Couples Cali Trip 2018

We had talked about taking a trip with my USU roomie Sarah and her husband Brett for a while now. We talked cruises, Hawaii, beaches- we ultimately decided that California is 1) cheap 2) close to a beach 3) Harry Potter. Mark and I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Harry Potter World at Universal and decided a birthday/anniversary trip was the perfect excuse (that and the weather in Utah was snowy and crappy).

We found cheap flights, some Air BNB's and left our kiddies with Mary Ann and Brittnee for a few days. We had an absolutely amazing time. The last time we went to Universal Studios, Dave and Aish still lived in Cali and Dave was still in dental school. We had no kids and it rained the entire time but we have fond memories for sure. This time, NO KIDS and the weather was amazing. Amusement parks are a 100% different experience without kids.

Our first day we went to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. The weather was absolutely celestial. We walked the boardwalk, ate $1 churros that were pretty nasty, people watched and soaked up the sunshine.

Beach Butterflies

Universal Studios is NOTHING like I remember. There were SO many new rides and of course, Harry Potter. We saw them filming an E News special with Mario Lopez right when we got to the park- hello 1,000 pounds of make up. The park was D E A D. We took surveys right when we got into the park and got some fast passes that we didn't even have to use-we walked onto EVERY ride (even the Harry Potter Castle Ride) and rode as many times as we wanted. Frozen butterbeer changed my life, bought WAY too many chocolate frogs and rode every single ride without anyone whining we had to wait in line.

Had my friend's mom make me two Harry Potter shirts for the trip- here is "Riddikulous".

Had lunch at the Three Broomsticks

Mark and Ihmhotep- our favorite character from the Mummy Ride (also an excellent coaster)- really the only ride we remember from when we came with Dave and Aish.

Highlight of my trip for sure. There was no wait- just a darling little Hello Kitty just standing there waiting for me. 

Of course there was a chance for rain the day following our first day of Universal. We didn't really want to spend the day tromping around getting soaked (we had done that before) so we decided that we (Mark and I) wanted to do the Warner Brother Studios tour. It was kind of spendy, but being on a bus meant that we could still have things even though the weather was bad. Brett decided to come with us and Sarah napped in the car at a local park. It was SO cool! There are two other studios we hope to tour some day (Paramount and Sony). We got to see real movie props, clothing, scripts, hold a real life Oscar, learn about sound editing, saw the Friends set, and saw them setting up to film "American Ninja Warrior". The coolest stuff was all the Harry Potter Memorabilia (for me) and the DC comic book stuff (for Mark). Our tour guide was like any failed actor turned tour guide and was super entertaining- except he did get a little mad when the bus left without Mark and I and had to come back and get us. Oops.

Mermaid's Egg & the TriWizard Cup & the Golden Snitch

Adorable Dobby

Getting sorted. The lady that was "sorting" us was pretty stingy with the Gryffindors. I am pretty sure NO ONE was sorted into that house the whole time we were there. I was a HufflePuff and when I whined she said, "their house is closest to the kitchen and they are the best kind of friends"- I guess I can live with that. Mark was a Ravenclaw.

We decided thanks to the rain that we would head to our beach house for the last few days of trip and then hit Universal for the morning on Sunday before we flew home. The Air BNB beach house was NOTHING like the pictures, the lady kept telling us she had a "family emergency" so we weren't able to rent the bikes or beach chairs but the three step walk to the beach made up for it. We had superb street tacos, went and saw 'Black Panther", slept in, walked the beach and walked passed multi-million dollar beach houses.

We really had an excellent time. Brett and Sarah were fun travel partners and were up to sit and do nothing or explore the town. It was SUCH a wonderful break and a low key vacation. We are grateful for the Johnsons. Sarah and I have been friends for a LONG time and it's fun to still connect after all our crazy times at Utah State almost 20 years ago.

Southern Utah is always calling

 The HurriCastle is one of our favorite weekend getaways and we always accept the invitation to spend a weekend with G & Chris. Nick, G & Mark went down early to do a job in Cedar City so all the ladies made the caravan down. We woke up early Saturday morning for the balloon festival in Mesquite and it was amazing! I have ALWAYS wanted to ride in an hot air balloon (someday). The kids thought it was awesome too (except Enzo who said it was too loud once they started filling them up). We watched them unload the balloons, fill them and send them off one at a time. Super cool. Then a delicious breakfast after in the Rio buffet where the kids were in heaven because they could have ice cream at 10 AM.

Later that evening they light the balloons up and have a party but we didn't feel like making the hour long drive again so we stayed at the house. It was good too because Mom and Dad had come down so we went to dinner with them and then hung out in the heated pool and hot tub.

Right as they started filling all the balloons.

Me and Miss Mc

The weather was SO nice that we decided to check out the gardens and do a little red rock hiking. The kids loved being outside, I loved not wearing a coat. The boys hopped around on the rocks and threw things. Mc LOVED all things cactus (my Arizona baby for life) and Enzo loved the dinosaur tracks.

Always SO hard to come home to the snow and smog after a weekend trip. It was especially hard to do the drive with just me and the kids but we did get DVD's from the library this time (a first) and will be doing that again. They were pretty well behaved but we were all really ready to get out of the car when we got home. 

Grandma Chris and her grand babies.

On top of the world.

St George Williamsons

Ice Castles

Snow babies.

For Christmas, Mimi & Papa gave us all a trip up to the Ice Castles in Midway. This winter has been super dry-not a ton of snow- so we were worried about it being too melted and crappy. Don't worry, of course the day of, it was a blizzard and we were all a little worried about the roads through Parley's and Park City. We ate dinner at Firehouse Subs before making our way up the canyon. We made it safely and had an excellent night. It was lightly snowing the whole evening so it was warmer than expected and the kids had a blast (we were super lucky because not soon after they actually closed them early because it's been too warm). There were ice slides and things to jump off of. The kids could throw snow, watch fire shows, water fountains and changing lights. The kids didn't want to leave albeit freezing and wet which means that the evening for sure was a success. I love making memories with my family and always appreciate new experiences.

Ice Castle Williamsons.

The clan.

Garrisan and Enzo. BFF's.

Mc was such a good little babysitter for Noah. She would hold his hand and make sure he was ok. She loves baby Noah.

Salt water makes everything better.

For Christmas, I gave Mark a session to swim with the Sting Rays at the local aquarium. Little known fact about Mr Williamson, he loves all things ocean-he always has.  I was going to join him but figured I needed to be there to take pictures. It was SO fun to watch him. His mask wasn't super great and let a lot of water in but he was happy feeding/holding/petting them. There were only two other people in the tank so Mark got LOADS of time with the animals. I am pretty sure his face says it all. Since we were up in Layton, we met our friends the Johnsons for a delicious dinner at Red Lobster- swim with the fish and then eat them, guess that's the way it goes.

Seriously nothing better.

Ringing in 2018 in the Geezy

I firmly believe that from now on, celebrating New Years in a warmer climate is a must. We headed to St George with G & Chris and spent the weekend scootering, sleeping, snacking and partying up the last night of 2017 (until 10).

2017 was a good to us. We were to sell our house, find a house, move, make new friends, start a new school, vacation, start exercising, watch lots of Netflix, vacation some more and finish the year with everyone happy and healthy. I am thankful for new beginnings. I am thankful for my sweet in laws, my adoring husband and my crazy kids. I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us!

These were the top liked pictures and memories from 2017- 4th of July, moving out of 1326, Women's Conference (Mc's first time in the conference center), Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Motab Christmas concert, Enzo and the Hello Kitty wrapping paper in our new house.