Part 2: California and the beach

After only one day to do laundry, tie up loose ends, pack for several venues, plan a menu for a couple meals, we headed out on Sunday morning to Carlsbad, CA for some fun on the beach with great friends.

Even though I did not drive the leg to CA, I was so done being stuck in a vehicle. I wanted to be outside, or walking or doing anything else! We got to our hotel room, unpacked a little and then headed to our friends campsite that overlooked the beach.

They fed us a great meal! And then we took a walk down to the beach. Already we were feeling rejuvenated by the wind and sand. Here's the motley crew down at the beach:

We played a rousing game of Mafia with all the kids. I think the kids enjoyed it more than the adults, but we all had fun regardless.

The next day, we were all pretty anxious to get to the beach and play! The kids had a blast boogie boarding, making sand castles, playing in the water, and finding sand crabs, some even tried surfing.

Here some of the girls, Sierra, Sidney, Peyton and Kaylee made a fancy sandcastle!

Sidney and Tanner were logging in quite some time on those boogie boards. And they were plenty water-logged to prove it!

Hayden and Haylee were working together to combat the waves. So sweet!

After a full day at the beach, we got cleaned up at the hotel, and returned to make dinner for everyone. Then we sat around and visited, laughing and telling stories and jokes, and then John taught the kids some of the games he learned in Korea.

The next day was pretty similar, except we went to a different beach just a couple miles north of where we were before. The water was a little choppier than the first day so the kids could only swim and boogie board in certain areas and the water seemed a bit cooler. The beach, though, was nicer. Less rock and seaweed and the kids teamed together for a good hour and half building a fortress in the sand. There was a lot more sunscreen applied on this second day since many of the kids got s little sunburned the day before.

This is what was left of the sand fortress. When they knew we were heading out they had just as much fun stomping on it as they did building it!

Our friend Craig got some good naptime in, but unknowningly got caught in pictures. They put sand on him and even a sand crab, but he took it all in good spirits.

The adults went out to dinner to a super-yummy place called Rockin Baja Lobster. It was sooooo good!

We got some nice pictures at the pier during the sunset.

Then we came back and got the kids to head over to Cold Stone for yummy treats. We took another night-time walk on the beach and got some cool pictures with the kids twirling their glow-sticks in front of them. Check it out:


We said our good-byes to our friends that night since we were headed out in the morning to go to Las Vegas.

The Way Round-about

Miles traveled: 3248

States visited: 4

Days gone: 12

Calories consumed: too many to count

Fun Had: lots and lots

We are home, we are tired, and we survived probably the longest vacation we've ever endeavored upon.

So to make it easier to post, I'll go in stages so that no one gets confused.

Part 1: New Mexico

Early on a Thursday morning, the kids and I left to drive to New Mexico. Why there you ask? My brother was moving his family there from Dallas. He had been staying alone at the house in NM for a little bit, while his wife was in Dallas waiting for the arrival of their 3rd child. My mom flew to Dallas to help them pack and help with the kids. Then, we she was a little older than 2 weeks they flew the family to Roswell and drove to Artesia. Then my brother had to fly the next morning back to Dallas to drive the moving truck to the home. On that same day I drove from AZ. Sidney and Hayden got some good playing time with their cousins in a near empty house.

My brother arrived after 12:30 am with the truck and hit the hay for a little rest before unloading the truck in the morning. My kids did their best to keep the little boys out of the way of the movers. I tried to help as much as I could by putting the boys' beds back together. At about 12:30 pm we had to be on the road with my mom in tow or we'd get back home really late. It turned out to be an almost 10 hour drive each way. PHEW! Totally worth it, though.

Here's some snapshots of the kiddos.

We got to play some games in the living room before the furniture got loaded in.

And my sweet little niece, is just adorable! Can you believe that hair?

We hated to come and go so quickly, but we had to get back to pack for our next bigger and longer part of vacation.

The synchronized swimming meet...

This last Friday we went to the City's synchronized swimming routine championships meet. It is the final culmination of routines that the girls have been practicing since the beginning of the summer. Some of these girls have been swimming for a couple years, but it's mostly everyone's first time doing "Synchro".

Here is the promised video of Sidney's trio doing their "Swing" synchronized swim routine. And the family was all there to see it this time. Even if it was a blazing 112 degrees.

They really did a great job! So good in fact that they placed 1st in their age division for trios!!! Sidney was ecstatic!!! (It must have been the cute hair piece! JK!)




Here is Sidney's team group that performed to various "American" themed songs. It is pretty windy, so the music is harder to hear.

They ended up with 3rd place for their team. They were thrilled!!!



Here is Sidney with her winnings... a blue ribbon for her 1st place trio, a medal for her 3rd place team, and a rose from her coach. We're so excited for her!




She will probably join the recreational team for the Desert Dolphins. Check them out here: http://www.azdolphins.com/, they even have a blog where you can watch routines from their recent Nationals trip to Florida.

Just missed it...

So, Sidney has been taking a synchronized swimming class through the City's recreation program for the summer. She really enjoys it. This last Friday was the first time they would get to perform their routines at a qualifying meet to see if they go on to the championship meet. So, I took Sidney on Friday, they finished getting ready and warmed up. Here she is with the other girls in her trio...




Sidney is on the far right. Don't they look great!!

*Side note: I made the belts and the hair pieces for their routine. They turned out way better than I expected them to. Here's a close-up of the hair-piece.

So, back to the routine meet...John and Hayden and my mom were waiting at home because it was unbearably hot and we didn't know when Sidney was going to perform. When I saw the list, Sidney and her trio were performing 4th to last. So I asked one of her coaches how long the meet was supposed to last, and she told me until about 8 pm. So I made some assumptions and thought that she might be performing around 7:30 or so. I called John at home to let him know. They were going to come later without waiting in the heat. Also, the pool is about 30 minutes away from our house.

Needless to say, something else came up and I had to run home shortly after the meet got started. I told Sidney I would be back in an hour. Traffic and road construction hindering me along the way, I didn't arrive back at the pool until about 6:40 pm. To my utter surprise, the parking lot, the bleachers and especially the pool were deserted. Only a handful of people were left putting away stuff from the meet. My poor Sidney performed without us being able to watch. We were all very shocked and very sad. Thankfully, a good friend took some photos of Sidney during the routine that I'll get later.

Fortunately, Sidney's trio placed 3rd and she will be performing next week at the championship meet. We won't be missing this one, in fact, I will be sure to record the whole thing on the camera. And just for the record, many people said it was the fastest meet they'd been to.

Doing some catch-up with a summer slide show.

I have been a serious blog slacker. We have been having a fun busy summer with Synchronized swimming, basketball practices and games, reading books, playing games, gardening, and so forth. So I decided to compile a bunch of pictures from around the last time I posted to now. And since a picture is worth a thousand words...enough said, right? Enjoy!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Whirlwind Trip

We had to make a trip to Utah for a family wedding and now it's done and over with, so here's the recap. We left early Thursday morning for UT. We are usually in such a hurry just to get there, but this time we decided we could stop and take in some of the sights. Our longest stop took place at Glen Canyon Dam. We took the tour that takes you into the dam and you can see the turbines and look up at the dam from below. It was pretty cool. One of the coolest parts is that the visitor center is called the Carl Hayden Visitor Center. Our Hayden thought that was so cool that his name was everywhere.


Notice where we told him to place his hand so it reads, "Welcome to the Hayden Visitor Center."

Here we are standing on top of the dam.

We stopped in Provo to have dinner at a favorite spot when John and I were living in Orem, Los Hermanos. It just wasn't the same. We drove by some of our old apartments and some of BYU campus. This is the first time that the kids have been interested in where John and I met and lived briefly before they came along.

We met up at John's parents' house and met our future sister-in-law and aunt. She's a hoot. Everyone was teasing the cute couple and she dished it right back. She will fit in just fine.

The next day we had made plans ahead to spend some time with some of John's friends from high school. And did we have a blast! We shared, we laughed, there was much teasing and even some philosophizing, but mostly we just had a dang good time!


Here we are at lunch with Stanton, Chris, Janelle, me, John, and LaRayne. What a crew!

That evening we met back with John's family to take some family pictures. Since it's been almost 8 years or something since we've had pictures taken, it was about time. We met at a park and got each of the families and then a big group shot.

So, here's our family...not too shabby. You can't tell, but it was windy and chilly.

Here's the lucky couple getting married, Kayla and Trevor. They were pretty adorable.

Ok, so here's the big group picture. You can't really see who's who, but it's 25 great people.

So, the next day is the wedding. They got married at the Mt. Timpanogos temple which happens to be one of my favorite. I got to go to the open house before it was dedicated and then to the dedication. I love the chapel there, it's amazing.

Anyway, outside on the temple grounds were incredible with all the spring flowers out, tulips, daffodils, pansies, petunias. Wow, the colors were great.

SEE!

And of course the happy couple were ga-ga over each other.

Here's the couple with parents and siblings only on the Muhlestein side.

Then we raced to pick up all the kids and head back to Provo for the luncheon. Good Italian food. Then we took a breathe at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Orem. And from there got ready for the reception. All the little girl cousins got to wear these frilly froo-froo skirts. They were pretty cute.

Here's a few on the lawn before at Grandma/pa's house.

And then Kayla was trying to get them to play ring around the rosie before the reception.

THEN, even after that long day, a bunch of us decided after we drove back to Sandy from Mapleton that we should try to go see the new Star Trek show...and we did. CRAZY!

Fortunately the next day was Sunday and so we took it easy and just relaxed, played some games and chatted.

For us the next day started way too early when Hayden got sick at about 1:00 AM and so we decided instead of trying to get a couple more hours of sleep, we'd just leave then and head home. Man, we're still trying to get back the many hours of lost sleep.

Oh, well! It was fun. And all worth it!

Embracing the Nerd within.

I've accepted the fact for some time that I'm a nerd. And I'm perfectly fine with that. Sometimes I venture out and try to be a little girly and occasionally trendy, but for the most part, I'm nerdy. I love to read. I love to learn new things (not all things, but things that interest me). My husband (a fellow nerd) and I have taught our children that the best place to sit in a classroom is at the front. (They don't always get to sit there since the teachers make the ultimate decisions). I know more than the average person about Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and even Star Trek. I am pretty frugal (I didn't realize this was a nerdy trait, but was led to believe that it is considered as such). I was in the marching band in high school AND in college. (Apparently this is an automatic portal into nerdiness). (Bear in mind that I did not play an instrument in the band, but was on the flag line both places...some say that's bordering nerd, not automatic). I only enjoy certain sports. (If you are a huge fan of any major sport, it cancels out many nerdy qualities). And most importantly, I LOVE to play games; board, card, dice, almost anything on my weekends, weeknights...anytime, really. (I know, I know, it's like smearing nerd on nerd).

Anyway, I have completed submitted myself to being a nerd. I hope all those of you who were wary of it before...now it's out in the open. Tolerance is the key. Besides, you may catch me in a moment of complete normalcy. I just didn't want to think I was one of the "cool" people.

Now, anybody up for a game of Carcassone?