our lovely california trip

so a couple weeks ago we went down to southern california to see these guys get hitched

but also for a little vacation. it's good to get out of provo sometimes, you know? 

the thursday we drove down was pretty fun in itself. we got to hang out in corona for a little while and eat at miguel's and then hang out with our family.

friday was beach day. this included (but is not limited to) a trip to target, lunch at ruby's diner in huntington, walking a ton up and down the boardwalk, some body surfing, lounging on the sand, and an abandoned bonfire. after the beach we decided to go out on the town--amy knew of a swanky bowling alley, so we got washed up and hit the lanes.

saturday was wedding day. it was a super early day because meredith was doing cassandra's hair, so we left the house at 6:30 and thus began a long day of fun and driving and friends and a dumb sunburn that i somehow avoided at the beach but got at the temple. i haven't been to the los angeles temple in several years, and it was fun to go back, even if the awesome stake center which i love that used to be behind the temple is gone now. moving along, here's the quick version of the other stuff that happened that day: we cheered for eric and cassandra when they came out of the temple, we took some pictures with them and james put his hand on my head the whole time which i'm sure will look ridiculous, we went to westwood for lunch and ended with DELICIOUS ice cream sandwiches from diddy riese--one of the highlights of the day was when i was officially christened sandwich master--, we drove back to santa clarita, got there way too early, and parked at a park for a much needed rest, then headed to the wedding dinner/reception. it was a long, fun, happy day and i'm so glad we got to be there.

sunday was pretty chill. we went to church at the old ward, chatted with old friends, then took a drive down pacific coast highway to visit my birthplace. it's always fun to see hoag :)

that night we were freaking out because...rain was in the forecast for monday, which was disneyland day. and, while i had a contigency plan for rain, it ruined all of my outfit plans. luckily, our prayers were answered and it didn't rain on us too much, so the day was still awesome. that night we also headed back to corona for one last stop at miguel's (and kenny's donuts...and rite aid for ice cream) and i also met up with andie martin, whom i haven't seen in like seven years, so that was sweet.

and then tuesday was head-for-home day. pretty uneventful since we left at 4:00am so i could get home in time for work. but, we got home safe, rental car intact.

thanks to heather and fam for letting us crash! and thanks to everyone else who made the trip really fun. 

brave again

this is a random post, but it's what i'm thinking about today, so there you go.

this afternoon i finally watched brave again. i saw it for the first time over the summer at the drive-in. a word about seeing movies at the drive-in: it's more about the experience/atmosphere than the actual movie. i also saw the avengers at the drive-in last summer, and it's hard to really pay attention when you're in the back of a suburban with 6 other people. i don't remember anything about that movie. with brave, i somehow totally missed the parade of bare animated bums in the middle of the movie, which definitely got a laugh the second time around.

i also missed a lot of the artistry at the drive-in. merida's hair is SO awesome in the movie. hair is one of the things pixar does best, in my opinion :) in fact, this picture is from an article all about merida's hair--apparently, it took pixar experts three years to figure out how to engineer natural-looking curly hair. sweet! and people kept telling me that her mom's facial expressions as a bear were really awesome, but i couldn't tell until i watched up close.

and i was critical of the story the first time. i still wouldn't say that brave is my top disney/pixar, but is a pretty cool movie nonetheless, so different from other pixar movies and other princess movies. it's a definite departure from the model to not end a princess story with a marriage/betrothal. instead, the focus is on merida's relationship with her mother and her own independence.

so, basically, i like this movie a lot more than i thought i did. now i need to see the avengers again :)

in other news, tomorrow i'm going to a charter school fair--nerve-racking! i'm hoping to get some good information and experience more than anything else, but it would be great to get some things moving on the job front. so we'll see. if nothing else, i at least know i'm going to eat a good dinner tomorrow night when i have my birthday diner with mom and dad--i think it's going to be a steak kind of night. whatever that means?

thoughts and observations from my trip to california

 i can't believe the trip is already over. it was great, though it definitely wasn't a relaxing trip. but it was a ton of fun and i still love my family, which is sometimes a feat after a ten hour car ride :)

but here are some thoughts, in no particular order.

this is not me in a skirt, in case you were confused.

--i rocked a skirt at disneyland all day on saturday. it was awesome.
--i satisfied my craving for clam chowder in a bread bowl (memo to self: it wasn't that good; don't spend the ten dollars again.). but i gained a new, last minute craving for this amazing-looking hot roast beef sandwich that will be calling my name until i visit the magic kingdom once again.

--visiting new temples is the best. it's always interesting to see how different each temple is and especially how different each temple is from the provo temple. and it was great to meet up with family and friends at the newport beach temple.

--world of color at california adventure. see it for sure. i saw it from the back (meaning, without seeing the accompanying video), and it was still amazing. i die over anything rainbow, so i was freaking out over the displays of color.

--sibling hotel room: lived up to all of my expectations. looooooooooots of laughter.
--hot tub conversations with strangers=always interesting.
--we still know how to work the parks like pros. and, in case anyone is wondering and for my own future reference, disneyland is not that crazy over thanksgiving. we didn't typically have to wait for anything longer than 30 or 35 minutes.
--cars land is awesome and the new cars ride is great. maybe one of my favorite things, though i'm glad i didn't stand in line for 2 hours.
--i did not choose wisely at miguel's, which is a serious bummer. you have to take advantage of miguel's when you get it, and i did not.
--meredith had the flu for most of the trip, which was even more of a serious bummer. the flu is the worst and i hope she gets better soon. out sibling hotel room wasn't as much fun without her.

--las vegas is super sketchy. i know a lot of people from there, and they seem to like it, but i really don't like it. sorry, people.
--the disneyland resort is the best during the holidays. one of the greatest parts of going around christmastime is seeing the fireworks show and the snow on main street. this year, the fireworks show was cancelled for us due to "unfavorable weather conditions" (boo), but the snow and the lighting of sleeping beauty's castle still made the night pretty magical. 
--...i didn't get any grading done..but who really thought i would?
--i'm super grateful for my family and for dad, who took us all to disneyland even though he doesn't really love it.

okay, now all i have to do is get through two more weeks of class and then finals and i'm home free for three weeks! just kidding, it won't really be as easy as that since i still have a lot of work to do. but the end is in sight!

we're going to disneyland!!!

i haven't devoted nearly enough time on my blog to our upcoming beesley family trip extravaganza to southern california over thanksgiving, especially considering how much time we devote to talking about it and thinking about it in real life.

back in like september or so, carter invited us three girls to a sibling text group which would be for the purpose of counting down to our trip, sharing memories of disneyland, and just generally expressing our excitement. so, for the past two months, everyday one of us will send a text saying "58 days!!!!" or "i was running and a car went by and it smelled like autopia" or whatever. it's been pretty funny/a little annoying because it means i get a ton of notifications from the group text since we're all seeing things and responding at pretty much the same time. but mostly it's been an awesome way to get pumped about the trip.

and, we've been trading awesome facebook posts back and forth:

of course, i am jasmine, my all-time favorite princess. berg knows me well :)

we as a family really, really love disneyland. most people who know me/us know that. i have so many great memories, some of which aren't detailed remembrances of specific events as much as general warm fuzziness, of being at disneyland with my family. it's just such a magical place!

so, this week we will spend two days at disneyland and california adventure, thanksgiving day and saturday. we expect a crowded park, which means long lines, but it will still be awesome. the only downside: my disneyland t-shirt, ordered last week per our intention to all buy new shirts for the trip, doesn't look like it's going come in time :( oh well. i'll just have to rearrange my outfit a little bit.

off to the happiest place on earth in less than 24 hours!