San Diego

On Thursday, the 24th, we took off for my mom's in Cedar where we stayed the night before heading out to San Diego. I have been SO excited for this trip. It will be our one big family vacation this year. I've been looking forward to it ever since we decided to go.

Things are getting pretty tight in our car these days...

(Friday, May 25th)

 We left my mom's on Friday and stopped about an hour outside of Vegas to stay the night in a cheap hotel. This is now one of my favorite stories about my mom: David and Bradley went to get us dinner and my mom and I stayed in the room with the girls. The drain in the bathroom was broken and I had called the front office for someone to come fix it. When there was a knock at the door about ten minutes later, my mom had forgotten about the repair man and assumed it was David and Bradley. She opened the door and said, "HOLA!" And it just so happened to be a repair man from Mexico. I was on the bed, dying of laughter, and my mom started to giggle and tried to eek out an apology. 

So funny.

(Saturday, May 26th)

I don't think I've seen this temple since I was little. So amazing.

By this point in the drive, the girls were DYING to get out and see the beach.

One of my favorite parts of this trip was Edison's hat.

I have to admit that getting sand everywhere and in our bags and shoes can stress me out a bit. I LOVE being in the water and making sand castles and pretty much everything about the beach, except for the sand, that gets everywhere...

Oh just looking at all of these pictures makes me happy. What a fun day.
Some of my fondest memories as a kid are at the beach.

I have a picture similar to this where I'm kissing my mom 25 years ago. We tried to copy it with my girls but couldn't quite get it.

Ruffle bottom girl

(Sunday, May 27th)

 

On Sunday we went to a local ward together. It was really fun being at church with my extended family and feeling the spirit there with them. As you can see in the picture above, my mom was especially overcome with the spirit with warm little Eloise in her lap.

After church, we went to Rosecrans National Cemetery to celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

Me and my little bro who is growing up before our eyes.

Sweet little boy found his fingers. David hogs him so much! Any time I start to put him in the wrap, David quickly tells me that he wants to wear it. He loves bonding with this one.

After the cemetery, we headed over to the Mormon Battalion museum, which was awesome!

And there is my sweet cousin Joshua who I used to insist on carrying everywhere when he was one or two (and I was a much bigger eight or nine). Already a handsome returned missionary now. So weird.

I have to say, I have the best uncles in the world. Seriously.

I loved this area of San Diego! So beautiful.

Hazel's favorite part of the museum was by far the gold mining! She was determined to get the most gold out of her mining experience as possible.

I think we're in trouble. This little Charlotte was in love my cousins, but most especially my boy cousins... Such a flirt.

(Monday, May 28th)

I think this picture says it all. Doesn't get better than that.

Ready for the beach!

On Monday we found the loveliest beach where the boys went snorkling and filled an entire bucket full of amazing sea creatures for the girls to look through! It was so fun!

Taylor, the mermaid.

David finally talked me into joining him in the water to snorkel (it was freezing!) and it was beautiful!

Eloise was the best. 

When it was nap time and she was tired, she just started to roll around in the sand

 and laid there for a while. So funny.

Sea monster!

 

Uncle Derek won the award for finding the craziest sea creature of all! A ginormous sea slug!

(And I just noticed that he's wearing the shirt from our marathon we ran together!)

(Tuesday, May 29th)

On Tuesday we headed off to the tide pools! Oh how I love tide pools. I've always enjoyed poking my fingers in the sea anemones and watching them squirt water at me. Today we found much more than anemones...

There's another giant sea slug in there. They are so slimy.

My mom wore Edison so that I could explore with the girls. She is so nice to have around on a vacation; she's so helpful and wonderful!

Hazel was in heaven with all of these creatures!

And someone else was enjoying herself as well...

One of my cousins found an octopus!

So tiny! How amazing that we got to hold an octopus. I still can't believe it.

I love that lower lip. She's got her fishing net and her game face on.

I think some of Heavenly Father's greatest creations are found in the ocean.

That afternoon we headed to another beach to enjoy the water and some boogie boarding!

I forgot how cold it is on the beaches in San Diego! We were freezing! Luckily, once you got in the water, you felt pretty good, but getting out was so hard. We were so grateful to have a hot tub back at the hotel. That made the end of the day just perfect. We'd take the girls there to swim and warm up while we got dinner ready. I really loved being there with all my awesome cousins and aunts and uncles.

(Wednesday, May 30th)

Some of us did need a nap time during the day...

We found a pretty mermaid on the beach.

Look at that body in her hair! She's so pretty.

Tried to mimic that kissing photo again...

And this sadly was our last day on the beach. It actually felt like great timing. We were cold and we had already had SO MUCH FUN.

(May 31st)

On Thursday we met up with my sisters who happen to live about an hour outside of San Diego and my Dad who happened to be in town for Gianna's graduation from high school! 

Perfect timing, I must say.

We went to a nearby park and played the Dice Game together, our favorite.

My beautiful sisters. I can't believe Gianna is graduated!

I love that my girls love my Dad. He's a special man.

 

And this is one of my favorite birthday memories. We woke up on the morning of Hazel's birthday in our hotel room and had to pack up our things and get on the road. I wanted to celebrate, so we made a tiny cake out of leftover mini-donuts my mom had bought at a gas station with Skittles pressed into the centers. I had brought a fairy princess hat just for this occasion and a few gifts from my mom. We sang to her, she opened her presents (one of which was a giant shell!) and then all the cousins were in and out of our room all morning long, wishing her a Happy Birthday.

The rest of the day was spent in the car, driving back to Cedar City, but Hazel was the happiest birthday girl on the planet. Love that.