Summer vacation to California

Every year my family likes to do some kind of big family vacation. This year we decided California was our vacation destination of choice.

A few days before we were all going to meet up in California, my sweet Grandma Hind passed away.

My Sweet, loving grandma Hind
(4 generations)

My grandma was 93 years old and ready to see her loving husband once again. Her funeral was a celebration of the wonderful life she lived and the example she set of what a true disciple of Christ is. We will miss her but we know she is very happy being with my grandpa again.

It was time to make the 12 hour drive to sunny California. We were lucky enough to borrow a car DVD player to keep Nixon entertained for the long drive, and it worked! We will definitely save our pennies for that little luxury. :)

My cute little cowboy. He's in this loving to wear hat's phase, and I'm loving it!

Taking a little pit stop to stretch our legs

While in California, the thing I wanted to do the most was go to the Orange County Swap Meet! We used to come to this Swap meet when I was younger and I remember loving to get all sorts of fun/cheap knick knacks. Though the knick knacks were tempting this time around I tried to stick to more practical things.

Don't they look excited to be there. :)

One purchase that was made that everyone enjoyed was the boogie boards. They were a big hit to have when we went to the beach.

My sister Chelsie and I would always get the same gifts when we were younger, and we often times would complain that we would get the same thing. So it was funny that we ended up buying the same exact shoes without even knowing it.

Nixon walked away with some cool sunglasses and an even cooler hummer car.

This is how you try clothes on at the swap meet :)

After the swap meet it was time to head to the beach. This was Nixon's first time on the beach. He didn't quite love the chilly water, but he did love playing in the sand.

Doesn't Nixon's face show pure enjoyment
The cowboy hat was Lance's find from the swap meet

Watching Uncle Zac and Uncle Matt riding the boogie boards

This year my parents bought this big canopy and it was a life saver to have!

Nixon didn't want the water touching him anymore

Once Nixon was out of the water and sitting on the warm sand with his sand buckets he was a very happy camper. He probably would've camped out there all night if we let him. An added bonus was having grandma and grandpa Taylor all to himself to play with.

Pure joy on that cute face

Brother Zac catching a wave

Lance (on the left) catching a wave

brother-in-law Matt catching a wave

After the boys turn on the boogie boards, it was me and Chelsie's turn to give them a try. I wasn't sure how well I would do, being pregnant and having a belly and all, but my belly didn't get in the way as much as I thought. :) 

Love my sister! I hate that we don't live closer to each other.
I must've sunk in the sand a little because Chelsie isn't that much taller than me. :)

Matt was a really good teacher and helped us catch the perfect waves.

A great in action picture! (captured by my amazing husband)
 I love our faces ha

Nixon seems to have eaten a big ball of sand right before this picture

Another fun activity we got to do (thanks to groupon) was go to this little amusement park called Belmont park at Mission Bay Beach. I wasn't able to participate (again with the pregnancy thing) but I enjoyed it through watching and taking pictures.

Nixon and I did get to go on one ride while there.

Aunt Chelsie even joined in on this fun ride.

This ride made me a little queazy just watching them ride it.
(on the ride: Lance, brother Zac, brother Connor and sister-in-law Bryley).

Though Nixon couldn't join dad on any of the rides, he had just as much fun having grandpa Taylor chase him around the park.

Another queazy looking ride

Nixon begged and pleaded to go on this ride, but mom was too mean and said no.

bumper cars? (tires?)

Lance really seemed to enjoy this one

All of the ride watchers (plus zac the photo bomber)

All of the adventurous ride riders

After everyone had their fill of the rides we gathered our beach supplies and headed to the beach. It was nice that the amusement park was right next to the beach so we didn't have to go to far.

Lance loves the beach and playing in the waves, so it was even more fun for him to have these boogie boards.

The water at Mission Bay beach was quite a bit cooler to my liking compared to Hunington beach we went to the other day, so I was happy just playing in the sand with Nixon.

My dad taking a little snooze, while making sure not to get too much sun.

He loves the sand

Funny story: Nixon had just sneezed and had some drainage from his nose. When he then sneezed again his face was to close to the sand and This was the outcome, sand stuck all around his face. :)

Endless sand to play in

The last day we were in California we spent at Sea World. Nixon enjoyed parts of it but overall he may have been just a year to young to fully enjoy all that Sea World has to offer.

He had moments of enjoyment seeing the dolphins up close.

It appears he is interested in touching the sting ray, but I think it was just the water in general he wanted to play in. :)

trying to add a few extra inches by raising his hand

Giant turkey leg! yum!!

Nixon was smart and took a nice power nap before the Shamoo show started. 

Nixon didn't seem to enjoy the Shamoo show as much as I thought/hoped he would.

I was pretty excited to see that Sea World had a Sesame Street park! I was probably more excited than Nixon.

It may look like Lance is the only one on this ride...

but Nixon was there too :)

I was also very excited to find out that Elmo and Cookie monster were going to be there in person at the Sesame Street park! I wasn't sure how Nixon would react, but he actually loved seeing them and kept wanting to touch them.

Nixon really enjoyed dad making this ride spin fast, but Mom and baby brother on the other hand did not care to much for it.

The crew (minus Matt)

After a fun filled day at Sea World we decided to head back to Arizona. Lance had a business trip in Phoenix so I decided why not tag along and spend more time with my family!

You can tell Nixon was very excited to spend time in Arizona.

Nixon has always enjoyed the water, so one thing we made sure to do while in Arizona was a lot of swimming.  

Lance was able to spend at least one day with us before he had to get to the business show.

Since Nixon loves water I was sure he would love the splash pad. He had moments of enjoyment but wasn't quite ready to just run amuck alone through the water.

We also went to the local junior high to play at their pool. I enjoyed going to this pool because it had a kids pool area with a beach entry. 

Nixon loves his cousin Krew. He would hold his hands and kept trying to give him a kiss.

One thing I really wanted to do while in Arizona, and before Lance had to start his business show, was to do a session at the new Gilbert Temple. I was able to walk through the open house in January and thought the temple was so beautiful and I wanted Lance to be able to see it too. What made it even more fun was having my parents and sister and brother-in-law there to do a session with us.

Also while in Arizona we were able to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary! For this anniversary I wanted to go to this restaurant I had been to once before and really enjoyed. It's a fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot. It was quite pricey so we decided eating at this restaurant was our gifts to each other. 

We did the four course meal-
the first course you pick a cheese dip and get fruit, vegetables, and bread to dip in it.

the next course was a salad (no need for a picture for a simple salad)

The main course you got to pick the type of broth and then you get a platter of different raw meats to cook in the broth. There was an endless meat option with this course and we of course took that option.

And finally the last course (and probably my favorite) was the chocolate fondue with all sorts of treats to dip in it.

Our meal even came with a complementary picture.
The meal was delicious and we walked away pretty stuffed! It was nice to try something out of our usual restaurant picks and hopefully someday we can go again. 

Once Nixon warmed up to his cousin Krew he couldn't get enough of him. He was so sweet and gentle with him and I'm hoping he'll be the same way with his younger brother.

Grandpa and his two favorite grandsons. Nixon sure loves his grandpa.

I was so excited to learn that while I was in Arizona one of my best friends Trisha was having her bridal shower and I was able to go! I found out that her wedding was going to happen on the weekend we were planning on heading back home. Lance had another business trip soon after he got home from Arizona so he wasn't able to stay but he was so sweet and let me stay to attend the wedding and fly home that next day while he drove home.

I'm so happy Trisha found such a wonderful guy! What an adorable little family!

such a beautiful bride 

Another fun thing we got to do while in Arizona was go to a Diamondbacks baseball game. This was Lance and Nixon's first time going to major league baseball game. Lance really enjoyed it, but the game ran into Nixon's bedtime so he had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

Nixon did love seeing this cool big truck...

and playing with his Aunt Chelsie

The game went into the 11th inning with the diamondbacks behind. We were about to leave when we decided to give it one more inning. We were glad we did because they were able to come back in the end and win the game.(this made staying those extra innings worth it)

It was so much fun being able to spend 2 and a half weeks with my family! We don't all get to be together to often because most of us live in different states, so when we do get together we make sure we pack every second with something fun! It's hard not having Nixon close to my family and growing up with them in his life, but I am grateful when we do get together he seems to have some remembrance of them and loves spending time with all of them! Can't wait for whatever fun vacation we come up with next year!

I put together this video of all the videos we took while in California and Arizona. It's nothing special, its really just videos put together into one long video. :) and the videos are mostly of Nixon. So, sorry to the rest of my family for not giving you all much camera time.