Merry Chirstmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. As we open our gifts and spend time with family, let us remember the greatest gift that we can not find in a store or wrapped in pretty paper. The gift our Heavenly Father gave, his Only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

State to State

Here is our journey across the United States.

We started in California, of course. The first state we crossed into was Arizona. We were just traveling through; we ended up stopping at several rest areas because it was the first time for Sage in a car for 13 hours so she was just a little restless. The only challenge was finding a rest area that was open. Due to the economy a lot of Arizona's rest areas are closed because there is no money to up keep them.

New Mexico is next and this is where we finally stopped for the first night. Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was such a long day hauling through two states with a total of a 14 hour day. We will not be doing that again for a long, long time.

With a nice night’s sleep we started on day two of our journey, we traveled through the rest ofNew Mexico, which went by pretty quick. We then entered into Texas. We watched people get pulled over one after another right in front of us, and who stepped out of the police car? Of course it was police men wearing cow boy hats and cow boy boots. I mean I know they “say” that’s what they wear; I just didn't realize it was a reality.

Through Texas to one of my favorite states… O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A Oklahoma!! It is so green and beautiful, compared to the desert we had been traveling through for the past day and a half.

We stopped at the Oklahoma City temple. Unfortunately it was Monday so it was closed but we got to see the outside and the grounds. It was really beautiful and it was a nice break from the highway we had been on all day.

We decided to take Sage out so she could stretch her legs as well. We were worried about her because she had not gone to the bathroom since the night before we left. It had been two days so we were hoping she would calm down enough to concentrate and go to the bathroom.

This is one of my favorite parts of the temple. I love the saying and meaning Holiness to the Lord!

A gorgeous fountain on the back side of the temple over looking the temple grounds.

After Oklahoma City we were so close to the city I used to live in, so we had to stop. Our next destination was Edmond, Oklahoma. We stopped for dinner at CiCi’s Pizza buffet, which I hadn’t eaten since living in Oklahoma since I was a kid. The pizza was so yummy! After dinner we went and looked at the house we used to live in so I could show Michael. It looked so different and small. It is so funny how things like that change from when you are kid and you remember things being so big.

That night we had to travel an hour and a half to Tulsa, Oklahoma where we were staying. We got in at about 10 to our hotel and they were not being kind to us, they made us wait for our room to be prepared for a half hour out in the cold with no where else to go. Then once we got into the room it was filthy and disgusting. So at almost midnight we changed hotels throwing all of out stuff into the car as fast as we could and drove across town to a wonderful La Quinta Inn. We had been having issues with the moving company that was moving us and they were threatening not to move our stuff. At this point it was still sitting in a storage unit in California and we were worried about it. So once we got to our nice comfy hotel I was feeling so sick. I ended up throwing up all night. It turned out to be a long night. It was a relief to wake up and pack to get ready to see some family in Missouri.

Once in Missouri we made our way to my Uncle Scott’s. He is my dad’s oldest brother and he lives just a little outside St. Louis. We had so much fun at their house. Sage got to play with their dogs and all the neighbor dogs. It was a blast. He has a Koi pond and we got to see them and feed them. It had been a while since I had seen him, and Michael had never met him so it was exciting for both of us.

We stayed the night with Uncle Scott and the next day we headed out passing by the St. Louis temple and the gateway arch.

Passing through Illinois

And Indiana

Finally into Ohio where we would be staying with my Grandpa, we spent a really nice evening relaxing and watching TV. It may sound boring but after you are sitting in the car tense and driving just sitting and not having to think about anything is wonderful!

We were so excited because the next day we knew we would be entering into Pennsylvania, our final destination, and end of day 5! We were excited to find that when we woke up the next morning we were expecting rain. Now you have to understand that Michael being a California native was ecstatic about this. To his greatest desire it rained all the way up until we got about 30 miles from my parents house, It was a really nice change. In the end we arrived safely and extremely stressed to the max, but it was a great feeling to know that we would be starting a new chapter of our lives with family and friends close by.

One Last Hoorah!!

and

Before we left California we were able to go to Disneyland one last time. We had so much fun and we were thankful that we could enjoy The Happiest Place on Earth.

This is us standing in line at California Screamin' in California Adventure, which is right next door to Disneyland for those who haven't been before.

This is Indiana Jones (da da da da, da da da)!! Probably one of our favorite rides!! It’s also one of the most detailed rides with thick jungle and caves to walk through while standing in line.

So last time we were here this was island was undergoing construction. It was previously known as Tom Sawyer Island. Now it is a Pirates Island with caves, tree houses and even a sunken pirate ship.

Here we are on the cool raft that takes you from Disneyland to Pirates Island (Arrr!)

And just like on Pirates of the Caribbean a pirate cage made of human skulls and bones!

The always fun, Mad Hatter Tea Cups!!

We spun as fast as we could the entire ride. Michael felt so sick and he couldn't walk straight for several minutes.

One of Michael's artistic pictures... He decided to take this picture while standing in line at Storybook land, which is actually a really cool ride. You ride a boat, almost like a gondola, and look at miniatures of all the villages from Disney. For example there is The Sultans and Jasmines castle along with the market place that Aladdin and Jasmine first meet, Cinderella's village with the shining castle upon the hill, Snow White and the seven dwarf’s cottage, and even Mr. Toad’s water front home! It was amazing to see the exact replicas in Miniature form.

The Matterhorn!! Also was closed last time we were at Disneyland and I am glad we got to go one it. You ride a sled all through the Mountain and outside as well. The cool thing about this ride is me and Michael got to ride together meaning in the same seat. It was a really cool and fast ride.

Last but not least we have Michael in a giant Toy Story toy box. I don't know about you but I would buy him from the store and take him home. This is actually a tragic story because if you have noticed through out the blog I have been listing rides that were closed the last time we visited. Well, Disneyland does maintenance and rotates rides. Well, my favorite ride EVER Toy Story Mania.... was closed our last time to Disneyland. It was so tragic. So some how I am going to have to make it to Disneyland again when the ride is open.... but when?

African Safari

Michael and I went with Michael's brother to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal park. They have recently changed the name to the San Diego Zoo's Safari Zone! But they have not changed the sign yet.

This is Jordan and a beautiful white pelican. They take great pictures together.

It turned out to be a pretty hot day so we found some cool bench in the shade of

a gigantic balloon that you could take rides in!

Next was the Bonsai garden. This is a Pomegranate tree! But it was only 2 1/2 feet tall!! And get this, it actually produced fruit! Only 3 or 4 fruits a year because growing fruit it very hard on the tree but still full size pomegranates on the tiny tree!

There were all kinds of cool shapes of trees and this was a cool forest piece. Its amazing the things people can do.

Next stop our African Safari!! Michael says it wasn't anything like Africa but Jordan and I really enjoyed it! We were on a car with animal pictures all above us so as we were driving and our tour guide was telling us all the animals we were seeing we were trying to find the pictures on the ceiling to better identify the animals.

Overall I think the boys had a fun day. We ended up leaving at about noon because it was getting into the 100's but we saw all that was wanted and had a blast!

Of course we had to get our matching butterfly stamps to reenter the park before we left!

Summer Day

Its my birthday, a nice 104 degrees outside, and Sage needed to cool down. So we pulled out her pool and got her wet. She is a water dog. She loves to chase after the water, jump in her pool, and splash. She would be happy if that was all she did all day. And better yet we get to get her wet.

Sage also likes to grab floating ice out of the pool or just lick it. It will be interesting to see what she does with snow when we move.

Brandee and I both love her and her personality. She is a wonderful dog and we really enjoy having her.

Visiting Dog Beach

A couple of Thursdays ago Michael took a sick day from work. We decided that we were going to take Sage to the beach since she had never been and it was suppose to be really warm, and we didn't want to suffer through our day together.

The beach was so beautiful. This is a river that runs into the ocean in Del Mar. The dog beach is on the North side of Del Mar and it was so beautiful.

The other side of the beach is pretty much blocked off by rocks so it makes the beach nice and secluded and gives the dogs limitations to run and play. We were surprised how many people were at the beach since it was a Thursday and people were suppose to be working, but I guess we were suppose to be too. :-)

Sage really enjoyed the water. At first she was so overwhelmed with all the other dogs running around. But once she discovered the water she loved it. The other dogs were swimming all the way across the river. She was pretty afraid of going in over her head. So we would throw her a stick and she would watch the other dogs and do what they did. She would check back and make sure that she was doing it right.

Then she would bring the stick back. She was such a good girl and after a while she was listening better and paying more attention to us than the other dogs. Unfortunately, we didn't let her off her leash at all because she is still too young to stay focused. But she still enjoyed herself.

In the end she was dripping wet but nice and cool.

The poor girl was so tired after her long day on the beach. Not to mention she was freezing! She had all of her body she could in the tiny bit of sun coming in the car and her arms under her to stay warm.

And here she is under her beach towel staying warm on our drive home. Yes our dog sleeps curled up in a blanket every night, no matter summer or winter!

Yum Yum

In my free time I really enjoy cooking and baking, especially baking. Here are a few of my experiments over the past couple of days.

Mmm... Homemade tortilla dough!

It was quite a challenge to roll it our into a nice circle, and I don't have a tortilla press so doing it by hand was really interesting.

In the end they were delicious with honey drizzled over them fresh off the stove. Probably one of my favorite snacks!

Okay second experiment, this one was inspired by my Mom. The other day we were chatting with my parents on skype and my Dad mentioned that my mom had made this killer caramel corn. After that I could not get caramel corn out of my head, so I had to make some.

Here it is hot out of the oven! It was a little chewy but tasted wonderful!

Michael and Sage enjoying the caramel corn. Unfortunately Sage never got to actually taste it, but she sured did try!