SoCal 2019 – Disneyland

Doing an unexpectedly big hike the day before tackling Disneyland with a 3-day park hopper pass might not be the best strategy. Nevertheless, we were up and ready early Monday morning.

We drove our car and did the $25 all-day valet parking at Tony Romas right by the park entrance. It was very convenient, and all the other parking is the same amount, so if you can’t take a free shuttle, I think that’s a pretty good way to do it.

Day 1: Disneyland

We got into the park and went right to Adventureland for a quick Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones ride, and then walked right onto Pirates of the Caribbean, and then a quick tour of the Haunted Mansion. By then the crowds had arrived and the wait times started to grow. So we stopped by the Mint Julep bar and got some Mickey-shaped Beignets.

If there was a theme for our Disneyland visit this year, it would be beignets. This was the first of many, many stops to procure these treats.

The other possible theme was MaxPasses. This upgrade was recommended by a few friends who had recently visited Disneyland. We became quick converts. We used the Disneyland app on our phones to purchase the ($15/person!) upgrade, but then we were able to book Fastpasses right from our phones. In addition to the FastPasses, it also allowed us to get pictures from all of the park photographers and the ones from the rides too.


Day 2: California Adventures

Tuesday the park opened a little later and closed a bit earlier, but we still put in a full day of fun.

We started off early doing the Incredi-Coaster, but that may not have been the best strategy, because it seemed to rattle Manina a little bit more than the rest of us. It didn’t stop the kids though. We rode a bunch of rides all morning long, and then finally got to sit down to watch the Frozen play, which was a nice diversion and place to rest our weary legs.

Nobody could beat me at the Toy Story Midway Mania game, no matter how they tried to arrange the seating to their advantage. It reminded me a lot of Jake trying in vain to beat me at the same game during our last trip.

That evening, we headed back into Disneyland. Drew got upset and ran away for a brief time, which caused some unnecessary commotion, but we got everyone together again. We enjoyed even more beignets and then capped the night off with a final Pirates of the Caribbean ride, where Megan got in trouble for trying to stand up in her boat. Rabble-rouser.

Day 3: The rain arrives

We were all pretty wiped out by Wednesday, but headed back into the park to hit the highlight rides again and to cross other things off our individual to-do lists. Claire got to try her “Grey Stuff” from the Red Rose Cafe, Katelyn got her popcorn, and I’m pretty sure we also ate more beignets.

We didn’t do the MaxPasses on Wednesday, and that worked out OK. We were all more than a little tired, and the rains kept the crowds away. Thankfully, we had found some ponchos and were able to brave the storm.

We were selective on our rides, and were absolutely tuckered out by about dinnertime. We put in about 10 miles of walking each day in the park, so no wonder we were all exhausted. We left around 6pm and eventually found a Chick-Fil-A to fill our bellies and reminisce on a great Disneyland visit.

But, we weren’t heading home yet. Next stop was San Diego.

SoCal 2019 – Hollywood

Our big Christmas gift to our kids this year was tickets to Disneyland. We had the opportunity to head down a little early to spend some extra time in Southern California before the main attraction.

To break up the drive, we decided to stay a night in St. George. We were looking for a hotel for the night but ended up booking someone’s fifth wheel from AirBnB. It was cheap and convenient, but some of the kids (mainly the teenagers) weren’t too happy with the accommodations.

We certainly missed having access to the friendly confines of Gary & Kathy’s place, and it was always fun to hang out with them for a couple days on these kinds of trips.

Church with Uncle Matt

We got to Anaheim on Saturday afternoon and did some shopping and got ourselves settled and prepared for Disneyland from Monday to Wednesday. But we needed some plans for Sunday.

Thankfully, Uncle Matt called and invited us to come down to Long Beach to go to his ward (Long Beach 10th). We got to sit with Matt and his cool missionaries who have been helping him out.

After church we went over to Matt’s house for some lunch. We hung out and chatted for a while and played with the dogs. Then the missionaries came over and so we enjoyed some pie and ice cream together.

Hiking Griffith Park

Despite the rain in the forecast, we decided to chance it and try to go for a hike. I had one planned close to Anaheim, but Manina suggested going to walk up to the Hollywood sign. We had time to kill on a Sunday afternoon, so why not?

Manina had done the hike before on a girls getaway weekend with some of her friends and told us it was a pretty easy hike along a paved trail, “you can practically drive right up to it,” she said.

So navigated us up through the traffic and crazy downpours, but the weather started to clear as we approached our destination. However, she kept saying that this wasn’t quite familiar as we followed her phone’s map directions to the parking lot.

We got out and walked up the trail a bit to see if we could jog her memory a bit. The rains had stopped, and the conditions seemed good, so why not walk around for a while. We were in a bit of a canyon with poor cell phone reception, but we eventually found a trail map.

We were not prepared for a big hike, but from where we had parked, we had almost 3 miles before we could get to the Hollywood sign. The kids weren’t happy about it (mostly just the teenagers), but we decided to give it a shot.

It ended up being a great hike! We took a lot of pictures on the way up of the beautiful views overlooking the valley. And the weather played nice, getting better and better as the hike went along.

We finally made it up to the viewpoint (Tyrolian Tank) that we had originally set out for. We ate our remaining snacks, enjoyed the view, and took a bunch of pictures.

We made it back down to the parking lot right as it was getting dark. Our hike that was supposed to be super easy and short ended up going on for 5.64 miles and took us over 2 hours of walking time. We were all pretty exhausted when we finally got back to our rented apartment in Anaheim, but we were all excited to get to Disneyland early the next day.

Deer Valley Date 2019

Ancestry allows employees to check-out a pair of Ski Utah Gold passes once a year for some skiing. These are awesome passes which are pretty much good at any ski resort in the state. We missed last year, due to some unfortunate timing on my part, but got the opportunity to return to Deer Valley for the first time in a while.

It was a perfect day up on the mountain. There was not a cloud in the sky, and there was no wind. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some fresh snow — we’ve got a bunch of snow, but no storms for about a week.

Manina and I went all over the mountain. We found a really cool app that let us track all of our statistics on our Apple Watches, which led to some serious (for one of us, anyway) competition.

After a few runs, we stopped in for some lunch out on the sunny deck at the Empire Canyon Lodge. You can’t go to Deer Valley without enjoying some of their world-famous turkey chili.

Then we got back to skiing. Manina and I got separated when she made a wrong turn, but for the most part we stayed together the whole time. We braved mostly green runs, but I did a couple blues that Manina routed around, even though she easily could have managed them. She just needed a little time to warm up.

Toward the end of the day, Manina kept asking me what my stats were for my top speed for the day. She was trying to play it cool, but I noticed her trying to slow up, lag behind for a bit, then rip down a steep spot to catch up every once in a while. She’d zoom ahead, and then stop and say she wanted to take some pictures of me, but her strategy was revealed at the end of the day.

On our way down the Jordanelle Gondola back to where we had parked our car, she shared her stats with our whole family on our group iMessage — she claimed victory in the top speed competition, topping out
33.6MPH vs. my wimpy 31.9MPH.

I guess there’s always next year.


Pine Hollow 2019

We’ve done a winter Pine Hollow hike for several years, and even though it was a super cold New Year’s Day (5° F!) we decided to go for it.

We bundled up and hit the trail after lunch and made really good time heading up the hill. We completed the 1.4 miles to the meadow in just less than an hour.

Once up there we stopped for a rest for a few minutes and took a few pictures. Then it was time for the fun part — the sledding ride back down.

We almost made it down without incident.

We made a couple errors. First, the conditions were fast. Because it was so cold the trail was pretty much a sheet of ice. And, because there wasn’t a ton of snow, there weren’t great berms and sidewalls to keep us on the trail. The final error was Megan deciding to do down headfirst on one of the longest and steepest sections of the trail. One rule for the future is always go feet-first so you have a good way to slow down and stop.

Megan went off the trail and right into a large tree that had been cut down. There wasn’t anything else to soften the landing or slow her down so there was quite an impact. She hit her face pretty hard, but the worst of the impact was taken on her lower back. Thankfully, she was able to get up after a few minutes and walk the last half mile back to the car.

Sharing Christmas 2018

This has quickly become one of our favorite traditions. You can read reports of what we did in previous years. (2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014)

Here is the accounting for what we did with our favorite gift of the year.

Feeding the homeless ($60)

Most of our money this year went to feeding the homeless. Together with some neighbors, we coordinated a night of service to drive up to downtown SLC and feed the homeless.

We used $60 to buy bread from Kneaders to give away to some folks who really needed it. Some of our neighbors brought hot chocolate and other baked goods and treats. We all set up a table up near The Road Home shelter, spread out our goods, and started giving them away to the people to came by. Word spread very quickly and we had hundreds of folks come enjoy a delicious treat.

It was a fun experience and one that the kids won’t soon forget. We met some interesting characters, but most were very kind and grateful for the warm treat on a cold night.

Refugee Presents ($20)

Manina’s work had a Christmas party where the main activity was to purchase presents for a refugee family from Iran. We were given a budget and some items to shop for for each of their six kids:

  • Mahmood (16-year-old boy)
  • Nuseebu (14-year-old girl)
  • Aysha (12-year-old girl)
  • Saiza (9-year-old girl)
  • Amena (7-year-old girl)
  • Rahima (18-month-old girl)
Helping deliver presents to a refugee family from Iran

Of course, we went a little over the budgeted amount, so we used $20 of our money to cover the difference. We were also able to personally deliver the presents and it was nice to meet the kids and see these gifts go directly to someone in need.

Clash for Christmas Cash ($20)

Mountain Ride Junior High competes with Timberline each year to see who can raise the most money for some local families who need some extra help with Christmas.

Both Katelyn and Claire donated $10 to a very good cause. The school newsletter showed just how successful this was.

For our Christmas fundraiser this year we nearly doubled our regular amount of cash donations, combining with Timberline to raise nearly $13,000. This money was used to help provide Christmas gifts to about 70 families in Utah County, with several here in our own school boundaries. A special thank you to our generous community, and the MRJH Student Council for coordinating the fundraiser.

MRJH Newsletter – December 19, 2018

Since Katelyn is in Student Council, she got to go and spend some of that Christmas cash with some of her classmates.

Katelyn and her buddy Sophie out shopping

It was nice to be so directly involved with our sharing Christmas monies this year. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Manina’s Birthday 2018

Manina has gotten pretty good at telling us exactly what she wants to do for her birthday.

The day started off with a quick gym workout and then a brunch with the Denney’s who just arrived in town from San Diego. Then Megan, Katelyn, Manina and I all went up to the Fashion Place mall to do some shopping for a few specific items that Manina had been looking for.

In the evening, we all went to dinner at Pizza Studio and enjoyed eating together and talking about some fun memories.

Then it was time for some bowling. Drew and Ellie were the only ones who requested bumper lanes, and everyone was having fun and having a good attitude. We almost escaped the bowling alley without incident, but then we decided to pose for a family photograph. Megan adamently refused (probably because there were teenage boys in the near vicinity), so I took the liberty to photoshop her in.

Click for the original

We came home and had a cake and some ice cream and opened Manina’s presents. Most of these weren’t a surprise, since Manina had picked them all out herself in our earlier shopping trip.

Overall, it was a pretty good day and a fun way to celebrate Manina’s birthday.

Tabernacle Choir Concert 2018

We scored tickets to the annual Christmas concert with “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square” or whatever they’re calling themselves these days. You know them, the artists formerly known as MoTab.

We braved the crowds and traffic, eventually finding parking in the City Creek mall parking garage. We went up to the food court and ate at Chick-Fil-A with about a thousand other people. Then we headed off to the concert.

Standing outside the Conference Center

We met up my Mom and Dad, Matt and Abby, and Jesse and Mikaela and all sat together. Kristin Chenoweth was the special guest this year and she was really impressive.

We’ve done this a few other times over the years and they’re usually good and entertaining. This one was no different. We enjoyed the choir, orchestra, and Kristin Chenoweth. It was a great was to get a bit of the Christmas spirit.

First real snow day

Today was our first real snow day of the 2018-2019 snow season. Last year was really poor, so we’re all hoping for a bunch of snow this winter.

Most of the kids set out their snow pants, jackets, hats, and gloves before we went to church this morning. They were so excited to get home and head out to play in all of the white stuff.

Finley and Drew were the best. This 4-shot sequence sums up their collective afternoon together. A boy and his dog, right?

The snow was great packing snow, so the girls made themselves a very cute snow-woman (notice the eyelashes?).

We baked cinnamon rolls as a treat and also got new sweaters as per tradition and enjoyed a cozy day at home.

We hope the snow keeps falling, especially in the mountains so we can eventually do some skiing. We didn’t get to go even once last year, so we are looking forward to hitting the slopes and having some more fun in the greatest snow on earth.