San Diego: Day 3

Saturday morning we slept until we didn't want to sleep anymore (I freaking love that) and then we headed out to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was just okay, in both of our opinions. It's nothing like Sea World, it's extremely hot, and not much to see, really. I am sure we could have seen everything there at the regular zoo minus a few animals. It was fun to go and see it, but after walking about a bajillion miles on Friday...we weren't to keen on walking a bajillion more. Call us crazy. At least we got there before the parking got absolutey ridiculous. Score one on our side.

So here we are about to embark on the journey...oooooh.

This guy was one of the first things we saw and I was really surprised to see Paul's twin just hanging out...ha ha...kidding babe.

We did us a little petting with these little...deer things.

We followed the signs for the Journey to Africa and about ten miles later we actually got there (okay it wasn't ten miles but it sure as Hades felt like it). By this point (and this point is very early on) I was no longer in the mood for the zoo...Paul found me amusing I guess:

While we were waiting for the big yellow crawler to come and get us we spied people who got take tours in trucks and this giraffe walked right up to them and they got to pet it...the jerks:

And our yellow crawler came and got us and off we went:

The giraffes were my favorite. There were two rhinos, lots of gazelle, ostriches, and other such things. After the tour, we checked out the lion, the lionesses, elephants, & cheetahs....and that's pretty much it.

My favorite thing was the baby cheetah they keep in a little nursury. So. Freaking. Cute.:

And that's about when we no longer had a desire to stay there. We were basically just sticking out as much as we could to make it worth our money. And we were bloody exhausted. So naturally we went back to our hotel and slept some more (and I had to fight me off a nasty migraine...fun stuff)!

So after a few hours of down time, we got all dressed up (or rather as dressed up as we could manage because Paul said we wouldn't need dressy clothes but he wasn't counting on me finding this dinner cruise and insisting that we make reservations...I'm awesome, I know) and headed to Downtown. This is the Hornblower:

We were supposed to board at six thirty and leave at seven....yeah we didn't leave until quarter after seven. Apparently they have never left late once in three years - must have been our lucky day. We entertained ourselves with pictures of airplanes landing and other such stuff:

The dinner was amazing, we had a great view, I felt like puking nearly the entire time, and the d.j. played all night long. Super great! We made a couple trips up to the deck and goofed around (it's what we do best):

And apparently there is a saying that if you kiss while passing directly underneath the bridge, you will be together forever. Well, I was sorta planning on forever with the whole temple marriage thing and yada yada yada, but what the hell...we all need all the help we can get right? So everyone made out under the bridge...twice.

And while we were up there, fireworks were lit off on a boat out in the water. How freaking cool is that?? No one knew what they were for, no one was expecting them but we were out there when they went off so score one more for us. I love me some fireworks and that was two days in a row for us. They must have known Paul and I were coming :)

Then we went back inside to have cheesecake and dance the night away until the boat docked.

There is a Day 4 to our little trek but that basically consisted of packing, checking out, dropping off the rental car and getting to the airport. This time I really really drugged up - I felt better the entire flight (so glad for that), but as soon as it landed I still had to race to the bathroom. I hate flying. I was cursed with motion sickness. It sucked to leave such a beautiful place but it was so nice to come home.

Happy Anniversary to...My Parents!

Speaking of anniversaries, my parents celebrated theirs today, August 16th. 35 years and counting. I have always felt so lucky to have the parents that I do and that they have stayed together for so long in a world where it seems that every other marriage fails. I love and appreciate them so much - especially since we are older and life doesn't seem so awful once you've grown up and can be friends with your siblings instead of enemies and your not always getting in trouble for fighting and you all have fun together and your parents make you laugh with their increasing older age instead of you yelling at them for making life unfair and sending you to your room...aww, the good old times :) Happy Anniversary...maybe one year you guys will actually get out there and celebrate, eh?

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

We celebrated two years on Saturday August 8th. I feel like I have been married to him for forever but I also feel like these past two years have flown by - it's so crazy how that works. Paul made reservations for us to have dinner at Log Haven up Millcreek Canyon that night and it was so very wonderful. It is such a cute little restaurant with very pretty scenery. It is super fancy though - the dishes were so exotic and tasted amazing! We spent about three hours there and were 100% stuffed by the time we left - with three courses, lots of bread, lots of Italian Soda, and dessert (hey, if you pay a lot of money, you better eat every last crumb!) - I was about to pop!

But that's not all! My super fab hubby planned an entire weekend get-a-way for us and he kept it a secret - He is so awesome, seriously. I love him so much - the things he does for me are endless and I just love him to death. And my surprise vacation was fabulous - and that is post is coming up next.

Summer Play The Madsen Way

I am way behind on this but oh well. I need to get my butt in gear but I can't bring myself to get on the computer much these days.

This little shindig was Sunday August 2, the afternoon that Paul and I came back from Colorado. My little nephew turned five on August 6th, and he had a little water party with all of his friends. We had to celebrate his birthday a little early because he would be at his dad's the following weekend.

Every summer we get out a huge piece of visqueen and stake it down. We then fill up a kiddy pool at the end and we spend hours outside sliding down the grown-up water slide :) The kids also have a little pool and we get out water balloons and squirt guns and the games begin!!

Somebody always seems to get hurt. It's hard to steer and people fall down or fall into each other...as demonstrated by my brother, Morgan. I walked away with a couple bruises myself although surprisingly it wasn't from the following accident.

This was literally the result 60 seconds later:

At least no one got whiplash or a bruised tailbone this time!



My brother and my other adopted brother being retards...figuratively and literally:

When we were all tuckered out of the water sports we conjured together on the other patio and we sang to Aiden and he opened his presents!

He was really excited with all of his Transformer stuff (he loves them) and his soccer goal and his blendy pens!

He's all dressed up as Bumblebee - such a cutie! I love this guy- he makes me laugh every day I see him! I can't believe he's already five - makes me so sad :(

A Trip to Colorado

Paul and I took us a little trip to Colorado last weekend. Our reason for going was to help out a good friend - she moved there a few months ago and kept all of her things here in storage until she found a permanent residence. So she found a place and off we went! Paul and I drove the U-Haul and followed her and Kyle all the way on our 10 hour adventure!

I have lots of pictures so brace yourself...you may not care to look and that's okay but I like to document!

The four of us right before we hit the road Friday...at 4 p.m.:

My husband the trucker...looks good, eh?:

Still in Utah, only ten minutes on the road, I my butt was already numb...oh joy!:

Some of the scenery along the way:

There are so many of these places...trailer home neighborhoods. So foreign to me:

Check out how pretty this sunset is from Paul's side-mirror:

We made a few stops for gas and food. I even ran into a friend from Salt Lake on his way to a motorcycle show while we were in Evanstan. How random.

We arrived in Aurora at 2 a.m. I was so exhausted and very surprised that I didn't fall asleep somewhere along the road but also very glad that I didn't leave Paul all alone :)

The next morning after some bacon, fruit and bagels, we unloaded the entire truck into her apartment. Not the fun part. The fun part was afterward! We went swimming in the apartment's swimming pool. I have a ton of pics of Paul throwing Kyle around - they make me laugh. Kyle has some funny facial expressions. Kyle has a lot of fun with Paul whenever they are together:

After we cleaned up we headed to a place called Dave & Busters, which is a restaurant and arcade place. You can eat and then go play!

After lots of fun and helping Kyle win a new hat, we headed home and ended up stopping at the Denver Broncos stadium. It was pretty cool...I loved the horses that were galloping up the stream out front. Paul bought himself a stellar Broncos hat!

While driving around some more we spotted these crazy looking people statues outside a building. Don't know what they are for but they are humongous and fun to look at:

Later that night we went out to enjoy some Colorado night life at Sing Sing, which is a piano bar equivalent to Salt Lake's Tavernacle. Sing Sing is much much bigger but I have to say that I like the Tavernacle better.

Me and Monica:

Me and the Hubby:

Some awesome ladies that sat by us and we ended up talking and laughing all night! They were really fun!:

The piano guys made us laugh so hard we were crying. There were about ten girls celebrating their Bachelorette parties (seriously that many. I guess it's the place to go because that 's how it is ALL the time). Since we had got in so late on the drive and had little sleep, I was exhausted! Staying until even eleven o'clock was a feat for me! Thankfully, we went home then and I passed out!

On our way to the airport in the morning! No way were we driving home!:

I forgot all about the stupid liquids rule and I got stuff confiscated. I was pissed. Really PISSED. I was mad at myself and the airport (even though I know why they do it). Paul thought my mood swing was really funny:

Finally boarding the plane!! It was such a short trip but it was exhausting! I was stoked to get home and see my dog...we left him at home and had our trusted friends, The Edmunds stop in to check on him everyday(Thanks again!!)and I was very anxious to get home:

My dad picked us up, we went straight home, I went straight to Primary, Paul went straight to work and thenfrom there we went straight to my parents to celebrate my nephews birthday. That post is next!