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.

A Rainy October Starts

It has been raining a lot lately, which is fine, because that means snuggling, soups and hot drinks.  And I'm a fan of that.  It's nice that it is finally starting to feel like fall.  We are hoping to go pick apples at an orchard about 30 minutes away the next chance we get.  I grew up going apple picking up in Sonoma (an hour north of my town, just west of Napa, in wine country) every fall.  I have such good memories from those trips, eating apples and cheese in the park downtown and visiting all the orchards with my family.  I haven't been able to go back since I've been in college and married, so I'm really hoping Zak and I are able to go pick apples ourselves soon!  I can almost taste the apple crisp now...

Zak has been doing well with school, his grades are all good.  Although it has been a bit of a stressful week or so for him, trying to get everything done for school, and the regional manager was visiting work last week, so that added to everything.  But he's getting it done and I am doing my best to not be nagging, but gently reminding him of everything that needs to get done.

Work has been going alright for me.  A few weekends ago it was U of I's Dad's Weekend, so those nights were absolute mayhem.  Last weekend it was U of I's Homecoming (we lost), which was busy, but not so busy I about had a panic attack.  This weekend it's WSU's Homecoming and then it will be not so crazy for a week or so.  I'm finally getting into the swing of things, and it's fun working with just about everyone there.

Next month, my brother Kenny and Zak's sister Delaney will be coming up to visit for Thanksgiving!  We are all super excited to see them, even for a brief amount of time.  They'll stay with us and we will go visit the grandparents in WA for Thanksgiving.  I don't know what my work schedule will be, but I'm sure Zak will have to be at work early for Black Friday (the joys of retail, right?).  Nevertheless, we are glad we'll be able to see our siblings for a few days.  

We recently found out that we are going to be very lucky and spend Christmas and my birthday in California with my family!  My mom mentioned it in an e-mail and once we cleared the dates with our bosses, my parents got the tickets as a gift for us!  I am beyond thrilled, because I had thought that going back home for Christmas was basically impossible, because we can't afford it and we already used up vacation time for Zak when we went home in the summer.  But my parents really wanted us to be able to spend a Christmas as an intact family, now that Kenny is home and not on a phone in Sweden, because it probably won't happen too much after this year.  But let's not think about that.  I am so happy that I can't help myself from listening to Christmas music (I usually restrain myself to wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but not this year).  And don't get me wrong, Zak is happy too.  It'll be nice to be out of the snow and be a little bit pampered by everyone.  And I'm very excited to have a family birthday!  So we are looking forward to that.  I might even make some kind of countdown because I am still so giddy.

Other news, hmm.  Oh, Zak bought me a beautiful 'harvest' bouquet after an awful weekend at work.  He is such a good husband to me.  :)  Zak has been loving his weights that he got with some birthday money.  I've been doing some weight exercises as well on my days off, and it's nice to see some progress for both of us.
Oh, I know!  Our friend Bryan bought a baby pig for his boyfriend, Chad (Zak's co-worker) as a surprise early birthday gift!  We went over to their place for dinner the other night and got to see the cute pig.  He's 8 weeks old and very warm, and likes to snuggle and sleep on laps.  He's so cute, and I think the name 'Hampton' is going to stick for him.  We would love to get a piggy if we had the money or were allowed to, but it's nice to be able to go over to our friends' place and see their cute pets.  Here are some pictures!

little piggy!

he loved Zak

pig in a basket, how cute????

snuggling while watching t.v.

he fell asleep on me a few times, awhhh