Happy Independence Day! I hope everyone had a good one. Trevor and I spent ours up in Island Park Idaho with his family. (Let me tell you, it was a great way to start my digital minimalism fast up there, where there was no internet or cell phone signal).
We had a great time! On the first day, Trevor took me on my first ATV ride.
Totally posing. Trevor did all the driving. :)
In the afternoon, the family went jet skiing. (I had to sit out due to some health issues, but it was still fun to watch!)
On the second day, Trevor, Kathy (my mother-in-law) and I headed in to Yellowstone and visited our favorite places.
Top 2 favorites are definitely the Grand Prismatic Spring (in my opinion, one of the prettiest places on Earth!) and Artist's Point!
This time we hiked up past Fairy Falls to see the bird's eye view of the Spring. 10/10, would definitely recommend!
Artist's Point
On the last day, six of us went on a fishing trip with a guide. It was my very first time fishing, but I managed to catch 5 fish! (All thanks to Kerry, our awesome guide!) Trevor caught 8. It was catch and release, so after we hooked them, we let them go.
I caught the first fish on our boat! That's Kerry, our guide. He was so patient with all my newbie mistakes.
Trevor's biggest fish
I made so many newbie mistakes fishing, it was pretty hilarious. I got the fly line stuck in the rod a million times. I accidentally turned the reel backwards and tangled the line, more than once. I somehow crossed my line over Trevor's twice even though we were fishing on different sides of the boat. But the best moment was when Trevor and I both had fishes hooked, and in the middle of reeling mine in... my reel CAME OFF THE ROD. It fell to pieces. Apparently this is not a normal thing. We still aren't sure how I could have done that. The guide started trying to put it back together, but then he needed to help Trevor with his fish. Kerry handed me my rod.... and then Trevor's fish, fighting with all its might, swam to my side of the boat and got tangled in my line. 😮 Kerry had to take the rod back from me to try to solve that problem, and in the process, the reel innards fell to the floor and rolled away. It was an adventure. But Trevor did get his fish!
Maybe next time will go better. It was still fun.
We finished out the day with a trip to the Playmill theater to see the Foreigner. That play is hilarious, I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it.
We had a great few days and I'm so glad we got to go.
My husband and I were married in the Salt Lake City temple. Weddings in our faith (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints--most people call us the Mormon church) usually take place in a temple, and only faithful members of our church attend. So there are a lot of questions out there about what our weddings are really like and what we are doing inside the temple.
Our wedding ceremonies are simple. They take place in what we call "sealing rooms" (below is a pic of a sealing room in another temple).
Guests are seated prior to the marriage. The bride and groom come in together and sit together on a small couch on one end of the room. The sealer (the man who officiates over the wedding ceremony) speaks to the couple for a few minutes--he will often share advice about marriage and remind the couple of the sacredness of the covenants that they will be making.
Then he calls the couple up to the altar in the middle of the room. The groom escorts his bride to the altar, and the couple kneel across from each other as they are married. The ceremony is simple, sweet, and sacred. The couple promise God that they will honor and love each other completely, and that they will follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. Once the sealing is complete, the bride and groom kiss across the altar, and if they want to, they exchange rings. Some couples opt to exchange rings outside of the temple instead. Either way is fine since the ring exchange is not part of the temple sealing. We chose to exchange our rings in the sealing room.
Sealing rooms have mirrors hanging on the walls on either side of the altar.
One way that our weddings are unique is that we are not married until death do us part. We are married for "time and all eternity"--in other words, for the rest of our lives, and forever and forever in heaven after death. We consider our temple marriages to be eternal. These mirrors symbolize that eternal connection. Since they face each other, their reflections bounce off each other. When you stand together and look into the mirrors, you see your reflections repeating endlessly (see the pic above) into eternity. For me it was a powerful moment to look into those mirrors with Trevor after we were sealed.
After that, the bride and groom usually stand at the front of the room, and as the guests leave, each one has a chance to congratulate them personally (and usually to hug them too). They go outside to wait for the happy couple to emerge from the temple for further celebrations.
In the temple, we dress all in white. This symbolizes purity and that we are all equal before God. Because of this, grooms don't wear their tuxes for the sealing ceremony. It's up to women whether or not they want to wear their wedding dress, but if they do, it needs to be truly white--not ivory or off-white, and it needs to have long sleeves (I've heard that many temples have sleeve insets they can loan you if you have short sleeves). I decided to be married in my temple dress instead of my wedding dress, mostly because I'm a romantic I guess. I knew I'd only wear my wedding dress a couple times in my life, but I'd wear my temple dress often, and I thought it would make my temple dress more special to me if I wore it during my marriage ceremony.
All of that is to say, the happy couple don't emerge immediately from the temple. I changed into my wedding dress and fixed up my hair a bit. Trevor changed into his tux. When we were ready, we came out to greet our friends and family. That's when wedding pictures start in our faith--the moment the newlyweds exit the temple. As they come out, their friends and family are there to cheer and celebrate their new marriage.
Everyone waiting for us outside
You may have noticed that there is no aisle in the sealing room. There is no processional at the start of the service. Sometimes people will still designate bridesmaids and groomsmen, flower girls and ring bearers. But they don't participate in the wedding ceremony. Their main role (at least in my opinion!) is to dress to match the wedding party and to look good in all the pictures. Sometimes they will stand in the receiving line at the wedding reception. But there isn't much for them to do--the title of bridesmaid or groomsman is really just symbolic more than anything.
Since between the two of us, Trevor and I have 5 sisters, 2 brothers, 2 brothers-in-law, and a niece and nephew, we decided that our family would be our wedding party. :)
Missing from the pic--my sister-in-law Kimber.
Of course our parents dressed to match too. :)
Sealing rooms are often not very big, and so often only close friends and family are invited to the actual sealing ceremony. We were married in a sealing room that could only seat 45, and between our extended families, we had more than enough people to fill it up (although we did manage to get a few friends in there too! :).
So in our culture, most wedding guests are invited just to attend the wedding reception. When a bride and groom have families in separate states like Trevor and I, usually the groom's family will host an open house and the bride's family will have a reception, so people in both states can celebrate with us.
Our receptions and open houses are pretty laid back. The sealing is simple, and it is also the most important part of the wedding celebrations, since it is the actual wedding! Receptions and open houses are relatively simple too so as to not upstage the sealing. We kept ours really simple--basically just a chance for people to come say hello and congratulations, and grab a bite to eat while they were there. Some receptions are more elaborate. My sister Kristie had hers at a reception hall, so hers featured all the traditional dances--the first dance, the daddy daughter dance, whatever other dances there are. :) It's up to the bride and groom's taste of course, and I guess Trevor and I are just simple people. The biggest thing we did is cut our cake in front of everyone. We fed each other with forks and were sooooo careful not get cake on our clothes. We were teased a bit for not mashing it in each other's faces, but what can I say? That's not our style. :)
Recently our church released a great Youtube video that explains more about our wedding ceremonies. Here is it if you want to check it out:
I am grateful that through temple sealings, families can be together forever. I truly believe that families are central to God's plan for us in this life and in the life to come (heaven). I know that Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice opens the way for us to return to live with God and to be with our families eternally. I am so grateful for Him and His love for all of us. I bear testimony of Him in His holy name, Jesus Christ, amen.
My grandmother wanted a representative from each family to speak at her funeral, so ultimately 3 grandchildren ended up speaking. I volunteered to speak for my family since I am the oldest... we are by default the tribute children.
Here's what I shared:
I
thought long and hard about what memories to share today about my grandma. It’s
hard to pick because I have so many!
My
grandma always made me feel very loved. She was always happy to see me or hear
from me. I knew I could tell her anything—she would patiently listen to my
childish flights of fancy, and later to my dating woes or school stresses. My
family lives in Colorado so we were farther away than the other grandchildren,
but somehow Grandma always stayed in the loop on our lives. Whenever I talked
to her she’d know exactly what was going on in my life and she’d ask about
specific details of my latest adventures and struggles. I knew she cared about
me because she remembered all the little details of my life.
She was
always patient with me, no matter what. I can’t remember her ever being mad or
impatient with me. I remember when we came out to visit as kids, my sister and
I would sleep in the room across from my grandparents’. We would often stay up
late talking and giggling, but Grandma never complained or shushed us. She told
us she was happy we were enjoying our sister time.
Grandma was selfless and she would
bend over backwards to serve those around her. When I grew up, I moved out to
Provo to go to school at BYU. My sophomore year I moved out of the dorms and
into an apartment. I didn’t have a car, and neither did any of my roommates. I
didn’t have a good way to go grocery shopping. Grandma and Grandpa came every
week that first semester to take me to the grocery store. It was a big
sacrifice of time—I think it was at least an hour round trip—but they did it to
take care of me. Figuring out what groceries I needed was a learning curve—I
was so slow at first! But they were always patient with me and never made me
feel rushed, and they were always willing to give advice. Afterwards they would
always treat me to Burger King, and where they would listen to all my stories
of life at the Y. Their service made me feel so loved. When Christmas came,
they drove me all the way to the airport, even with snowstorms pending.
One of my favorite memories of my
time with my grandma happened last year in February. I flew out to Utah for one
of my friend’s weddings, and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. That weekend
Grandma and I spent a lot of quality time together, going out to eat, talking
about life. I was happy that my friend was getting married, but I was also sad
and worried that I was still single at 29. Grandma and I had some heart to
heart discussions about how she still had hope that I would find someone. She
was so encouraging…. Back then I told her I was going to give up on men and go
buy a house and a dog. She always told me that I could have all 3. In the end,
she was right! One of the last things she said to me was, “You did! You got
your husband, your house, and your dog!”
When I got married last year, she
was too sick to come to the wedding, but I was able to stop by her house and
model my wedding dress for her. I felt her support and love that day even
though she wasn’t physically with me.
When we got the news a couple weeks
ago that Grandma was going into hospice, I hopped a plane the next day so I
could come say goodbye. I think all of her kids and grandkids came to see her
that day. My siblings and I got to visit with her for a few minutes. We started
to leave her so she could get some rest, but she called us back so she could
share some spiritual experiences she had in her life concerning death. She bore
her testimony to us that there is life after death, and she promised us she
would be okay after she was gone. That was so comforting to me, and it’s
something I’ve thought about often since. She was the one dying, but she
comforted us.
I love my grandma so much! I will
miss her. But I am so grateful to know that families are forever, and I know
that I will see her again. I look forward to that day.
Today I got word that they are putting my grandma in hospice care.
It's been about a year and a half since she was diagnosed with cancer. At first we were all in shock, but we were optimistic. The doctors thought she had a good chance.
She struggled through the agonies of chemotherapy. Eventually she got the exciting news that her cancer was in remission. We were so relieved.
But... things took a turn for the worst again. We found out the cancer was back.... It was a bit of a roller coaster ride from there. We knew she might die, but things kept happening that would give us a glimpse of hope.
Just yesterday, there was a glimpse. Her doctors decided to try a new treatment on her. They weren't giving up.
And then.... today I got word that she's been taken to the Huntsman Cancer Center. The cancer is even more advanced than they realized. They are moving her to hospice on Monday, and they expect she'll live another 2 to 4 weeks.
I feel... numb, almost. I can't quite believe that it is true. It hasn't sunk in yet. But at the same time, I can't stop thinking about it. Every time I move on to thinking about what I need to get done today (Oh yeah, I still need to shower.... I really need to straighten this kitchen... etc. etc.), I feel guilty... going about my normal life when hers is ending.
I want to go visit her. It's been too long! When I lived in Utah I saw her often, but it's been over three years now since I moved back here. I still saw her occasionally. The last time I really spent time with her was when I flew out for Melissa's wedding last year in February. I stayed at my grandparents' overnight and my grandma and I spent a lot of quality time together. It's actually one of my favorite memories of being with her.
I saw her again last June when I flew out for Kristie's wedding. But already she was not up to staying at the wedding celebrations very long.
By my wedding in November, she was too sick to come. The last time I saw her was a couple days before my wedding. I stopped at her house to show her my wedding dress. She told me she wished so much she could come to the wedding ceremony, but I understood that her health was too fragile.
I ended up having to rush off at the end of our visit. I was supposed to meet Trevor in Salt Lake City to get our marriage license. I wish I'd stayed longer with her then.
I'm wondering if I should fly out to see her one last time. Unfortunately I have a bad cold right now..... and the last thing I want to do is hasten her end. :(
I'm going to miss her so much. But I do know families are forever and this will not be the end. I need to keep that in my mind. Death is only a temporary separation.
This last weekend, Trevor and I traveled to Pocatello for his grandfather's funeral. Trevor wrote a beautiful musical arrangement for the grandchildren to sing for the service, and he accompanied them on the piano. I think his grandpa would have loved it.
I didn't know Grandpa Hansen well, but in the time I got to spend with him, he was always so welcoming and loving. Of course I was a bit nervous joining a new family (I really wanted them to like me!), and it meant so much to me to be welcomed in with open arms.
He knew his death was coming, and he met it bravely. Trevor and I called him a week or so before his passing to say goodbye. He told us, "It's okay, I have lived a good life," and we could tell he meant it. He did his best to handle funeral preparations so his family wouldn't have to worry about it. My grandfather did that as well before he passed. It's a great final gift of love.
In the past few months, Ralph, President Monson, and now Grandpa Hansen have all passed on. Because of that, death is very much on my mind. What do I want to do with my life on the earth? What kind of legacy do I want to leave, and how do I want to be remembered? All three of these men were great men who changed people's lives for the better. I want to be like that someday too.
During our time in Idaho, we spent a lot of time with Trevor's extended family--aunts, uncles, and cousins (not to mention great-aunts and family friends!). At first I felt a little out of place, since I only knew a handful of people there and everyone else was related to each other. But they all went out of their way to make me feel welcome and like part of the family. I'm grateful for my in-laws, and I hope I can be as welcoming when our kids-in-law come along (looking pretty far ahead down the road, I know!)
He came back home last Monday. Today in church he gave his homecoming talk. I am so proud of him. He's grown and matured so much over the last two years, especially spiritually. We've had some great deep talks on gospel topics since he got home.
It feels so great to have our whole family reunited again.
Our extended family came to Jason's homecoming talk, and of course for dinner after.
It's not for very long. In 5-6 weeks or so, Kristie and Jason head back to Provo for another semester at BYU. They're both tentatively planning on staying there for Spring/Summer, so this could be the last time all 6 of us live together.
Of course, didn't I say that about the summer before Jason left on his mission? I guess you never know what the future holds.
And no matter what it holds... we'll make sure family is always a priority for us. We'll find a way to stay close, no matter what. That's what families do.
Kristie's return to the Springs allowed us to solve a long standing mystery....
What house would she be sorted into at Hogwarts?
Shauna, Jason, and I had all taken the official Pottermore quiz and fully embraced our houses with pride (once we got over the initial shock of not being Gryffindors). Can you guess what we are?
I'm a very proud Hufflepuff. :) To us, the most important trait is being nice... and that's a philosophy I can stand behind! It's also very important to us to be loyal and hard working. Other houses look down on us sometimes, thinking that since our most important trait is kindness... we are dumb without anything else going for us. But hey, what else is new? There's a reason there is a widely accepted (and not true) expression, "Nice guys finish last."
Shauna and Jason are both Ravenclaws, which of course, is the house for the smartest students are Hogwarts.
And today, we discovered that Kristie is a Gryffindor, just like Harry Potter! :) No surprises there. Gryffindors' most important trait is bravery... that fits her to a T.
We made Mom take the quiz too. She is a Ravenclaw (so that's where Shauna and Jason get it from). She's not a Potterhead like we are, and it's been a while since she's read the books/seen the movies.... so she got it into her head that my house is called the "Hufflelumps" (a slight variation off the Heffalumps Winnie the Pooh talks about... you know, Heffalumps and Woozils?). Several times today she cheerfully called me out for being a Hufflelump, and she said that we all must be fat if everyone calls us lumps. XD I laughed pretty hard. The truth is, Heffalump is a clever nickname for us Hufflepuffs. ;)
Dad watched all the Harry Potter movies with us growing up, but he never read the books, and I can't imagine him ever taking the quiz..... so we've decided he is a Muggle.
And there you have it, the basics for your very own McAllister family Harry Potter fanfiction. :) A Ravenclaw married a Muggle, and produced a Hufflepuff (assumingly to everyone's slight dismay at first), 2 Ravenclaws, and a Gryffindor. We would have had a great time at Hogwarts, it's a shame our letters never arrived!
Last night we picked Kristie up from the airport! :)
For the last eighteen months, she's been serving a mission for our church in Finland. We were able to email her once a week, and we Skyped on Christmas and Mother's Day, but that's all the contact we've had with her.
I am so proud of Kristie and her desire to serve. :) For the entire eighteen months, she dedicated her life to serving the Lord--to serving His children (seriously, if you ever need help with yard work or help around the house-call the Mormon missionaries and they will help you out!), to studying His word, and to teaching. For the last 4 months, she's been serving as a Sister Training Leader, which means she worked closely with her Mission President and his wife to assist in all the affairs of the mission.
She's grown so much while she's been away. :) When she left, she was a college freshman and definitely still my baby sister. Now she's a grown up adult woman who can drive in Finnish traffic and bake tons of delicious Finnish stuff. I'm so happy to have her back. I wondered if it would feel a little weird at first, but instead it feels like life is closer to normal with her around. :) Now if we can just get my brother back from his mission in Mexico (he's there until November) our family will finally be together again! Only 52 days left. (Yes, I am counting down. :)
I'm grateful to have awesome siblings that have always been best friends. I hope we stay like that for forever.
Today, in celebration of Kristie's return, the two of us went to get mani-pedis. I'd never had a pedicure before, she'd never had a manicure. It turns out it was really fun. I managed to mess up my manicure in like 5 minutes, but the pedicure lasted great. We may have to go back again!
The picture's a little shaky because apparently massage chairs make it hard to snap a pic! Pro tip. :) Also pro tip: TURN THE CHAIR OFF when they are trying to paint your toes. It took me a minute to realize that.
Front and center because for once, it paid off to be the shortest grandchild. :)
Yesterday, our family gathered to celebrate Granny's 90th birthday. All 5 of her kids were able to make it, and a few of us grandkids too. I got to see my cousin Ash King and his wife for the first time in probably 3 years. It was a lot of fun getting caught up.
Dad: "Is this button working?" Haha.
We all agreed that we need to get together more often. When we were all kids, we'd get together for Thanksgiving every year, but now that everyone is all grown up and spread out, I don't get to see most of my cousins very often. I guess that's the beauty of Facebook and social media. We may not see each other in person, but I can still stalk their lives!
If you know my family, then you know that I am probably not the bravest kid in the bunch.
I blame it on the fact that I'm so much smaller than the rest of them.
I mean, I'm not saying I'm a total pansy... but I tend to be somewhat risk averse.
As the oldest kid, though, there was a time when I was the bravest kid by default. And that was the case when we went to Disneyland back in 2000.
Little us in Disneyland
Dad grew up in LA, so he'd basically been to Disneyland a hundred million times. (I was born in Orange County and my parents took me to Disneyland a couple times, but I was so little that I couldn't remember it.) My poor mom gets pretty motion sick on a lot of the rides in the park, so between that and having a small child with him on his most recent trips, it had been a while since he'd gone on any rides besides, say, Peter Pan.
During our trip in 2000, Dad quickly recruited me, as the oldest child, to accompany him on all the "big kid" rides. You know, like Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, that kind of thing. (Occasionally Jason joined us too--but that didn't always go so well. Poor little kindergartner Jason got so scared on Space Mountain he attempted to climb out of the ride. :) I was a little scared going into some of them, because I didn't know what to expect. But it turned out none of the rides were scary. I liked them, in fact. And I was so proud to be the brave kid that Dad took with him on all the "high adventure" rides. He called me his "Adventure Mouse." :) Which at the time seemed a little weird to me, because mice aren't brave really... I think I just realized right this second that he said mouse because we were at Disneyland. Duh. Haha, can't believe it took me this long...
Fast forward now to last year, 2015. Our family (minus missionary Jason) ventured back to Disneyland for the first time in over 10 years. Dad, Kristie, and I went on several of the more intense rides (ha, intense... well, you know, for Disneyland) but not all of them. I offered to go on Tower of Terror and California Screamin' (California's big roller coaster with one of those big loop de loop things) but in the end, I wimped out. I remembered how as a child, I hated Splash Mountain because of the drop. Why would I want to go on a ride that was all drops?!? And as silly as it sounds, it was the Ferris Wheel in California Adventure that convinced me not to go on California Screamin'. Being up in that Ferris Wheel for so long triggered my fear of heights BIG time, and as I sat up there, watching the roller coaster shoot past even HIGHER than the ferris wheel, I lost all my nerve. (Somewhere Melissa is reading this and laughing... she's seen how I think I love ferris wheels until I get on them, and then I FREAK out. :)
On the Ferris Wheel of doom
I knew my dad was a little disappointed, but I told him I couldn't go on those rides after all. I thought Kristie might, because she is an unstoppable force of nature, but she got so shook up on the Star Tours ride that she opted out of the other rides out of fear of getting sick.
So, this year! This year I was DETERMINED to reclaim my title as the Adventure Mouse and go on ALL the rides! And I did. :) It's dumb, but I'm super proud. I went on Tower of Terror twice and California Screamin' twice. And I loved them! Who knew?!?!? I think what I'm most proud of is that somehow, this time I wasn't even afraid prior to the rides.
This was the second time, where I was even brave enough to give a thumb's up before we dropped.
California Screamin'. You can tell I didn't know where the camera was because I didn't smile haha.
We even went on Splash Mountain again and it didn't even phase me. I like it now. :)
Anyway, basically I am celebrating overcoming some of my childhood fears. :D I have officially conquered all of Disneyland. I can go on basically any ride without fear! (Except for the Teacups... those would make me puke.)
We'll see if I hold on to this title in the future. I don't know when/if we'll go to Disneyland again, but we spent lots of time talking about what Jason and Kristie would do if we had them with us... whether they'd come with me and Dad on Tower of Terror and California Screamin' or not. Not really sure how it would go. But I think seeing their wimpy big sister rock those rides would convince them to give 'em a try. :)
They call Disneyland the happiest place on Earth, and for me, it definitely ranks in the top 5. Going to Disneyland relaxes me like nothing else. It unlocks my inner child at her happiest and best, no cares in the world and no reasons to stress. No matter what happens, I am happy and determined to have a perfect day.
Our family is back in Disneyland this week! We landed in CA late yesterday, and we'll be spending 3 days in the park. Today was probably the busiest I've seen Disneyland. Most of our trips have been in the off-season, when we could walk on to rides as many times as we wanted, and laugh at the ridiculous size of the waiting area. Today we got to see what those waiting areas look like filled with people.
This was a big surprise, because today was forecast to be the least crowded day all year. Of course, we probably weren't the only ones to hear that, so maybe that's why it ended up pretty busy haha. And when we were here last year, it was IMMEDIATELY after last year Disneyland measles scare, which probably helped clear out the park!
The Radiator Springs Ride
We still got to ride on lots of rides. There were several open that weren't last time we were here, or even the last few times I was here. I don't think I've been on Splash Mountain since 2000. That ride used to TERRIFY me!! I was so proud to ride it again and realize I'm not scared at all anymore. Bring on the big drop!
Today I was even brave enough to check out the Tower of Terror, and miracle of miracles, I liked it! Tomorrow I want to go on California Screamin', the big roller coaster in California Adventure. If I survive that ride, I'll have conquered Disneyland--no more rides that scare me. :)
Photographic evidence that I was on Tower of Terror. :) Dad and I are in the second row, farthest to the left.
All the McAllisters managed to get some time off this year around Labor Day weekend, so we took some time to enjoy the wonders of nature around the Springs this week.
Helen Hunt Falls
Red Rock Canyon
There's a lot of beautiful places around here that I still haven't been. I want to work on fixing that... especially before winter comes.
The last week and a half have been a blur. Shauna and I flew out to Colorado on the 20th, to attend Kristie's farewell talk on the 22nd. (Mormon missionaries usually speak to the members of their congregation on the Sunday before they go out--Kristie was speaking two weeks out because the first Sunday of each month is reserved for a special meeting called fast and testimony meeting). Then it snowed so much that church was canceled for our entire stake!
The new plan was for Kristie to give her talk right before the testimonies started on fast Sunday. So Shauna and I opted to stay in Colorado until we got to hear her speak. She did a great job. :) I can tell she is ready to be a missionary.
On Sunday, we had a family party with Dad's side of the family to wish her well. On Monday, we came back to Utah, and had a family party with Mom's side of the family too. It was fun seeing so much of my extended family in such a short period. They are all proud and excited for Kristie to serve.
We will drop Kristie off at the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday. I will miss her like crazy while she is gone, but I am so proud of her for serving the Lord, and I know He needs her in Finland right now.
So I've pretty much always been an Indiana Jones fan. It was one of the three franchises my daddy got me into when I was a little kid (the other two being Star Trek and Star Wars, naturally--but don't worry, my mom got me into chick flicks too). I've seen all the movies... but it's been probably 10 years, so I am a little fuzzy on all the details.
When we went to Disneyland, we went on the Indiana Jones ride a TON. It's one of our favorites--but Kristie can barely remember the movies. So when I came home this weekend for Kristie's farewell, I snagged a copy of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to bring with me (my favorite Indy movie!). I watched it with my sisters last night. I forgot how campy and how wonderful these movies are. I was cracking up the whole time over the cheesy 80s effects and the way vehicles blew up at the slightest touch and just... everything! :) My sisters seemed to be loving it too, but I wasn't sure if they were really into it, especially Kristie, since she's not a nerd like the rest of us haha.
But tonight Kristie came to tell me she LOVED it and she wants to rent the other movies before she leaves on her mission! At first I was afraid she was just saying it to be nice, but she reminded me that 90% of the time she falls asleep during movies, and she was wide awake for the whole thing last time.
This makes me almost as happy as when she admitted she likes Star Trek too. :)
So, my family went on a semi-spontaneous trip to Disneyland at the end of January.
If you know my family at all, you know this is very unlike us. :) But it was a good time to go. Shauna had just graduated BYU and was still job hunting, Kristie has the semester off school while she prepares for her mission in March. And we'd heard that January is a great time to go to Disneyland to avoid the crowds. With the measles outbreak going on, we had a pretty good shot at an empty park.
The first day was the absolute best. The park was almost empty. We could (and did) walk onto any ride we wanted. Didn't even need to get a fast pass. We took a bunch of pictures with characters and we didn't even have to wait in line!
I quickly succumbed to the temptation to get a mouse hat, while everyone else resisted... which resulted (as usual) in people thinking I was the youngest in our family instead of the oldest, but whatever. :)
We got to see the parades in both parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). We waited for a little bit to see the Disneyland one, but we walked right up to the California Adventure one when it was starting and managed to find an awesome spot.
Waiting for the Disneyland parade
The second day, we mostly spent in California Adventure. There were a lot more crowds than the day before, and we had to wait in lines for rides, but never for very long. The longest was half an hour (yes, I made my family wait half in hour for the Peter Pan ride... okay, I didn't make them, but they knew I wanted to, so they supported me in my choice. :) And yeah, I know the Peter Pan ride isn't in California Adventure--we did some park hopping! It was still really fun, but not quite as perfect at the day before.
One cool and kind of funny experience. We wanted to try this Toy Story ride called Midway Mania, but Shauna and Mom get a little bit motion sick, and there was a sign out front warning that this ride could cause motion sickness. There was also a 30 minute wait to get on to the ride. There was much debating whether or not Mom and Shauna wanted to try it. Mom finally asked an employee about it, and when he couldn't quite convince us that the ride was good for everyone in our family, he offered to let me, Dad, and Kristie skip the line to ride it to see if it was something Mom and Shauna could handle. Just like that, he whisked us through to the handicap access point and let us on the ride, no waiting. And once we were done, we collected Mom and Shauna, and he let us skip the line again to go through together.
Excellent customer service. Who knew motion sickness could come so in handy? :)
At the end of the day, we watched the Fantasmic show. We got fastpasses in the morning so we had a great place to watch. It's quite an impressive show--I liked it a lot. When it was over, we had five minutes left before Disneyland closed, so we frantically ran into Pirates of the Caribbean for one last ride. Pirates has always been one of our favorites, because it's awesome, and because it's high capacity so the line is always short. We probably rode it 5 or 6 times in those 2 days. It was a great way to finish things up.
On our last day in California, we headed to Huntington Beach. Dad grew up in California, and when he was a kid, his family brought visiting relatives to Huntington because it has fire pits there, so they could roast hot dogs when people got hungry. We had a great time just chilling at the beach. I was too much of a coward to go into the cold water, but Shauna and Kristie had a ball wading in and looking for shells.
The whole trip was amazing and so relaxing. Disneyland really is one of the happiest places on Earth. The little kids that come there are so happy and so excited! For them it is a dream come true.
I've made some happy memories there myself over the years and I intend to keep going back. :) I miss it a lot already!
