Happiest Place on Earth

Chris and I had been counting down the days until our family reunion for MONTHS,

and the time finally came!

It was a loooong day of travelling after a long night of work,

but we finally made it to beautiful California!!

 



 

The first stop for our poor little pale faces was a stop

by the outlet malls to find us some new shades.

 

Then, of course, we had to stop by Baja Fresh, which Chris loves

and after introducing me to the delicious fast food Mexican,

I have found the love as well.

Chris was jealous because we both ordered burritos and mine

came out twice as big as his.

 



 

We spent the first few days seeing friends, hanging out in Laguna Niguel

with Chris's brother and his family,

and going on a fun double date with my sweet in-laws!

We went to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and to say that Chris

was in heaven is an understatement.

He went to Korea on his mission and is always craving

some good, authentic korean food, but it's

difficult to find in Oklahoma.

Well, we tried out this new place, and Chris swears

it was as good if not better than anything he'd eaten in Korea.

We also had a special surprise when the chefs and a photographer

came to our table and wanted to take pictures for a new ad.

They brought out all of their fanciest, most expensive meats

to take the pictures, and then gave it to us for FREE!

(Too bad it had to be after we had finished our real meal and were completely stuffed)

But it was fun, and if you're ever in LA, be on the lookout for those ads,

because we're pretty much celebrities  now :)

 



My sweet mother in law and sister in law threw me the cutest

baby shower!  It was fun to see friends and family,

and it got us SO much more excited about our little babe.

Unfortunately though, we opened presents on the lawn in the backyard,

and after just half an hour in the beautiful 80 degree weather,

our poor vampire skin got FRIED.

Luckily Chris' parents grow fresh aloe in the backyard

and I got to experience the gooey stinky fresh goodness for the first time.

 



I've never had dessert at Claim Jumper,

and Chris has been telling me since we've been married

that the Chocolate Chip Calzone is the most incredible thing in the world.

Needless to say, it did not disappoint.  So good!

 



 

After our fun few days with Chris's family,

MY family finally got into town from Utah!!! 

It was so amazing to see them, it'd been a year since I'd

seen any of them.

We spent our first day at Disneyland!

It was so fun to see how excited all the little nieces and nephews

were..... (And Chris, haha)

This was the first time that Chris and I had met our newest nephew, Haakon.

And WHAT a doll he is!  Too bad he and his siblings were all

so deathly sick the whole time, but I love his little

droopy sad face in this picture!

 

Chris and Haakon spent some quality time together :)

 



I'm not sure how much poor little Risa enjoyed her trip,

she was so sick and this is how she looked most of the time :)

Still so cute, though!!

 



Mama and Chris :)

 



My FAVORITE temple!  Apart from Timpanogas of course.

So beautiful!

 



Paradise :)

 



On the airport on our way home, I looked at my ankles,

and they were HUUUUUGE!
It must've been the week long of nonstop walking

at amusement parks.  Shocking....

Those sausages could barely squeeze into my shoes!

 



The last day in California left my poor Christopher broken :(

He was sunburnt, had scrapes all over from a little mishap

trying to climb a rocky cliff at La Jolla coves,

his nose was bleeding from a scab,

he had itchy rashes up and down both of his arms from

some weird sunburn/poisoning,

and just before leaving Seaworld, he popped a saltwater

taffy into his mouth that ripped out a huge filling :(

My poor baby!!

 



And for a bonus feature, my mama caught me giving little babe

a taste of the California sun,

and my belly looks like a little soccer ball!

 



 

Overall, the trip was absolutely amazing!

We had such a wonderful time seeing our sweet families,

we wish we lived closer to them!!