Family Vacation 2008... Take Two!!

On Sunday, the 4th day of the family reunion/vacation, we all went to Aunt Karen's ward... yep, the whole slew of us! Me, Jen, Rachel, Wendy, Staci, Shannon, Jody, Kristin, Ryan, Clint, and Josh all sang in her sacrament meeting. It was kinda cool. My Uncle Kevin (my mom's brother) and his family are in that same ward in Orange. Right before we sang, he stuck his head in the back door and waved at all of us. It was so cute, I wanted to giggle, but started singing instead. After sacrament meeting we had family pictures done out front by Jennifer. I wish I had some to post, but I haven't received my copies yet... when I do look for another fabulous post! :) That evening we all went to Staci's clubhouse in Culver City (right by L.A.) and had dinner and played and visited. It was so nice to all be together! Monday almost everyone went home, but Clint and I and our kids hung out another 4 days.... Thanks to Wendy and Colby for letting us live with you longer! :)

Monday: Swimming at Wendy's pool, visited with Kristin and Ryan before they left, and with Staci.

Kids jumping into the pool... LtoR: Shaunie, Emma, Jacob, Caden, Sam, Jaron. We took several of these shots... this one was one of the best.
Clint, Emma, and Jar needed a picture too... I love their faces... but I kinda stink at taking pictures and cut Jaron out. Sorry bud!

Tuesday: we headed down to Huntington Beach and took Caden and Jacob with us. They dug in the sand played in the freezing ocean, while I watched Lily and Carson and read. It was gorgeous weather and a beautiful day!

Emma, Jacob, Caden, and Jaron dug there own lazyboys! haha. There dug a hole for their bums, and built up the sand to make a pillow and then put their towels over it. Nice job guys! In this pic they kinda all look dead. haha.
Lily couldn't make it all afternoon. I think she started enjoying falling asleep at the beach.
Carson... wide awake almost the whole time! He liked the sand though and thanks to the bumbo seat... he stayed upright almost the whole time.
Emma loves the beach!!
Jaron started digging away almost as soon as we got there. He, Jacob and Caden dug some mini lakes and connected them with a river... even dug up several sand crabs. Too bad I didn't get a final picture.

Wednesday we swam and played at Aunt Karen's and visited with Wendy and Johanna (my cousin Paul's wife) while Paul, Colby, Clint, and Jaron went cliff jumping at Corona Del Mar beach. They had a great time. Jaron never jumped and hurt his leg (not bad), but the other guys jumped and had lots of fun.... crazy boys!

Thursday: KNOTTS BERRY FARM!!! We had such a blast there! Thanks to discounts at Ralphs grocery store, our whole family got in for $110 dollars! Woohoo! Thanks to Wendy for being our chauffer and dropping us off/picking us up... so we didn't have to pay for parking. You are AWESOME! We loved it and thank goodness our two older kids like roller coasters so Clint had a great time too!!

Emma, me and Car at the Snoopy on Ice show. It was fun!

Jaron, Lily and Emma on a ride at Camp Snoopy. Lily looks happy now, but this ride traumatized her. She was terrified and cried the whole time. After this she didn't want to go on anything else. haha. Even the ones we made her go on (yes, we're mean) with us (thinking that'd be ok since we were with her) she cried on. Poor girl. We'll have to wait a couple more years to take her to another amusement park. :)

Em and Lil with the peanuts gang after their little stage show!

Clint and Jaron on Montezuma's Revenge (if you zoom in you can see Clint pointing at me)

Me, Em, and Jar on Bigfoot Rapids... Emma barely got wet and I got Soaked!!! And look at us, we are right next to eachother. Oh well, it kept me cool the rest of the day.

The Boys on the log ride! Check Carson out. Each time we went down this drop (yes, we took him on more than once) he'd bring his hands to his mouth... Clint held them down in this picture. haha. Oh- he's so cute!

The girls on the logride! Don't ya love Emma's pigtails flying and Lily's face! haha Poor Girl!

Do ya think they knew where the camera was??

Anyway- then we drove home through the night (trying hard not to fall asleep... Van Halen helps!) and got home to good ol 114 degree Henderson, NV at around 3:30 in the morning on the 4th of July! It was a great vacation/reunion! I'm ready to go again!! :)