Monthly Archives: January 2014

A Last minute trip to Disneyland

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This will be remembered as the quickest last minute trip up to date. Thursday Renee messaged to all the siblings that she had 5 extra tickets to Disneyland and that her and the family would be there on Saturday. Tom and I wanted to go badly! We said we’d go but started to have doubts….this is what ended up happening. On Friday I worked in the office 8-12 then both of us worked at the restaurant a dinner shift 4-10. Got home, showered and packed and at about 11:15pm we were on our way to Los Angeles. Got there at 5:30am. Slept for about 2.5 hours and we were out and ready for Disneyland! We had a blast there all day Saturday. It was priceless to see how excited the kids got when they saw the characters or their favorite rides. After an all day long adventure in the park we went back to the hotel at 11:30pm. We slept for 3 hours (a total of 5 hours of sleep in 2 days) and then we headed back home. The first few hours it was ok but the last 2 it was awful for me. I could’t keep my eyes open. Luckily Tom was fine because he got us home safely and pretty much on time for stake conference. Missing it was not an option for us. We had made that decision weeks ago.
Even though it was tiring, it was so worth it…we’d do it all over again!
I love spending time with Tom, his mom, and his sisters and their families.

January 18 2014

Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park, CA

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January 15th, 2014

This week’s adventure took us to Año Nuevo State Park which is located in Pescadero between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay on Hwy 1. There are many beautiful coastal parks along Hwy 1 but Año Nuevo is quite different. It is more than that. Año Nuevo is a Natural Preserve established to protect a large colony of Northern Elephant Seals. Every year in the winter, from December 15 – March 31, the elephant seals choose this spot as their malting, breeding and birthing grounds. The best times to visit the park are between January and February. That is when the elephant seals are the most active. It is not uncommon to see the bulls fight over a harem or an amorous young bull being pushy with the females.

The park provides and requires guided walks to see the elephant seals. Since this is a popular attraction, reservations are highly recommended. It costs $7 per person and parking is $10. The walk is about 3 miles round trip, half of it is on a trail and the other half is on sand between sand dunes. It is an easy trail that even a 5 year old can walk it successfully with a little to no effort. The tour guides are volunteers and they make the walk to the elephant seals much more enjoyable and interesting. They are very knowledgeable and share a lot of interesting facts about the elephant seals and the area.

I learned about these “beauties” last year when my sister-in-law Jessica invited us to go to the tour with her family. I am thankful for that opportunity. It is now a tradition for Tom and I to go see the elephant seals at Año Nuevo every year. I loved that this time we went on the last tour of the day. It was warm and the sun helped create beautiful lighting in some of the photos, and we got to see the sunset which is always a great bonus.

After the tour was over (the walk was about 2.5 hrs long), we decided to follow a trail that led us to the beach. There we found this lonely elephant seal. It was the closest we got to one of them this year.

If you love the outdoors and wildlife in it’s own natural habitat, Año Nuevo is a highly rewarding tour for any adventurer.

 

A Man in a Cow Onesie… A GROWN MAN

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January 5th 2014.

As you already know my husband is ridiculously good-looking. To add more to his ridiculousness I decided to get him a cow onesie this past Christmas. He rocked it this Sunday afternoon! I had been wanting to take a few pictures of Tom making a fashion statement. With Gabe coming over to check out Tom’s new bike, I was given the perfect opportunity to capture Tom in his new outfit. I’m happy to say I have a very fun and daring husband.