LANDIEGO & LABOR DAY WEEKEND CAMPING

After California we headed back to Lander for the weekend! We went to the sinks and fed the fish with Mack and Debbie!

Labor day weekend for us was just a walk through memory lane for us! 2 years ago on Labor Day weekend I drove to Lander on Friday afternoon to see Garrett. He had already started school at Weber State so he drove to Lander and we met there. We had spent the last month speaking on the phone every night for hours and hours. When he asked me to come to Lander I thought he was kidding. I told my parents and I think they figured I wouldn't actually go. So a few days before my mom was still surprised I was still going. When I got closer to Lander I considered turning around but thankfully I didn't. He met me at McDonald's so he could drive me up to the house. When we got out it was like we had known each other forever. He was also as cute as I had remembered. 

We went up to his house, met Micah, went on a tour, came home and met Colby and then the 4 of us headed up the mountain to go camping! We had so much fun in the car chatting and telling jokes haha. When we got there I met Debbie and Vince and we sat around the fire! We had a really good time! Some funny things that happened on our first camping trip was:

1. Mack's hair on the steak

2. Vince dropped a stick on my head (it's funny now)

3. Vince almost fell in the fire

This time was really fun though! We went with Vince and Debbie, Grandma and Grandpa Irene, Garrett's cousin and her family, and his Aunt and Uncle! The only problem was the wind, SO WINDY! But we played spike ball, threw the softball around, and played cards! And of course, played with Mack...

Let's just talk about our sleeping situation.. Debbie and Vince both snore. So it was probably the problem. We tried to fall asleep before them and it did not work well. They fall asleep FAST. Garrett and I both struggled to sleep and at one point I was awake and didn't know that Garrett was and he looked at his watch and it was only 2 am and we were wishing it was 5 or 6. Vince got up at 5 to go hunting so we woke up then too, but after that we slept great! So we will blame that on Vince although he blames it on Debbie. We were just glad that it was only one night sleeping. 

On Saturday afternoon we went on a atv ride with Debbie, Vince, Teanna, Robert, and Keagan. It ended up a lot longer than we expected but it was still fun! We made quite a few stops and got a little bit of dirt.. everywhere. 

 *Robert & Keagan*

*Mack could do this for hours*

*This is the picture log where they used to take pictures growing up*

 

 

After we got back, Debbie and Vince were in charge of dinner so we got dinner ready, had a birthday party for Grandma and Grandpa Irene, and then headed back down the mountain! We had a really good time and it was fun to reminisce back to the first time! Garrett wearing the same shirt he did two years ago, joking about sleeping in different beds this time, going on a ride, and just being able to spend some time in the mountains. It brought so many memories!!

*This definitely did not happen last time haha*

 

*I looked down for 2 seconds and look back up to see this happening...*

 

 

We had the best weekend and it always feels good to just be away from everything! Two years ago we came home from camping Saturday evening and got ready quickly and went on our official first date to Tony's Pizza.. so here's a little throwback picture to end the night.

*First picture together*

CALIFORNIA 2015

Like I said in the post before, we headed to Utah on Friday morning to meet up with Madeline and Tyler for lunch! It was SO fun to see them and to catch up! It made us miss them so much! We ate at 180 Street Tacos and got delicious dessert and some place that I can't remember the name of. Also, we could NOT believe how big Elle had gotten! She didn't remember us which is expected but also sad haha.

After Lunch we drove to Springville to meet up with Jon and Katrina at the place that they were leaving there car. We found out Jon's sister-n-law was carpooling down with us. So I hopped in with Shelly, Katrina and her 2 girls and Garrett and Jon drove together. That night we stopped in St. George and stayed the night at Katrina's Aunt and Uncles house. It was SO nice of them to let us stay there. Then we got up nice and early and drove the rest of the way.

When we got there we went to Costco with Jon's parents to get food for the week and to get some hot dogs and chicken bakes for lunch! We only needed 2 carts and some major packing skills.

On Sunday we went to sacrament meeting and then Garrett and I went to see the Newport Beach Temple! It was beautiful! We have had so much fun visiting some different temples this year. We talked to some missionaries who were serving on the grounds and took a few pictures. And by a few, I mean a lot. 

 

 

Then we decided to go check out Newport Beach! It was fun to see the ocean and spend sometime checking things out! We walked out on the pier and it was quite smelly due to all of the fishing! Garrett liked checking out all of the fishies!

 

 

Then we raced back to the house to have a little birthday party for Jon, Jon's dad Bill, and Katrina! We had a delicious meal with dessert and watched them open presents! That night we played ping-pong for hours and hours and laughed so hard! 

 

We were sweating way too much so we decided to go night swimming. We may or may not have have had Jon jump the fence and let us in! The pool was warm and we had so much fun! Then we also may or may not gotten kicked out by a very nice Mexican man.

MONDAY WAS BEACH DAY! We were all so excited to go to the beach! And so ready! Because I am always cold the little ocean breeze had me freezing for quite awhile. 

We took pictures while the boys attacked the waves.

 

We had a great morning at the beach! We ate good treats got some sun, especially Garrett (he got fried). After we finished at the beach the boys went golfing and Katrina and I went to the pool for the rest of the afternoon!

 

 

 

 

Disneyland

Tuesday morning we got up and headed to Disneyland so we could get there right when they opened! We were there all day long and had the best time! Garrett and I had both been to Disney World before but never to Disneyland or even to California! So it was a lot of firsts!

Our first stop was to City Hall to get our "First Time" buttons! It was funny because people would comment about them! 

 This is Lexi, Jon and Katrina's niece and it was her first time too! 

 

The first ride we went on was Indiana Jones and everyone loved it so much that it quickly became a hard one to beat! We chose a GREAT day to go to Disneyland because the capacity was only at like 52% and we had very little wait times for all of our rides which made it so much more enjoyable! After Indiana Jones we went to Splash Mountain, then Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. Space Mountain was probably our longest wait of the day and was about 25 minutes and it was also a lot more jerky and harder to ride now that I am older than before but still very fun!

 

Then we drove cars around the race track where it says, "DO NOT BUMP THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU" multiple times and I still bumped into Garrett. I got stressed and hit the gas thinking it was the break but don't worry we didn't get kicked out. 

 

We were the only ones that rode Matterhorn and I think Garrett would have been happy if we didn't, but my motto that day was-- we are here, we paid the money so let's do as much as we can! 

Then we met up with everyone else at Pixie Hallow which was a walk through some grass to meet a few fairies. Having Ryan there made it 10x better!

 

For lunch we ate at Jolly Holiday and had salads and sandwiches! I got the famous Dole Whips from the Tiki Room to go with mine (so good)!

 

 *Garrett on Main Street*

 *Mandatory castle pictures*

 

 

*It's a Small World*- not my favorite ride but it was nice to relax

Then we went on Big Thunder Mountain and that ended up being my favorite ride! So I was glad that we went on it twice! 

*Thanks to Katrina for the photos. They make me happy*

Before dinner we hit up It's a Small World again and this time Lexi was fast asleep on me while my arms were slowly falling off but I was happy because who doesn't love a sleeping baby? We also rode on the teacups right before dinner instead of after so we didn't throw up the expensive food.

 *Slow teacup*

 *Fast teacup (yes, it's blurry, i still like it)*

I had been waiting for dinner all day long because I knew that I would be getting a delicious CORN DOG. I have no idea why I love corn dogs so much but I do. They are they best. And the Little Red Wagon did not disappoint. They were delicious, all $8.75 of them! 

 

Our last ride of the day was Jungle Cruise and I ended up holding Ryan through the whole line and ride. But she loved tickling Garrett and playing with him! It was pretty funny!

After that we got one last Dole Whip and headed for the parade. It was called Paint the Night and ended up being AMAZING! It was like one huge dance party! 

 It was a long but fun day! I was so glad to experience with Garrett! We had a great time and will hopefully some day be back! We slept like champs after our 7 mile day! 

The next day we got up early and headed back to Wyoming. We drove all the way back in one day this time so it was definitely a long one! Some states don't have signs (California/Nevada) but we did get these ones on the way back!

We stopped in Provo to give Justin his bag and tennis racket from DC. It was super good to see him and catch up and made us want to see everybody else! We also stopped in Park City to get Garrett some new shoes after all the walking he did this summer! 

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I killed 3 bunnies on the way home and that's about it.