Thursday, August 25, 2011

23 August 2011

I'm back in my little apartment (so glad to be home too) from California which is where I was for a week with my family (except for Dave who had to work, poor Dave). We left right after my ward's sacrament meeting for the Bay Area where we stayed the night (we got in at 2 am and I jumped straight into the bed, oh and we definitely watched the first two movies of "Lord of the Rings" extended versions on the way down.... it was a long drive). In the morning we met up with our Griffin cousins who live up there and it was a ton of fun to see them and catch up since I hadn't seen them for seven years (yes I know it's sad to go that long without seeing them). Then we all piled back into the van and headed down to LA. We got some food at Buca de Beppo's which is a wonderful Italian restaurant then we went to our hotel in Anaheim.
With our Griffin Cousins
We woke up and headed straight for Disneyland and California Adventure where we rode a ton of rides, had some fun foods that only Disneyland has, and enjoyed the Disney spirtit.... for three full long days (I was so worn out (pictures Day One, Day Two, and Day Three ).

and yes we were in the exact same elevator in the exact same seat

Friday my day was completely devoted to my best friend Camille Murphy (now Giullian). I was able to go through the temple with her for her first time which was awesome and then we went to In-and-Out for lunch. After realizing it was a lot later than we thought we took our food and headed over to where Camille was going to have her hair done. After her hair was all curled, set, and ready to go went went back to the Murphy house (no relation by the way) and she did her make up and put on her wedding dress, I put on jeans, flip flops and a top, and then we went to a park where we had Brandon (her husband, fiance then) blind folded and they got their pictures taken (I helped the photographer as well as took a few of my own). After that we raced to the place where Camille was having her reception. I quickly put on my bridesmaid outfit and we all went outside and did the group pictures and then the party began. It was fun to see some old faces from my childhood at Camille and Brandon's reception and see all the people who wanted to share in this exciting time in their lives.
Getting her hair done


The next morning my parents and I headed to the New Port Beach Temple again and were able to see Camille and Brandon sealed for all time and eternity (Jennifer and Dusty made it there too so it was fun to see them). After some more pictures, Jenn, Dusty and I went to the mall right by the temple and were going to grab Jenn some flip flops but were stopped by a lady at one of the make up counters who wouldn't take no as an answer so we got our make up done, needless to say the majority of it was wiped off when we got back into the car. We went to Camille's church and met up with my family and all of Camille and Brandon's families and had the wedding day lunch-in where we ate delicious Mexican food and heard stories about the newly weds, as well as a very funny skit by Blake and Tommy (Camille's dad and brother-in-law). After the lunch-in I said goodbye to the bride and headed with my family down to Temecula where we went to Jordan Price's reception for a little bit and saw some people from our old ward. Then we went to Hayley Guinn's house and chatted all night long. We finally went to our hotel and slept.
Sunday morning was filled with going to our old ward's sacrament meeting and then packing up in the car again. Where we drove to my stepgrandma Maria's house by Fresno and ate dinner and caught up and then got into the van again for and drove another 2ish hours to our hotel where I once again leaped into bed. Monday we woke up drove to Redding where I bought Dave a few flies for fishing, were almost to Salem, OR when our A/C broke down and we tried to get it fixed but they couldn't do anything, we visited with our Murphy cousins in Salem and then drove on to Redmond.
All in all the trip was a lot of fun and I loved being able to see cousins and old friends again as well as go to Disneyland and participate in Camille's wedding.