Disneyland 2010

I hate to already use "Disneyland 2010" as a post title because I'm not so sure it will be our last visit for 2010; here's hoping..

So we wanted to do a beach day on Saturday of our trip. Due to the overcast weather, and not so-hot temperature, we opted out and went to Disneyland instead. Despite all my negativity-ity, I really do love that park, and taking Kate there has opened a whole new world of excitement for Dave and me.

If you could even see that little girl of ours and how star-stricken she is when she meets the characters...you'd understand why we go there so often.

Pooh and Kate---Cutest picture of the trip!

Another fun moment of the day had nothing to do with characters of the Disney sort, but a character of quite another. We saw Blink-182's Travis Barker (centered and tattooed in the pic below) adding to my list of famous people sightings. And here we are behind Sleeping Beauty's castle. Oh, so fun!

Sea World 2010

It was so fun playing the grown up and taking our little family to one of my childhood favorites--Sea World.

To start off on low note: the Shamu show has changed quite a bit (in a less-fun sort of way). No more humans getting in the water and doing flippy-do's with the whales, no more child getting chosen from the audience to give Shamu a great big hug...but I guess safety first. Still the best show in the park, however.

We filled our day with some fun kiddy-rides.

Watched my very favorite, oh-so squeezy penguins. "Stamped" our first-born

Fed some very funny and loud sea lions some very stinky and dead fishAnd saw a handful of shows.

To end the day, we got our little Build-a-Bear a few accessories to add to her wardrobe:

Spring Break 2010

We were lucky enough to swing another California vacation during Spring Break. What was supposed to be just San Diego, turned into an Anaheim-also trip (is anyone else not surprised)?

So Day One, we arrived in Long Beach, where my heart got its initial wrench of sadness and homesickness. To further my pain (as well as satisfaction), we stopped at a Baja Fresh and sunk our teeth into a Burrito Ultimo. Oh, California...

From there we drove to San Diego and checked out the newly remodeled Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center in Old Town; totally different building and experience. Everything was really neat about it, almost Disneyesque. But judging by her tears when she forced to leave, I'd say Kate liked panning for gold the most.

After Old Town, we checked in at our hotel, the Loews Resort on Coronado Island. Lovely, wonderful, awesome. I think we'll stay there again.

The Room

The View

For dinner that night we ate at an uppity restaurant at the hotel. Food was good, service was SSSSSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW! It was one of those rare times where I wanted dessert, but couldn't stand the thought as to how long I'd have to wait for it. We bypassed the restaurant's dessert, and got a few sweets from the cafe in the lobby and went back to our rooms for bed.

And so Day One ends.

Aren't WE Tricky?

For General Conference Dave's family always meets in between the sessions for a family lunch. This year's food assignment...the fruit tray.

Of course, my darling husband is full of good ideas and thought we should try our hands at edible arranging. I was a true nay-sayer, but Dave forged on. He bought all the fruits, toothpicks, skewers, and baskets needed for the project.

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Sunday morning...no turning back. We started out in our usually kitchen roles (Dave as the chef; me, the souix chef). But once we got going, I sort of took over. Who knew working with food in the kitchen could be so fun? Before we I knew it, the first arrangement was done. Dave was a little bothered by my sudden "interest" in our project, I think, so when it came time to do the second arrangement, I made a little room and let Dave do one too.

Anyway, we impressed all with our skills.

Easter 2010

Easter 2010

Having fun with cousins... Scavenging for eggs... Dying eggs as a family...
Opening the Easter Bunny's surprises...
Discovering Pez dispensors for the very first time...

And trying out a new set of very cool Dora rollerskates (while also wearing some large, but very important, safety gear)...

Our Easter was a good one!

Kateisms

With every day that Kate grows vertically, she also grows verbally. It's becoming a daily thing where Dave and I look at each other in confusion and then laugh after hearing something new and clever that came out of Kate's mouth. Here are a few of my latest & favorite Kate colloquialisms:

1. After Kate had been my shadow all day, I hid myself under the covers of my bed to see if she would notice. Notice she did. After a couple minutes of searching and asking Dad, "Where's Mom?" Kate discovered a rather lumpy-looking bed. Upon lifting the covers, Kate squinted her eyes and scrunched her nose saying, "There you are, you knucklehead!"

2. In the backseat of the car the other day...

Kate: "I like to eat butterflies. They are not yucky."

Me: "Oh, really. What do they taste like?"

Kate: "Strawberries."

3. Svetlana's father is in town from Russia. Kate met him the other day and discovered that he doesn't talk like most people around here. Kate said, "He doesn't talk very nice." Grandma Sherrie tried to explain that he speaks Russian because he's from Russia. She then explained that Kate speaks English. To that, Kate replied, "No, I speak Disneyword."

4. After a long day of play, Kate decided she wanted to go to bed on her own the other night. We started her primary music, tucked her in, shut the door, and then Dave and I went downstairs for some T.V. time. Minutes later, Kate came down holding up one finger saying, "I just want ONE snuggle and then I go to sleep." Of course, how can you ignore a request like that?

Aren't we lucky that we get to have conversations like this with such a little, darling person on a daily basis?

Ancient Temples & Corner Bakeries

We got a letter from Mikey yesterday. Yes, miracles do happen. It was the second (and, presumably, last letter he'll send from his mission). I was especially jealous of his pictures (I'd scan them in if were a whiz); but the first one was of him inside a tiger cage, sitting along side two very large tigers (supposedly, they drug up animals there quite a bit??). The other pic is of ancient temples in Ayuthaya, which he took while riding on the back of an elephant.

I mean no wonder the kid can't find the time to pick up a pen! If I had adventures like that at my back door, no one would be hearing from me either. Actually, that's not true...I love to rub cool stuff like that in. When I go to Thailand, you'll all know it...

Our Williamson friends have moved back into town and all the world seems right again. If you've noticed mine and Dave's permasmiles, you now know why. It's nice to have friends that make your stomach hurt: both from laughing, and from eating too much crab. Last night at dinner with them, I neglected to say anything when our waiter refilled my water. Lucky me, I was promptly reminded by Kate to "say thank you to the man, Mom." I was just slightly embarrassed. But thank you, Kate, good manners are a must!

On Saturday we went shopping in spite of the lovely snow storm. We first went to Cactus and Tropicals; kind of a cool nursery to check out. We got ourselves a small, topiary tree. It's nice because they'll plant it for you with some moss and such for an extra $7 bucks.

Next, we hit Trolley Square. We hadn't been there since November, and were happy to see the new, larger Pottery Barn...it's worth a visit, even if you don't buy anything. We had a 10% off discount and bought some new pillows for our front room couches. They change the whole look of the room; something I've been very happy with.

Also on Saturday, we finally made it up to the new Corner Bakery on Foothill. Happy memories from Pasadena came rushing back to me. Good food, even better desserts. And the great news is...they're building another one at Fashion Place.

On Sunday I substituted as a Relief Society teacher. All went well. Truth be told...I had alterior motives for doing it. Here's how I figure: the next time they're looking to FILL the position, my name will quickly come to their mind; thus, removing me from the scouting organization. Don't get me wrong...scouts rules; but I think it's important to keep that ball a movin'.