Labor Day Vacation

Before we had decided on the Army National Guard, we had already planned a trip to California for Labor Day weekend to visit Matt’s mom. It was perfect timing because Matt’s sister, Julie, and her two adorable boys(who live in Austin,Tx now) were visiting at the same time! So we were able to spend lots of time with them!

We arrived late Thursday night after a 9.5 hour drive. Friday we went to the Westfield Mall and walked around a little bit. We found adorable camo pants at Carter’s for Will, and with Matt being in the National Guard, we had to buy them of course! Pictures to come! Saturday we went to the neighborhood pool and had tons of fun! Will is such a water baby, he always gives the biggest smiles when we are in the pool! Then we went to lunch at La Cocina-YUMMY Mexican food. After we got home from lunch, we relaxed for a little bit before getting ready for a surprise date night! Matt will be at Basic Training for the Army on my birthday (and our anniversary, thanksgiving, AND his birthday) so he planned a surprise date night for us to celebrate early. I had no idea what was planned! All I knew was he had me buy a new dress & shoes (I didn’t complain!) and I knew to be ready at 4:30. So we got all dressed up and ready to go. First we went to a little park and took a couple pictures, then we headed to Miceli’s Pizzeria. SO YUM! It was such a cute little place and they had a pianist playing and occasionally different waiters/waitresses would pick up a microphone and sing! AND the food was delicious. We will definitely have to go back!! Afterwards, we drove over to Universal Studios CityWalk and walked around the different little shops there. After a little while we decided we wanted to end the night with dessert, so we headed to BJ’s for a Pazooki J Hit the spot right on! It was such a fun night. I just love the time I get to spend with my sweet husband, & I’m not taking for granted the time I have left with him before he leaves for 17 weeks!!

Sunday we had a lazy morning, with church at 1. After Sacrament meeting we took some pictures of the boys (Graham, Will, &Owen) then headed home. Matt I made our new favorite soup- Tortellini soup- for dinner & everyone loved it! After dinner we wanted to keep up our Sunday family drive tradition, so we drove up to the Griffith Observatory. WELL we didn’t get the memo that EVERYONE ( I mean EVERYONE) was going to be there that night. It was SO busy! When we finally got to the top (after 30 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic up the hill) they said there was no parking. SO we spent the next 20 minutes making our way back down, snapping some pictures of the sunset when we could. Although the night didn’t go as we had planned, we were still spending time together, which is what matters most.

Today, Monday, we had another lazy morning. It was our last day in California so we wanted to spend most of our time with Matt’s mom. We headed to Hallmark at the mall to find a recordable book that Matt could record a story for Will (and ME!) to listen to while he’s gone. We ended up choosing “Guess How Much I Love You” by Sam McBratney. I’ll probably cry every time we read it! After Hallmark we went to H&M and JCPenney, and got a couple things at both places. We had Corner Bakery for lunch, then headed to the grocery store before heading home. When we got home Matt & I made these yummy pumpkin no-bake cookies! Very yum!! We had hamburgers & hotdogs for dinner, and after dinner we went on a little walk.

And that concludes our California Labor Day trip! Will and I will be back to California on September 12^th(ish) to spend a couple weeks with Matt’s mom after Matt leaves to basic training the 8th.

Here are TONS of pictures from our trip!