Sunny California

Disneyland is the place where dreams come true! I love Disneyland, because it is overflowing with cheerful people and happiness. Ryan's family goes to Disneyland every year. I went once with him before we were married. This time all his nieces and nephews were able to come. Needless to say it was a little crazy, but we had so much fun. This year we avoided crowds by going the week after Utah's fall break. We average wait time for most rides was 10-15 minutes. That is really good for Disneyland, maybe it is the recession?? Ryan and I spent most our time with the older kids going on the "scary" rides. Tower of Terror, Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, etc. I even got a little scared on some of them. California Adventure park has several new fun rides. "Soarin Over California" is a virtual plane ride over the spectacular scenery of California. The only bad thing about this trip was that Ryan lost his wedding ring on Thunder Mountain. He put it is his pocket and after the ride it was gone. This is the second time he has lost his ring, but I think it is gone for good this time.

We also found time to visit the beach and swim in the ocean. My favorite part of the trip was the warm sunny weather!

Speed Blogging

So much has happened since I last blogged. I feel overwhelmed and cannot possibly include all the details. Instead, I will give you the abridged version of the past month.

August 27-31: My mother and sister came to visit. Unfortunately the weather was not great, but we still had a great time. Of course we went to the Mall of America to shop until we dropped. We had a hot dog at the Twins baseball game. We even went to the Minnesota State Fair and did not catch the swine flu. The Minnesota state fair is well known for fried food on a stick- Corn dogs, cheese curds, spam, pickles, spaghetti, etc. You name it, and they can fry it and put it on a stick. I ate a fried Snickers bar on a stick. It was actually pretty tasty!

September 4-7: Labor Day weekend in Duluth, Minnesota. We had a fabulous mini-vacation. We stayed in a great hotel on Lake Superior. The weather couldn't have been better. We went running, rode bikes, golfing and hiking at Gooseberry falls. It was a busy sports weekend for Ryan. Ryan watched the U.S. Open and BYU football, while I laid out and read my book. We would definitely like to go back again soon, but not during the winter.

September 11-14: Flew home to Utah for my aunts funeral. It was not a good excuse for a trip home. My mom's youngest sister died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism. It was a very hard day, but it was nice to have the whole family together for support. She will be missed by many. My thoughts and prayers are with her husband and children.

September 17-21: My wonderful mother-in-law came to visit. We had a very laid back weekend. We went to the Aveda institute for massages and facials. We went for several walks by the Mississippi River and Lake Calhoun. My favorite part was going to Mary Poppins at the Orpheum Theatre. It was spectacular! I hope she had as much fun as we did. Thanks for coming!

My Favorite Cuz!

My favorite cousin BECCA came to see me a few weeks ago. We have been very best friends since we were babies. At times we have drifted apart, but we always have fun and laugh when we are together. She left her hubby and daughter at home and flew half way across the country for me. As expected, we had a blast! Our weekend started out running a half marathon together. Becca was in much better shape than me, I have not been running much this summer. The race starts in Minnesota and finishes in Wisconsin. The weather did not cooperate, it rained pretty much the whole time. Not to mention, it was cold and windy. (Welcome to Minnesota!) Despite an asthma attack and squishy shoes, we finished!! Ryan also ran and finished with a much faster time. After the torture was over, we all got full body massages. Luckily, the rest of the weekend was warm and sunny. We took her kayaking on Lake Calhoun and managed to catch some rayson the beach. We went to the Mall of America, Walker sculpture garden, and saw a couple movies. We stayed in a hotel so that we could stay up late and talk. I realized that we are getting too old for all nighters. Most nights we were asleep by midnight. We were able to cram a lot of fun into 4 days, but I was still sad to see her go.

Next weekend my mother and sister will be paying a visit. I have noticed that I only get visitors between the months of June and August. I can't say I blame them, I would not visit Minnesota in the winter either. Even the summer is unusually cool this year, our high yesterday was only 66 degrees. Yippee! The other thing I love about visitors, is that I get to take time off work. I can't wait!

Jordan Family Vacation

We just returned from a fun-filled Jordan family vacation to Island Park, Idaho. It sounds like an exotic resort, but we actually stayed in a cabin in the wilderness. My dad rented a 15 passenger van for the week so we could all travel together. It was a little chaotic at times with 9 adults and 6 children in the same vehicle, but we had plenty of great family bonding and only a few meltdowns (mostly from Ryan). The cabin was big enough for the whole family. Ryan was glad that it had a hot tub, TV, and high speed Internet. This was my first trip to Yellowstone, and I saw plenty of buffalo, elk, and a bear. (We even had a moose wander into our back yard.) We saw Old Faithful erupt twice and several other geysers. We saw "Footloose" at the Playmill in West Yellowstone. We went to an IMAX movie and ate plenty of good food. We rented rafts and floated down the river. It was a lot of fun until I got soaked by Ryan, Tom, and Jarrett. (Thanks to Angela for bringing the squirt guns.) The water was FREEZING!! Overall, it was a really fun week. This is the first time that we have all been together for more than a day. A family vacation is never complete without family pictures! I hope we can make this a Jordan family tradition.

Two years and still going strong!

Ryan and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary on July 6th. It has gone by so fast! I wanted to do something romantic and memorable, but neither of us were able to get the day off work. So instead, we celebrated over the fourth of July weekend. We stayed at the Crown Plaza hotel in St. Paul. There was a huge 4th of July festival within walking distance of our hotel. It was called the 'Taste of Minnesota." They had amusement park rides, music, and lots of food! We ate buffalo wings, corn dogs, mini donuts, funnel cakes, corn on the cob, and ice cream. (We are lucky we didn't have a heart attack!) Ryan was a poor sport about the fireworks. We had to wait 10-15 minutes before they started, and he was not being patient. Then he wanted to go back to the room before they were over. I was a little upset that I missed the grand finale.

On our anniversary, Ryan surprised me and came home with roses and a heart felt card. He usually stresses out about what to get for me. He is a wonderful husband, and that is all I need. I bought him a pair of roller blades for our anniversary. He has been wanting them for a while. We went to Lake Calhoun to test them out and he had a great time. The only problem was he wore ankle socks and ended up with some big blisters.

Two FUN weekends!

#1 Memorial Day Weekend in Arizona.

Ryan and I flew to Arizona to spend some time with his family. It felt great to enjoy the hot, 90 degree weather. We spent most of the vacation lounging by the pool. Ryan's niece had a birthday party on Saturday with a huge blow-up water slide in her backyard. They grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. They even had a snow cone machine. The party was a huge success, I think the adults had more fun than the kids.

Ryan's birthday was on Memorial Day this year. We spent most of the day at the airport. Our layover took us to Houston, which is not really on the way to Minneapolis. Ryan's favorite birthday present came on Thursday when the cable guy hooked up the HD/DVR receiver. I don't know how we ever lived without DVR.

#2 Weekend with the girls.

My friends came to visit me!! I have been looking forward to this weekend for months. I haven't really made a lot of friends out here and I really miss my girlfriends. Jalene and Treo flew in from Vegas on Thursday, and Deb came from Chicago on Friday. The weather was good on Friday so we took a walk by the Mississippi river. We had lunch at a cafe near the river and went on a boat tour. I was glad we were able to spend some time outside, because the rest of the weekend was cold and rainy. On Saturday, we spent the whole day at the Mall of America. Eleven and a half hours of shopping- we didn't leave until the stores kicked us out. We went in every baby store at least twice. Two of my friends have babies, and the other one is pregnant. We stayed at a hotel downtown. We watched movies and stayed up all night talking. (Ryan was a bachelor for the weekend.) On Sunday morning, we went to brunch at Hell's Kitchen, then it was time to take them to the airport. I was sad to see them go.

For All Eternity...

Last weekend Ryan and I were sealed in the Salt Lake temple. The best part was that we were able to have all of our siblings with us. We flew home after work on Thursday. The majority of our trip home was spent apart. Ryan stayed with his family in Provo, and I stayed in Salt Lake at the Residence Inn with my family.

On Friday I went shopping with my all of my sisters. Most of my purchases were from the LDS distribution center, White Elegance, and the Shade store. I was anticipating some drastic changes to my wardrobe.

Saturday was a very big day. We arrived at the temple at 11:30 and didn't get done until 4:30. It was so neat to have all of our family in the temple together. After the sealing, we took a few pictures in front of the temple. (Ryan was not cooperative!) We had dinner afterwards at Rodizio Grill. Everyone was hungry and we ate plenty of meat.

Sunday was Mothers Day. My family and I went to the Spoken Word on temple square and took my sister to the airport. I finally went to Provo to see my husband. His sister just had a new baby boy and named him Ryan. We had a fabulous Sunday dinner and played with the nephews. Ryan surprised me with a gorgeous diamond necklace in the shape of a circle. ("He went to Jared!") I am spoiled!

On Monday, I did more shopping! Lets just say this was an expensive trip. I went to lunch at Cafe Rio with my friend Marie. I have been craving Cafe Rio and we don't have it in Minnesota. Then I had dinner with my favorite cousin, Becca. We don't get to see each other very often, so after dinner we got pedicures.

Unfortunately we had to go home on Tuesday. It was a short trip, but we were able to spend lots of time with family and friends. Ryan spent time with his nephews, played tennis with Greg, and enjoyed his Mother's cooking.

Now we are back to life as usual. This weekend we are going to Arizona for Memorial Day to spend time with Ryan's family and soak up some sun. It still doesn't feel like summer in Minneapolis.

Nothing new or exciting.

When I first started blogging, I was committed to blog once a week. Now I have lowered my standards to once a month. Here are a few random happenings from the past month.

#1 EASTER WEEKEND.

It is strange to be away from family over the holidays. Ryan and I got a hotel room downtown for Easter, just a few blocks away from our apartment. We went to a flower exhibit at Macy's (my idea), and a Timberwolves game (Ryan's idea). It was fun to get away (even if it was only a few blocks away), it really felt like we were on a vacation.

#2 RYAN FOUND HIS WEDDING RING!

As many of you know, my husband rarely wears his wedding ring. He only wears it on special occasions and to church. When he does wear his ring, he has a habit of taking it off and playing with it. (i.e. spinning it on the table) Last October it suddenly disappeared. I searched high and low, but there was no trace of it. I had finally accepted the fact that it was really gone. For Christmas, I bought Ryan three replacement wedding rings.

A few weeks ago, we were getting ready for church and he found it! It was in the pocket of a pair of chuch pants that he rarely wears. I am sure that he will lose it again, but now at least we have three replacement rings. (The orginal wedding ring is on the right.)

#3 I GOT A NEW PHONE.

My pink motorola razor finally stopped working. I had that phone for almost three years. I didn't want a blackberry. I had one for a month and I was annoyed by the amount of e-mail and notifications that I was getting. My new phone is great! It has a touch screen and a great camera. (old phone on right, new phone on left)

#4 I MADE COOKIES!

I am definately not Betty Crocker, but I can follow a recipe. I made snicker doodles for Ryan and they turned out good. (even though I left out the cream of tarter) He said they were not as good as his Mom's, but they were a close second.

Then I took it to an even bigger scale. I made 85 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a primary activity. It was a 4 hour project, but they turned out delicious! We took them to the primary presidency and the bishop of our ward. Next I am going to try to make Apple Pie!

#5 RYANS WATCH COLLECTION.

Ryan has a shoe fetish. He has multiple pairs of similar looking athletic shoes. He can't get enough of them. But lately he has a new hobby, collecting watches. He bought two new watches this month. I wish he would collect something cheaper, like baseball cards.