It’s a Small World, the new Pirates of the Caribbean, the new Tom Sawyer’s island, (didn’t make it on the Finding Nemo Subs)….there has been a lot of changes, but good ones! Oh my gosh! I absolutely LOVE the Tower of Terror!! See post below for more info.

We also got to see lots of shows and fireworks. We saw the Aladdin play, a High School Musical performace, the Pixar parade with all the characters, fireworks every night, Fantasmic (which is totally rad), and of course the Tiki Room…my favorite!

So I had to talk Amy into going on all my favorite rides. She doesn’t really like them and hadn’t been on them in years, but she was happy to go on them again. I think she appreciated my enthusiasm for them :) I got her to go on Storybook Land, Casey Jr. Circus Train (have to sit in the wild animal cage!), the Carousel, Star Tours, Autopia, Jungle Cruise, and Davy Crockett’s canoes. I love the last two…the “tour guides” are always hilarious. I also got her to go on California Screamin’ (the roller coaster that goes upside down) and she loved it!

I also love all the Disney kiddie rides. Peter Pan is my all time favorite!! Well, after riding on Pinocchio, there was an older man working that gave us pins to wear! I was SO excited and it totally made my day. You can see us wearing them in some of the pictures. Oh wait, I don’t have any up yet! They will soon be there!!

Just so you know…..my favorite rides…..
Splash Mountain in Disneyland
Tower of Terror in California Adventure

What are your favorite rides?

Tower of Terror….

…my new favorite ride ever! I was terrified in the beginning, but each time I went on it, I liked it more and more each time. And now it’s one of my favorites! So you are sitting in this “elevator” and you rise and drop at different intervals and rates – it’s different each time. Then the doors open periodically and you can see out. It’s rad, I’ll tell you what!!

So the first time I went on it, like I said, I was scared to death and had to hold on for dear life. We'll see if you can find me in each picture....
The next time, I got a little braver… And the third time, I was loving it!!

Basketball Awards Dinner

This is my girls basketball team - Kayleigh, Eryn, Abby, Kenna, Ashlyn, Alex, Tamela, McCall, and Adriee. Not pictured: Robyn, Morgan, Maria

To end our successful season, one of the moms put together a dinner for the players & parents to celebrate. She did an amazing job and even made a super rad cake with all the players' names on it. I gave out awards to each girl, as well as a rose. Then I got the "Best Coach Award" from my players and several gifts. Aaaaaaah.....

I miss basketball TONS and the fun we all had together. Can't wait for next year!

Happy Happy Birthday!!

The big 25. Just a quick recap on my birthday celebration that was forever ago....February 1st. It was pretty much a 4-day celebration. My birthday was on a Sunday so I got to celebrate on Friday at school. Lisi made a big sign outside of my classroom and brought balloons. A few classes sang to me. I got to celebrate on Saturday going out to dinner with the family at Goodwood. Artisto's birthday was on Jan. 30 and Hunter's on February 6 so we got to celebrate 3 birthdays in one. We then had a cake afterwards for the three of us. Sunday we did dinner together. And Monday I went to dinner at Carraba's with my old roommates Allison, Dixie and Amy. What a party!!

Draper Utah Temple

Today I was able to enjoy the Draper Utah Temple Dedication. It was a lovely service with lots of great talks. Don't tell, but I actually didn't have a white handkercheif so I used a Kleenex instead! Hey, it worked just fine....

The sad part is that I never actually got to go through the Open House like everybody else. I had two chances to go with my ward, but I didn't go since my dad was coming into town and we all had tickets to go together as a family. Well, when it got down to it, the day we were going to go, I got really sick. I had a 103 degree fever among other symptons. My sister was kind enough to take me to the doctor, but there wasn't much he could do. I spent all of 3 days in bed and missed the Open House, which I had been waiting for for weeks. Moral of the story - Don't wait until the last opportunity to do something!!

Related to the temple, I've been thinking about my family a lot lately and how important they are to me. All my siblings live here in Utah and I got to see both my Mom and Dad in the last couple of weeks. I don't know what I'd do without them, that's for sure! I love you guys!!