Rachel's Trip to CA

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.

Our Trip to CA: Friday: Kenny's Homecoming, Fenton's

Well, first let me explain that we arrived in CA Thursday night. My parents and Jenna picked us up from the airport, and we ate dinner at In-N-Out, which was perfect. Zak and I stayed at my grandparents' house, but hung out the majority of the night at my parents' place. So that was Thursday.

On Friday, we woke up, got ready and went over to hang out with Jenna, while Mom & Dad were finishing up their last day of work for a week. We got some Jamba juice and I ran to get bruise cream; I had woken up on Thursday morning with a very deep purple bruise on my chin. We still don't know what happened, but it's most likely due to the fact that I had been sleeping poorly the few days before our trip, and probably as resting my chin on my knuckles. I bruise pretty easily and am clumsy, so it's not really hard to believe, right? Then I ran off to grab lunch with two of my best friends, Amy & Mari. And despite me bringing my camera, I forgot to take pictures, oh well. We ate at this little Mexican/Central American restaurant and it was so yummy! It was great to have some time with us three girls to talk and have fun together, especially because I was pretty much booked the entire week.

The rest of the afternoon was kind of a blur. Mom came home, we drove over to the BART station to pick up Dad from work, then headed into Oakland. We tried to find some balloons/balloon bouquet for Kenny at Wal-Mart but that didn't happen. Kenny was due to arrive at 5:56 PM; we got to the airport to discover it had been pushed back to like, 6:08 PM. The Robisons & Beth had arrived at the same time, Grandma & Grandpa had been waiting for a few minutes at the arrival spot, and Aunt Jackie/Uncle Jeff/Chris/Dani were moments behind us. We had made two signs for Kenny, and everyone had helped decorate them, they were pretty cool. Jenna brought a poster Kenny had done for a scout project that involved photography. Jenna thought it would be hilarious to bring it, so she did.

the poster in question

waiting (and yes, I cut my hair, a week before our trip, but I didn't tell anyone so I could surprise everyone!)

So 6:08 rolls around, there is nothing on the arrival screen about Kenny's flight. A few more minutes pass, we start seeing people, adrenaline kicks in....still nothing. Ten minutes later, still no Kenny! I wondered aloud if we should've brought a picture of him to hold up and ask if anyone had seen him! There was no way of knowing if he was on the flight, he didn't have a cell phone and didn't call when he had a layover in SLC, nothing. We started to worry if maybe he didn't make one of his connecting flights, what were we supposed to do--the arrival sign said the plane had landed, where was he??? It didn't help that there were some guys in suits or white shirts, which totally psyched us out. We asked a few people, with minimal help.

such a cute picture

all signs go!

Finally, around 6:30, we have our first sighting of him! He was all alone (he swore he got off the plane in the middle of a group, that the plane didn't even land until 6:25 or something, despite what the arrival board said), walking quickly to us. He looked so handsome and grown up in his suit and duel tags!

the first good picture I got of him!

Mom got the first embrace, obviously, and it was one of the sweetest moments to witness. I knew I was crying from that point on. Dad was next to hug him, then me. It was unbelievable, to be able to hug my little brother after being separated for two years. I was crying like a baby and I didn't want to let go. It was such a great feeling, knowing he was home and done such a good job in Sweden, I could not have been prouder of him.

looking at this makes me all teary!

awh, sibling love

More crying and hugs for everyone, and lots and lots of pictures! Mom had forgotten her camera, so I was militant about taking pictures of EVERYONE with Kenny. The pictures can be found on the overview page I posted previous to this entry.

non-crying siblings

first family picture after 2 years!

the proudest parents!

with Grandpa Claude & Grandma Myrth and their cute signs

goofy, and with half of his two signs

walking to get his luggage with cousins Allie & Chris, being the security guard, haha

with most of the Robisons (Jordan will be back from his mission in Nicaragua in Sept., oldest Brandon was working), Allie, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Karri, Matt

After everyone had embraced Kenny, we got his luggage, and headed to Fenton's. Fenton's is kind of a big deal. It's tradition, and has the best ice cream around, period. And it was the best welcome home dinner I think anyone could have asked for. There were 26 of us, probably the biggest group we've had there in a long time. One of Kenny's companions, Elder Watts, was there with his family. His family is from the South Bay, so they know the Fenton's tradition as well. We took some pictures with the missionaries and their sisters, it was pretty cute.

with Elder Watts & his sister

We ended up waiting for tables for awhile, but it was ok. We all got to chat and have fun together, block up the sidewalks, all of that good stuff. Zak, Kenny and my cousin Matt talked about nerdy computer things, so that was nice for me. It was so nice to be back in California, with almost the whole family around. I was loving every minute and was probably irritating everyone with all the pictures I took. Well, once we got inside, it actually was a lot of fun. The poor waitress was actually a really good sport about everything and I don't think anyone's meal was messed up or forgotten (another 'family tradition', it always seems to happen). Zak had only been there once, but he got into the groove of it quickly.

ready to feast!

Everything was delicious, and for some reason that I can't now remember, Zak and I decided to split the BIG, monstrous banana split. Not the Junior size, the huge size. Oh, but it was amazing and we finished it and then felt sick for awhile after. Everyone had a good time, and it was so much fun!

we felt pretty confident initially

these faces are not exaggerated, we truly felt like that

Kenny got the sundae of the month, mmmm

Kenny still needed to be released as a missionary, however. On our way home, he called the Stake President and left a voice mail. Once we were about home, he called again and the S.P. answered, whew! We went over to his house (despite it being late at night) and Kenny went into a room with him and was released. We chatted with his wife and admired their really sweet cabin-style house. It was beautiful.

By this time, Kenny had been up for a ridiculous 26 or 28 hours, because he couldn't sleep on the plane (he also almost missed the flight from Sweden to Paris, didn't get to sit with any of the other missionaries--it was like he was telling us a movie plot, it's crazy what he went through to get home!), but he was such a good sport about everything. Plus, he was pretty jazzed to be home. He handed out presents and chocolate (which I forgot to take pictures of, again, lame) and even was like, 'Yeah I can pay video games, let's do it!'. But we told him he needed to sleep, no matter what his body was telling him he could do. Besides, we were all pretty beat and were getting up early the following morning for breakfast on Mt. Diablo, another family tradition with food and pictures and fun.

So off we went, back to Grandma's and zonked out quickly. The following day will continue with a different post...