Vacation :)

Ryan and I spent 11 days traveling what felt like all over the place! Since we live a pretty good distance from both families, we hadn't had the opportunity to meet each other's families until this trip. It was SO much fun! We flew out of Salt Lake to Long Beach. We stayed with one of Ryan's sisters, Keri and her family. We did a lot in a few short days!! California is fun, but man oh man, it is congested! I've never really seen anything like it. The traffic is horrible and it takes like an hour to get anywhere! We had a great time though. We did some work at the Los Angelos Temple, went to Universal and Hollywood, ate a LOT of AMAZING food, and I was exhausted at the end of each and every day! Here are some pictures from California. 

Our Jet into Long Beach!

The coast :) Soooo beautiful!

Our first picture on the west coast! 

Our first kiss on the coast! haha!

The coast is only about 10 minutes from his sister's place. Must be nice!

My first In n' Out -- don't hate me but I didn't really think it was any better than other burger places (i.e. Five Guys or Steak n Shake)

The newest addition to the family!! Ryan's nephew, Aison...or as Ryan calls him "The Ginger". He has a little patch of auburn brown hair on the back of his head. Ryan is SO cute with the baby.

Look at his face. LOL

At the Korean Bell. These are supposedly fertility statues and if you touch them, you are promised fertility. Ryan insisted. LOL. 

The LA Temple. HUGE. 

Probably my favorite thing ever was watching Ryan with Aison strapped on in the baby backpack. He carried him around while we were at the beach. Can you say precious?!

Cabrillo Beach

Walk of Fame. 

JULIA ROBERTS DOES NOT HAVE A STAR. 

I REPEAT, JULIA DOES NOT HAVE A STAR.

I. was. heartbroken.

Me and Samuel L. Jackson.

Okay fine, me with a wax sculpture of him. It looks pretty real though, right!?

Ryan with his kindred spirit....Forrest Gump.

Phil Collins' star.

Did I mention that Julia Roberts has no star?

Universal City walk. 

We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. 

OMG it was AMAZING.

After our trip to California, we hopped yet another jet plane and flew to my lovely little home state of Indiana. My bridal shower was the next day and after that we went to dinner with my whole family. The rest of the time was pretty quiet, as it was just me, Ryan, and my Dad. However, my Dad arguably knows more about Indianapolis than anyone. Ever. So he was our official tour guide and drove us around downtown, the westside, as well as other locations. The highlight for Ryan was going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. We took a special grounds tour and got to see a lot of cool stuff. I lived in Indianapolis for the first 24 years of my life and have been to several races at the Speedway, but even I had never seen a lot of this stuff. Pictures........

The Start/Finish Line made of the original bricks laid.

The flag podium.

Our tour bus. 

The media pagoda. We got a tour of the inside of that as well. 

Ryan "kissing the bricks" which has now become a tradition for many winning drivers to do after they have won a race here.

The 100th anniversary brick of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Press Conference Room

We're so important.

Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner!!!

Us on the first place stand on winner's circle.

The 500 trophy.

We went to Hinkle Fieldhouse to see where the Butler Bulldogs play. I've been on Butler's campus 100 times and had never been inside. It is so neat!!!

So....that was our trip. We had a blast and the families seem to approve. :) That's always a good thing! 

I'm really grateful I'm marrying into a family that is loud and crazy and warm. I'm glad my family, although they didn't get to spend a lot of time with us on this trip, was so welcoming and loving to Ryan.