Before and After

Poor thing doesn't know what he's getting himself into. This is his last picture with his colon/last picture of him smiling for a while.

John's mom came to visit, so we thought we'd take her up to Walnut Creek for a few days. Such a nice city. We spent the first day working on some wedding invitations for Sarah.

By the end of the day, the waiting room had emptied. We'd been here 12 hours at this point. Karen sought refuge talking on the phone, while I paced the halls.

All done! He was the last one in the "recovery" room because he had a fever. Then we all went to our new home, in 3115B.

Gardening

John was so excited to get his garden going. I lost track of how much time we spent at gardening sections, but we eventually went with Lowe's because of their selection. He planted all sorts of things. Bubba and I helped as much as we could.

Spring Temple

We went to the temple this morning and couldn't leave without a picture by the tulips. I just love the flowers there!

New Eyes

I was waiting at the phone doctor this morning and they only had male magazines. I realized the staff was all men, but the phone owners aren't... Anyway, I started reading Men's Health, and found a recipe for potato skins, so I decided to try them out. Not sure how they're healthy, but they are delicious. And John can use all the extra fat he can get these days.

This is his "controlled" excited face.

Puss In Boots

One day after work Bubba was snuggling with my feet, and we decided that meant he wanted to try on my Spanish boots.

We were right...he loves them.

Way Home

John de-bugging the windshield at a gas station.

I drove home once it got super late because John's not much of a night owl. I'm surprised he slept at all because I'm new to driving his (manual) car, and it was like a never-ending Indiana Jones ride. 

Magazine Worthy

We went through the LA temple before attending Kevin and Ashley's wedding.

The Rolfes!

Their reception was at an estate in Malibu that overlooked the ocean. SO beautiful!

The happy bride with her MOH (my roommate Martha) and nieces.

And the groomsmen. LOVE her dress.

The location had several tiered levels, all decorated so nicely. The benches had monogrammed pillows.

The tables had vintage items and fresh flowers.

One tier had croquet, another had bocce ball, this one had quilts to sit out on.

Even the direction signs matched the decor.

John took advantage of the ice cold lemonade.

And whatever hors d'oeuvres the servers brought around. This was his favorite--the coconut shrimp.

Another seating area with mirrors. It felt like an Alice in Wonderland scene. And, of course, no wedding would be complete without my purple dress.

The bottom tier had a little cocktail hour set-up.

Camera display for the guests to "make some memories."

John liked the "man" tier, which had golf. We watched some of my school friends, Shay and McKay, playing while we kicked back with some rootbeer.

Even the man drinks were elegantly offered.

The seating charts. So creative.

Our table. We had a very delicious dinner of fish and steak.

Lovely cake.

Then we took some treats for the ride home. It was a perfect day and we had a great time sharing it with them.

California Adventure!

My friends Ashley and Kevin were getting married, so we went down to LA for the weekend. I signed John up to volunteer a few weekends ago, so he earned a free day at Disneyland. My pass is expiring soon, so we got one last use out of it.

We started out our day at the California Adventure park, since it's much emptier in the mornings (these are things you learn as a frequent visitor).
We hit up many fast passes, including tower of terror. This painting is by the ride, and looks so cool in person.
We could see them working on the new lights show that's opening soon.
Chewbacca Goofy and Jedi Mickey. I think John's jealous.
We got our sourdough bread samples
and fresh corn tortillas. We went back again later when they were giving out the flour ones. Mmm. There's also a scale inside that tells you how many tortillas you weigh. (I was almost 1100 haha.)

Animation Studio

John had never been to the interactive animation place in Ca Adventure, so we had to go check it out. A lot of people haven't been here, because it doesn't look like anything interesting from the outside, but it's so awesome. My favorite place is underground, where there's the library from Beauty and the Beast:

You can answer questions on these touch screens and it will tell you which Disney character you are most like. (I got Mulan)

Here's John answering the last one- do you enjoy having lunch with nice people, or having nice people for lunch? He was most like...

Cogsworth! haha

The other great thing down there is Ursula's Grotto, where you can fill your voice in for little segments of Disney songs or movie scenes. Nobody was there yet, so we did a few of them. Here's John voicing Jafar and Iago. He does, in my opinion, an amazing job. There may be a career option here.

Toy Story

We tried out the Toy Story 3D ride and highly recommend it.

You go around in the little seat and it stops at five arcade-like games that you shoot at for points.
John can't believe I won. He was ahead the whole time, then his arm gave out during the bonus round, where I really racked up the points.
Another thing I love about Disneyland is how well kept everything is. The landscaping is so beautiful. I have a weakness for poppies.

We went on the Grizzly River Run, but came out pretty unscathed. We snapped a quick picture in front of it before heading to the other park.

Happiest Place On Earth

We were too anxious to wait in line for the traditional in-front-of-Mickey-flowers picture, so we took a self-portrait on the side.

I am so glad I married someone who appreciates Disneyland as much as (if not more than) I do.

Of course.

Space Mountain was closed later in the day, so we rested a bit at the Pizza Planet and it opened back up while we were waiting. Then we barely had to wait at all. Love it.

Then John redeemed himself on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Actually, we went on twice and I'm pretty sure he whooped me both times.

New Ones

Captain EO is back! Such a great show. If I'd seen this before, I have no recollection. John remembered it, though (probably because George Lucas was involved.) We both enjoyed the return and it's definitely a nice break from Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
John, on the other hand, couldn't remember seeing Toon Town. So, we took the train over to visit for a while.
He was not super stoked about waiting 30 minutes for a 30 second acorn kid coaster.
He liked Minnie's house, though. Mainly we liked sitting down for a sec on her plastic couch.