Life with Zak and Rachel.: graduation

I've been putting off this blog post, but am not sure why. Maybe because so much happened, I don't want to write a huge thing, I don't know. The point is, though: my trip to California was awesome. I had such a great time and even though I missed the crap out of Zak, still enjoyed all of my time there.

My parents and I had been planning on me surprising Jenna for her high school graduation since like, January. We were pretty surprised it lasted so long--there were moments when we thought she'd figure it out, but nope! We just kept talking about me flying into LAX and picking me up on Father's Day, how sad I was that I'd miss her graduation, etc. I mean, total manipulation and secret skills coming into play here. I flew into Oakland the day of her graduation. Mom picked me up at the airport, we had a delightful lunch at Fenton's and came home. We made sure to try to convince Jenna to come home after rehearsal and rest because she'd be up all night, blah blah blah. So when we got home, Mom found her on the couch, half asleep. She went over and said, 'I have a surprise for you...' and then I walked up behind the couch and started playing with Jenna's hair. She looked up and the look on her face was priceless. She was SO surprised, she couldn't believe it. She started jumping up and down. It was so worth it. I was so happy I was able to surprise her. :) The rest of the family was surprised too, when they saw me that night--only my parents, Zak's family and my best friend Amy knew (just in case we could hang out while I was in the Bay Area), and they were so glad to see me a few days early! Needless to say, it was awesome. The graduation was actually pretty short and sweet and we screamed our hearts out for Jenna and my cousin Allie as they crossed the stage. It was great.

cousins Sasha, Allie, me & Jenna!

sisters

they did it!

a great sibling picture

family picture :)

The next day I went to the doctor, eye doctor, so that was fun. I got to hang out with Jenna and one of her best friends and we went to Cost Plus World Market. And on the way home...the LeBaron died. Mind you, it was about 100 degrees and early afternoon and we had a deadline to get to Benihana's at 5 for dinner with the family. We ended up waiting in what I dubbed, "Little Mexico" for half an hour until we got Dad on the line (he was at Costco, guess what? Costco will NOT page anyone in the store, so that was a fun fact we learned) and he rushed over to help us. He drove the car to the mechanic's (slowly, at 20 MPH, in 1st gear) while we picked up my mom and met him. Turns out the LeBaron is dead. It survived three teenagers and died the day after Jenna graduated, which is lucky. We all have great memories in that 20 year old car we owned for a decade. Adventure! Later that evening we went to Benihana's with the family and had an awesome time. I tried lobster for the first time and boy, it was incredible. I got to sit between Jenna and Allie and loved every second of it.

because then we do pictures like this

here's a nice one of us three

Robisons & Van Vliets

our group

The next day we drove down to Hermosa Beach. I haven't driven down in a few years, and usually Jenna rides with my grandparents and Allie, but we decided to have all 5 of us in one car for the last trip. It was pretty fun. We played the Alphabet Game but in Extreme mode (A-Z back to A, could only use 'exit' one, X could be in the middle of a word, all other words the letter had to be at the beginning) and while Jenna took a commanding lead, it was my father who defeated us in a very close race. My mom took to re-naming words with the letter 'Z' in front so it'd be easier; some of her words included 'zadar', 'zenforced', and 'zaja fresh'. She's fun. It was so wonderful to be back in Hermosa Beach, especially because I was unable to go last year. It was Kenny's first time back since he left in 2009, and I know he enjoyed it too.

One of the best moments involved a toaster and Jenna. Years ago when Jenna & Allie were little, they were in a prank calling stage and called me and I heard Jenna in a goofy voice, "Hello, this is Mrs. Toast...can I have my toaster back?" and then Allie in a deep voice, "Hello. This is Mr. Toast. Give my wife her toaster back." Incredibly goofy. So this time, the three of us were in my room, being silly and Jenna wanted some toast with Nutella (duh). We see her put the bread in the toaster, press it down and turn around. The bread pops up. She presses it down again, it pops back up. This happens a few more times until she storms out of the room, frustrated and declaring she was walking to Allie's room that's next door. She has left and then Allie says, "....she forgot her bread." and all of a sudden Jenna appears with Allie's room's toaster. Her plan all along was to borrow the toaster, not take the bread over there like a normal human. And then some other funny things happened and then we see her head disappear because she has fallen down from laughing so hard. These are the good memories from Hermosa Beach.

she is goofy

My mom had planned to have a delicious Sunday Father's Day brunch for my dad, our uncle Mike (Mom's sister Tracy & her husband Mike have come down from AZ to stay with us at the beach for the last few years) and my grandpa. She made crepes and I filled them with the blintz filling and we had a ton of bacon, so... delicious, right? Well, we woke up Sunday morning to no power. Not only did we not have power, but several streets along the strand didn't have a power. A huge part of Hermosa Beach didn't have power. For hours. (4AM-1PM) So we had to improvise breakfast, because Mom couldn't use the electric skillet. Thankfully the stoves were gas and some other family members had brought pans, which we used for the blintzes. We tried cooking the bacon in the oven but that didn't work. It was definitely an adventure. It took a lot longer, but everything got cooked and turned out delicious.

so much bacon!

Grandma, Kenny, Aunt Tracy & Uncle Mike enjoying breakfast

Grandpa, Jenna & Dad eating

Mom was so warm she had to eat outside

Other things we did involved a family bike ride (always fun) and dinner at Cheesecake Factory (delicious!). Lots of fun with the little cousins. We played a game that my mom used to play when she was about 8 or 9, Battling Tops. It's pretty fun and addicting. It was so fun to watch the kids wind up the tops and pull them and watch with excitement as the spun and knocked the other tops around. Being around the kids is always fun.

bike riders

the 7 of us

siblings

pretty typical

we are goofy

what a great looking family we are!

all 7 of us!

Caleb (Weston in background) wearing the 'Ove Gloves'

Audri & Caleb playing battling tops

Caleb loved Jenna's bear

Caleb with his travel teddy & Jenna; they are going to have teddy bear parties in Hawaii

Caleb 'Indiana' Ahumada

Our Disneyland day was awesome. I don't think I've walked back & forth from Disneyland and California Adventure so much, my feet were killing me by midnight! We got to ride just about everything, even though the parks were packed (boo, even on a Tuesday!). AND we got to meet up with my best friend and her family, who were at Disneyland that day. It was so much fun! We rode Indiana Jones and Haunted Mansion together and saw them a few more times throughout the day. I was so happy to see them since I was unable to hang out with Amy back home due to the car dying. I had such a fun time running around with Jenna and Allie, being fun and silly. We rode the Little Mermaid ride, which, of course, opened the year I wasn't there. It was awesome. I have been waiting 2 decades for this ride and it didn't disappoint. I was like a 4 year old the entire time, just amazed. The girls thought it was pretty funny to see my reactions to everything! Oh and we didn't have to stand in line for Dole Whip, because no one was there at 9:30 in the morning, success! The day was pretty magical, and we returned happy and exhausted.

our traditional pirates picture!

amazing Space Mountain picture

we are pretty!

me excited for the Little Mermaid ride!

Tower of Terror

Andrea, Amy & me on Indiana Jones

teacups

not sure what's happening, but it's a great picture

still excited to be at Disneyland!

cousins Andrew, Brandon, Allie, Jenna, Jordan, me & Kenny in line for the Matterhorn

since we didn't take a picture at the start of the day, we briefly took this before leaving

the big family picture before we descended upon the parks

We had a few cold and crummy days on the beach, bundled up. It was a bit of a disappointment. But Wednesday was the most perfect beach weather! The sun was out, the clouds were beautiful and white, it was ideal. I spent hours on the beach just enjoying the sunshine and watching the little kids run around. We had a bridal shower for my cousin Sasha who is getting married in December (the day after my birthday!) at a French crepe place we've been to a few times in years' past. It was just us ladies and we had a lovely brunch. I was happy to be included in some wedding activities, since I don't live around everyone now. Sasha is about 5 years older than me and is somewhat of an older sister to me. I'm a bridesmaid and am so thrilled to be there for the wedding! I have been living vicariously through my mom and sister as they've been going dress shopping and hearing details about the wedding in person. We are all pretty excited for it.

pretty girls!

me & Grandma

sisters!

Sasha with goofy shoes that she'll have to return to get some shoes, *darn*!

my cousin Matt tried dragging me to the ocean, so I went limp and we both ended up in the sand...

me with Aunt Tracy & Uncle Mike

parents

I left on Thursday to return to Idaho, but did spend a bit of time on the beach. I was so reluctant to leave. It was a really fun week with my family and I loved it all. I missed Zak terribly (we all did) and was so happy to be back home with him in the end.

Yes, I realize this post is about two weeks late, but life has been crazy lately. Our move went well-I'll write a post about it sometime this week, hopefully-and we are happily settled in Moscow. We didn't have internet in our apartment for a week, but we could check our e-mail on the computer lab in the complex. Once we got the internet, my computer wouldn't connect with it, but Zak got it to finally work on Thursday, so here we are. And now I will tell you all about graduation.

My parents and Jenna arrived late Thursday night--we barely made it to Taco Time before it closed! Jenna slept over at our place, it was a lot of fun to have her around. We had her play the PS3 game 'Katamari Forever', which was a lot of a fun to watch. The next morning we got up and had fruit and banana bread and then went to the school to secure tickets for everyone. We waited an hour and a half and only got three extra tickets, instead of four. Blah. We did have fun, the three of us, people watching and whatnot. We met up with my parents and went to Wal-mart/Desert Books. My mom wanted to find some things for Kenny for his upcoming birthday. My grandparents, who had been on a drive to Driggs (visiting ancestral territory is a big thing with my grandma), came and met us. We decided that my family would go down to the mall in Idaho Falls and then meet my grandparents for dinner in Rexburg.

So we walked around the mall for awhile; Zak and I showed my family the wonders of Five Guys Burgers & Fries. We enjoyed the 'zoo life' at the mall, and shopped around a little. It was nice to just hang out with my parents and Jenna. For dinner, I picked Da Pineapple Grill. Zak and I had been there once by ourselves & with Dad & Jenna, Kenny, etc. last year. It's very chill and Hawaiian and delicious. We had such a fun time talking and eating. Plus, it was nice for us two to go out to eat and not pick the cheapest thing on the menu-it was nice to be treated out to dinner.

Graduation on Saturday was actually very nice, both the commencement and convocation were nice and didn't last too long. The only slightly annoying part was having to be at the auditorium an hour early to stand in a line by myself, without a phone, in heels. So that ruled. Zak was able to secure some seats for my parents and Jenna. My grandparents chose to watch the ceremony via satellite from where my convocation would be held--in comfortable seats. Plus, I was only able to get 5 tickets, not 6, so that was a factor. The graduating class was the biggest winter semester graduation--about 1500! Most were receiving Bachelor's as well. A girl the row in front of me threw up within the first few minutes--I believe she was pregnant--and she and her husband left, and didn't come back the entire hour+. How sad, to make it to graduation with your spouse, only to miss out on it.

The college convocation was very nice as well. There were some interesting shoe and tights/leggings choices. One girl had on Wicked Witch of the West tights! There was a really beautiful clarinet solo by a girl Zak actually went on a few dates with in Connecticut. An interesting interpretive dance was performed...it was called 'Freedom' and I didn't realize until half way through the song that the lyrics were talking about...slavery. Plus, the main dancer was a man, so that...Ok, men + interpretive dance = silly, in my opinion. The backup girls were nice, but I thought it was just too cheesy.

After that, we took some pictures and my family on a little tour of the campus. Well, they mostly wanted to see the famous periodic table of elephants. My grandparents wanted to see our packed-up apartment, so we did that as well. I wished everyone could have seen our place when it was cute, though! Zak and I went to my parents' hotel room; they stayed at the brand new Marriott Spring Suites place or something. It was very nice. And they had room to stretch out and cable tv! We had dinner/lunch reservations at a place called Jaker's in Idaho Falls for 4, so we headed down there. It was a very nice dinner--I had done a lot of research to make sure it would be suitable for my grandparents and graduation, and I'm glad we went there.

My grandparents then left, and Zak and I went back to my parents' place to play cards and hang out. We really loved having them around, it was so nice to have people to socialize with! Plus, they brought us some treats from Costco-fruit snacks, SunChips, and some other goodies. :)

Sadly, they had to leave Sunday morning. We got up early and met them for breakfast at the hotel. And then watched them leave. :( It turns out they were held up in the Sierra Nevadas by a huge storm. They had to get
chains and it took them longer to get home, ugh! Zak and I finished packing everything up that Sunday and then moved on Monday. The next entry will be about that. Spoiler: the driving and weather was great until the last hour, when I was driving.

Here are some pictures from the weekend: