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!

Beach/Solvang road trip June 2023

21-23 June 2023. Took a short road trip up the coast. Slept in my car as usual.

First stop. Los Angeles temple.
Leo Carrillo beach. Stayed at the campground. No cell reception
Point mugu state beach
El Capitan state beach
Refugio state beach
Solvang!! Mango macaron ice cream sandwich was yummy but expensive
Lunch at Solvang restaurant was delightful
Grilled fish
Aebelshivers! Mmmmm
Hans Christian Andersen museum…small but interesting
The peanut butter ones are the best!
Super cool museum!
The best bread on the planet 💚
Beautiful Lutheran church
The Christus!
Visited the cemetery. Really neat way they compartmentalize the grave sites
One of the founders of Solvang
Had a delicious dinner at an Irish pub
Then saw Emma at the Solvang theatre. No one clapped between scenes. It was super weird
Camped at Cachuma Lake
Unfortunately no swimming allowed 🙁
Drove way out to Chumash painted cave
Stopped in Santa Barbara to see the Presidio there and then had lunch at La Playa Azul
Carpenteria State beach
Emma Wood State beach
Sad face
San Buenaventura state beach

Gary and Jason Visit

26-29 May 2023

Did Disneyland for 3 days
Then on Memorialc Day we went to universal. Super Nintendo works was really cute and fun!
Love the entrance!
We got interactive bands to collect things and play mini games.
Fun queue!
The Mario cart ride was a blast! Gary’s band didn’t work right so we got to go a second time!
When you played all three mini games then you got to do this game. So much fun!
Cutest food at the toadstool cafe! The drink especially was amazing. Little gummy stars made it surprisingly compelling.
The Good Place set on the backlot tour

Trips home spring/summer 23

May 2023

Ethan graduated from Polaris high school. So proud of him!
Weston graduated from Provo high that same night but I didn’t get to go to that. We had a party for both of them at Gary’s clubhouse so I at least got to wish him well.
Got to to see my sweet sis for a little scone.
Took some photos of Weston for his graduation announcement on an earlier trip
Cool light saber hilt that he built

I got to do baptisms at the Provo temple. This was an extremely tough time for the family so it was wonderful to get some peace.

2-14 June Drove home this time so that I could bring Ace. He won’t pass the smog check in Cali so he’s going to live out his days in Utah where he passed inspection. What a car! 405000 miles and counting!

Visited the California Citrus state park on the way.
Beautiful! And smells so good!
Redlands temple
Fun little Route 66 museum. Dave would love it!
Pretty proud of this shot 😊
8 June 2023 Went to the Saratoga Springs temple open house with Gary Kaylie and Em
Had a very spiritual experience in the celestial room. Been struggling with family things
These guys were so helpful too. Had a great conversation afterward in the parking lot. So blessed to have good family!
Went to dinner with Tam, Mark, Alex and Noelle. Had a great time!
Finished a fun national park puzzle
10 June Steve cut down the dead cherry tree in the backyard
10 June summerfest parade
14 June. Got a new tortilla pan that automatically flips
28 June Baptisms at the Payson temple
28-30 June Yay! Camping at Palisade Lake! The first night with Jul, Spencer, and Weston.
The next day Gary’s fam came down and we rented a paddle boat,
Stand up paddle boards,
and a canoe. Tam, Mark, Whit, and Andre came for the afternoon!
At about 4 the wind started up in earnest so we had to get off the lake. We played Phase 10 while holding our cards down.
Jul had personal ice cream makings for dessert.
So beautiful at sunset!
This is the best campsite in the place! #27. Right on the lake. You have to just request it day of.
Ice cream, cobbler, and roasted marshmallows

30 June-2 July Went to the cabin. Found a great spot by the stream! 😊
Hanging at HQ on the 4th
Fireworks!
21 June Baptisms at the Provo City Center temple
22 June Naylor Family Reunion. Went simpler this year since it was my turn and I didn’t have the bandwidth to make it a big production number.
Tallying the guessing jar guesses. Huge Naylor family tradition so we kept that one.
Max loved his birthday present…sorcerer Mickey pin
Guessing jar winners!
We had a great turnout!
Cousins!
Atwoods!
Ada and I were the only ones from our family there.
Four of the Original Seven
Later that day, hung out at the cabin. Mars even came! And created a Jenga variation that was really fun

24 July. Got to see my old besties Becky and April at lunch. Miss them!
Ada Alex and I drove down to cedar city to see 4 shows at the Shakespeare festival. The Play that goes wrong, Romeo and Juliet, Emma, and midsummer nights dream.
26 July ada Alex and I visited the natural history museum
Spent time trying to build an earthquake-safe building
10 August pool party at jul’s. It was so fun swimming with ada and mars again.
We pulled the Pool Bus truck out again 😊
And all of my nieces and nephews too!
Dave came out for the week. It was great to see him! Susan came too!
Dave sent a photo from his visit with Mary and Ron
11-13 august Weekend at the cabin! We did a big Spanish meal. 😊
Steve’s paella was beautiful.
16 August Dinner for Mark’s birthday. So fun!

Anaheim Haps 2023 Part 2

Finally got pictures of me on the Twain 🙂 4 April
On a trip home. The Lindon temple is taking shape
Touching my turtle necklace helps me feel close to Steve. Plus look at how blonde my hair looks!
22 April Murphy caught fire at a show and burned fully. RIP. But, gratefully, no one was hurt. My fan shift the next day was cancelled. We will see how long the show will have to be down

Here is the replacements to the snapped set of rails that I spent a few hours guarding while doing thunder GC
24 April. Did the Disney 100 tour. We got a cool pin!
And a brownie that looks amazing but was honestly a bit dry haha
And front row seats for the parade.
The statue of Walt and Mickey has some hidden stuff. His shoe says Marceline, his hometown in Missouri.
The suitcases say “Kansas City” his departure point, “Chicago” where he was born, “Alice comedies” his first cartoons as Walt Disney Animation
“Laugh-o-grams“ his first studio
“Kansas City” his departure town and “Los Angeles” his destination. He drew Mickey Mouse on this train journey
On the wall at Luigi’s. So funny!
25 April. Last day of the food and wine festival. I ordered 4 berry cheesecakes to take home 😊
Jazz kitchen delivers every time
The lemon pie in a jar is to die for
26 April. Lamplight donuts are the best!
I sat next to and talked to a cast member who worked there and he let us tour “The Office”
The door opening is super cool. I actually used my ID and it worked! Haha
And I got to watch World of Color from the restaurant. Love that!
My favorite space mountain. I rode it dozens of times during May 💚
Beautiful decorations for the 100th anniversary
5 May. Knotts berry farm for the boysenberry festival. Decent food and a few fun rides. Ghost rider is the best one!
Sending birthday cards from Disneyland is a great joy
6 May. Did the Walt tour. His apartment was so cool! The best part was sitting on the patio eating a lemon cookie and listening to the Disneyland band 😊
16 May apple crisp parfait…chinky crunchy sweet deliciousness
Strawberry shortcake at plaza inn. Dang!
18 May saw Six at the Pantages Theatre
Beautiful theatre. The show was great! Love the music. 💚
26 May. Goodbye to splash! Rode with two CMs from characters that I met in line.
Blurry photo but they have us a historic fast pass ticket. 💚
Turns out there are 6 rivers represented on the jungle cruise!
21 June 2023 International Yoga Day
Joined lots of other CMs doing yoga before sunrise
I was on Main Street not in front of the castle so I could hear but not see the action
I love being in the park early in the morning 😊
24 June Character breakfast!
Headed to DCA after that. Beautiful!
26 June New menu at the Jazz Kitchen! I don’t like it as much as the OG

Disney World in the Spring

17-21 April

Staying at Art of Animation. 50% off hotel is too good to pass up!

Little mermaid room is so cute!
Worst flight day! 90 minutes late taking off. Tiny plane that had everyone scrambling. No snacks or water on board. We had to land and refuel in Tulsa. Got to Orlando more than 3 hours late! I missed my cosmic rewind and doing reservations 😥

So I went to magic kingdom and rode big thunder twice then had pineapple upside cake with dole whip 🙂
Caught haunted mansion. Took this for my bro
Cutest tangled section of fantasyland on my way to Peter Pan and Mine Train 😊
Love the castle
And the murals inside
Started the day early on Tuesday. Took some beautiful shots on the way to the skyliner
Park hopping is really park slogging here but the skyliner at least doesn’t involve any lines. And the breeze is really nice
Staying at a resort hotel gives you early access. Usually they hold you at a rope until 30 minutes before but not at Hollywood studios apparently. Walked in at like 7:30 and directly onto Tower of Terror
Went again
And again
And again
And again
The coolest and creepiest time was when I actually had a whole elevator to myself
Creepy Caesar the marionette. Shiver.
Cast members started noticing that I kept going. Got my seventh ride free (the cast member just walked me up) and my 10th was a free lightning lane. My button here says 9 times but I kept going. Met TJ, the only original CM left.
Walt Disney Presents,,,cool museum, excellent movie at the end
Talked about parks around the world
Lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby
Got the fantasmic package…delicious swordfish,
a kiwi cooler,
…and the incomparable grapefruit cake!
Frozen singalong was a good time. The hosts were great. Very funny.
When I went back to the tower, TJ took me on a personal hotel lobby tour. He told me about all the antiques and some cool hidden things like this period magazine that actually had a reference to Disney!
Antique bone china, complete with painted on food stains and lipstick prints on the goblet…
…and the napkin. And people don’t even see this stuff!
Really old ivory Mah Jongg set
The chandeliers came from an old theatre in Seattle
TJ sent me on my 11th trip after the tour. When I got done, Kim took me directly up to the elevator twice. She suggested that 13 would be the appropriate number. She was correct. 😊
Updated button
Ate at the 50’s Prime Time Cafe. Tomato soup with croutons, fried herb and garlic cheese with raspberry sauce
The apple crisp was actually disappointing (apples not sweet enough and topping tough and crumbly – not enough butter). The chocolate peanut butter cake make up for it. Perfection
Went over to Epcot to ride cosmic rewind
So much fun topiary throughout the park
Brontë in guest relations at magic kingdom hooked me up with this since I missed my boarding group on Monday
Went back to HS for Fantasmic! It was so cool
Their steamboat isn’t nearly as cool haha
Early entry at magic kingdom. This is the line behind me for rope drop. I couldn’t even see the end. Crazy! only waited 20 minutes for mine train
Breakfast -Nutella and fruit waffle from sleepy hollow
Railroad baby!
Love me some Winnie the Pooh!
Lunch at Tony’s. Look at the cute silhouettes in the window 💚
The shrimp scampi was exceptional
Yay Tron!!!
Super cool and fun
I slept for a couple of hours. When I woke up I had the worst chills of my life and my back hurt. I had already been experiencing possible UTI symptoms so this seemed like an infection gone insane. The instacare sent a driver. I developed nausea in the van. Sure enough, upper UTI/kidney infection. They gave me antibiotics which I took and then slept a ton
Next day I still felt somewhat crummy. Slept more. Worked some. Felt a lot better by the afternoon
Headed to Epcot for a slow-paced afternoon with lots of water and bathroom breaks 😊
Dinner at Le Cellier was amazing! Swordfish and the most amazing bread
Maple crème brûlée. Dang.
Ratatouille is such a great ride
I love this venue with the trees growing right in the seating area. Instant shade!
Evolution Motown was phenomenal!
Delicious impossible dumplings
Eplekake from the Norway pavilion
Tempura shrimp. Love the festivals at Epcot!
Took the monorail over to magic kingdom for fireworks and a few rides
Epcot on Friday with my sweet Andre
And Whitley, Edgar, and his mother Blanca. Had a lovely time
We had a good time playing while the others ride cosmic rewind. I went by myself while they did turtle talk
Riding ratatouille. Except that it broke down while we were in line
The second time it broke down while we were on it 🙁
Ate lunch at Coral reef where we got to look at the aquarium animals while we ate them we did Nemo and visited the aquarium
Where we got swallowed whole 😊
Third time was the charm. Finally got to ride!
Whitley’s fav
Blanca’s and Andre’s fav
We had fish and chips and watched the fireworks from the England pavilion
Whit gave me a shirt. Had the greatest time!
So I just happened to be there on earth day and the 25th anniversary date of the park
Came in for early entry and went straight to avatar. What a great ride! Then enjoyed an apple pear lime slushy
The last time I was here the tree of life trail was closed so this was my first real look at it
It’s incredible! I love it so much!
Man I love this place!
Complete with waterfall
Yak and Yeti is the best restaurant here. The miso salmon and garlic noodles are out of this world!
Enter the frosting on top of the lunch cake…mango key lime cheesecake 😊
The safari was fun
Caught this on the way out! I love what the custodial staff does

Disney with Ada, Alex, and Robyn

14-15 April 2023 They drove down on Thursday night, stayed in cedar, and we spent from 3 on at the parks.

Ada’s first time down since I started working here! And only Robyn’s second time ever! We had a blast.

This was our first photo but it was too sunny. Ada and I are rockin serious squints haha
Love big thunder at night!
Ada with the spread about her favorite ride
Alex with his spirit hag?!?
I love taking people up into the wheelhouse!
Steamboat Willie loves company too
Robyn loved pixie hollow and meeting Tinker Bell
At the end of the second day…surprisingly they rallied and we did another hour! 😊