A Day Amongst The Animals

There are so many stories that could help support the title of this blog. So let's just start out by saying that this was the most spontaneous road trip that I ever taken. Kaylinn just said around 4 pm last Sunday, "Let's go to the San Diego Zoo tomorrow." So, we packed our bags, booked a room and off we went. After a trip to get some Oreo Blizzards (we are sinners, we know), it seemed to be a really quick trip down to San Diego. We booked a package that included pizza and a movie, so we finally watched the newest Harry Potter. Gotta say, I thought it was pretty good, better than I thought.

The next morning we headed off to the Zoo, and I can't explain why, but I absolutely love animals. I felt like I used to when I went to Disneyland (yes, most of the Disney love has moved on...sad I know). We got to the zoo and started our adventure heading to the reptiles. We got to the area with these HUGE Galapagos tortoises. As we were watching we noticed that two of them decided to express their love for each other....I know it is beyond immature, but it was one of the funniest moments we had during the day. So much work for the poor guy. Then two kids came up and said, "Look, he is giving her a back massage!" To which the girl responded, "I betcha she asked for it." We had to do everything we could to not lose it in front of these kids.

After that we went and saw the monkeys and tigers, followed closely by the Panda Bears and Polar Bears. Then to a whole lot of others. The best part about the day, for whatever reason the animals were super active. We got to each area right at feeding time or some other time that they were all just moving around. I have never been to a zoo where the animals were actually moving. So, I guess we will show you a few pictures of what we got to see....and you know I had to include one of the turtles.

Now that is one back massage we will never forget!

Being that these bears hardly move at all during the day, we saw quite a bit of action from these guys. (A few bear shots for our buddy Jason W!)

Now this was incredible, this polar bear (which neither of us have ever seen polar bears in a zoo move before) had a lil' moment with Kaylinn where they kinda just looked at each other for a minute. It was amazing!

I had to add in a picture with this little guy. He was, I must say, cute.

Now, my favorite part of the trip was feeding time for the lions. They did an enrichment activity where the food was put in a burlap sack and they had to figure it out. The zoo-keeper said that he was sure the female would get it because she was the smart one, and the male would try for a while and give up. True to form, the female had it in about 2 minutes and 35 minutes later, the male was still trying to figure it out. Once again, I have never seen a lion move in a zoo, but this was amazing, they are absolutely majestic in every way shape and form. My only regret...I just wish the stupid fence wasn't blocking the photos! But, on the other hand, I was glad it was there so they didn't tear the flesh off of my face. Check out those teeth!

All in all, it was the most successful zoo trip either of us has ever had. Three cheers for my amazing wife and her spontaneous inclinations and for getting me out of my daily routine. Another shout out to Carl's Jr. and their Oreo shakes, absolutely amazing! An all around fantastic trip!

In Recognition

Not that we think she'll happen upon our blog on her day of birth

But we give a roudy shout out to our British/Canadian/American citizen friend.

May you live long and prosper. We thought of you while in Epcot. Too bad you and Buddy weren't free to join us. Would have loved your company!

All. Time. Favorite

"Favorite" is a pretty bold statement. Tonight, I was reminded why the classic holiday film While You Were Sleeping is my favorite film. And my all.time.favorite scene in all of movie-dom is as follows. I'm pretty sure I cry laughing every time. Tessa will attest. So funny!






And I hope all our Holiday Table conversations have someone commenting on the creamy mashed potatos...very mashed!

I'm Thankful

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I am Thankful for:

My job: I love the creativity and freedom I have to "do my own thing". I love that the Principal respects me and appreciates my value to the team. I love my paychecks!

Costco: Two words--Sample Ladies. Pretty sure Mark and I have been on dinner dates there a few times. Its delightful, and if you haven't done it you should cuz its pretty dang fun. Pretty sure I use to be a Costco Sample Lady when I was in high school. How did I get that job!??! Katie G. and Amanda B. both worked at Costco and I really wanted be cool like them so I applied. Except I applied to the wrong company. WDS works in Costco, but isn't costco. Whatever. I liked that job.

Modern Communication! Thank you Mr. Alexander Bell, and Mr. Thomas Edison, and Mr. Internet people, and Dr. Martin Cooper. Definitely Dr. Cooper. What was life before cell phones and free long distance. I'll tell you what it was like: USPS=no communication-o. So gentlemen; you are all super blessings in my life.

Mexicans: I couldn't love enchiladas and tacos and chips and salsa any more. So even though some of their kids in my classrooms are the bane of my existence (Noriel Lopez!) their food is dang BIEN!

Freeways: Can you imagine getting to work side streets. Well, maybe you can depending on where you live and work but I know that I COULD NOT do that! As they say, we measure distance not in miles but in how long it will take you to get there.

Pictures: Thank you world for making pictures easy and convenient and wonderful. They are the only tangible evidence I have of my dad. They hold more memories and life and love and joy and sadness and dear people in all of those photo pages. Thank you Photoshop for making pictures look more amazing then ever. And talented photographers whose skill makes us all look flawless and amazing.

So many good people: Countless individuals. I could not give a shout out to them all for fear of forgetting one. But I couldn't forget Courtney and lessons she has taught me in spirituality, faith, finding joy in life, and pure spunk. Lauren and her consistent spontaneous companionship; not one college memory was made without her. Sara and her friendship, kindness, and wisdom; moving is never fun and I dread life without our date nights. Michael Palo for making work meetings bearable, Bonnie Jacobs for saving me in MoVal and our memories with the Bells', Stephanie Inskeep for convincing me to buy a Disneyland season pass...thank you for the people.

Mark Morrell-What a man of service, love, devotion, support, kindness, and adventure. I admire his will to work, persevere, problem solve, and personal improvement. Life would not be the same without his sound effects, facial expressions, Fast Talk, food cravings, blue eyes, and love of the game. In just 7 months he has cooked countless meals, watched a myriad of shows, edited wedding photos, updated my musical needs, arranged tours of near impossible grander, introduced me to and allowed me to socialize with remarkable friends, and trained for and run a half marathon. All. for. me! I love him and am eternally thankful he said yes!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ-A true foundation to an ever changing life. One place I can rely that will always be the same, produce the same results. Constant direction and guidance. I love the temple. I love what I feel when I go there and what I learn inside. I cherish eternal marriage covenants and blessings. I reverence the blessing of repentance and mercy made available through my Savior. I am truly and humbly THANKFUL for my membership.

The list could be too long for posting, but I truly am a grateful person this season. I pray all our hearts can reflect on the good we have been given; somewhere in the muck we call life.

Walt Disney World

Delightful! Vacation time finally came and we were more then ready. And what better place then on the other side of the country in the land where "Dreams Come True". Because Mark happens to work for the parks, we get some fabulous discounts. We were there for 5 days, how delightful!Just a few pictures to highlight our trip. We must mention our ability to eat! Disneyworld has the most amazing dining plan that had us eating pretty much non-stop. Our best "sit-down" meal was at Ohanas in the Polynesian Resort. Funny thing, for me-the meat wasn't the best part but it the delicious pastas and goodness you get before the meat buffet. I'm just saying!

I'm not much for Roller Coasters but in true theme park support, I rode all the rides. Expedition Everest is the parks most recent roller coaster. I don't love the backwards part of the ride, or the forward part so much either. I guess you can just look at my face, that tells a pretty good story.

Back to the food...pretty sure my favorite part was when we discovered the ice cream station. And I hate to admit it but I totally ate one of these every night; Mark enjoyed a chocolate shake (or two) as well. Yes, we took the "we're on vacation" excuse to the next level.

The highlight of the trip would most definitely be the surprise Mark had planned for Thursday night. We headed back to the Magic Kingdom that evening and I had guesses all over the place. It wasn't until we ventured backstage with a park manager that I put the pieces together. We were headed to none other then the Cinderella Suite located in Cinderella's castle. This room was used for the year of a million dreams but now is used exclusively for high profile guests. And very few tours. Their most recent guests? Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

James showed us little secrets from the escape window that would stop the fireworks show if it were opened and the Versailles chest taken from the fall off the Versailles Palace during the March. It was seriously beautiful. Smaller then I thought it would be. There wasn't a master bedroom, just one room with 2 queen beds and a pull out queen sofa. So my question: where did TomKat sleep? It was super neat to stand in a room that is so hard to get into. What a treat.

One of our last stops was at Epcot. The newest attraction there was the Kim Possible Secret Mission extravaganza. You get a little cell phone that tells you clues throughout different countries as you hunt for the evil henchmen. Really kinda fun, even for those of us in our late 20s.

And our last special treat was to meet the characters from the movie Up! which is one of our new favorites. Carl and Russel were uber cute. Carl even lent Mark his walker/cane thing. Super cute. So here is our standard Disney character shot.

A few other trip highlights (less photos):

• Analyzing WDW lifeguards. They failed.
• The couple on Splash Mountain. I promise he was late 30s, she was barely 20...if we're being nice.
• Mark's introduction to and conquering of Sudoku
• Christmas Lights in Hollywood Studios
• Running into old friend Ben Parkes and expecting wife.
• Peter Pan ride: so much better then California.
• Birthday guy from Jungle Cruise. "Many more to come...for both of us" said while shoving cheetos and a pickle into his mouth.
• German dinner with awkward tablemates.
• 50% holiday cast member discount on merchandise
• Food, Food, Food. Perhaps the additional lbs gained were not so good.
• Trip to Downtown Disney (about 1 hour travelling time) to purchase "must haves". Later realizing they were in the shop at the hotel. Nice wasted trip.
• $6.00 DirectTV purchase on flight home. Totally worth it.
  

What's up with them?

I have been wanting to update for a while now but really feel that we are lacking blog worthy events in life. Mostly, we're just doing the same stuff. It IS my favorite season: fall. Disney brings out all their colorful stuff and I just love it. Minnie was wearing the cutest little dress that I had never seen, it was just adorable I had to wait in line to snap a shot. And then I fired the "character escort" for such a bad photo. Seriously, I did so much better back in my day.

Halloween came and went without much of a notice in the Morrell house. I did dress up for the ward trunk-or-treat but only because I had been roped into working a booth. Most of the ward didn't notice me which was funny. Few said hi-which was funnier. I was a little embarrassed when I took on the role of managing the air-bouncy-slide thing the ward had rented. The kids had taken over and were being very rowdy so--I couldn't help but kick into teacher/crowd control mode and whip it into shape. To many comments later, I kinda regret it. But on the other hand, I LOVE that power when people listen to you. Hence why I love Disney Crowd Control. Good days.

this is me with my dear friend's kids. If she weren't around, I would literally go crazy with Mark's schedule. Abby didn't want to take a picture, but I promise she likes me.

Not much other news here. We're packing to go to Florida; a much needed and anticipated vacation. Surprising to most, this was a joint decision for vacation locations. Some would judge that I was getting Mark to go here but honestly, Mark has been very excited to go. Five lovely days without dealing with our lives here. It will be so lovely.

And for a final random note: the neighbors are crazy foreigners who we've decided speak a new language named "Panjabi". Downstairs from them are the Garden-of-Eden/Dog Owners who make the entire world smell like their Dog's waste mixed with cigs and old garbage. Mark has interesting stories about co-workers being serious druggies, overdosing, coming to work, and then basically running away from the hospital so they don't get fired. I have stories of 4th period and 6th period being the end of my teaching career. And one kid in particular who has taken an awkward liking to me; today he called me mom as he followed me all the way to my car