San Diego Part 2

The first post was just half of our trip!! So, picking up where I left off (which was Sunday afternoon), we ventured to see the absolutely gorgeous San Diego temple! It is simply stunning. I can't wait to go inside it someday.

Here is the stroller brigade walking up to the temple. Colby looks pretty cute pushing the little pink umbrella stroller around!

Then, that evening, just our little family went to the San Diego Zoo. I had heard mixed reviews about it but we decided that since we were there, we should try it at least once!! We actually didn't think it was as bad as everyone kept telling us!! There were lots of animals- it definitely blows the Hogle Zoo out of the water!! So we are glad we went!

Then Monday morning, the stroller brigade was off again to the Safari Park!

I am glad Chelise convinced us all that we should do the hot air balloon ride! It was pretty interesting to see the park from above!

These two.............they are just good little buddies......

After the park, we hit up Old Town San Diego for just a couple hours! We definitely could have spent longer there! Brian and Kristy had recommended Cafe Coyote to eat so we hit it up.

And we even got serenaded!

We also went through the Mormon Battalion exhibit and it was REALLY cool!! It was fun, interactive, and very informative!

This is one of my favorite pics of these two of the whole trip! 

Panning for gold at the exhibit.

They even decided they wanted to try and do some laundry there! Ha ha

After Old Town, we went back out to Coronado for our last beach hoorah- and it definitely did not disappoint!

I was so impressed with this little guy the whole trip!! He was so chill the entire time!! We barely heard a squeak out of him! 

The next morning we went to breakfast and then took off for home:-(

The trip home was definitely harder on the kids and longer than on our way down but oh well!! All in all we had a great trip with great company and we can't wait to do something like this again!!

San Diego Part 1

How is it even possible to go through 369 photos from a family vacation and pick which ones to use???? It's basically impossible- by the way! But I tried.....I really tried!

So about two weeks before this (featured below) all happened I said to Colby, "So, we both have 5 days off in a row at the same time........I want to go somewhere.......what do you think about San Diego?" I May have begged and pleaded and used some more convincing terms in there as well but the bottom line is.......HE AGREED!!!! So I booked it as fast as I could so there was no backing out. Needless to say, I probably should have done more research on the hotel because it was a dive but oh well. You see, I'm the type that doesn't care where I sleep as long as it is cheap and not too scary. Well with this one, I wasn't too far from the bottom of the pit and in my eyes it was still pretty costly! Back to the important stuff.......about 3 or 4 days before we were leaving, Colby mentioned to his mom that she was more than welcome to come along if she needed a little get-a-way before school started. So she recruited Chelise and her boys. I am so glad they were all able to come! The kids had a ball!! So we drove down on a Friday after Colby got off work which took us around 8 hours. The kids actually didn't do too bad considering.

Then on Saturday morning we hit up good ole Sea World!

We watched the whale show......

Saw lots of sea life.....

We hit up the dolphin act.....

And realized exactly how annoying seals can be when they want food!! Ha ha! They were bellerin and screeching! It was pretty comical.

After Sea World, we drove over to Coronado Island and Colby, Hayden, and I got to have our first beach experience together!!!! The sand there was magical! It literally sparkled in the water!!

Then after sleeping in our disgusting hotel (no joke- Chelise and Nikki found bed bugs in their room), we set out for another beach. This one was La Jolla Shores. The parking wasn't as good here as Coronado and we didn't like the sand quality as much but still.......we were at the beach!!! We all were having a hoot! Yes here is my big ole pregnant belly and I was only 17 weeks at the time..........I am going to be GINORMOUS!! Isn't my little beach babe just adorable?!?

I swear these kids had sand in their ears for weeks after we left!! They loved digging and building sand castles and just plain running without getting herded back to the group!

24th of July Weekend

Since I had to work the ENTIRE weekend before the 24th- these two scooted on up to Hinckley to partake in the festivities. I was a tad bit jealous......

Great-Grandma Marlene and Great-Grandpa Dale with all of Russ and Nikki's grandkids. A pretty priceless photo I think.

This kid hasn't quite figured out that she should like parades yet. She gets shy and only wants dad throughout the entire thing.

It's hard to take this one to Delta and have her not beg the entire time to ride a horse.......she usually gets her wish.

Having some technology-time with her cousins.