Flowers...Again!

Twice in one week! I can't believe it! Kelvin had flowers waiting for me when I got off the plane in Sacramento this morning and they are really cute! I love that kid so much!

California Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised and a few more from the last Cali trip. It was a really great trip and I can't wait for the next one! 

Holli, Me, Brady, Madi, and KK at the 

Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk in Sacramento

Dog with dreads

Me and Holli

Holli on the top bunk of our sleeper car on the train

Me on the bottom bunk

Kelvin in the balls at school

KK and Step Up for Down Syndrome

I love my nephew Kelvin Kyler Love!! YAY! He's pretty much the cutest thing to ever walk the earth! Except he's not walking yet ha ha. Anyway, made another last minute trip to California and I got to spend a few days with him. He is just the happiest little guy, I love it! We got to participate in the Step Up for Down Syndrome walk in Sacramento and it was really fun, this is where I took this picure. Also at the walk I got registered on the Bone Marrow Donor list, which is cool. So if you need some marrow maybe you can have mine! AND I saw a dog with honest to god dreadlocks. I took pictures of him/her/it but they are on my camera and I forgot the cord so I'll add them later. Needless to say, this dog was awesome! I miss my dog and I can't wait to get home and see the Tonka-monster!

California Trip

I ran away from Utah for about two weeks and it was a very much needed trip. I rode Amtrak from Provo to Roseville and it was awesome. The train is huge! The seats are enormous and recline all the way back, it was nice and cool, quiet, and there are outlets to plug in all my shit. So I watched Sopranos for a few hours and then took two Ambien and slept really well and when I woke up I was there! AND I got to cross it off on my Things to Do Before I Die list - which is cool since I haven't been able to do that in a while.

So I went to Cali and stayed with my Mom. We laid by the pool and relaxed. She took me to a few cool stores and we went to the Galleria Mall for a few hours. I also got a tour of a local firehouse from my Mom's friend. It was really cool to see the ins and outs there. I had two dinners at my Grandparents and we figured out I haven't been there in 13 years. We went fishing/boating one morning and I made friends with this little duck. I fed him a few rolls and he'd just follow us around.

I also got to spend some time with Madi, Brady, and my nephew Kelvin. I loved seeing them! Kelvin has grown so much since I last saw him. He is just the sweetest little boy, I wanted to bring him home with me! Kelvin sat in my sleeping spot with me for like 3 hours one day, just hanging out watching United States of Tara. Seriously, he's the coolest kid EVER. I mean really, look at that face.

The last night I was there we went to the theater and saw Iron Man 2. I really liked it! Except I think something was wrong with their AC because I was melting in the theater. Ugh. After the show we went to eat at the Elephant Bar. It was pretty good, I've never been there and their menu is huge!

The train ride back was not as enjoyable as getting there. We were stopped outside of Elko, NV for almost 3 hours and that made me arrive into Provo almost 6 hours later than anticipated. It made for a very, very long ride. Luckily I had some shows (Sopranos, Grey's, Breaking Bad) and a good book to keep me occupied. I hope to make it back out to California soon. Maybe in the fall for my birthday! YAY!

Doo Bee Doo Bee Doooo

I haven't blogged in a while, sorry about that. Actually, I am not sorry, it's my blog, learn to like it. Let's see I moved home, Tonka and Marley are BFF's, I'm on vaca in Cali which is weird and good, I am from the desert and I don't do humidity well, I'd Van Gogh my ears if I could, and now I'm waiting for Tommy Gavin to come on and it's taking foreverrrr. Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to report.

St. George - A novel

Holli and I went to St. George for a small vaca this weekend. It was soo much fun! We started our trip out right with official metal Slurpee straws! Oh yes, they keep the Slurpees cold longer and they are pink and red, our favorite colors! And they were only $.99 cents, so how could we not get them, right? They were totally made for US!

So after our straws we rented a little car (PS this totally made me want to sell/trade-in the Jeep and get a car. Good chance I may look into it this week.) packed up all our shit (which is a lot!) and hit the road. It was a quick drive both ways. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and totally relaxed. Tonka came with us and he was soo good. Seriously, we thought maybe he was sick or something because he was being so calm. He just layed in the backseat on his bed the way down and the way back he sat in between Holli and I on a pillow. So, we drove down Friday after work, got checked in to the hotel, and Holli relaxed with Tonka and I went to dinner with a friend.

Saturday we went to breakfast at a little cafe called The Bear Paw, recommended by the owner of Rock'n Dog's Resort (I highly recommend them for doggy day-care and boarding). I got a vanilla waffle which was super good. And I learned how to order eggs the way I like them, over hard. I hate runny yokes. Holli got pancakes and scrambled eggs and this warm vanilla milk thing.

After breakfast we hung out by the pool and got our tan on! I got a little sun, but Holli's legs got fried! Her lines are funny! The best part was when she went to get us waters and she brought them back in a bucket of ice. I don't know why I thought it was so funny, I guess I was just expecting a bottle and she brought it back chilled! No wonder she's in the hospitality industry.

After tanning we got ready and went to lunch at Jimmy John's, which was super tasty! And dinner at the Olive Garden. That place is always packed, everywhere! I don't get it. I mean it's good, but it's not THAT good. Well, actually my food and drink tasted pretty amazing, I'm not gonna lie. Ha ha. After dinner we went back to the hotel to relax, watch some Rescue Me, and I worked on the big project for Father's Day. I'll do another blog post about that once everything is up and running and ready to go.

The only glitch in our trip was the phone call we received at 11:30PM last night. I was working on the Father's Day stuff, Holli was online, Tonka was sound asleep on my lap and the front desk calls to ask us to move rooms. The hotel is a pet friendly location but we were supposed to be placed in the rooms they have on the outside of the building because of Tonka. Apparently, they had a complaint that he was barking. Okay, one, he was NOT barking. I would admit if he was, he wasn't. We had been with him for hours and he was asleep! And two, you do not call and tell as guest to move at 11:30PM especially when they are checking out the next morning at 8AM. Seriously people! If you are going to move us, do it as soon as the complaint comes in. Come to find out the complaint was issued FRIDAY night, the night we checked in, which is crap too, because Holli was with him all night long and there was no barking. Dumb. Anyway, Holli spoke to the desk and we didn't have to move. Of course we got it all straightened up after we had frantically packed all our crap. Whatever.

So anyway, we came home this morning and it was a much needed trip. We did forget to pick up our firefighter water bottles at the Loves station in Cedar City though. Boo. I guess we'll have to make another trip. Who wants to go?

Anyway, we took lots more pictures, I just didn't want this post to get out of hand. So you can find all of them at www.facebook.com/meagenridley.

Update

Well, I'm back from Tampa and I had a great time. I'm so happy I could spend a few days with Chris before he's off to spring training. He makes me soo happy! I hope I do the same for him. Here's a picture we took before going to Maggiano's for dinner on Sunday. I look terrible in it (I mean really, what is my smile??) but Chris looks great, as usual. :)

We only took one picture while I was there, lol we suck. I did take a sweet one from the plane on the flight down there though. I was on cloud nine (pun intended ha ha), so excited to see him.

Chris took me to a scrapbook store (The Scrapbook Shoppe) while I was there too. I was impressed with how much space and supplies this place had. Being from Utah, the scrapbook meca, I didn't expect to find much, but I ended up buying some really cute papers that I've never seen at any store here before. I bought the paper for a bookbinding project, which should be cute when finished. I'm also going to start scrapbooking all of Chris Tampa Baseball stuff. I'm not sure if he wants me to do it because I can scrapbook fairly well or if he's trying to keep my mind occupied so I won't sit and go crazy thinking about how much I really miss him. Ha ha, he's so sweet. Either way, I am excited to work on it.

Let's see, what else. Oh, don't break your tail bone and then try to sit on a plane for a few hours, it will hurt. Southwest left my luggage in Tampa on my flight home. And to be quite honest, I was more sad that I would have to spend a night without Bootz, than I was about my clothes or anything else in my bag. Ha. Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone an update!

Leavin on a jet plane

I'm going to Tampa to see Chris tomorrow. YAY! And it's going to be warm there, I'm so excited to wear shorts and flip flops I could pee my pants!!

Bang Bang Shrimp

Chris took me to BoneFish Grill last night for dinner. We had Bang Bang Shrimp and OH MY GGA (ha ha Holli). It was SOO amazing. Oh my goodness it tasted so good. If you ever go there you have to get that appetizer. I had the Shrimp Fettuccini- yum! It was appropriately named SHRIMP fettuccini, because it had more shrimp and tomatoes and stuff than the pasta. I loved it! Most places it’s fettuccini and something and they give you like ½ a chicken breast cut up into 5 pieces, that’s no beuno. This was mucho beuno. Anyway, dinner was amazing. My trip to Tampa was perfect. I missed Chris so much, I’m so happy I could spend some time with him. He’s coming out to Utah soon, so let the countdown begin.

Welcome to MOES!!! ...and Busch Gardens

Chris and I visited Busch Gardens today...SOOO much fun! I love going to theme parks with him because he'll go on all the rides!! First we went on Gwazi, its a really long wooden roller coaster. It was a little painful to the neck to ride, but still really fun. Next we tackled SheiKra. WHOA. Not only does it have one 90-degree straight down drop from 200 feet in the air at 70 mph..it has two! It was awesome! After SheiKra we went on Stanely Falls, Tanganyika Tidal Wave (where I got soaked, again, weird) Kumba, and Scorpion. Our favorite ride was Montu- one of the tallest and longest inverted roller coasters in the world. It is awesome! We went on that ride a number of times.

Chris and me right after we got soaked on Tanganyika Tidal Wave

After Busch Gardens we went to Moe's. If anyone has been around Chris for more than a few hours, you've heard him say "Welcome to MOE'S!"..anyway, thats what the servers yell as you walk through the doors. Chris loves Moe's, and for good reason, they are really really good. We both got a Homewrecker burrito, chips, and a drink for $5.55. I had a really good time today. Thanks Chris.

St. Petersburg Beach

Chris and I visited St. Petersburg Beach while I was here in Florida. (Yes Mom, I got you dirt.) It was beautiful. I L.O.V.E the ocean and the beach. It's so calming. Chris and I have been coast to coast (almost) together between San Diego and here. Go us go!

Gary Our Gecko

So my first morning in Tampa I was looking out the window and saw a cute little gecko on Chris' balcony. I was kind of excited because well, we don't have geckos on our balconies in Utah. So I named him Gary. There are lots of Gary's in Florida, I've seen a few squirrels too. Here's Gary, isn't he cute?

Tampa wins...Again

Chris and I went to the South Region Volleyball Championship tonight, Tampa vs. Florida Southern. Tampa won again, 3-0, weird. They now move on to the national championship. It was a lot of fun. Afterward, we went to International Plaza, it's HUGE! We did some window shopping, as most of the stores were closing when we got there. Afterward we picked up dessert at Cheesecake Factory. Tomorrow we're going to Busch Gardens! YAY! I'm excited :)

Inside looking out

Chris has a cool view from his bedroom window. There is a little tree right outside. I wonder how many people that tree has seen live in this apartment and the one below. Currently, the tree has one strand of Christmas lights around the trunk, which I have yet to be seen lit. I wonder if they are there year round or if someone just recently put them up. Anyway, I'm having a great time in Tampa and will post more soon. Here's a picture from the inside looking out and one with the lights.

P.S. I can cross off "Kiss on a bridge" from my Life list of things to do. :)

Warm weather here I come!

I am going to visit Chris in Tampa tomorrow! I'm so excited I could pee my pants! I haven't seen him in six long weeks. I just looked at the weather report and it looks like its going to be really nice!

I can't wait to get out of the cold Utah fall weather and back into summertime conditions. I L.O.V.E summer and could definitely get used to living in 75 degree temperatures October-April. I'll do a few posts with pictures while I'm there to keep everyone updated.

San Diego

Warning: This is going to be a long post because I'm recapping a whole week! Chris and I spent a week in San Diego at the end of September. It was an amazing trip! We flew out from Salt Lake (Chris met me in SLC from Tampa) on a Wednesday night and checked into our hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn Rancho Bernardo. The hotel was great. We arrived pretty late the first night so we didn't have a chance to do anything but go to sleep. The next day we visited the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego.

It was really cool and had great shopping. We climbed the stairs (100, yes we counted) to the top of the Convention center and they were well worth it because the view was amazing.

Friday, we went to Sea World, where I got SOAKED within the first 2 hours of us being there. Chris stayed dry most of the day. It's amazing what they can train animals to do! The penguins , dolphins, turtles, and polar bears were our favorites. We also went on Journey to Atlantis 6 times!

Saturday we drove north about an hour to Mission Viejo where we visited Chris' family friends, the Torretos. They were great. They took us to Laguna where we had lunch and walked along the beach. It was a gorgeous day.

Sunday Chris went to the wedding while I stayed at the hotel and worked on cool little travel journal of our trip. Chris had fun at the wedding and he took me to dinner afterwards.

Monday we returned to Gaslamp and did a little more shopping. We also spent that evening watching the National League Tie-Breaker game between the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies on the jumbo-tron outside of Petco Park. It was soo cool! We loved it! It was a great game, but unfortunately, the Padres lost.

We flew out the next morning, Chris to New York to visit his family and I back to Salt Lake. The trip was amazing, I hope we can return soon. I'm so happy I could spend the week with Chris, it was perfect! Thanks Chris.