Picking up Blake

Here is our weekend in Review.


Knowing that I had a long drive ahead of me on Thursday I started out my day like a true Seattle-ite






















I drove, and drove and drove. And the scenery never seemed to change. It really wasn't as bad as I thought driving all day by myself.






























The following day I helped Blake clean his apartment. I think we cleaned it better than it had ever been cleaned before, because I found this behind the microwave.
And apparently this, which I named "The Animal" was what they used to clean. Which I'm pretty sure did not help clean.
We took a break from our cleaning and ate lunch at the Malt Shoppe. True Utah style, fry sauce included. That night we decided to go bowling. We ended up going with 2 random guys that we didn't know (long story) but we had a blast. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of our new friends. After bowling we played cranium, and found that hardly any of us are good at the Humdingers.





















The next day we went to Lagoon for a bit before we had to leave to head up to Idaho. We met up with Camille's family and all went together. The weather was kinda cold, but it was ok because there were NO lines. We went right from one line to another and got our fill of roller coasters. (except I only got a picture of us on the sky ride.)
After Blake and Camille said their goodbyes Blake and I headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Idaho. When we got there we visited with Grandpa for a bit then walked down to Thane and Laura's to visit with them and their kids. Uncle Larry was there and walked down with us.
The next morning we woke up early to head back home. Before we left mom got Grandma up and brought her up to have her breakfast. Grandma stared at me for quite a while. And she pointed like she recognized me (she isn't able to talk or really communicate at all anymore.) It was precious. She probably just thought I looked like someone else, since I haven't been there in about 8 years. But it was still a cool experience.

You wouldn't have guessed that it was mid April when you saw the weather conditions that we drove through in Idaho. It slowed us down a bit but once we got through the first 2 hours or so it was clear sailing.




















We saw some interesting things.

And then ..........finally.......... we were back home!

My mini me

Will is a thrill seeker just like me. He likes to do things a little more daring than most. Going to Disneyland was tons of fun. But I knew going into it that Will would be disappointed that he didn't get to go on the "big kid" rides. "I'm big!" he said. And unfortunately, even though I knew he'd do great on the rides, the mean Disneyland workers wouldn't let him on. So we took him on the rides that he was allowed on. And he loved any that had a bit of thrill to them. All through the Matterhorn, and on the Spaceship ride, and any other thrilling ride, he'd put his hands in the air and yell "wheeeew!"

The other day Lisa (Brett's girlfriend) told me the following about Will. It made me get teary eyed. I love that my son wants to me like me.

Will is constantly telling me all about wanting to get a motorcycle and ride alongside his mommy. I tell him I am super scared of them and that he and you must be brave to want to do that and he says "Ya, I am brave like my mommy, we are really brave." :)

There are only 2 types of Riders

There are only 2 types of motorcycle riders:

Those who have crashed,

And those who will

It was a beautiful day and I had just picked up my bike from being worked on and getting maintenance after sitting all winter. One of my good guy friends invited me to meet him to go for a ride. He lives out in Carnation on Tolt Hill Rd. It was a gorgeous day and as I rode out there I definitely saw more bikes than cars.

3 motorcycle guys that had been riding in front of me somehow saw (or maybe just heard) my crash. They turned around and came to check on me. It was very kind of them, but I really didn't feel the need for all of the attention. I told them all that I was just embarrassed. But they assured me that I was in good company as they had all laid their bikes down at some point.

Extent of the damage: (which is not bad at all!)

Bike:
-Really, really scratched and cracked fairing (side of the bike)
-Blinker popped off
-Bent shifter

Me:
-Big toe that is either jammed or broken
-Scraped up knee
-Hole in my favorite flat shoe jeans
-Road rash (small cuts and bruises) on upper leg and hip (not shown)


After assessing all the damage I decided that the thing that I am most upset about is the hole in the knee of my Sevens jeans. I feel very lucky though, as I know the damage to both my bike and myself could have been much, much worse. I'm glad I was wearing my jacket, gloves and helmet because all of those areas would have been pretty torn up otherwise. My helmet took a lot of the fall and sliding on the gravel... better my helmet than my face. :)

After my little crash Kurt said, "well now what are we gonna do today?" But within about 45 minutes he had straightened out my shifter, and put back on my blinker. I cleaned out the little cuts on my knee and applied neosporin, and then we were back on our bikes. I was definitely a lot more cautious on the gravel as I pulled out of his driveway, but other than that it was a fun and beautiful ride. I'm not going to let a little crash slow me down. Lesson learned, and now I continue on my way. :)

(soon to be) best friend in law

As you all know and have read, Steph is my best friend. What you may not know is that her fiance, my soon to be best friend in law, Trevor, is the coolest guy ever. I seriously could not ask for a better guy to marry my best friend.

He puts up with Steph and I and our craziness.

He lets me tag along and be the 3rd wheel all the time.

He's hilarious and makes me laugh.

He is one of the most understanding people that I have EVER met.

He's been there for me through the hardest times in my life.

He never judges me, even when I'm dumb.

He is really, really good to Steph and loves her like a man should love the woman of his life.

He's a very balanced person.

He's extremely creative and musical.

He's super fun to be around.

He's very selfless and giving and aware of others feelings.

... and many more wonderful things.

Happy Birthday Trev!

You're AWESOME!

California Vacation

Day 1
We woke up around 4am to get ready to head to the airport for our 6am flight. We arrived into LAX around 8:40. After meeting up with Aunt Cathy and Maddie we headed to the car rental place where I picked up the "Mommy Mobile." (Can you believe that I actually drove around a minivan for 5 days?!) We headed for Disneyland. And about 15 u-turns, and 1 hour later, we were finally there. We were all very excited. We separated for the first few hours and Will and I walked around and did the kid rides while Mom and Cathy took the girls on the rides that Will wasn't tall enough for. Later we met up to go on some rides together before we staked out a spot for the parade. The girls wanted to go on the "it's a small world" ride. I stopped to ask one of the Disneyland workers if there was a Fast pass for the ride. He informed me that there wasn't, but said he'd take us through the quick line. He stayed and chatted with us while we waited in the short line. Cathy said she liked traveling with me. I said, "I didn't even wink at him." But we enjoyed only waiting for 5 minutes for the ride, as opposed to about an hour. That night we watched the parade, went on a few more rides, and then watched the Fantasmic show, and a bit of the fireworks as we walked to the car. By the time I got into bed at after 11pm I was exhausted.



























Day 2
On day 2 I had the pleasure of having my friend Rachel meet up with us. I was SO happy to see her as she is such and awesome person, and I haven't seen her in over 2 years. It made the lines so much more bearable having a friend to chat and catch up with. She and I took will around Disneyland on all the rides he wanted to go on. Then we met up with Mom, Cathy and the girls at California adventure. Between going on rides with Will, Mom and Cathy were kind enough to watch him so Rachel and I could go on some of the height restriction rides. My favorite was Tower of Terror. We also loved the California Screamin'. After we all had our fill of rides, we went to dinner back at the hotel restaurant. It was a wonderful day!


























Day 3
In the morning we all piled back into the car and took the somewhat long drive down to San Diego to go to Sea World. Everyone except mom and I napped while we drove. We arrived just as the park opened. We had a lot of fun watching the dolphin show, the amazing pets show, and the Shamu show. We saw all sorts of animals in the exhibits, which Will loved because he loves animals. The kids even got to feed the Seals! (I was attacked by a seagull as I was carrying the fish that I had bought for Will to feed the seal. Yikes! Stupid bird.) Will and I also went and pet a Clydesdale horse, while Mom and Cathy took Mickayla and Maddie to go on the Journey to Atlantis ride. That night when we got back to the hotel we went and soaked our sore muscles in the hot tub. (Isn't it sad that we were sore, just from walking around Disneyland and Sea World?)


















Day 4
We had planned this day to be our relaxation/beach day. It was relaxing, but it wasn't quite the day on the beach that I had hoped for. It was pretty chilly. I sat (fully clothed) on the beach with Cathy and Mom, while the girls played in the water (I don't know how they could stand the cold) and Will built a sand castle and chased Seagulls. After about 2 hours Cathy and I couldn't stand the cold anymore so we all decided to go back to the hotel and warm up in the hot tub. We then cleaned up and headed out to go to our Medieval Times dinner. My friend Rachel and her husband Steve met us there. We had a great time! Will watched the show intently and then afterwards had a sword fight with Steve.





















































Day 5
We woke up earlier this morning in order to get to Disneyland early and fit in as much Disney time before we had to head to the airport. We started at Disneyland and then worked our way over to California Adventure. Going on all of our favorite rides again. We also ran into quite a few characters to take pictures with, and did a little bit of shopping for souvenirs to bring home. We then headed toward the airport.
































It was a very fulfilling, fun, exhausting vacation. I think we all had a blast, but are happy to be back home.

Until next time....