California 2012

Okay people, get ready for the longest post of your life - I'm warning you now, it's long. But there are LOTS of pictures that should keep you entertained.

My family's big family trip this summer was to Newport, California. My Dad had a work convention over there, and so Mom and Dad brought the whole family along to enjoy a week of fun! And boy, was it fun.

We left late on Monday night and spent the night in Vegas. On our way out of Vegas, we of course had to stop to find some geocaches for my Dad and Dave. There was one right by the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, so we stopped to take a few pictures.

 These boys LOVE to geocache. The cache was on a garbage can pretty close to the sign.

Are they the cutest little people you've ever seen!?

We arrived in California on Tuesday afternoon with enough time to head over to the beach. It was too late in the day for me to get in the water, so Ashton, Mom and I just lounged on the beach while everyone else went for a swim. After, we went to see the Newport Beach temple and took a few pictures. I think that temple is so pretty, and I think my family would agree.

 All the ladies

The next day was....DISNEYLAND DAY!! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy it was great! We had to get up SUPER early to make it to the park early to wait in line so we could make it to Cars Land and ride the new ride, Radiator Springs Racers, before it got too crazy. It was a really good thing that we were there early, because when we got to the ride at 8:02 (two minutes after park opening), the stand by line was already 110 minutes. CRAZY huh!? So, we all jumped into the single rider line that was 5 minutes long. Way better than 110 minutes! By the time we reached the top of the single rider line, the line behind us was already 45 minutes long for single riders. The ride was GREAT, and I really wish we could have ridden on it again, but we just couldn't face the line anymore. I have never seen Disneyland so crazy in my entire life - there were so many people who were going nuts over Cars Land. It really was awesome though, and we have pictures to prove it!

We did Disneyland for 2 days, and had the best time EVER. Here are a few more snapshots of our Disneyland trip:

 Waiting for the Tower Of Terror! This was Jeff's first time EVER in California Adventure, so we were really excited to take him on all the rides.

 Dave on the newly reconstructed Main Street - it looks awesome!

 Waiting for Soarin' Over California. We all look a little exhausted - because we were. Completely.

 Day #2 of Disney fun. They had people wearing these gloves and waving to everyone walking into Disneyland - such a fun way to start the morning. Dave asked if he could get a picture with one of them, and she said sure, but that he could just wear her glove and take a picture with me. I love Disney people. :)

 IS THIS PICTURE THE SWEETEST THING YOU'VE EVER SEEN!?!? My cute little niece was so excited to see the princesses at Disneyland. She was overjoyed when she got to meet Sleeping Beauty. I always see the commercials on TV for Disneyland where the kids get to walk right up and meet the princesses, and I always think, "Yeah right. That NEVER happens." But it definitely happened for one happy little girl. This is my favorite picture of the entire trip. Hands down.

 I just love it - so much!

 MATTERHORN - in our newly refurbished cars!

 Around 2:00ish, everyone in our group started getting a little tired. So, they all decided to go home and take a nap. Dave, Steph and I decided to stay, but I definitely needed a little refresher, so we bought ourselves some tasty treats at a sweet shop in Downtown Disney, and brought them with us into the Disney Animation Studios. We just sat on the floor and watched their montage of Disney Movies, while we enjoyed the air conditioning and took a small break. It completely rejuvenated me, and was super fun besides.

 Outside of Grizzly River Rapids

 Isn't this statue darling!?

 Dave and I are both pretty sure that this is the cutest Mickey Mouse we have ever seen. He was walking around Main Street, and is supposed to be the 1930's Mickey Mouse, one of the first ones that Walt Disney dreamed up. 

 The Pixar Play Parade - this parade reminded us a lot of Brock, who used to perform in Disneyworld. He was in a parade that was really similar to this one, and we were thinking about how much we loved seeing him perform.

 At the end of the day (about 11:45 p.m.), we had some very sleepy kiddos and some very sleepy adults, too. We were all exhausted, and he just represents how we all were feeling that night. I can't even explain how fun it was to be at my favorite place on earth with all of my family - it was just wonderful.

The next day we needed a bit of a breather, so we headed to the beach to get some nice relaxing in. Besides the sand being 1,000 degrees and the water being -1,000 degrees it was pretty good! :) It was nice to just sit and enjoy the warm weather and to rest our tired, tired feet.

 She is just my little buddy - I love her!!

We were in the middle of looking for seashells to decorate our sand castle with.

Preston and Amy and the kiddos had to head home after the beach, which was so sad. :( I hated to see them go, and I really wish they could have stayed that last day with us. We missed them so much, and it was hard to see them go. 

 Wouldn't you miss these cuties too??

That night, we went to an Angels Game. It was so nice to just sit down, again - rest the feet, and enjoy a nice, relaxing baseball game. The Angels won, and after the game there were fireworks to Beatles music. It was so fun.

 Angels baseball Mickey. Is that cute or what??

 This guy has the most unfortunate name in all of baseball, I believe. Maybe the worst name of all time. 

The next day we spent at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and because they don't let you take any backpacks on any rides (unlike Disneyland), we didn't take our camera and so we got no pictures. It was SUCH a fun day though. There were so many crazy rides that we went on. One of them was new, and called Lex Luthor's Drop Of Doom. It was a 400 foot drop at 85 miles an hour - it was pretty scary. The whole park is filled with crazy thrills like that, and we just had so much fun riding all of the crazy rides together, even though it was 93 degrees with almost no shade. We survived though, and had a super fun time.

On our way out the next morning, we stopped so Dave could find his 300th geocache. He found it at a place where Walt Disney had his first garage studio - it was a cute little place, and a perfect 300th find for a Disney lover like him. 

The drive home was spent watching movies, telling/listening to stories from everyone, reading, sleeping, and eating yummy treats. Our trip was FANTASTIC, and I loved every minute of it. I just love my family, and love it when we can all get together like we did. We made some pretty wonderful memories, and I can't wait for our next adventure together!