After a cancelled flight, a missed flight, and a 22 hour drive...

...we finally made it to "The Happiest Place on Earth."

Getting down there consisted of two of the absolute worst days of my life, but it was worth it, and we ended up having a wonderful time at Disneyland with David's family! Thanks for everything Jan and Dan!

Now for tons of photo spam:

David and I spent Christmas Eve at a cheap hotel in Roseburg, OR eating takeout Chinese food.


The only upside of Christmas Day (aka - hands down the worst day of my life)...was seeing these lovely snow-covered mountains.


The day after Christmas...Southern California at last!


First day at Disneyland.



The castle all decorated for Christmas.


That night we had a scrumptious dinner at the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.


The next day we spent at California Adventure.




We watched the Pixar Play Parade that night, which was actually really neat.



Then we all went to Bubba Gump's for a yummy dinner.







The next day we got up really early in order to use our one Magic Morning pass (this lets you get into the park an hour before it opens). It was kinda nice getting to see the park and all the pretty decorations before the giant crowds were there.





I'm normally not a huge fan of the "It's a Small World" ride, but the holiday version was actually really cute.



Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - one of my favorite rides! The first time we rode this ride I beat David (clearly a miracle), but by the second time around he had far surpassed me and I sabotaged myself by spending to much time trying to thwart his efforts and not enough time scoring points myself!



New Orleans Square is probably my favorite part of Disneyland!



That night David and I stayed pretty late and watched Fantasmic! and the holiday fireworks show.


The next morning David and I had an awesome breakfast at The LaBrea Bakery and Cafe in Downtown Disney, then we headed to California Adventure again.


We saw a lot of super cool shows at California Adventure over the days. A few of my favorites were a Broadway-style production of Aladdin, Talk Time with Crush, and a 3-D show called "It's Tough to be a Bug."



That night we met up with the family for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.




I loved the way they decorated all of the trees in Downtwon Disney. They were so beautiful in person!


After dinner, we all took the monorail back into Disneyland, as this was the rest of the family's last night at Disney.






The next day David's family flew home, but David and I stayed a couple extra nights because we'd driven down. We took a Disney break on this day and just spent some time relaxing. We saw a movie in the afternoon (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, good film) and then went back to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Since it was just the two of us, we split a chicken salad and then got the famous Volcano for dessert! I think we ate about half of it, lol.


The next day was New Years Eve. David and I spent the day at California Adventure, and finally got to go on the best ride ever...Toy Story Midway Mania! The two previous times we'd tried to ride it, it had been broken. It is such a fun ride though!!




That night, after we'd taken a nap and changed into nicer clothes, we headed to Downtown Disney for a fabulous dinner at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen.



After dinner, we stopped by the "O" in California (outside of California Adventure) for an Olson family picture.


Then we headed into Disneyland. It was so CROWDED!! Seriously, you could barely walk, it was insane. It was a fun, but crazy, way to end our vacation!

Merry Christmas...from the Santa Puppy!

Current mood: happy!

Woohoo, I am so happy to be done with school for the quarter! When I took my last math test on Wed. night, the professor told me that she wanted me to stay after I took it so that she could grade it and then talk to me. I was thinking "uh-oh." But after she was done grading it, she told me that I did so well on all of my tests (4-100% and 1-97%) that I got to skip the final! I am so happy that I don't have to spend my entire weekend studying. It also gives me a little bit of confidence that I won't completely bomb Chemistry next quarter, as it has never been my favorite or best subject.

~So, yes, this is a little bit of a brag post...but I want to record it for when I'm in the midst of all the hard science classes that I don't really want to take, and am questioning my abilities!

If I never see a fried food again...it will still be too soon.

Sometimes in an effort to be a good wife, I suggest doing things that aren't really my thing, but that I know David will love. That is how we found ourselves having a "Deep Fry Dinner" last night. Looking back, I am not sure what possessed me to suggest this particular idea! haha

Things we deep fried:
potatoes
purple onion rings
calamari rings
shrimp
tilapia
chicken breast
salmon rolls (I made these with salmon, spinach, and cream cheese all rolled into a spring roll wrapper...just like the ones we get at our favorite Thai restaurant)

It took hours to do everything! I don't even know how it could take that long, but it did...and that's not even counting cleaning up the kitchen. But the worst part was that by the time everything was done and we were getting ready to eat, fried anything was like the LAST thing I wanted. I ate two salmon rolls and drank a can of Fresca...and that's about all I could handle. So now we have fried food up the wazoo (we froze most of it), my apartment smells like a fast food restaurant, and all I can think about are carrots and apples. :(

Bzzz...Bzzz...Bzzz...watch out for the Theo Bee!

The picture above is before his recent haircut, on the day I bought the costume and couldn't wait to put it on him. The two pics below are on actual Halloween.

So good!

P.S. - This also gives you a hint about Theo's Halloween costume!

Is it mean that I...

just about peed my pants while watching this video. I don't know why, it just cracks me up!

Things that I'm loving lately...

~ This blog post (the Oct. 6th one) from the pastor of the church I used to go to.
~ Getting a 100% on my first math test. Woohoo!
~ How Theo snuggles up with my legs, which happens even more often now that the weather is getting cooler.
~ Trader Joe's white cheddar popcorn.
~ The fact that 3 of my friends are having babies (and I get to host a triple baby shower:)...and that David and I are getting a new niece or nephew in the spring!
~ Finding cute, yet inexpensive, purses and shoes at Target. I got these a couple of weeks ago.

~ My car Vanna. After having her for over a year, I still feel kind of giddy when I get to drive her (plus, she still has a faint new car smell, mmmm).

You really feel old when...

you ask a girl sitting next to you in your algebra review class "has it been a while since you've taken a math class too?" and she replies "oh, well I'm still in high school..."

Seriously, shoot me now.

Is it bizarre...

that sometimes I have a burning desire to be like a Stepford Wife?



Seriously...I want to wear the constrictive, but absolutely adorable, little dresses, have my hair coiffed every day, always have something wonderful baking in the oven, and dinner on the table every day when my husband comes home. And surely I would have kids if I could be guaranteed that they would always be clean and well-behaved! It's just too bad that I don't have robotic insides and an un-opinionated temperment. ;)

ETA - I just realized (as I was clicking on another episode) that this newfound obsession stems from watching way too many episodes of AMC's Mad Men on On Demand lately!

"Camping" by Theo

This past weekend I went on my first camping trip to Lincoln Rock State Park. Mom and Dad were a little afraid to take me for fear I would be a slight pain-in-the-butt at times. They were somewhat right! I was very good at times, and not so good at others. But I had a blast and I can't wait for my next camping trip!

Here I am all packed and ready to go!


This is the view from our campsite. Somehow Mom managed to score us the best site in the entire campground!


Dad and I went exploring that night.


Then when it got dark we watched the wildfires burning nearby.


The next day I went for my first swim! Complete with a lifejacket to make my paranoid mommy feel better. When I got to the small and rocky beach near our campsite, I jumped right into the water...and then quickly swam out when I realized I couldn't touch! I loved splashing in the water and zooming around the beach, but I'm not so sure about the whole swimming thing!



After I had dried off from my water adventures, I spent the afternoon lounging in Dad's chair, drinking my water, and enjoying the shade. :)


That night, after I'd eaten all the extra graham crackers from the smores we made, I snuggled with Dad by the campfire.


The next morning I was rested and ready to greet the day!


We walked around a bit and then we came back, where I "helped" to pack up camp.


What a weekend! I loved camping, but it was exhausting. I slept on the way home...until the curvy roads and the french fries Dad fed me caught up with me. I then urped up straight into Mom's purse! Then I heard them both yelling "sick!" a lot. Oh well, I went back to sleep (though later I did have the punishment of having to get a bath). I can't wait for my next camping trip!