A Rocky Start

We have been looking forward to our San Diego vacation for months. Mike and I had it all planned out and we were excited for this vacation with our kids. We flew the kids to San Diego so that was a big deal for our kids. Our flight out of SLC was an hour late so, that threw things off. Our kids did great on the flight and Jason loved looking out the window down on the small cities. We got into San Diego late that night and we got to our hotel and crashed because we were tired. At 4 a.m Mike woke me up saying that he was in a ton of pain. His lower side hurt so bad. After a short while he said that he needed to go to a hospital that the pain was so bad he needed help. We woke up the kids and took Mike to the E.R. It was a horrible E.R in San Diego and they would not let me go back to see Mike nor would they let me know what was going on with him. After 2 hours of waiting I finally got to talk with a Dr. and that he had a kidney stone. Mike went through a horrible experience and we were just glad that he made it through it. We were so worried about Mike and were so glad that it wasn't something more serious.

So, an exciting start to our vacation but, the rest of our week was so much fun and we made some great memories as a family.

Sea World

We ended up going to Sea World for 2 days. I forgot my camera our 2nd day so we will only have one day of pictures. It was great weather and we really enjoyed our days at the park.

The kids loved watching the dolphins and Mike even was lucky enough to touch one of them.

Lucy enjoyed looking at the dolphins also. She would lean on the edge and splash the water.

Poor Lucy and Mike got soaked by one of the dolphins. Look how sad Lucy was! She didn't cry but, just made a sad face. She was such a good sport.

They now have rides at Sea World and the kids enjoyed them. It was not crowed at all the days we went so, we would just walk on the rides which was nice for the kids.

Here we are waiting for the Shamu show to start.

Anne's face as she watched that huge whale jumping out of the water. It is quite the sight to see something that big jump out of the water. It was a great show.

Lunch time!

Looking and touching Star Fish.

Looking at the Sea Turtles

The Sea Lion show was our kids favorite. Jason was laughing so hard through the whole show. Another great show at Sea World.

We saw sharks and sting rays. The Arctic exhibit was really fun with the polar bears,penguins, beluga whales, and the huge walrus. They had a huge playground that our kids played on about and hour. They also had a fun baby area that Lucy loved to crawl around in. I was so glad we split up Sea World into 2 days so we could enjoy each outing and not worry about missing something.

San Diego Temple

The San Diego Temple is one of my favorites. I think it is so beautiful and is in the most beautiful place. The last time I was at the San Diego Temple was with Mike and Grandpa Harvey. Grandpa Harvey was a temple worker and gave us the tour of all tours of the temple. It is so pretty inside and the church went all out on this one. We took the kids just to the grounds and they enjoyed seeing it and playing around the grounds.

We took some pics of the kids by some pretty flowers. They were in a silly mood.

After we went to the temple we decided to go get something to eat. We found a TGI Fridays down the street from the temple. They sat us down and Lucy being a normal 8 month old baby starting making some loud happy noises. The next thing we know a lady walks up to us and says shhh and points to Lucy. We were so worried about Lucy making any noise after that we asked to be put outside. It just amazed me that at a TGI Fridays, not a 5 star resturaunt, that a lady had the nerve to shush my baby. I guess in that part of California they are not too child friendly. Anyways, we finished that meal and headed to La Jolla for a fun evening at the beach.

San Diego Beaches

We spent 3 different days at 3 different beaches. We just loved playing in the sand and water. The kids loved playing in the waves and experiencing that for the first time. It was always just such a relaxing day spent on the beach. We loved every moment of it! After getting Mike out of the hospital we headed over to Mission Beach to relax after our crazy morning.

Lucy enjoyed playing and eating the sand!

Jason was the boogie board king! He spent hours out in the waves and loved being out in the ocean.

Mike was so good this day. I know he wasn't feeling the best but, he still had a smile on his face and made it fun for the kids. What a man!

We buried Jason.

And we buried Anne!

One evening we went to La Jolla Beach to watch the sun set. I love La Jolla Beach because it's just so different and beautiful. We saw some seals on the beach. The seals are between Eliza and Jason in the picture above.

We thought we would catch a better sun set but, instead we had awesome lighting to take some fun pictures. Mike and the kids looking for sea anemone in the tide pools.

Eliza at the beach.

The people I love the most!

Just the girls.

Lucy loves her Dad and when ever he holds her she will cuddle up to him and eventually fall asleep. It was getting close to bed time.

Jason wrote his name in the sand and left his mark.

We could not resist the water even though we were in our clothes. The kids ended up soaking wet but, a fun evening. We ended up staying at La Jolla until dark. This was my favorite evening of the trip.

Our last day in San Diego we headed over to Coronado Beach. We took the crazy long bridge over to the island. Coronado Beach is the best beach by far. It has the most amazing sand and it's nice, long, and big. We ate lunch and found some really pretty sea shells on this beach.

Lucy was such a good baby and would always find a way to get her afternoon nap. A nap by the ocean it doesn't get better than that.

The beach and our area.

Eliza finally let us bury her in the sand on the last day. She then wanted us to keep burying her in the sand. It got a little old but, we were glad she over came her fear.

We had such a wonderful time as a family. It was so much fun to be together and laugh, watch movies, experience some first for a lot of us, and not cook for a week! We loved swimming at our hotel pool and enjoyed the awesome San Diego weather. We hope we can do this trip again.

Grandpa Harvey

We were lucky to have Grandpa Harvey come to Utah for about 2 weeks. It was so good to see him and have him around. Mike enjoyed many golf games with him while he was in town. Grandpa Harvey is such a blessing in all of our lives and he loves his family. He bore a very powerful testimony to all of us one night. He wanted his family to know that he had a strong testimony of the gospel and of the priesthood. I am grateful that Mike has such a wonderful relationship with his Grandpa. He has had good advice given to him while golfing over the years with him. We were sad to see him leave back to California but, grateful for the time we had to be with him

Me, Sarah, Harvey, Cathy, Kari, and JoAnn. A Picture with the girls.

Lots of love from the girls!

Tom, Josh, Paul, Harvey, Greg, Mike and Chris. A Picture of the Men!