Mom Spring Break 2013 - Los Angeles (Part 4 - Going Home... Kinda))

Sunday morning was nice and laid back.  Dad and Susie left the hotel pretty early because they were driving back to Provo, so I had the room to myself for a couple hours.  I took a long shower, took my time getting ready, and had a leisurely breakfast.  I even thought to take a quick picture of the inside of the hotel as I was leaving.

It was actually really large and kind of dizzying.  Every time I got into the elevator I thought of Tess and her mortal fear of elevators.  She would would have FREAKED OUT in those!


Anywho, I eventually took the shuttle over to LAX, waited for my plane, got on my plane, and flew to Dallas.

This is where the fun began.

So as we were taxiing to the gate, the flight attendant read all of the connecting flights' gate numbers.  My boarding pass said C-19, but she said C-7.  I figured it must have changed or something, but no big deal, I'd just check when I got off the plane.

To my surprise, my flight wasn't listed on the departures screen.  In fact, no flights to Indy were listed on any departure screen.

Odd.

To be honest, at first I was a bit ticked off with American Airlines.  I figured they had made some sort of mistake.  See, I haven't flown with American Airlines since the summer of 1998 when they decided they wanted to strand me in Tel Aviv. (I was doing semester abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center.  Most awesome trip of my life.)  Okay, so I don't remember all of the minor details because it was a long time ago and I'm too lazy to go hunt down my journal.  Long story short:
-We were at the end of the semester and were going to spend the last two weeks in Egypt.
-Instead, the Egyptians decided to start causing trouble, bombing the US embassy and doing all sorts of stupid things.
-Americans were politely told to GET THE HECK OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST.  NOW.
-I had flown separately from the group using my dad's frequent flier miles.  I was told to go to Tel Aviv and get it easily sorted out.
-Despite having told me and my parents that it would only cost a couple hundred dollars to change my flight, when I got to the American Airlines office they told me it would cost something like $2000.  In cash.  Right now.
-We eventually got it all sorted out, but I have never, ever forgiven American Airlines and vowed to never fly with them again.  Take that, American Airlines!

Except I did fly with them again because I used my credit card miles for this trip and they had the best times slots.  Dang my forgiving nature!!!

Meanwhile, back in Dallas...

I eventually found a ticket agent who told me that due to the huge snow storm in Indy, all flights going in had been cancelled.  What the what?  I had no clue there was a big storm.  The NBC affiliate with the awful Sunday morning news anchors had failed to mention that as I watched them that morning.  Curses!

I had two options: spend the night in the terminal or get the distressed passenger discounted rate and stay at the Hyatt Regency for only $95.  Either way I probably wouldn't be able to get my luggage because, well, American Airlines is stupid.

Look, there comes a point in your life when you realize that, yes, there are a lot of other things you'd rather spend $100 on instead of a brief overnight stay in a luxurious hotel.  New shoes.  Some new clothes.  A great meal out with friends.  But then you realize that there is no way in heck that you'd ever get any sleep in an airport terminal and that this could possibly be the most well-spent $100 of your life. 

I decided to take them up on the Hyatt.

As I walked to the Skylink monorail (because Dallas/Fort Worth is that big) I called Lance to let him know what was going on.  I kept apologizing, although now I'm not sure why. It's not like I planned or even willed this to happen.  I had really looked forward to being home!  Lance was a little stressed about it; either because he really needed to get back to work or because 4 days at home with the kids was getting to him.  Probably a bit of both.

But there was nothing to be done!  So I hopped on the the Skylink and rode to the Hyatt.  I walked up to the desk and told them I was stranded and that I would like a room.  I think I probably sounded a bit distressed and tired.  That's because I was feeling a bit distressed and tired.  The attendant was soooooo very friendly and helpful!  She set me up quick as a flash and then asked if I needed anything else. 

Well, actually, yes.  All I had with me was my purse, and while I was smart enough to keep my meds and a few other things in there, I hadn't thought pack any toiletries.  No problemo.  She whipped out a very nice complementary toiletry kit, complete with toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, and make-up remover.

Did I need anything else? 

Well, actually, yes.  I had accidentally left my phone charger in Pasadena.  Was there anywhere I could rent or buy one?  No worries!  We let people borrow them here!  We'll have housekeeping bring one up that you can use for the night.

Let me just say this: the Hyatt knows how to treat customers and gain loyalty.  (Unlike stupid airlines I know...)  In fact, I only had one complaint with my entire stay, and that was that none of the employees had Texan accents.  But this was something I could completely forgive.

As I rode up the elevator I was starting to feel quite a bit better.  When I walked into my room I felt all the way better!

As I opened the door the shades on the giant window wall started opening automatically.

The TV was on and playing some very soothing music.  And - it knew my name!  Thank you, TV, I do feel rather welcomed!

I sank onto the rather plush king sized bed and looked around, realizing that this was probably one of the nicest hotels I had ever stayed that.  On top of that - I was there by myself.  No snoring dads.  No sharing a room with brothers. No kids to have to deal with!  They would have LOVED this part of the trip, but too bad.  I loved it more without them!  (Sorry kiddos.  Momma loves you.  But she loves you even more when she's been away for a while.)  Mom's Spring Break had just gotten an unexpected bonus.

Sure, I didn't have any extra clothes, but then again that didn't really matter.  All of the clothes in my luggage were dirty anyway.  I didn't have any pajamas, but that didn't really matter since I had a room to myself.

I got up and had a look around.  Everything in the room and bathroom was controlled by touchscreen buttons.

The bathroom had a swanky glass shower

and a separate bathtub!  (Plus more needed toiletries!)

It was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  I can't really remember now.  I stretched out on the bed and played with my phone for a while and then read.  No one interrupted me.  No one needed feeding or changing or attention.  I didn't have to be anywhere any time soon.  (Well, I had to be back at the airport at 4am. But still, I had time.)

Eventually I got hungry.  Rather than wander around in the hotel's restaurants, I decided to do something I had never done before: order room service.  I knew it would cost a bit more, but by then I didn't care.  In for a penny, in for a pound!  So I ordered it - through the TV - and sat back to watch "My Big Fat Gypsy American Wedding" reruns, which were new to me since I had never even heard of the show.  (Turns out, pretty interesting.  Gypsies be crazy.)

Dinner came up and it was delicious!  (Yeah, I wasn't in a salad mood.)

Weren't the little condiments cute?  I like little things.

Even a flower!  The Hyatt has a customer for life.  Assuming I can afford it.

So I spent the evening watching more Gypsy weddings, taking a bath, and then making myself go to bed, since I had to get up so stinkin' early. One nice thing about not having my luggage?  You can get ready in the morning pretty quickly. 

So the American Airlines lady I had talked to the day before had been adamant that I be at the airport by 4am.  So I was - only to find out that TSA doesn't open until 4:30am.  Thanks a lot, random American Airlines ticket lady. Sheesh.

But eventually I got through security with enough time to frantically buy an orange juice before I got on the plane.  I was disappointed to find out that I was in the very back (read: very noisy) of the plane.  But I got over this disappointment very quickly when I realized I had the whole row to myself!  Score!

I spent the flight reading, dozing, and foraging for snacks in my purse.  (I found a few - I was starving!)

The first thing I did when I got my bag from baggage claim was pull out my parka and put on some different shoes.  (I had been wearing some silver ballet flats - not exactly snow-friendly.)  I took the shuttle out to the long-term parking and found my car.

*sigh*  I looked at the car and then looked down at my shoes.

Yeah, these ones were only slightly better than the ballet flats.  But, there was nothing to be done, so I got out the car scraper and got to work.  Twenty minutes later and the car was finally de-iced and de-snowed.  It took a good five minutes before the feeling in my hands and feet returned so that I could drive!

The roads going back home were pretty bad.  I stopped counting cars that had slid off the road after I got to 15.  And I saw at least 3 semis on the side of the road, one which had fallen over!  Needless to say, it was very slow going.  My hands hurt from white-knuckling it the whole way!

But eventually I made it home, where the children somewhat acknowledged my presence, especially when I got out a few gifts I had brought them.

In spite of - nay, because of - my unexpected layover, a very good Mom Spring Break!

Mom Spring Break 2013 - Los Angeles (Part 3)

Saturday was the wedding.  Even though we didn't have to be at the L.A. Temple until 10am, we had to leave, at the very latest, at 9am.  Gotta love that L.A. traffic.

Wait, no you don't.

So, random side note: this was my uncle Dale's second marriage.  His first wife, Janice, died a few months before my mom did.  Even though Dale is my mom's older brother, he actually got married quite a bit later than my mom.  I was around 7 or 8 at the time, so I actually remember some of his wedding.  I remember the reception and getting a new red dress for the occasion.

But what I remember most is baby Kevin (probably 18 months or 2 years old at the time) locking himself in the bathroom at the hotel.

This was way back in the day when The Hotel Utah was still around in Salt Lake City.  (It's now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, in case you're wondering.)  My grandparents had gotten a suite for grandma to rest in between wedding activities.  Good ol' Kevin somehow locked himself into the bathroom and wouldn't open the door.  I vividly remember him flushing the potty a million times, while my frantically tried to get him away from the potty because she was worried he'd fall in and drown.  "Kevin!  Don't play with the potty!  DON'T TOUCH THAT POTTY!!"  This happened while my dad called and called down to the main desk to get someone to come up and unlock the door.  No one ever came, so he finally picked the lock, where they found Kevin perfectly fine and happy and not drowned, sitting in a rather large pile of toilet paper that he had unwound.

Many family members told me that this was one of the things they remembered most from the wedding.  Good one, Kev.

We thought about reenacting that magical story in our own hotel room, but decided to just take a few pictures instead.

Don't touch that potty, Kevin!!!

Doesn't he look like a sneaky toddler?

Kyle didn't care if Kevin locked himself into the bathroom this time.

Another random side note: we were staying in a pretty nice hotel, but I really had to fight Kevin to wear shoes when we went down to another over-priced breakfast that we, of course, charged to Dad.  (Thanks, Dad!)  Seriously, Kevin.  Mom would've rolled over in her grave if you hadn't worn shoes.  Wearing shoes meant he couldn't wear his capri-length pajama pants (otherwise known as "normal" length on those of us who are not so vertically enhanced.)  I was the mean sister, but oh well.  I was all dressed up for the wedding and didn't want to look like I was eating with a hobo.

So, back to the wedding.  Yes.  Even though it was only just over 20 miles away it took us a good hour to get there.  L.A. traffic be crazy.  I kinda liked driving around, mainly because I wasn't the one driving.  (Thanks for being my chauffeur, Doug!)

We got to the temple and wandered a bit since we were a little early.  I had forgotten just how BIG that temple is.  Seriously, it's up on a hill and is huge and white and really stands out.  I loved it.  I loved it so much that I didn't take a picture of it.  But I stole this nice one from the interwebs.

The sealing was seriously one of the best I had ever been to.  The temple president (who had been Dale's Stake President) spoke and performed the sealing.  He spoke a lot about the blessings we receive from temple ordinances and how they relate to the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Having all of my immediate family there and feeling the spirit so strongly made me feel so happy!  I was so glad to be able to be a part of it.  (To my non-LDS friends: you've probably heard about LDS temples before and wonder about what goes on inside them.  What we do is not secret - just very sacred.  Which is why I can't go into detail.  But trust me, it's nothing weird or uncomfortable.  On the contrary - I LOVE going to the temple! Curious to learn more?  Check out this site.)


After the wedding we waited and waited and waited outside for the bride and groom to make their appearance.  (There were a lot of weddings that day!)  While we waited we took a few pictures.

Here's the Roper faction of the Burgoyne Family.  So how do we relate to the Burgoynes?  My mom was the older Burgoyne daughter.  Dad was the first Burgoyne in-law.  (Or, as we lovingly call them, the out-laws. :)  Susie is now somehow related to the clan through marriage... maybe a step-daughter-in-law... is that a thing?  Well, we love Susie, so now it's a thing.  Kyle, Kevin, and I are the oldest Burgoyne grandchildren.  As of now I'm the only Burgoyne grandchild that has married and had kids.  Get to work on that, Kyle and Kevin!  Chop chop!

The Roper kids.  Yes, those are my two "little" brothers.

We kinda all have the same smile, don't we?

Everyone got pretty corsages or boutonnieres.   I really liked those little grape-berry thingies!

Here's Kevin and I.  Since Lance couldn't come and Kyle had Sarah Beth with him, I called Kevin my "Plus One".  He's a pretty good date, even if he doesn't like wearing shoes.

It's hard for Kevin and I to behave when we're together.  Especially at churchy things.  My mom used to have to separate us at church - even when we were adults.  You don't want to know.

Here are the Burgoyne girl cousins.  (Well, almost all - Megan is on a mission in NY and Sarah was on some school trip in Orlando.)  (Lucky Sarah, right?)

So, from left to right: Ali Chipman (youngest of Lisa and Dave), Jillian Weitzel (youngest of Heidi and Doug), me (oldest of Wendy and ElRay), Natalie Burgoyne (3rd of Gary and Leslie), and Elsie (youngest of Neil and Leslie.)  Aren't my cousins so very cute?!

Finally the happy couple came out!  Isn't Susan's bouquet so cool?  I've never seen one like that, but I really liked it!

And isn't she so pretty?!  I only got to talk to Susan a little the whole time we were there, but I really like her.  She seems pretty great - and of course she would be for Dale to marry her!  I'm excited to have her in the family now!

Here's one with all of the immediate family. (Bride's on the left, groom's on the right.)  So the Burgoyne family has some rather unique interesting relations.  You're probably not so interested in them, but I want to record them so my kids know what was going on. Okay, they probably won't care too much, either, but too bad.

The man in the wheel chair is my maternal grandfather, John Burgoyne.  (Side note: Grandpa has early-staged Parkinson's disease.  Plus, he had a bad fall a few months ago.  We were all so happy that Susie and Kevin were willing to help him and Nancy make it to the wedding!)  Grandpa was/is married to Regina Heaton, my maternal grandmother.  Regina died when I was around 10, so around 25 years ago.  Grandpa John remarried to Nancy, who is in the picture above.  (I can't remember Nancy's other last name - she's just always been Grandma Nancy to me!)

So, John and Regina had six children: Dale, Wendy (my mom), Neil, Heidi, Gary, and Lisa.  As I mentioned before, Dale was/is married to Janice (and now Susuan).  Dale and Janice adopted Chris and Ben, who are the two handsome and very happy teenage boys in the picture.  (I only mentioned the adoption thing in case you were wondering where Ben got his good looks from. ;)

Wendy married ElRay and had three of the most wonderful kids in the world. *ahem*  After my mom died my dad married my wonderfully un-wicked step-mother, Susie.

Heidi married Doug Weitzel, and they had David, Peter, and Jillian.  Nothing so out-of-the-ordinary with them, other than that both of their boys served/are serving missions in Germany.  Then again, with a last name like Weitzel that is probably not so weird.

Neil was a bachelor for quite a while.  We'll get back to him.

Gary married Leslie.  They had three children: Sarah, Zach, and Natalie.  Gary died several months before my mother did.  (We had three funerals within 6 months - it was a rough time for the Burgoyne family!)  A few years later Leslie and my uncle Neil got married.  This might seem strange at first glance, but it really isn't.  I think it's worked out really well for everyone!  Neil and Leslie had Elsie, who is FULL of energy!  (I really had fun talking to her - she mentioned several times how she was going to go to Disney Land. Lucky girl!)

Finally Lisa married Dave Chipman and they had Megan, Stephen, and Alison.  They also don't have anything too strange about their family - as far as I know. :)

Here are my three aunts: Leslie, Lisa, and Heidi.

After close to 10 million pictures - because that's what you do at weddings, you take pictures - we finally headed back to Pasadena for the wedding lunch.  This was being held at a nice Italian restaurant called Villa Sorriso.  Once again, no pictures except those that I stole from the internet.  Oh, and in my internet searches I discovered that this is the place that hosted Michael Jackson's Burial Reception.  You know, in case you're interested in that sort of thing.

The wedding lunch was packed with family and friends - probably 200 of us in total.  This meant it took quite a while for everyone to order and get their food, but that's okay because it gave us all plenty of time to visit.  Poor Kevin had to leave before he got his meal because he had to fly home with Grandpa John and Grandma Nancy.  His meal came literally three minutes after he left - uncle Doug graciously took care of that for him.

We finally finished with the wedding lunch.  I had planned on going to the Griffith Observatory with Heidi and Doug, but ended up going shopping and out to dinner with Dad, Susie, Kyle and Sarah Beth.  (That's okay - I was really pretty tired and don't know if I would've appreciated the observatory as much.)

So dinner was interesting because we went to Little Thailand in Hollywood.  The place we went to was called Ruen Pair.  (See 360 degree tour here.)  It was in this non-descript little strip mall with about 8 other Thai places.  The food was EXCELLENT.  (One of the few things I do miss about California - the excellent ethnic food.)  Even better?  The bill for 5 adults was only around $42 - can you believe that?!  Amazing.

After dinner, Dad, Susie and I headed back to L.A. to our hotel.  Once again I was on the couch, but once again I didn't mind in the least.

Mom Spring Break 2013 - Los Angeles (Part 2)

The next morning I met up with aunt Heidi (my mom's younger sister) and uncle Doug (her husband) and cousin Jillian, who were staying at the same hotel in Pasadena that we were.  My dad had said that he had a work conference call from 7-8am, and after that we'd go out for breakfast.  But then the call turned out to be from 8-9am.  We waited and waited and I was starving, and by 9:10 we decided my dad could starve and decided to go out and find something to eat.

Except apparently no one in Pasadena works and there was a 30 minute wait for breakfast.  What the what, Pasadena?  So we trekked back to the hotel and got breakfast there, which I promptly and non-guiltily charged to my room (and thus my dad).  (Hey, by this point it was lunch time in Indiana and I hadn't eaten anything!!) It was L.A. pricey, but when you're that hungry you don't care!

My dad eventually joined us and took this random picture.  Instead of taking pictures I spent most of my time talking - as you can see.  (Jillian, you look a little startled or something!)

After breakfast we decided to hit one of Kyle and Kevin's favorite stores: Galco's Soda Pop Stop.  It's a store of some local renown, known for having tons of unique and hard to find sodas.  As you can see, it's not exactly the fanciest place you've ever seen, but it was still pretty impressive.

I had fun taking pictures of some of my favorite bottles.  There were really too many to take.  I even found some Dog-n-Suds Root Beer, which is a local Midwest brand. My dad picked up some of Kevin's favorite Blenheim Ginger Ale.  Apparently "real" ginger ale has quite a kick - I tasted it later that night and GROSS.  I just about gagged.  I do not like spicy sodas.  Blech.

 

 

I know this is root beer, but we also found chocolate flavored soda.  Not sure how I feel about that.

I liked the art on this label. 

My aunt Heidi got a huge kick out of this one.  (Especially where it said "Animal testing was consensual".)

 

 

Jillian got this one and said it tasted pretty good.  We all know how I feel about Butterscotch, though.  (Although I'd rather have that than Kevin's ginger ale!)

Here's what I drank. I love blood oranges and kangaroos.  Not really about the kangaroos.  But the soda was really good!

That afternoon we went on a tour of the Gamble House.   (Of Proctor and Gamble fame and money.)  The craftsmanship and detail in the house were amazing.

Unfortunately, the inside was quite dark; then again, you weren't allowed to take pictures anyway, so I stole these pictures from the website.  (I know it's super-fun to look at someone else's vacation photos, but bear with me here.)

 

There were several themes and motifs repeated throughout the house that made it really interesting.  The architects even designed the furniture and lighting and (I think) the landscaping.

 

This home was actually just their "winter bungalo", where they would come to get away from Ohio winters.  Can you imagine?  I think if I could have a "small" bungalo like this I'd run away from Indiana winters, too!

 

 

 

 

 

When asked if Mr. and Mrs. Gamble really slept in separate beds the docent said "We don't go there."  Okaaay then.  Apparently having millions of dollars and winter bungalows in Pasadena doesn't necessarily make for a happy marriage.

 

This was yet another time where I thought "My kids would hate this".  Especially because you weren't allowed to touch anything.

I spent the rest of the afternoon going to one of the original In-N-Out Burgers (the fries are still gross) and chatting with my aunt Heidi by the pool in the perfect Southern California in March weather.

That evening there was a big family dinner for the wedding party.  It was held at the Canoe House restaurant, a fun Hawaiian themed place.  Everyone from both sides of the wedding party were there, which meant it was crowded and loud.  I had fun chatting with my aunt Lisa (my mom's youngest sister) and Kevin (my youngest brother).

There was a table set aside for all of the cousins, but since I am literally at least 20 years older than all of them, I was allowed to sit with the adults. :)

That night I had to share a room with both my brothers - just like old times.  Kyle and Kevin had to share a bed, because when you're 1) the oldest, 2) the only girl, and 3) an old married lady, you get a bed to yourself.  This is a good thing, because, while I don't know about now, when he was a kid Kevin was quite the night time cuddler.