Pictures from Disneyland

When we first moved out here we went to Disneyland for 3 glorious days. Eric had never been so I really wanted to take him. Below are some of the pictures we have from that day. Also, some others when we went earlier this year.

These were on the jungle book ride.

This was on Space Mountain. I didn't ride this much as a kid, but now it's absolutely one of my favorites. The wind in my eyes and the screaming make my eyes water. I always look like I'm crying when I'm done with this ride.

This is the little Bug's Life ride in California Adventure. It's was simple and quick, but still fun.The entrance to the River Raft Ride in California Adventure. Total blast to ride, but you will get soaked. This is on California Screamin'. I love this roller coaster. Probably the best coaster I've ever been on. It's smooth and fast and so fun. However, they do manage to take your picture at just the moment when you look like crap.

This is on Thunder Mountain. This is a ride I've loved since I was young. It's fast and crazy. Lots of fun!So, I love Disneyland as you might have noticed. We're always up for anyone else going with us, especially if they've never been before. So please, let us know if you're visiting or even if you live around here and just want to go. We'd love to be your guide!

Disneyland Part 2

Okay, so after we changed we went back to our car to put our wet clothes away. When we came back to the park we felt renewed and ready to start the rest of our day. We were late for our fast pass tickets to Space Mountain but we tried anyway. It turns out that you can use them late. We rode and this time was much better. It went faster and was just crazy fun! I still kept my eyes closed most of the time, but it was great. After that we hopped on the monorail and went over to Disney's California Adventure Park. We went straight back to California Screamin'. It's probably my favorite roller coaster ever. Also, I think it was the first ride I ever went upside down in. Anyway, the line was kind of long and we could get fast passes and then go ride Toy Story Mania. Seriously, this is like the best new ride ever. So, we wanted in line for about 45 minutes. Talked to my brother, Adam, on the phone while in line. That helped the time go faster. So then we did Screamin' which was probably the best time I've ever had on that ride. I'm not sure what was so great, but I just totally enjoyed it and the freedom I felt on the ride. The day was starting to shape up into a splendid time. We checked out the line from some other rides but didn't want to wait or come back so we went back to Disneyland. We had fast passes for the Indiana Jones ride. This is where the afternoon got interesting. While on our way to the ride I noticed some sort of paper laying on the ground. It kind of looked like money, so I picked it up to see. It was definitely cash, but I didn't know what to do with it so I gave it to Eric for safe keeping. Once we discovered it was more than $50 the conflict began. What do we do with the money? We agonized for quite awhile and asked several park employees. Eventually we turned it over because I knew I'd feel too guilty if I didn't. We watch the fireworks that night and rode Thunder Mountain. It was a crazy, but pleasant day. Seriously, it was like a full week of vacation packed into one day. I love Disneyland so much and can't wait to go back again soon. I need to work there I think; or something.



Notes if you're going to the park:

1. Use the Fast Pass feature! Don't wait in really long lines, there is no need for that.


2. Just have a blast!


3. Use a map to move around the park if you're unfamiliar.


4. Ride your favorite rides as many times as you can.


5. If you need any other tips or have questions feel free to ask me. I love this place!

Two Weekends: Disneyland vs. Universal Studios

Can I just how great it is living in the Los Angeles area. We can literally be from our apartment to the gates of Universal Studios in 15 minutes. We can get to Disneyland in 45 minutes. On October 10th we went to Disneyland since we had free passes.
We wanted to be there at 8am when the park opened, but it was hard to get up early enough. We left around 7:20 and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. The drive through took forever so we didn't end up getting to Disneyland until about 8:30, but it was still a great, but totally insane day at Disneyland. So many adventures were had that day. There were times it was not going well and then it turned out great. It was just a totally insane day for us. Let me tell you all about what happened once we got there.

We wanted to to do Space Mountain since it's one of our favorite rides but knew also that it would be a packed day since it was busy and they're all set up for Halloween. We got fast passes since the wait time was 45 minutes, but after we got our passes the wait time was only 25 minutes so we just went ahead and waited in line. It wasn't so great. They had weird ghostly images during the ride, but not much else. I just kept my eyes closed so I hardly noticed it and Eric said it wasn't that scary really. It also felt like the ride was going in slow motion too. Not a great first ride.

We rode some other stuff around there and then made our way over to Adventureland. I believe we rode Pirates of the Carribbean first. The line was short and it's a ride you have to go on everytime you're at Disneyland. The first big fall is my favorite part of the whole ride. After that we looked around the area and tried to find Club 33. We actually walked right past it and then came back around to find it again. It's just adjacent to the crystal shop, if you know where that is. Club 33 is an exclusive club for members at Disneyland. You should look it up. I hope I have the opportunity to go there sometime. The images of it are absolutely amazing. Take a look at this website to see more about it. After we found that and took a picture of the door we went to see what the line was like for the Haunted Mansion. It's all decked out with stuff from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is one of Eric's favorite movies so we had to ride it. The line was like an hour long, totally insane, so we got fast passes for that too. Then we were debating on splash mountain. Eric loves the ride but I wasn't sure about getting wet on a barely warm day. While we were deciding we rode on the Winnie the Pooh ride. It's nothing fancy, but it's fun at least. After that we found a little treat shop. Eric saw this huge cupcake and had to have it even though I advised against it. Check out his blog for pictures.

So, he ate his treat and then we got in line for Splash Mountain. We didn't realize until we were in our log that they'd put 4 adult men behind us in the boat. So we're talking about a log that now weighed probably over 1000 pounds. Insane huh? Totes! We got soaked. I tried to just roll with it and have a good time. After we got off Eric was not feeling well from his cupcake. We ran to the nearest bathroom. He was texting me about how miserable he was from being wet and that he wanted to buy a new shirt. I agreed. We ended up in Downtown Disney at a Quiksilver store. He got a new shirt, shorts and dry socks. I got a new shirt and dry socks for the day. It sure did help our moods to be reasonably dry again. But next time we're taking a change of clothes with us.

Wow, this post is long enough now. I'll have to post more later about all the crazy happenings tomorrow. Come back later for more or you can check out Eric's blog about it.

Sassy

Yep, that's what I am. Check out the definition: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sassy. If you scroll down enough it gives 3 defenitions for the word.

1. Rude and disrespectful; impudent.
2. Lively and spirited; jaunty.
3. Stylish; chic: a sassy little hat

I get called "sassy" an awful lot. My whole life has been that way, and since someone sad it at work to me yesterday I figured it was time to look up the defenition. So, then I read this and thought, "Gee, I really hope I'm not rude and disrespectful." I know that sometimes I fit into that category, which is a bummer and I'm working on it. Hopefully though I'm much more lively and spirited than anything else. I want to be a friendly happy person so I need to do more to have people see that in me. I know that I'm "sassy". That will probably never go away. I just want it to be endearing to people and not push them away.

What kind of sassy do you think I am?

My husband's Blog

I just wanted to let you know all about a very hilarious blog that is much more consistent than my own. You should read my husband's blog. He's very funny and a great writer. You can check it out here: http://produce-er.blogspot.com

Read it, leave comments, but most importantly enjoy his blog. Let me know what you think.

2 Questions

Again, I read another article . This time it's an article done for Oprah.com from a discussion with Steve Harvey. He lists out 5 questions women should ask the men they're dating to make sure their goals and plans much up. You can ask these questions at any point in the relationship to see that you're both still on the same page and make sure you're understanding each other the way it actually is. I think it's a good suggestion to make sure you're both on the same page. Hopefully though you know this information without having to ask. Communicate throughout your whole relationship so you know what's going on and that nothing is going to suddenly surprise you.

I have two questions of my own that I think every woman should ask a potential husband. Perhaps don't say this too early on in the relationship, but don't be afraid to ask. Here they are:

1. Are you gay?
2. Are you addicted to pornography?

People usually laugh when I tell them to ask these questions. They think it's silly to ask a guy these questions, because of course you'd know if you spent lots of time with him before he proposed. Well, that is most likely true, but when there is a lot of shame (especially in religious communities) about those two things that guys might lie to themselves or just simply try to hide it. You don't want to get married and then discover during or after the honeymoon that he's got a whole bag of other issues you didn't know about. I've also had several friends get married and within a year it fell apart because of at least one of those issues.

Of course, if you get a yes to either of those answers then you have to decide how you'll proceed or if you need some sort of of ocunseling. Neither of those is an absolute destroyer of your relationship if you go into it knowing the situation. You just don't want to be deceived.

Religion and Homosexuality

So, I read a Newsweek article this morning that I found very sweet and considerate. It was about a religious man who was once filled with hate and ignorance for homosexuals. He thought homosexuals were all sinners and bound for hell. At the encouragement of his mother he looked into what his real beliefs were and what Jesus Christ would say about that. Over a period of a few years he changed his mind. He saw that homosexuals are created in God's image just like the rest of us. It was even to the point of him joining in rallies for "gay rights".

What his story reminded me of was the view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on people who are homosexual. This is the church I belong to, more commonly known as "the Mormon church". Often times when people think of my church and homosexuality they envision a religious group that hates homosexuals, their lives and their existence. This is not true. Of course, there are individuals who are confused and judgemental, but that's not the official stand of the church. Elder Oaks (member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles) said, "The distinction between feelings or inclinations on the one hand, and behavior on the other hand, is very clear. It’s no sin to have inclinations that if yielded to would produce behavior that would be a transgression. The sin is in yielding to temptation. Temptation is not unique. Even the Savior was tempted."

At the end of the day we do believe homosexuality is wrong and a sinful behavior. However, the feelings and inclinations are not wrong or sinful. It's what we do with those feelings and temptations we're given that determine whether we're living correctly or not.

The main reason I wanted to bring this up was to say that I don't hate homosexuals or think of them as less than me. I might not agree with what they're doing, but I'm opinionated. I don't agree with a lot of things other people are doing, but that doesn't change things. I love all people and want them to be happy. There needs to be a lot more love and compassion in the world.

The "Pill"

Wow! MSN is on a roll with interesting articles today. I just read this one. It's about how the pill affects your hormone levels, which in turn affects the guys you're attracted to. During ovulation women are generally more attracted to the sexiest, strongest man in the room. The rest of her cycle she's more likely to be attracted to a less masculine type. They even go so far as to say a man with more feminine features, but that's probably not the word I'd use. Anyway, I just found the science behind this totally fascinating.

It made me think too about the time I met Eric. I wasn't on the pill. I was full of my roller coaster hormones making me attracted to all sorts of guys at different times. However, Eric fit in all parts of the roller coaster. Anyway, that's not important. Just thought I'd bring in to everyone's attention. Now for the single ladies out there: next time you think a guy is hot first consider if you might be near ovulation. If so, then run the other way. He wouldn't make a good father so don't waste your time. Just imagine him when you're with your non-ovulation time boyfriend. ;-)

Mom's the problem?

So, this article is totally fascintating. It's about an 18-year old kid who has been breaking into businesses and homes and just fleeing. Eighteen months ago he escaped from a half-way house and has been on the run ever since. The police have not been able to catch him. It's now at the point that he's stealing and then crash landing small aircraft. Oh yeah, he also does most of this while barefoot.

They interviewed his mom and she was actually quite proud of her son. Seriously. She even advised him to wear a parachute the next time he steals a plane. She wants him to escape to a country that won't extradite him. Again, seriously? It's clear as you read the article that he lacks any sort of positive parental influence in his life. He's like a Peter Pan in the modern world. Just playing and doing what he wants. This is a problem. I know he's committing crimes, but his mother committed the biggest one of all by being an absolutely crappy parent.