Spring Break!

It's a Wednesday and I'm posting a blog! That's a rare occurrence during a school week! But yay for having a bit of spare! Though I did write most of this post on the car ride home from California. I will explain why we were in California a bit later on. So since the last post...

            We are now officially members of our church, Red Mountain Community Church! Like Jeremiah said, it wasn’t an especially extensive process, but a few classes and an interview later, we are members and are excited to have made that commitment.

            Honestly, February was pretty boring overall for us, we were just so consumed by school and work. But we managed a few fun things in there!

For Valentine’s Day, we made it pretty simple, but fun. Jeremiah gave me flowers and chocolates and a Coke Zero (he knows me so well) and my birthday gift to him doubled as a Valentine’s gift, so on Valentine’s Day I only actually gave him some candy, but he enjoyed that. For our date, we went to Chick-fil-A for dinner! You’re probably thinking how strange we are, but it was great! They were doing a special sit-down Valentine’s deal complete with a waitress, actual menus, live music, candles and a tablecloth, a free ice cream sundae bar, a carnation, and a gift certificate for another free meal. So we had a fun time and dressed up just to complete the experience. So some people may think it was odd, but we had a great time and saved some money! After our meal we just watched a movie. Another great Valentine’s Day shared with my best friend!

The live music was actually really good!

Also in February we celebrated my mom’s birthday by getting the whole family together for dinner at Sauce and frozen yogurt for dessert. It’s always fun (and a little crazy) to get the whole family together. My whole family was planning on going up to the cabin the weekend after my mom’s birthday, but Jeremiah and I had to stay back for a few different reasons. But at the last minute, my brother and sister-in-law and their kids stayed home too. So on that Saturday night, Jeremiah and I went over to their house to babysit while Brian and Terrisa went out on a date. We had a fun time with Paisley and Parker, as we always do, just playing around! Then after we put them to bed, we watched the movie “Gone Girl” for the first time, and really enjoyed it! What a strange movie! But I would definitely recommend it. So besides that, there really was not much to report from February. It flew by, and we are thankful because it was hectic!

So before we knew it we are now here in March! But ask any college student what March means to them and they will most likely say- Spring Break! Yes indeed it was our Spring Break this past week. We just had to get through the first week of March, which was full of midterms. But we did, and then were so excited to be free for a week! On Friday, the 6^th, we met up at our old high school to watch a track invitational. Most of you reading probably know that I was on the track team in high school, primarily as a pole vaulter, and Jeremiah was a dedicated supporter, coming to many of my meets.  He says he always enjoyed coming, and of course, I love anything track, so we decided that we should do our best to attend some track meets throughout the year. So we sat by the pole vault for a few hours and cheered on Mountain View pole vaulters! That was a fun way to start our Spring Break.

Then we both returned to our parents’ houses for the rest of the week. Throughout the week we did some fun things both together and individually with our families. On Saturday morning I went to this event called the Phoenix Flea with my sisters, mom, and Grandma, and we had Pizzeria Bianco for lunch- yum! Then Saturday evening I met up with Jeremiah’s family for dinner at Oregano’s (yes I ate out twice in one day, but for the record, I got a salad for dinner) and then Jeremiah and I went to the Phoenix Symphony. At the symphony they played a beautiful cello concerto and a couple other pieces. Sunday after church, I went with Jeremiah and his family to watch Jeremiah’s brother, Nathan, in his Sonic Brass concert. He had a couple of really beautiful solos on the flugelhorn and overall it was a great concert! He is a very talented musician and it’s always fun to hear him perform. After the concert we all went over to his grandma and grandpa’s house for dinner. They are heading back to Kansas for the next few months and so we wanted to see them one last time before they left. They have a house here and in Kansas that they switch off between. Anyway, dinner was great and it’s always nice to see them! After dinner I drove over to my friend Stephanie’s apartment to hang out with her and some of our other friends. Myself and the other girls that were over are going to be bridesmaids in Stephanie’s wedding in May and her other bridesmaid who is from Virginia was in town and so Stephanie wanted us to meet her. We had a nice time getting to know her and just hanging out and chatting for awhile! Stephanie is a good friend of both mine and of Jeremiah as well, and we sometimes go on double dates with she and her fiancé. They both met in marching band in high school as well, so we have a good amount in common with them! Anyway, I’m sure you’ll read about the wedding in May via the blog as well! Monday through Wednesday we did a few things, mostly just enjoyed our time at home. But Thursday morning we left for, guess where! Where else but Disneyland!! Yep, you heard right, we went to Disneyland over our Spring Break. This trip was with my family for my niece, Paisley’s fourth birthday! So early Thursday morning Jeremiah and I drove up with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece Madeline. We stopped at a place called Matt’s Big Breakfast on the way, which was delicious. Once we got there, we didn’t do much, mostly just settled in. Jeremiah and I went to a nearby mall for a couple hours and got Paisley a birthday gift; then we all got hotel happy hour and just hung out around the hotel! Friday morning we got out on the shuttle to Disneyland by 9 am, which is quite a feat with 12 people (including two babies)! We spent all day in the California Adventure park and had a blast! It was fun to do more of the kid attractions and take the time to watch some shows. There is always more to explore at Disneyland and this trip, Jeremiah and I definitely had some new experiences! For Paisley I think the best part of the day was meeting Elsa and Anna from Frozen! We got to go into their castle and get their signatures, and Paisley looked pretty excited. We also watched the Aladdin show, spent a lot of time in Bug’s Life land, and did plenty of walking. And don’t worry, we managed to find time for Tower of Terror, California Screamin’, and Toy Story Mania a couple of times each! Oh yeah, and for dinner we went to a restaurant called Ariel’s Grotto. It was so cute! Under the Sea themed and five different princesses came out during dinner and visited each table. Also, the food was delicious! Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the day, but on Saturday we got up and did it again! Except Saturday we spent all day in the actual Disneyland park. Saturday was Paisley’s birthday and we had made her a shirt that said, “It’s my 4^th birthday” on it. She reminded us throughout the day that it was her “special birthday.” In the morning we visited the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique where Paisley got her hair and makeup done! It was the cutest thing and she looked like she was really enjoying it. Cutest princess ever! Even with the painfully pulled back hairstyle! After that we did a few things in Fantasyland, watched a show, went on Space Mountain, and some of our other favorites. The day flew by! For dinner we went to this place with Monte Cristo sandwiches, and I don’t understand how those things made it on to the entrée part of the menu. That was dessert. If you’ve never had a Monte Cristo, you’ve got to try one because it was delicious, but man I’m sure it was terrible for me! I can’t believe Paisley is four now!! I’m so happy we could get everyone together to celebrate at Disneyland! What a fun way to celebrate!

So for those of you who don’t know too much about Disneyland, there is a place called Club 33 in New Orleans Square that it infamous to Disney-goers. It is a restaurant/bar type thing that is impossible to get into unless you have a lot of money just sitting around. You have to be a member which costs something like $10,000 a year I think? You should look it up if you’ve never heard about it. Anyway, we were all talking about it and my dad and brother-in-law George decided to go look at the door where you get into the place and a man came out and asked what they were up to and if they wanted to go in!! So the two of them actually went in to Club 33! Of course, we didn’t believe them when they first told us, but they took pictures to prove it so we had to believe it. The rest of us were extremely jealous. So that was an especially exciting part of our trip.

 On the drive to Disneyland.

 Shuttle to the park. 

 Obviously having no fun at all!

 Dreams really do come true at Disneyland!

Paisley after the Bippity Boppity Boutique!

So Sunday rolled around, and now we made our way home. No fun, but necessary I guess! Back to reality, back to school, back to work!

We have officially purchased our Eurail passes! So we are now going to be able to get around Europe. Our next step is to look into hotels and hostels for sleeping arrangements! Also, I think I mentioned this before, but if any of you reading have been to Europe, feel free to comment or email us with suggestions on places to visit! We’d love to hear! We are going to start compiling a list of some of the top things to see in each city that we are going to be visiting. This way we can have a tentative plan in each city and just pick a few things we want to do when we get there. At least that is the plan for now!

Have a great week everyone! I hope the weather is warming up for those of you who live in cold-winter climates!