VACATION!

So it's been a few years since I have blogged... Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but it has been awhile! Now that finals are over and Christmas shopping is almost done, I figured I would do a post since I don't want to forget all about our vacation that we went on over Thanksgiving!

Every year for Christmas Ryan's family has started the tradition of doing the "12 days of Christmas," letting us open a gift each day. On the 12th day of Christmas last year, they gave us a trip to Disneyland! They decided to have us all go over Thanksgiving since it was the Lindsey year to have us for Thanksgiving since we alternate every other year. I was so excited to go with so many nieces and nephews and to be able to see Disneyland decorated for Christmas! I think I was just as excited as the kids to go. The plan was to go from Wednesday until Sunday, but Ryan and I wanted to take advantage of our time off from school and make a full vacation out of it!

Ryan, I, and our friends Joe and Becky all piled in Ryan's jeep on Friday the 18th and took off for Viva Las Vegas. At the last minute we decided to take Ryan's jeep instead of my car because it was a blizzard in Logan when we left and didn't want to chance getting into nasty storms. Turns out, the weather was beautiful the entire way there and back once we hit Brigham! Oh well- what do ya do! We thought it would be fun to stay in Vegas for a night and break our drive up a little bit! When we got there we ate dinner at the Cheesecake factory and walked the strip! The boys lost a little bit of money and we went to our nice hotel! The next day instead of rushing to Cali, we took our time and went to visit the Coca Cola and M&M Factories, went shopping at the outlets where Ryan found his new favorite store and got some good-looking clothes, and just enjoyed our time in Vegas! 

Next Stop: HOLLYWOOD!

Our drive to California went pretty quickly after we left Vegas. As soon as we pulled into Hollywood, we went and checked into our hotel which was amazing! It was right on the Hollywood strip, next to the Walk of Fame and next door to the Kodak Theatre. That night we were tired from driving but still decided to explore a little bit. Our hotel was part of an outdoor mall which was so fun! After looking at some of the stars on the Walk of Fame and seeing some of the crazy people Hollywood had to offer, we called it a night! The next morning we decided to have the brunch at the hotel. We walked in and began eating at the very nice restaurant. It wasn't very busy and the food was awesome and so I got concerned. None of us knew how much this place was! When we got up to pay for our ticket it was $40 a plate for breakfast! We about died! haha... Luckily because we didn't know that the brunch on Sunday was more expensive than the breakfast on weekdays, they gave it to us for a cheaper price! Lesson learned, look at prices before you enjoy a fine meal in California! Sunday was a rainy day and so we drove around looking at stars houses and seeing where the famous people live in Beverly Hills! I loved that! On our way to see the houses, was the craziest rain storm I have ever been in. The roads were rivers! A car was stalled in the middle of the road with it's flashers on due to the rain. Ryan decided to be a gentleman and help the person! It turns out it was a younger girl who was scared and didn't know what to do because her car just stopped working. Ryan and Joe sacrificed themselves and got SOAKED to say the least, and pushed this poor girls car off to the side of the road! No one in California seemed to want to help her, so leave it to us Utahns! haha 

Sunday night was the Major League Soccer Championship game! We bought tickets earlier when we were hoping and praying REAL would be playing in it, but plans changed and we went to watch L.A Galaxy against the Houston Dynamo game! Luckily it stopped raining right at 7 when the game started and I was SO grateful! The game was crazy with quit the extreme fans who kept throwing torches onto the field, but we had a good time not caring who won and watching good soccer.

That night we ate at Johnny Rockets which was connected to our hotel and it was delicious! With all of those calories, it better have been!

Walk of fame! and Kodak theatre!

On Monday, we spent the day at Universal Studios! This was one of my favorite days! It was really neat to see how movies are made and how scenes are created! They also had fun rides and entertainment! Besides me dressing stupid (not dressing warm enough) it was a great day!

Desperate Housewives!

Whoville!

Tuesday sadly we had to drop off our friends at the airport! We began by walking around the Kodak theatre and Walk of Fame then took them to the airport! Ry and I then walked around the beach which was so amazingly wonderful! Knowing that there was snow at home and we were sitting on the sand in the sunshine was pure bliss. We walked to the Santa Monica Pier (we seriously walked like 5 miles!) and ate at Bubba Gumps on the pier. We then walked along Venice Beach and saw all of the crazy people! Including this guy that I'll post a picture of who was rollerskating down the beach and the picture just says it all. We decided to hurry back because we had tickets to see Jimmy Kimmel that night, and his studio was just across the street from our hotel. It took us 30 minutes to get to the beach and with the traffic going back it took us 2 HOURS! The tickets were free and so they had given out more than they had room for and told us to get there early. We thought there was no way we would make it but thought we should try since there was still a line outside. After cutting off the line RIGHT in front of us we decided to stay to see if maybe they just had room for a couple more. They weren't guaranteeing anything. Finally an employee came out and made a distinct cut a few people in front of us. As soon as we were about to walk away, a guy came and grabbed us and asked us if we wanted to go backstage. I was absolutely all for it, but Ryan being the responsible adult out of us two started asking questions. This guy said he could get us in and was with the show but wasn't wearing anything that said Jimmy Kimmel on it. After talking for a minute we followed him around the back and sure enough they gave us wristbands and let us walk right in! Apparently he works for ABC and is a producer for the show the Real Housewives of Orange County. He can always get four people backstage so since he only brought one other, he came and got us! So random but so cool! They had big screens set up of the show and when the guests on the show would walk on stage they would walk right past us (yes, we were in touching distance of David Beckham!) Backstage they offered us free food and drinks. They were shocked that we didn't drink alcohol and said they invited the wrong people back for free drinks. haha. After the show we went out back for the Nickelback concert. This was our favorite part because we were nearly touching the stage and they played all of our favorite songs! It was a great day!

Wednesday-Thursday-Friday= DISNEY!

We had such a great time with Ryan's family at Disneyland and California adventure! Our nieces and nephews LOVED it and still talk about it daily! My favorite was My little  niece Miya started calling me "Toshi!" instead of Tawnie. That one might stick. :) We had fun watching parades, riding rides, and my favorite was the World of Color show- so neat! On Saturday we went to the beach and had Thanksgiving on the beach since we were in Disneyland on Thanksgiving day! It was wonderful! There really is magic in Disney!  

A great vacation with great memories made! :)