So How Was My Week Off You Ask?

One word:

Awesome.

Eliza and I had the best week off together. (Kase had to work.)

On our event list we:
-visited my parents. Eliza played and played and played. She also was spoiled a lot. It was a good time. I have a good picture from our visit but I have not uploaded the pictures from my real camera yet. She learned to say Memaw and Papaw which comes out "Memaaawww and Papaawww" Hilarious.

- got her some new shoes. She has to start wearing shoes all day in her new class at daycare. So we went shopping. She loves shoes. She also loves running out of the shoe store with new shoes on that we haven't paid for yet.

- We played at the mall's play area. SHE LOVED THIS:
- We found her a new hairstyle. Her first attempt at a pony tail:

- We played and played and played some more.

- Eliza had her 15 month check up. She is 24lbs 5 oz and 30.5 inches of cutentess. She did not like getting shots but she cheered up pretty fast with the help of snacks:

- We accompanied some good friends of ours to the zoo. It was really fun. Although I think I liked looking at the animals more than Eliza did. She did like the squirrels though. And she was able to pet a hedgehog. We had fun. Thank you to our friends! This is us in front of the zebras:

- We also got to hang out with auntie Holly AND go shopping (Eliza got a lot of new clothes) AND sleep in AND make a few yummy dinners for us to enjoy with Kase AND do things around the house that I have been dying to get done. It was a success.

One of the best things about the week was when the day was getting late I felt my daily dread come on of having to leave Eliza the next day, but then I would remember that I didn't have to leave her. That was really nice.

Eliza is growing so fast. At 15 months she:

- Sleeps really well. From 7:30 to 7:30 (8:30 while on vacation!) and takes 2-3 hour naps.

- Talks. A LOT. She also repeats what you say sometimes so becareful. My favorites are: All done, all better, more, blue, open, hola, bath, milk, dog, ruff ruff, ball, night night, and cheese.

- She is finally calling me Mama pretty consistantly. I love it. It melts my heart everytime.

- First thing in the morning when I get her out of bed she asks for Da Da so we have to go looking for him.

- She loves the song popcorn popping and will do the hand signs and say "pop pop."

- She loves to tickle you and gives kisses.

- We were shopping the other day and ran into a friend. Eliza was nervous and wanted me to pick her up out of the shopping cart. I finally gave in and picked her up. She looked at me and patted me on the shoulder and said "ma ma" so sweetly. I thought I would pop.

- She loves to play and play. She will play by herself for quite a while.

- She tries to jump, but only her arms go up.

- When asked "where is Eliza" she points to her head excitedly.

- She can identify nose, mouth, eye (but she almost pokes her and your eyes out), ear (but calls them eyes too), belly, belly button, hair, and feet.

- Folds her arms for prayer (even if it is only for a few seconds) and says "Amen" (even if it is several times really loudly in the middle of church.)

- She is our cute adorable fiesty sweet girl.

I use to not want her to grow bigger, but I find every new stage to be even more fun. I am really enjoying this stage.

Dropping her off at daycare this morning was difficult. BUT she was excited to see her friends and her toys. We had a great week together.

Update: Summer Trip to Idaho

The end of July we headed out to Salt Lake City, Utah, and Montpelier, Idaho, to visit Kase's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Kase's parents, and all of this brothers and their families were able to go too! We had so much fun.

Our nephew Thomas, Kase, and Eliza

Nephew Thomas and Niece Sophie

Sister-in-law Angela

Eliza with her Great-Grandma Lois and Great Grandpa Byron

She loved them immediately

Kase and Aunt Linda at Bear Lake

Bear Lake

Eliza giving her first talk :)

Sister-in-law Katie and Kase's Brother Scott

Eliza, Laura, and Kase's brother Ryan

Salt Lake Temple

Family Photo Op

Eliza and her burp cloth

We had a WONDERFUL time.

Califor-ni-a Part III & Conclusion

Day 5: Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego. AND the beach.

Stats: This is a national park area with a light house and a monument to the first Spanish explorer to land in California. Beautiful.




Favorites: We spent the first part of the day touring around the lighthouse and the monument. The weather was cool and the views were beautiful. We also went to see the tide pools in the park.

Then we headed to the beach. The water was soooo cold! But fun!

Day 6: Back to Los Angeles

Favorites: We drove back up to Los Angeles in preparation for leaving to go home. On our last day, Kase had some delicious Chili-Cheese fries at Tam's, a place he remembered from his mission time.

Then we went over to Hollywood Boulevard to catch a movie at Grauman's and people watch.
We had a great time together vacationing. It was fun to just spend time with Kase and go on adventures together.

THE END!

Califor-ni-a Part II Plus Our 3rd Anniversary

Day 3: Los Angeles.

Stats: Big city. Still nice weather. Not as nice as I thought it would be. Lots of traffic.

Interests: Hollywood Boulevard (of course) and the LA Temple.

Favorites: Hollywood Boulevard was kindof dumpy. We got up super early and beat the crouds there so we could walk around Grauman's Chinese Theatre.






(Inside of Theatre)

This where they have movie premieres plus where the stars write their names in the concrete with their handprints. We toured the theatre, which was beautiful.




(me with Jimmy Stewart's handprints)

Donald Duck

Someone who works at the Theatre told us that a certain actor (I don't wanna name names) whose name rhymes with "Bad Spit" is NOT a very nice person. Most other actors wrote their names out on the concret blocks, but not Mr. Spit. He scribbled his initials and was done. Noone knew who "BP" was:

Click to see!

Kindof sad to learn he isn't nice, but don't worry. George Clooney and Will Smith are super nice according to my source.



Then we headed to the LA temple. I new it would be pretty, but I was shocked at how big it was. The grounds are very large with beautiful roses. We had a wonderful time together at the temple and I really loved it.


Day 4: San Diego AND Our Anniversary

Stats: Way prettier than LA, even better weather.

Interests: San Diego temple, our hotel, and downtown.

Favorites: We drove down about 2 hours to the San Diego temple. It was beautiful, but a lot smaller than I expected. People there were so nice and we enjoyed spending time there. It was nice to spend our anniversary at the temple.


Then we headed to our hotel in Downtown San Diego. It used to be an old bank but now is a Marriot Courtyard.

(Our Hotel)

We explored the hotel and found the old bank vaults which are now conference rooms. Way cool.

We also walked around downtown and looked at all the shops and restaurants. AND who could resist icecream for dinner? YUM!

Kase, I had a wonderful time celebrating with you. You are an amazing husband. I love you sooo very much. I am so glad I get to spend forever with you.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Cali-forn-i-a Part I

When we arrived in California, I was excited. I had never been to southern California before. Kase served his 2 year mission there, so it would be a return visit for him.

I was shocked by the weather. No humidity and nice! Warm, but you didn't need the AC in the car. So nice. We spent some time in Huntington Beach, Long Beach, LA, and San Diego.

Driving in LA wasn't so bad. They honk a lot there. I am a honker myself, but not to this extent. There was honking if you were too slow to go at the green light (I mean you had better step on the gas ASAP), there was honking if you just felt like honking. I think I fit in pretty well though.

The time difference was also beneficial. It's 3 hours earlier in CA, so we woke up really early there but were still able to sleep in on our time. This way, we beat crowds and traffic. Although finding lunch during breakfast time didn't work so well. I was in bed by 9 California time. Ha ha.

Here's highlights of the trip: (Click on the pictures if you want them bigger. I had issues uploading. )

Day 1: Huntington Beach.

Stats: Nice Weather. Beautiful beaches and fancy homes.





Interests: Kase served part of his mission here so we toured some of his area. We went to church there. We also walked down the pier and watched the surfers.





Favorites: We ate at 2 great places here. I had THE best mexican burrito with guacamole. We also ate at a delicious burger place on the beach. The played loud music there and beach go-ers walked up to eat. A man had his dog, a black lab, tied up to our table while he ordered some food. The dog had just came out of the ocean and was wet and salty. He may have received a few of my yummy fries.

(Burrito)

(Good Burger)

We headed back up to LA and stopped at Signal Hill which had a beautiful view.

Day 2: Burbank, Ca.

Stats: Cute smaller town close to LA.

Interests: We went on a 5 hour tour of the Warner Brothers Studio.



Activities: The tour was fun! We saw buildings they use in sets, props, post-production studios, the studio museum, and movie cars (like the batmobile).

Old Batmobile



New Batmobile (click to enlarge!)





(Mom, this is the church or school house I can't remember used in the Walton's where JohnBoy has his first kiss.)

We were able to see the set of the Ellen show, the Mentalist, and the New adventures of Old Christine. (No Picture taking allowed) We also saw the town of Eastwick, which is a new show coming out soon. We had a delicious fancy lunch right next to the president of the Warner Brothers television division while he discussed a new character they are developing (we may have eavesdropped).

Favorites: Ladies and Gentlemen, Please meet Chuck, we did (sort of):



He is a character on one of our favorite shows called... well, Chuck. Kase and I told our tour guide about our love for Chuck. While we were walking into one of the sound stages, our tour guide whispered to us that the actor who plays Chuck was standing across the street. He had been filming the upcoming season, and was taking a break. Now get this: HE WAVED AT US! (specifically me of course) AND YELLED "HAVE A GOOD TOUR"!!!! Then get this: Kase yelled back "HAVE A GOOD SHOW"! So really KASE TALKED TO CHUCK. That rocked. haha.

Other favorite part: we saw the set of the Central Perk coffee shop from FRIENDS. We got to sit on the orange couch! that rocked too.



TO BE CONTINUED......

Our Trip

Where to begin? Vacation was wonderful. So wonderful, it wore me out and gave me a cold that I am still recovering from. But it was totally worth it. To blog about it, I feel like I need a list.

-2.5 days Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. 4 days Magic Kingdom/Hollywood Studios/Animal Kingdom/Epcot (all Disney incase you didn't know).

- Weather: 75ish everyday. Sunny.

- Crowds: not too bad.

- Islands of Ad. makes me a little motion sick. Spiderman was fun. Oh and Dr. Suess' land.

- I kissed Scooby dooby doo. (relax, kase knows about it)

- I met Mr. and Ms. Woody Woodpecker.

- Universal Studios was cool. Favorites: ET, Twister, Terminator, Jaws. Mostly everything.

- Pizza good.

- Nascar Cafe hamburgers even better.

- Lady scared me at the makeup show with fake monster arm. Not funny.

- Kase drove me all over looking for an icecream place that wasn't falsly advertising banana splits.

- Our hotel was very nice.

- Caravaned down to FL with Kase's parents who were on their way to see the Dolphins play in Miami.

- Dueling dragons make me feel icky.

- Dudley dooright made us drenched in water.

- Space mountain super fun.

- Sci-Fi dine in theater= Burger+Shake+drive in movie+ old fiftys car+ free glowindark cup of popcorn

- "It's a bugs life" 3d show has special effects and wasps come and "sting" you in your chair. kase thought the lady behind him poked him in the back. haha.

- Epcot is actually funner than others might think.

- Morocco, not a great Epcot country to eat at. nope.

- Hollywood Studios(use to be MGM) is one of my favorites.

- The new toy story ride was super fun.

- Kase loved tower of terror.

- Spent evenings going to dinner together and relaxing at the hotel.

- Got sick on our last day and had to lay in bed all day. But it wasn't so bad.

- Coming home is bitter sweet.

To sum it up. Vacation was fun. We got to enjoy the parks and get everything done pretty quickly and the weather was great. It was fun to hear Kase laugh like a little kid on some of the rides. Ok now he's embarrassed. I better stop. It's good to be home though. I missed the Monster.