Universal Studios

So I meant to make this blog go after the Disneyland post so opps. Anyway, here are our Universal Studios pictures. We went there too!

Disney Land

My mom works for a dentist office and every two years they send their employees to a magical wonderful world where dreams come true, including my favorite dream where grown men dress like fluffy cartoon characters and even frolic. Good times. Good times. Of course Disneyland was the best and there are A LOT of pictures to show for it. I love pictures and I hope you enjoy looking at them too!

Ryan and Jordan are trying to push the huge ball in the opposite direction. A lot of work, but they did it!

My favorite thing we did was not the rides, but was actually a drawing class where they taught you to draw disney characters. It was so much fun and look how good they turned out! First we drew goofy and then piglet. Ryan's piglet actually ended up as a demonic character with devil horns. No joke, don't know what he was thinking but it was great.(if you look at the third picture below and closely look at Ryan drawing- you can see what I am talking about)

 Rowing a canoe with my family was ummmm, what can I say? Wet? Painful? We couldn't get the hang of rowing in unison. We kept hitting each other with our ores and splashing the water in our faces, and not on purpose.
Jordan driving. Watchout. Brennan is scared even when their car is on a track and Jordan doesn't have any real control.

Look what I mean. He doesn't look where he's going. Poor Maddison didn't see that one coming.

The Tower of Terror. Great ride! 

Okay, okay. The seats were all taken. Brennan had to ride in Ryan's lap. But even better, my mom rode in his lap next!
Family traffic jam.

Soarin over California
Buzz Lightyear. This one was fun because you interacted with the ride by shooting lights with your lazer gun. Below, Jordan and Ryan competed with eachother and Ryan kicked butt like did with everyone.

Tea Cups.

Water Rides!

Twilight Character Quiz

W
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I'm glad I'm Bella! That way I get to make out with Edward and well ..... if you read book 4 you know what I'm thinking about! wink wink
P.s. :
Edward prefers brunettes. Take that Blondes!!

Thanksgiving

Ahhh Thanksgiving. I love the holiday season. It is the greatest time of year. The food, the weather, the family, but most importantly the SHOPPING! Just kidding. But really. Who doesn't like waking up at 4 in the morning to wait in long lines? I DO! It is the true shopaholic, like I, that loves Black Friday. The adrenaline rush you get the moment those store doors open, the angry mobs, the really mean lady -who you could have swore was the sweet old lady that was teaching sunday school last week- that just shoved you out of the way to get the last wii (black friday brings the claws out), bargains where ever you go, and of course the excuse to shop ALL day long and your husband can't say anything about it. Good times. Good times.

Anyway, it really was a great thanksgiving this year. We hopped from dinner to dinner like usual. To Ryan's family then mine. Eating a couple thanksgiving dinners is always fun until you can't button your pants anymore. But it is the delicious price you must pay when you love your families and they all live close by.

After the feasts and the shopping we spent the rest of the weekend in Wellton. It was great to see Ryan's sister Mandy and her family who came down from Utah. I love her kids! They would be mine if only their parents hadn't realized that we switched them out with our dogs as they were leaving. Kids hiding in the dog kennels and dogs strapped in the kids' carseats. Obvious I know, but worth a try. We miss you guys!

Since the whole Peterson gang was finally in the same spot we decided it was a great time to take some family pictures on the farm. Here they are. Enjoy!

The Power of Freindship

Okay guys. Grab a box of tissues. This video is so sweet and touching that you may need the whole box. Or maybe it is just the holidays and I was way too emotional to begin with. Either way, you don't want to miss the opportunity to watch it. So find a quiet moment and press play.

And may I add, I love you all and am so blessed to have you as my friends and family. *Tear*

Ahhhh, my precious Twilight.

It was sad to read the last few pages of the last book and know that that was that for my Bella and Edward. But then, a glimmer of hope..... a movie! Could it be true? A Twilight Movie? I was so excited. Just ask Ryan, that was all I could talk about for weeks. When the previews came on I would rewind them and watch them again. I searched the internet finding more and more to feed my Twilight addiction. A Twerd is what Ryan referred to me as- a Twilight Nerd. The book was woven into my life. If Ryan didn't open my door for me I would pause and tell him sternly "Edward would open my door" and viola, my door would open. ( I love my husband and he knows I love him but i did use the phrase 'Edward wouldn't do that' often but all in fun. But FYI, it worked, so girls don't be afraid to use the Edward weapon!) 

So, the big day came. I ordered my tickets a week in advance. I know I am pathetic. We stood in line and then waited for ...... WHAT? This can't be Twilight. Nobody looks right. This isn't my Edward. He was supposed to be this perfect gorgeous creature. Sure I saw what he looked like in the previews but I was hoping that he would look better as his character developed. I was so disappointed. I had built the movie up so much in my head. And nothing could compete with my own imaginations of how the story was supposed to look. But not only that. We laughed at parts that weren't even supposed to be funny. That's not a good sign of a believable movie. Some of the acting was really bad, the chemistry felt awkward, and it left out soooo much detail... the relationships, etc. It needed to be a four hour movie to be a good movie. Am I just crazy or is it just a fact that a movie can never be any where as good as the book it is based on?  Please tell me what you think so I can look at this a different way. I want to like this movie. I think I just need to watch it again and give it another shot. 

P.S- don't be alarmed. I am not a freak like I have made myself sound. It is just the hormonal teenage girl in me. Yes I loved the books, and yes I can get a little carried away, but I am okay. :)

Spidermonkies Away! 

Who says spidermonkey anyway?

Race for the Cure

My sister in law, Janna, and I were so excited to be a part of the fight against breast cancer. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure celebrated their 25th aniversary this year. It is the largest series of 5k runs in the world. We ran in honor of my mother in law Sandy Peterson and my Aunt Marie Cortez. They are just two of the two and a half million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. 

Janna and I freakin kicked cancer in the butt by running the 5k in 24 minutes. That is a little over 7 minutes per mile! It was so much fun! The crowd of runners was so huge that we had to push our way through in order to find the leg room to even begin to run. This picture below just shows the front of the immense crowd. 

On a funny note, while running, we saw a man wearing a shirt that said "Cancer is a B----, and I slapped it". 

Brennan's Birthday Bash

Happy Birthday Brendo! 

He is 22 but we still insist on a pinata. 

If my sweet little Grandma Nancy was accused of cursing and getting mad at a pinata, she would deny, deny, deny! But here is proof (listen to it carefully). There is no getting out of this one Grandma! Sorry though guys, my camera stopped working right when she was really getting into it so you can't watch the best part. But this video is still funny.

The second video is Brennan up to bat, but it wasn't until Janna had her chance at the pinata that it broke. 

Family Trip to Sedona

There is no greater blessing than family and boy am I blessed with a bunch of crazies! So when the Curtis clan gets together you never know what to expect, but you always know you will have tons of fun. Recently, we packed our bags and set out on a new Curtis adventure to beautiful Sedona.  
The water was cold so ankle deep was as far as anyone really wanted to go.

 "Oh look at all the pretty fishies"  .........
Ooops. 
Jordan thought it was funny and Ryan was getting a little lonely so....
Ahhh, sweet revenge. No one laughs at Ryan!

Boys are so gross. As if these dirty butts weren't gross enough, here my boys (Ryan and Jordan) are competing to see who can catch a fish with their bare hands. Luckily no one was able to catch anything because they had decided they were going to eat whatever they could get a hold of. 

Ah, what is a Curtis vacation without a little love twist. Kidding of course. If you know my family at all this would not be as scary as it looks but hopefully it is as funny.
We are not the best fishers, so it seems the only way for us to catch a fish is to go a pond that is stocked so full of them they don't even have the room to move. Silly I know. But it was our first time fishing so why not go where you are sure to catch one and maybe get some bragging rights as well? Not many people can say they can catch a fish in just one second. Plus it was worth not sitting somewhere else for hours with no bite, even if this place did charge out the wazoo.
Here I am catching what turned out to be the littlest fish from our whole group which included my four year old cousin. Not my finest moment.
It was fun until they made me get the hook out of my fishes mouth. I will spare you the bloody details even the part where you watched the man kill and gut your fish..... sorry, did I go too far? Anywho, to make a long story short I will never fish again. My stomach wouldn't be able handle what comes after you catch the poor thing. And I prefer to eat my food in ignorance.
Bucket full of disgusting fish anyone?