Road Trip: California March 14th - 18th

March 14^th Noah’s blanket was finally there!!  All was perfect in his little world. Katelyn and I went our that night and left the guys in charge! It was so fun. We went to pick up a table, we walk around a weird grocery store and then went to Joe’s Crab Shack. It was a blast. They gave us these bibs, mine said “it’s not my first time with crabs” and hers said “I <3 crabs”. We got to chat, laugh, joke, I missed my girl! I love her to pieces. We both know we can be crazy but we’re besties regardless. We were her first visitors to her new home in Riverside! I miss that. I miss having that friend right in town with me. The one that you can just call up and be like “come with me” they’ll be like “okay let me get the kids ready, be there in 15 mins” and we’ll sing jams with the kids in the car. And maybe try to throw cherry pits into the car next to us. It was good times.  

March 15^th Juan and I got to go on a date! Katelyn watched the boys for us while we went to Oasis Vegetarian café. It was nice being away from the kids for a little. We got to eat yummy vegetarian food and share a coconut to drink. While we were out noah apparently didn’t like staying at katelyns so much. She took a picture of him standing on the sidewalk with his thumb up trying to hitch a ride cuz he “didn’t like it no more”. She’s always had a way with noah J Then she and Nate went  on a date and we watched the kids. Their boys were already asleep when they left. I fell asleep on their big comfy couch while juan and noah slept on the air bed. 

March 16^th We all went to the festival of colors in LA. I had an amazing time! Juan and I learned about the Bhagavad Gita, vegetarianism, Krishna, and most importantly YOGA! I danced and did yoga with strangers! We all got covered with colored powder. By the end all the colors mixed with our sweat and we looked gross. We met MC Yogi! He was so nice and down to earth. We met Marti Nikko and DJ Drez. It was an overall great experience, I cant wait for the next festival. They have one here at the Krishna temple in Spanish fork UT. We were at the festival for a long time. Then after we all ate at a greek restaurant. I got falafel!

March 17^th We said see ya later to our friends and to California and headed our way back home. We stopped in St. George UT for the night. Its actually a pretty nice place. I wanted to see some weird polygamists but unfortunately it didn’t happen. We got up early the next day and went on our way. We were anxious to get home!

March 18th We finally made it home!

Road Trip: California March 13th

March 13^th We all went to the Santa Monica Farmers market and it was nice, not at all as good as the Hillcrest one though. Mine and Noah’s allergies were a mess. And on top of that we hadn't had a goodnights sleep since we left Noah’s raggedy blanket in Vegas. It still had not gotten to Katelyn’s house yet. Noah is like crazy attached to it. I personally think its scraggily and ugly. It has this smell. No matter how many times I wash it or how much detergent I use. Ew.  I bought some local honey and bee pollen to help out my allergies. One thing I loved about the market was that they accepted food stamps! I think its wonderful that they give those on assistance the opportunity to buy fresh local produce. Then we went to Venice beach. That place is one of the most open, free, strangest places ever. There were lots of stores to buy medical marijuana. One guys asked people to cover him while he lit up! It was interesting. There was a clown making balloons for free (donation) he made noah one. I figured since it was donation I could give him whatever I wanted. I gave him some change. Katelyn swears it was like 35 cents but im sure maybe 50cents ;) but he got upset that it was only some change. Um, sorry to burst your bubble sir but you should accept what ever people are willing to give or go get a job that will pay you a certain amount every paycheck. Sheesh! The nerve! Then I got 2 henna tattoos. Katelyn looked like a lobster from being sunburned. We also went to eat at this Indian place and it was good. one more thing: I cannot stand the LA traffic. It took us 3 hours to do a 1 hour drive. Outrageous. If we ever move to California, I will be bus-hopping everywhere.

Road Trip: California March 10th, 11th, 12th

March 10^th We woke up without our car, it was at the shop cuz it was Sunday. We started to get to know the pedestrian way around the city. We got on the trolley to make our way to the Hillcrest farmers market.  Now that is the absolute best farmers market I have EVER been to. The people seemed very nice and knowledgeable and were okay with talking to us and answering our questions. One girl had the prettiest dreads I have ever seen. I was inspired to get dreads! Maybe one day. We ate purple carrots and so many different sprouts. Noah loved it too. We also tried some new fruits we had never tried before. We met some American guy who lived in Tijuana Mexico but worked in San Diego. He just travels back and forth. He said he liked it better in Mexico. I breastfed Elijah for the first time without a cover in public. It was liberating. Elijah was freaking out cuz I was trying to cover up and I was nervous but then some guy to me to not worry because it was illegal to say anything to a nursing mother about breastfeeding in public. I felt better. Noah fell down and scraped his knee. We walked into the nearest store and they helped us out. We met this guy with silver hair like military haircut at trader joes. We were looking for something to eat. We were standing in front of the salads and this guy was there. i asked him if he had something from there he really liked. he started talking to us and would not stop! i'm sure we got a whole health, history, life lesson that day. We asked him who he was and he told us he was not at liberty to tell us. He did recommend this salad called Balela and it is delicious!  

March 11^th We were still without a car. Enrique told us the issue something about a water pump. We hopped on the trolley and then the bus to head to the San Diego Zoo! Noah LOVES animals! Especially giraffes and hippos. He had a ball. We met this beautiful older couple that were celebrating their 50^th anniversary. They complimented us on what a beautiful family we were. And how it was wonderful that we had brought such a healthy lunch with us to the zoo. And they gave us advice about marriage. Early in their marriage they traveled too, they spent weeks on the road in a car with 3 kids. One thing I remember was we were talking about the tolls and the guy said the freeway was not free J they were very cute. I wrote down their address to send the pic we took with them but I lost the paper with the address L we bought groceries from trader joes but with all the bus hopping and trolley hopping we left it somewhere along the way. We got back the next day to the gas station to check on the car and there was our bag of groceries! The girl noticed we left it and took it home with her and brought it back the next day. People are nice.

March 12^th We got our car back! I think it was around maybe $200. No complaints here! We wanted our baby back bad! We drove down to San Ysidro and got the BEST fish and octopus tacos EVER at this little tiny hole in the wall restaurant called fishmart. Then we made our way to Katelyn’s house in Riverside! It was so nice seeing her after like 10 months or something like that. It was also nice being in a home and being all together just hanging out.

Road Trip: California March 9th

Vacations are fun. I like to do my research before hand and google the place we’ll be going to make sure we don’t miss anything while we are there. This was our first road trip so for this trip, I had it all planned out our whole trip! On this day we’d do this at this time, on that day we’d go see that after we see them after we go eat there… but then I realized I forgot my list at home on the other computer. I am a bit OCD. I like things to be planned. I am spontaneous and always late to everything but yes, I like order, control, and things to be planned out most of the time.

March 9^th We woke up in Classy San Diego! I was so excited to finally meet this yogi I had been talking to for months! We were up and ready to go. We drove into town Juan was going to drop me off at class and go take the kids to the park. Then the car started beeping at us! The engine was over heating. We would drive it maybe 2 blocks and it would start beeping and ringing again. we stopped at the nearest gas station. Fortunately the gas station turned out to be a auto shop too. The mechanic, Enrique, said that the car was way too hot for him to properly check it. We’d have to leave it there overnight. The problem with that was that it was Saturday. They were closed on Sunday and we were staying a little ways away. We had no idea where we were. So we just trusted this guy and left our car and walked on our merry way. I missed my opportunity to meet the yogi. We just decided to walk around town. We caught the bus to the historic part of San Diego, The gaslamp. We took the ferry. We walked the bay area where some guy was giving out hand made things he made out of leaves for free. He was sweet. We went to little Italy. This is my facebook post from that day :

We were walking, trolley & bus hopping for 12 hours yesterday! I am loving San Diego so far! Some things from yesterday:
-Juan got told off by some guy with an apparent mental issue, he was just asking for directions! and I got yelled at by some troubled woman who told me to "Haaaaa! Betta wise up!" 
-Everyone wears yoga pants and spandex here.
-Juan walked right into a street sign. like BAM! right in the forehead!
-Then someone asked him to take a picture of them and he dropped the camera and it broke.
-We took the ferry
-Trying to catch buses and trolleys is fun but man do those doors close quick. We missed one and it was right in front of us. Noah cries every time a trolley leaves without us. 
-Our children are troopers! Noah is struggling without his blanket  
-Our car is in the shop. My phone keeps dying. Looks like I wont get to meet some people and do some things I had planned for myself.
--------When will I learn to stop making plans??? 
-I can't wait to go to the markets today!
-I want some seafood!
Life is good & we are happy and enjoying ourselves

Road Trip: California March 7th & 8th

California Love!

Juan, Noah(2yr 10mo), Elijah(7mo) and I all took a road trip to California in March. We left March 7^th at 4:30am. It was nice driving so early in the morning. We left Noah in a pull-up. I nursed Elijah right before leaving. The kids slept most of most of the way until we got to Utah. But right before we got to the McConkies, Noah vomited all over himself and his car seat! Luckily our friends are so awesome and helped us wash his car seat and bathe him. Noah has always sort of gotten sick in the car. I have no idea why but boy is it annoying. We stayed with our friends for about 2 hours then we hit the road again.

6 hours later we arrived in Las Vegas! We were excited! I mean, its Vegas baby! But NO WAY. We hated it. We found this deal for a night at the stratosphere. Once we got to our itty bitty non-smoking hotel room it smelled like smoke and just nastiness. The housekeeper handed us a spray deodorizer. She was very nice and explained that although it was a nonsmoking room people still smoke and they couldn’t do anything about it. We left right away. They refused to give us our money back. We still left and went to a more expensive but way better Marriott. Vegas isn’t for me. I just didn’t like the feel of it. I know people that have gone and loved it. Maybe it deserves a second chance. Maybe next time we’ll go on our own..or not at all..ever.

The next day March 8th we drove 6 hours and made it to San Diego! It rained some of the way. But we finally got there! it was beautiful and green! That night we walked around old. It was pretty nice. We got dinner at a cool Mexican spot and the mariachi men came and sang to me J it was super cute! Then we came back to the hotel and slept! It was a good night.

The kids were troopers on our road trip to California. We left noah’s nasty smelly blanket in Vegas. Luckily the Marriott was nice enough to ship it to Katelyn’s house. Noah got whiny and annoying in the car for a little. Once, he did say he was tired so we told him to just fall asleep in his car seat. He said “I wanna sleep in a bed!” another time he said he was hungry so we offered him as granola bar or fruit leather. He said “I want to eat rice.” We didn’t stop anywhere to get food. I made granola bars, muffins, fruit leather, we brought fruit and veggies from home and lots of water. We were good to go even if we got tired of eating the same thing for two whole days!

****Side Note: I just wanted to write about the McConkies. We met them through some other friends of ours, the Walkers. Chet invited us to conference weekend over at his sister, Alisa’s house back in October 2008. It was such an awesome experience. On our way down to Plain City, Utah it was pouring and our windshield wiper broke off and left us driving terrified in the rain! It was awful! We got there safely. We were amazed with this family of 9! Juan and I both come from pretty broken, dysfunctional homes. So coming into this home after 6 months of being married and on our own, it was a BIG learning experience. We soaked it all in. They were nice and welcoming. We felt like family! We talked to them and asked tons of questions and they were happy to answer. We learned so much that weekend. We had a lot of homemade, made from scratch, homegrown food! I was in love with the homemade raisins! They have a nice size house with a big yard. Nothing fancy. But we were blown away as if we had walked into a mansion. They had us sleep in one of the kids rooms, If I remember correctly(which I may not, it was 5 years ago) I think there was a ton of food storage. I mean this lady did it all. It was awesome.  We went to a conference session with them. Juan and I fell asleep. Then after conference we were soooo hungry. She had zucchini bread. Im pretty sure I never had yummier zucchini bread! I got a bran muffin recipe from her that I call mormon muffins. She and her husband gave us advice since we were just getting sealed that month. We have lost touch with the friends that introduced us to them but we still keep in touch and are very close to the McConkies. They keep our car for us when we fly from slc. We go see them every time we go to Utah. They were(and are) the way I want my family to be generations from now.