San Diego Trip: Part 2 - San Diego Wild Animal Park & Orange Picking

The day after J.R.'s wedding Ryon's family and our family went to explore the San Diego Safari Park.  Here is T.J. carefully examining our map of the park to see where we should go first.

So we barely made it into the park and we had to make a stop at the Carousel.  At least there were fake animals to see and ride on!  :)

Ray liked riding the elephant.

The next stop was to try out some African drums.  The kids thought this was fun, too, but we still didn't see any animals!  :)  Here is Janna drumming away.

T.J. tried out this fancy xylophone-type drum.

We should start our own family band!  Here is Coleton.

Dyllon was taking the drumming lesson seriously!

After the drums, we had to stop and see the Zumba guys do their show.  Zumba competed on the America's Got Talent show.  They had Taylie and Janna come up to jump rope with them.  The girls did pretty well!

But- still no animals (unless you count the Zumba guys in their zebra outfits!).  :)

O.K., so we finally made it to see some animals (although you can't see them in this picture!).  At least Taylie looks cute!  :)

Coleton

Cole, Ray, Nichole, and Taylor

So, after seeing a few animals it was time for a stop at the "splash spot" in the park.  The kids weren't really dressed to get wet, but they got wet anyway!  Here's T.J., Jaymon, Janna, and Dyllon.

Cole had a blast just running around in his diaper.  Someday he will be so glad that I took this picture!  :)

It was a good place to cool off, but then it was time to see more animals!

The best part of the Safari park is the ride around to see all the animals.  You can just sit and relax and see lots of different animals.  Here is T.J. checking out the giraffes.

As you can see, this was also Ryon's favorite part!  :)

Here is our whole group at the end of our journey through the park.  We didn't lose any kids, and after a slow start we were still able to see plenty of animals.

On our way back to the hotel, we found a place to go and pick oranges.  Taylor's dad is a "produce man" and loves to check out the fields wherever he goes, so we thought we would keep up the family tradition.  Nothing smells as good as an orange grove!  Here's the line-up of kids ready to go pick oranges!

Jaymon had to try one out.  They were super juicy and messy, but quite tasty!

Taylor helped Ray pick a few.  Such cute boys!

San Diego Trip: Part 1 - Sea World

We all flew to San Diego a day or two early so that we could go to Sea World together before J.R. and Debbie's wedding.  Here is Ray checking out the whales.

Ready for the Shamu show.

The kids wanted to sit up close and get wet, but the adults opted to not sit with them so we could stay dry.

Some of the little kids were not too happy after the show when they were soaking wet!  I guess they didn't realize just HOW wet they would get!

Ryon and Cole

Ray loved touching the starfish.  He wasn't really supposed to take it out of the water, but we quickly put it back (and we got a cute picture!).  :)

Me and Ray exploring Sea World just 6 weeks after major surgery and the most traumatic day of my life.  I was still physically sore, but thank goodness for pain medication!  It is amazing how much faster you can heal physically than emotionally.

My sister-in-law, Nichole, and Cole.  I am so blessed to have this amazing lady in my life!

Cole and Ray

J.R. has quickly adapted to the role of "Daddy J.R".

Dyllon, Coleton, and Tylor on one of the rides.

It was only in the 70s, but the kids thought it was warm enough to get wet (again) since their clothes had partially dried from earlier in the day.  :)

Meeting Elmo was the highlight of the trip for Jaymon.  You have never seen a 4-year-old so excited waiting in line!  He LOVED this!

Jaymon even got Elmo's autograph!

Journey to Atlantis was the favorite ride for most of the kids, except for my nephew, Grant, who said, "This ride is DANGEROUS!".  :)

J.R's Wedding

We had been hoping and praying for my brother, J.R., to find the right girl and finally be able to get married.  August 11th he got himself a cute wife (plus 2 cute little girls!).  Debbie has been a friend of ours for years and was Taylor's first employee when he started his dental practice.  J.R. and Debbie are a perfect fit, and we couldn't be happier for both of them.

Ashlynn, J.R., Debbie, and Madi - Their new family!  (Those girls just love their "Daddy J.R.")

Me with my 2 newest nieces.

Our parents would not have believed they would have so many grandkids!  I wish they could have been there for this day, but I am sure they were in spirit.

Our family by the San Diego temple where they were married.

I just love these two boys!  I couldn't have asked for better brothers.

Taylor and I were being "cheesy" and pretending like we were getting wedding photos again.  :)

Here is my family - except you can't see Maree.  There will always be something missing in our family pictures now.  I am sure Maree was also there in spirit with my parents.

Janna and Taylie - pretty girls!

On the left is Debbie's friend, Kendra, and her husband.  The couple on the right are Wally and Peggy Rhoton.  They have always been like family to my brothers and I, and it was so sweet of them to come.  It was nice to have some "parental figures" there.

The kids started to get bored while the wedding pictures were being taken, so they began to roll down the hill.  Their nice clothes were covered in grass stains, but I probably would have done the same thing if I was them!

Clark Summer Reunion 2011

      Every August, Taylor's parents and all of his siblings try to get together.  It is always a lot of fun, especially for the kids.  There is no shortage of cousins to play with!  We played at Lagoon, rode the gondolas up to the top of Snow Basin, went swimming at the pool, took a family hike, and played games at the park.  I didn't participate in everything due to my body not being healed yet, but it was nice to be able to spend time with family.

Ray and McKay on a not-too-exciting ride.  :)

Jaymon and Ray

Ray, Savannah, and McKay

The uncles had fun playing "Pass the Kids".  This is Ray flying high thanks to Uncle Jon and Uncle Greg.

Ray loved it when Taylor took him on the Carousel.

Jaymon really loved the rides this year - can you tell?  :)

Taylie and Avari in the gondola at Snow Basin.

I got to ride with these two little cuties (Ray and Savannah).

It is really beautiful up at the top of Snow Basin.  Here is Ray, Taylor, Jaymon, and I.  The bigger kids were busy sliding down a glacier that was just a short distance away.

Taylor and Ray - what cute boys!

Grandpa Clark taking Jaymon for a little hike.  Jaymon loves his grandparents.

Taylor's Uncle Reed joined us for dinner one evening.  If you tell him your middle name is Reed, then he will give you a dollar, so all the kids lined up to tell him they also had Reed as a middle name.  I think they cleaned out his wallet!  (This is Ellie, Tylor, Karis, Jayden, Avari, Mike, and Reed.)

Aunt Misty is a lot of fun and planned games for everyone to do at the park.  This was a game where rubber chickens were launched with a water balloon launcher and then people tried to catch the chickens in these big clown pants.  It was pretty funny - especially with the kids who were smaller than the pants.  Here is Jaymon, Ellie, and Aliyah.

The "Big Boys"  tried the chicken-catching game as well.  Here is Ryan, Mike, Nate, Greg, and Taylor.

Another game the dads were involved in was this one where they had to try to carry a whole bunch of kids at one time and run to the finish line.  Luckily nobody got hurt!

This was a special game for the little kids to see which one of the 2-year-olds could empty a box of tissues first.  Savannah and Cleo were both pretty good at this one!

In this game for the cousins, the kids had to move a cookie from their foreheads into their mouths without using their hands.  I wonder what Aunt Misty will come up with for next time!  :)