California/DiSnEyLaNd!!!! Beware:LOTS OF PICTURES!!

WOW!! I'm SO behind!! A LOT has happened since I've last blogged!! Bare with me as I try to update this old thing!! And don't mind the red eyes and dark pictures, for some reason my photoshop is acting up! So we headed off to Southern Cali with my family over the 24th of July! It was SOOOO much fun but definitely has some eventful times along the way!

Just a couple random pictures of Hunter a few days before we left. He had climbed up on top of the pool table at my parent's house and didn't really care he'd been caught!

We left early Friday morning , the 23rd. Hunter, Max, and I rode with my parents - YES, WE DROVE!!! Jess had to work, so he flew to Vegas Friday after work and met up with us there. Lucky little thing, isn't he! On our way down, we made lots of stops, which was to be expected since we had 3 cars and 10 kids (including 2 newbies)!!!!! We ate lunch at a park somewhere just before Beaver (I think). They had some fun playground equipment and Hunter ran over to climb on the Merry-go-round (the big old metal ones) and when he put his hand on it to climb up it burned his poor little hand! He cried and cried but finally I was able to put some ice on it. It blistered up and was pretty darn sore! So that was the start to the trip! We left about 8:30 a.m. and finally arrived in Vegas about 7 p.m. (Vegas time)! We ate dinner and then headed to the pool! That was the one nice thing about Vegas being so HOT in the summer, it was perfect weather for swimming at night!

Landon, Aunt Ton, and Max just chillin' by the pool. Poor Tonto didn't feel good that night.

Mom, Hunter, Kaden, Aunt Les, Kenna, and Kirsten in the pool. We got these new life jackets for the kids and I thought Hunter would LOVE to try to float/swim, but he wasn't much of a fan. He preferred to be held.

Mom and Bunts

Max in his cute new swimsuit!! He just over 3 months old!

Grandma Jones with Hunter, Lincoln, and Logan

Mom and the boys!

Hangin' out in the hot tub!

Max LOVED the warm water!

Aunt Les helping Bunts swim!! I'm definitely thinkin' swimming lessons next summer!!! He finally warmed up just in time for the pool to close:-). Jess flew in around 10:30 p.m. and my dad and Jason went and picked him up! I was SOOOOOO happy to see him!!! I really don't do well as a single parent. I can manage, but things just go so much smoother with him around!! We weren't sure if he was even going to be able to come, this last week in July is the last week of the company's biggest sale of the year, so I am SO grateful he could come for most of the time!!

So Tonya didn't feel good all night. She had high fevers, chills, and a sore throat. The next morning she was totally wiped out and stuck in bed. Jeremy and Tonya spent all morning trying to get a hold of a Dr. in Logan (but it was the 24th and a Saturday). They got a hold of the on-call doc and after a lot of phone calls to the doc and pharmacy's in Vegas, she called in an antibiotic for Tonya. While all of this was going on, Les and I turned into the entertainers for the kids! We sang all kinds of songs from Primary songs to camp fire songs!! We finally left Vegas about noon and got to Oceanside, where we stayed the first half of our trip, about 6 pmish. We ate dinner at McD's and then headed to the Ocean!! We were all dying to get there!!!

Bunts with Grandpa. Hunter wasn't quite sure what to think of the san don his feet.

Or the water!!!

Just checkin' out the waves!!

Dad and Bunts!!

Our cute family of four!!!

My cute parents who are so dang nice to take us on this fun vacation!!! Thanks again Dad and Mom!! And my mom got to watch one her VERY favorite things: the sun setting into the ocean!

Maximillus in the Baby Bjorn

And almost everyone. Ton stayed at the condo with Landon. This was such a fun beach and the waves were HUGE!! I did get a bit of anxiety because the waves were huge and the kids have no fear!! I may need some medication to help me survive watching my kids grow up:-)!! J/K.

Bunts in the tub, getting rid of all that sand!

And these are so so random, but Juess got out of the shower and brushed his hair backwards! He has the thickest hair!! He reminded me of Uncle Jesse from Full House!! Guess he fits the name, doesn't he?

Sunday, the 25th, some of them went to express Sunday at church, and some of us didn't. Then we were off to The San Diego Zoo. Hunter was so tired, he was out about right before we got there (he did that quite a few times that trip. He fall asleep like 5 minutes before we were whereever we were going). You can see him holding his facing up, that was the one that got burned on the merry-go-round!

Maxi Smaxi and Dad

The wwhoel fam dam except Grandma who took the picture.

We road the tour bus around the zoo and if you ever do go to the zoo, I would highly suggest just taking the bus and then heading to somewhere else. We got to see lots of fun animals! Look at those big bluse eyes! And there's a polar bear in the background.

Our double stroller worked out fabulously. There was on thing that was broken that the girl I bought it from didn't tell me about nor my parents who picked it up for me! I really hate when people are dishonest. But the stroller still works great!! We did walk around the zoo and saw some fun things but saw way more on the bus and didn't get tired. The zoo is HUGE!!

At the end of the day we took the kids to a petting zoo that they have. Hunter was very interested in petting the animals though...


...but he did stand by them!!!

Kade, Kenna, and Bunts

My two cute bugs!!

That night we ate dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Old Town San Diego. It was delicious and we even got serenaded my some Spaniards! There was a little stage like thing behind our table, so Hunter got up on top of it and was just a dancin'!! It was so funny!! I wish I would have had my video camera!! I don't know where he gets his moves!! After dinner the kids got to pan for gold at the Mormon Battalion visitors center.

While the nursing moms fed the babes!

Monday, the 26th, we headed back to San Diego to hit Seaworld!! Our cute little family waiting for the sea lion show to start.

This was such a funny show!! And I can't believe how well these animals are all trained!

And of course we had to see Shamu! Just waiting!! These shows fill up fast!!

That's a BIG fish!!

And we even got to see Elmo and "Monster Cookie" sing and dance!!

We went on some kids rides.

Ready to go leave, but still smiling!!

Tuesday morning we got up and went to the ocean for the last time of our trip!! We went to a beach closer to our condo and it was so nice!! It was just a little more north than the other one we went to, but the waves were's so big and the tide wasn't as strong. And the sand was so soft!!!

Bunts and Uncle Jas

Playin' in the water

Jason, Bunts, Kade, Kirst, Jess, and Ky

Hunter about fell over from this wave

He finally really liked to walk in the sand

Playin' in the waves!!

And poor Grandma tried to back up so her feet wouldn't get wet and she fell right down and got her whole side wet!!

After the Ocean, we packed up and we headin' to Disneyland!!! All the kids except Max and Landon in the their Mickey ears!!

My Dad didn't think it was funny that my Mom took a picture of him packing, but we did this a lot!

At least they were smiling:-)!

This is NOT a cute picture, but I had my mom take a picture of my arm because I have 3 different tans line and I thought it was funny. I thought I looked like a candy corn!!

YAAAAAY!!!!!! We FINALLY made it Disneyland!!!!!!

And we got to see Mickey and Donald and Goofy and Minnie and Daisy and Pluto in the Mickey parade!!

Grandma was so nice to eatch Max so we could take Hunter on the Matterhorn. He liked it, but was pretty quiet during the ride! I couldn't believe he was big enough to go on it!

That night we got to watch the fireworks and had perfect seats and Hunter LOVED them!!! His eyes lit up with everyone and he'd yell "fireworks" and then every time one would go off he would throw his arms like he was directing them or something! It was so funny!!

Wednesday, the 28th, was Jess's last day. But we got to meet Mickey Mouse first thing and he signed the boys' books!! Hunter really liked to see Mickey, but from a distance. He would just stare when we got close to any of the characters! Jess really wanted to see Hunter see Mickey for the first time, so it worked out perfect!

And we even got to see Uncle Tys and Aunt Gentry!!! They were there the same time we were!! What a coincidence, huh!!

And we met Pluto and he sat the books on his nose to sign them!

We went on LOTS of fun rides!! We were just waiting to head to Tom Sawyers Island!

Hunter thought it was pretty fun to play in the treehouse!

And Dad followed the kids up to help them!! What a good dad!!

I think they've had about enough fun!:-)!

The group of us!! Grandma and Grandpa left to go get everyone McD's for lunch!! It was MUCH cheaper and tasted a whole lot better than the food we had the night before in the park!

Waiting in line for the Pinnochio ride!

And the Finding Nemo Submarine!! We waited A LONG time, but Hunter thought it was pretty cool!! He doesn't really sit through movies, so he hasn't watched very many Disney movies. We mainly watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!! So he definitely knows all of them!!

And the last ride of the day before we had to send Jess on his way were the cars! We headed back to the condo and my dad took Jess to the airport! The rest of the night we hung out at the condo and jsut relaxed!

Thursday, the 29th, was our last day at Disneyland:-(. Our ticket gave us an early admission that morning and of course I slept in. So we hurried and got ready and then Grandma was already watching Landon and so she kept Max too so we could take the kids on more rides. However, I was surprised at how many rides I could take Max on! It's very kid friendly! We met up with Jas and Jer and their fams and met some of the princesses. Hunter just gave them a stare. But, we met Jasmine!

Tiona sp? From Princess and a Frog I think?

And Aerial!!

Then we headed to Toontown and met "Doofy"

Hunter got to sit in "Doofy's" car!

Mom and Bunts!

And we got to meet Minnie at her house and she gave Hunter a kiss on the cheek!

Just playing in Minnie's house!

On her bed!

And in her kitchen!! It was way passed lunch time and I told Hunter we shoudl go find some lunch and he said "and eat at table." He wanted to come back to Minnie's and eat at her house! It was so cute!!

And my little poser!! He quite starting to like the camera!!

We took a break after lunch and had a nap and then went swimming! Max just doing his usual...sleeping!

Bunts LOVED swimming this day!!

Jas, Kenna, Bunts, and Mom

That evening we headed back fro more fun! This time to California Adventure!! We tried to get tickets to their laser water show and could have but I didn't think we could, so missed out on that. But we still got to do fun stuff.

We rode the Mickey Mouse Ferris wheel. It HUGE!!!! and some of the cages are stationary and some of them slide and swing. Well of course he wanted the swinging one!!!

Hunter loved it!! But Grandma, not so much!! Look at that big smile!!

My dad and I headed back over to Disneyland to watch the firework show one last time!! Then we tried to get a picture with their Mickey Mouse ear hats, but the lighting isn't good!

And we got to meet Minnie one more time!!

We hit more rides at about 11 pm. Hunter was dang near alseep but I drug him out of the stroller to go the Merry-Go-Round and he LOVED it!!! This was the highlight of the trip for him and me. I thought I had the cutest picture of all on here, but it's not for some reason. Check back in a day or so and I'll have it one here. But he got so excited and just shrugged up his shoulders and giggled. He told me was was riding Tonka (who is Papa White's horse that he loves!!!!). He was in 7th Heaven!!!

And the last ride of the night was the Buss lightyear ride! Hunter liked this one a lot too!! There's usually a long line, but it was so late we hardly had to wait!!!

And at Midnight, almost all the kids were tuckered right out!!!! And so were the adults!! Hunter is a night owl, so I know he's tired when he wants to just get in the stroller and be left alone. He was out so quick!!

What a fun trip!!!!! It REALLY is THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!!:-)

Friday, the 30th, we headed from Cali to our destination of St. George. Well we stopped for lunch at McD's (I know, wierd that we at there again:-)) in Barstow and Tonya mentioned their van was making funny noises. About 7 miles north of Barstow, they pulled off the freeway (pretty much the last exit with any type of facilities until Vegas) to a gas station. And the van sounded aweful!!! It sounded like metal just clanking metal. Luckily my parent's are AAA memebers so they got a tow truck arranged after about an hour in 115+ degree weather with the two functioning cars running to keep the kids cool and luckily not overheating. We rearranged luggage, carseats, etc. My parent's were going to go back to Barstow and just wait. And we were all supposed to drive to Vegas where Jeremy could rent a car for them and then he was going to drive back to Barstow and pick them up and then they'd all drive back to St. George while the rest of us would have just gone to St. George. Well we decided that was a crappy idea. My parents in the tow truck at this time managed to get like 45 miles north of Barstow because the tow truck driver had to go to another call. Normally they chare you for mileage over like 8 miles but this was no charge because he had to go to another call. So when he stopped, we all piled in to two cars and safely made it to Vegas. They rented a car after A LOT of hassle and for not cheap and we were back on the road. We were almost to Mesquite and there were flash flood warnings in the Gorge between Mesquite and St. George but luckily were almost over. So we stopped in Mesquite and got some dinner and safely made it to St. George.....EXHAUSTED!!!!!

But, we got one more time in at the pool!!!!

Hunter learned a lot of songs this trip and on the way home he sang I Am A Child of God all by himself!! Then he and Max were holding hands on the way home!! It was so cute!!! We finally made it home safe and sound!!!! It was a trip we'll never forget!!! But SOOOOOO much fun!!!! We were so happy to make it home to our daddy too!