Slowing Our Pace

Upon returning home from Sea World the other night I was feeling like maybe we were having a little bit too much family time. I just wanted to be alone. Not that we were bickering or anything, just that I was sick of the sound of their voices. Ha. There's nothing like going to bed early to read, along with a long night's sleep to press the do-over button in my heart.

The kids spent some time yesterday morning writing some postcards (they write HUGE) and I spent some time reading in our deluxe guest suite. I love reading books and writing letters while on vacation (and any other time too), but I love how relaxing and decadent it feels to me while on a trip.

Since Claudia, Alfredo and the boys returned home late Monday night (after we were in bed) that meant a house full on Tuesday. We hung out in the morning, me blogging and talking to them while the kids ran wild all through the house. It's nice that they're having so much fun, but man they're loud together.

Randy ventured out alone in the morning, then returned at noon to take Landon and Whitney swimming. It was hot outside (um...it's November) but it was a blessing because the kids were dying to swim. Claudia dropped Alexei off at preschool then we went to the mall for lunch at a smaller version of California Pizza Kitchen. She managed to get Jorvik to fall asleep in his stroller (by rocking him back and forth while she ate), so we were able to talk uninterrupted.

After that we went downstairs for our lengthy visit to Paper Source. I can't believe they have a huge, awesome store right in the mall! If the Wild Life Park was like Whitney being called home, me going to Paper Source is the same thing. 

I had to actively fight the inclination to feel overwhelmed in there. I just tried to soak it up and bought the things I'd been wanting to buy (I usually shop online). Claudia exchanged a bunch of stuff she'd recently bought so she ended up getting new stuff too.

After picking up Alexei from preschool, we stopped at the house to gather Randy and the kids then headed to the beach. It was after 4:00pm by the time we got there so the sun was already setting. It was stunning. Every time I come here I experience the ocean all over again and can't believe people who live here can go there every day if they want to. I would want to go to the beach to read, write and take pictures every day if I could.

The kids loved finding shells, exploring the tide pools and playing in the sand. We're definitely going to go back later in the week so they can play in the sand and soak up the feeling for awhile longer before we go.

We finished our great day out by going to dinner at Ruby's. Everything was super tasty and replenishing really after all these days of walking so much.

It was a good day of taking it easy, hanging out with friends and not having to see everything there was to see. We're back on track for that and heading to the zoo today. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Hannah!!!

**Do you love reading while on vacation?

Do your kids send postcards?

How do you feel about the beach?

Have you been to Paper Source?**

People, people everywhere people

Sweet Becca left us a box full of these amazing cupcakes yesterday. She knocked on the door (while I was in the shower), but Randy and the kids didn't answer it (we don't live here). Randy checked on the porch, but didn't see anything (he's such a man-looker). 

It wasn't until I saw her comment on my blog that I went out and checked the porch and saw this big box sitting on the chair on Claudia's porch (duh). We were so excited and had these tasty treats for breakfast. Thanks Becca!!!

So yesterday was Veteran's Day, which means a day off of work and school here in California (but not in Utah) so we got to go to Sea World along with the rest of California! Good grief, it's November, we didn't think it would be crowded on a Monday.

It did mean that cute Jen's husband and kids were available for the day and were able to join us at Sea World, so that was fun. We didn't get there until 1:00 (apparently I move like molasses here, Randy blames my blogging). It was kind of hard to move our pack of 9 people through the crowds, but we did it.

It's so cool to be this close to a sea creature. This guy put on quite a show by pressing his face against the glass and spitting out fish guts while he was eating. Cool.

Even though we were herded like cattle through Shark Encounter it did NOT disappoint. There's just something so cool about walking under a shark. We didn't get to linger at all because of the crowds, but it was still cool.

Did you know water birds reek like nothing else? I felt like I could taste the nastiness. They're awfully pretty, but sure do carry a stank! The kids got to feed them, so they loved it.

 

Jen and I finally took a self-portrait late in the day as we watched the kids at the Forbidden Reef. A nice lady offered to take our picture for us (so we let her), but we liked our self-portrait better.

I really must compile a gallery of our family self-portraits because these are my favorites. Whitney's head often gets cut out of the photo, and this amuses me greatly.

We got to the Shamu show early so we could get a good seat. It was kind of crazy to be sitting there with Jen and her family, we've known each other for almost 20 years (we met at BYU).

We had to get more cotton candy. Is it me or is this a lot like eating sugary insulation? It has no appeal to me at all, except that I think it smells good.

The Shamu show never disappoints. It's miraculous to see such huge animals interacting with humans. I think it would be cool to be a trainer at Sea World, except that I would have to be a strong swimmer, love animals passionately, and not mind smelling like fish...I'm out!

Happy Birthday Lindsay!!

**Do you like cupcakes?

Do sea animals fascinate you?

How do you feel about cotton candy?

Could you be a trainer?**

Lions and tigers, no bears oh my!

Yesterday we made the schlep (aka hour drive) to the Wild Life Park in Escondido. We bought the 3 for 1 San Diego Pass which gets us into the Wild Life Park, San Diego Zoo and Sea World. (Which--FYI is $25 cheaper if preordered and shipped from Costco.com.)

These kind of places are much more our style and are kid favorites (especially Whitney). Whitney is such  an animal lover that it kind of feels like she's been called home. We had barely arrived when Whitney spotted all the wild animal stuffed animals in the store window. She's a stuffed-animal lover anyway, and tends to favor leopards, tigers and such so to have all the choices be like this she was in heaven. We asked her which were her favorites and she ended up pointing to all of them.

The carousel was full of jungle animals to ride, so another dream came true for Whitney as she got to sit on a black panther. Landon chose a gorilla and was too far back to get a decent photo ($%#@). The music played was African music instead of the regular carousel song, kind of cool.

We saw the elephant show, which was amusing but as Whitney said "not much of a show." Then hiked to get to the tigers. I'm not sure the hike was worth it because the one tiger was saw was far away and sleeping. 

The highlight of the day was taking the tour on the shuttle. It involved sitting, a nice breeze, seeing lots of animals and covered tons of ground. They charge separately for this, but fortunately it was included in our tickets. 

After the tour we were feeling good and continued to hike the rest of the park. I was grateful I've been going to the gym and walking in the morning.

The gorillas were the coolest thing of all. They're so human! I couldn't believe my eyes. Seeing so many of them at once, interacting and walking around was surreal. I have seen many humans (men) that look just like this!

We saved the petting area for the end of the day. Landon really took to this and ended up petting almost all the animals in there. Surprisingly, Whitney was more reserved and only pet one that was sitting down. Apparently she's a bit skittish for being such an animal lover.

This is our self-portrait in front of the Cheetah's (which we're blocking). As you can see, the kids had been enjoying some purple cotton candy and decided to incorporate that into our photo. They looked like Goth kids or the Munster family (with black lips) the rest of the day.

In the end, Whitney decided to spend some of her birthday money on 2 stuffed animals (which were surprisingly priced well). She bought a cheetah cub and a black panther, which she ended up naming Ryan and Dewey. Very funny and rather cute. Even though I don't like the square footage her stuffed animals occupy at home, I understand the allure.

It was an excellent day, with perfect weather (overcast with a slight breeze) and a very successful vacation idea! Up next...Sea World.

**Do you like places like this?

Do you know any human gorillas?

How do you feel about stuffed animals?**

Sunday Thoughts

Last week while sitting in church before the meeting started I was reading my scriptures and happened to be thinking about faith. I looked it up in the Bible Dictionary and ended up feeling totally inspired by what I read.

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11: 1; Alma 32: 21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed himself and his perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in him without reservation. 

Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10: 14-17). Miracles do not produce faith but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith.

Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements and/or heal the sick, or influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants (Jacob 4: 4-7). Even more important, by faith one obtains a remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God.

All true faith must be based upon correct knowledge or it cannot produce the desired results. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is more than belief, since true faith always moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for. A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity.

Although faith is a gift, it must be cultured and sought after until it grows from a tiny seed to a great tree. The effects of true faith in Jesus Christ include an actual knowledge that the course of life one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord (see Heb. 11: 4); a reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to man in this life; and an assurance of personal salvation in the world to come. These things involve individual and personal testimony, guidance, revelation, and spiritual knowledge. Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings, and all the gifts of God that he gives to his saints. Jesus pointed out some obstacles to faith in John 5: 44 and John 12: 39-42 (cf. James 1: 6-8).

**Thoughts??**

Feet Shmeet

Perhaps I should have read my own post from last year's trip to California, when I was Disneyed out and oh so weary. I had high hopes for this year because we're here 6 weeks later in the year, so temperatures are perfect and crowds are smaller right? Um, Knott's Berry Farm didn't get the memo.

We ate lunch at Coco's restaurant, made a stop at the post office (good mail from California don't you know?), then drove to Knott's Berry Farm (happily traffic was moving). Randy and I both have fond memories of going there as tweens so we were excited as we pulled up and saw all the roller coasters in the distance.

Unfortunately it was a bit crowded, full of the dregs of humanity, and not really our thing. (We may have been motivated by the allure of eating funnel cakes.) We went on the log ride first, which meant standing in a half-hour long line behind extremely affectionate teenagers. It was disgusting and embarrassing to be behind them, yet I couldn't stop watching them. 

The actual ride was fun and we bought the picture they snapped as we were plunging down the big hill at the end, and that was pretty much the highlight of the day for me.

We indulged in 2 funnel cakes ($12!!!) and though they were good, there's something about having to eat standing up in the middle of hordes of strangers that cheapened it for me. Plus, Whitney was campaigning for a $4.50 icee (to wash down her funnel cake--good grief) and for a chance to play whack-a-mole to win a monkey stuffed animal. She was wearing out her welcome and pushing the limits of her cuteness because even though we're here for vacation and know that costs a lot of money, that doesn't mean she is allowed to be a demanding little cuss. We opted for $3.25 bottle of water which she ended up guzzling about half of by herself.

All of this took about 1.5 hours, but felt like all day. Fortunately it wasn't hot outside or I would have been a mess. We ended up seeing the Wild West Show (enjoyable), then went to Camp Snoopy and rode Lucy's Tug Boat which nearly made me hurl. I had to cover my face and think happy thoughts until it was over. This caused great delight and laughter in Randy and the kids, until they really thought I might lose it. That was enough of a wild ride for me. (Ever since having kids I can't ride much without feeling nauseous. It makes me feel like such a fuddy duddy, especially since I used to love rides and go on everything.)

The kids then rode the planes, drove the semi's, and rode the flying swings twice until it felt like midnight but was really 7:15. Randy and I decided we're not theme park people, and tried to figure out why we liked them so much as kids. 

This is what we came up with:

As kids we weren't concerned with money, germs, hoochies, tattooed freaks, gang bangers, child abductors, public rest rooms, or sore feet. Ah to be young again. All of these things factor in for us as adults and definitely make it harder to be in huge crowds.

We ended up "winning" the monkey for Whitney because Randy, Landon and I all played the game. Randy actually won, but basically this means we bought the freakin monkey. (She hadn't begged for this again, it was my idea.)

The kids both crashed in the car on the way back to Claudia's. It's rare to see Landon like this, especially after we've parked and turned the lights on. 

**Can you handle rides?

Do public places gross you out?

How do you manage your kids wants

while on vacation?**

Church Butt to the Extreme

 

We left our house at 8:00am (not too shabby), stopped at the post office, had to get gas, and then dropped Dana's family photos off at her house in Spanish Fork, so our road trip officially started at 9:02am.

Landon did all of the school work he'll be missing next week, plus wrote in his school composition book for hours. I'm so excited that he has decided he loves to write!

Crazy Whitney requested a crown when we stopped for lunch at Burger King in Cedar City (I looked for you Libby). She entertained herself by drawing and humming (oh dear). (Notice the rootbeer stain on her white shirt!)

Happily I was a passenger all day. I don't know what happened to my ability to drive long distances, but somewhere along the way I lost it. Driving makes me want to sleep, so it's a struggle for me, so Randy drove the entire way! I was able to read half of Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life (I kept dozing otherwise I probably would have finished it all).

We some some beautiful scenery as we whizzed by. It was almost a blur, but I held my camera out the window and hoped for the best.

We reached California civilization just in time for Friday Night Rush Hour (#@!$). The traffic here is unreal, especially compared with Utah's traffic. We were so frustrated. It was the end of our trip, yet we weren't moving! Then we realized we weren't sure which exit to take, so after an unanswered call to Claudia I called Amie who called her sister Becca (who lives nearby) for help. They saved us! 

We arrived at Claudia's house at 6:30pm. Claudia and family were supposed to be in Mexico, but ended up being here because they hadn't left yet. Alfredo and the boys greeted us, but Claudia was at Costco (just like when we arrived last year). So the kids immediately played with the boys, while Alfredo chatted with us.

The great news is they have a whole new computer system! It's not precariously placed on a ledge, the keyboard is on a sturdy desk (not balanced on my lap), and the monitor is HUGE (24 inches). They set me up with my log-in account and tool bar to make surfing and blogging super easy. I'm in love!

Since Claudia was taking a long to time to get back Alfredo started scrubbing the kitchen. He cleaned all the cabinets, the burners, the grill at the bottom of the fridge and the sinks. Wow. He was half-way through the process by the time Claudia returned, so he just kept going.

Claudia and I took this self-portrait in her cute dining room. She's the queen of rearranging so everything is different than it was when we visited last year.

They had to be in Mexico this morning by 8:00am and didn't leave here until 11:49pm!! They're crazy. It's a 7 hour drive! I don't know how she does it (she loves driving). So we have their home for the next 2-3 until they return to join us. They're super hospitable.

Now we're trying to decide what to do. Whitney is bonkers with excitement at the thought of going to the San Diego Zoo, The Wild Life Animal Park, and Sea World. We weren't planning on going to all of those places, but they sell a 3 for 1 pass that makes it a great deal, so we'll see.

**Do you plan your vacations out

or do you go with the flow?

Can you drive long distances?

Does your tail bone hurt after hours of sitting?**

Family

Fall seems to be the time of year for taking family photos. I don't know if it's Christmas card prep or just the allure of the beautiful outdoors, but whatever it is I like it. So far this fall I've done 5 photos shoots. I think it's so fun to do these photo shoots. I feel like the photos are a gift to the family, so I really want them to be something special. Each family is different though, so I never know what to expect. I usually leave feeling exhausted and a little bit giddy to see the results.

"Other things change us, but we start and end with the family."
--Anthony Brandt

{Dana's darling family}

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers


You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

{Jana's beautiful boys}

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.
~Marc Brown

{Jenn's cute family}

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~Joyce Maynard

{3 year old triplets and a newborn!}

There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Family photo shoots make me a little weepy. I love to see family dynamics, spouse relationships and kid personalities. I think it's important to take family pictures regularly (even if they're just self-portraits) because time flies too quickly and the moments go too. I also think that moms are very guilty of being too self-conscious and avoiding photos because they want to lose weight (tsk, tsk) meanwhile their kids are just getting older and older and there are no family pictures to mark time!

**Do you avoid being in photos?
When was your last family picture?
How often do you take family pictures?
Do you have many from your childhood?**