Best Husband Surprise Ever!

What do the answers to these questions have in common?

Clue 1: If you needed to find a plumber, where would you find one to call?

Clue 2: This is a common pirate phrase: “______ me timbers!”

Clue 3: What item can all of these words describe? Grandfather, Wall, Antique, Cuckoo

Clue 4: Can you fill in the blank for this 80’s movie starring Kurt Douglas? “Big _________ in Little China”

Clue 5: A true handyman might be called “Mr. ____- it”.

That is the riddle that I received in an email from Aaron on Friday afternoon leading me to the best surprise ever!

WARNING: Long story! Skip to the pics if you just want the answer.

But before I explain the surprise let's start back a few weeks ago when this all got started. I listen to a radio show everyday on my way home from work. It is the Slacker and Steve show on Alice 105.9. I love it... when it is appropriate. Starting about two weeks ago everyday at 5:30 they would have a competition. Each day they would give a story idea, whether it be a good hoarding story, an embarrassing crying story, a boycotting story or a high maintenance story and which ever caller had the best story would win a certain concert ticket. Every day I would call Aaron with the premise of the story and we would try to come up with the funniest story we could and then call in to the radio station in hopes of winning these tickets. Everyday for two weeks we would call in and either get a busy signal or they would put us on hold and then run out of time for our story. One day Aaron actually made it on the radio about boycotting Rainbow Mallows. I'll spare you why he is boycotting but needless to say we didn't win.

Well Thursday rolled around, the day before the concert and I was so bummed that we hadn't won tickets. We looked into buying tickets but were concerned about the cost being a little high. We decided to not purchase tickets and have our typical Friday night of eating out and watching Numb3rs and a movie.

I went to school Friday thinking it was going to be another usual day, but oh was I wrong. Around lunch time I got an email from Aaron asking me to answer the questions listed above. I thought to myself, "I don't have time for this, I have to teach." But I hurried and answered the questions and then decided to type all of the answers in google to see if the riddle would pop up.

The answers were "yellow" pages, shiver, clocks, trouble and fix. What do they have in common? They are all Coldplay songs! Every hit that popped up had to do with Coldplay. "Duh!" I thought, "of course these are all Coldplay songs!" I hurried and emailed him back wondering why he was teasing me so, this was the exact band that we weren't going to see. Right then my lunch break was over and the kids started piling in. I started class but was anxiously waiting for Aaron's response. I kept glancing over at my computer every 30 seconds until he finally responded. I casually walked on over to my computer still leading the class discussion. I clicked on his email and a big picture of Coldplay popped up with the words... You are cordially invited to the Coldplay concert! (My sweet husband had found a sweet deal on sweet tickets!) I immediately got a huge smile on my face and completely forgot what I was talking about. My students thought that I had gone crazy. I almost just shouted out "I am going to COLDPLAY!" Instead, I just causally said "Excuse me, but what were we talking about?" At least it gave them a good laugh.

The concert was so fun! We had floor seats and sat 25 rows away from the stage. They sang all of their hits, Viva la Vida, Fix You, Violet Hill, The Hardest Part, Politik, and my favorite: The Scientist! At one point during one of their new songs titled "Lovers in Japan"they let thousands of confetti butterflies fall from the ceiling. It was incredible! Check out some of our photos below! There is even a video with some highlights from the concert. Heads up it is about 4 minutes... I couldn't bear to cut it down!

RISE AND SHOUT....

Last Saturday Aaron and I along with my parents and my brother Jeff headed south to Colorado Springs. We geared up in our blue and white and made our way to the place where half of the LDS population in Colorado was headed as well.

We first had to make a stop at the always warm and wonderfully delicious... Cracker Barrel! I have so many memories of this beloved restaurant growing up. I could spend all day telling them. This was another learning experience for my dear husband. I realized that I revert back to my ten year old self when I get overly excited about my family traditions, hence the fascination with Disney. I guess I have to give my parents props for such a rad childhood! Thanks!

Well after our quick stop to play checkers, drink orange cream soda, eat country ham and fried ocra we were off to the main event... BYU vs. Air force game!

I am not a huge football fan so I was just in it for the experience, but every time I did decide to pay attention they would do horribly! Guessing by the final score you can assume that I didn't pay too much attention seeing how BYU destroyed the Falcons! The final score 38-24!

We had a blast with my family, stake president, a student of mine and friends from our ward who all happened to be sitting right by us! GO COUGARS!

Our Day as California Tourists!

So I am behind on my posting but I'll share anyway. After our Disneyland vacation we had an extra day in Los Angeles so we figured we would do your typical touristy stuff. I am glad to say that I experienced this at least once but if I never go back to L.A. I would be just fine.

Our first stop was a farmers market. I know that may sound lame but it was incredible and huge! It had every type of food imaginable and all of these adorable little shops. One shop only sold old soda pops and other pop from around the world. It took me ten minutes to decide what to order. It was so fun!

Trip advisor said this was a good place for celebrity sitings. It also happened to be right behind the CBS studio. I was hoping for a run in with Charlie from my fav show Numb3rs but I guess it wasn't my day.

Next we were off to Grauman's Chinese Theater for the Hollywood walk of fame. There were plenty of celebrity imposter's hanging around in case you wanted to pay a few dollars for a pic... creepy! I hurried and held hands with Brad Pitt and then we got out of there as fast as we could.

Next we headed up to the famous HOLLYWOOD sign and got a nice view of the entire valley. We drove up as far as we could and got as close as we could without having to hike. A friendly man that lived in his van offered Aaron a wonderful opportunity to watch the sunset from just above the sign... needless to say we didn't stay around there much longer.

Our next destination was Beverly Hills with a look down Rodeo Drive.

After checking that off our list, we headed down the road to the Los Angeles temple! Best part of the day!

Then we were off to the Santa Monica Pier where we enjoyed the sunset on the beach. We thought about riding a roller coaster but it just didn't seem too enticing just coming from Disneyland the day before.

From there we were off to the airport. And there you have it... our day as California tourists.

Where the Clock Never Strikes Midnight!

So after my adventure in Vegas, my brother, sister, brother-in-law and niece headed off to Anaheim, California to meet up with Aaron and our sister Lauren for the greatest adventure of all. This was an adventure that I had to convince Aaron that he was excited for! DISNEYLAND!!!

Growing up in my family, Disney World was an almost every year experience! My family loves Disney, but this was our first trip to Disneyland! Jeff was so excited that the second we got into the hotel he ran to hug Mickey!

Even baby Kate was excited! She got dressed up in her princess outfit! The whole gang was off to enjoy the most magical place a kid could ever go to(or an adult who still wishes they were a kid... Aaron saw a whole new side of me during this trip. Even though I had warned him before hand, he was still in shock to see my inner 10 year old come to life for two days.)

We ran to Space mountain anticipating an hour long line but to our surprise we walked right on! Always go to Disneyland in October!

Next we headed over to Buzz Light Year, I think we had to actually wait 5 minutes to get on this one. So fun!

Next was Autopia, yay Whitney and Phil passed their driving test!

Our next adventure was Pirates of the Caribbean! Baby Kate loved it! Afterwards, I tried to convince Aaron that we should dress up like pirates for Halloween but he refused to do anything Disney related. Someday I will get him to dress up like the beast!

There is always time to stop for Disney treats! Turkey legs and Mickey mouse shaped ice cream sandwiches are my favorite treats every time!!!!!

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Haunted Mansion and SPLASH MOUNTAIN! We were so lucky all day, I kid you not that every time there happened to be a long line someone would randomly give us their fast pass! Awesome!

Jungle Cruise... Gotta love those baby Kate approved rides!

Thunder Mountain! A headache waiting to happen... but I still can't resist!

And the best part of all... The Disney Princess store. I think this was the biggest shock of all for Aaron. He honestly cannot believe that a 24 year old girl would still dream of being a princess... oh but I do! I am not sure Aaron had seen excitement like this from me before. I couldn't decide what souvenirs to buy. Even though my selection was limited because I already had half of the Belle items in the store, it still took 45 minutes to decide. Too bad most of them are just sitting in a closet... I can't wait until we have a little girl than there will be no excuse to hide them away! My sister Whitney is a huge Cinderella fan!

Well on Day two we headed across the way to the California Adventure park!!!

We rode Tower of Terror. This ride is so much cooler at Disney World. It was still fun though!

Toy story ride rocks!!!

And of course we rode California Screamin 3 times! Amazing!

And finally at night we took a break to watch the fireworks show! It too was amazing!!!

We loved every second of Disneyland! It fulfilled my disney craving... for now! I am now dying for an entire week where I am completely encompassed in a world of Disney. Florida here we come!