all about my vacay, bay bay.

So, last week, I was on vacay.  It was cray cray.  And by cray cray, I mean totes cool.  And because it was litz so cool, I thought it would be a pretty good idea for me to blog about it.  Also, I haven’t blogged in one MILLION years, so I think now is an appropro time to get back at it.  Also, my use of slang is getting 100% out of control. Totes.

One MILLION early on Saturday morning, Jalyn and I woke up and were driven by our local taxi service (commonly known as my roommate Danielle) to the Salt Lake airport.  I feel this is an appropriate time for me to mention that the Salt Lake airport is my fav airport.  Seriously, San Francisco just stresses me out and Oakland makes me feel weird.  Anyway, we got on our plane, I texted my brother Matthew telling him we were about to take off and promptly fell asleep.  Girl has got talent.  We were flying into the world’s biggest airport (jk) in Long Beach, CA (close to where Matthew lives) and arrived there 30 minutes early.  So, we had to wait a little while for Matthew to come and get us, but it was cool.  When he picked us up, he told me he was very glad I had texted him when we got on the plane because he (along with EVERY SINGLE PERSON in my family) thought that our plane was landing at noon instead of 8:30 am.  What the cray cray? I was glad he was able to come and get us on time, but it leaves me wondering—why the heck did everyone think we were landing at noon and why the dang heck DIDN’T we get to land at noon?!  Def one of life’s great questions.

So at this point you’re like, oh good, she just spent approximately four years telling us about GETTING to this vacay…this is probably going to be a novel.  And that might still be true, but I just want to tell you right now that I’m going to seriously cut back on the pointless details and focus on the important things like what we ate for dinner and stuff.  Seriously, Scout’s honor.

So we landed in Long Beach, got back to Matthew and Mykel’s apartment and soon the rest of my family arrived (they had driven down from Northern California). Sad news, my baby brother is now taller than me. What the heck?! 

My little brothers brought two scooters (one BAJILLION sparkle points for each of them) and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing and swimming and eating delicious food (srsly, I think the majority of this vacay was spent eating food, NOT a joke).  At the pool, the boys and Lena had competitions like who could hop across the pool the fastest.  Srsly killed me, it was so funny.

On Sunday, we went to church and since Mykel was recently called as the primary president (i.e. she works with the small children), Mom, Jalyn, and I went and hung out with the young ones.  Oh my gosh, little kids are one MILLION hilarious.  It was Father’s Day and they were supposed to draw a picture of them with their dad and this little four-year-old girl was like, “Draw a picture of you and your dad pushing a grandma!!”  It was probably the funniest thing I heard all day.  She was definitely a character.

Matthew and Mykel have church right next to the LA temple, so after church we went and hung out there for a bit and Mykel’s friends snapped a few pics of the fam.  It was magical.  The high qual pics can be found in the previous post, but there were also a bunch of pics taken as we prepared for the high quals.  That doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Sunday evening was spent eating (duh), playing games, and reminding my dad why he’s so cool (my number one reason being the fact that he dances to Carly Rae Jeppson and One Direction).  Seriously, such a cool guy though.  So cool that we bought him a grill!

Disclaimer: Jake did not build that sandcastle.

Monday morning we went to the beach and it was surprisingly chilly (so basically it was like a Northern California beach).  Of course, that didn’t stop the majority of my family from boogie boarding.  It took my dad a little while to get the hang of it and when he finally got it he stood and did some fist pumping…at which point the boogie board smacked him in the face.  I swear I did not laugh or find it amusing at all.

After the beach we headed to the Angel’s game!!  So cool!  We even tailgated!  My first time!  We used the grill that my father had conveniently received the day before (seriously, how convenient! haha).  After the tailgating action, we headed into the stadium and watched the Angel’s play the Giants.  Being from NorCal, I obviously had to root for the Giants and it turns out about half the stadium was also rooting for the Giants.  I didn’t plan on that, but it worked out nicely.  It’s always a little easier to cheer for a team when you’re not the only one in a stadium of 35,000 people.  Weird, right?

Tuesday was Magic Mountain day!  The boys were so excited and it was really fun.  I’ve learned that my stomach can’t handle doing so many roller coasters, but I did my best and fortunately didn’t throw up on anyone.  It wasn’t unbearably hot like the last time I went to Magic mountain so that was another bonus.  One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I can’t differentiate between the roller coasters.  Someone would be like, “Did you like the Goliath roller coaster?” And I’d be like, “Which one was that?”  Then they’d explain it as the one that had the big drop or the loop-de-loop, and I’d be confused because I’m pretty sure they all had those things.  I don’t know.  I do remember the one where when the ride finished and you’re waiting to get off, you just sit there hanging so your back is facing the sky and the rest of you is facing down and so you have to try and hold your head up and I’m sure more people have thrown up on that part of the ride than anywhere else or on any other ride.  For reals though.  It was ridiculous.

Wednesday was the day of river rafting!  If you know my family, you know this is kind of a given with family reunions.  We had to wake up supes early and drive to the Kern River.  In NorCal we usually raft on the American River which is always crowded.  The Kern River is the exact opposite.  We seriously saw three other boats the entire day.  Kind of weird.

(Yes, in the picture above, I have a string connecting my sunglasses to my life jacket.  Stay classy.)

My dad had run the river one time, but the rest of us had never done it before.  It definitely rocked us around a bit.  We ended up stuck on a couple of rocks (I seriously thought the boat was going to rip on one of them) and under a couple of trees (super enjoyed that branch that scraped all the way along my back) and I definitely whacked myself in the face with my own paddle (definitely one of my best moments), but it was still so awesome.  Srsly, guys.  Rafting is one of the coolest things.  You should come with me sometime.  And when I say with me, I mean with my dad or one of my uncles or even my 83-year-old grandpa who STILL goes rafting.  What the cray cray?!  Not a joke.  That guy is seriously Superman.

After the river trip all I wanted was In-n-Out and my father was happy to oblige.  Just what I needed.

Thursday morning was the day that the reunion ended.  I made French toast for the first time (not a joke) and I think it was edible, so that was neat.  Then we had to pack up and the parents and the four younger kids headed up to Santa Rosa.  Highlight of the drive home?  Getting pulled over.  The guy comes up to the window and is like, “I’m pulling you over because you have a passenger not wearing a seatbelt.”  You have to understand that my family has had a big 12 passenger van for many years (yes, we’re LDS) and we mostly just use it for long road trips like this because there are three passenger benches.  I get one, Jalyn gets one, and the boys share the longer one in the back.  Jalyn and I always sit in the middle seat on the bench because there isn’t a shoulder strap.  Then we loosen the seatbelt and lie down on the bench and sleep most of the time.  It’s really the greatest thing ever.

Anyway, this highway patrolman accuses Jalyn that she’s not wearing her seatbelt because he “drove up alongside and looked at her for five seconds and she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”  She started to explain to him that she had just been leaning over on her elbow and reading a book.  She demonstrated for him and it was very clear that she had just been sitting in the middle, but homeboy refused to believe her.  It was ridiculous.  Seriously, she would have had to be a midget when he was drove up alongside the van because she was actually lying down.  I just thought the whole situation was hilarious and I could not believe that he wouldn’t believe her.  My parents were telling him that they would never let us sit in the car without wearing a seatbelt, but he was adamant.  It was ridiculous.  After a good five minutes, he finally was like, “Fine, I’ll take your word for it this time, but you weren’t wearing your seatbelt.”  Such the ridiculous.

Anyway, the rest of the drive was rather enjoyable and Dad even treated us to Del Taco where Tom downed six tacos and Jake consumed five.  It was wild.

All in all, a most fabulous reunion.  I love that family of mine.