Sunday in California...Adventures...

Sunday morning we slept in!  That never happens.  We had our breakfast and then said, should we go to the park?  We decided we would go and enjoy the day.  We NEVER do things like this on Sunday and it didn't feel quite right, but we decided we were spending quality time together and this is one of the times we would need to repent later!  I told Dave that no way would we wear our BYU shirts on this day! Ha!  Well, guess what...we ran into not one but TWO of our fellow saints from Clovis at the park!!  Busted!  We were walking along the main street of California Adventures and I did a double take because here was Linda Ryan coming towards us pushing a stroller!!  Wow...what are the odds!? It was so fun to see her even if it was just for a couple of minutes!  We saw Tom too, he was getting fast passes for the grandkids.  It was so funny.  Then later in the day we were sitting on a bench people watching, and along comes Julie Hitchcock and two of her sisters!  It was one of their birthdays and they were spending time together too.  I had Dave take our picture but it didn't turn out.  THEN, when we were eating dinner, we saw a girl at one of the tables in a BYU shirt!  We suddenly didn't feel AS bad that we were there on Sunday, but I definitely did my repenting.  I enjoyed the day with Dave. We found the Monster's Inc. ride which we had never been to before. As we were approaching it, one of the workers invited us over to the "back door" and she let us right in.  Maybe because we were two old people with no little kids she did us a favor.  Ha.  We didn't have to wait in the line.  It was cute ride and I am happy we found something new!  We also got tickets to see Frozen.  I was excited for Dave to see it because I knew he would love all the technical, computer aspects of it.  And he did!  I love how the stage shows the running water fall and it looks like the water is flowing right off the edge of the stage.  We sat down close enough that we got "snowed" on in the one part of the play where they make the soap flake bubble things come down on part of the audience.  We saw a statue of Mickey and Walt that I had never seen before either.  I like it!  We watched the Pixar parade.  It is always fun. We walked over to Disneyland for the afternoon, got some ice cream and watched the "Dapper Dans" do a performance.  They are a great barbershop quartet. It was fun.  We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride and I bet Dave by a ton!  He made us ride it again and I beat him again!  I'm not that good at it, but I definitely had an advantage over him for some reason.  In CA adventure we rode the new "Soaring over the World."  That was really neat!  I love that ride and was afraid I would be disappointed, but it was amazing!  Still my favorite ride now.   We didn't do a ton of rides, just walked around, ate some good food and enjoyed the parades and music.  We didn't stay out late, after dinner we went back to our hotel to rest and relax.  I don't like to admit that I went there on Sunday, but I did really enjoy my day with Dave and it was really weird to be there and not be pushing strollers and running to get fast passes for everyone.  A totally different experience.  It was a beautiful day and I LOVED seeing Linda!  I miss her!  

Me and Dave, on vacation!

  I don't know how we did it, but Dave and I got to go on vacation, just the two of us!  It is our last chance to go to Disneyland before our annual pass expires.  We are sad that it is expiring!  It has been so fun to go several times throughout the year!  It will be another 10 years before we go again probably.  We average once every 10 years.  ha ha.  We had a lovely drive there on Saturday.  The air was crisp and beautiful, until we hit Las Vegas.  It was all smokey or smoggy or something.  Looked really bad.  We were anxious to get out of there!  We got to our hotel which is just a few miles from Disneyland.  We used hotel points so it was pretty much free for 5 nights!  It was a suite with a little kitchen.  Perfect! Don't laugh at my picture, Dave took it while I was eating!  We enjoyed our room and the convenience of eating breakfast there and having a fridge!  I am posting these pics after we are home, but will put the dates on the posts for when they took place.

Little Cottonwood Meadow...

Dave, Joel and I decided to drive up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and walk the meadow before the wildflowers are completely gone.  There were still quite a few, but we need to hit it earlier next year when they are the most fresh. It was still beautiful and we enjoyed it.  Once again, I didn't have a lot of steam to get very far, but we walked as far as the turn off to Cecret Lake so I felt pretty good about it.  (Man, I am out of shape!) Joel was taking flower pictures and I'm sure they turned out pretty.   We just enjoyed being in the canyon and out in nature.  And of course I love being with my favorite guy.  

Farnsworth time...

Every summer we get to have some Farnsworth kids for the a few days while the others run the family fireworks tent.  We had Makayela, Carson and Jackson.  We tried to make it fun for them.  Did a few crafts (shrinky dinks were fun!) and helped Makayela make a simple garbage sack holder for her mom and grandma. They loved looking for eggs and sure enough, the first day they went out, our new chickens had laid their first eggs!!  How crazy!  Anyway, it was a busy few days but everyone survived and I think everyone was happy.  Their grandpa came to pick them up for his turn to "host" them on Friday night.  They were going to go camping. It was very quiet when they were gone.  6 kids in one house = lots of noise.  Ha ha...  

Dry Canyon...

We tried a new hike today.  Dry Canyon.  It is just down the road from us and we have been wanting to check it out.  There are these tall steps right at the beginning of the hike that about did me in!  The rest of the trail wasn't too bad and of course it is always beautiful in the canyons.  I just wasn't doing too well so finally had to stop.  I know my limits and I had met them less than an hour into it.  Joel stayed with me to take pictures (you can see him coming down from the rocks) while Dave, Amanda and Lilly went on.  We waited for them to come back.  It was a nice morning but I just didn't have the steam.  The evening ended with a beautiful sunset as we were walking into Wal Mart.  We live in a scenic place that is for sure!!

Cousin Aimee comes to town!

Aimee, Andrew and Lilyanne were in town from Washington D.C. Andrew's parents had their 50th anniversary.  I love that Aimee makes time to come and see us when she is in town.  We had a BBQ and Eric's family came over too.  Lilyanne is the funniest little girl ever. She was a hoot!  We loved getting to know her and seeing Aimee with her little pregnant belly.  Andrew is so tall!  He almost didn't fit in the picture!  Ha!  During dessert Lilyanne was sitting between Andrew and Makayela and she would just lean over to one to get a bite, and then lean over to the other one for a bite.  Back and forth.  It was so funny!  Thank you Aimee for making time for us!  We love your sweet little family!

Stewart Falls...our favorite hike!

We decided to hike Stewart Falls.  It is one of our favorite hikes and very family friendly.  The boys were great little troopers as always.  It was a beautiful day and the water was COLD!  We all had a great time.  Lilly was with her mom that day, but the rest of us enjoyed the hike. Summer is going too fast!  Trying to get a few more fun things in before school starts in a little over a month!