California Trip - The Beach and Bubbles!

Friday morning was a day of resting--at least in the morning since we'd had such a long day at Disneyland the day before. The kids--ever boundless in their energy--just wanted to play with Benjamin's bubble maker.

The had a blast playing in my parent's backyard. That bubble maker was totally worth the $22 we spent on it.

Because everyone was in town and since my parents' house is no longer large enough to fit the whole family, we all took turns staying at my parents' house or staying at a hotel. We'd been with my parents for three nights, so it was our turn to move into a hotel for the rest of our stay. My sister-in-law arranged for us to get suites at the Air Force base in Miramar which had a small kitchenette, two queen beds, and a pull-out couch. It was a nice set-up and much less expensive than other similar hotels in the area. It also made us miss the military life ever so slightly. There's something comforting about belonging to an organization like the military to make you feel like you belong.

After moving our stuff into the hotel, we headed to Carlsbad beach where we had arranged to meet up with other family members in town, particularly our cousins. I hadn't seen most of them since we'd left Utah nearly four years ago so it was a great reunion. I was only sad that I didn't get more of a chance to talk with them. By the time we arrived, it was nearly 4PM which meant the heat of the day had passed and the beach wasn't too packed. The kids adore the beach so they had a great time, but unfortunately I didn't get any photos.

After the beach, we went to Panda Express for dinner with my brother Jason and my cousin Justin and his family. So all-in-all, a pretty good day.

California Trip - Disneyland!

Yes, it's a little appalling how long it's been since my last blog post. But there's a bunch to catch up on now so hopefully I will actually be able to get through it all. In July, we went to San Diego for a family reunion. My grandmother turns 90 years old this year and we held a big celebration in her honor and all my siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles were all there to celebrate. Some of them I haven't seen in many years so it was wonderful to get to see them again.

We flew to San Diego on Tuesday, July 11th on Southwest. It was an uneventful flight and the kids actually did really great on the flight there. (The flight back was a different story.) We rented a car and drove to my parents' house. Since we still had many hours of daylight left once we arrived (thanks to those 3 extra hours we got), I tried to take the kids to my parents' community pool but their key didn't work. That was probably a good thing since I was so tired. But I did get some In-N-Out which is all that really mattered.

The next day, we did make it to the pool and then went out for delicious Mexican food at our favorite taco shop. I miss good Mexican food.

On Thursday, July 13th--which happens to be my mom's birthday--the whole family went to Disneyland. All my siblings and their children had arrived by that time, so we got to have a great time running around Disneyland together. The cousins love being together. My family was the first to arrive since I wanted to be sure to have plenty of time to do as much as we good since we only had one day at Disneyland.

The girls and I did Star Tours, Zara and I went on the Matterhorn together (she hid her head the whole time), and then we did the Astro Oribiter together before meeting up with the rest of my family who had finally arrived. (We ate a quick lunch we had packed with us at this meet-up.)

Once the cousins were all reunited, we went to Fantasyland to ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the carousel.

All the girl cousins, minus Adelaide. Grisette, Anna, Zara, and Isabel. Grisette and Zara were born only a week apart.

After the carousel, we separated for a bit. David, Elisa, James and I went to use our fast passes for Indiana Jones (the fast passes really worked this time...we got to get on a lot of rides with them and didn't have to wait very long for any ride). I love Indiana Jones so I was glad we were able to escape for a little bit to go ride it. 

Meanwhile, the kids waited in the always extraordinarily long line for Dumbo. After riding our respective rides, we met up to exchange kids and move on to our various destinations. (Adelaide also got to ride the Jungle Cruise with Uncle Brigham, who she simply adores.)

By this time, it was mid-day and it was SUPER hot. We tried to stay hydrated and in the shade as much as possible. We took a break just to sit for a little while and then we waited in line with Grisette, Zara, and Adelaide to meet Moana whose "station" is right next to the Jungle Cruise. 

Moana is a big favorite around these parts. I was afraid that we'd have to wait in line forever to meet her, but once again, the line moved speedily and it wasn't too bad of a wait. 

By this point, I was fading fast. We were all in need of a cool treat, so we went to the Tiki Room for some Dole Whip with my parents (my other siblings having wandered off to other destinations). 

In all my many trips to Disneyland, I don't remember ever going to the Tiki Room so we popped inside for the show. It was a nice respite from the heat.

After the Tiki Room, we parted ways with my parents and then we wandered down Main Street a bit. We went to the baby room so I could nurse Benjamin, change his diaper, and then we found a quiet spot inside the Main Street Cinema where we ate some snacks and tried to charge my dying phone (before we were told that wasn't allowed). We stopped and met Pluto and then took the kids to Toon Town where we rode Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin (not my favorite) and played on some of the play areas in that part of Disneyland. Adelaide also picked her special Disneyland gift--a Baby Simba stuffed animal.

Zara, Adelaide, and I left Toon Town to meet up with Cassy and Brigham and their family to ride the Tea Cups. (David wasn't interested. He doesn't care for spinning rides.)

Then we popped into the Mad Hatter's Store where Zara picked her Disneyland memento--bridal Minnie Mouse ears.

Next, we decided to terrify the kids by going to the Haunted Mansion. We had tried going earlier, but they had experienced some technical problems and were closed when we came by the first time. Adelaide was terrified and clung to me the whole time, but afterwards, she said the ghost ride was super funny. Revisionist history right there, but sure, Adelaide. 

My parents watched the babies--Sebastian and Benjamin--while the rest of us went to ride Big Thunder Mountain. The whole family took up an entire train with the girls and I in the front. David spent the whole ride screaming his head off like a girl and Brigham joined in. I think Big Thunder Mountain was the highlight for me. It had finally cooled off, we got to ride as a family, and it's just a fun ride even for the little kids.

We sat and visited for a little bit after the rollercoaster, and then took some photos all together. (Bobbi and Jeremy weren't there unfortunately.) Cassy and her family went off to other sites, my parents went home, and Jason's family and my family went to the French Market Restaurant to grab some dinner and enjoy some live jazz music.

By this time, it was nearly 9PM and David and I were ready to head home. We stopped to buy Benjamin's gift--a Mickey Mouse bubble blower--and then stopped at a store on Main Street to buy a Disneyland ornament as is our tradition. By the time we had finished and gone to the bathroom, the night parade was just winding down and the fireworks were apart to start so we just opted to watch the fireworks from the Disneyland Railroad Main Street station.

We headed to our car right before the firework show ended and made the drive home. It was a long day but a lot of fun. I'm so glad we finally got to take the kids to Disneyland and to get to do it with our whole family. We'll definitely have to do it again when the kids are a little older and can ride more of the fun rollercoasters with us. I always forget that we don't live that far from Orlando....and they've got Disney World there.

Have Yourself a Blurry Little Christmas

So you may have noticed that I have not updated this blog in a very long time. A very long time. I blame Christmas. (And David. When in doubt, always blame the spouse.)

See, we made plans to spend Christmas in California with my parents this...er, last year. I was so excited. We hadn't been to California for several years (not since before Adelaide was born) and we had never spent Christmas in California since we got married. I was excited to take the kids to San Diego, introduce them to all the delicious food, go sight seeing, and splurge on a trip to Legoland. We haven't taken a proper vacation in a long time and nothing sounded better than Christmas in California.

But two days (or was it three?) before our scheduled flight, I started to feel sick. But I soldiered through thinking it couldn't last more than a few days. But I was wrong. I was so wrong.

I cannot remember a time when I was sicker. I was constantly tired and couldn't eat. I coughed and coughed and coughed and couldn't sleep. I ran a fever. I never run a fever. By the second or third day of our vacation I begged David to take me to urgent care.

Finally a diagnosis: strep throat and bronchitis.

I was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent on my way but it was somewhat comforting to know that I wasn't imagining my illness. I was truly good and sick.

The rest of the trip is a bit of a hazy blur. There was a lot of sleeping and not a lot of eating. (I lost 10 pounds. And I tried! I really tried hard to eat In & Out and Mexican food and all the things I had been craving but I mostly just drank a lot of Jamba Juice.) We did not go to Legoland or the zoo or visit the ocean or all the things I had wanted to do with the kids. My mom did take pity on them and take them to the Wild Animal Park (which I refuse to call Safari Park) and spoiled them as grandmothers are meant to do. I did get to have two lovely visits with my dear friend Tessa and several trips to my grandmother's house. I may have fallen asleep on the couch talking to her, but I still love visiting my grandma.

I hated that I ruined Christmas for everyone. But apparently I'm the only one who felt that way. David assures me that after two years of almost non-stop work, the trip was incredibly relaxing and peaceful simply because he did nothing. The kids got to watch lots of TV and eat junk food and get spoiled by their grandparents who also have cats. Nothing could have been better. Zara still asks when we can go back.

And as David pointed out, this was probably the absolute best time and place to get completely knocked sideways and out for the count because he was there the whole time to take care of me and the kids and my mom was there to make sure we were all fed and looked after. Moms never get sick days but this was about as good as it gets. I only had to be sick and that was wonderful. So even though I still feel a little bummed that our vacation was marred by such a hard and prolonged illness, it was actually a bit nice to just sleep through most of it.

The other sad outcome was that I took hardly any photos and most of the ones that were taken were blurry. So here's what I got from our Christmas but it's not much.

Playing with my parents' cats Bradbury and Lewis

Christmas money from the grandparents

New Christmas pajamas

Love these kids

It still took awhile to recover from my illness and I didn't feel 100% back to normal until a week or two after we returned to Georgia. But I hope I'll get another chance soon to take the kids to California and really show off the state.

What We've Been Up To....

Well, I'm still on the mainland but no longer in California. We flew out of LAX late on Sunday night and arrived in Atlanta, Georgia (David's hometown) Monday morning. But I'm getting ahead of myself now. First things first: California!

We had a bit of a family reunion in San Diego. All my siblings (minus the one who still lives there), flew in for the occasion, and my aunt and three cousins also drove down from Utah. For most of the week, David and I had just been laying around, enjoying our vacation. Or, at least, I was. David was trying to catch up on 3 weeks of homework. On Friday, we (minus David), went to the beach, which is always a fun experience when you've got little babies with you who love the water and sand.

Brigham dug a hole for Anna and James which was then filled with water from a wave. Anna had a very good time splashing around in her little pool.

She also could not get enough sand in her mouth. She'd take huge clumpfuls in his tiny fists and shove it into her mouth. Mmmmm, sand.

Have I mentioned that I love my niece Anna? She's the cutest most chubby, happy baby in the whole world.

She has the cutest face and chubby cheeks. And her hair is turning a pretty shade of red. Love!


Of course my newest little niece, Isabel, might just give her a run for her money. She's pretty darn cute too, but hasn't had enough time to build up those nice stores of fat that I like to see in babies. She is, after all, only 2 weeks old. But since the whole family was there on Sunday, my sister and her husband blessed baby Isabel in my parent's ward. It was great to be there. She slept through the whole thing but she looked so adorable in her (too big) blessing clothes.

Anyway, on Friday, we went to the beach, came home, got showered and cleaned and then the whole family went to the San Diego temple to do a session there. It was such a neat experience to be in the temple with most of my family. After that, we went to dinner at Fidel's, our family's favorite Mexican restaurant.

Saturday was our one year wedding anniversary! I can't believe David and I have been married for a whole year now. The time has really flown by, in the best way possible. As a treat to ourselves, we went to a day spa and got a couple's massage. It was absolutely splendid. I need to get massages on a more regular basis. I'm always way too tense. That afternoon, we took family photos at my parent's house (I'll post some of those pictures later, if I can find a good one) and this time, David got to be in all the photographs! Then we had a big barbeque in honor of our whole family being there and my dad's upcoming 60th birthday next month. Old man. It was a splendid day.


Meanwhile, Suyom spent most of her week, sitting on my mother's computer desk, watching all the birds who were flitting around the three birdhouses out there. Someday, she might catch a real bird. If we ever let her outside, that is. Or maybe we'll get her a pet.

Sunday, we blessed baby Isabel and then David and I re-packed everything and drove up to LAX to catch our 11pm flight to Atlanta. Worst flight ever. Suyom would not stop meowing, I was miserable because I had a sinus infection which, coupled with the pressure of the plane, was making my head feel like it was about to explode and I could not sleep. At all. We got into Atlanta at 6am on Monday morning and we promptly went to David's parent's house and slept. I was pretty miserable all Monday and most of Tuesday, but I am feeling much better. I swear, my body hates me right now. I even broke out in hives for the first time ever.....because of stress. My body is freaking out....I just can't wait to see what it'll do once we get to Korea.

I'll be back soon to document our week here in Atlanta. And then.....KOREA!

Holy crap. I'm moving to South Korea.