Moments that Matter Most..

So first matter of business..
I deactivated my Facebook account and I'm so sad..
But after a REALLY creepy call at work..
& my email AND facebook getting hacked multiple times..
I wasn't feeling safe..
So if you need me my email is hwoods020@msn.com
& I'll give you my number or whatever you need. :)

Second order of business.. I just learned how to post a video on my blog..
& this is one I really liked.

If you have 3 minutes you should watch it.. 

It starts out a little slow, but this is a principle I think that would make everyone's life a lot more rich.

Have a great Monday!

"Seek home for rest, for home is best." -Thomas Tusser

Well.. I just got instructed to "go blog or something.." 

So I thought.. that's just what I should do. :)

[Now I imagine everyone is screaming.. "noo.. last time this girl blogged she wrote a novel"..
I promise to try and keep it short and sweet.. or.. shortER]

So my little Marah made the FHS soccer team! :)
[& she's only an 8th grader.. how dang awesome is she!]
& today was her first game in Los Alamos!
Good luck little sister! I'm so PROUD of her..

Now just a little break update..

Everyone who lives in Farmington knows August = Connie Mack!
[Now if you aren't from Farmington.. the best way I've heard it put is that Connie Mack is the BEST baseball World Series that you've never heard of.. it's basically really awesome teams from all over that are looking to get picked up by the minors/majors.. & it's a lot of fun for everyone in Farmington!
It's always been a perfect way to end the summer growing up..
It's a whole community event and you get to see everyone in the town!]

For the past few years Mar has been a "runner" so basically like a little baseball waitress without the tables and formalities..
This year.. I think the running and soccer wore her out.
[She's the cute little sleeping girl on the job in the orange hat.. haha poor thing..
also.. please notice the little boy in the upper left corner.. he made me laugh when I saw this picture
:)
I don't think my family was the only one who noticed how exhausted she was! He's probably like girl.. wake up and get me my dang food!]

Ask me what happens when you want to go home & have had enough connie mack for the day.. 

& there is only one car..

yup.. you be walkin.

[At least until you have a friend who feels bad for you.. haha]

Also at the end of the summer.. 

The County FAIR!

& that means.. 
fun games
[& little boys with light sabors.. it's one thing that they NEVER seem to be outdated.. it's another when they make their way in the middle of my picture.. oh thank you little boy for sharing ]

Playing with bubbles!..

My sweet little sister. :)...

Cute messages from my momma in the "nail wall"..

Fun Booths...

My Father and his.. stinky Llamas..
:)

& not even being able to complain about it!
:)

But even with all the smelly animals
[ask me if the last day of the fair is the best day to go.. my family definitely thinks so.. give all the manure time to accumulate so you get the whole experience]
I am SO grateful for the opportunity I've had to grow up going to the fair..
I've always really loved it!


Also going on the last few weeks..

Blake and I had our 10 month anniversary!
[I know I brag on him alot.. but he completely surprised me with these & other sweet messages all day.. even when I'm not with him he finds a way to make my days soo happy.
I love you babe.]

I cleaned out and redid my room..
[I'm trying to surprise Blake when he gets down here.. so pictures to come after that so he doesn't get to peek on here!]

While cleaning out my room.. [& my gigantic TUB full of notes and notebooks were my friends and I would write notes back and forth in..]

I know this picture is kind of hard to see... but there are TWO large trash bags.. a couple boxes, and a few notebooks full of notes that I got rid of..
& that's not including the notes I kept.. haha
 My real question is.. how did I ever keep my grades up!?

One thing my notes did remind me of is that.. 
I had some really awesome friends growing up.

If you are seeing those notebooks.. and going oh my gosh.. oh yeah. haha..

Then I love you. :)

 

Besides for just cleaning out my room.. 

I've been getting to cook & bake a lot with my Mom and my little Sister..

Two things that I really love to do.. spend time with my mother and sister.. and.. cooking. :)

It's been nice to just be able to be home.

[Before the end of the week I'll post some recipes.. ]

& besides all of that.. I got my old job back for the month.. because my employers are SO sweet.
But I unfortunately have only had ONE day off of the week for the last three I've been working..
So they've kept me busy..
:)
& I've just been seeing family and old friends..
One thing for sure..
I'm not ready for school to start again! It's coming too fast..
[I do have to throw out that I'm soo excited to see my boyfriend again! He's flying down to see me this weekend and I'm counting down the days!]

I hope everyone is having a good start to their school year!

"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." -Walt Disney

Although you would think I would be going blogging crazy since I like to do it and I'm out of school and have some time to relax..

I am just finally getting to giving you the happiest blog on earth

:) 

Or at least the blog about the happiest place on earth.. 

so kind of the same thing right? 

So after we spent our first few days at Sea World, our Safari, & a day kind of driving around exploring the beaches.. we finally got to what every one [or at least I know I..] was waiting for..

:)

Disney Land!

& We may have been here once or twice [or possibllyyy four times, not including Disney World] before.. so we all already have our favorite rides and kind of knew what we wanted to do..

[The best thing for me about Disney Land is that I still love it every time we go.. & I never want to leave for very long... what an awesome place!]

We made sure that we went on all the old Disney classics!

That really never get old...

[Although can someone explain to me why it is that Peter Pan always has a million hour wait!? It never dies down.. people just must really love to fly!]

& we even saw some NEW things! That made it even more fun.. 

:)

When we went on It's a Small World, which.. not only is one of my favorite rides & just makes me happy.. but..

Is also the happiest cruise around the world I'm informed! :)

& I've never been on a cruise before.. but I believe it.

So.. were just cruisin along.. being happy I might add.. & we start to realize that they added all of the Disney characters into the scenes!

 

 

We saw Aladdin and Jasmine and their magic carpet..

Pumba is on the very far left of this picture, and you can't see Timon but you can kind of see the laughing hyenas on the very far right.

& Ariel from the Little Mermaid.. 

Woody, Jessie, & Bulls-eye.. .

Nemo and Dory..

Cinderella..

& there were even more! We had the funnest time finding them.. so you'll have to go yourself so that you can find the rest & let me know. 

:)

[When I saw this I just liked this sign because it reminded me of the Safari we had just gone on a couple days before.. :)]

Another one of my family's most favorite rides is Pirates of the Carribean!

It honestly just gives you the coolest feeling..

& even though it's been changed a little since the movie has come out.. :( it's still pretty darn fun.

Unfortunately at Disney Land they aren't the nicest about flash photography in the rides.. so I had a hard time getting more pictures..

So just consider these your teasers, & I hope it makes everyone want to go see it all yourself!

:)

 

 Now this little Disney adventure was a little different than the others because we had a few "misadventures"..

As my grandmother would call them..

Indiana Jones is one that always has a pretty long line.. 

[So if you haven't been before remember this is a good ride to get a fast pass for]

So we got our fast passes [You can scan your actual park tickets every so often and they give you tickets to wait in a shorter line for certain rides.. it's a very beautiful thing.].. 

and were just walking along..

Having a grand ole' time..

When the ride breaks down!

& that means.. lots.. and lots.. of waiting..

& waiting..

& waiting..

"Our fast pass wasn't very fast today" haha

The craziest thing is that that happened a couple times to us on this ride AND on the Haunted Mansion..

Everyone is being rough on my poor little Disney Land I guess..

But the rest of the rides went just wonderfully.. 

 

We went canoeing for the first time..

& just between you and me.. although you may think it does.. this canoe doesn't actually GO anywhere!

ha you just have to canoe around the whole park and back..

Because everyone likes to canoe without a destination of course..

:)

We went to the Enchanted Tiki Room..

Which is always amazing. & if you go kind of early to wait [like 10-15 minutes]

All of the Tikis' will tell you their stories.

Mitchy found a little treasure. :)

He found this Yoda backpack that hangs on your back.. & he fell in love. ha jk But he found himself a new skiing backpack.

How cute are they..

Then my little Mar had one of her first driving experiences at Autotopia!

&..

I may have been a little nervous at first.. but..

 

She ended up doing really well!

She even beat Mitch and my Dad!

[Now was there the option of passing.. no.. there really wasn't.. ha but.. never the less.. she started first and finished first.. :) ]

Then we ended our day just how we had finished it..

With our favorite ride.. Splash Mountain!

:)

This is such an awesome ride! The only problem is you do get a litttlle.. wet.

:)

If you've ever been on this ride.. you know.. that when you're going down the "splash mountain" they take your picture.

& so I thought.. it would be cool for ME to get a picture of how it looks going down!

haha it's just a little harder than it looks.. 

But this is what I got.

:)

Then since we were the last ones in there at night.. the guy let us stay in the boats and have a 

ROUND 2! :)

Best way ever to end our first night at Disneyland!

Then came the only problem with Disneyland..

you have to eventually leave..

& everything after that.. just isn't quite as happy. haha Darnit. But all good things must come to an end.

The next day.. just so we didn't get too much Disneyland at once we took a little break and went to Universal Studios!

Universal.. in my mind has about two really spectacular rides..

one of which being OF COURSE..
Jurassic Park!

[The other is the Mummy.. but it's a little fast to get pictures of]

This movie is amazing.. and the ride is I think if possible even more awesome.

The only problem is..

You always get just a littllle bit.. WET!

But some rides are just worth it. :)

[My mom is the smart one.. she comes prepared!]

To end our day at Universal Studios we went on this "back lots" tour..

That is always honestly really cool! :)

This boat is a real physical prop they used in the movie King Kong!

& you can't tell but it's actually really tiny..

We got to drive down Wisteria  Lane..

Which as a Desperate Housewives fan.. was completely SWEET!

 

 

& if you are not a Desperate Housewives fan (that's okay I quit watching a while ago too because it got a little too dramatic for me, but it's always cool to see in real life what you've seen on TV).. this is the road that the TV series basically takes place on..

& we saw the Bates Motel from the movie Physcho..

[which.. although I haven't seen.. was a cool looking movie set!]

Then we saw part of Who-Ville from How the Grinch stole Christmas!

& A LOT of the set from War of the Worlds..

and lots more cool things!

If you go to Universal Studios you should definitely check the tour out.

Universal Studios is not always my favorite because it doesn't seem as clean and.. wholesome as Disney Land. But I always am really glad for my opportunity to visit.. there are definitely some cool things behind the scenes of movies! 

& I will say it was crazy to me how many people there were not from America. They were having the time of their lives seeing Hollywood!

The next day.. we had tickets for what they call a "Magic Morning" & it's where you get to go into Disneyland an hour BEFORE it even opens! 

[at 7.. how early can YOU get up for a morning of magicalness? haha ]

We went and rode Alice and Wonderland.. [Because not quite as bad, but like Peter Pan this ride always seems to be crazy busy!]

& My brother made a great discovery!

The coolest bathroom of my life!

all the doors are cards and there is heart tiling and lighting..

I wish every bathroom was themed it made me so excited to be using the bathroom!

Now tell me.. where else would you ever feel that way..

:)

this is marah typing for a little while and i have to say this is by far the most amazing bathroom ive ever been in it made me want to stay forever (even though it was a bathroom.. yuck :/ ) i think it just added a little more magic to our very magical morning.

Then after we felt like we had gotten most of the magicness of Disneyland that we had missed the other day.. We headed over to California Adventure!

This park was really fun because they had added a few things that we had never seen before..

Like a Little Mermaid Ride! :)

This was my favorite Disney Movie growing up..

& to experience it all around me was something that I really enjoyed!

Another thing was the addition of Tron!

This probably won't make sense if you haven't seen the movie.. so first see it! It is a keeper for sure!

& then picture this!

They lit the whole park up just like the Grid!

& then they got sound systems that you could feel through your whole body!

It was the coolest dance party I had seen in my life.. times probably 3!

There were also glowing drinks.. and the coolest music ever.

If our prom had been like that..

That very well could have been the best night of my life. haha

Disney knows how to throw a better party than anyone I've ever met before..

:)

Then for the rest of our time there we finished all of the old rides that we love..

Just guess which ones we are :)

Yeah that's right! The ones making the YMCA..

ha once you've had your picture taken so many times you have to make it a litttle more interesting..

& Then to end our time of Disneyland off right.. we discovered a fairy land! haha who knew..

[If you look really closely at the top right you can see the houses and at the bottom.. the little fairy boat..]

& we learned all about the talents of fairies! :)

Disneyland is definitely one of my favorite places that I've ever been to..

[The first time we went I was probably 11/12 and when we got back from our vacation I was having dreams about it and dyyying to go back!]

But it was a really fun way to spend time with my family & get to celebrate finally being out of school for a couple of weeks!

I hope the blog about the Happiest Place on Earth made you.. Happy :)

& that you all have experienced.. or get to experience it in the future.

Have a Wonnnderful Sunday!

[I'll blog about all that I've been doing while I've been home soon..]