Syra Says

HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH.

2015-04-10T10:02:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, we went to my FAVORITE PLACE. And I was so excited. This was our main reason for coming to California for spring break. :) My mom has a cousin who has a friend who works for Disneyland, and long story short, we got some pretty sick deals on a park hopper pass for the day.
WARNING: we took a ton ton TON of pictures that day (all iPhone pics though because we didn't want anything to happen to our new camera), so enjoy this picture-heavy post of how Brady and I ate and selfied our way through the happiest place on earth.

WE WERE SO HAPPY WE COULDN'T CONTAIN OURSELVES! And yes I speak for both of us when I say that.

Paradise Pier is SO DREAMY.

K I was SO PROUD of my husband!

He is TERRIFIED of roller coasters, but he wanted to make me happy so he agreed to go on California Screamin' as long as we: A) went on it first and B) I promised that that was the only scary ride we would go on all day. I kinda made a halfway promise--- and then we rode this two more times throughout the day. I mean, technically this IS the only scary one we went on, we just went on it 3 times. So I'm not a mean person here. #maritaltrust (But he loved it. And I was so proud.)

Cutest graduation ears for me!!!! Holler. And another one below so you can actually see the ears.

How cute are his wizard Mickey ears?! I was dying.

Brady is terrified of roller coasters.

The Tower of Terror even terrifies me, but I still love it. Anyways, later in the day Brady hit a moment of extreme bravery, and we went and got fastpasses for the Tower of Terror! I think it was all the adrenaline from everything, but still I was stoked! But here's a really sad story: We got fastpasses for Indiana Jones and our callback time was at like 3:30, so we went to catch that,and were done riding Indiana Jones at about 3:55. Our Tower of Terror fastpass wasn't until 4:15, so we decided to catch Pirates of the Caribbean while we were right there. When we came on our honeymoon (and basically any time I had come to Disneyland previously), the wait time for Pirates was never longer than 15 minutes. And the little sign thing said it would only be a 15 minute wait. Well that 15 minutes ended up being about 50 minutes. And the ride itself took about 30 minutes when it usually takes 10! So yes, that means that we missed our fastpass to the Tower of Terror.*crying* And by the time we got over to the Tower of Terror, there was about a 2 hour wait. No thank you. Brady tried to show sympathy and act as though he was as sad as I was, but I knew that in his head he was leaping for joy.

That little stinker.

As much as I loved being in California Adventure, I was so homesick for actual Disneyland.

So it's a good thing that we had those park hoppers!

There's just something about being on Main Street, U.S.A. that's just indescribable.

"Brady, stand here and let me take a picture of you!" I wonder if one of these times he will just get fed up and tell me "NO!" hehe :)

I can not contain my happiness when I'm at Disneyland. I am constantly squealing "eek!"

The characters are hard to nail down for a picture, so this was about as good as I got. And bonus: I got a little old man with Mickey ears in my pic. Winning.

For lunch we were STARVING, but we loved being in the little dining square in California Adventure, and we didn't want to walk all the way to Downtown Disney. So we decided to try out this Mexican Restaurant. I'd never had anything that I didn't like at Disney, so I figured this food would be yummy, right? WRONG. Eww. The tortilla was hard, and there were SO MANY refried beans in my burrito. And on the side of the burrito. Eww. Also, I kinda hate refried beans. So maybe if you like refried beans then you would like this place, but the tortilla was still gross.

Carsland reminded us of Moab, Utah. Which is weird because we've actually never been there before.

He's such a good sport posing for all my pics.

This is us in line for radiator springs! What better way to pass the time than to take pics, right? hehe

Selfies for days.

Okay. So right when we walked into California Adventure at about 8:40 am, we went straight to the Radiator Springs fastpass machine to get fastpasses, and they were already to the 2:30 pm fastpass time frame! FYI, I'm not a pro, but from what I've noticed, they give out a certain amount of fastpasses every five minutes until they've reached a certain time and then they are done giving fastpasses for that ride for the day. So in this case, that means that by 8:40 am, they had already given a fastpass to all the time frames up until 2:30 pm. Crazy. I think they actually ran out of fastpasses at like noon! Anyways, I ramble too much. I'm so glad we got the fastpasses though because this seemed to be the most popular ride. And for good reason too! It was so cute. Please don't mind my face in this shot. Or if you do mind it, here's another more-zoomed-in view.

So since our Mexican food lunch was borderline disgusting, we NEEDED something else to, you know, give us energy. ;) So we got THESE. OMG. My mouth is drooling just looking at this picture. Brady and I's favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. Thank goodness there are so many places in Utah that can cater to our needs every weekend. However, this cookie bottom sundae from Ghirardelli PUT THOSE UTAH COOKIES TO SHAME. Seriously. It was out of this world! I may be exaggerating because I was caught up in the Disney magic, but I was obsessed with this and have been craving it since my very last bite. And three words: Ghirardelli hot fudge. Need I say more?

Look at this beauty.

Look at this husband.

This is the look of "OMG why is this the most delicious thing this side of the Mississippi?" Okay I don't think these are the actual words that came out of Brady's mouth, but he was probably thinking them.

The awkward eating shot? Or the shot of pure deliciousness being consumed? You decide.

The worst thing in the world is when you see Mickey/Minnie Mouse/any other favorite character and you get so excited to take a picture with them, and then when you go to stand in line the mean worker (who is "just doing his job" as Brady says) tells you that the line is closed. The face of pure disappointment captured. I'm such a baby.

Wizard Mickey Brady and Flower Petal Mickey Mouse. If we can't get a picture with the real one, we'll settle for the plant version.

Earlier in the week, we were worried because the weather forecast said it was going to rain on the day we were planning on going to Disneyland. We were so grateful when we made it through most of the day without getting rained on! And at about 5:30 pm, there were only a few drops here and there, so we thought we dodged a (rain) bullet. Little did we know.... (to be continued later in the post).

This is Brady and I's third time going to Disneyland together. Which is pretty awesome because before Brady and I started dating, he had NEVER been before. Now he's been three times in the past 16 months. The first time we came was for Christmas with my family right before we got engaged, the second was on our honeymoon *sigh*, and this was our third time. So it's a pretty sentimental place for us, to say the least. We got matching sweaters the first time, matching shirts the second time (with the most ADORABLE wedding Mickey and Minnie ears), and so we decided that it just has to be a tradition that we get matching shirts and new ears. Brady also promised that he would take me to Disneyland every year forever and ever, so I'm excited to see how our collection will grow. I'm also excited to see if he keeps his promise! (He better. Or else. hehe)

Dinner. Wetzel's. Yum.

My dreamy boy. Right before it started raining.

So remember how earlier I said that we thought the raining was done for the day? Wrong. So wrong. It started raining when we were in line for California Screamin' (for the third time, I might add. Go Brady!) and then it was REALLY raining when we were actually on the roller coaster. We went on completely dry, and came off DRENCHED. It was so fun though! And at night when everything is lit up and beautiful. *sigh* It was the best ride of the day!

Lady at the photo booth: "Wow, you're really expressive!"... Thanks?

Because you can never have too many selfies. Right?

In my head I was probably thinking, "Oh I loved that selfie so much that I need one with my ears on!"

My dreamy boy while it was raining.

It POURED rain. For over an hour straight! We wanted to get a good seat for World of Color that night, so we just sat there in the rain. Drenched. Getting more drenched. Miserable. The Disneyland workers wouldn't let us stand in the building of the Little Mermaid ride unless we were in line to get on the ride, so we just decided to go on the ride. It was so warm—but so miserable because our clothes were freezing and stiff. And I was in wet jeans. Eww.

Since so many people left, though, we got a way good spot to watch World of Color! And it miraculously stopped raining right when it started. However, the show did get delayed about 45 minutes—adding to the excruciating misery. (Me being dramatic.)

We're so cheesy.

So remember how every time we're at Disneyland we get matching shirts/new ears? Well, we also accidentally started this tradition where we take a picture of Brady kissing my cheek while on mainstreet. AND I'M OBSESSED! This is probably going to be one of my favorite traditions of ours! It will be so fun to see our pictures over the years. Especially when we're old hehe.

Honeymoon: August 2014.

(6 weeks after hellacious knee surgery. And yes, I got married in that thing.)

Christmas: December 2013.

We are so cute. Insert a million heart-eye emojis.

The end of a 15-hour Disney day.

We can't leave Disneyland without getting postcards for our nieces+nephew.

XOXO

SPRING BREAK.

2015-04-06T02:15:00.000-06:00

So actually, BYU doesn't have spring break. That phrase has been foreign to me these past four years. However, my husband's school DOES have a spring break. Granted, his spring break falls rather late in the year, but he still has one. We bought plane tickets to Hawaii a few weeks ago for my graduation trip, but I've been so sad because I've been craving Disneyland for the past eight months. As a sidenote, I do love Hawaii. And I'm so excited to go! I just happen to be blessed with grandparents who just happen to live in Hawaii and California, so I guess I don't understand what it's like to have never been to Hawaii. Does that make sense? Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked. The point of this is that I love Disneyland and California so much that I wished I could go to BOTH Disneyland AND Hawaii for graduation, but there isn't enough time between the end of school and the start of my new job. Which is where the spring break comes in! I decided that since I'm a senior and since B's and C's get degrees, I would give myself a spring break the same time as my husband. Also, I just like saying C's get degrees. So here we are in California! And here are some fun pics.

This is Brady and I's cute niece Shayla! She's Brady's oldest brother Michael's (and sister-in-law Camie's) daughter. They live in St. George, so we stopped and stayed the night with them on the way down to California. We LOVE Shayla! She is the sweetest little girl. We love Michael and Camie too hehe. My favorite thing was this weekend when we were driving to get frozen custard at Nielsen's Frozen Custard (which was DEE-LISH) she begged me to sit by her, and the whole time she just held my hand. And then randomly when the grown-ups were talking and she didn't feel as though she was getting adequate attention, she would yell out "I LOVE YOU SIERRA!" It was so cute. I love her. We got to see her do a cute little neighborhood Easter egg hunt, and then we went to breakfast at this super cool diner called Jazzy Java. I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures of all the food we got—note to self: start being that person who takes pictures of every meal. I got a veggie omelette, Brady got this thing called "The Pile" (hashbrowns, sunny side up egg, gravy), and the St. George Thomases got a smoothie. It was a super cool place! Brady and I have come to the conclusion that we're kind of obsessed with St. George.

Today was Easter Sunday and also General Conference. It was so nice to have them both fall on the same Sunday, and it was also nice to be able to go to the beach in between sessions. hehe :) My cute grandparents got Brady and me our favorite Easter candies (Brady loves all things choco+pb, I LOVE choco+mallows), and my grandma also made the most dee-lish German Chocolate Cake. I should put the recipe on here sometime. It's to die for, which is obvious because it's already half gone.

So, since it's Sunday, we decided to go for a drive to see the Temple! Sometimes Siri doesn't pull through, and she ends up taking us to the middle of nowhere. It was cool though, because we were driving through some random part of LA when all of a sudden we see this beautiful temple popping up out of the buildings. I had to get a picture of it from far away! This is my favorite temple. Ever.

So we then proceeded to take tons and tons of pictures of the temple. I mean how could you not though? It's unreal.

I think the reason I'm so obsessed with it though is because I used to be obsessed with watching my parents' wedding video when I was little. They got married in this temple, and I loved watching them come out of these doors. So I made Brady go stand by those doors so I could get a pic.

And then I took a pic in front of it. I look like a string bean. Hashtag tall and skinny probs.

And then another pic of Brady.

And then it sort of turned into a photoshoot. Oh well, I'm not mad about it.

Brady: "Si, come stand by this palm tree. I need to take a picture of you by your native plant." (Because I'm Hawaiian.) Weirdo.

I know this is a long post, but a lot has happened! Bear with me. After this, we went and drove around Hollywood; we took Santa Monica Blvd to get to Beverly Hills, went and drove around the insanely beautiful Beverly Hills neighborhoods, saw insane cars, drove down Sunset Blvd, and then Brady saw the Hollywood sign for the first time! From a distance though. So here I am with my 22 years of experience visiting California every summer, and all of a sudden I think I'm some sort of pro tour guide. I say to Brady, "If you want to get a really good view of the Hollywood sign, I need to take you to this park!" Anyways, remember how Siri is having some major problems lately? She took us to the complete backside of the Hollywood sign to some Equestrian campground type thing. It was so confusing. It might actually be because I don't actually know the name of the park or where it is or if it's even a park, but I'm still blaming it on Siri. Sorry girlfriend.

We somehow ended up somewhere near Universal Studios, and long story short, we then somehow ended up in line to the Universal Studios parking garage. A one-way parking garage. A parking garage that had a line of 5 cars behind us. A parking garage with no exit in sight. A parking garage that charged $10 for parking. We were trapped. So we just decided to give in and walk around Universal City. Which I'm really glad we did, because it was super fun! Here's the last of the pictures. I swear my next posts won't be this long. Hopefully. Why am I so self conscious about these? Oh well, whatever.

The Universal City boardwalk (the area right outside of the actual Universal Studios) was a poppin place. We took turns snapping pics of each other, like typical tourists of course.

So obviously, we don't mind taking the individual pictures of each other. I think I have some sort of phobia of asking people to take my pics because in London, all my friends and I did was ask people to take our pictures. And I always hated it. And plus, I didn't want anyone to run off with our new fancy cam. I also didn't want the awkwardness of asking them to take a picture with our fancy cam, and then have them not know how to use it. Or the picture turns out super blurry, which would mean all that hard work of asking someone for nothing.

So we took more selfies. Notice that we were both still in our conference clothes: aka basketball shorts and baggy shirts. I went the whole day sans-makeup and hoop earrings. The makeup part I'm fine with, the hoop earring part not so much.

Finally, this group of tourists asked us if we could take their picture for them. I like those people who ask us first, so then it's basically a given that they have to take our picture after. Plus, it gave me time to size up the competition. Aka, if they ran off with my camera, I had to make sure that I was confident enough in myself to outrun them and take them down. hehe

OKAY.

I NEEEEEED to talk about Wetzel's Pretzels for a second. WETZEL'S PRETZELS ARE MY FAVORITE PRETZELS IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Okay there, I talked about them. Hehe, but seriously, Brady and I are obsessed with them. We had them on our honeymoon at Disneyland *sigh* and we have not stopped talking about them since. They don't have them ANYWHERE in Utah, so I've been dying to come back to California and have some more. I about died when I saw it here.

Brady got baby Wetzel bites, and I got a cinnamon pretzels. Until next time Wetzel, baby.

XOXO

FIRST.

2015-03-31T23:30:00.001-06:00

THIS IS A TEST!

Just kidding. It's not really a test, I'm just kind of awkward in starting this whole first blog post thing, so it's actually an icebreaker I guess. As a first post, I think I'll just do sort of a get-to-know you type thing. My next one will be more exciting I promise. :)

+I'm Sierra, and I'm 22 years old (and four months, 27 days or something like that. But who's counting?)

+I'm obsessed with all things birthday related! My birthday to be more clear. hehe

+My husband's name is Brady Thomas. *Insert cheesy caption here about how he is the love of my life, best friend, other half, blah blah.* (But in all honesty, he is all those things and I'm obsessed with him.)

+He loves all things sports related—his favorites are baseball, the Lakers, the Angels, Kobe Bryant, and Mike Trout. I think "favorites" might be an understatement though. It's probably more along the lines of if Kobe Bryant and Mike Trout were of the female species, I would be extremely worried about my self-confidence.

+I like sports too! I'm just not a huge fan of following major league things. Although I'm mildly obsessed with Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors at the moment. We once got 7th row tickets to a Warriors/Jazz game, and it was seriously love at first sight *insert heart eye emoji*.

+We LOVE international soccer too. Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., Robin van Persie, and Gerard Pique are our favs.

+We're obsessed with Disneyland, or maybe it's more like I'm obsessed with Disneyland and then forced Brady to be obsessed with me. Either way, Disneyland is the best place ever.

+I love all things British. This may be because I spent two months in England on a study abroad, but it could also be because British things are just dreamy. (The Beatles, One Direction, the accents, Ed Sheeran, Galaxy Chocolate Bars. Yum.)

+I'm OB-SESSED with the Beatles. As in I have a huge picture frame with John, Paul, George and Ringo's faces displayed in my living room. As in this picture frame is bigger than all of my wedding pictures—combined.

+We are both from Pocatello, although I'm too lazy to do the whole "how we met" spiel (and yes I had to look up that word). In a future blog post I will. Maybe.

+I watch about 4 episodes of my favorite TV shows a day. Oops.

+Brady and I love to eat and go on drives. We became best friends by going on drives and eating together, when we started dating we would go on drives and eat good food, and now we're married and guess what we do? Go skydiving. Lolz, just kidding. We ballroom dance. Just kidding, we drive and eat good food. We love Hawaiian food and Japanese food and Thai food and Indian food and all those yummy goods, but in all honesty, most of our money goes towards Costa Vida sweet pork salads.

I feel like this blog post is really long. Is this how long they usually are? When I press publish is it actually going to be really short? Whatever. I'm a beginner. Here are some pictures, cause I know pictures are a big YES in the blog world.

When I started my blog, I told Brady that I NEEDED to get some pictures taken so people knew who I was.
It was a lot of fun, and it gave us a chance to play around with our new fancy camera that we got for Christmas. :)

The lovely photographer! I wish more blogger-husbands would do this.
Or if they do, I wish more bloggers would post them! They're totes hilar. Isn't my husband so cute?