San Diego

For our anniversary this year, we planned a trip to San Diego. It was probably the most relaxing trip we took this Summer and I absolutely loved it! We booked a hotel on priceline. If you have never done the "name your own price" you need to look into it. I have never stayed at a four star hotel before, let alone for under $100. It was so much fun. We asked for a king bed, but when we got to our room, it smelled faintly of smoke. So we went back to ask for another room. They upgraded us to "a room with a view." It was perfect--except it didn't have a tub. For those of you who know a little of our house, you will know that we don't have one. So when we go on vacation I NEED one!
Our French concierge transferred us quickly to two doors down. So we kept our view, gained a bed for Hayden to sleep on and had a very nice tub. Here is the view, at least part of it.


Here's how our trip went.
Friday morning we got up and drove to the San Diego Zoo.


We toured the zoo on the bus and then started on our own. I think our favorite animals that day were the gorillas. They were so interactive with each other and then Hayden went up to the glass and was touching their feet.

It was so funny to hear Hayden interact with any of the animals. "Hey friend!" or "Hey buddy!" We had brought our own lunch, which Hayden wanted to leave all over the park for the animals:)
We decided that Landon wasn't exactly our "wild turkey" any more, but was more like a koala. not to be confused with a bear, but it's a marsupial. I hope we can find him a Haloween costume to match.



Then we headed back to our hotel around 4pm, got checked in, blah blay blah(see above) and decided we needed a dip in the pool. They had water slides that were so much fun! Hayden LOVED it. We could hardly get him out of the pool when they closed the slides for the night.

Then we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant for dinner in Old Town. Serge bought me a rose, which was very sweet. Then we tried to talk over the mariachi band and the drunk people singing at the top of their lungs. The drunk people's dancing was quite entertaining and then we met someone who had had a heart problem when he was young. He shared with us his testimony of how God healed him. It was quite touching.
We went back to hotel and the kids crashed. I stayed up late to watch how Hurricane Ike was progressing in Galveston and the train wreck in LA. AND to have a nice bath!
The next morning we packed up the hotel room and went out to find some doughnuts. I was in the mood for bagels and so when we found them, we made another stop at Ralph's so I could get my "bagel", which ended up being a few different pastries and an orange cinnamon roll. What could I do?
Then we headed back to the Zoo.
It was a little bit busier, since it was Saturday, but we still had a great time. We really loved all of the beautiful flowers we noticed and could not help but take a few pictures.



In the end, it was just so relaxing not to have to rush. We headed for home about 6pm and felt refreshed. I think that's the first vacation that I've felt like that ever.

Lame Blogger

What's up with me and my not blogging? Well, let's just say that I have been gallivanting(to borrow a word from my mom). Let's see. Uh, ah, yes. Here we are.
We had a few changes at our house. Since Hayden decided to flood the kitchen, which seeped through the wall into the bedroom of our one bedroom house, we felt the need to take out all of our stuff and relocate into the living room. After we aired out the carpet, we decided that we would put the boys back in the bedroom and move our queen bed into the living room. The "foye" is now our living room and the partition is the divider of our "room." So the couch is acting as a go between. We played "mother may I" with Hayden yesterday and one of the questions was, "mother, may I step over the couch." Never done that one before in that game.
Next, Landon and Hayden came down with a terrible cold that really knocked the for a loop. Hayden was o.k., but I spent the next Tuesday in the ER with him wheezing and coughing. We got him on a nebulizer and then later on some steroids to help give him lung power.
The week of the 24th of July, we went to the Woodruff/Martin reunion. Let's just say that even with sick kids it was a ton of fun! We stayed in these really nice condos that seemed so spacious. They had like 15 feet ceilings and three bedrooms and 2 full size bathrooms. Brigham and Michelle were kind enough to let us have the master bedroom which had it's own deep tub.--Let's just say that I was in heaven!
My favorite part was the women's circle. That is a tradition they have of sharing recipes, good tips and new things we've learned. I love it. I came home with all kinds of new things. They are such great ladies. It was so good to spend time with old friends. I had met most of them the summer before we got married and haven't seen them since. Serge's favorite part was tackle spoons on game night.
On the 25th the Yardley's had their yearly reunion. It was great to see my cousins--whom I haven't seen since Hayden was 5 months old. They are such a wonderful family. I loved how my aunt Mildred, who is like 97 and in a rest home(and slightly senile) kept saying, "Roy(her husband, who has been dead for a year) will be so mad." We had a quiz and the oldest person there got a piece of Seas' candy--she couldn't eat it because she didn't have her teeth in.
They boys traveled well and that was a huge blessing.
Sorry this is a long post, but I have one more item. I got to visit my sister in La's Vegas on the way home. She and Brandon just purchased a little house(without a front yard--or a back one for that matter). It's just adorable. It was a foreclosure and so let's just say that the people who got kicked out didn't really clean before they left. My contribution to the house was cleaning the caked on grease on the stove, microwave and wall surrounding the stove. Why is it that Asian folks let it get that way? Hmm.
Craziness--her next door neighbor came knocking on her door at about 9pm and she opened it to find that it was a girl from Logandale. Her dad was our Bishop years ago and now is married with twin boys living right across from Charlotte. Small world. And--there are seven sets of twins in her ward. Nuts. Anywho, I loved spending time with Charlotte and her adorable girls(no offense Brandon, but you had to go to work and I didn't get to see you much). Her girls absolutely adore me, well, Sydney does. Sadie just cries. She doesn't know how much fun I really am.
So anywho, we're back and all pooped out. Boys are better, I'm almost better and we are home for a little.

The end.