Road Trip + My 1st Time to Los Angeles!

For our spring break, we decided we wanted to bring a few friends. I invited Lauren and Chris invited David. We started our road trip in Logan and then picked Lauren up in Orem.

Then we got stuck in a blizzard and were stopped on I-15 for over an hour! It was such a downer for our trip... but we tried to make fun out of it, by taking some pictures on Lauren's Macbook Photo Booth. Here's a cute one:

And of course, while we were stuck I had to go to the bathroom. And my shoes were not exactly prepared for winter weather. Since all the traffic was stopped I had to go far down into the ditch and the snow was almost up to my waist! It was sooo cold once I got back in the car and my feet were literally frozen! But luckily, Lauren let me use her beach towel to warm them up :)

Finally (much later than we expected) we arrived in Las Vegas for our 1st stop!
After finding a hotel (we decided to never make reservations, but be spontaneous) the boys went out to gamble a little.
And the girls had way more fun in the hotel room :) haha
The next day we walked around Vegas and checked out the new hotel, The Aria. The outside had a cool looking waterfall! It was so beautiful.
The inside had really pretty PINK steps! We loved them.
And check out these tornados!! This was definitely a crazy-cool thing to find inside of a hotel.
We took some abstract pictures looking down on the tornado...they turned out pretty cool!
Then we had to stop at the Vegas sign for a classic group picture.
Our first day in Southern California, we HAD to go to the beach! We did some research and decided to go to Laguna Beach. We were pretty excited!
Even the boys jumped for joy...in swan formation. (haha)
It was SO picturesque. I really, really loved this beach.

The boys were active all day, playing football, frisbee, skim boarding and volleyball.
There was even a bird man who let us play with some exotic parrots! I've never had a parrot sit on my shoulder or head before, but it was pretty neat! (Even though I felt a little strange in my swim suit with birds all over me...)
The next day, we were total tourists. Our first stop was the HOLLYWOOD sign on the mountain. It was just like I pictured it :)
We took a few fun glamor shots and enjoyed the beautiful view. Life goal... complete.
Next we went to the Walk of Fame. It was interesting to see all of the famous people's names, and also a few blank stars for future celebrities.
In a little shop we found some Oscar Award looking trophies. Chris presented me one..."Best Wife," so sweet :)
We also found some cute hats in a little shop. It was fun to play dress up!
Chris even put his hands where Matt Damon once did. But sadly, as we were taking this pictures, a city worker was giving us a parking ticket... even though our meter had only expired by like 60 seconds!
We all heard lots of great things about Pink Berry so we decided we had better find out for ourselves. And YES... it is just as fabulous as they say! I could probably eat this every single day.
Our last stop for the day was Santa Monica Pier. It was so beautiful, especially since we arrived as the sun began to set on the ocean.
David and Chris wanted a cute man picture.
Although we tried to keep our PDA to a minimum for our friends, I decided one cute kissing picture was a necessity.
and... some fun dancing ones too. There was an awesome musician singing, so we couldn't resist!
Then we headed over to muscle beach so the boys could prove their strength and show off. Chris learned how to do these ring/monkey bar things.
David climbed up this rope. I love how you can see the pier and the ferris wheel in the background.
The next morning we woke up super early to go to Disneyland! We were lucky it was such a beautiful day.
While the boys were eating their all-you-can-eat BBQ, Lauren and I walked around the park and took fun pictures. We went into the Mad Hatter and found some cute Mickey & Minnie hats.
On our way to California Adventure Land we saw and A and had to get our picture taken by it. "A" is for Aggies!
I really like this picture of us by the San Francisco bridge. Chris surprised me by picking me up!
My favorite ride was the Hollywood Tower of Terror! It was kinda scary, but so much fun.
Paradise Pier looked so beautiful at night. We were sad that it closed before we could make it there, but was still nice to look at.
Space Mountain was also a really fun ride. Chris and I were lucky enough to sit in the front row which made for a pretty cute picture. David and Lauren were behind us but sadly you can't see Lauren's face.
The fireworks show was definitely the highlight of my night. We got there a little early and somehow landed ourselves some FRONT ROW seats!! It was really spectacular.
Then we decided to check out the wishing well. We all made a wish and threw in a coin at the same time. Since we were at Disneyland, how could they not come true?
A little before midnight there were no more lines because the park was about to close. We got to drive the cars at Autotopia and Lauren & I found a hot pink one!
We also went on the Buzz Lightyear ride a few times. This one was Christopher's favorite.
Since Disney tired us out, the next day we decided to hang out at the beach. We looked online and I noticed Sunset Beach was going to be a little warmer than the rest, so we spent our afternoon relaxing. The water was a little chilly... but the waves were awesome!
It got a little windy as the day went on, so we decided it was the perfect day to fly our kite!
Since it was our last beach day, I decided to write "Spring Break 2010" in the sand. We were lucky though because literally 2 seconds after this picture was taken, the ocean washed it away!
David was always a good sport about taking pictures. I wanted a cute piggy back picture and so he ended up taking about 10 of them! It was funny. This one is my favorite:
That night we met up with one of Chris's mission friends, Patrick and his girlfriend, Mary. We ate at El Torido and then got dessert at Pink Berry. We were happy to eat there for the 2nd time :)
Our last day in California, Lauren and I decided we needed to take advantage of the cheap manicure-pedicure deal. It was so nice to be pampered and have a little girl time.
On our road trip back, we stopped in Vegas again. Lauren and I did some shopping and walked around the strip.
Since it was so warm in Vegas, we spent the afternoon at the Mandalay Bay beach. It was so sunny; the perfect day to bask in the warmth (and wear our brand new swim suits!)
It was funny because every time we held the camera out to take pictures of ourselves, some random person would walk up and offer to take one for us. We didn't really expect it, but it was nice!
We explored around Vegas for awhile and took pictures with our favorite hotels. I've seen the Luxor a few times, but never had a picture with the Sphinx and King Tut.
The Excalibur is one of my favorite hotels of all time! I really LOVE the castle.
Right as we were leaving for St. George, I found out my friend Molly (from Ohio State) was eating dinner in Vegas at the Harley Davidson Cafe! I was so excited that I got to jump out and see her for a few minutes, even though I wish it could have been longer!
In St. George, we got a special ride in David's dad's Camero! It was a stick shift and had a crazy looking (V-8) engine. Chris wishes he had a yellow one with a black stripe, like Bumblebee from Transformers. And... I wouldn't mind that either ;)
The next morning Chris & I woke up to a snapping turtle in our bed! It was a funny prank from David and Lauren, but I actually love turtles - so I didn't mind.
Then we headed home for Logan on our last official day of spring break. It was a GREAT vacation and I really loved spending time in the warm weather with our friends. I fell in love with Los Angeles too, and definitely wouldn't mind living there!