Trip to So Cal--Day 6 & 7 Lots of Good Eating and Good Friends

Tuesday we had lunch with 2 of our good friends, James and Alisha, at my favorite restaurant, Red Robin. The closest Red Robin to us now is an hour and a half away, so it was a treat for me! It was fun catching up with them--we miss them! They need to take a road trip up here to see us soon!


So that night, Vicky and I went out and ended up in Uptown Whittier at Rocky Cola Cafe. Man, that place brought back some memories! I haven't been there in years! Anyway, I couldn't decide between the apple pie and the oreo shake, so I got them both. Vicky bet me a dollar that I couldn't finish them both. Silly, Vicky. Always underestimating me. :)


Here is angelic Vicky with her huge salad. I bet her a dollar that she couldn't finish it.


Yes, I finished it all. Not something I should be particularly proud of, but it is a good source of income on the side. Actually that dollar is from our waiter. Just as I finished, he came by and Vicky says, "She just finished all of both desserts! You should give her a dollar." He then tossed a dollar on the table for me. :)


Needless to say, Vicky did not finish her whole salad and turned to french fries to console herself. She owes me $2. :)

Trip to So Cal--Day 5 Sunday Dinner at the Waldvogel's

On Sunday, we went to church at my mom's ward. It was fun to see lots of old friends there. That night, we went to have dinner at the Waldvogel's new house. At least it was new to us--they've been there for a while now. They raised 3 kids in a little 2 bedroom apartment with no yard for as long as we had known them and they finally got into a nice big house with a nice big backyard when their 4th little one arrived. I've always said that no one deserves it more than them! They paid their dues!


Our friend Matt came over with his brother for dinner too. It was so good to see everybody again and catch up!


The kids picked up right where they left off and had a great time playing together. They're actually old enough now that they all sat down and played a board game by themselves!


Here's the whole gang! On our way out, Jim Weissinger and Danny Hunsaker were on their way in for a meeting with Jeff, so that was an added bonus for me. I loved seeing all of them again--it was like we never moved away. :)

Trip to So Cal--Days 3 & 4 "The Wife"

Friday we were pretty tired, so we just laid low and hung out with my mom at the house mostly. We did make a trip out to target to buy an air mattress for me to sleep on because the fold out couch in the living room is super hard and doesn't fold out all the way, so you have to sleep diagonally on it. I tried it for the first night and pretty much got no sleep because of the bed combined with the fact that it's in the living room which is on the side that the street is on. I forgot how loud it is at night--sirens, motorcycles, trucks, alarms, trains...you name it and you can hear it from that room. Oh, did I mention that the weather was super hot and humid and my mom's house is pretty much like a sauna except for in the one room that has a little air conditioner? And no, that one room is not the living room. Anyway, I ended up sleeping on the air mattress in the den, which is not on the side that the street is on, with my mom. It worked much better that way. I've never been so grateful to have an air mattress before!

The next day was my cousin, Mitch's, wedding. It was in Long Beach outside next to the Queen Mary overlooking the bay. Very pretty, but very hot and very little shade. I stood in the back under a little potted tree/plant for most of the ceremony because I didn't want Naiya to get sunburned. The reception was really nice and it was fun to see everybody in my family.


Melia was a little dancing machine, like usual. Here's Melia dancing with GG (her Great Grandma). What you don't see is GG almost going down as Melia spun her around and around!


My cute girlies with Grandma Sue!


Here's Aunt Kitty looking jolly and Naiya looking not so jolly. It was a long day for Naiya with no real naps, but she was a little trooper. :)

Melia had been looking forward to 2 things about this wedding--"the wife", as Melia likes to call her, wearing the pretty white dress and the cake. Although we didn't really know Dianne, Melia pretty much attached herself to her side in complete awe through most of the reception. Here she is holding the wife's hand in their cake cutting pictures.


Here she is dancing with the wife during the mother son dance. I had to hold her back so that Mitch and Dianne could have their first dance without Melia in between them. Melia also refused to leave the wife's side during the bouquet toss. I had to physically take her to stand with the other single ladies. At one point, after most of the festivities had already taken place, Melia went and sat down with the wife and said, "So what should we do now?" I think Melia fully embraced this as her and the wife's reception. Mitch was a mere bystander.



Groovin with Uncle Ron.


Aww, so cute. Too bad my arm felt like it was about to fall off from holding this chunky monkey for so long!


Here's Melia living it up on the craps table! The dealer had come over to me and asked if Melia could help pick some cards to give prizes to each table. I said sure and the next thing I knew, she was up on there on the table gambling and drinking and having a good old time! :)

Funny side note: That night, as I was putting Melia to bed, I went to give her kisses and she said, "No Mommy. Like this." She then proceeds to hold my face with her hands, tilt her head to the side and stick her tongue out as she leans in to kiss me! Aaahhhh! Well, needless to say, I had to explain to her the difference between "wedding" kisses and our kisses.

Trip to So Cal--Day 2 Where Else Would We Possibly Go?

So just about everyone knows that my favorite place in the world to be is at the beach. Since we live like 4 hours from the beach now, the first destination on our trip was obvious.


We went with my friends, Vicky & Vero, and Melia's friend, Lenore (Vicky's daughter) while Grandma Sue watched Naiya. Thanks mom. And a big shout out to Vicky for not only going, but driving us all considering she hates the beach! :)


We had a fun time and Melia and Lenore LOVED playing in the water! So did I. :)

That night, Vicky, Vero & I had a girls' night out in a part of LA called Little Tokyo. There's one little Japanese restaurant that we like to go to and chat about what's in the mindless magazines they have there to read and talk about life while we eat delicious food.

I am addicted to gyoza, so I get that every time. Vero is always undecided on what she wants to get, but definitely always plays it safe. Vicky usually gets something that either smells or looks funny and always tries unsuccessfully to get us to try it.
I was kind of bummed because Vero was leaving on a trip to Utah the next day so we only had one day together--but it was a good day. :) I have to say that, although none of the three of us are very sappy toward each other in person, we have an unspoken appreciation for each other and I don't think there is doubt in any of our minds that we are there for each other through the good and the bad. I'm deeply grateful to have friends like them in my life. Ok, no more sappy stuff. :)

Trip to So Cal--Day 1 We Made It! Barely.

We've lived up here in Paradise for a year now and we've made short trips down to So. Cal for holidays, but never really had enough time to see all of the people we wanted to see or do all the things we wanted to do. So my cousin got married in July and it was the perfect excuse for me to come down and spend some real time visiting people and hanging out--just the girls and I--Bo couldn't get time off work. :( We spent almost two weeks there and it was quite an experience. Traveling with two kids went pretty smoothly...that is, after we got to the tiny Chico airport 5 minutes after their 30 minute deadline and had to beg for them to let us on the airplane that I could clearly see still sitting right there through the window. If any of you have seen "Meet the Parents"--it was reminiscent of the scene where Ben Stiller is trying to get on the airplane in the empty airport to go back home in the middle of the night. Anyway, they let us on. (I think the crying baby, the excited 3 year old, the stressed out mom look, and the prayers helped my case). The plane ride was fun for Melia. She was so excited--this was the first time she was old enough to really know what was going on and because the plane was so small, we actually got to walk out and climb up the stairs into the plane. We made it to LA and somehow in the year that we've been gone I completely forgot about traffic. I mean, I knew it was still there, but I totally forgot how to plan for it. For example, our flight arrived at LAX at 6:15 and I thought, "Ok, we can be at my mom's house by 7pm so I can feed Naiya and put the girls to bed on time." Silly, silly Laura. By the time my friend Vero, who was giving us a ride, finally got our stroller out of the oddly shaped baggage section (who knew that existed?!), we got two car seats strapped in her car, two kids in the car seats, suitcases in the trunk, and got through the line of cars to pay for parking, we emerged into good old Wednesday evening traffic. But not to fear, we ended up arriving at my mom's house with two crying children just in time to get Melia to bed and to start feeding Naiya at 8:00pm. Only an hour off of my projected time. But really, the only thing that matters is we made it just in time to see "So You Think You Can Dance". :)

Oh, My Little Persistent One

So today, the girls and I went grocery shopping at Safeway. Melia saw some balloons and was convinced that she needed another balloon in addition to the huge "Super Dad" balloon that she got for free there at Safeway the day after Father's Day that is still floating around our house and the pink heart balloon that we got at the Dollar Tree because it was only, surprise, suprise, a dollar. So she spent most of our shopping time trying to convince me that we needed to get another balloon so she could have three. My attempts to help her understand that 2 balloons were enough, that we didn't have money to buy another balloon, that we were only buying food this time, that I was done talking about it, etc, etc, were just not working today. We then get in line to pay for our stuff and Melia starts asking the checker for a balloon. I tell her that she can't just give her a balloon--that it takes money. So then Melia's next words to the checker are, "Can I have some money?". Ahh, kids. The checker then points to the automatic change thing and some money comes out. Melia gets it out and is so excited that she now has money so she can buy a balloon! The problem was she had about 14 cents and the balloon was six dollars. I almost gave it up and got her the balloon as I looked down at her sweet little face beaming with excitement. But then my sensible side took over and I remembered that, one, I didn't want to teach her that it doesn't matter how many times mommy says no because you eventually get it anyway, and two, there was no way I was going to pay 6 bucks for a balloon. So we went over to where the balloons were and I showed her the price tag and helped her count how much money she had. Once she kind of understood that she didn't have enough money, I told her that she could save what she had and earn some more and then, once she has enough, we could come back and get a balloon. She seemed to be pacified with that idea. Man, I never thought that I would have to start teaching my 3 1/2 year old about money already. I thought that came later on. She definitely keeps me on my toes. I'm sure she'll actually remember about coming back when she has more money. But when that time comes, we'll definitely be going to the Dollar Tree where we can get 6 balloons for the price of one at Safeway!

Naiya's Blessing

Naiya's blessing was really special. Bo did a wonderful job and the spirit was really strong. I cried (of course) as I heard all of the great blessings that will come to Naiya throughout her life. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful girls--daughters of our Heavenly Father that He has entrusted us with to care for and guide through this life. I'm so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and to be surrounded by so many wonderful people who care about us. Thank you to all of our family and friends for being so great!