Trip to the Sunshine State!

This last week Chad and I have had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with my mom’s side of the family in Oceanside, California. It has been such an amazingly fun and relaxing week! We are all sad to be headed home back to real life in Utah. The idea of having to go to work on Monday is a hard fact to accept.

We left on Friday, July 5, in the morning. Our hope was to get to Prim, Nevada to spend the night at Buffalo Bill’s. The journey started out great and we were cursing towards our destination. A little ways outside of Vegas, the AC in Katy and John’s car stopped working. It was 112 degrees outside. I was super glad to be in the car with Brad and Heidi, but felt bad for the situation that they were in. Luckily we were close to Las Vegas and had been planning on stopping there. So while the family went to explore John and my dad went to find a place to hopefully fix the AC.

I have love hate relationship with Las Vegas. Growing up going to soccer tournaments there was always a blast! They were some of my favorite tournaments. There are also a lot of fun things to do in Vegas, but my definition of fun is very different from others who go to Vegas. I like to go to the Outlet Malls, to the Coca-Cola and M&M Factories, to see the MGM lions, to the Nike store in Caesar’s Palace, and to see the Bellagio fountain. The reasons other people like to go to Vegas are very disappealing to me. I hate the smoke, the gambling, and scantily dressed women.

Welcome to Vegas

Chad and I had a conversation about these things and it made me wonder about gambling. I have never wanted to do it but I had never truly thought about why the church would advise us not to participate in it. I realized that many things that Heavenly Father tells us not to do are addicting, such as: smoking, drugs, pornography, etc. Gambling is no exception. It can be such an addicting activity. When it becomes so it can help people get into debt faster. This is another thing the church advises us on, not to be in debt, to do everything we can to stay out of it. It’s interesting because just like our earthly parents, everything Heavenly Father tells us that we aren’t “allowed” to do is truly only for our benefit it. By listening to this wise counsel we will only grow, it will never hurt us to listen. This is not the churches official statement on gambling but it is the thoughts I had during Chad and I’s discussion.

At the Coca-Cola Factory trying some drinks.

Anyways, like I mentioned before there are still some fun things to do in Las Vegas. While there my family journeyed to the Coca-Cola and M&M factory. It was super fun! At the Coca-Cola factory everybody got a little treat. Chad and I shared a GIANT Slurpee! Andy tried the “Tray from Around the World.” It was full of different Coke products from around the world. He was nice and shared it with Chad and I! It was super fun to try the different flavors. Some were DISGUSTING, like the one called “Beverly,” it was from Italy and was so gross. Nobody liked it. The flavor that was my favorite was called “Sprite on Ice.” It was amazing. The way I would describe it is Sprite on steroids. It was Sprite to the max!!

Andy with his "Tray from Around the World"

At the M&M factory we had fun looking at all of the different items that can be bought. One of these items was a racecar driver jacket. My mom thought it’d be fun to have Tanner put it on and take a picture in it. Tanner picked it up and all of the sudden alarms started sounding! He got so scared! He threw the jacket back to our mom saying, “You told me to do it!” and then ran away. It was pretty comical.

Everybody with their favorite M&M's

Afterwards we decided it was time to finish our journey for the day. We headed towards Primm. Upon arriving at Buffalo Bill’s, all the kids were super excited because we wanted to ride the roller coaster! We had been talking about it for weeks!! This roller coaster is a legend in my family. When we were younger we use to drive to California about every other year. We would always stop to ride the roller coaster. Well one time we told my dad he needed to come on it with us. So we rode it with my dad. It was as fun as it always was! My dad didn’t agree. He thought it was the scariest roller coaster he had ever ridden. He couldn’t believe that they only had a lap bar! All of us kids looked at him like he was crazy. We explained that there was a lap bar and a seatbelt, my dad didn’t agree. What had happened was that there was no line, nor had there been one, so we had all been riding it, getting off, running back to where the line “started” and then riding it again. The workers had been checking our seatbelts the first couple of times but then I guess they thought we knew what we were doing, and nobody checked Dad’s seat…Apparently he had sat on the seatbelt…. If the lap bar had given way, he would have been a goner.

Unfortunately both on the way to California and home the roller coaster was CLOSED!!! On the way there we went to get tickets at 8:35 and it was suppose to close at 8:45, but they had already closed it. On the way home they said it was closed due to lightning…. outside there were no dark clouds in the sky. Apparently we just weren’t supposed to ride it.

The next morning Chad and I woke up super early, not because we wanted to but because apparently the AC in our hotel room was broken. Karma? I think yes. We decided to get ready and go have a little date to Denny’s for breakfast. It was so much fun! I love being with Chad. He makes life so much fun even when it’s something as simple as eating breakfast together.

Sunset on the beach.

After everybody else packed up and ate breakfast we were finally on the road again. A couple of hours later, Brad’s car pulled over to the side of the road. The low air light was on. We found out what tire it was, filled it back up with a little compressor that John had brought and even put fix-a-flat in it. We continued to drive. About thirty minutes later Brad pulled over to the side of the road again, the light had come on again. We decided we should put the spare on. This is a pretty simple task, especially when every single person in the group of 12 knows how to do it, or so we thought. It was actually kind of difficult. The lug nuts were on super tight! It took all the strong boys to get them off, but we did it and were able to put the spare on. The hole was in the sidewall of the tire, which was no good because that meant we needed a new tire. Dad being confident the spare would be okay to drive on decided to take care of it when we got to Oceanside (this was because the spare was a full size tire).

All this tire business took a long time and people needed to relieve themselves. We decided to stop at the next exit about 20 minutes outside of Barstow. This place was a little shack. It smelled gross! Like the bathroom was overflowing…my mom mentioned how it was such a dump and she didn’t want to go in. My dad said it was the only place around so she’d need “to go take a dump in the dump.” It was hilarious. My dad cracks me up sometimes. Chad wanted a Twix bar so we went into buy one. When we walked in he instantly changed his mind. The candy isle looked like it had been through a war, especially the chocolate bars. Everything was melted. I guess when its 115 degrees out and your store does not have AC that’s what happens.

Our arrival at the beach.

This probably sounds like the longest road trip ever! But really it wasn’t. Saturday we got to Oceanside around 2 PM. Driving to the house we were all super excited, the closer we got the more excited we became, especially when we realized that the house was RIGHT on the beach!! Not only that but it was HUGE! We are seriously the luckiest grandkids ever!! After arriving everybody went to search for a spot to put their stuff. All the adults (minus Chad, Ian and I) got a bedroom -- that was until the room Brad and Heidi were in had four twin beds, a bunk bed and a trundle bed. Brad and Heidi took the bunk bed and Chad and I took the others. It was going to be a party room, but not really because us old married folks are boring.

The next day was Sunday. Chad was super excited for Sunday, not only to be able to go to church, but to be able to go to wards he went to during his mission! Chad went to the Carlsbad mission and was in Oceanside and Carlsbad for a large part of his mission. He had a hard time picking what wards he wanted to go visit, but we decided on two of them. First we went to the Oceanside 4^th ward. It was a great meeting. I love going to Testimony meetings in other wards. In this ward 4 little boys and a couple little girls all marched up to the pulpit. They bore their sweet little testimonies, all saying almost exactly the same thing, but saying it with a heart that knew it was true. After Sacrament meeting Chad introduced me to a couple of members. While approaching them, they knew exactly who he was even though it had been 5 years since he had seen them! They spoke of a convert that Chad had baptized and they had fellowshipped, how she is now married in the temple. It was fun to learn more of how Chad was such a great missionary.

Chad at a baptism during his mission.

After this meeting Chad wanted to go to the Carlsbad 1^st ward. The building, which this meeting was held in, was where Chad would meet during his mission for transfers. I could tell that he felt very much at home in this building and in this ward.  This testimony meeting was also very good. I have found that a lot of times testimony meetings have themes to them. It was interesting to me that both of the testimony meetings we attended on Sunday seemed to focus around missionary work. With the worldwide leadership training a couple weeks ago and with my little brother Andy leaves on his mission this Wednesday (today), I have been thinking about missionary work a lot lately. The church is very focused right now on getting members to be a bigger help to missionaries; for us to be doing missionary work of our own. During Chad’s mission his most meaningful baptism was where a member family had completely fellowshipped a convert and had helped him and his companion, teach her the gospel. It has made me wonder how I can help others have the joy that I have. I’m not an official missionary, but I know I can share the message of peace and joy with those that may not have it in their lives. The message that families can be together forever and that you never have to worry about what happens when you die. I can share the good word.

Chad having fun as a missionary.

At the Carlsbad 1^st ward it was fun to see just how many people remembered Chad. Chad was having a hard time because so many people looked familiar but the names were not connecting with the faces. We talked with a lot of different people about what Chad had been up to, what he is doing now and what our future plans are. It was super fun to see how welcomed he was back into a ward that he had served in. It made me even prouder to be his wife and I knew I must have been pretty lucky to get him.

After visiting the wards Chad took me on a mini-tour of his mission. We drove by one of the apartment complexes he used to live in, we drove near where the mission home was and we even went to where the mission office was and took a picture with Chad in front of the sign!

Chad in front of the Carlsbad
 California Mission Office sign.

Monday and Tuesday were both days at the beach! It was filled with sun, sand, boogie boarding, trying to surf, reading books and enjoying one another’s company. Also I accomplished my goal of the trip! I’ve been boogie boarding before, but I had never truly caught a wave boogie boarding. Monday I did it! I caught a wave and rode it all the way up to the shore. It was AWESOME!! With a couple of cousins Chad and I collected a bunch of seashells. It was a lot of fun to be with my cousins.

Having fun at the San Diego Temple.

On Tuesday we also went to the San Diego Temple. The temple was gorgeous! I was so glad that I was finally able to go inside of it, instead of just looking at it from the outside. It was fun to go with my parents, my aunt Chris, Chad, and Andy. I love going to the temple and being able to feel the spirit that resides there, I especially love going with my family. It helps give me a glimpse of eternity and makes me so grateful that I can be with my family forever.

Wednesday we went to Six Flags. We were all very excited! On my senior trip my friends and I went there and it was super fun! I loved it! I rode most of the rides that day but near the end of the day I felt sick so I sat on the sidelines while my friends rode a couple of more. The last ride that my friends rode on was called X2, all of my friend’s thought they were going to die. I thought they were exaggerating until saw one of my friend’s pictures. It was priceless and she definitely looked scared to death! Well, my brother’s decided they wanted to ride X2 first. I now understood the fear in my friend’s eyes. My picture wasn’t as good as hers but it was definitely close. It was the scariest ride of my life!

We survived X2!

After a couple of rides it was about time for lunch. We decided to eat at Panda Express and it was delicious! Afterwards we went to get in line for a ride called Tatsu. The wait time said it was one hour long, so we thought we were safe to get in line, right after eating a huge meal. Well, the sign lied…it was only a 30-minute wait, maybe even less. We were not ready, yet we all hopped onto the roller coaster. This is a roller coaster where you fly. It is sooooo much fun!!! Too bad I can’t really fly, it would make life so much more exciting!!

When we woke up on Thursday everybody seemed so tired! We went to a Farmer’s market in the morning. Chad and I bought some fresh raspberries to eat and they were so delicious! It reminded me of the trip Chad and I went on with some friends up to Washington. We went to Pike’s Place one day and it was so much fun! I loved trying all the samples and seeing all the handcrafted items people were selling. This Farmer’s Market was just like it, just much, much smaller. I’ve officially decided I love Farmer’s Markets and want to go to them more often!

That afternoon we decided to go to The Lone Ranger. It was such a good movie, full of unexpected twists, cleverness, and hilarious moments. Chad and I really enjoyed it and the fact that good triumphed evil.

The gang getting ready for a Safari!

Friday was the day we went to Africa! Not really, but we did go to the San Diego Safari Park. It definitely made me feel like I was in Africa. We got to see so many different kinds of animals and go on a tram ride through the “plains of Africa.” It was so much fun and made me want to go to Africa even more. I have wanted to go for about 10 years now.  A couple of years ago I started saving my pennies and putting them in my “Africa Jar.” When we got married Chad started to put money in it too, without me even knowing, it was so sweet of him. People question why I want to go to Africa and I do want to go to see the amazing scenery, to see the animals, to experience a different culture, and to maybe hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. But really the reason I want to go is to help the people that are there. My dream would be to go on a medical mission there, but seeing as how my husband wants to be a lawyer I don’t think that will be happening. But, one day we will go there.

We love photo booths!

This trip has been so much fun! It has helped me realize what an amazing family I have. I am so grateful for them and all the things that they do for me. They have all taught me so many things and I have appreciated the time that I’ve been able to spend with all of them this week.

Do you know what kind of animal that is??