Home Life

Today we had our first visit from Chicago friends!   The Cerda family just happened to be out in the Denver area for a soccer tournament and called to see if they could come over!  🙂  It was great to see them!  Zach was SUPER excited to see his best friend from Illinois again!  We had a hard time pulling them apart when it was time to go!  🙂

We had a great time catching up on everything that was going on in the old neighborhood.  We love it so much out here in Castle Rock but we sure do miss our good friends from back in IL.  What a blessing it is to have modern transportation and the ability to see people from far away more often!  🙂

Today we got up early, ate breakfast and then started driving the final stretch home!  We saw some beautiful country along the way…

We finally made it to the I-70 pass down into Denver and made our way home!  After 10 days, it felt nice to drive into our own driveway, unpack, and sleep in our own beds!  What a GREAT vacation!  Thanks to all who made it GREAT!

This morning, we packed up, said good-bye to everyone, and then started our drive home.  We stopped in Las Vegas, drove along the strip, and then up to the temple to visit the grounds there.  We ate lunch and then started on our drive again…

What a different feeling between the strip and the temple!  🙂

We then stopped in St. George and went to the visitor center and walked around the temple grounds…

We eventually stopped in Beaver, UT for the night and will continue our drive home tomorrow.  Yea!

Today we decided to stay an extra day and visit the LA Natural History Museum with a bunch of the families.  That was a lot of fun.  We also got to see the Colosseum/Rose Bowl!  We went to a really cool butterfly exhibit as well.

By the time we were done with the museum, we were exhausted.  The last 7 days have really taken it out of us!  We went back to the house and had one last beach bash before crashing for the night.  We got everything prepped for the drive back home tomorrow.  We’ll see how far we get!  🙂

Prep to go home.

Today was reunion day!  We spent most of the day on the beach, hanging out and having a great time!  Brittany overcame her fear of the ocean, and it was hard to get her out!  We went body boarding, tried surfing, and buried a bunch of the little people.

Brian brought in a caterer for an outstanding taco lunch and we were so hungry we devoured the food.  🙂  It tasted GREAT!

We went back out on the beach and had more fun until we were exhausted!  🙂

The highlight of the day however, was that all of the adults (EVERY single sibling and their spouse) went to the Newport Beach temple together.  What a WONDERFUL experience!  All 20 of us there!  What a wonderful accomplishment for mom and dad that every single one of their kids are active, married in the temple and could go with us.

After the session, Angela and I drove over to Brian’s house where we stayed the night.  Although the house was huge, we had to rotate who slept there simply because there were so many of us!  🙂  The kids stayed at the house and slept on couches and such because that’s where they were being baby sat and we didn’t want to wake them up.

What a wonderful day!

Today we got up early, went walking on the beach and swimming in the water, and relaxed.  Angela went on a bike ride with a bunch of the family members (they had a bunch of bikes in the garage of the house).

We then went to the Los Angeles Zoo together as a family (whoever was there at the time).  It’s a nice zoo, but it was SO hot today that it tired us right out.  Coming from the awesome Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, this zoo was a lot different.  The exhibits are MUCH more spread out and you have to walk a ton to see them.  There were also a lot of animals that were not out due to the heat.  Oh well, we had fun as a family.

By the time we finished up at the zoo, the kids were begging to go back to the house and the beach and to get into the water.  We gladly obliged.  🙂

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening on the beach, after which we ate dinner together as one big happy family!  We’re excited for the day tomorrow.  It’s ALL beach and eat!

Today we got up early and I took Zach to the beach to do a little body boarding.  He had a riot!  It was hard to get him out of the water to get moving with our daily activities… LA Temple and Hollywood.

Once I got him out and dried off, we piled in the car and drove up to the Los Angeles Temple.  It is a really beautiful place.  It’s surrounded by worldliness and junk on every corner and the difference in the feeling from outside the gates to inside the gates is probably THE most drastic I have ever felt.  The visitor center is nice and we had a chat with the sisters there about Sarah and how she would be there next week to attend the temple.  🙂  It’s crazy that we are only a couple of hours away from her but we can’t see her.  🙁  In the Visitor Center, they have a picture of the painting inside the temple that my Dad’s uncle painted.  I was able to tell the story to the couple missionaries there about it and they thought it was awesome!  They were going to write it down and share with others.

The temple grounds are very beautiful and we had a very relaxing time walking around and enjoying them.

We then went from virtue to vice and drove over to Hollywood.  Kirstyn really wanted to see some of the sights there and she got her picture of the Hollywood sign…

We parked along the “Walk of Fame” and saw a bunch of the stars in the sidewalks.  We also saw the theater where the Academy Awards are held and Kirstyn was VERY excited about that.  We tried to go as fast as we could to get out of the tourist-infested area…

After Hollywood, we drove back to the house and the kids went and played on the beach for awhile.  They are now DEAD TIRED after a long day!

Today we got up early and went for a walk on the beach it was cloudy and overcast, but it felt SO good!  We took some pictures of the house and some views of the beach as well…

We then went to church in one of the Sunset Beach wards.  They were really nice to us.  It was a small ward, and with all of us there, we about doubled the congregation size!  🙂  After church we drove over to the Newport Beach Temple with David and Gina and their family.  It’s a small temple, but very beautiful and the grounds are amazing.  It was so peaceful there amidst the bustle of everything going on around.  We took lots of pictures of the kids, family pictures, and pictures of the flowers and gardens there.

We then spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying company.  Almost everyone is now here and it was nice to see family.  The kids couldn’t stay of the beach, so we let them go out and watch the waves, with them promising that they wouldn’t get wet.  So much for that promise.  The boys tried MUCH harder than the girls did.  The girls jumped right in in their street clothes and got sopping wet.  They claim they didn’t hear us tell them not to get wet.  🙂

The weather by that time was gorgeous with blue skies and a slight breeze.  A bunch of us at different times in the evening took walks together on the beach in the sunset.  What a wonderful evening!

This morning we got up early, checked out of the hotel, and drove back up into the Grand Canyon.  It was much more beautiful than yesterday because all the fog was gone.  We got some amazing pictures!  We took a couple of hikes along the rim and enjoyed the fresh air!

Even though the kids complained at first about the hike, they really loved it and saw some amazing scenery and nature.  We had to naturally hold the boy’s hands because we were so close to the edge, but they didn’t mind.  Only a couple of times did we have to tell them to stay with us.  The girls are who we had to worry about!  🙂  They thought it was really funny to make mom and dad nervous and go close to the edge.  😐

We left the Grand Canyon at about 9am and started our long drive across the Mohave desert to in LA (Sunset Beach).  It was really hot and into California (around Barstow), the heat got up to about 120 degrees!  🙂  Luckily we had our A/C on full strength and we didn’t have to stop for anything until we arrived at Sunset Beach where the weather was MUCH cooler!

We arrived in California in the early evening and got all unpacked at the beach house.  I should say more of a beach mansion!  It was huge and absolutely gorgeous!  There was plenty of room to house a bunch of people which is exactly what we needed.  Brian really did a great job with this.  Turns out the house rents for about $11,000 per week but we got it for nothing but a cleaning fee.  🙂

The kids immediately wanted to go down to the beach and check things out.  Brittany is nervous to go out into the ocean, but I’m sure she’ll warm up to the idea once she gets in.  🙂

Happy Birthday Zach!!!   Big number 9!  We hope you have a GREAT one!

Today we got up early and took off on the next leg of our journey…  Four Corners and Grand Canyon.  The Four Corners area was neat but it was SO touristy!  The area is on Native American land and the whole area around the monument is surrounded by shops.  It’s fun to visit once!  🙂  The kids even got arrowhead necklaces.  We stood in all four states (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona) and took pictures (as does every tourist)!  🙂

After visiting the Four Corners area, we decided to take a little detour up into Monument Valley in Utah to see that.  It was breathtaking!  The rock formations were great and the kids really loved pointing out things they could see in them!  🙂  It never ceases to amaze at how beautiful the earth is with all it’s varying geology!  One day you’re in forested mountains, and the next you are in an arid desert with beautiful rock formations!

We then dropped back down into Arizona and drove on to the Grand Canyon.  It was pretty foggy and the views were not very spectacular, but we had a fun time and the boys were in awe at how BIG it was!  We decided that since it was foggy and rainy, we would change plans a bit and drive back up to the canyon tomorrow in hopes the weather would be better.  The kids had fun though!  The boys did the Junior Ranger program and we rode the shuttle around taking a look at some of the sights.  It was interesting to see the fog roll in thicker and lightning shows start!  Beautiful!

We left the canyon and drove down to Williams, AZ.  We had a GREAT dinner at Route 66 Cafe.  Williams is right along Route 66 and they definitely take advantage of the history!  The food at the cafe was great and there was live music from a pretty talented solo musician that was really fun with the crowd.

Hope that was a GREAT bunch of activities for your birthday Zach!  🙂

Today we started our Family Vacation down through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California (Hobbs Reunion) and back!  We left early and kept our fingers crossed that we could make it down to Durango, CO with no problem.  There have been incredibly bad and huge forest fires down there and they just opened the road.  When we got down to the pass that had been closed for quite some time, everything was on heightened alert.  You couldn’t stop on the road the entire time, and everything was hazy from the smoke.  The air was heavy with the smell of smoke.

We got through OK and headed into Durango, where we saw the original Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store (for Sarah), and also saw the Durango/Silverton train station and line I had gone on when I was a kid.  Things sure have changed from what I remember!

We then headed over to Mesa Verde national park and spent the rest of the day there.  It was great seeing all the Native American ruins and the boys loved doing the Junior Ranger program!  We took a ton of pictures!  The only unfortunate thing that happened was that Zach’s hat got knocked off his head and over the rail down into the canyon.  It was his hat that he got from Cub Camp and he was really sad.  🙁  We promised to get him a new hat on our trip and that helped make him a little happier.

We are really tired from all the hiking now and are at the hotel in Cortez, CO.  We’ll sleep great tonight I would assume!  Tomorrow it’s off to the Four Corners area and over to the Grand Canyon!  🙂