Disneyland! California Day 1

I'm finally posting about our california trip! Yes, it's true! It was a 14 some hour trip. SO LONG. Now I can say I have been in Arizona, Nevada and California too! So I suppose thats worth it. 
So let's skip past the tired to our first day : Disneyland! As you may or may not know I have never been to a disney park...and chase worked at both Disneyland and Disney world. He's a Disney nerd....shhh ;) 
I finally got to meet Chase's friend Cassie! She's one of the coolest people I've met ( I'm not making this up people) and she was super funny. I was so quiet because I knew anything I would say would be lame in comparison. Anyways, she currently works at Disney and got us all the cool things. She went on some of the rides with us and explained the back story of the rides. Personal tour guide? SO COOL. 
I was a little skeptical about Disney because they have a little too much power and it kinda freaks me out- but all in all I had fun :) We rode several rides and here are my thoughts 
-Pirates of The Caribbean : Fun, dark drops freak my out a bit... amazing jack sparrow  
    replicas. it's true.
-Haunted Mansion: I like! Slow moving, lots to look at. That's my jam
-Winnie the Pooh : THAT SHIZ IS TRIPPY. and apparently since I'm 4 I thought it was 
    awesome.How can you not like a "bee-hicle?"
-Indiana Jones: I think we waited longest for this ride and even then it wasn't long since  
    Cassie had fast passes. I was so nervous for that ride since I suck at fun things but holy 
    hannah montana. THAT.RIDE.IS.AWESOME. Aside from the bolder I was convinced  
    would kill me. 
-Space Mountain: My first roller-coaster. EVER. Now I can say...I hate them. Horrible. I 
    thought I was going to pass out the whole time and I was hanging on for dear life. The  
    picture they take at the end is humiliating....so chase took a picture of it with his
    phone..
-Soarin' over California: Sweet business. I get dizzy easily (all the time not just on rides) 
     but it was still awesome. Going over the oranges and smelling them was the best
- The little Mermaid: there was no line for this one. There is a reason. Not bad. Not  
     great. Chase thought it was boring. It's like the haunted mansion but more mellow. I'm 
     good with mellow 
-It's a Small World: Chase was DREADING this ride but I felt like you can't go to Disney 
     and never have ridden small world. It was cute...definitely a one time ride. Buuutttt 
     just like pirates Cassie got us our own boat so that was legit
This was my attempt at taking a picture of Indiana Jones
The picture is deceiving of his true feelings about small world
Almost pooped my pants hearing the coaster on the other side of the wall..
One of Chase's favorite rides..as you can tell
A lot of walking..I enjoyed it though :) We had dinner at Cafe' Orleans so chase could introduce me to a monte cristo sandwhich. Oh my yum. Nuff said. 
We didn't stand in line for the new cars ride...but I have heard it's great. Plus the new Cars land is magical. MAGICAL people. I don't throw that lightly but it was just like the movie. Fillmore is my moms maiden name, hence me being too excited to be pointing to just any old sign. 
Trident's Carousel. Y'all. I love carousels. Slow enough to enjoy but still moving, plus look at that fish. YES. Luckily, chase loves me because he stood in line with me amongst many small children, and we were the only "adults". Awkward....and SO WORTH IT. 
This picture is so great. Why does Chase look just like this fish. I seriously laughed forever at this- the magic of carousels my friends. 
Got to see world of Color ANNDD fantasmic. Pretty cool:) 
Theres a fire part in world of color...look at this poor baby. SO CUTE. 
And my pictures from fantasmic were dumpy to say the least but what I did find out was chase not only worked at Pirates but was crowd control for Fantasmic at times as well. He even knows the little mickey dance... Disney Nerd ;) I Kid. But he does do an Impressive mickey mouse line from the show. I was amahhzeddd. 
Had my first Dole whip that night. I was so so on the whip to be honest with you. I know. I suck at fun things. But on another note, look at all these people. I bet most of them like the dole whip...
Look at these niffty buttons I was given! Worn with pride of course. 
Back to parking...with more people.People everywhere. 
So all in all my day was "magical" and I couldn't have asked for a better person to take me
As J.B would say 
"DISSSSNEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Keep Portland Weird

So Y'all, I have officially made it over to the west coast for the first time in my life. Crazy right?! Haven't officially been to the coast.....but I'm close! Chase took me to downtown portland to see the city. It's so green and beautiful but crazy weird. I mean we saw some interesting people here...One lady in a cape doing some sort of interpretive dance while a man behind her played some notes on a portable keyboard, a woman carrying a live cat on her back like a backpack, a random bagpiper and dragon rowing boats racing down the river. What..? But I guess thats why they say, "keep portland weird". 
Look how fancy we can be....trying to learn how to take pictures. 
And then not so fancy below...
Chase told me I had to have Voodoo Doughnuts since they're a  must do while in portland. 
I got cotton candy flavored ( because if you don't know I'm OBSESSED with cotton candy. bring me some and I'll love you) and chase got maple bacon.mmmmmm.
Super sweet though so we picked up some water bottles in a gas station that required the man behind the counter to unlock the fridges...and the man outside was rolling a blunt. Classy classy. 
I love being able to travel around parts of the country I've never been to. It's so fun to see how other people live:) I would write more if I had done this weeks ago when I went. Being lazy...I'll get better at this I promise.


Nelson Wedding: Video

My roommate claire is finally married! Mr. and Mrs.Nelson had a beautiful wedding and I'm so grateful I was able to be a part of it:) I didn't take to many pictures this time (Weird, I know) but I took little snipits of videos throughout the day so theres the reasoning you were looking for. 
They got married in the Portland, Oregon temple and it is BEAUTIFUL. So green! 
The video is at the bottom, WATCH IN HD. seriously. makes a huge difference- plus the video is shakey anyways. take it as it is people, videography is not my goal or my thing. 


Nelson Wedding from Jovanna De La Pena on Vimeo.

The Knoblauch Wedding!

So this past memorial day weekend was Crystal and Brent's wedding! Crystal and Chase met at the Disney program last winter! She is seriously the cutest little thing EVER. (She was even Minnie at Disney is what I hear!) and she was a STUNNING bride.Plus, she's from Texas which we all know produces the best people..maybe I'm biased. I absolutely love the Salt Lake temple and they are just too cute together. Here are a couple pics from the temple:
( That's actually my Texas ring and it's a 4.5...but still huge on crystals middle finger!) 
 The Disney Employee Point...because as we all know, pointing with one finger is rude..
My favorite person
And on to the Reception! My camera decided to crap out right before it started so I don't have many pictures but their reception was at The Castle in Lindon and it was perfect for the beautiful and warm day outside. Super laid back and fun- I danced like a weirdo and had tons of fun.
So basically it was super fun, their wedding was adorable and congrats to them on a wonderful start to their eternity! Congrats Crystal and Brent Knoblauch!