Spring Break

We just got back from a fun and busy trip to San Diego for Easter Break.  We planned this trip over a year ago so that we could be sure to get a spot at Capri By The Sea.  After we booked our condo, I asked my parents if they wanted to join us.  They are always up for another trip and immediately booked their condo about 20 minutes north of Pacific Beach.

Our current family vehicle has been having issues with the transmission, heat/ac and needed new tires which made driving it to California not a safe option.  After looking at renting a car, flying or buying a new car, Gavin decided it was time for us to buy our very first brand new car.  The boys were so excited and went with him to pick it up.

We drove all day and made it to San Diego just in time to get settled in the condo and go to sleep.  We woke up the next morning and opened up the curtains and couldn’t get over the view.  

Pacific Beach

We grabbed some yummy breakfast at a little spot on Pacific Beach boardwalk called Konos and then headed down to the beach for the day.  It was sunny but the wind made it chilly.   Apparently not too cold for Gavin and the boys who spent most of the time out in the freezing water, boogy boarding.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to go to church in San Diego.  It was so good for my kids to see the diversity that the church offers outside of Utah.   They all said that it was the best sacrament they had ever been to and that they learned so much.  There was a sweet spirit present as we listened to so many newer converts share their testimonies.  And hearing Gavin share his testimony of the Book of Mormon and prayer was just an added bonus.

Balboa Park

After church we headed to Balboa Park for the free Sunday afternoon organ concert and (not-free) lunch.

We walked through the International Cottages and grabbed lots of free samples and since it was House of England’s turn to host there was a Beatles impersonator band and lots of English people walking (and bike riding) around.  We even saw people dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Mormon Battalion Historic Site

We finished off the afternoon with a tour of the Mormon Battalion Museum.  We took the kids here 3 years ago but only the big kids remembered it.  Mia loved how the photos inside the picture frames came to life to take us through the tour.  “We should get pictures like that in our house, Mom!” And Mia even got to dress up in all of the gear that they soldiers wore in the battalion.

At the end of the tour the kids got to go back in time and pan for “fool’s gold”, wash clothes by hand and pretend to make bricks.

La Jolla Tide Pools and Children’s Beach 

The next day we drove into La Jolla for a kayaking tour.  Only we were 30 minutes late and had to reschedule for another day.  We drove a few blocks down to the tide pools and walked around looking for sea life.  It definitely didn’t compare to the tide pools we went to 3 years ago at Cabrillo but Jack and Ryan did find a few crabs.  We walked over to Children’s Beach and saw lots of seals (including ourselves) sunbathing on the rocks.

Universal Studios 

We only wanted to spend one day at an amusement park and gave the older kids the option of Sea World, Knott’s Berry Farm or Universal Studios.  They wanted to try somewhere new and chose Universal Studios.  We drove 2 hours from our condo to Universal Studios.  Morgan was so nervous the whole ride up and walking into the park.  She is not a fan of scary, fast rides.  We only had her go on the new Despicable Me ride and The Simpsons ride.  She didn’t like The Simpsons ride but acted like she liked DM even though she didn’t want to go on it again.  The big kids loved the Transformers and Mummy rides but everyone’s favorite was the Studio Tour.  Even though Morgan doesn’t like amusement parks at the time, it seems like she likes it after we are all done and back home.  She talks about Shrek 4D movie and that Princess Fiona needed help all of the time now.  Just wish she could enjoy it more while it was happening but the fear of the unknown takes away all of the fun for her.  Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the day and Ryan kept commenting on how cool it was that Grandma and Grandpa are so young at heart and go on all of the rides with us.

Kayaking

The next day we all just wanted to sleep in after walking all over Universal Studios and getting home late but no rest for the weary.  We had an early morning kayak tour set up in La Jolla.  We had already had to pay a $50 rescheduling fee for getting late and missing our first tour so we all woke up early and got ready to brave the cold waters.  Gavin, Jack and Ryan really braved the cold by not paying the extra $10 for a wetsuit rental.  We walked down to La Jolla and got into our kayak teams and headed out into the ocean.  I’m still not sure the purpose of our helmets.  Maybe it was just to let everyone else know that we didn’t know what we were doing.  The waves that we had to paddle over were huge, surfing waves.  The smallest person had to sit in the front of the kayak which meant that person got soaked on the way out to the smooth part of the ocean.  Poor Morgan, Mia, Griffin and Hadley. After the experience of the huge waves, Mia cried for remaining two hours of kayaking.  We kayaked over to some caves and then saw lots of sea lions on the rocks.  We all made it without tipping over except for Hadley and me.  We tipped over on the way back to the beach when we tried to go over a huge wave.

San Diego Temple

We spent the afternoon in the temple with Jack, Ryan and Hadley.  It was definitely a memorable experience.  Such a beautiful temple.

Coronado

We’ve never taken the family over the bridge to Coronado Island and thought we’d try something new.  What a beautiful part of California!! We had so much fun walking around the island and seeing the San Diego skyline in the background.  We rented surreys that held 6 of us and rode around the island.  We rode around on the boardwalk for about 30 minutes.  That was long enough for it be fun and not exhausting. 

Jack and Ryan were crazy drivers and almost crashed into us several times.

Hotel del Coronado

Seaport Village

We drove back across the bridge to San Diego and went to Seaport Village to walk around and get some dinner.

Las Vegas

Crazy how quickly the week fly by!  I think we all wanted one more day to just hang out at the beach and condo but it was time to pack up and drive to Vegas for the weekend.  We stayed at South Point Hotel.  It’s about 10 minutes from the strip and has a movie theater and bowling.  We were all ready to be home and didn’t do too much.  Gavin took the Mia and Griffin bowling one night.  We met up with Jeff and Rae and went to the New York New York casino so the big kids (and Uncle Jeff) could all go on the roller coaster.  Then we made our way down the strip to Serendipity’s so Hadley could finally try a frrrrozen hot chocolate.  We stayed at the same hotel as Weichers but only saw Sylvie and Surie.

Easter

The Easter bunny found us at our hotel and left everyone a basket of goodies.  Each basket had confetti filled eggs that we thought would be fun to break out in the parking lot on our way home.  This fun event ended with lots of tears and a confetti mess all over the sidewalk and in our hair.

We had a yummy Easter dinner in St. George with Nan and Papa on our way back home.

What a great way to spend Easter break!  After 9 days and 2000 miles of driving, we were all ready to get back home, except for Morgan.  That girl LOVES vacations and being out of school and doing whatever we want everyday.  And I have to agree that nothing quite compares to being on vacation.  Until next time. . .  stay classy, San Diego!

Christmas

We had a very Merry Christmas!  It was filled with food, gifts, love, family, games, a movie and lots of boxes and wrapping paper!

Jack got just what he was asking for-- a Zagg iPad keyboard, Polo Red cologne, clothes and a few Xbox games.  I guess Santa didn’t get the memo about moving him to the naughty list for speeding  46 miles over the speed limit.

Ryan got a skateboard, black bear hamster, Disney Infinity figures, clothes and a watch.

Hadley got a new iPod screen, makeup, clothes and shoes, Katniss barbie, snow boots, Frozen soundtrack, necklace, books, scarf and hat.

Morgan got Elsa, Anna and Kristoff barbies from Disney Frozen.  She also got all of the barbies from her favorite show, Barbie In The Dreamhouse.  She spent the entire day singing Frozen songs with her new barbies and reading her new books.

Mia must have been really good because Santa brought her the American Girl doll (“Merragirl Doll”), Molly.  She’s her favorite doll because “her glasses make her look so cute” but unfortunately her glasses were broken when we opened up the box so now she is anxiously waiting for the replacement pair to arrive.  She also got Lego Friends “Mia's Magic Show”, all of the fairytale mini lalaloopsy dolls, Wizard of Oz mini lalaloopsy dolls, shrinky dinks and Wreck It Ralph Infinity figure.

Griffin got the new Disney Infinity start up pack and lots of playing figures.  He also got Skylanders for Xbox and a target for his bow and arrow, the game, Quirkle and the book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Some of his presents didn’t get here for Christmas so he got to open them the day after Christmas--a Kwanzaa miracle- a new tennis racquet, basketball and hexbug.

Gavin made his favorite Christmas breakfast meal -- overnight cinnamon french toast and we all enjoyed some before heading up to my parents’ house for another Christmas brunch and more gift exchanging.

Grandma and Grandpa spoiled their grandkids once again.  I guess that’s what grandparents do when it’s Christmas.

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandchildren (always miss out on having the Rushings)

And as always, I’m always relieved to have Christmas over.  It’s just a little bit more stressful as a mom than it was as a child.  It will be nice to get the Christmas stuff all put away and get ready for a new year!

Christmas Eve

We tried something new this year with our celebration on Christmas Eve.  We stayed home with our own little family instead of meeting up with extended family.  We started the night with a sit down dinner of ham and shrimp.  Mia and Griffin were so excited for it to finally be Christmas Eve.  They’ve been checking out the presents under the tree and counting down the days to get to Christmas Eve so they could finally open three gifts for the wisemen tradition.  Mia was my big helper. She helped me with setting the table and bringing up all of the Christmas dishes.  We got our glasses set up for sparkling cider and eggnog and then lit the candles.  A fun Christmas Eve toast and it was time to eat.

After dinner we got together to read the last Christmas story in our book, sang Silent Night with Ryan and Mia leading the music and then read about the birth of our Savior in Luke and Matthew.  After reading about the Wisemen in the Bible and discussing the symbolism of the three gifts that they brought to baby Jesus, the kids all got to open their 3 Wisemen gifts--gold (something fun), red (something sentimental) and green (something needed).

Jack got a UofU blanket, a driver’s license ornament (for turning 16 and getting his license and a crazy speeding ticket) and UofU pajamas.

Ryan got a BYU blanket, a Willow Tree ornament--“You will always have my heart” with a gold heart (for his golden birthday this year) and BYU pajamas.

Hadley got a Hunger Games bracelet, a Willow Tree ornament--“Dance of Life” (since she started up dance again this year) and Hunger Games pajamas (she’s slightly obsessed with Hunger Games).

Morgan got Frozen and Barbie books (and then ran off to the living room to read her new books and didn’t want to open up any other gifts), Toy Story Jessie ornament and Christmas pajamas.

Griffin got loom bands to make rubberband bracelets, Ninja ornaments (since he was a ninja for Halloween) and Christmas pajamas.

Mia got a “Dorothy" mini Lalaloopsy doll, the Wizard of Oz ornaments (since she was Dorothy for Halloween) and Christmas pajamas.

Then we set up cookies and milk for Santa, watched the movie “ELF" together and then off to bed.  Ready for Christmas.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

SUNDANCE {with a dash of Robert Redford}

We spent the weekend at the beautiful Sundance Resort.  It was a quick getaway which makes packing simple and easy.  We grabbed a few outfits, sweatshirts and swimsuits and drove 60 minutes south.  Mia made sure she grabbed all of her necessities . . . a purse, sunglasses, hat, harmonica and a few books.

This was our family’s first time to visit Sundance.  The kids loved checking out all of the wildlife--snakes, ferrets, squirrels, butterflies--and anything else they could see through the binoculars (usually a sibling’s face).  And we loved the cabin-like rooms that were big enough to fit all of us.

Our first night we took a tractor ride up the mountain to watch the Utah Symphony’s Patriotic Celebration in the outdoor amphitheatre.  It was a beautiful evening and the music was perfect.  The younger kids were ready to head back to our room after the first few songs but made it through the whole performance and even enjoyed it a little bit.

The highlight for me was seeing Robert Redford and having him smile at Morgan and me!  We were walking back from the bathroom and he watched us as we walked back to our seats and gave us a big smile.  Seeing Robert Redford at Sundance is definitely the icing on the cake!  Gavin jokingly asked when checking in if we would be seeing Mr. Redford this weekend. They told him they were 99% sure that we would not see him claiming he only visits the resort a few times a year and they never know when that will be.  Well, lucky us!

Robert Redford (sitting in black shirt)

The Utah mountains are the perfect escape in the summer, usually a little cooler than home but this weekend was so hot everywhere that it didn’t feel any cooler.  We spent the afternoon on the lake, boating at Deer Creek.

The lake was so crowded and rough but that didn’t stop Jack from trying out the wake board.  He’s been watching YouTube wake board videos with crazy stunts and been excited to get out behind the boat and practice.  He stayed out there a long time and never complained about all of the other boats and rough waters.

A few people suggested we should hike up to Stewart Falls to see the beautiful waterfalls.  We took the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and started our 3 mile hike.  It was a super hot day again.  We didn’t have the best hiking shoes or clothing (Morgan refused to wear her tennis shoes and hiked in crocs).  I forgot to put sunscreen on any of us.  And we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into.

It was a narrow trail on the side of the mountain for most of the way to the falls.  Morgan and I both share a fear of heights.  My heart was pounding as I tried not to look at the edge or focus on my kids running ahead not concerned about the possibility that they could fall of the mountain.  Morgan was just as scared and clinging to Gavin, saying over and over, “I can NOT!”   We found a place in the shade to rest and pass around a jug of water to share with each other.  All of us realized this was a much harder hike than we had anticipated and tried to decide if it was better to just turn around and go back.  After some discussion we decided to keep going forward, that it would be worth it to finish the hike.  We started hiking again and within a few minutes we were off of the steep trail and on to an easier section of the hike.  It was a good reminder that just like in LIFE . . . when you feel like giving up and scared to go any further if you could only see around the corner, you would find that the hardest challenges were behind you and the rest is downhill.

Morgan has such a hard time in the heat and isn’t able to regulate her body heat very well (you can see how flushed and splotchy her face gets in the heat).  She’s lucky she’s got such a strong daddy and big brother who carried for most of the 3 mile hike.

After 2 hours of hiking, we finally made it to the falls.  Enjoyed the beautiful view, rested on the rocks and played in the stream for awhile.  Then it was time to start on our hike back down to the resort.  The hike down was easier and only took an hour.  It was miserably hot but I’m still glad we did it.  It was a hard activity to do as a family but it’s these kind of activities that bring us closer and make us stronger.  Jack and Ryan were loving and concerned big brothers and did their best to take care of their younger siblings.  Helping them on steep terrain, carrying them on their backs, going back up the trail to make sure their dad didn’t need any help with Morgan, sacrificing an extra sip so the little kids could have more to drink.  It made me proud to see their love and concern.

We finally made it down the mountain and we looked like we had been camping for weeks.  We walked into the resort’s bathrooms covered in dust and dirt, head to toe.  We were more than ready to get back to our air conditioned home and showers.  And Hadley.  She had her own adventure this weekend.  She went with the Young Women to a Book of Mormon reading activity at a cabin in Brighton Resort.  They all read the Book of Mormon in two days together.  We missed having her with us but know she accomplished something she will never forget. . . reading the entire Book of Mormon at 12 years old.

Happy end of a great weekend!