Play Date

There are very few things I enjoy more than having some fun with a good friend. Unfortunately I don't get enough chances to do just that. Thankfully I have friends who make time to play! This last weekend, one of my roommates in Hawaii came to visit. Yay for Laurel! :)

First, we spent some time walking around Old Town, San Diego. We visited all sorts of fun shops, listened to a mariachi band play Pink Floyd, "walked" the trail of the Mormon Battalion, and enjoyed eating some excellent Mexican food.


I Love My Laurel!



Just for Fun!



And I thought I disliked doing laundry with a washer & dryer...



Such happy campers!

After we left Old Town, Laurel was desperate to go and find the ocean. So, we made our way to the Hotel del Coronado. Can I just say that this is an incredible location? Aside from the history, the grandeur of this establishment is almost overwhelming. In one evening, spending a night there made it onto my life "to do" list. Guess I better start saving my sheckles! We walked around the public areas of the hotel and then spent some time chilling on the beach--just like we used to do in Hawaii.

The next day, we made our way back down to San Diego, only this time our destination was Balboa Park. We sampled bits of international culture, tradition, and food while meandering through the International Cottages. Then, we made our way to a few of the botanical gardens and just wandered around the park in general.

Spreckles Outdoor Organ

I Love My Jason Too!

Ooo La La!

I was certainly sad to say goodbye that afternoon, but she had to drive back to Phoenix. Thankfully, that drive isn't nearly as long as it once was so we can visit each other more often!

The Happiest Place on Earth

One of the very first things we did once we moved to California was buy annual passes for Disneyland.  The idea was to give me something to help me adjust.  We had also been planning a trip there all year to meet up with my cousin and her little family, so it seemed like as good of a time as any.  Little did we know just how much of an escape from reality we would be needing.

As we had gone about planning this trip, our group grew bigger and bigger.  By the time we all gathered together our group included my cousin, her husband, their two girls, her parents, her sister, my sister, and my brother-in-law.  The majority of this group hadn't been to Disneyland in 12 years or so.  Needless to say, we had been looking forward to this Disneyland trip for a long time.

We met up Thursday morning and had a great time showing everyone around the park.  The crowds were minimal, the little girls (and all of the adults too) were loving the entire atmosphere.  The little girls especially loved meeting Mickey and his friends. 

Meeting Mickey

Playing with Pluto

We had enough adults in our group that we were able to divide and conquer pretty easily.  We were able to hit both parks and cover a lot of ground in the first day.  As one of the most experienced Disney-goers in the first group, I was elected fast pass runner/tour guide.  I had a great time showing all of the "newbies" the best way to maximize their Disney vacation.  That was possible my favorite part of the entire vacation.

Splash Mountain for the First Time

Not so sure about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Post Matterhorn

Loving Big Thunder Mountain

Round and Round on King Triton's Carousel

The next day was the first official day of Halloween Time in Disneyland.  Decorations sprang up practically over night, the characters had all changed into Halloween costumes, attractions (Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain) had been redone, and more Disney villans were wandering around the park.  It is truly amazing how thorough Disney is in creating atmospheres and moods.

Halloween decorations start at the parking tram

Terrified of Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy

After spending two and half days in the parks and saying farewell to all of our family, Jason and I hobbled home where we spent the rest of the weekend recuperating from our little getaway.  Just the way a good Disney vacation should be!  Thanks for helping us have a great time everybody!

Situation Update

I have been really bad at posting lately, but perhaps this post will help everyone understand why.  Just over a month ago (August 14 to be precise), we had to be out of our apartment in Sandy because our lease was up and we weren't renewing.  Since we knew we were going to be moving anyway, Jason started looking for a new job out of state.  We were looking in both Arizona and California, but kept coming up empty handed.  So, we made arrangements to move back down to Provo since it would be closer to work for both of us.

Then, Jason had a phone interview with a company in California that seemed to go really well.  This was three days before our moving date.  Unfortunately, they wanted him to come in for an in person interview the following week, so we didn't find out anything in time to make a one-time move out of state.  But we didn't really want to move into the Provo apartment and start paying rent and have to deal with the hassle of getting out of a contract two weeks later if we didn't have to.  So we moved in with my parents (for what turned out to be 3 weeks).

That was one crazy weekend.  We moved Saturday, drove to California on Sunday, Jason did the job interview Monday morning and then we drove right back home.  The interview process was a lot more intense than we were originally thinking (like 5 hours long kind of intense) and we still didn't get any definitive information for the next week.  Finally, they offered the job, we accepted and began making plans to move to California over Labor Day weekend so that he could start the Tuesday after.

Since we were covering the moving costs all on our own, we decided to financially recover a bit and just move in with Jason's parents until we could find a place that would fit our own budget.  We moved in, put most of our stuff in storage, and started settling into our new life.  Jason started training and it seemed like he had really lucked out with the company.  It was still a hard transistion for him though, as anyone who has ever started a new job knows.  But he was making it work.

In the meantime I also interviewed for and started a new job as a part-time administrative assistant for a local preschool.  I started last week and only worked two days, but I think it should be really good experience for me.  Basically, it seemed like everything was falling nicely into place after months of uncertainty and a constant state of limbo.

I should have known better.  Wednesday afternoon I was ready and raring to go to Disneyland for an extended weekend with my cousins, aunt and uncle, and sister and brother-in-law.  Jason hadn't been able to get the time off from his new job, so he was planning on just dropping me off and then meeting up with us Friday night.  Since I worked on Wednesday, I had the car and had to go pick him up before we could head up north.

When I got to his work, he informed me that he had good news and bad news for me.  The good news was that he was going to Disneyland with me.  The bad news was that he has just been fired from his job.  Yup, the job that he'd only had for a week and a half.  The job that had had such a thorough screening process to avoid potential hiring mistakes.  The job that had seemed too good to be true actually turned out to be that way.  And they didn't even give us the courtesy of an explanation or solid reason.  Just "we don't like the way things are heading."  Uhm, don't you think they could have given a warning or a chance to improve?

So now we find ourselves back to square one.  Actually, we are even back to something before square one since when we were looking for jobs before, we already had a steady source of employment.  In the meantime I am grateful that we didn't sign a lease with an apartment.  Our expenses are fairly minimal, and if absolutely necessary, we can still move around once more.  One of these days we'll actually know where our lives are heading...

I promise, the next post will be more uplifting since it will be all about our trip to Disneyland! :)

Book Review: Dewey

Title: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touchedthe World

Author: Vicki Myron

Length: 277 pages

Adjectives: Heart-Warming, Endearing, Emotional

Summary: On the coldest night of the year in early 1988, a ginger kitten was shoved into the after-hours book-return slot at the public library in Spencer, Iowa.  This is his story, told from the perspective of the library's director, Vicki Myron.  Myron tells of the impact the cat came to have on the library and its patrons, and on Myron herself.  Myron shares the story of how an orange fur ball became "Dewey Readmore Books," an irresistible library mascot capable of bringing international attention to a small midwestern town and melting the heart of even the most curmudgeonly visitor.  On top of cat anecdotes, Myron uses her relationship with Dewey to recount the economic and social history of Spencer as well as her own success story.

Dewey's story will melt your heart, tug at your hearts strings, and keep you coming back to the book for more.  For those with young kids, there is a picture book version of Dewey's story (see Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library).