California

What do you get when Andrea has 3 days off in a row? CALIFORNIA!!!

This week I had three days off in the middle of the week so my mom and I decided this would be an excellent time for me to come home and visit. It is during the week so Ryan will be at work all day and he would hardly even miss me! Especially with all the golf he had to distract him!

Tuesday morning my plane took off at 6:45 am. It was a Jetblue flight so I watched tv the whole time and the flight went by really quickly so that was nice. My mom picked me up from the airport and we headed home to have some delicious waffles. All those who have had the privilege of staying at the Whitaker Residence have tasted the delicacies that are my mom's waffles. Delicious! Then Kelli brought the kiddos over and so we all hung out at my mom's house all day. We watched Cameron walk and Cadence swing in the backyard, played in the "sandbox" that my mom has out back, and most importantly basked in the California sun! My mom and I then went to get all the equipment we needed to make jam the next day and then headed over to Cypress. We had dinner with the whole fam! Kelli, Bri, Cade, Cam, the Nance, Auntie Di, Tara, Gma Donna, Mom, and I went to my favorite restaurant: CPK. After a delicious dinner my mom and I headed home to watch whatever was on the DVR (turned out to be some chick flick that I can't even remember haha!) and have some good ole Thrifty's Cookies and Cream (one of the best parts of being in California, if you ask me!)
Wednesday was my sleep in day since I had been getting up at 5 the last 4 days and it was really wearing on me! So I slept till 9 and then up we were. We got ready and headed to Gma Donna's to make jam. Mmmm... I love making jam. Really, I love eating it but making it is fun too! We got busy smashing the berries and laughing at Grandma as she figured out her system and burned herself like a hundred times. Half way through making jam Collette brought her kiddos over and Kelli brought hers over and so it was time for a swim break. I left Gma and Mom to finish up the jam making (which they did so well) and hopped in the pool with Cade, Charlotte, and Mason. Mason is crazy, in case you didn't know, haha, and Cade just wanted me to leave her alone in her "boat". Those kids just crack me up. Tara came a little later and rescued me from my duties of pool guardian so I could lay out and again, soak up the California sun! It was a blast!
The kids went down for a nap and so I hurried over to my favorite nail salon to get a pedicure and manicure. The massages they give there are just the best and it is like 10 bucks cheaper in CA than UT. I don't get it, but whatever! After the primping we picked up some food at Portillo's (yum!) and headed home to, guess what? Watch a chick flick and eat Thrifty's ice cream. This time we watched Did You Hear About the Morgans? Which was neither awful nor wonderful. At about 10 I hit the sack so we could get a good early start the next morning shopping our hearts out! :D
Thursday we hit the road early (relatively speaking) and got to the mall basically right when it opened. Oh how I love South Coast Plaza. I miss having every store you could possibly want right there at your fingertips. We had a very successful day at Nordstrom and put a dent in the Nordstrom credit card, but that's okay, it was mother/daughter bonding time! At least that is what I tell my husband! haha. I bought some fun summer clothes and new swim suit so I was one happy girl. We headed home happy and ready to eat my Portillo's leftovers! However, we got home and discovered someone had eaten my leftovers so what did we do? We went to Portillo's again! Haha. We are such dorks. After another delicious meal, I packed and got ready to head back to poopy Utah. Brian and Kelli drove me to the airport on their way to the Temple and the flight back was really the fastest flight ever. When they told us to put our electronics away (I was listening to my IPOD the whole time) I was like, What? Why?, only to realize that we were landing. I'm a dork.
So here I am back in Utah and totally jamless (you can't carry jam on a plane-dumb TSA). It was so much fun being back in California and my only regret is that I didn't have one more day to visit the beach. I miss you beach! I'll catch you next time, which hopefully won't be in too long!
(Sorry I took no pictures while I was home so I had to resort to stealing some from Kelli's facebook page. That is why these aren't the best quality!)