Monday, January 23, 2012

{We Love Visitors}

It has been SO great having visitors often! Last week, my parents came to visit for a few days- which was a lot of fun. I always love when they come to visit.. it takes the edge off of the homesickness :) We went to the BYU vs USD game down here with Cam's family. That was a lot of fun- BYU killed em' of course!

It's almost time for our home to be inspected, and so while they were visiting, I needed to go into the city and talk to the inspector about a couple of things, before 5 PM. My mom was so kind to offer to come with me for moral support. We left the house at about 4:15. So, we live about 15 minutes away from the building we needed to go to- and I didn't have much gas in my car. I should've taken my dads car- well, I shouldn't have let my gas get that low.. period, but (famous last words) "I thought I had enough gas to get us there." So mom and I jump in the car, and are on our way. As we get about 10 minutes away from home, and 5 minutes away from the place.. well, I'm sure you can guess what happens now- my car starts stalling and just like in the movies.. we feel it jerking forward and back trying hard to go but then BAM- stops immediately as I'm hurrying to the side of the road. OF COURSE. We couldn't of ran out of gas in a worse spot. It was a really busy road, and a complete blind spot right as you turn a corner. Mom tells me to get out of the car right away, so that if we got hit- we wouldn't be stuck in the car. So- there we were, standing on the side walk, with my car out of gas with the flashers on. I was counting how many times cars had to cut each other off and almost nail my car, to get out of the way of it. We call dad (back at my house) and no answer. I called Cam's family.. no answer. LUCKILY dad called us back a few minutes later, and told us he'd come rescue us. At this point, I was hoping we'd still make it to the inspector by 5.

Dad pulls up behind our car, dodging all of the crazy traffic of course, with a police man pulling up right behind him. 2 things were going through my mind at this point. One, someone must've called the police saying there's 2 helpless women on the side of the road in need of some sort of help. Two, my car is NOT registered NOR inspected yet. Hm.. what is going to happen in all of this? Dad gets out as well as the cop, saying he saw that we are in such a dangerous spot, and wanted to help us. Luckily he was very nice and helpful. After moments of talking through options of getting the gas to us, while I'm trying to stand in front of my license plate to block the officer's view of my expired registration, my dad drove off to the gas station and filled my empty gas tank I had in my trunk (Yes, I have been in this situation before.) So, I figure I'd just leave my trunk open so the (now 2) officers won't see my plates. After the 2nd officer pulls up- mom and I are laughing because it looks like a drug bust- and the cops are having to literally stand in the road to direct traffic not to hit our car.

Mom was taking "discrete" photos of me with the cops.

Leaving my trunk up for 20 minutes ha.



After about 40 minutes of being there- I looked to mom and said, "I don't think we're going to make it to the inspector today."

I'm an Idiot.

I was so thankful to have my parents there with me. I know my dad just wanted to lecture me and get upset (because let's be honest, I should know by now to always keep gas in my tank) but he was so sweet and helpful.

When dad came back with the gas, him and the officer put it in my car.. and we thanked them as I discretely closed my trunk and got in my car and was on my way. Phew. That was a close one. I dodged several bullets in that unpleasant situation. Don't worry, I learned my lesson- OK, OK, LESSONS. Thankfully, I made it to the gas station and filled up.

RULE #1- Don't run your gas to the very LAST TEENY EENCY LITTLE DRIP.

Despite that unfortunate mishap, we had a wonderful time with my parents here. Cam got a new gun recently, as well as my dad. My dad brought them from Utah- so we all decided to go shooting at the range, and try them out! It was a lot of fun. I've been to the range a couple of times with Cam, and love it! I'm glad I'm learning how to handle and shoot a gun- I just hope I won't have to ever use it.


At the shooting range


Mom and Dad and I went to the Safari Park in San Diego. It was really quite cool! We rode a caravan ride through all the animals and they would all come up to us and want to eat us basically. It was really fun, a lot different than a regular Zoo. We kept saying how much the kiddies would LOVE this! Hopefully we can take them one day too.

We got to watch a cheetah run at full speed. Pretty amazing.





They were all up on me!


They're weird and have slimy long black tongues!
Cute little Gorilla! Kinda freaky how it looked like a human baby with lots of hair.


TRULY TREMORS IN REAL LIFE. yikes.
He was a massive silver back


The inside of Rhinos mouths are absolutely repulsive.

Well, it was a great week with them. We love visitors- so don't hesitate! I hope I didn't bore you guys too much. Thanks for listening :)

MRS HARRIS- OUT.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

{A Magical Christmas}

Is there a better way to spend our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. then in NYC the week before the holidays, followed by an AMAZING week spent at home in Utah with my incredible family and friends? I think not. Nope. Heck no. Negativo.

It was such a great opportunity for Cam and I to be able to meet my parents out in NYC to watch them appear on the Today Show, for 4Life's wonderful donation to Toys-for-Tots. Cam and I were able to head out there a few days earlier than them, and enjoy the beautiful city that never sleeps! We had so much fun, and honestly.. we could easily move there! If.. we had the money, and a reason.. I guess those are 2 pretty important factors! It's just such a different, amazing feeling being in that city- like no other city. We were on our feet all day everyday, trying not to let a minute go to waste while we were there! We explored the island of Manhattan from uptown to downtown.

We saw Wicked on Broadway, as well as Phantom of the Opera. They were both absolutely incredible! I think our favorite was going to the Radio City Rockettes show, with my parents. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, on the verge of tears! I hope one day our whole family will be able to go back and see that amazing show- the kids would absolutely LOVE it! We had the opportunity to go onto the set of the Today Show, and meet Kathie Lee and Hoda, as my parents appeared on the show. My parents did an exceptional job on the show, I was so proud! It was so fun watching the whole thing behind the scenes! It's crazy how the set is SO much smaller than it looks on TV. What an amazing trip that will forever be cherished!



Cam posing for all to see :)






It had officially been 3 months (yeah well- it seems like a long time to me) since I had been home in Utah- and let's just say it felt SO good to see all of my family! I went a week earlier than Cam, so he could finish working for the week- and I could spend more time with the fam. It was so great to see the little kiddies, and my family and friends. What a wonderful Christmas- spent up at the cabin. Who would've thought Santa would even come THERE?! He sure did.. pulled up on a snowmobile! Dang straight, we don't mess around! I miss mom's Italian sodas, and Tanya and Jon's music, and chaos with so many people and kids, and riding the snowmobiles through those beautiful aspens, and riding in the toboggan, and having precious Norah following me around, and seeing the kids priceless faces as Santa came in, and sledding for hours at a time, making human trains! YOU know WHO you ARE!
                                              


                                             

                                                





 Nev made for such a beautiful baby Jesus!


 Cam couldn't get over how awesome Norah looked in her snow suit!
 Tis the season!



 Nothing like mom and dad tipping the snowmobile with all of us in the toboggan! haha awesome.
 Norah was outside for hours throwing snow for Dolce.
 We tried our big long train... sometimes we failed, ha!

 Best part is.. we ALL made it safely and in one piece down the hill this time!


We missed Cam's family during Christmas too! I just wish we could all live in the same place, and everyone could be 5 minutes from each other! We feel so blessed to have such incredible, fun, adventurous, nerdy, amazing people in our lives. Let's be honest- we have the best families IN the world! Cam and I wish all the blessings in the world and beyond- to you and your families this new year!