The Surprise is on You Part Two

Day two I started off with the biggest blister on my little toe.  If it weren't for the fact that we would be walking miles and miles I would have put on my flip flops.  But there is no crying in the most magical place on Earth, so buck up cause here we go for round two!

 We met up with old friends

 

 Made new ones

 

Disneyland Fire Station (this one's for you Mike!)

Stopped and had lunch while the princesses danced

 

I had to have Minnie Ears!

Hula hooped like champs

 Somehow he ended up with the stroller, but he doesn't seem to mind...

it's good practice for the future!

Made classic faces

Had a little meltdown

But then rallied on my favorite ride!  The Buzz Lightyear ride!  

Ended the night with the 3 F's: Friends, Family and Fireworks!

The Surprise is on You Part One

I love surprises.  Sometimes, I think I like the suspense of a surprise more than the actual surprise.  That is why, when we decided to take a family trip to Disneyland and not tell my nieces, (they still thought they were coming up to Oregon), I was giddy with excitement!

Matt, my mom, younger brother and I set out on a Tuesday night at 10:30pm.  I took a five hour energy and drove the first three hours.  I could have driven more except that I didn't want to drive through the mountains.  After driving through the in the Shasta Mountains and lots of construction, a total of nine hours after we started our journey, we finally made it to Santa Nella, CA, home of Pea Soup Andersen's.

  

Where we met up to surprise my brother, sister-in-law, and nieces.  Matt sat on the bench with his hat over his face, filming the whole thing.  They were more confused than anything, but once the idea started to sink in they got excited!

 My mom, younger brother and I hung out with our heads behind this sign.  Sadly, no pic, but this is a pretty good one!  We ate breakfast with a side of pea soup, (seriously) and then headed down south another five hours.

 

Our first night we went swimming and then out to eat the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  See that little "Run Forrest Run" sign?  You turn it to around to "Stop Forrest Stop" and anyone walking by stops and helps you...interesting.  One of the tv's was playing the movie and our waitress asked us trivia about the movie.  It was great.

The next three days and nights seemed to go by in a flash.  We spent one day in California Adventure and the last two days in Disneyland.  Here is the picture run down of the first day:

And we're off!  Laughter and smiles before we entered the park!

  

Ready to rock and roll!

  Met the Hostess with the Mostess

 And his smokin hot girl!

 

At the request of my SIL, our first ride!

 

Here's a tip for those who don't know:  See that coffee?  Go to the Market House on Main Street and get one.  After 2pm you get free refills!  While Matt and I went and got fast passes, my BB was getting us hooked up.

About to ride the Tower of Terror.  My niece talked about this ride the ENTIRE trip.  She hated it and wanted to remind us the she had no intention of going back on it.

 

Hold hands...do not jump ship no matter how scared you are!

We saw Andy's toys in an impromptu performance while eating hand dipped corn dogs

 

Realized we all wore the same color...not on purpose.  You might think we are smiling because we are in the most magical place on Earth.  No.  It is because we just realized my bro and SIL's camera was missing and just found it in the lost and found!  Thank you honest Disneyland Patron!

 

 We got stuck in a toy box

Convinced my niece this WAS NOT a roller coaster, (even though I wasn't sure), and then laughed hysterically the whole time through the whips, flips, and jerks!  I am a bad auntie I know...but it will make for a good story when she's older!

------interlude------

At about 4pm we were all running out of steam.  One of the best decisions of the whole trip: we caught the Aladdin show.  Now, I love the movie, but the play was just as amazing!  Not only was it a great show, but we got to sit back, relax, and take a little snooze in the air conditioning!

Our first night ended at the Pier for the World of Color light show.  It was amazing.

 

Laundry Room: It'll All Come Out in the Wash

It has been a crazy summer.  The fact that the weather has not cooperated has not kept us from being super busy.  It feels good to get this updated like I keep thinking about doing!

On top of all the traveling and camping going on, last month an awful thing happened: our washer blew up, flooding the whole laundry room!  Matt had to pull out all the flooring and put fans in the room for about three days to dry up all the water.

It sucked.  But as luck would have it, our neighbors' dryer was dying at the same time.  They went out and bought a new set and we acquired their washer.  SCORE!  

We further turned this little frown upside down by taking this opportunity to do a little remodeling.  This house was purchased out of foreclosure, and was a complete mess when Matt bought it.  He has done amazing things so far, but the laundry room has been low on the list.

  Can you see my hands and forehead?  I'm trying not to get me in the mirrored (YES MIRRORS!!!!), cabinets.  I cannot believe someone thought those mirrors were a good idea.  They thought it was such a great idea they did it in the kitchen too!  I would not believe it myself either if I had not seen it.  

This picture has horrible lighting, but the door is a dingy dirty white and there were once these hideous egg yolk colored mini blinds covering the window.

So we painted the ceiling, the walls, took down the mirrors and painted the cabinets and put in clothes rod.  It is not finished yet and I hate to put up pictures with the room only 80% done, but I just cannot hold in the excitement of this accomplishment any longer.  Plus, I told my brother, (he just so happens to be my first follower!) that I was doing this and I want to show him the progress.

So, here is just a little sneak peak.  I am going on a big camping trip in a week and then to Disneyland (yipee!) with the my family so the reveal will have to wait until the end of next month.  Not to worry though, I'll have other things to talk about until then!

"I Love Dogs"

While this statements is VERY true.  It wasn't made by me.  This morning while getting ready for work I received a text from my sister-in-law that read, "I love dogs."  My deductive reasoning has led me to believe that the Squeaky Text Bandit strikes again! 

Bare with me here:  I know my sister-in-law(SIL) loves dogs and I even know she loves me, but I also know that we do not communicate by text and therefore know that this was not from her.  Therefore, the only explanation to this is that my little silly niece got a-hold of her mother's phone and got me.  Matt too because as soon as I told him, "The Squeaky Text Bandit strikes again!" he says, "I know me too!"  She got us both and i'm not sure how many others, YET.

Now, I know you are probably thinking, squeaky?  Yes, she is VERY squeaky!  She has the highest pitch squeal EVER and laughs non-stop.  I can just see her texting that and laughing while doing it.  I love her, her big sis too.  They are great girls.

So while we are on the subject of dogs, I thought this would be a great time to introduce mine.  This my friends is Rodeo.  As his name might suggest, there is never a dull moment when this fun loving goof ball is around.  He is a girl's best friend. 

Rodeo was born December 7, 2008.  I picked him out when he was two weeks old  It was between him and two other boys, he won my heart: 

Rodeo at two weeks looking like a little mole.

If your first thought was of Garth Brooks' song "Rodeo" then you are on the right track.  That's where I got his name.  I like Garth Brooks so much I almost named him Brooks.  Glad I didn't.  Rodeo fits him so well.  I could bore you with the hundreds of sappy pics I have shamelessly taken of my little pouch, but i'm sure you'll see more of him as time goes on.  I'll just leave you with this last one and if you still don't love dogs like me and my niece (or at least this one), after seeing this pic, then you probably have no soul anyway ;)

Driving down I-5...how could you resist this face?!?!?!

Don't Look Just Leap

This moment is a long time coming, I would say about eh, a year and a half.  I need to give Jordan, (I know right?!), from Blueprint Crafts props for turning me onto the blogging world.  Sure I searched on Google ALL THE TIME, but I guess I never realized what I was looking at when reading people's blogs.  My eyes were opened when I was on facebook one day.  Jordan posted about a project she was working on, and BAM!  it was like a whole new world opened up to me!  Click, after click, after click, I found this place of people who came together and shared their ideas and lives.  She and the other lovely bloggers I found inspired me.  I've been a blog stalker ever since.  Don't get me wrong, I've wanted to join for a while.  What has stopped me is this post right here.  I could never think of what to write or how to start.  Would it be interesting, funny, would I do it right?  I thought about it so much it  was paralyzing.  So here it is.  Take it or leave it.  My first post!  The title of this post describes this experience perfectly:  don't think about it, just do it!  Here goes!!!