Halloweentime!

Halloween at Disneyland may be my favorite time of the year at the park. They really deck the place out. I love the huge pumpkin Mickey, Candy Corn Acres, Nightmare Before Christmas at the Haunted Mansion, the professional pumkin carvings at Thunder Ranch, Ghost Galaxy Space Mountain (new this year and it was fabulous!), and all the little halloween details throughout the park.

Aaron got to see our new brick for the first time.

This year we had an extra special treat. We got tickets to go to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party, an after-hours party at California Adventure. There are dance parties, trick or treating, a halloween parade, and lots of really short lines. We decided to go as the 7 dwarfs + 1 and the wicked witch.

The newest dwarf, Hungry.We had such a great time. Aaron was like a little kid again running around to get as much candy as he could. His goal was to get enough to give to all our trick-or-treaters so he didn't have to buy any candy. I think he succeeded. While he was running around getting candy, we enjoyed walking on to the Tower of Terror.Happy Halloween!

10 Year Reunion

I can't believe it, but it has been 10 years since I went to Jerusalem for a semester. I remember being scared to go without knowing anyone, but it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences and blessings of my life. While I was there I met these five fabulous girls and we decided to be roommates at the Regency when we came home.

Not only did did we become the best of friends, I also found a couple roommates that love Disneyland just as much as me (and a few that tolerate it because we love it so much). So our first trip to Disneyland was made after we had been living together for a year. This year we decided to take a trip as a 10 year reunion since going to Jerusalem (and 6 years since the last ones graduated and left the Regency). We couldn't make the trip to Jerusalem for a reunion, so we decided our next best option was Disneyland. All six of us were able to arrange our schedules to get together. Because Natalie is a "silver card" carrier she "made the magic happen" and hooked us up with some great deals and we enjoyed two wonderful days at the happiest place on earth.We discovered that you can actually fit 7 people in a splash mountain log if you can squeeze two into the back.

The only problem with this is the extra weight causes a lot of extra water to come into the log.

We loved California Adventure, especially the realatively short lines for Toy Story and the new Mickey face on the ferris wheel.

After two fun-filled days at Disneyland we spent a more relaxing day at our Marriott Villa right on the coast of Newport Beach. It was so great to catch up and realize that even though we don't get to see each other nearly enough, whenever we do it feels just like old times. I love these girls! And I'm already looking forward to our next reunion in 5 years!

Summer Days

We ended our summer with separate trips before starting our new semesters. Aaron went to Texas with some friends to a friend's wedding.

While he was gone, I went to California for Johnny's belated graduation trip. Our first night there we went to see Legally Blonde in Hollywood. It was opening night and we had a great time.
The next day we went to Sea World.
We rode the rollar coaster, and got stuck while riding it a second time.
On Sunday we spent time at the new beach house. We've spent many trips staying in the little old green house that was in this same spot. Then my aunt and uncle tore it down and built this beautiful new house. We had a BBQ on the roof and spent the afternoon enjoying our view of the beach.

On Monday we went to Disneyland! I saw the brick that Aaron got me for Christmas for the first time. It only took us a minute to find it and we made sure to walk by it a few more times while we went between Disneyland and California Adventure.

We ended the day with the electrical parade. It is a fabulous parade, and was extra fun for us to see because we rarely see it (they only do it during the summer and we can't go most of the summer).
It was a great trip, and the start of my four in four (four trips to Cali in four months). Crazy I know, but I have different reasons for all of them.

Our New Nephew

We were so excited to meet our newest nephew, Ty. We had our first photo shoot when he was a little over a week old and he was so cooperative! He let us move and pose him and he just slept right through it. We even caught some smiles while he was sleeping. Here are some of my favorites.

From Hempel