For a while now I have wanted to take a trip with my family and go somewhere fun for vacation. I had southern California in mind because it is not too far a drive and it has beaches and lots of things to do. With moving in to the new house, I put the idea away because we had just invested a good chunk of money into our home, not really leaving much to go vacation with. James, however, after 23 times interviewing with BYU, landed a job with a significant raise which made taking a trip more possible. So proud of him BTW, we are so excited for his new job and we will be forever BLUE, go COUGS!!!
Anyway, so between his old and new job he had a week off where we could actually go on a vacation. My mom while she was here visiting back in June, mentioned she was going to visit her sister in Riverside California, and I thought to myself, I should go visit too because I never had. For years, I have felt like I should go visit and get to know my Aunt Karen, but the opportunity never really came up. So the stars aligned and my Aunt said we could stay with her and James had the week off and yippeee, we were on our way to California. I thought Las Vegas might be fun to explore so the first two nights we stayed at Sam's Town in Las Vegas. The morning after we arrived we visited the Hoover Dam and the Mike O'Callaghan- Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. We had seen the bridge partially built back in 2009 and it was awesome to see it finished. So freaky though to be so high up and look over down in to the Canyon, my gosh I was kinda freaking out especially with the little kids, I could barely handle walking across the bridge, but it was amazing. Very hot day there too, but worth the trip.
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| My Family at the Bridge |
That evening we decided to visit the Las Vegas strip, which after visiting I don't is the best place for a family, there isn't much to do except look at things, but it was fun, kind tiring pushing kids around, but at least we can say we went.
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| Harley Davidson Cafe |
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| Bellagio Dancing Waters |
On our way to California we were so excited to get to my Aunt's house, but the last 30 miles I think took us like 2 hours, there was construction through a mountain pass and slowed us down and drove us all crazy. We were so excited to finally reach my Aunt's House. She welcomed us with open arms and the best hospitality. She had an RV that was set up on her driveway where we all stayed. It was perfect for us, James and I shared a bed with Cam and Jet and Dash had a bed. The kids loved staying in the RV. My Aunt Karen was so nice and loving to my family, we couldn't have had a better time.
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| Me sleeping with Cam in the RV |
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| Boys in the RV |
Our first whole day in California we decided to hit up the beach. I have to say it was so awesome to be at the beach, I had been dreaming about it for a while. If I hadn't gotten such a bad sunburn that day we would have gone back again later in the week. The boys loved playing in the sand and waves. Dash was more of a land kid than out in the water. I think the waves scared him a little. They were pretty good sized. We were at Huntington Beach that day and it was gorgeous!
On Wednesday we attempted to be on the Price is Right. I remember watching that show growing up and dreaming of being on it. Because our trip was kinda last minute I was only able to get stand by tickets, but on the ticket it said if we were there early enough we should get in. Well not only did we not get in but a whole crowd of people didn't either. Next time for sure though, because they gave me guaranteed tickets for another time. I even made a shirt with the name of one of the games on the show and mixed it with the 7 years that James and I were celebrating of marriage that Sat. Since we had time that day we explored Hollywood, went to the Griffith Observatory and drove down Hollywood Boulevard. It was a fun day even though we didn't get on the show. It was still cool to see where it was filmed.
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| Sad because we couldnt get on the show :( |
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| L.A. Skyline from Griffith Observatory |
Our third whole day in California, we visited Disneyland. My Aunt treated us and she made our dreams come true! None of us had visited Disneyland and it was magical. To me it was way more than an amusement park. The rides created experiences and tried to take you to another place. We loved it!
We extended our trip by another day and we hung out with Karen and Mike and swam in her beautiful pool and just relaxed before heading back home. It was a perfect trip and we can't wait to go again!
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| My Aunt Karen and my family! |
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| Uncle Mike and Cameron, they were good buds! |
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| sleeping in the hotel room in St. George! |
