It Is Magical!

The drive to California was...dare I say it, good, even with all 10 of us in one car. There were no fights, no yelling, we arrived in 6 hours, and everyone was still happy:). We had a wonderful week full of laughs, and we made many great memories. We came in under budget...probably thanks to Eli's frugality (he noticed early on we didn't finish all our food at restaurants, so he stopped ordering meals and started eating others' left overs...he's a very thoughtful and frugal kid, I love that!) So, everyone was able to buy a souvenir...and mine is a magic trick...it's awesome! I practiced for an hour this morning and I am now able to wow the sister missionaries:). I'll keep it a secret for now, but when you see me again, I'll show you my magical talent.

Here are some of our Disney highlights: World of Color at California Adventure. It's a water, light, music, and fire show. And it's amazing...especially since we got to sit up close in the handicapped section (thanks Bea;)) and we could feel the heat from the fire. Andrew and Zach both went through Jedi training school and did light saber to light saber combat with Darth Mal. We ate Monte Christo sandwiches at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (who pays $25 for a sandwich?). We ate at the Cheesecake Factory, Mimi's Cafe, and P.F. Chang's all in a 4 day period (we chose our favorites). Boy was I ready for homemade food even before it was time to have it! We normally eat out at one of those restaurants like, once a year? Every night I was full before dinner started, but I still ate...that can't be good for my waist line. And not to be forgotten...the funny moment I didn't see coming, when I distracted Ricky and she ran a wheelchair bound Bea straight into a light pole at Disneyland, so when Ricky and I looked forward again I had to laugh and laugh seeing Bea wrapped around the light pole...sorry Bea (I'm glad you didn't get hurt, and I'm grateful you have an amazing sense of humor, and I'm grateful Ricky likes to drive everything with wheels)!

We spent a fun-filled day at Sea World. The funniest part of the day was when the sea lion said in true Darth Vader fashion, "Biff, I am your father." Don't ask me why, but that just made me laugh! And we ate more cheese cake and chocolate cake than any normal person should eat in one day.

But my favorite part of the trip was the time we spent at Point Loma...not really looking at tide pools (even thou it was low tide, because it's that time of the month when the tide doesn't really get low). We were looking at shells and rocks and sea anemone. It was chilly and overcast, that's my favorite beach weather! And we fed a rotten banana to a squirrel, that was fun.

Our drive home felt longer, maybe dead cow highway had something to do with it, with all it's continuous roller coaster hills for 45 minutes. But we all had a fun adventure that I'm sure I'll always remember!

Since we've been home I've been exercising every day. It's tiring, but it's good for my heart, and probably my waist line:). I've also been gardening, today I planted carrots and green onions (from the seeds I harvested from my own garden last year). We've had lots of huge watermelons this fall, they are delicious! I'm not a watermelon fan, but I crave them this fall! I'm excited for the green tomatoes on my vines to get ripe, so we can eat arugula and fresh garden tomato salads. Right now I'm loving the 6 huge basil plants that are growing so well. I've been making basil tomato sandwiches for lunch and lots of pesto pasta for dinner. Gardening makes me happy, I never thought I'd say that as a child weeding an acre garden, our garden doesn't have weeds today, maybe that's why it makes me happy?!