Em Eye See Kay Eee Why, Em Oh You Ess Eee!

We got back from our trip to Cali last Wednesday, and I'm still in denial that it's over!  Let me give you a quick recap.  Warning: when I say "quick", I really don't mean quick, a lot happened that week!

Thursday.  We pull into Vegas around dinner time, get settled into our hotel room at the Flamingo and call up my dad's friend Greg.  Greg just so happens to be Marie Osmond's manager (did I mention the hotel room was free?  Crazy huh?!), and arranged for us to see the Donny and Marie show that night.  We get to the theater down in the casino and Greg takes us down to the very front booth--VIP seating? Better believe it. The show was so great--clean, witty, entertaining, and educating (in that I had no idea how huge these guys were! Side note: Greg said that these guys were so big that Donny and Michael Jackson were rivals of sorts--that completely blew my mind).

About an hour into the show, I start squirming bad.  Anyone who knows me at all knows that I have the smallest bladder in the world, and that night was no exception.  About an hour and a half through the show, I give in and ask my Dad where the bathroom is.  He leans over to Greg and asks the same thing, and he says, "Oh don't worry, just follow me."  We go through a side door in the theater and backstage, up the theater steps and into Marie's dressing room.  I was so mad I had left my phone down at the booth so that I could prove it! 

The show ends, and Greg takes us around the back side of the casino, where audience members pay out the nose to have a personal introduction and photo with big D&M.  We got our own snapshot with the two of them (we haven't heard from Greg yet, or I'd put that pic up right here), and then went up to wait for Marie while she got out of costume.

This is from Marie's dressing room--notice her adorable teal dress that she wore on tv when she was a little girl! (forgive the photo quality--courtesy of my iPhone)

Another one of my dad's friends, Steve, met us there and when Marie was ready, we all went out to dinner.  Within the first few minutes, we already had gotten a lot of Marie's personality.  She is exactly like my mom.  Way freaky.  She can talk to anyone about anything, and has this way of looking for hope and supporting the good in people.  We ordered, and within minutes the entire kitchen came out to make sure there wasn't anything else we'd like.  They went above and beyond, offering fresh fruit that wasn't even mentioned on the menu, and supplying us with extra shakes and sides to boot.  I could get used to that! Two hours later, we'd chatted about what seems like every topic known to man, and we'd stuffed ourselves to the brim.  We finally said goodnight, and hit the hay.

End day one.  I told you it wasn't going to be quick!

Friday.  After only six hours of sleep, Dad pops out of bed and wakes us up.  Half hour later we pull up to Red Rocks, Nevada, and start hiking.  This place is gorgeous!

We climbed Bird Land, and it was gnarly!  Crazy cool pitches, with some ridiculously small belay stations.  Imagine fitting three adults on a chip out of a cliff the size of a laptop.  That's how big "the top" was.  Two words for you: in sane! ;)

We got done early, so we had plenty of time when we got back to the hotel to shower and clean up before dinner.  My mom and Nate pulled into town (they went climbing the next day), and we hit the buffet at Rio.  Dad called up Greg again, and Greg said "How bout some tickets to La Rev?" Who can say no to free tickets?  The show was interesting, we had a good time.  After gelato at the Bellagio, we fell into bed.

Saturday.  On the open road again, we made it to CA early afternoon thanks to the calm of weekend traffic and the ingeniousness (is that a word?) of the maps app via iPhone.  After checking in, we hooked up with Sav and Riley and hit the beach.

 
 Hanging out with them made me realize how much I miss them! It's going to stink when they're clear in Hawaii, but hey, that just means another vacation is in order!

After they left for home, Dal and I hit Downtown Disney.  I was absolutely giddy and ecstatic that Disneyland was only two days away! 


Sunday. Slept in.  Late.  We were exhausted from the past three days.  But we made it in time for church, and got to be a part of a great testimony meeting.  I love the fact that it's the same.  Everywhere.  We hit Newport beach again, and this time made sure we got the "in"famous (in-famous means more than famous--can anyone name the movie?) beach bars. This place dips em and coats them with nuts or sprinkles while you watch. Yum. And I got to use my birthday present!

 That night we hooked up with my good friend Katie Lopez.  She just graduated from culinary school in January and took us to a great local Peruvian restaurant for dinner.  A-maze-ing. 

After, we hung out at the hotel and caught the Disneyland firework show...got some pretty sweet pics.

Where should our focus be? Disneyland knows :)

The only thing that could ever be unhappy in the second happiest place on earth.

We got a plane in this one, pretty creepy lookin'.  But we caught my favorite fireworks.  I call them weeping willows.

Monday.  Disneyland! First ride, as always, was Space Mountain!  I was absolutely giddy.  As we're running through the line, this adorable boy and his mom come runnin' behind us.  After a minute of that, the cute little boy (whose name is Caleb, we found out when the line stopped) said, "Wow Mom, this line is moving so fast!"  Dal turns to me and says, "Wow, he's almost as excited as you are!"  What can I say?  Disneyland is my home away from home...

After Space Mountain, we just crammed in as much as we could, hitting all the must-sees.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  85 gold stars for anyone who can name every location.

(the line was too long for Princess Tiana, so I settled for the pic from a distance)

Side Note: before we went, Dal was kind of dreading the "cheesy-ness" and "roller-coastery" atmosphere of Disneyland.  I'm pleased to announce that I converted him to one of the most roller-coastery rides.  Dal's top three list: 1. Space Mountain, 2. Soarin', 3. Matterhorn.  Mission Accomplished.

I'll give you a hint on this one: NOT Grizzly Rapids.  Curse this ride.  Every time I go on it I end up being in the front, and then I'm soaked...so much for putting on makeup.  

I heart Mary Poppins.  Dal has this crazy idea that I'm like her: "practically perfect in every way."  Yeah.......sure Dal, think what ya want, I'm just glad I got ya fooled!

Had to snap one of the mice.  I absolutely love this one, I like my Mickey's rockin' out!

End day one.  

Tuesday.  This time we made the early shuttle (the day before we got outside of our hotel twenty five minutes before the first listed shuttle time to find that the "early" shuttle had left five minutes before...grrr). 

Club 33...They've stopped even taking applications for memberships to get on their 15 year-long waiting list. Sniff. 

Yum! Dal tried to get me to promise not to put the first of these two up, but he refused to be in hardly any of the pictures, so I vetoed him without him knowing.  Shh don't tell!

My brother Tanner emailed us from Brazil and made us promise that we'd get a Dole whip.  It was a huge inconvenience.  ;)  Dole whips forever! 

Toon town isn't my favorite, but having two days gave us plenty of time to hit it!  Luckily all the pictures there are of Dal!

Of all the Fantasy land rides, Peter Pan rocks my world the most.  Best ever.  Oo! Funny story.  So, we're waiting in line, and about twenty people back from us this dad and his son wait behind us.  They had the sweetest costumes.  They were both pirates, and the little kid had the entire getup--shoes and everything!  I couldn't stop smiling, and because the line is so...twisted (Disney movie reference...95 gold stars for that one), we passed close enough for me to not feel too weird asking if I could take a picture with him.  The boy's dad said, "Sure", so I leaned over the fence to just get my head in the pic with this kid, and the next thing I know, the Dad has thrown the poor thing over the fence and into my arms!  That wasn't awkward at all....  Anyway, after feeling super embarrassed (and slightly pedophilic), we got a rockin' picture of the worlds coolest pirate.

We finished the night off with Space Mountain again (I'm serious, I so have Dal converted to knowing Space Mountain is the best ride, we went three times! The only other ride we rode more than once was Astro Blasters, cus he couldn't stand getting beat by me, and he lost the second time too!)  

After two incredible days, we said goodbye...

Back to reality.