Long Time, No Post!

Wow, we travel too much. We've left the firey furnace of Arizona, took a trip to California to see the beach, Disneyland, and some family, and are now back in Utah. Currently we're living with Danny's parents at their brand new house in Riverton. They moved in a week and a half ago. So, we have been trying to help as much as possible with all of the setting up, cleaning, shopping, etc... Today I put down a deposit on a new place down in Provo for the school year, so we'll be back on our own as of September 1. But, it's really been nice to be here with Danny's family for a while. Our trip to California was so awesome. First, we stayed a couple nights with Danny's Uncle Kim and his family. They live in Laguna Beach, which is so beautiful! Neither of us had been there before. It's a gorgeous place with the ocean, beautiful homes, and a super quaint little downtown. I can see why people pay so much money to live there, it's a BEAUTIFUL place! The first night we were there, we went down to the beach with Danny's cousin Brian, and his girlfriend Mandy. It was red tide, so we could see the breaking waves glowing blue in the dark -- I have NEVER seen anything like it -- incredible. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. And if you haven't seen it, I hope you do sometime in your life. Then, as we were watching the waves, we noticed that a bunch of little fish were washing up on the shore. Apparently this is called the "Grunnion Run". These little fish wash up on shore by the thousands, dig holes in the sand, and lay their eggs. It only happens for a couple hours a couple times a year, in the middle of the night. So, we JUST happened to be there, along with the red tide! I will never forget that night, it was fantastic. So, then we went up to Annaheim and met up with my family. We spent one day in Disneyland. Sophie did very well. She enjoyed "It's a Small World", but was VERY upset by "Pirates of the Carribbean" and wouldn't look at any of us for a couple hours afterwards. The next day we went to see the "King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs" exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art. This was another once in a lifetime experience for me. Having been an Art History Major for a little while in college, I was excited to see some pieces I had studied about in my classes. All of the pieces were exquisite, with such incredible detail and quality workmanship. If the exhibit comes to your area, you really should see it. So, in addition to the beach, Disneyland, and King Tut, we also got to see many members of my Mom's family. Everyone was so happy to finally meet Sophie, and it was fun to show her off, I have to admit! We were glad to see everyone and wished we could have spent even more time together. We missed Uncle Jeff, Aunt Nikki, and baby Katie -- though we understand why they couldn't make it. (We COMPLETELY understand!) I really hope we can see you guys soon! Our NEXT trip will be up to Spokane to visit with my family, then a quick trip to Seattle to visit friends and see our favorite band in concert (Coldplay!!!!!!!!!) I'll let you know how all of that goes.... Again, we REALLY travel too much lately!


Sophie and Mom


Sophie and Dad (I think this is THE best picture we've ever taken, I just love it. What do you think?)


Happy family at the beach


Danny's cousin Brian and his girlfriend, Mandy


Behold the Grunnion!


Uncle Kim's Family (L to R -- Danny, Sophie, me, Aunt Tami, Uncle Kim, their son Cameron, his wife Kristina, and their son Tyler)


It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all...It's a small world after all.............It's a small, small world, and a long, long ride.


This year is Disneyland's 50th anniversary, so there were lots of new commemorative decorations like this flower bed at the park entrance.


The castle has been completely redecorated with a whole new color scheme and lots of metallic gold paint. It looks great. Here we are with my parents.


The whole familia at Disneyland (If you want this picture, click on it to view it in a separate window, then click on it again to make it larger and then right click on it and select "save".)