San Diego

Oh San Diego... Such a perfect summery place. In September TJ's cousin had his mission farewell so Tahsha, Berty and I loaded the car with 3 little girlies and made the long trek. TJ hadn't been at his new job long enough to have any vacation time so he had to work some of the days we were gone, Bummer.

The girls actually did really well on the drive and were such troopers. We didn't leave until around 4 in the afternoon and finally made it to our hotel around 3 in the morning. Eh long night!

We lugged all the sleeping girls up to the room just to have them bing their eyes open and start to play. There were bunk beds in the room which the girls had a blast on. Finally we got the car unloaded, girls in bed. I put Scout in bed with me since I didn't have a play pen yet oh my never again! That little girl flipped and flopped for well over a hour. She finally fell asleep stinkbug position with her little tushy right in my face... The long night turned into an even looonger night! After we got the playpen from Marty and Lydia the nights were much more pleasant.

We opted for a lazy beach day when we got up and going on Tuesday. We went to La Jolla Bay and over to La Jolla Beach. It was such a pretty place. Not much of a sit down and play in the sand kind of beach, but there were such pretty things to look at. Lots of seals playing in the water and birds everywhere.

I wanted to play the chase the waves game with the girls, they were a little hesitant, they weren't quite sure what to think of the waves just yet. After some persuading of how fun it would be I took them to the shore, we turned around and waited for a big wave to come, and then we ran.....

Apparently not quite fast enough! It got us, and it got us good. Our whole back sides were SOAKED.

Two little girls... Not very happy.

I just about ruined the rest of our day. Toby's legs got salt water itchy and she was wigging out that bugs were biting her. There were flies all over the shells and seaweed laying on the beach and she was Convinced they were biting her, they were then cold, and wet and wanted nothing more to do with the water! Sorry girls, it made for some good pictures though.

On Wednesday we went to the Mormon Battalion. It was such a fun and very family friendly place. I would go back in a heartbeat. They remodeled it a year or so ago. The missionaries are all dressed in pioneer attire and you basically follow the story line of the Mormon battalion by watching a movie with actors and changing rooms as you go along in the story. Very cool!

The girls looking so hard core getting ready to make their loooong trek to battle.

We panned for gold which was where they spent the majority of their time.

There were all sorts of little stations set around for us to see how things were done in their era. A water pump, brick making, clothes washing...

Oh wow Toby, I think if you had to wash your clothes like this for reals you would pass out from exhaustion. They had a blast here. After we left here we walked around Old Town for a little while and then headed to Mission Bay Beach which is more flat and lots of sand type of beach. The beach was pretty empty except for lots of surfers which were entertaining to watch.

One of the days was our sea world day. Everyone was able to go. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, and lots of cousins!

Saturday we were able to do a session in the San Diego Temple. As soon as Taylor received his mission call to Madagascar he started working in the Temple. He was working his last shift and most of the family was able to go through and be with him. Such a neat experience. This Temple is beautiful.

We had one last beach day with everyone at Mission Bay Beach. Our girls didn't have their swimsuits on which really didn't matter because they didn't want to get in the water (I ruined them remember?) Other cousins did and it was fun to sit, play in the sand and watch them.

Are you wondering what is being pointed to in this picture? Well yes, that is in fact bird POO on my foot! Sick oh sick, that bird had a good aim!
Scouty sure LOVED her Uncle Marty. During Taylor's farewell Marty was up on the stand presiding as he is the president over the Spanish speaking branch. Scout kept reaching and yelling for him the entire time. It was such a neat experience being in a Spanish branch. We sang the hymns in English while the rest of the congregation sang in Spanish. The girls went to primary with their other cousins and the rest of us adults went into the youth's Sunday school where Uncle Marty was teaching in English. Aunt Lydia then taught Relief Society in all Spanish and it was so neat to be able to feel the spirit even though I had no idea what she was saying.
I truly feel so lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. All sides of TJ's family are so amazing. I love them all. I had so much fun on this vacation mostly because of the people we were with. We may just have to plan another trip on Taylor's return! :)