birthdays and white lies...

So...I know it's been a while since I updated. What can I say? Life kind of got the best of me. So here's what I've been up to:

#1. I had a birthday! 26 here I come...My best friend, Kristy, came into to town for the weekend. We went and got pedicures, watched a couple movies, survived a HUGE monsoon storm that blew into town on Sunday (try running through the church parking lot that is three inches deep in water to retrieve my car while it is literally pouring...kind of fun, but not something I'd like to do again anytime soon), and went to The Cheesecake Factory.

#2. I called into work today and went with Elaina to the American Idol tryouts in Glendale! It was really fun! We woke up at 4:30 this morning and drove to the arena. We got there about 6:30 where we stood in line for a while outside then spent the next 6.5 hours sitting and waiting for Elaina's chance to audition. It was fun to be able to see some of the behind the scenes action of one of my favorite shows. Look for us come January...we were cheering and singing in the crowd!!

Check out the "Silver Surfer"...

Wristband Power!!

and i'm home

San Diego is my new favorite place! Seriously. Loved it!! :)

Last night we were able to see the fireworks from Sea World from our hotel :) and they were awesome! I love fireworks! This morning we packed up :( then found a cute little shopping village and spent a couple hours wandering around and having lunch :) then got on the freeway and headed back to Phoenix :(. We left the beautiful tropical weather in San Diego and got back to the freakishly hot oven-like weather that is Phoenix, Arizona....remind me why I live here again?

Needless to say I had a great time and I being on vacation!

san diego: day three

The Beach!!

We got up this morning and decided today would be a great day to go to the beach. So, we got up, got ready, gathered up the beach chairs, sea shell buckets and the umbrellas we had and headed out. We decided to go over to Coronado Island which was beautiful! We got there about 10:30 and started beach combing...picking up sand dollars and other shells and playing in the cold water. A few hours later we discovered that we had been perhaps a bit too hasty in our quest to get to the beach. Did we bring any water with us? Nope. How about food and/or snacks? Of course not! Why would we do that? In the immortal words of the T-Rex in "Meet The Robinsons"..."I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought out."

So, with nothing to eat and nothing to drink we decided maybe we should pack up and go find some sustenance. Never fear! Subway is here! Those who decided it was too cold at the beach (according to my aunt Christine it was "the frozen tundra") and went shopping in town instead, brought back sandwiches for everyone. Yea subs! After eating, and deciding we'd had enough sun, we came back to the hotel and relaxed for a few hours until dinner. We went to dinner at "Guadalahara's"...at which time we all discovered we had gotten a lot more sunburned than we originally thought. After dinner we drove around town looking for a pharmacy or grocery store. You'd think it would be easy...but no. After driving around for a half hour we finally found a grocery store, then hurried back to the hotel because they were doing their firework show tonight (why? I don't know). We got back in time to see the majority of the show, then went back to the room to apply after sun lotion and go to sleep.

san diego: day two

The San Diego Zoo!!

We spent all day at the zoo and it was a ton of fun. We took the guided bus tour around the park, then ate lunch, went to a sea lion show, went shopping at the gift shops, walked around and saw some animals, went to the "Wild Ones" show (which as dumb), then it was 5:30 and time to go. My feet are killing me but surprisingly I didn't get very sunburned...I don't think. I think we're all going to sleep well tonight.

san diego: day one

The courtyard outside our hotel room:

Baby ducks swimming around in the stream:

Faith and I out at the harbor near our hotel:

I know it looks fake, but it's not. There are beautiful flowers everywhere:

The biggest hibiscus flower I have EVER seen (no lie, it was the size of a salad plate):

Rescued Harbor Seals at the hotel:

Barbara getting ready to go to the beach: