Wicked!

Amazing. Absolutely Amazing. If you have the opportunity to see it, I highly highly recommend it (I hear it's coming to SL, albeit rather pricey). I'm really glad that Dan and I had the opportunity to see this.
Today was a perfect day for me. Dan and I were able to sleep into today and the nice thing was that even though we had an agenda (shocking, I know) we weren't in any hurry. So we got ready to go to the Temple, but I made Dan stop off at Redondo Beach first so I could take pictures. He was good enough to oblige me :) The Temple was amazing. I couldn't believe how big it was. There were only 20 people in our session, so maybe it seemed bigger than it was, but the rooms were huge. I felt so much peace and happiness and contentment there. Most of the time I'm feeling very rushed when we go. Rushed to get back to the kids, rushed to do whatever I feel like I have to do next, etc. Today, no rushing, and it was amazing the difference. And we also ate in the Temple cafeteria (which I have never done before). Actually, this turned out to be our "fanciest" meal. Which isn't saying much, but it wasn't fast food. I then made (yes, this was my vacation, apparently not Dan's) Dan take me to the beach to go play...or lay in the sand and read. We stayed at the Santa Montica Beach for a hour or so then found our new hotel (a long way away...especially in rush hour traffic) and got ready to go to Wicked. I find it very ironic that the nicest hotel we've stayed at has been our cheapest hotel. So even though the hotels weren't thought out well, at least the crappiest hotel was first, and we ended with the nicest.
It was a great vacation, and I'm glad that we were able to do it.
Oh, and for everyone who heard about the earthquake...you know more about it than we do. We didn't feel anything although supposedly we were in the area and it was felt over in Nevada as well. I'm thankful. Not that it happened and that people in Nevada felt it, but that I didn't feel it (that would have been scary) and that we are safe.

It's happened at Last!

Dan and I are actually on vacation! Dan got two weeks of vacation and we took them to go to his family reunion in Logan, Ut; my family reunion in Gooding, Id (random, I know, I have no family in Gooding, but hey it was a cute little town!); and then we drove to Aurora to drop the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. Then we took off to California! Just the two of us and just for a couple days. I'll admit that I'm really surprised at how much I miss my kids. I was thinking that for a week I would be good, and any longer I would miss much. While I'm sure the "missing much" would occur, I already miss them and look forward to talking to them both on the phone every day. Even if talking to Caden is quite the challenge because he can't talk but he won't give the phone up once he has it. I cried when we left them (it was rather abrupt...we drove up, unpacked the kids stuff, hopped in the car and drove away) and I am constantly thinking about what things would be like if they were here with us, and what things they would like, and what they wouldn't like. It's good to know my "motherly" instincts aren't totally none existant.
I would just like to recommend to anyone thinking of vacationing in Los Angeles to avoid actually staying in Hollywood. It's kind of ghetto and scary, and they hotel that we got was not a very good one at all...no shampoo, no pad of paper or pen, no alarm clock, and a used condom in the hall (ya, that was gross). However, it was really close to everything that I guess you do while in Hollywood and Dan and I had a great time. We didn't get there until late afternoon, and it took us forever to decided which hotel we should stay at. We walked up and down Hollywood Blvd trying to decide what to do. Do we go to this museum? Do we go to that one? How much is that? Oh, that one was cheaper. But I'm hungry so let's find something to eat. Do we go to this place, or that place? Anyway, let's just say Dan and I are not good at making decisions and we walked a lot. Not covering any great distance, but a lot of back and forth. We ended up eating at Johnny Rockets (a burger place based on the 50's...too cute) saw a lot of famous peoples names on stars, went to the Hollywood Wax Museum (I'd love to post pictures, but didn't bring my cable to connect to my camera...sigh) and the Guinness World of Records Museum. We bought cheap t-shirts for kid gifts and headed back to the hotel. Then we spent the next couple hours trying to find hotels for the rest of our stay. Sometimes there is just too much information out there and since Dan and I have already proved we don't do well making decisions that made for a long night.
Today we tried to sleep in but unfortunately both of us woke up earlier than I would have liked and just got ready to leave. We'll be back in Hollywood tomorrow to see Wicked, but we aren't staying there and I was definitely ready for something else. We headed over to Santa Montica and this I would recommend to people. It's just a better area and nicer all around. We went to the beach and walked up and down the pier. Then we decided that we needed books to read on the beach and just relax so we walked some more...a lot. Besides the fact that I am now the world's slowest walker because this little guy in my stomache doesn't seem to like it much and I cramp like the dickens, it was tons of fun and Dan was very patient with me. We found our books and decided to go to a movie since you can't really do that with the kids. We went to the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" and well, it was dark. Dan enjoyed it, but I can't say I saw much of the movie. My head was down for most of it. Too violent for my taste. However, it was good to go to a movie with Dan, and I kind of feel like that was the first thing we've done that Dan has really wanted to do. Isn't he the greatest? He's trying to make me very happy by doing whatever I want to do. After that we decided to check into our new hotel and check out the Redondo Beach. So, we hopped in the car again and took off. Redondo Beach is really nice to. I think we are checking it out (meaning, playing on it) tomorrow.
So, we were looking for a place for dinner and finally after much indecision and driving up and down the street I said, "Let's go to Amiee's Bistro". I had no idea what a bistro was and Dan was getting hungry and frustrated so we stopped. Well, let's just say that we were very under-dressed and when Dan saw the menu and found out that everything was French he got very quiet and looked quiet uncomfortable. Apparently he doesn't do so well with goose liver (if I could spell the French name I would write it...it's foi gras or something like that). But he thought I would enjoy that place (which was way out of the budget as well...and had everything cooked in wine) so he sat quietly and tried to find something to eat. I finally suggested that we leave. I'm not so into French food either (must be my bland taste) and I really couldn't believe how uncomfortable Dan looked. It was really endearing actually. He was embarrassed to leave, but very glad to be out of there. Dan's more of a steak and potato's kind of guy, and I love him for it. Anyway, after that we found a laundromat and did some much needed laundry.
Didn't mean to bore everyone (assuming people still check my blog since I haven't written for two months) with a travel log, but I have to record this experience somewhere! :) Don't worry. There will be more later when I tell you all how amazing Wicked was and how the hotel tomorrow night is!