San Diego Trip Part 3 - Beach Fun & the Pool

We took the kids to the beach to play while we were in San Diego.  They had a blast collecting sea shells, digging in the sand, and seeing the sea creatures.  They found a starfish, a ray (at least I think that is what it was), and they saw seals swimming nearby.  They don't get to see wildlife like that where we live!

T.J. and the dead ray.

Grant and Jaymon

Ray digging in the sand.

Tylor, Coleton, and Dyllon were working hard on their sand creation.

Skinny little Cole just couldn't keep those shorts on!

Me and Nichole

Cousins burying each other.

Ryon keeping a lookout to make sure no kids drowned or ran too far away down the beach.

Taylor looking handsome (as always)!

Grant was not so happy covered in sand - especially when he had to go wash it off in the cold ocean water!

On a different day we went to La Jolla Cove.  There were a lot of seals out playing a short distance away.  Those are seals all over the edge of the land in the above picture.

Nichole and I and the kids.

The highlight of this day was the kids trying to catch little crabs that were down in the water between the rock cracks.  We did not know about this activity beforehand, so we were not prepared, but  a nice lady gave them each a piece of string with a small piece of meat tied on it to try to "fish" for crabs.  Jaymon was so excited!

Here are the boys trying to catch a crab.

Jaymon, Ray, Taylie, and Janna

This is what the crabs looked like.  Our kids did not end up catching any, but we borrowed this one from some other people to take a picture!

Ray loved this big rock and was playing "King of the Rock" by himself.

Ryon and Nichole

Taylor and Ray

One of the kids' favorite activities of the trip was swimming everyday at the hotel pool. 

The older kids would have races across the pool and try to do synchronized diving.

The hot tub was also a big hit with the kids.

That is a lot of heads in that hot tub!  We kind of overtook the place!  :)

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!