The Rest of the Vacation

So I started blogging that last entry and ended five days later! As much as I want to share the whole trip with all of you, I don't have that much time to blog! I decided for this part, I'm going to write what happened and then I'll put a slide show up of some of my favorite pictures and for those of you who like reading blogs, you can read about the trip and for those of you who like viewing blogs can appreciate my pictures and I will be able to start and finish this blog right now!

Tuesday was Beach day. Now the last time I was at the beach was four years ago in Oregon. The water in San Diego is much different than the water in Oregon. About 40 degrees different! We agreed the night before that we'd head north to Kellogg Park in La Jolla for our family beach outing. What an amazing place! It was so beautiful. The sand was fine, the water was warm, and the waves were huge! It was good for the surfers, the boogie boarders, the swimmers, and the waders! I was concerned about losing my contacts and Todd suggested goggles, so I went to Walgreens and bought the kind that have the nose piece too. It turned out they were great for keeping my contacts in place and helped when I just couldn't jump one more wave. Just close your mouth and let that wave wash right over. It was probably the best wave jumping of my life. If it hadn't been for the horrific sunburn I got at the beach, I would have been up for going back day after day after day. Not everyone survived the beach as enthusiastically as me. My sister, Carolee, went into the ocean wearing her glasses and I told her she should take them off. 9 years ago our sister Kristina lost her glasses to the ocean in Mexico. Carolee told me she wanted to be able to see. About five minutes later, I looked over and there was Carolee with a crestfallen look on her face and nothing on her eyes. I told her I hoped that seeing for five minutes was worth it since now she wouldn't be able to see until we could get her glasses replaced. It turned out to be $225 and 24 hours later. Word to the wise: glasses and oceans DO NOT MIX!!! After a fantastic day at the beach it was family at the temple night, but I was too sore and too tired to go, so Mom, Dad, and I decided to go the next morning. We stayed back at the hotel and just hung out. Todd and Nicole were able to get the kids in bed on time and it was a good way to recover. Wednesday we headed out early to pick up the 9:00 session at the San Diego temple. What an amazing experience! The San Diego temple is a cut above. It is a temple with beauty and godliness in mind (not that the other temples fail to achieve this, this one just does it better)! We did the session and entered the Celestial room and my jaw dropped! It is gorgeous! When we came out, we ran into the missionaries that were in charge of the "Visitor's Center." I'll put this picture in right here or it won't make sense.

Yep, that's the San Diego temple visitor's center. In all fairness, they may lack a building, but they are knowledgeable and make you feel really important! They were very helpful and even took a picture of us! After the temple, Dad and Carolee went to the eye doctor and Mom and the kids and I met Todd and Nicole at Mission Bay state park, where they had gone to meet their friends Danny and Nici. Danny was a missionary in Todd's mission and they have a son named Jake that is a little older than Andrew. They had a lot of fun playing together while the parents got reacquainted; and what a beautiful setting. It's a really nice park. After eating lunch there and playing for a bit, we came back to the hotel and then met some of the cousins in Old Town, while Todd and Nicole let their kids nap. Old Town is a pretty cool place, but it was super hot, and I was super sunburned and super tired so we didn't spend too much time there. We did get some fudge at the candy shop; Caramel Apple Pie and some kind of pralines something or other. Really good! After Old Town we found gas and headed back up to La Jolla for the family dinner. Mom's cousin Shauna and her family were staying in a hotel in La Jolla and the hotel had agreed to let us use the breakfast room on the fifth floor overlooking the ocean across from the beach where we were the day before. It was a pretty nice place. We got food from Rubios and it was really good. After dinner and picture taking (sunset and family) we had the family meeting where I was voted President, in charge of the 2011 reunion. Luckily it's a Salt Lake reunion, so it won't take too much out of me... hopefully. We decided after the family dinner to go back to the temple to take night pictures and to let the kids see it. After Mom got us lost, we ended up coming at it from the north instead of the south, but it was pretty cool to see it from the freeway. Coming from south you don't see it until you're almost to it but from the north it's a pretty grand view. We took some night pictures and the kids were impressed. Thursday Todd and Nicole and Dad went with some of the cousins to do baptisms for the dead since Todd and Nicole hadn't been able to go with us to do endowments. We watched the kids while they went and Rory slept while Andrew and I swam with Malerie and Kaity. When they got back from the temple, we decided to take advantage of our second day of Sea World. We were excited when we got there because one of the rides had been closed Monday when we were there and it was open Thursday so we did that first. It's a roller coaster, water ride, with an elevator. Pretty cool! Kaity and I sat in the front and we got drenched. Everyone else sat behind us and they got sprinkled on. After that we did the Wild Arctic ride (motion ride that helicopters you in to the Arctic) and saw Beluga whales, polar bears, and walruses. After that we saw penguins and puffins twice. The second time we came out, there was a girl feeding the penguins. We spent a lot of time and pictures on that. We went then and saw manatees and sharks again, then caught dinner at a BBQ place. BBQ brisket, ribs, and chicken with corn and rolls. It was really good. After dinner, we decided to take in the Sea Lions Tonite show. It's a show that spoofs all the other sea world shows. It was pretty comical. After that we went to the sky tower again since Kaity had missed it before and then got in line for Shamu Rocks: the night Shamu show. It was packed but we had some fairly decent seats out of the soak zone. Andrew loved it! After Shamu Rocks, they had a short firework show. It was a great way to end the day. We then got souvenirs for everyone. I got Sea World playing cards, a Sea World Calendar, and a cool seashell hangy thing. Friday morning we woke up and got packed up and headed off in 3 different directions. Todd and Nicole headed to Arizona for 3 weeks with Nicole's mom and sister; Carolee and Dad and the kids headed to Santa Maria to visit Dennis in prison; and Mom and I headed toward Vegas. After driving for what seemed like forever we got to Las Vegas and checked into our hotel. We drove around for more forever to find somewhere off the strip to eat dinner and then went to the Bellagio to see the fountains, both chocolate and water. They have a Patisserie that features a 27 foot chocolate fountain that pumps white, dark, and milk chocolate at the same time. It's pretty cool! We saw the conservatory, which is decorated seasonally. I've been there a few times and have never seen the same decorations. This time it was a summer paradise, complete with a Ferris wheel, watering cans, and lots of flowers. They also had a lady bug, a frog, and a snail made from flowers, and a greenhouse with birds in it. After seeing all that we headed out to catch a few shows from the Bellagio fountains: my favorite part of Las Vegas! The two shows that are my favorite are Singing in the Rain and Luck Be a Lady. That night we saw My Heart Will Go On, from Titanic; something operatic, and Luck Be a Lady. I took a video of Luck Be a Lady, so now I can see it whenever I want on my computer. After the three shows Mom asked if I wanted to see another one, but it was 10:30 at night and 114 degrees. I was dripping with sweat and so tired from driving. I told her I'd rather just go back to the hotel. We went back to the hotel only to be greeted by a parking attendant that was ridiculous and no place to park. We ended up parking illegally against a wall and went to bed praying that the car would still be there in the morning and not be wrecked. We woke up at 9, and showered and got ready. We got in the car, which was both where we'd left it and undamaged, and headed for Mesquite, where we stopped at a hole in the wall place for breakfast and then continued on to St. George where we stopped to do a session at the St. George Temple. Neither of us had ever been there for a session before and while I can appreciate the fact that the temple was built in the 1870's, it was almost disappointing after San Diego. It's just really plain. All in all it was a good experience, and when we were done, we took a few pictures outside and then got gas. Mom wanted an Icee or something, and I spotted an A&W across from the gas station so we went there and got large rootbeer freezes. Those got us to Cedar City and then we decided to continue on to Beaver to eat dinner. We stopped at Dairy Queen in Beaver, then made the long haul home, arriving around 9. We unloaded the car and then took a quick inventory and went shopping. Sunday we slept in, watched Music and the Spoken Word and then 6 hours of Game Show Network. We made yummy bbq'd salmon, yummy pasta, and extra yummy stir fried veggies for dinner and enjoyed it on the patio.

That pretty much sums it up! What a great way to spend a week!! Pictures will be here soon!