James, Jami, Lincoln & Winston: California 2012

My parents are amazing

hands down.

Last week they flew all of us to Huntington Beach California

We had a last family vaca before they leave to North Carolina for the next 3 years.

(yes they leave in a month. yes I am freaking out)

What made this trip extra fun and amazing was the it was an adult only trip!

We were lucky enough to leave Lincoln with the Wright's while we were gone.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED WATCH HIM!!

(sorry about the poor picture quality - I only had my phone to take pictures)

On the plane

Kel and Nick

When we first arrived in California we headed right to the amazing Hyatt Hotel to check in.

Since my daddo is an owner of the Hyatt in SLC we got mega spoiled at this hotel.

We all got upgraded rooms

half off the restaruants and drinks at the hotel

access to free food all day

and 20% off at the spa.

It was so funny to watch the managers bend over backwards for my dad.

They were drooling over him :)

Views from our room

Once we were all checked in we quickly (I use that word loosely) got in the cars and headed into LA to see the Dodger/Giants baseball game.

We enjoyed our great seats, our dodger dogs, and company.

Mitch was in pure heaven the entire time.

Us girls enjoyed about the first 3 innings :)

Nevertheless, we had a great time!

me and momma at the game

The next morning we slept in (because we could!) and enjoyed a yummy breakfast.

Our plan for the day was to head to San Diego and hit up Sea World.

Well, once we all got talking, we all couldn't agree on if we really wanted to go to Sea World or not.

We had lots of other options of a SUPER ACTIVITY but it was hard to accommodate everyone

The problem was that I'm 6 months pregnant so couldn't do roller-coasters at Knots Berry Farm or Six Flags

Jana doesn't do roller-coasters in general

Kelli gets sick if we were to go Deep Sea Fishing

Kelli and Nick went to Sea World last year and would have rather done something different

and James just wanted to go golfing :)

As we were trying to vote on what to do and not succeeding

Jana came up with, "DISNEYLAND"

We all sat there. Thought for a split second.

And next thing you knew we were in the cars heading to Disneyland/California Adventures!

For some reason Disneyland was never an option because ... well, we don't know why.

But being at Disneyland with no kids and just adults was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

We had SO SO SO much fun!!

And Yes, even though I was 6 months pregnant I rode all the rides :)

Expect for the Tower of Terror. I wouldn't have done that even if I wasn't pregnant.

I probably shouldn't have done Indiana Jones, but hey, it's my favorite ride and me and the babe thoroughly enjoyed it!

And I only got stopped once by a worker warning me that I probably shouldn't go on the ride (Splash Mountain) She made sure I read the sign "Expectant Mothers Should Not Ride", which I did...It was on every sign on every ride. but it still didn't stop me. I seriously had SO much fun!!

The next day we relaxed at the resort and played on the beach.

The ocean was absolutely beautiful! I forgot how much I LOVE the beach.

All of us played a couple games of beach volleyball and then the boys played for hours!

Ah, it was sooo relaxing!!

The next morning we went and did a session at the New Port Temple.

It was such a great thing being with my family in the Celestial Room

all together

one last time

before my parents are gone for the next 3 years.

It was a special, spiritual and beautiful day.

Later that afternoon Scotty called from Chile where he is serving his mission.

It was great to see and hear him on skype

sadly he couldn't hear us though.

The connection was soo bad that we couldn't get a good conversation in.

Most of the what was said was

"can you hear me? how about now?"

When we could hear him he told us how good he's doing and how he is loving his mission!

We miss him so much!!

After we ~~talked~~ to Scotty we rented bikes and went on a bike ride down the pier.

My dad kept asking if I was going to be able to ride for 2 reasons:

1. my legs got EXTREMELY sunburned on the beach the day before that I could barely even walk

2. I was 6 months pregnant.

I reassured him that if I could do Indiana Jones at Disney Land - I could do anything :)

It was such a nice night along the pier and we had so much fun! Maybe one of the funnest times I had in california! We all let loose and enjoyed being together.

Sadly, James and Nick missed out.

Golf was calling their names.

Here are the pictures from our bike ride. My sisters took lots of other pictures not I'll need to post as well. We seriously had So.Much.Fun

and Laughed.So.Much!