Well this is going to be a long post, but I promise there are LOTS of pictures! Ha ha.
So about halfway into the month of May, Jordan and I went on vacation to California. We spent about 6 days in San Diego and 2 more in Anaheim. Since Jordan would be starting his new job in June we decided we should take one last big vacation before we wouldn't be able to get one this long for another year or so. My in-laws watched Brailey and it was SO very hard to leave her knowing I wouldn't be the one to put her down at night and sing her a song, say "I love you" and get her kisses and tight hugs. But we got signed up with Skype and I got to see her every day and talk to her for a little bit. It definitely made the separation a little easier to bare. I always pointed out children who reminded me of Brailey and something they would do that would remind me of Brailey. Always something that pointed her out in the day. She was on my mind all the time. I kept wishing that there was some way we could have taken her with us, but I was very glad to also get some time alone with Jordan. With him in school and working full time we hardly ever saw each other and rarely got date nights where it could just be 'US.' This vacation helped solve some of that.
Anyway, our first day we drove for 12 hours. Such a long drive, but totally worth it when you have a prius and you only pay about $65 to get out to California.
Jordan drove most of the way, but I helped him out in the middle. To pass the time quicker we listened to e-book for the Hunger Games. Jordan really wanted to listen to the 2nd and 3rd books since he never got to with the first. It was awesome! It almost made me feel like I was in the book.
Our hotel was awesome, but since I don't have any pictures of that I will move on to the Target that was out there. It was super close to our hotel which made it nice to go get snacks for the hotel. Crazy thing was that they actually had an escalator for the CARTS to go upstairs! How awesome!! We loved it. Never seen it before so it was fun to keep pushing carts in it and watch them go up.
Jordan following our cart up. :)
My handsome hubby waiting in the car for Sea World to open.
Sea World.
Visiting the Whales.
This whale wasn't camera shy at all. He is even smiling for us! :)
These whales were awesome to watch. Such beautiful creatures. There was even a baby swimming along side his momma the entire time.
The Flamingos! Lots of pink.
Here is the sky ride. Such a great view from so high up. Definitely worth a go.
View from the skyride.
JoJo on the skyride.
You do not want to meet one these guys in the ocean. This is the Barcuda who ate Nemo's mom and brothers and sisters.
These are all the mini sharks they had. Cute, but not worth putting your fingers in the pool. ha ha.
More sharks.
BIG turtles.
This is one of my favorite parts of Sea World. I love being able to pet the Bat Sting Rays. They are so soft and such sweet animals. We even decided to feed them which felt like a vacuum was sucking your hand. :) Such a fun experience.
The Dolphins. Another amazing creature. So smart and beautiful.
Jumping!
Another type of whale found in the Arctic. Super cold out there.
Polar bear and Walrus! The walrus was HUGE.
Our third day in Cali we went to San Diego Zoo. This place is gorgeous. It feels like you are walking in a jungle and you are just surrounded by tree's and wildlife and, of course, the animals.
One of my favorite pictures. Look at how much green is surrounding us.
Serious face. lol.
Elephants!
Not a snake I want around my house. lol.
This guy is POISONOUS and camouflage.
Panda bears. Both were sleeping up in the trees. Baby and Mama. These are Jordan's favorite animal.
We went out to eat every night and we got to try Joe's Crab Shack, and Bubba Gump shrimp Co. Both were amazing and highly recommended, but expensive.
On our fourth day, we decided to go do a session at the San Diego Temple. This is my second favorite Temple next to the Salt Lake. It is beautiful inside and out. It was a very spiritual experience and was one of our favorite days there.
As we were coming out there was a family with a bride and groom who had just been sealed for time and all eternity. It was fun to watch them and remember back when I was sealed to Jordan and I just kept thinking "I found my Prince and my happily ever after."
Later that day we went to the beach to enjoy the sun and water. I would love to live by the beach. It just feels natural to be there, but I can't stand the millions of people who live in California and all the traffic. So not worth it.
Our fifth day we wanted to visit Point Loma tide pools. Another great visit. There were TONS of little crabs everywhere and it was fun to see them up close.
Tiny crab that I caught. So cute. If you accidentally stepped on them it tickled when they tried to pinch you.
Another, bit larger crab that we caught. He was so scared, but it was fun to see him up close.
On our 6th day we went kayaking at La Jolla which has tons of caves, 7 of which are named. We were supposed to go snorkeling too, but the swell was too big that it was too dangerous to do so, but they still took us on a guided tour of the caves while kayaking which was absolutely AMAZING. It was so much fun to ride the waves and be that far out into the ocean. Our tour guide was awesome. He was a funny guy who kept us entertained and taught us about the caves. Since we couldn't go into the caves with our kayaks he gave us a coupon to go see one from the inside.
The story is that there was a guy back in the early 1900s who built his house above the caves and one night while he was drunk started digging a hole in his house to get down to the caves. Once he came too he realized what he had done and hired some railroad workers to come and dig the rest of the way down. So they built some stairs and carved their way down to an opening of one of the caves. When the prohibition was enacted they actually used it as a way to sneak in the alcohol. They would have boats carry the loads from Mexico and take it up through his house. Eventually the house became a tourist point and you can enter through the house and go down the steep stairs for a small fee.
This is the stairs and tunnel that lead down to the cave. Kinda slippery and scary, you almost have to duck down the entire way so as not to hit your head.
This wasn't our group, but this is what we would have looked like out on the water. I was too afraid to lose my camera or get it wet so I just didn't take it with us.
There were sea lions everywhere on the rocks.
So cute! They were all just basking in the sun or jumping out to take a quick swim in the water.
After kayaking we drove to Anaheim and our new hotel which was also great. I highly recommend The Comfort Inns. They have great rooms, with great pools and hot tubs, as well as a really nice Continental Breakfast that serves just about everything. Waffles, cereal, bagels, eggs, fruit, juice, sausage, boiled eggs, muffins. Since I am a picky eater I actually felt like I could eat. Other places that we have been have only given fruit and bagels so I was very happy with the selection.
Our 7th day we went to Hollywood Universal Studios which was lots of fun. The rides are amazing there. I walked by this cart (pic below) and all of sudden the doors open and Donkey is there talking. At first I thought it was just a recorded version but as soon as I took out my camera he said "oh you gonna take a picture? Cheese!" and he started talking to me and others walking by. So they somehow had a camera to see who was out there and they had a guy talking in donkeys voice. It was pretty neat.
These guys were on stilts. Pretty creepy looking. They had contacts on that made their eyes all white. They were dressed to help advertise the Mummy ride which is by far one of my favorites there.
Even though these guys are kinda creepy looking, they were funny. They would tease the visitors and just do funny things for pictures. One lady they took her coffee and would tease her about drinking it.
We went on a bus tour of a few of the hollywood sets where they use some scenes from movies. Such as this street.
And this one.
This is how they made the Fast and the Furious Tokyo drift. The cars are actually completely empty and not even made of the same material that cars are. It was awesome to watch.
On our 8th day we headed back home listening to more of The Hunger Games and talking to each other. I drove a lot of the way this time because I was in a hurry to see Brailey (don't worry I drove within the speed limits and I was safe). I was SO happy to see her again, but she was angry at me for leaving her and was only excited to see her Daddy. Anytime I tried holding her she wanted to get down and cried til I put her down and then she would run to Daddy and was fine with being held by him. It kinda made me sad, but if my mom left me for that long then I would be kinda resentful to her too. Eventually she warmed right back up and now she always wants me to hold her.
Our next trip was basically right after the California one. For Memorial weekend we went up to my parents cabin and spent some time playing in the dirt as you can see from Brailey. We caught some lizards and enjoyed spending time with family.
We also enjoyed riding the 4wheelers and even took Brailey on a few slow rides. She LOVED it. She liked being able to look at everything. She got to see a deer and few rabbits jump around.
We had SO much fun with our 2 weeks off. Unfortunately we had to come back to reality and I had to go back to work again. For an entire week we had to hurry and get the final things done on our home and get all packed to leave. Jordan was to start his training at the Clinton Kohls on June 3rd and I would transfer to the Riverdale Home Depot. I was so stressed we would never finish it in time, but we got everything done and now our place is beautiful and ready to sell. We wish we would have done all that stuff earlier, but oh well, the new people whoever they may be will get to enjoy our hard work. Now, we just need to sell it... so if any of you know someone looking for a smaller place in the Logan area refer them to me. :)
Our beautiful first home! Hard to say goodbye to all those memories.
We are currently back in Roy, living in my in-laws basement. I am so grateful that they are letting us stay here with them while Jordan gets his training done. There is no way we can afford 2 mortgages or even rent at the same time. They have been very generous to let us live here free as long as we help with meals and chores. It is definitely a transition living back in Roy and working at a new store that is completely different than my own in Logan, but I think it will be a very good experience for us. This transition has been especially hard on Jordan because he has to learn a whole new system, new departments, new everything all within 3 months. I have every confidence in him that he will get it down, but he has been overwhelmed with it all. That has been our life for the past little while. :) Hope to update again soon.
