Long time, no blahg

2 things. 

#1: I think the word blog should be spelled B•L•A•H•G. It is much more fun that way.

#2: Nina turned 10 on Monday. Pictures to come shortly...

San Diego! (finally!)

I apologize that it has taken me so long to get this post up... life has been a little busy, but I finally narrowed down the pictures from our fun filled vacation to these select few (~33) for your viewing pleasure...

Now folks... (drumroll please)...

San Diego
(the abridged version)

We got on a plane... 6 very tall people + back of the plane = entertaining flight to San Diego!


Upon arriving in sunny California, we rented a van and drove to our unbelievable hotel (picture coming later in the blog). We checked in, then headed to none other than Sea World!

Our first show of the day was Cirque de la Mer. I have heard about this show for almost 2 years, so it was about time I saw it... and it was AMAZING! Holy smokes, those people are crazy flexible and so unbelievably strong! We got a few pictures with them before they had to go back into hiding... something about the light and the people and the spandex suits...

We visited the Arctic area of Sea World, where we found a toasty little cave to (pardon the pun) chill in...

We then headed to the Shamu show, where we passed a lady in a black and white wet suit. We said a quick hello and then kept walking. We began to wonder if she was one of the trainers (who else walks around Sea World in a wet suit?) so we turned back to talk to her. As it turns out, she was one of the whale trainers. Her name is Diana. We asked her a few questions about the whales and such, and then she turned to Nina and said "Do you want to meet Shamu?" Nina's eyes got wide as she answered yes! Diana invited Nina to meet Shamu during the show!

Diana led us all to the reserved seats in the top of the splash zone and gave Nina instructions on what her job was during the show. Then we sat and waited for the action to begin! Nina's part came right after the big splash!

Diana came up and got Nina, then led her down to introduce her to Shamu's trainer, Pete.

Pete led Nina to meet Shamu! She got to throw Shamu a treat and rub his fin...

Pete then had Nina turn to the audience and wave! Shamu was right behind her waving at the crowd! It was a very sweet moment!

After all the fun shows, we watched fireworks over Mission Beach. They were beautiful!

It was a long day!


The next day we went to church and then went to walk on the San Diego temple grounds. It was absolutely exquisite!

Later that day, we went to visit some of God's creatures at the San Diego Zoo!

We found some shiny polar bears...

(Roxy's favorite animal is the Polar Bear!)

We bought 2 mugs that we could refill for free all day long...

We drank...

and drank...

and drank!


We took a tour around the zoo on a double decker bus...

We found some friendly gorillas...





We fit right in...
It was a great day at the zoo!

The next day we did what we had been waiting for days to do: We went to the beach!

It took us 3 stops to find a "playable beach."

Stop 1: La Jolla (LOVE IT!)
Stop 2: La Jolla Cove (Love it more!)

Stop 3: Windansea Beach (Love it mostest!) Check out that cute family!

We took turns burying people in the sand... This is Daniel... excuse me... Danielle the mermaid with the hair of George Washington...

We buried Toph, too.

Nina got covered in sand!

Roxy got all frizzy...


Later that evening, we made a visit to Golden Spoon where we sampled every possible flavor of frozen yogurt before deciding on a flavor. Thank goodness for family night specials! (And apologies to the 99 people in line behind us!)

Mmm, Golden Spoon...

Our last day in San Diego we walked down to have breakfast. We made a little stop at the Star of India...

Where there was a sweet statue made out of CDs!

We had a very tasty breakfast!
Here's a view of our hotel on our walk back. It was an amazing hotel! It was an amazing trip! And most importantly, we have some pretty amazing memories!

Thanks to Dad and Mom for making this all possible! :) Sure love ya!

Kristina said it best...

In the words of Nina:

WE'RE GOING TO SAN DIEGO!!! AND WE'RE FLYING!!!!

:)

Stay tuned...

One more picture...

The whole group up at Pickleville...

The Rest of the Story... er, Weekend!

We were very blessed to have all sorts of family up for the weekend! Dad's brother Marvin, his wife Shannon, their daughter Cari, and grandsons Kyle and Matthew came up for the weekend from Southern California! We had a blast playing with them. Mom's mom Kenna also came down from Boise! Saturday we were able to get tickets for everyone (a total of 13 people!) to go see Christopher up at Pickleville Playhouse. I was playing around with my camera before we left Grandma Demarious' and this is what happened:

Nina, Chessie, and Parker all making funny faces. (Parker's is my favorite!)

Toph is a stud. He did a wonderful job as always! We were able to get pictures before and after the show!

Me and Toph

Toph with Nina and Grandma Kenna

Toph ripping his hair out after the show... ha ha ha

Uncle Frank, Aunt Shandy, Toph, Aunt Shannon, and Uncle Marvin

Toph with all the kids... I LOVE this picture! Surrounding Toph (clockwise from top left): Nina, Chessie, Parker, Matthew, and Kyle.

Here's the cast at the end of the show... minus half of Nicole. Sorry about that. :) Toph is the tall Asian one, in case you couldn't tell...


Also, as an after thought to this wonderful weekend... Daniel and I tried again (successfully this time) to make éclairs.... ahem... Creme Puffs! We also were ambitious enough (maybe stupid enough) to make our own filling because we did not have any vanilla pudding. The first round was ruined by cooked eggs. The second round was better. So we fed Midnight (the dog) the first round. She got it on her nose. After sniffing around for a few minutes trying to figure out where in heaven's name that delicious smell was coming from, she was able to lick the scent off the top of her nose... ha ha ha ha ha!

Daniel and his SUCCESSFUL éclairs! (ahem... Creme Puffs!)

The Weekend (so far...)

Thursday night, we had our cousin Chessie over to play. (Well, Nina did, but I joined in the fun!) We decided to make cookies. They turned out GREAT because of the girls' help! They certainly enjoyed licking the beaters!

Tasty!

Friday night we were all over the place...

•Daniel was at Scout Camp... backpacking the Wind Rivers... hope he survives...
•Dad, Nina, and Grandma Kenna went up to Pickleville to see Chuckwagon...
•Mom, Toph, and I were joined by Shandy, Chessie, Parker, Shannon, Cari, Kyle, and Matthew at the 2nd stake pool party! (Dad's stake...)

Toph and I found a wonderful photo opportunity... at the expense of Toph's hand (and possibly a wasp...)

ENJOY!