My Surprise

Fallon, Teresa, Ami, and Me

California was absolutely fabulous!  This is my Top 10 list from my latest visit.

10- THE BIG SURPRISE: Although this is one of the top things, it was over fast, and I thought it would be a good beginning.  For a whole month and a half, Ami, Brandon, Mitch, and I had to keep this big secret.  I flew out and surprised Teresa the night before her Birthday.  I even had my work lie to Teresa and tell her I went home sick, as I knew she would call me that day, and sure enough... (good thing for caller ID). Unfortunately, this kind of planning takes a lot of patience and waiting.  The last two weeks were almost killing me and I almost slipped a couple of times.  On the final day, I had to wait a couple of hours for Ami to pick me up from the airport as she had to work.  As we got to Teresa's house, we tricked her into getting Ami some "lounge clothes" as I snuck in the back door.  As she came back into the kitchen, I was sitting next to Mitch on the couch, and she had a look of confusion on her face, and finally said... "Heeeeeyyy!".  If I only had time to set up the video camera...  It was a great surprise!

9- SLEEPING IN:  I love vacations because I get to catch up on sleep.  Even though I would automatically wake up early, I made myself go back to bed for a couple more hours.  It felt great!

8- FESTIVAL OF THE LIGHTS: LA's version of Temple Square.  It's a drive through line of lights designed after top sight-seeing sites in California.  Easton had a blast, but mostly because he got to sit on Mitch's lap and drive the truck. 

7- MOVIE NIGHT: Since I never got the chance to watch The Dark Knight on the big screen, I had to settle for the next best thing... Teresa's big screen.  

6- SHOPPING: We got a lot of shopping in.  The funniest moment was when we went to Target.  Teresa had taken her purchased items and started heading to the doors.  While the lady was ringing up my items, she totally ignored me and stared at Teresa walking away the ENTIRE time, barely breaking her gaze to take my money.  As she was finally giving me my change back, she said to me... "She is walking VERY slow.  She's VERY pregnant!"  I wonder if she knew we were together, but it was pretty funny.  

5- GOOD FOOD/BAD FOOD: One thing we love to do, is eat!  First I'll name the Bad Restaurants... Ca Del Sole, where we had Teresa's Birthday dinner (it must have been an off night), and Bistro 45 where I ordered a chicken Caesar Salad, but little did I know it would be authentic and made with anchovies.  As soon as Teresa mentioned anchovies, I was done.  Best Restaurants were New Moon (Chinese), Pho 97, our usual Indian Restaurant, and of course In-N-Out where Easton discovered fry sauce.

4- FAMILY LAUGHTER: One thing we all like to do is make each other laugh.  We constantly joke, making fun of our family quirks, unusual childhood, crazy Utah living, and "Mitch-isms".  We had plenty of laughter throughout the visit.  I have the greatest family!!!

3- "PEEKING IN THE OVEN": Teresa went in for a 4D ultrasound session to get the baby's first pics.  We think he's going to look a bit like Easton, and it looks like he'll have a cute little dimple on his left cheek.  Can't wait to put a name on that face!

2- WILDCAT SOCCER: Getting to watch Fallon play on her High School Soccer Team.  I was able to catch 2 games, and she played awesome!

   Fallon heading the ball

Me and Fallon at her school.  

Notice Magic Mountain in the background!

1- EASTON "BYTES": Listening to Easton talk.  He is so into food, his cousins, and learning how to wink.  He has the cutest little voice, and always made us laugh with his "words".

What a great trip.  It sucked coming back to freezing temperatures and snow, but hey... Christmas is right around the corner!