Ohio- Dream Girls USA Pageant

On Saturday Ashlynn was a helper for the Ohio Dream Girls USA Pageant. My sister and I took her down there. I drove the 3 hour drive each way, while the other two got to sleep. We had to leave at 5:30am to get there in time, soooo early! I was fine on the way down, but on the way home I had to stop and buy a Red Bull to keep me awake. The Pageant was fun for Ashlynn though. We were a little worried that she would not understand that she is not competing in this one she was just there to help the other girls out and pass out the trophys, sash's, and crowns. With the help of her sister queens Morgan, and Kennedy she did great. She passed out the prizes and possed for pictures with the new queens. This was Ohio's first pageant and there was some good comepition. If i was a parent I would have been so stressed. The Indiana pageant was 3 days, this pageant was only 1 day so in between each even there was only 10 min. to change and get ready in this small dressing room that all the girls were using. It was crazy! Lots of new girls were crowned and will be joining Ashlynn and the other queens at the National Pageant in July! Ashlynn even got to sing on stage with her sister queen Morgan. Of course it was to Justin Bieber , but eventually she was singing and dancing to any song that played. She was having a blast up there. It was great practive for the American Coed Pageant because she is entering the talent event for the first time! She will be singing to none other than Justin Beiber :) Well untill next time..... time to prep for the next pageant!

San Diego in words....

We had been planning our trip to San Diego for several months. It was a surpise to Denny (daniels brother). I had been talking to Sonia (his now wife) about us coming and she was helping make sure they were home when we got there. She said it was really hard to keep it a secret, but we all did and Denny was very suprised. After we landed we dropped off our luguage at our hotel and walked a little over a mile to get to Denny's apartment. Daniel and knocked on the door and it took a while, but he finally answered and was like "whats up man". Then after a second look he realized who it was. It was perfect! Unfortuantly since it was a suprise Denny and Sonia had to work all week, except Monday because they were off for their wedding. So we packed a lot of together time into the weekend. The first day we ate and walked around San Diego and then with some travel seat organization (Denny has a regular cab truck that fits at most 3 people, but I sat behind the seats in the cargo area. Hey whatever works!) we went to La Jolla Cove. It was a really neat place. The rock structure was really cool, we also saw little squirrals, bums caves, and seals. After that we ate again and called it a night! Daniel and I were wore out, the time change took us a while to get used to (they are 3 hours behind us) The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo. The Zoo was huge, it took us 6 hours to see everything. We also got backstage passes that let us get up close and personal to a lot of the animals. We got to pet and feed a rhino, come face to face with leopards, birds, bearcats, and Daniels favorite the Cheetah and his best friend the dog! It was a really cool experience. Daniel and I were going to do it alone, but decided to get Denny and Sonia passes as their wedding gift. I am glad they got to enjoy the expierence with us:) Then Monday was the big day! It was up and at em early for Denny and Sonia's wedding. They just did a courhouse ceremony and Daniel was the witness. It was very sweet and intimate. Congrats to Denny and Sonia and best wishes for their future together! After the ceremony we went to a mall that was in downtown San Diego. Later that day we went to Sunset Cliffs. It was a really pretty site and if the sun was out and it was not so cold, would have been more enjoyable. Tuesday it was back to work for Denny and Sonia and Daniel and I rented a car and drove to Los Angeles. It was a very scenic ride and we drove straight to downtown LA. Not much to see there, but we did see a movie being filmed. Then we headed to Hollywood. When we got their we were approached on the sidewalk to do a hollywood tour. It was cheap so we decided to do it. It was well worth it. The tour took you buy lots of famous landmarks, famous peoples houses, to a peak where you had a direct view of the Hollywood sign. We did not get to see any famous people, but it was really cool. I recognized alot of the places from tv shows and movies I had seen. After the tour we headed over to High Voltage Tattoo (also known on TV as LA INK) Daniel had always dreamed of going there and getting his tattoo done there. When we first went by we were sceptical of going in, but we decided to and good thing because when we went in everyone was so nice. We thought they would be stuck up and wonder why we were there, but everyone was so friendly and down to earth. We got to talking and Daniel decided he was going to get his tattoo. Adam even stayed late at work to do it. I was to afraid to do mine, but after seeing how little pain Daniel seemed to be in, I decided I could do it. So then I got mine. Daniel got a cross in memory of his cousin Cody who passed away in a motorcycle accident and an eagle sits on the cross in memory of his grandpa. I got our wedding flower (my favorite flower) on my foot. It did not tickle, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I survived, but then found out the rest of my vacation was ruined. Keven proceeded to tell us NO swimming in the pool, ocean, or hot tub and NO tanning. What else is there to do while on vacation??? Oh well it was worth it and we made the rest of the days we had left on vacatoins. Wednesday we went walking around the shops and rested until Denny got off work, then he picked us up and we went to Balboa Park. It was a pretty place with monuments and muesems, and lots of neat trees and flowers. After the park we went to one the Navy Bases and saw a few ships. Then it was off to Millers Field (a sports bar) to watch the rest of the Heat game. I was not to thrilled, but they have good food there! Thursday was our last day their. We did some lounging around and walking around on the boardwalk. Then later that night we had our goodbye dinner with Denny and Sonia. Friday morning was off to the airport and headed home! Because of the time change we were in the airport on the plane the entire day. We left San Diego at 11:30am and arrived in Indy at 10pm. It was a long travel day and I was glad to be back and see my Max:) The trip was a blast! I am very glad we got to suprise Denny. He has been asking us to go out there and see him for like 4 years. I am glad we finally had the opportunity too! Thanks to Denny and Sonia for taking us to all the neat places we would not have found on our own! We are now back in Indy and back to the rain......

San Diego in pictures.... The Zoo!