Disneyland Road Trip

Are you ready for this long post? It'll be worth it, I promise!

For a long time, my roommates and I have always talked about how we should go on a road trip to Disneyland one weekend. Elise asked me a few weeks ago if I seriously would go on the adventure if we went over MLK weekend. I got pretty excited but wasn't sure if it would really happen. Things weren't working out but then on the Monday before the 3-day weekend Elise got serious about it and made plans. After cramming homework in we left at 10:00 Thursday night to head to St. George. 

We got into St. George at about 2:00 AM and woke up three hours later to hit the road again. This is us at the beautiful hour of 2:30 AM.

We made it to Newport Beach at about 10:30 Friday morning and enjoyed a day of pure bliss at the beach. We played frisbee, football, ate a picnic on the beach, and loved every second of feeling the warm sun on our faces and sand in between our toes.

And then, we rented little beach cruisers for an hour and rode them along a pathway down the beach. I literally was in heaven. I loved every single second of that ride and would do it every single day if I could!! It was perfect.

After a perfect day at the beach, we went and checked into our hotel, went swimming for a little while, showered and got ready, and then went and got some dinner at Big Al's. Pretty good food for some very hungry college students!

After dinner we decided to hit up Downtown Disney. Walking down the streets, listening to all the music, and wandering through all the fun little stores was a perfect way to end our evening. We got all our souvenirs and just enjoyed being in Cali!

On Saturday morning at 7:56 AM our day of magic began at the Happiest Place on Earth! We arrived nice and early in order to get some of the best rides done before the crowds hit. We loved running around to the next ride and soaking all the fun of Disneyland in. I haven't been since I was eight so it was a joyful reunion for me.

Splash Mountain

Star Tours

And we of course had to get a picture with Cinderella; our day would not have been complete otherwise!

After riding rides all day and eating some wonderful food, we enjoyed every second of the Disney Parade and incredible firework show. Fourth of July fireworks are awesome but this show was absolutely amazing. 

On Sunday we went to church with Elise's grandpa, walked around the Newport Temple, and then hit the road to drive back to St. George. Nate's aunt and uncle were so gracious to let us stay there and we loved them! They fed us wonderful food and played some great games with us. 

This morning we had a great breakfast and then went to the crack (mini version of the Narrows) before driving back to Provo. 

All in all, this road trip was one of the best adventures I've had in a long time! It was so fun to go vacation with friends and just get to do whatever we wanted to do. The beach was a dream and Disneyland was simply magical. And spending it with some of my best friends made it that much better. 

Hurray for college road trips!

Textbooks

I have a love/hate relationship with textbooks. I know they are great in aiding my learning, but boy, my wallet sure does not like them.

Cornerstones of Cost Accounting - $133 off half.com

Taxation of Individual and Business Entities 2012 (three-hole-punched version) - $191 off amazon.com

Thank goodness I get to reuse my Financial Accounting textbook from last semester!!

On a side note, how exciting do those classes sound?!

Merry Christmas!!

Even though we did not have the white Christmas I was hoping for, we still had a wonderful Christmas! I've loved celebrating and enjoying all the fun things of this season. After finals, we went down to the Riverwoods to look at all the lights. It was magical. I loved it. And then this past week I've thoroughly been enjoying relaxing and spending time with the family. Not having to worry about classes and homework is so great!

I also have to give a quick shout out to my dear friend Kim from high school who got married this past Wednesday. She looked beautiful and so happy. 

Congrats Kim! I'm so excited for you!

I also got to go up to Daniels Summit Lodge up past Heber for a few days with my family. It was wonderful to just get away and relax with them. We also got to go snowmobiling for my first time and I absolutely loved it! Hopefully this will be a new family tradition.

Finals.

Well my friends, it's that time of the year again: finals week. Which we all super love. My hardest final was on Monday at 7:00 AM so the majority of my weekend was spend reviewing tons of material. But, it's done, and now I just get to cruise to the finish! I had my second final this morning at 7:00 AM. Don't be too jealous of how early my tests are! Now I just have my religion final at 5:45 tonight and one more Friday morning and then it's time to celebrate. Can't wait!

P.S. I went to the Festival of Trees a few weeks ago with my besties! I've been wanting to go for years now and I absolutely loved looking at the incredible trees and gingerbread houses. Some people are so talented! Going there will have to be my new Christmas tradition for sure.

P.S.S. I also got to go to the Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center a few weeks ago with some good friends. So fun to be there!

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving day started out with a family Turkey Trot 5k.  Another great opportunity to whip out my bright pink spandex? I think yes! I finished in about 25:30 so I was pretty happy with that time. It was a great way to start off our day.

After the race we headed up to my cousin's house in Duchesne for lots of delicious food, especially the pie. Banana cream pie is to die for! 

And now, I'm just enjoying every minute of not having to go to school and do homework.

And also, bring on the much-awaited-for Christmas music!!!! It's my absolute favorite part of the entire year!

11.11.11

 11.11.11 Dance Party. 

Easily the best part of my weekend!

More Pumpkin

Our week got a little bit crazier then we thought it would be so we didn't have to make something pumpkin every day, but we did when we could.  And then we extended it so it's more like "pumpkin two week" or maybe even "pumpkin month" depending on how much pumpkin foods we decide to make.

Tuesday, November 1st - Pumpkin bars.  Our favorite part about these was definitely the batter; so delicious!  And they taste better than they look, I promise you that :)

Saturday, November 5th - Pumpkin waffles with yogurt on top instead of syrup.  Great breakfast!

Sunday, November 6th - Pumpkin soup and pumpkin breadsticks. Sarah made the breadsticks last year, but the soup was a new addition this year. And it will for sure be repeated. The soup has apples in it which we thought would be an odd combination but this soup is absolutely delicious. Perfect for a cold day. It also made a lot of soup so I've been enjoying leftovers this entire week.

Monday, November 7th - Pumpkin muffins with pecan streusel topping. Inside is a little ball of cream cheese filling and so these basically are a little piece of dessert heaven. 

We still have a few more pumpkin recipes we want to make so get excited for those. We sure are!

In other news, this last weekend we went up to The Cheesecake Factory in Murray to celebrate my roommate Trish's birthday. Her husband came up with the idea to surprise her so she didn't know we were all there until a few minutes before they sat down. Dinner was delicious and it was great to be with dear friends. Happy birthday Trish! Thanks for being born so we could eat a such a yummy dinner.