"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences."
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Tuesday, June 26

Home from Dallas!

I get SO excited when Brody comes home from being out of town, even if it's only for one night. He's absolutely my very best friend and I miss him terribly when he's away...especially when he's away for a week in Dallas at the show. When he got home, we wasted no time getting back to some summer fun, in our most favorite way! : ) 

He came home with this beautiful 24k Gold, very light pink Swarovski crystal necklace for me! It stunning in person, and I love it so very much! And makes me think of our amazing trip to the factory in Austria several years back. 

It was Brody's idea to hit the parks, and how could I say no? We have been loving so much exploring and getting to know the newly opened areas of California Adventure 

 Little hot and crowded in the summer, so it's nice to stop in at places like the Muppets to cool off and get a nice break from all the people.
The Flying Tires...while it is a little slow moving, with the beach balls it's a really fun ride. : )
Nothing like soft serve ice cream on a warm day!!
It had been awhile since we had been on Tower of Terror, and when we walked into the park a nice lady stopped us and gave us fast passes for the ride! We do that a lot at the park and its fun when it comes back around for us too. : ) 
We also broke in Brody's shinny new annual pass that came while he was out of town! 
Here's to another year of magical fun memories!! : ) 
(all photos taken on our phones)

Wednesday, June 13

Cars Land & Buena Vista Street Preview - Part 1


This Past Saturday we had the opritunaty to explore Cars Land and Buena Vista Street, in Disney's California Adventure before it opens to the public on June 15th. It was one of the most fun trips we have had at the parks in a long time! These new additions will blow you away!! And we get to go back this Saturday for more! 

We checked in and got our wrist bands and special event tickets.
"Let the memories begin" : ) 
We entered back at the Wharf. From that entrance you get a pretty breathtaking view of Radiator Racers. Going in, all we could say was "Wow!!" 
The first thing on our list was Radiator Springs Racers! The rumor was that this was going to reinvent the E-Ticket ride. It exceeded our expectations and is now one of our favorite rides at the resort!  
The ride takes you through a little of the cars story and gives you the experience of getting ready for a race as Lighting did. It's a pretty addicting ride! Just make sure you have a rubber band with you, our you may end up with a ride photo like the one below. ha! : ) We ended up doing this 3 times that evening. 
Stopped by to visit Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs. 
Flo's Cafe. Where we later had dinner. 
The details of this land are off the charts! I don't think they missed a thing. 
The Cozy Cone. We didn't have time to try the food here, but its on our list for this weekend. 
Us and Lighting 
Little video of us enjoying Mater's Junkyard Jamboree! ; ) 
A REALLY quick video of Mater driving around talking. 

This photo is really fun for us. For so many years we would stand back there on the other side of the fence at a place called Blue Sky Cellar (the building behind and to the right of us), stand on benches and excitedly try to see what we could of the construction. And now, we were inside the walls before opening!! : ) 
Eating at Flo's. The food was really good and the cafe is really cute! 
Everything photographs so beautifully 
Lighting driving around. They even showed the difference in the old road and the new road that Lighting had to pave while he was in Radiator Springs. 
I was ready to be pretty disappointed by the Flying Tires, but it was really fun! You can get some speed and the beach balls were really fun! 
Video of the street lighting ceremony, and they played my favorite song from the movie!! 

It's stunning all lit up at night! <3
On our way out to Buena Vista Street
The street is beautiful!! And gives you the feel of another, smaller Main Street. So many shops and little details. 
You know how on Main Street and back in New Orleans Square you can hear voices coming from the windows and offices above when its nice a quite? Well we heard some coming from Buena Vista Street from an Optometry office. : ) 

Can't wait to ride the Red Trolly, and try out all the new foods! 
Another photo from inside the construction walls!! : )!
1920's Mickey, and some twenty first century Starbucks Hot Chocolates (which tastes better at DL) ; ) 
The new big gift shop. It's very big and grand inside. 
Us and the new partners statue all boxed up, waiting for the grand opening. 
Goodbye amazing new additions, see you next weekend! : ) 
It was SO SO fun to be able to go in and see everything without the crazy crowds that will be there this weekend (and the rest of the summer). I was so excited to get photos with the walls still up, little pieces of history! : ) 

EEG "The Brain test"

As you know from my 'Personal Trials' post, I have been seeing a great Doctor to get my hormones in check and calm the Anxiety/Panic disorder that popped up after a couple of miscarriages. There was a lot to fix from the start, and we have come SO far in the time I have been fortunate enough to work with her. My levels look SO much better and everything is back on a healthier/normal track. 
We had hoped that by fixing my hormone levels it would help calm the panic (I guess sometimes that works). But it didn't go away. We had tried many different options and medications, most of which didn't like me at all. We found one that seemed to work well, but wasn't quite enough. So we opted for a test called an EEG, where they hook your brain up to a computer and read all sorts of information from it that will determine what it needs (what better than to get the info straight from the source, right?). We got the results back a couple months ago now, and have started on a new medication at a VERY VERY low dose, and it seems to be helping so much! I'm feeling more and more like myself everyday---and, through this whole process of getting things back on track, I have lost 20 pounds and still going!! It feels great! Even though there were some really hard days, I still wouldn't change a sec of it. I have learned and gained so much from this experience. : )

Life is oh so good, and feeling very blessed!

(I put that little face over the guy in the photo, because thats pretty much how I felt during the testing. haha) 

Friday, June 8

Angels Game with Dallins

Last weekend we got to see my cousin and his family again!! It was SO fun to see everyone again, it had been well over a year since we have seen the whole family and we sure missed them all!! We first got to meet up with them at the Angels game. 
We killed some time while waiting for them and were taking some photos when this nice Religious sign holder guy offered to take a photo for us....
....did a pretty great job of it too, didn't he? haha.



Loved seeing them come up to the stadium! 
Roey and Brody. Roey remembered to bring the blanket we gave him at the last game we all went to a game last April. 


Annah giving Brody a big hello hug! 
(I love how great our camera is) : ) 



Kade and Taylor enjoying the game
Rya slept through the game : ) 
All snuggled up

It's always extra fun when we win! 
Watching the fireworks 


Can't leave without seeing Mickey again : ) 
Such a fun night!! Im so glad we got to go with everyone! : )