♫ The Happiest Place On Earth ♪♪

For my birthday (January 8th) Matt and i decided to go to DISNEYLAND!

We packed Daisy LuLu and our bags in our VW bug and hit the road. Mom and Dad Gates were nice enough to take care of our 'kids' in Bakersfield while we were at Disneyland and also made reservations for us to stay at the Embassy Suites..a SUPER nice hotel near Disneyland..youguys are awesome! We had a killer view from our room :0) The next day (my birthday) we woke up bright and early and got to Disneyland right when it opened. We decided to explore California Adventures first since neither of us had been there before...it was awesome!

We went on most of the rides and had tons of fun! The best part was that the lines werent long at ALL..which made it all the better :0) Here are some pics of us at California adventures...

I thought THIS was interesting..a shoutout to B-Town! ;0)


Tower of Terror was super fun..we lost a bag on this ride (it flew off Matt's lap when the elevator dropped us) but they eventually found it and sent it to us a week or so later with free stuff too! All is well that ends well :0) The other pic was the one that the ride took of us..



Buzz Lightyear was one of our FAVORITES..if you couldnt tell ;0)

A Bugs Life was surprisingly fun!

Heres me and Goofy ♥
After we explored California adventures we went to Disneyland. The lines weren't all that bad there either! We went on most of the classics..

Space Mountain


The Tea Cups!

Pirates! "(i wasnt supposed to take pictures on that ride :0) "AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH"

Splash Mountain

Indiana Jones


Sleeping Beauty's Castle ♥

Pinocchio!

I talked Matt into riding on the carousel with me ;0)

This is what Matt ate for lunch..a big hunk o' meat..i thought it was HILARIOUS! We played all day and didnt leave until the park closed around 8:30! We had such a good time and it was by far my best birthday EVER!♪☼♫

After we left Disneyland we ate at Claim Jumpers and drove back to Bakersfield. We stayed in Bako for a few days and just hung out with family and friends..that was alot of fun too! I was able to go to my little niece Andy's birthday party! I got her a little tinker bell doll and she loved it! For my birthday, my mom got me a few Disney movies to add to my collection..thanks mom! All in all it was a great-much needed vacation!

"The End"

The Holidays ♥

I think i have some catching up to do! Maybe i wont neglect my blog so much in 2009 ;0).
I bet you are all DYING to know how my Christmas was right ;0) On Dec. 23rd Matt and i drove 7 hours to Bakersfield! I closed that night at work so we ended up leaving Chico at around 10pm and didnt get into b-town til 3:30am..it was quite the drive considering we brought our crazy dog daisy with us and our kitty as well..we managed to stuff all of our presents, luggage, daisy's crate AND the animals all in my VW Bug :0/...dont ask me HOW we managed to do that!! But we made it and had a BLAST! Mom and dad Gates were nice enough to let us crash at their house and they were very patient with us and our critters..thanks guys ♥ On Christmas Eve we had our traditional family get together and dinner at mom and dad Bulkeleys house. Dinner was yummy and the kids did a couple of cute christmas skits for us...



We all sang Christmas carols and my dad read the 'Santa letter'...another fun tradition :0)

I was also introduced to the newest member of the Bulkeley clan..little Sammy Bulkeley ♥ He is such a good baby and i couldnt get enough of that little guy! Thad insists that i have 'the fever' now but i assure you that i do not :0) Here are some pics of me and little Sam ♥


On Christmas morning at the gates house we played 'find the pickle' in the christmas tree. Its a fun tradition we do every year where mom hides a pickle ornament in the tree and whoever finds it first gets a bonus present..So far ive won 3 years in a row..booyah! I dont have any pics of that b/c i was busy with my pickle finding skillzz ;0)Then we opened our presents which is always exciting :0)

One of the perks about being married is that you pretty much get Christmas...twice! Next we went to my parentals house to open more presents and hang out with the fam.

Heres me and Rusty Dawg!

Here are the sibs minus one (miss u Tans!♥)

Sibs and spouses ♥

It was nice relaxing and catching up with family..i stayed in my PJs ALL DAY LONG and it was fabulous!! The next couple days were spent hanging out with both families. My family and Mom and Dad Gates all went to Rosemarys to eat some delicious ice cream! Matt and i cant leave bako without going there ;0) Heres our Steves Banana Splits

SO yummy! On a good day, i can eat the whole thing! i know...im a fatty ♥
When it came time for us to leave we were very sad to go. You dont realize how much you miss the company of your family until you move far away from them! The drive back wasnt so bad because the animals slept most of the way and we got home around midnight..then it was back to the grind! I have been working non stop lately and its been SO busy! Ive been pumpin out like 30 haircuts a day (which is alot) The reason ive been working so hard is b/c i will be taking 5 days off NEXT week to go to Disneyland for my 23rd birthday! I am SO SO excited i can barely contain myself ;0) After Disneyland well spend a couple days hangin out with the fam again so that will be splendid :0) I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Our new years eve was spent with friends playing apples to apples, this game we made up called space marbles and we brought the Wii over for some Wii action ;0) it was pretty low key but fun just the same! At least we didnt sleep though new years like a couple of old people..thats what we did last year! lol Sad...i know ;0)

"I'll be hooooome for Christmas..."

Hello all! SO I thought id post a few random things that have been going on lately. I finally sent out our Christmas cards! This was the first year that ive done them so it was kinda fun ♥ I tried to find everyone's addresses but if you didn't get one, heres what they looked like and have a Happy Holiday! :0)

So I saw this on a friend's blog and it looked like so much fun that i decided to do it too...a ginger-bread house making CONTEST! We went to the store and bought tons of graham crackers, candy and icing! Matt was talkin' all sorts of crap insisting that 'his will be waaay cooler than mine' and 'i dont have a chance' and so on...so i switched on my competition mode and we went at it ;0) THIS is what we came up with...This was MY ginger bread house...

And this was MATT'S ginger bread.......ruins! LOL

When he saw my mad ginger bread house making skillz he gave up and started eating his building materials ;0) Better luck next year mi ammore! We got our Christmas tree up a couple weeks ago and i finally got around to taking pics of it! I LOVE having a christmas tree in my house and would keep it up ALL YEAR LONG if i could get away with it! ;0)

Heres a pic of my favorite ornament. Every year, for as long as i can remember, when it came time to decorate the Christmas tree, i would hunt for this ornament first and carefully find a perfect spot for it on the tree...When Matt and i got married, my mom let me go through our Christmas ornaments and take any that i wanted...so now i still have my favorite ornament to hang up every year ♥

Im so excited that Matt and i get to be with our families for Christmas! To me, thats what Christmas is all about..I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS ♥

Matt Graduated!

SO my awesome husband graduated from the Police Academy on December 4th! Both sets of parents came up for the occasion and it was fun to have them here!


Matt is in 'background' with the Oroville Police Department right now..which means he is in the hiring process with them..which is exciting! He will hopefully start working in January..so wish us luck! Heres my man in action! ♥

I had fun with my parents while they were here! Mom has been up here before but it was dads first time in Chico! While Matt was busy doing Academy stuff, we drove around town a bit and visited a couple of pretty parks!

We drove up to Paradise and saw Paradise Lake..

We went to the Chico Fly Shop and talked with the guys about fishin ;0) We also went to Oroville and did a little exploring there! We drove around town, went to Lake Oroville and visited the Feather River Fish Hatchery which was awesome! There they raise Steel Head trout and Salmon.

At the hatchery..the Fish and Game guys gave us the V.I.P. tour and showed us where they store and hatch the fish eggs and how they raise them! It was really cool to see and learn what they do!


They even let us feed the fish! It was pretty awesome :0)

(i look a little too excited in that pic) lol
After that we went home and played some Wii before we went to dinner :0)

Unfortunately i was only able to show my dad a little portion of the coolness around Chico but he will be back in the Spring time for some FISHING adventures!..so he says ;0) Thank you Mom and Dad Gates and Mom and Dad Bulkeley for coming up to visit..it means alot to have your support! See you at Christmas! Love you ♥

I know...im a SLACKER!

WHERE do i start? Lets see...Matt and i had our TWO YEAR wedding anniversary on Nov. 25th ♥ I cant believe its already been 2 years!! I bought Matt a new fly rod and reel for the occasion and he bought me a nice zoom lens for my camera :0) Mom and Dad Gates came up to Chico for Thanksgiving and we had a blast cooking and spending some quality time together.


(NOTE:i DID take pictures of mom and dad gates..however, hey dont want the whole world to see :0)
I cooked my FIRST Thanksgiving turkey and managed to not burn the house down! It actually turned out perfecto!

Thanksgiving dinner was delish and it was nice to spend the holiday with family ♥ I needed a good pic of Matt and i for our 2008 Christmas card so mom got to be the photographer ;0) The pics turned out great! (p.s..If you want a Christmas card..give me your address!!)Here are a couple of pics..

I did a photo shoot of our children (a.k.a pets) ♥
This is our newest addition Frankie.

He is an outdoor kitty that was abandoned by our neighbors...WE love him :0)

Here is our crazy mutt Daisy :0)

♥

AND our little Lu Lu ♥

Shes a Lion! :0)

So that concludes our Thanksgiving adventure..Thanks for the visit Mom and Dad Gates..we ♥ youguys!!!I have other adventures to write about soooo stay tuned..i promise i wont be such a slacker this month!