"CALIFORNIA DREAMING" - Days 1 & 2

Well, no... it wasn't a dream... we actually got to go to California again this year. We've been saving up for several months and now the time had come!!!

-THURSDAY, September 25th, 2008-

Jaren and Oliver at the hotel

Today after the kids got home from school, we finished packing and loaded up the van to drive to Minneapolis. Since our plane was leaving early the next morning, we decided to get a hotel, spend the night... we figured it would be easier for the kids.

We got to the hotel and the guy working behind the front desk was watching baseball and didn't appear all that interested in helping us. Anyways, we asked for a crib for Jaren and he said, "I think they are gone, but I'll check on it for you." Since no crib showed up, we figured that they were all gone for the night. Jaren was not a happy camper that night. He fussed and cryed most of the night and into the morning. At around 3:30 am we got a call from the front desk because someone called and complained. (YEAH... um... we just let him cry... we do NOTHING to try to calm our baby... yup... we actually pinch him so that he cries all the time and we don't get any sleep either... yeeeeaaaahhhhh...). Anyways... MAGICALLY... a crib appears outside of our door! Needless to say I suppose the front desk guy was too involved with his baseball game to stop and actually do his job. Ed opened the door to walk with him, and a worker asked if she could do anything. We just said no, but thanks for the crib. He was out like a light after he had the crib! Come on people... TWO CRIBS for over seven floors of rooms!!! So... we debated whether or not to go on... Finally, we decided that it would be so disappointing to the kids if we didn't go and I wasn't going to fly without Ed... soooooo... we tried to get a little more sleep and decided to go in the morning.

-FRIDAY, September 26, 2008-

MY 30th BIRTHDAY!!!

We got up and ready to get on the shuttle to the airport and soon experienced one of the most embarrassing / hysterical episodes in my life. We went through the lines smoothly... UNTIL... we got to Security. We all loaded up the bins with shoes, backpacks, my purse and other personal affects and proceeded to walk slowly through the line. I'm bringing up the rear of our family when all of the sudden I hear the guy behind the x-ray machine say,

"OH! We got a good one here!" I looked back as another older man went over to view the screen.

Ed said to me in a joking manner, "Oh... did you pack something you weren't supposed to?!?!"

I said, "It's not MY bag they are looking at! It's your computer bag!"

Ed's demeanor changed almost immediately as he gasped, "My knife!"

I exclaimed, almost in disbelief, "Your KNIFE?!?"

"I forgot to take it out of my bag! I use it to open my crystal light packages at work."

"Why not use scissors?" I asked. "What about all of the other times you've flown for work?!"

Ed said, "I forgot to take it out this time!"

I'm thinking, "Oh great... they think we are terrorists now! A man, a woman and their three kids... the perfect cover...". I'm laughing now, I just couldn't help it! I couldn't believe what was happening to us at that moment! Ed told them it was a pocket knife that was inside the bag. The second man had it in his hand and Ed was trying to explain to him how to open it without cutting his fingers off. The guy FINALLY opened it and confiscated it. They took EVERYTHING out of Ed's bag, which was all of Jaren's stuff: Diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, medicine, etc. The guy was like, "You should have declared this..." I totally forgot about their medications in the backpack... but I said that I would on our way back. They found the boys' nebulizer and asked fairly sternly, "What is THIS?" We explained that both boys have asthma and that it was for their breathing treatments. They donned rubber gloves and used cotton pads to check for gunpowder. GUNPOWDER??? What the crap!?! As they are checking every nook and cranny of our belongings, they wanted to check all of ED or MY nooks and crannies! It seemed liked FOREVER because Ed didn't say anything. I finally said, "I'M NOT DOING IT! I know it's my birthday and all, but..." Ed said he would do it. Soooooo, after we held up the line, we finally got to put our shoes back on and proceeded to our gate. WHAT A MORNING!!!

We board the plane and pray that Jaren will be a good traveler, and much to our surprise, he was! Oliver and Eden were great as well! Jaren liked to look at and sometimes touch the other passengers, which thankfully, they thought was cute! We traveled FRONTIER airlines and it was great! We had lots of leg room and they had TV's on the back of each seat. We paid $5.99 so the kids could watch it during the trip. They LOVED it! I think they watched Spongebob the whole time! Even Jaren liked it!

Jaren peeking over the chair in front of him.

We got to LAX and Jared picked us up, yadda, yadda, yadda, and drove us back to their house to rest a bit before we went bowling for my birthday!!!

~BOWLING~

Since it was my birthday, Jared and Emily got a sitter for the kids and took us bowling! We took the two littlest with us and had a fun night!

No this is NOT an ad for Crocs, the ultimately comfy slipper/sandal... I thought it was funny that you had to give one of your shoes to the lady behind the desk as collateral for the bowling shoes. I'm easily amused...

Little Addison (5 months old)

Ed and Jaren pointing down the lanes. ( I LOVED the light fixtures they had there!)

Jared and Emily

My 30 year old self and my 30 year old hubsy, Edward.

I fell asleep in the car and on our way home, they stopped and got a chocolate cream pie for my birthday to eat at a later time! :o)

It was fun to celebrate with family that we rarely get to see! Thanks, guys!!! We love you!

A Blast from the Past

I was home with Jaren, as usual, and we were just hanging out when someone knocked on our door... I opened the door and immediately knew who he was because I've seen pictures and have heard stories about him from Ed. It was one of Ed's buddies from his mission in Alabama, about 11 years back!! He was shocked that I knew who he was and I was shocked to see him in Iowa standing on my front porch!!! He and a buddy of his flew to Wisconsin to pick up a truck and drive it back to Idaho. He thought that he'd stop by and check up on Ed! I was sorry to tell him that Ed was at work so we made a plan to get him home early and then Scott and his buddy would get some pizzas and surprise Ed at the door!!!

The time came and Ed answered the door to a pizza guy who was hiding behind the boxes with a hat on and his head down. Scott said, "Uh... that will be $75..." He then looked up and Ed yelled with much surprise, "What the hell are you doing here!?!?" So we all ate dinner and chatted for a while. I wish they could have stayed longer. I knew that he and Ed were good friends on their missions, but never actually served as companions. It was so fun to hear them reminicse about the good ol' mission days and what they are up to now with their families and such!

Scott Lee, Ed and Jaren

Before they left, Scott said that they had an extra night at the hotel, but they were leaving town. They gave us the hotel keys for us to spend a night at the Isle of Capri hotel. I was like... SWEET! We couldn't get a sitter for the kids, but Eden and I went on ahead and had a fun mom and daughter night.

We walked into the room and it was just beautiful. I loved how they decorated the room with the different earthy tones and a fan carved to look like giant leaves. It was truly gorgeous!

Eden immediately choose her bed and gave me the big thumbs up! She LOVED the cylindrical pillow and was pretending that it was a giant microphone all night long! We laughed all night long! It was so fun!
Around 9:30 pm we hear someone opening, not trying to open... but OPENING the door to our room!!! Good thing I had the latch up top locked! Then I got a phone call from the front desk asking us about the room we were in. I told them that the man who was here gave us the keys to stay that extra night. Evidentally there was some miscommunication between Scott and the hotel and the room was charged to him for another night. (It was supposed to be a FREE night). The man, who I thought was a woman on the phone, called back again and said that I needed to sign something. I wasn't understanding what was going on, so I went down with Eden to the front desk and asked to speak to the woman who called me. She said that she was the only woman there and then got a man to come and talk to me... yeah... it was a guy I was talking to... I felt like a complete and utter moron by this time. Anyways... I offered to leave the hotel so that he wouldn't get charged for another night and that's when the man said that he would be charged no matter what. I felt HORRIBLE and just couldn't concentrate on anything else for a while. I figured, by this time it was a little past 10 pm and I didn't want to uproot Eden because it was late and she was having a blast! I still feel horrible about all the miscommunication. I feel that the hotel did not make itself clear to Scott about the room, but I really couldn't do anything about it.