Trips home fall/winter 23

7-8 sept. Storytelling festival was lovely again this year. I didn’t go as much as I usually would since it was hard to pull away from family when I hardly see them.
But I did spend Friday day there. And took Milo, Max and Mason sage on Thursday night to give Allie and Mike an evening.
9 sept Went to the farmers market on Saturday morning with Gary’s fam. This gluten free stuff is amazing!
11 sept Went to Clue at Hale Center Theater in Orem.
15 Sept I presented a workshop on the parasitoid unit at the Utah science teacher conference. I extended my trip so that I could be in Utah for this. Flew out right after it.
29 sept. Drove home early so that I could spend Friday at the cabin with ada for her birthday
Beautiful weekend! A bit chilly which was lovely after the swelter of Florida.
I had to spend most of Saturday at my uncle Ron’s funeral. Gary and I visited our dad’s grave while we were nearby. The day brought back lots of sad for my dad too. My poor cousins and sweet aunt Mary.
Robyn made ada a beautiful cake 😊
My Krispy Kreme cake was relegated to Sunday and rechristened as a Happy Inagural Playing of Taylor Swift Dalmuti
5 Oct Had a lovely few days at home and then I drove back. Stopped at the Cedar City temple to do baptisms.
And in Leeds to get my sweet cousin Tiff. We had lunch at chilis, went through the St George temple open house, and had delicious custard at Nielsen’s. She’s really struggling. I know so much how that feels. Losing your dad sucks. At least we know that we will see them again. It could totally be worse.
Quick trip home after Florida for Alex’s birthday. Went to village inn and had carrot cake.
Happy 28th Alex! If you use your imagination this is 28 spelled out. 😊
Home for Thanksgiving. Ahhh.
Just did the fun parts of this puzzle 😊

Anaheim Haps Fall 2023

1 Sept. Halloween season starts. Under the Bradbury Halloween tree

Tiana’s Palace opened up!
Cutest decor
Cute touches like little frogs…
…and her dad’s gumbo pot
And the food is amazing!
Lemon beignets 💚
18 September. Worked an Oogie Boogie treat trail. So fun!
20 September. Saw Aladdin at the Pantages. Great fun!
6 October. Working fantasyland GC
After work, hit Carnation Cafe to try the new fish, orange cream soda,
And the most incredible peach pie I have ever tasted!!!
Fireworks were a blast!
8-12 October. Pneumonia. Still. Stayed in my room for days. Built 6 puzzles.
12 October. Finally broke out and had dinner at the park. Hungry bear. Red pepper cheese fries, huckleberry lemonade, and pumpkin churro funnel cake. Delish
13 Oct My boats homies! Victoria, Serena, Chris, and Matthew. We did a boats retraining and then just sat and goofed off together for the remaining time. So fun!
14 Oct Ahhh Steve came to see me. I love that so much. We went to the air museum at the Santa Ana airport where Steve geeked out over the WWII planes. We also went to an art museum and to lunch before our hotel room was ready to check into.
On Sunday night we went out to the beach.
Had dinner with the Freelands and uncle Dave.
Monday oct 16, 2023. Disney’s 100th anniversary!
Got in one of the group photos!
Built puzzles. Just missed being able to participate in the speed puzzling competition because of my Main Street shift. 😥 Next time!
Dunk tanks. Free snacks and popcorn. Free screenings of a special 100 short.
Plus a free lithograph with a letter from the president of the parks
When I got back to my place, my special anniversary delivery was there. Special name tag, thank you letter from Bob Iger…
…and a lithograph showing the characters from all the features of the past 100 years. In the short “Once Upon A Studio” the characters “posed” for this “photo”. So cute.
After work, I drove out to the beach. We had fun with glow sticks…
…and cake for Asher’s birthday!
17 Oct Went to Disney on Tuesday. I got a reservation starting at DCA so they got 3 free tickets and we got to visit both parks. Started at guardians.
Jonah didn’t want to do Incredicoaster so we went to bing bong’s for a battery swap and a rainbow unicorn slushee for him. Grabbed a couple of jack jack num nums too 😊
Did Grizzly rapids. Took a BEFORE
And a wetter AFTER
We have a good one of Eileen
Or a good one of Jonah 😊
And one of all of us!
Hit guardians one more time before going over to Disneyland
Matterhorn!
Blue bayou for lunch. The special Halloween chocolate mousse was the highlight for me.
Had a wonderful time. Made it until 10:30 pm. Wiped the boys out! 😊
26 Oct new plant based chorizo quesadilla, elote, and vanilla cinnamon coco cake
My first interviews for the facilitating role I desperately want went super well and I got accepted for the final interview next week!
28 Oct salted caramel apple macaron is incredible!
Yay! gold port frozen lemonade is back!
Love my scooter!
30 Oct got my 1-year pin!
Came with a card
Dinner at wine country
Incredible dessert!
31 Oct Halloween tree!
Gummi worm funnel cake fries. Not bad if you skip the worms 😊
Loved working treat trails!
Guests gave me treats!
And they had goodies backstage just for cast. 😊
Great boba drink
Apple pie croissant and the most amazing sour apple macaron

Disney World w Alex and Ada

22-26 sept 2023

I flew to Provo on Thursday night, then took an Uber very early Friday morning to Alex and Ada’s place. Alex drove us to the airport. We got to Orlando around 1, took a shuttle to Art of Animation where we stayed.
Cutest little suite!
This folds down into a bed
This folds out into a bed.
We went to Magic Kingdom about 4 for the Not So Scary Halloween party. Started at Tony’s with some incredibly good Italian food.
Fun photo op backgrounds. Can’t figure out why they are so obsessed with Mr Toad. They don’t even have the ride!
We did a little bit of trick or treating, rode lots of rides, watched the fireworks. Bought zombie fingers and didn’t even get them. Had fun but I definitely won’t pay for this again.
Saturday morning. Rough start at epcot…app glitchy so I spent 30 fruitless minutes trying to get lightning lanes (no ratatouille that day!), didn’t get the cosmic rewind virtual queue until 5 pm when we had already left Epcot, waited almost 30 minutes just to get on the skyliner, and couldn’t find any good food until 11 am so we spent a hot, humid, and hangry morning.
We enjoyed lots of good eats at the Food and Wine festival. The kids drank some alcohol which was a new experience for me haha
After our hotel swim and rest we hit Hollywood studios (tower of terror, rockin roller coaster, slinky dog dash, and fantasmic.
I cried a little bit because I miss ours so much!
Such a cute hotel.
On Sunday, we switched to Epcot since we missed guardians. Started at test track where we designed our flower power tank, Hilda. 😊
They loved Cosmic Rewind!
After our rest we got on the bus to Magic Kingdom. Halfway there I realized that they had closed early for the Halloween party. Ugh. So we got on the monorail and headed to Epcot. Went on spaceship earth. Hunted for a place to eat which took quite a long time. Finally landed at Via Napoli and man were we glad. The food was delicious. Best cheesecake I think I have ever eaten.
And EPCOT forever was definitely worth a third trip back to that park.
Started at Animal Kingdom on Monday morning
Everest

Fun broadway posters Bugs Life style in the queue of Its tough to be a bug
Took Alex and ada back to Art of Animation for their shuttle and then checked in to the Pop Century where I stayed Monday night
The staff did Thriller in the lobby! 😊
Finally got the storm we were supposed to get all weekend!
Watched some of the fireworks from on Big Thunder
And the rest from the edge of the river
Ooey gooey Toffee cake at liberty tree tavern. Dang son!
She’s starting! 😊
Got a nice early start on Tuesday morning
Sat for 20 minutes waiting for rope drop at Epcot
Rode this one first. Got on at 8:45
Found a Remy!
Frozen next. That one was 40 minutes (didn’t quite miss the first of the non-hotel guest crowd)
Berry spicy shrimp and yummy cake
Best fish and chips
Eclair and another baguette. Mmmmm
Lemon cheesecake

Peri-peri shrimp
Frozen apple pie

Oogie boogie cast preview

3 September. Mckensie and I went to the special cast preview. Rode guardians monsters after dark after dark

Mater!!!
Did all the treat trails
Madame Mim was hilarious
Sid got to be snotty and sarcastic
The Headless Horseman leads the parade
The haunted mansion float was my favorite part
The villains grove. Best part of the night
Mother Gothel was great
The new bridge is awesome!
Cruella
I think real costumes from the movie
Hocus pocus
Agatha
Judge Doom did a pretty passable Christopher Lloyd
I love how carthay circle looks at Halloween 💚

Danish Days 2023

Fiske fillet. Get this again 😊
Folk band on a wagon
Cooking the ebelshivers
Eating the ebelshivers. My part is more fun haha
So much Lego!
Danish folk dancers
Hans Christian Andersen storyteller
Who also does paper cutting
Danish homies
Amazing organ concert at the Lutheran church
The organist lives in Provo Utah!
I thought about my dad a lot during this festival. He would have loved it!
Elverhoj museum
Same guy taught a paper cutting class. Fun!!’
Figure out how to do these 😊
And these 😁
Gaviota State Beach
Camped there on Saturday night
Hung out for the sunset
Drove home the next morning early so that I could make it to church and the oogie boogie treat trail I picked up

CA road trip August 23

28-31 August 2023

Red Rock Canyon State Park
Desolate, HOT, and closed for the month of August. 🙁
Cesar Chavez National historic park. Learned so much!
The grounds are so beautiful!
Sequoia national Park
Kings Canyon
The moon was so full and beautiful!
Fresno California temple
Camped at millerton lake state park
Yosemite National Park – Mariposa Grove
The most rate sight in the park – no one standing in this tree 😊
Some stunning artwork in the visitor center
The Valley
Found a lovely spot near the river
And a
Found a beautiful little short hike up the Cascades

Chilled there for a while
McConnell State Recreation Area
Went to the open house of the new temple in Feather River
Stopped at the famous Vic’s soda shoppe
And caught the Jelly Belly Factory just as they closed
Did baptisms at the Oakland temple. Used my digital recommend and was the first one ever there. I was a rockstar! I guess my temple district is the only one in the US piloting the program
Walked through the rooftop garden afterward
Drove up Mount Diablo
And camped there. I saw a tarantula on the road on the way up so I didn’t the whole night having nightmares that tarantulas had gotten into my car hags
The moon. Incredible that night.
Did not die by tarantula 😊
The view by day
Henry W Coe state park
Went on a short hike
Made even shorter by these in the path
And this alarming shirt in the visitor center. Shudder
San Juan Bautista state park
So many buggies!
Fish and chips and then Book of Will in Solvang. Drove home that night instead of going further up the coast. I picked up a shift for the next night.

Steve’s visit August 23

23-27 Aug 2023

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel. Spent a little time at the pool.
This was supposed to be me being envious of Steve’s cool pool wristband and him of my bring in the pool. Haha. But he really wasn’t because it had tons of kids in it and wasn’t that clean…
The room was really nice though!
Mickey faucets
We went to Trader Sams tiki bar for lunch. The food was incredible!
The decor and effects were fun too!
We stayed in the adventure tower which had fun floor tiles.
Fun surprise when I went to turn on my bedside lamp! 😊
Goofy’s Kitchen for dinner.
Food was not amazing but the experience was really fun!
Spent Thursday at Disneyland! Steve’s first time on the Columbia.
He was geeking out a bit after reading a whole series of books about sailing.
Love this shot taken with star tours glasses on
McKenzie joined us for some of the day and that was awesome!
Tea cups at night. Big fan!
Spent Friday at Knotts berry farm.
Lots of coasters. Although three big ones were down that day, so our expensive fast lane tickets were not as useful as we thought they would be.
It’s not very well run and the food lines were long. But we had a good time.
Lagoon with snoopy basically. 😊

So Steve’s flight was supposed to leave at 2 pm ish on Saturday. That morning we got notified that the flight was “delayed” until Sunday. So we made arrangements for him to stay with me that night (we had to check out of the hotel) then we got several weird emails including a couple that didn’t even have dates or times listed.

Then we got this one. Note the time they sent it. So he actually missed his flight because of this! He got a flight home for Sunday (much more expensive!)
They did give everyone who chose to go this route a weird credit card thingy which looked like a scam but actually worked.
So we got to dined time at the beach 😊
And went to a very weird Thai place with deceptively good food. 😊

CA Road Trip July 23 Part 2

Point Reyes National seashore and lighthouse
Muir Woods National Monument
This place is gorgeous. Whenever I was able to dodge the people, it was very peaceful
I hate this. Even though I know it’s not a giant spider
Stayed at the Hilton on San Francisco
Great view from my balcony
Saturday. Fortune cookie factory
Went on a walking tour of the city starting with tai chi in Washington square
Saints Peter and Paul church
Found a little farmers market with these delicious donuts
Breakfast taco from LoJos food truck
San Francisco national Maritime Park
A guy went across the Atlantic in this!
Now THAT’S a paddle wheel!
Channeling my inner Columbia sailor
Dang. Anchor.
At the helm
The Golden Gate was never visible 😥
Fish and chips at the wharf. My fav.
Ghirardelli campus
Went to the Presidio and the Disney family Museum
Cats and dogs exhibit had some really cool art
The famous Oscar for snow while and the 7 dwarves
This place was all amazing but I think I spent like 20 minutes just staring at this thing 😊
A little more visible…
Started heading down the coast. First stop, Montara State Beach
Sunset State Beach
Moss Landing State Beach
Sea Otter Refuge viewpoint
Went here but they were closed. Sad face.
Did walking tour of Monterey State Historic Park
Went to church in Monterey 😊
Point Pinos lighthouse
Micah and I met at the Monterrey bay aquarium.
Love the jellies!
Spent a long time with the water birds

CA Road Trip July 23

12-16 July

I bought a new car. 2023 Toyota RAV4 hybrid.
I flew to San Jose, took an Uber to Fremont, and drive my car off the lot there. They would have charged me $700 to ship it to Anaheim.

I love this color! Cornflower. My favorite color or crayon
Portals Redwoods State Park
Castle Rock State Park
Here’s the “waterfall”!
Peruvian restaurant in Saratoga
Yum!
Camped at Caswell Memorial State Park
Thursday. Couldn’t swim in the lake. Alas.
The view from the Oakland temple
Coolest two-toned flower
John Muir National Historic Site
Just caught the jelly belly factory with like 5 minutes left until close haha
Ate at Gotts, a great burger and shake place
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park
Camped at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park
The place had so many wild turkeys!
Friday
My cell phone fell in this pool.
It was deep enough to require me to completely soak myself to retrieve it!
Trione-Annadel State Park
Sonoma Coast Stare Park
Tomales Bay State Park

Anaheim Haps 2023 Part 3

D’Aang
Enters the duck races! 7 July
Cute Mickey swag
So many cute entries!
All lined up!
I ran into my friends Serena and Sabrina there 😊
Had some Krispy Kreme!
They had some fantasyland rides open early for cast so we rode tea cups and…
Snow White, and
Peter Pan!
Missed the presentation of the awards. Bummer.
D’Aang didn’t win but at least he didn’t get lost in the bowels of small world either so I will take the small victory 😊
Their cute twinner pirate ducks didn’t win either 🙁
But they did have a great tone together on the tea cups. 😊
Mailed cards to my nieces and nephews with birthdays
We went over to DCA and rode guardians at rope drop
I stayed on and rode more things and got a sorcerer Mickey shake. Mmm
Drew Bruno
Added to my ticket strip!
9 July drew Simba
Here’s what he’s supposed to look like 😊
9 July. Went to the info session for the guest talent assistant role at the imagination campus (my dream job!)
17 July…Disneyland’s 68th birthday!
Rope drop!
Awesome perk…get to watch fireworks from the deck of the Mark Twain after she has closed down for the day
18 July watched the canoe races! Free breakfast
Hey I’m a cast mariner!
Haunted mansion was open just for cast members!
They let us go back up the elevator!
My husband bought me the greatest Christmas present to go with my twa
20 July Spent the morning with Alyssa, James, and Aiden
27 July New San fransokyo food! Yum
1 august I didn’t get my dream job. Cried like crazy the night I got the email. The next day I got up very early to do a cast-only painting event.
5 am is a peaceful time to be at the park
They gave us these cute mouse ears
Didn’t get to keep the apron unfortunately. Wow my face is still blotchy from all the crying 🙁
I have only oil painted once ever and that was in 6th grade so this was a challenge.
We just copied what the artist did
Not too shabby for someone with my colossal inexperience. At least it’s recognizably Mickey 😊
Got a picture with the artist
Ran into my friend autumn who I hadn’t seen more like 6 months. And her mom who works at clothiers.
April-December churro. Half with fresh and half with freeze dried. Haha
I work at the prettiest place!
Tiana’s Palace is shaping up
Watched the fireworks from the train
The dress madame leota wore in the haunted mansion movie
2 August It’s getting there!
Tea cups look good on me 😊
3 august. Service project beautifying a park in Anaheim
We planted and mulched
Note to self: Look up this organization for more service opportunities
My gloves attracted all the things
Yay! Finally made it out to the imagineering campus! Mickeys of Glendale was awesome!
Also went out to the Studios
On site theatre
Animation building
Delicious food at the cafe
Red center cake to die for!
Super cool studio store!
Stained glass windows on the parking structure
Love these!
Walt and Mickey
Roy and Minnie!
Studio building with the 7 dwarves as pillars
My hand is bigger than the piano man himself!
8 august Got a great score on webslingers!
Remy. Mostly
17 Aug I got hit by a car while on my scooter
That’s where it swiped my left leg. Luckily it wasn’t going very fast, just pulling out of a driveway.
Bruised my ankle
I fell into the road and scraped myself up good. But the oncoming traffic stopped. And even though I hit my head my helmet protected me.
This was on my phone in my pants pocket
19 Aug All in all, not bad. No lasting damage. Very blessed. Got right back on!
20 Aug CHOC walk
In the early morning
5K walk through Disneyland for a local children’s hospital
Had to raise $150 to participate. Disney matched my $80 😊
Characters to pose with
Started in Disneyland
And then went over to DCA
This was during the hurricane so we got very wet
A good time had by all!
Fun new dowdle Disney puzzles!