SoCal 2013

I think I mentioned this a while ago, but last year around this time Kyle decided to register for the Evolution of Psychotherapy conference, that was taking place in December 2013. This is a large conference, where psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc come from around the world to listen to presentations given by some of the biggest names in psychology, and it's only held every 4 years. As Kyle was still a student last year, he was able to get the student rate, which if I remember right got him like $400 off. So we decided it would be a great opportunity for him to go, and we figured we would make a little vacation out of it as well.

I also have a really awesome best friend, named Ayisha, who said she would fly out to spend time with me while Kyle was at his conference. And also, since we have family just 1-2 hours north of LA, we thought we'd visit them as well. So, now you know the background, here's how our days went.

SATURDAY-MONDAY

We left nice and early on a COLD morning, and arrived at LAX around noon. After getting our luggage, rental car, and some lunch (at In N Out, of course) we drove up to Bakersfield to Blaine and Brooke's. We stayed with them through Monday and had a great time being with their little family!

TUESDAY

We got up early and hit the road after eating breakfast and saying our goodbyes. We drove down to Anaheim and checked into our hotel, and then we drove to Ayisha's hotel and picked her up, and we made it to California Adventure around noon.We spent the rest of the day riding rides, eating food, seeing the Aladdin show, and watching World of Color. To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of World of Color. It was hard to see (yes, I'm short) and I think I would have like the normal, non Christmasy one better. They were trying really hard to promote Frozen, so that didn't really catch my attention.

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY

Kyle spent the days in the conference, and Ish and I went to Disneyland! We also both picked up a Disney souvenir - a gray Disneyland sweatshirt for me, and a gray Disneyland shirt for her!

FRIDAY

Kyle spent the day at his conference until about 3:30. Ayisha and I had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and then did a little shopping in an outdoor mall. We found a great store, and we both walked out with a few fun things - even maternity wearable clothes for me! Once Kyle was back we drove to the beach for a few minutes, got dinner at Chik Fil A, and dropped Ayisha off at the airport.

SATURDAY

Kyle only did a few sessions at the conference, and came back to the hotel about 1. We then headed over to experience Disneyland together! It was SO much busy that day than any other day we had gone that week, but we still had fun. We decided to fork out some money to try (and split) a Monte Cristo sandwich, and some Pomme Frites from Cafe Orleans and we are sure glad! They lived up to the hype :) We stayed late to catch Fantasmic! and the fireworks - except the fireworks were cancelled (we assumed because it was windy). So that was a little disappointing, but we still had a great time!

SUNDAY

Kyle spent the  morning at the conference, and I made sure we had packed up everything and checked us out. We drove to the airport, dropped off our rental car, and got on our flight home. After a brief layover in Oakland, we landed in Spokane. We were really glad that the weather had warmed up to 35-40 degrees, as opposed to the 1 degree it was the morning we left. 

We had a great trip, and we know we are so blessed to be able to have gone. I am really excited to go back one day and take our kids there, and witness the magic in their little faces and bodies when the experience Disney for the first time. I'm grateful Kyle and I could go on this "babymoon" of sorts, and that I have an awesome best friend who will buy a plane ticket and miss work to experience Disneyland with me while Kyle was at his conference!

(I also have to say a public thank you to Kyle and Ish for putting up with me basically stopping to use every bathroom in the park, and stopping to sit down much more often than that! The woes of traveling with a pregnant woman....)

A Rainy Seattle Weekend

A couple of weekend's ago Kyle and I drove over to Seattle to spend a weekend with Garyn and Jill. Kyle was roommates with Garyn for 2 years at BYU, and he and Jill were married the day before us. We love them a lot! They are currently living in Portland, while Garyn attends grad school, so we were excited to move "closer" to them. Seattle is fairly in the middle, so we decided to get together!

We drove down Friday afternoon. Kyle and I got stuck in traffic 80 miles outside of Seattle. It took us 2 hours to go 10 miles. Yuck. But we finally made it. Garyn found a little 2 bedroom rental house, and it ended up being perfect. We went out to dinner that first night, and got settled in.

Saturday morning we got up and explored Pikes Place, the public farmers market. There we found the most delicious French bakery, called Le Panier. That morning K and I split a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), a Jacqueline (basically an open creme puff with strawberries), and a chocolate eclair. It was sooo delicious.

Pikes Place fish market in the background - home of the flying fish!

They have gorgeous flower arrangements for sale all around!

Eating my delicious pastries.

So divine.

A nice blurry picture of me and the gum wall.

We then went and found parking for the game, and headed into the stadium. It was a fun game, and we even got to see a grand slam!

After the game we walked around the mall for a while and then went to get on the list for dinner at The Crab Pot. The Crab Pot is this amazing place where you order crab, shrimp and other sea food and they  just stick in on the table in front of you, and you go at it with a hammer.

Our delicious, steaming pile of crap and other things.

After the damage was done.

This picture kills me... Especially Garyn's face.

Sunday Jill and I went back to Le Panier for breakfast (another pain au chocolat and a raspberry jam filled croissant, and Orangina, yum!) while the boys went elsewhere. We wondered around Pikes Place a little more, than went to the Seattle Art Museum. It had a couple cool pieces but wasn't too amazing.

A Jackson Pollack!

Then we said goodbye, and drove back on home. Like I said before it was really good to see Garyn and Jill, and fun to go on a little weekend trip :)

Coeur D'Alene

So, last weekend we went to Coeur D'Alene. The ICA (Idaho Counseling Association) was having their yearly conference up there, and Kyle was presenting with some of his fellow students and professors. We though, why not make a weekend out of it? So, we did!

The journey to Coeur D'Alene is a lovely 8 hour or so drive. 

We drove alllll day on Thursday. It was a really pretty drive through Montana. We listened to the audio version of Ender's Shadow. (To be honest, it took us driving there, and back, and then some to finish the book, but it was so good!)

We booked into our hotel, and went out to eat at Porky G's BBQ. YUM! I love  me some good (authentic, real) barbeque, and this was pretty dang good. Also, our hotel had a king size bed, which we loved.

Friday Kyle had to be at his conference all day.
I dropped him off, got breakfast, slept, showered and got ready, got lunch, went to Target (we don't have on in Poky, and I found a couple great deals), read, hung out some more.
Kyle, of course, gave a couple of presentations while at his conference.
When I went to pick him up, we went to dinner at Bonsai Bistro - which I've already blogged about below.

Saturday we slept in a little bit, Kyle went to the last little bit of his conference and then I joined him for the lunch/awards ceremony. The food was delicious!
Then we took a a little walk down at the pier.

Then we drove over to Spokane, and went and did a session at the Spokane Temple.
We went to dinner at Hogan's Hamburgers.
Drove around downtown Spokane for a little bit, and then headed back to our hotel.

Sunday we drove alllll the way home.
The end.

It was so nice to have a long weekend together. It was so relaxing, and just what we needed!