Sunday, January 6, 2013

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I am not sure when time started going by so fast, but it seems the older I get the faster it goes, so it is nice to relive these memories.  Our Christmas was really wonderful and simple which was the goal of the year. After it was all over we looked at it each other and said "you know this was a really nice Christmas." And it was there was no stress and no drama and no running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We were really able to enjoy and focus on the meaning of Christmas.


We had a few friends over for Christmas Eve dinner which was so much fun. It was a little crowded with 9 adults and 4 toddlers in my apartment, but it was so much fun. I love having parties and having people in our home and having an apartment isn't going to stop me.And since babies go to sleep early almost everyone was gone by 7pm and we drove around Fullerton/Brea looking for Christmas lights to fill our Christmas Tree Lane void and finished the night by watching It's a Wonderful Life.
Christmas morning was quite and fun we opened our stocking's in bed




Lights in fancy Fullerton with snow machine
The stockings we're hung
 and then came out to the living room and opened our presents. All of our Fresno family sent stuff down to us with my brother-in-law so we had things to open. We made some breakfast and passed out while watching A Christmas Story. We talked to our parents on the phone and finished the night off by seeing Les Mis.


Passed out Christmas Morning
Santa came!


I rang in 2013 by working at Tower of Terror, at 11:59 we had no guests the building was empty so we all closed our elevators and ran out to the roof to see the 3 different fireworks show's.I missed my New Years kiss with my hubby but this was okay too.
2012 was a pretty good year, we are so blessed and are looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us. So far we have Kurtis's Law school graduation, a spring trip, and the Bar Exam to look forward too!
Happy 2013 from the Disneyland Resort

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Traditions

Warning this post contains Jesus talk

Growing up my family had several Christmas traditions . We would kick off the Holiday Season by walking down Christmas Tree Lane which is a Fresno tradition, this would be followed by decorating a Christmas tree and going to my Grandma's to bake cookies and my Great Aunts yummy fudge.

Now that i am an adult and living far from home it is hard to keep some of those traditions alive. When we have been bale to make it back to Fresno Christmas Tree Lane has been to crowed or to late, and this year we are not heading home at all.

I think apart of the fun of growing up is starting your traditions. Since we have been living in Southern California we have been trying to do just that.

For the last three years we have gone to Disneyland for my work holiday party, we always watch the fireworks and get hot chocolate and try to find all of the Christmas decorations.
The giant tree at the Grand
This year we added on the tradition of seeing the Candlelight Processional, which was so beautiful and will become a family favorite for as long as we live here.

Candlelight has been happening at Disneyland since the 1950's, Walt Disney would invite local choirs to sing Christmas Carols and invite someone to read the Christmas story from the Bible. It was his way of inviting the spirit of Christmas into the park and also a way to say "Thank You" to all of the people who made Disneyland possible. This year Candlelight was expanded from two nights to twenty and I knew we just had to be there.

It was so touching to hear the massive 400 person choir process down Main Street U.S.A. singing Christmas hymns, then they joined the Orchestra and trumpeters to create a beautiful picture , which was completed by the reading of the Christmas story by Molly Ringwald, who was the celebrity guest tonight. It was defiantly worth the two hours I waited in line.

Towards the end of the program the reader, talks about how Jesus Christ was born to a poor family  never went to college, or held a political office, he never traveled to a big city or even farther then 200 miles from the place that he was born. He was hung on a cross between two thieves and his captors gambled for his clothes. But yet, this man who to the world seemed so ordinary was anything but. This child who was born on that Christmas day has inspired so many. And no army, navy, or politician has ever been able to touch anyone the way that the Savior of mankind has.

These words made me think of a few things, for one I was so surprised that in our ever growing secular world I was hearing these words in a public place, and secondly because these words were true. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not you have to admit that Jesus was a pretty good guy, he taught that we should love one another, not judge each other, and do unto others as they would to you and that is just the readers digest version.

It was a great delight to stand with hundreds of others as the Hallelujah chorus was played to honor that little baby who was born to save us all.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Things that I forgot to mention

Through out the course of any given week a thought will cross my mind or something will happen and I will think to myself "man I should really make sure I put that on the blog" or "wow that would be a good blog post" but then life as it always does gets in the way, and I forget.

With the end of the year fast approaching (can you believe that?)  I figured I could just take all of those little things and make one big giant post, well maybe two we will see how the first one goes.

So here are some things in no particular order

New Car- We got a new Car in July during a trip to Fresno. My good old Chevy was on its last legs and was fast approaching its death. The air conditioning had not been working for over a year, and the poor thing couldn't even go over 50 MPH anymore. I was a little sad to see it go, for a about a minute. Kurtis's brother Keith got us a great deal on a 2012 Ford Fusion, which I am in love with. It is safe, has working air conditioning, and gets great gas mileage. It's pretty too.

Family Trip- Right after we bought the new car we broke it in by driving up the central coast to Cambria to spend a weekend with my family. It was really wonderful spending time with my Grandma, Mom, Aunt ,Great Aunt and Cousins. The trip was much needed as it feel during the craziness following the relaunch of Disney California Adventure which Kurtis and I both put a lot of blood (from blisters) sweat (from working in the heat) and tears (crazy guests, 50 plus hour work weeks, and again those blisters.) Kurtis was even able to get some golf in with my cousin, and uncles. And we made sure we stopped by Hearst Castle!

Beautiful golf course

Hearst Castle check out that pool!


The Team and Team cheerleaders


Canoe Races- Every year for the last 50 or so years Disneyland Cast members take to the Rivers of America and in the wee small hours of the morning before all of the guests are in the park we race the canoes around Tom Sawyers Island. It is a ton of fun for all of the cast members and we all get super competitive, because it is not only Resort cast members but Studio and Imagineering as well. I did not race this year but Kurtis did! His team made up of Guest Control leads and Trainers, survived all of the semi-finals and made it to the top four and eventually won the Sprint Races, I was so proud. He had a great time and it was a wonderful way to end his time as a Disney Cast Member.
Final Sprint to victory!




Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Picture Time




Last Sunday Kurtis and I got together with my friend Aubrey to take some fun Christmas photo's and I love the way they turned out!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Let your heart be light

Hands down my favorite Christmas song is "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" from Meet me in St. Louis. I have had that song and several others on constant play for the last few weeks.
For some reason that I can't really figure out the last few years really haven't felt like Christmas. I am not sure if it is a result of growing older, being poor, or my empty uterus or a combination of all of them.
To try to remedy this we are having the best Christmas ever. We are watching tons of Christmas movies,listening to Christmas music,reading Christmas books. And Christmas decorations are all over the place. And I love it. Spirits are high and we are looking forward to spending Christmas together in our little home.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving used to be my favorite  holiday, but somewhere along the way it became less about the family and more about which recipe is better,how many houses we can hit up and when can we collapse into our own beds...
This year I went with a "screw it all I am just going to do what I want." And let me tell you it was awesome. 
I made the  turkey and some gluten free stuffing(not good) and pecan pie (yum ) and we had a pretty chill day in Fresno.
The weather was perfect for fall.There was a chill in the air and lots of beautiful autumn leaves and because I got a new phone I lost all of the photos I took. So just use your imagination.