tourist capital of LA

saturday we went to universal studios. one of brandon's former interns works there part time and got us some sweet hook ups (which is really the only reason i'd ever go to US) and we invited our amigos heather and tyson to accompany us. heather's friend ali was fortunately in town, so she came along too.

i've been to universal studios quite a few times in my life (and i've been to citywalk way more...my mom and grammie used to take us there multiple times every summer to run off our energy in the fountains) and every time i go i wonder why i'm there. the rides aren't that amazing, they don't have anything particularly interesting to show you (i'll admit that the tram tour is my favorite, but it's always the same stuff) and it is missing that disney sparkle that i love so much about that other competing them park. it's just sort of corny and materialistic. and i just get cranky thinking how much fun it would be to be a director or producer, two jobs that i'm definitely am on the wrong train for.

anyway, despite my pessimism, we had a grand time.

we took pictures at all the obligatory tourist areas:





we went on fun (yet oddly structured) rides like the mummy:



and the simpsons ride (which was quite fun, i will admit -- maybe that's just because in our household we watch simpsons episodes two times per day, on average -- but i do miss back to the future):



we saw the backdraft show and the waterworld show (their fire is SO HOT! it's really amazing that you can feel the heat like 200 feet away):


then, against my better judgment, we went on jurassic park. this is a water ride. i do not like water rides. i was reminded of this after we went on and THEN found out that the "water effects" were on full blast. boo.

me, before (this is my nervous face):


and me after (this is my NOT HAPPY face):


thanks to some really oddly positioned lap bars, we were totally drenched except for a one-foot section of our torsos.



after a strenuous five hours in the park (yep, by that time we'd done everything there was to do...except the curious george bounce house. i can live without that one) we had dinner at a delicious cowboy bbq place. coincidentally i remember eating there with the extended fam when i was about 10...i vividly remember that my cousin meghan was a little baby and we fed her a lemon in that place and she made the most hilarious faces i had seen up to that point in my life. good times.

then we came home and i baked cupcakes and went to the gym. i love weekends...have i mentioned that?

no pictures for sunday, but it was such a busy day that it is worth a mention. after church we went to east LA for a good old fashioned mexican bbq (we LOVE our mexican friends that live there...they are awesome. plus we're always down for authentic carne asada, non-english conversations, meeting family members who just got out of jail -- he still has the ankle bracelet! sweet! -- and dining in their concrete backyard. so fun). we sped home from that, fed the missionaries dinner (i was super full by that point) and i went visiting teaching. not the most relaxing day but it was definitely fun.