Fun but crazy!

My Mom, Dad, David, Alana, and I had a lot of fun on our trip to California. It did however get cut a little short. Two things happened to make it different then we were planning in the begining. First of all my mom was supposed to get work done on her teeth at a dentist in Mexico but when she called to make an appointment she found out the dentist would be on vacation for two weeks so it was a no go for that.

But wait let me back up a bit. The plan at first was this - go to California and visit family - drive to Yuma and go across the border to mexico and have my mom's teeth fixed - go to my cousin's before wedding dinner in Tuscon - go to the wedding the next day in Mesa Temple - Drive to Prescott to my Grandma's and visit for a few days - drive to SLC to see friends of my parents - drive home.

Here's what really happened - We drove to California and visited with my Dad's cousins like we were supposed to, that was soo much fun. We had a blast - my Dad's cousin has a saltwater pool in his back yard and Alana had a fun time splashing her hands in it - I can't believe how much that girl LOVES the water! I guess she loves it as much as her daddy:) We also saw my dad's other cousin Amy who initiated all this contact and had a really great time talking with her and playing with her cute little boy.

Then we drove to David's uncle's house and David and I stayed there while my parents stayed in a hotel (his uncle has no AC and it was too hot for my Dad).

Then (because we knew about the dentist not being there) the next morning we got up at 4 am to go to The Price Is Right. We didn't get on (just in the audience) but it was a lot of fun seeing how everything worked. The worst part was waiting in line FOREVER!!!! It was quite the process to get 300+ people through everything. And when we got inside the studio you don't realize how small the studio actually is. It's really hard to see everything and it was sooo LOUD!!! When we first got in there Rich Field said to watch the guy with the que cards cause there is no way we would be able to hear him announcing people's name to COME ON DOWN!

After The Price Is Right we went to KFC cause we were STARVING after not eating since McD 7:30 that morning and it was 2:30 before we were done and 4 before David came and picked us up. This was on Tue, and we still had until Friday to get to Tuscon which is only like a 6 hour drive from L.A. So while in KFC we were trying to figure out what to do for the next 3 days or so. Well as soon as we got out of KFC my mom realized she had a message on her phone. It was my Uncle Roger telling us that my cousin's wedding was off. I was so sad for my cousin. My uncle said the groom got cold feet and couldn't go through with it. That's all we know. I was just sick for my cousin - what an awful situation, I could not even imagine.

Well we decided that we would bypass Tuscon - we didn't feel it right to visit during this hard time as you might well imagine. So we just headed strait up to my Grandma's in Prescott. After staying Tue night at David's uncle's OTHER house in Indio Cali (a very NICE house by the way) we drove up to my Grandma's but not before getting date shakes in a place near Indio. (ever had a date shake? do you even know what dates are? if you ever get a chance you should try them) My parents LOVE date shakes and dates and it always been a tradition to get them when every we go by an area that grows dates.

It was great to see my Grandma again, I've been really wanting to see my grandma cause she is not doing too well and I don't know when I will see her again. I also wanted to give her the oppourtunity to see Alana. and vice-versa. After two days at my Grandma's we left Sat morning and drove to the Grand Canyon - wow it is so beautiful there! David and I walked the Rim trail for about 1/2 mile and that was really neat. After leaving we were driving to Page, Az to try and get a hotel but had no luck after calling about every hotel in town, so we drove and hour and a half to the next town, Kanab, UT. It was a long day.

The next day we had a little time to kill so we went to Bryce National Park on the way to SLC. And after visiting friends in SLC we drove home and were home late Tuesday night. Over all it was a good trip but sad to cause of my cousin non-wedding.

Oh yeah on the second day we were out we went to THE JELLY BELLY factory near Sacramento - what fun!! we had a blast but we almost missed it cause the factory tours were over at 4 and we got there at 4:09 but they felt sorry for us (driving all the way from Oregon and such ;) so they let us join the tour that had already started. it was fun to go.

I will post pictures later seeing as most of them my dad has.

oh and the day we are on The Price Is Right is Oct 8th, see if you can pick us out:)