Saturday: Eating our way up the West Coast

Saturday was "Beach Day." Though ironically, we never actually made it on the beach.

We started with a trip to Venice Beach where the crowd was definitely unique to say the least. Lots of musicians, skate boarders, and doctors. And by doctors, I mean "doctors." "Doctors" that sold "Medical" Marijuana. They even had their own stores. Lots of them. Yes, I am serious. And no, we did not walk on that side of the street. :-) We ate lunch at this place called The Cow's End where I had a great BLT wrap with blue cheese. Yummy.

We walked around for a while longer and then went back to the car to head up the coast. Next stop was the Santa Monica Pier.


I bought a few knick-nacks for the kids, but it was super crowded being a Saturday, so we stayed just a bit and decided to check out how the other half lives.

In other words- Malibu.

Jennifer Aniston- here I come!

Forget a "Star Homes Tour" bus. We had smart phones and Google.

As we drove around Malibu and through the Hollywood Hills, I spent much time googling road names + celebrity homes. With that, we are fairly certain we drove by both Dean Cain's and Will and Jada's homes. Score!

Some unexpected heavy traffic made our trip to Malibu a few hours longer than we expected it to be, so we went straight to dinner.

An experience I had been waiting for.

Korean BBQ

Korean BBQ is a pretty cool Melting Pot meets PF Chang's experience where you receive sauces, rice paper, some random sides, a green salad, potato salad, and then you choose your (raw) meats to cook on a griddle in the middle of your table. It's all you can eat and you start with 4 meats and can ask for more after you finish what you have. We started with marinated pork BBQ (yum), beef BBQ (yum), pork belly (kinda like bacon- yum with sauce in a rice paper), and spareribs (yum yum). We then added chicken (nothing special) and squid (Eric and Caroline's favorite. I tried it- not a yucky taste, just a weird rubbery texture.).

Caroline had much enjoyment in cutting the squid with scissors while Chad was utterly grossed out.

Though we were stuffed to the gills, we had a very important experiment to conduct.

Do the cupcakes that you can get after hours from the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM machine taste as good as the cupcakes you get fresh from the store?
That's right, folks. As if California couldn't get any cooler, they now have CUPCAKE ATM MACHINES.

OMG.

Fatness 24/7.

Someone slap me because that was the most awesome thing ever.
I went to sleep very happy (and very full) that night. :-)

Friday: Crossing State Lines

Part of the fun of the vacation was the mini road trip we had planned with Eric and Caroline. We checked out of our Vegas hotel Friday morning and hit the road to LA- approx a 4-5 hour drive. Traffic was great, temps were hot, and yummy Greek food was consumed at Mad Greek in the middle of the desert.


Oh yeah. And Wilson Phillips was rockin on Pandora.

We made it to Eric and Caroline's super precious home sometime that afternoon and settled in. Which for me, meant popping a few Sudafed thanks to Furbaby. :-)

Furbaby was NOT happy that his Mommy cleaned up and thus banned him from the guestroom. He was very curious who we were and why we had invaded HIS kingdom. :-)

We decided to go see a movie. ("The Campaign" was opening that day and I wanted to experience a "Hollywood movie theater.") Not to mention, Chad and I rarely experience movies at home anyway so its always a treat. We also walked around some and passed by Nickelodeon Studios- home of iCarly and Victorious. We immediately took a pic to send to Brooklyn.

After the movie, we headed to Malo Cantina, where Eric and Caroline had held their rehearsal dinner last year.
I had a yummy beef and pickle taco and a chicken taco. They also have really cool soft tortilla chips and a "salsa fleet" where we could try lots of yummy salsa.

With full bellies and still cracking up thinking about the afternoon's movie, we went back home for a little bit of TV watching (they turned us on to Honey Boo Boo Child and we showed them The New Girl) and then bed time.

More fun- and lots more eating awaited us Saturday!

Thursday: All Vegas, All the time

So, last I left you, I was dreaming of this:

And why shouldn't I when the temps looked like this:

Chad wanted to play a few poker tournaments and I wanted to bake in the sun, so while we did spend a half a day of our "honeymoon" apart, we were both in our element.

And I was thrilled that I only had to sunscreen ONE person.

Eric and Caroline spent the morning and part of the afternoon with me at the pool and then the four of us cleaned up and headed down the strip.

First stop: Caesar's Place

Then we moved on to the Cosmopolitan where we ate at the Wicked Spoon.

Also known as the best.buffet.ever.

We were very happy to be there.
Very happy.
The thing with this buffet is that eveything comes in its own tiny bowl, plate, cup, basket, etc. It helps with reducing waste but also makes everything self contained.

And just looks plain cute.

(spaghetti and veal meatballs and mac and cheese)

(fish and chips)

And can you believe that they actually open all your crab legs for you? Yup. Split right in half.
They should for a buffet that cost more than our two night stay at the Excalibur hotel. :-)
Oh, and the desserts......

After we all left in a food coma with smiles on our faces, we walked down the strip and just enjoyed the sites.

We all had an "awwww" moment when we walked by the Bellagio fountains and they had just started their "show." Each time I have been to Vegas there is a new song and show, but what a cool moment when we realized that this evening's song was Elton John's "Your Song," the song that our parents danced to at their wedding, the song that Chad and I had played during our wedding ceremony, and the song that Eric and our mom danced to at his wedding reception.

Thankful Thursday

This week, I celebrated 9 years of wedded bliss with this handsome fellow. :-)

I mean, it's seriously been 9 years of love and laughter.

And an occasional theme t-shirt.

Thank you, Chad, for giving me the life I have always dreamed of having.

And for the two most beautiful babies in the world.

I hope to walk through the next 99 years with you by my side.

Love you, baby!

Happy Father's Day, Honey!

Just wanted to take a quick moment to wish my husband a very happy Father's Day! Chad, you are my partner, my rock, my comforter, my listening ear, my love, and these days even my executive assistant. :-)

Thank you for supporting me in everything I do! You are a wonderful husband and an even better father. I wouldn't want to navigate through this life with anyone but you.

Especially since one day you will be a real life rock star. Ha ha!

Happy Father's Day, Chad! I love you! Best friends forever and always.
~Me

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's hard to believe we came from this:

...to this in just 8 years:

What a lucky, lucky girl I am!

(BTW- There's about 140 extra pounds between the four of us in that 2nd picture! Though I won't reveal how it's distributed, I am soooo glad that I started the Biggest Loser yesterday!)

On August 3, 2002, Chad and I said "I Do" in front of 240 of our closest friends and family. What an amazing day it was! Actually, it was an amazing WEEK....we had so much fun doing different "bridal party" activities each day before the wedding...and the actual wedding itself was perfect.

I am so blessed to have married my best friend...and that he turned out to be the best father, too.

The words to Bryan White's Song, "What Did I Do?" fit our life perfectly 8 years ago when we danced that first dance as husband and wife...and it still fits us perfectly now.

I love you, Chad! Happy Anniversary! Thanks for giving me the life that I have always dreamed of having!

What did I do to deserve you?

Only God's hands could have made you

And brought this dream to life

Always swore that I, I would never fall

I guess miracles happen after all

And what did I ever do to deserve you?

Unconventional describes my love for you

Unconditional 'cause there's nothing I won't do

I pray as this feeling grows

That you'll always touch the heart and so love me

It's a mystery

Happy Anniversary, Chad!

It's been 7 years since I became Mrs. Chad Johnson. Some days it feels like it was yesterday; while other days, it's like we have been together our whole lives. Well, we have pretty much KNOWN each other most of our lives, and we have been "an exclusive couple" for 12 years (on August 13th), so yes, it's been a long time. :-)

I wrote this post last year celebrating our anniversary: http://jaclynbjohnson.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-wonderful-life-is-now-youre-in.html. All those memories stay true. Our wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life....to know that those 227 people will never all be in the same room again- but they were there to celebrate US- never ceases to amaze me. I always think about that at weddings- and I always remind the bride and groom to look around at everyone and remember that moment because they will never all be there again. I am blessed to still keep in touch with all my bridesmaids and Chad with his groomsmen- it shows us that we picked the right people for the job. :-) They are all truly lifelong friends. Chad and I come from families with very stable, very solid couples. His parents have been married almost 36 years and mine 32 years. My Oma and Opa have been married 57 years and my grandmother and grandfather celebrated 53 years in May the week before my grandfather passed away. Some may think it's pressure, but I see it as a goal. :-)

So, happy anniversary, Chad (though I have no idea when you will read this blog again- ha ha!). I love you...forever and always...and cannot wait to spend the next 7-0 years with you!

Happy Birthday, my sweet husband!

While we were at the beach, we celebrated Chad's 32nd birthday. Brooklyn and I celebrated the night before we left for the beach with cupcakes, Chinese food, and some gifts, but we celebrated with the whole fam at Ocean Isle the last night we were there. We had a great seafood dinner of crab legs, shrimp, baked clams, tilapia, mac and cheese, beans, rice, and birthday cake. Chad received some great gifts, including a ping pong table that he is very excited about putting together.

Happy Birthday, Chad. You are one in a million, and I am glad that you chose me to be your partner through this crazy life of ours! I love you!

how wonderful life is now you're in the world!

I want to wish my wonderful husband, Chad, a happy 6 year anniversary (yesterday, August 3rd). Though our life is currently dictated by a three and a half year old (already planning her four year old birthday in February), I just wanted to let Chad know what a wonderful husband and father he is. Brooklyn and I are so lucky that he is ours, and we thank God every day for him! I'm excited about starting our 6th year in a new home with our perfect little family, and I am already going to apologize for the stress that I will cause you when we move and I am redecorating. Hey, it's inavoidable. :-) But, look on the bright side...I hate to move so we won't be having this conversation again for another 30 years when we move into our deluxe condo. :-)

Can you believe that 6 years ago, digital cameras were not a staple in every household, so our wedding photographs were all on, gasp, FILM. So, I wish there were photos to reminisce with, but alas, none are on my computer, and I am too busy to scan. :-) But, we can all think back and remember that hot August day/evening at First Lutheran and Bryan Park, the beautiful ceremony, how Universal Decca Recording Artist Brendan James sang Ave Maria and Your Song (when he was just college friend Brendan Ernst), "the ring drop," how I left Heidi hanging with the bouquets and just ran down the aisle with Chad, the awesome reception with David Frazier- the BEST DJ ever, Heidi and Larry- the NEW bride and groom, the Phi Beta Chi girls dancing to Beat It (to which my brother replied "Only you would have choreography at your reception."), the bouquet (s) toss, running out of Red Oak (sorry Chad!), my new brother-in-law entering the reception hall- beer in hand & cowboy hat on head- to Return of the Mack, watching my mom and her friends dance to It's Raining Men, and finally, leaving the reception to drive through "Taco Bell" to get some sweet tea!

I love you, Chad, and I couldn't imagine sharing this crazy ride with anyone else!