Funny

I spent a lazy weekend at home as it rained in Utah all weekend, and I just didn't feel like doing anything. Which of course means I have to catch up more this week. I'm trying to reorganize my closet and clean things up at home. Wow, I have a lot of stuff.
Sunday afternoon after we had eaten dinner my mom came down to my place so we could watch gymnastics. Individual world's was coming on on Universal Sports, a channel my mom does not get. We enjoyed watching the routines although not much has changed with the scoring and politics in gymnastics and we really did not agree with the beam final and especially high bars. Such a disappointment for the Netherlands who should have won their first gold at worlds.
Afterwards we searched the Internet and then I drove her home @ 10:00 p.m. We were chatting in the car about Disney and that we need to reimburse Michael for some purchases. My mom was just listing some of the things she had purchased and blurted out my Christmas present. We just laughed for a good 10 minutes. She couldn't believe she had said it. I told her not to worry, that by the time Christmas comes around I will have forgotten it.

Kate's Birthday

We went to the Cheesecake Factory Saturday to celebrate Kate's birthday. Enjoyed good food and visiting with one another. We all got Kate her new Halloween costume. She is going to be Alice in Wonderland, and will be a really cute Alice. Although she was beautiful as Belle last year. Kate is a little sleepy because she had been given Benadryl earlier. Happy Birthday Kate! We love you -

Michael is the BEST

I have said it before and I will say it again - Michael is the best brother ever. So glad to have him. He always does the nicest things for others and even though I love the gifts, I'm not just referring to that. I can always depend on him and he is always willing to help at great sacrifice to himself. His life has certainly been one of service. I love you Michael!!!
Before leaving for California for school Michael got me another Halloween gift. We both love Halloween. Thank you - Isn't it cute!
I just realized this is the old one. The new one was at my parents and I unwrapped it the morning I left. It is also a Disney graveyard one. I will have to take a picture of it.

Soy Flour

Tyler used to always tease me that my cooking made him sick or always say "yuck, what is that." Well last night I actually did make myself sick and am still recovering from it. In my attempt to eat less sugar and carbs I saw a chef use soy flour, which I can purchase at Winco. So I thought I would give it try. First of all, it is much stickier than regular flour and has a funny smell to it when it is wet. That should have been my first clue but I determined to persevere. Needless to say I did not eat much of the tortilla I made but enough that I was sick all night and still this morning. Tyler is right - YUCK! Never trying soy flour again. Threw the hole thing in the garbage.
Not all of my attempts have been bad. I also saw a chef make french fries out of jicama, a root vegetable that I had never tried before. I purchased a small one this last week to try and and cut them into small shoe string sizes and put some Neeley's spice blend on it that I use for the peach BBQ sauce. This actually turned out to be really good. The only thing I have to work on is getting it softer so that the fries are not still crunchy. But they were still good, even crunchy.

Day of Caring

In September volunteered for Day of Caring with work. We weeded and planted at Sunset Elementary in Provo. Lots of fun. I enjoy doing it each year.

Disneyland

On Tuesday the 12th Mutti and I checked out of our hotel in Costa Mesa and requested a cab to get to Disneyland. The hotel called an executive car company, which was nice but a little more than we had wanted to spend as we were not concerned about arriving in style. Our driver got lost but we finally made it to our hotel where we met up with Michael and David. It was @ 10:00 a.m. so we headed over to the park and got our passes. Everything was decorated for Halloween, which is our favorite holiday. We love the ambience and just walking down Main Street. We were disappointed to learn that Disney was closing at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and 7:00 p.m. on Friday's for trick-or-treating, which cost $50 park entrance. There were a lot of families from Utah because of UEA. We talked to one lady who paid the extra $50 and told us it was not worth the extra money. All they got out of it was some little candy bars. We were not willing to spend an additional $100 for something we felt was part of our park hopper passes. Not happy Disney!
David and I went morning til night without a break but Mutti and Michael had to go back to the hotel in the afternoon to rest. We took lots of pictures and video of the trip. Overall it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed visiting our favorite rides and screaming "Daddy, Daddy, get me off" (inside family joke). Fortunately we all get along well with one another and are good travel companions.
We of course ate at the Blue Bayou on the 12th for Michael's birthday, Ariel's Grotto on the 13th for David's birthday, and character breakfast on Main Street on Saturday, where we stuffed ourselves. We had the characters sign a Disney postcard for Tyler and also a card for Kate. We went shopping, so much fun. My big purchase for myself was a Donney & Burke Disney purse. So cute - I will have to take a picture of it. I had my first Hunny Pot apple from Pooh Corner and purchsed one to send to Tyler, as he gets one each year. We enjoyed eating Churro's and this time ate a few times outside of the park at McDonalds and IHOP.
David was able to ride Soaring Over California thanks to Dramimine. Of course Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Peter Pan, Storybook Land, and Jungle Cruise are some of our favorites, which we rode multiple times. Michael went on Space Mountain with me. Michael, David, and I rode the Matterhorn where we screamed and laughed the entire ride. We also rode the Monorail for the first time as we discovered its location. I happened to spot it, while David and I were in line for the Matterhorn, above Nemo. We saw World of Color (received seating from Ariel's), Fantasmic (right up front), and Alladin. We didn't make it on the Tower of Terror - Next trip. Hopefully I get to go back to Costa Mesa for school next year and we can plan another trip to Disney. I will post pictures later after I download them.

Pictures Year One Residency