Californ-i-a

So we decided to drive to California for my great grandma Venna's 100th birthday. And when I say we, I mean me, because I couldn't afford to go with my kids any other way. So with the money we saved I bought the kids a dvd player for the car and it was well worth it. This is Ever watching a movie and consuming a chocolate doughnut. Life is good. Brenn wasn't ready for this snapshot, but funny none-the-less. These kids did awesome, Clovi was the best one!
This is a couple hours into the trip, I gave Miss Ever a notebook that had the alphabet in stickers when I turned around this is what I found... Oh she is a crack up. Taking the stickers off was not.
We arrived at CA around 4 and Greg said if we hurried we could make it to the beach for the sunset. Unfortunately we didn't establish what to do at a yellow light and we lost Greg at a stoplight and missed the sunset. But we arrived for this... Beautiful. This was my kids first time ever seeing the ocean. Brennen is the one with the green glow stick.
The next day we headed off to Legoland, that place is huge! We didn't even see a 1/3 of it I bet. The kids were at the perfect age, that whole place is centered around them. Here they are with a few thousand legos and bit of creativity... Sweet!
This ride was so funny, Brennen was squealing so loud he was all you could hear. They loved this ride.

This was Clovi just hanging out being a good girl. Babies are an odd commodity in CA we got stopped constantly our whole trip; people wanting to take pictures of her, telling us she should be the next e trade baby, and staring at her. I must admit I don't blame them I have a very cute baby but I don't get stopped that much here... Sheesh I should go there more often.

Right next to Legoland is an aquarium it kinda reminded me of the one here in Salt Lake. Plus if you already had tickets to Legoland you could get in for only $12 and seeing as Sea World was $60 each for the kids and $70 for us we opted with this place and it didn't disappoint. The kids just stared in awe at all the sharks and other large fish. Very cool, I do recommend!

They had this huge shark tank with all kinds of fish beside sharks and like 10 different places to look, inside they had lego scubadivers and submarines made by legos it was really cool.

After Legoland and the aquarium we went to Greg & Natalie's condo down onto the beach and made the sunset.

Even Clovi loved the beach. She just kept curling her toes and grabbing handfuls to try and eat.

We couldn't not get Brennen out of the ocean, this picture doesn't show it but it's windy and cold! Pure joy!

And then something amazing happened DOLPHINS!! That's right folks 2 dolphins started to play in the surf. It was amazing, can you see it's fin, kinda looks like a shark but it's a friendly dolphin.

On Valentine's Day my great grandma Venna turned 100 she's the lovely lady in the middle. We were able to get a 5 generation picture which is pretty dang neat, that doesn't happen often. It's crazy to think that in this picture she is 100 years older than little Clovi. Can you see Clove eyeing grandma Venna's hair? Yeah she tried pulling it several times,little stinker. Can you imagine my fragile grandma getting a yank from her, that girls got a grip!!

We also got a picture with my daughters name sake, Maclovia. I truly love this woman! She is so amazing by every sense of the word. This trip however really made me realize how old my grandma is getting. I hate that she lives so far away and that she is now getting to old to remember my children or even me. She kissed Clovi everytime she saw her and Clovi didn't even mind I think she knew how special her great grandma is.

The next day we went to La Jolla Beach and it's not pronounce jolly, it's spanish. I learned the hard way and was made fun of and yes I am of mexican decent!! Here I am looking longingly into the ocean... Just kidding I'm looking for sharks!!! Twice a year leopard sharks fill this bay to mate and then this is where their young hatch. Every time the surf came in you could see these 4-6 foot sharks swimming. It was so cool!!

Ever loved the beach, there were tiny sea shells all over the sand and Ever made it her job to collect them all. She was in heaven she would just run and laugh. This girl was in her element! No one telling her to stop acting crazy or to quit being naughty. She just ran free!!! She would just look up at me and laugh, this trip made me realize we need an ocean in Utah.

We had only one incident, Brennen got in a fight with coral and it got the best of him and his toe. It was very dramatic he walked around with a limp the rest of the trip.

Clovi also loved the beach she just sat in the shade watching the waves and squealing. SO CUTE!!

And now for the greatest moment thus far of the trip!! Now all of you need to know something about me if you don't already. The words Marcia and the ocean never go in the same sentence unless of course it's, Marcia doesn't do the ocean. And even more importantly, Marcia and shark do not go together even remotely unless shark is followed by week and it's on the discovery channel. So here it goes, brace yourself. Marcia got into the ocean with sharks!!! That's right folks sharks swam at my feet and I only hyperventilated once maybe twice. When I told this to Kurt he didn't believe me. But for those of you still reading, here's the story...

We were going to rent kayaks with Natalie as our guide but unfortunately Natalie contracted the flu and was lying on a towel on the beach wanting to die. So we just walked around and let the kids play in the water. My dad decided to walk out into the water to see if the sharks were as close as they looked in the surf. I was talking to Natalie and turned around to see my dad with his shorts hiked up as high as they would go running from the surf, so funny!!! He comes and tells us the sharks are right there and we can come out and they would be at our feet. I decided I was a brave and adventurous individual and went with my dad. I got out to water up to my thigh and BAM they are all over. That was my first panic attack my dad tells me to be quiet cause I was scaring them away so I concentrated on my breathing and held very still. My second panic attack came when my dad said, "Marcia get your camera out and don't scream, there's one on your right." I look to my right and down, a shark is at my feet. I then hyperventilated while my dad said, "Take a picture Marcia!" This is what I got before I hauled my keester out of the water. This is that picture. No zoom, just a straight down shot of that baby.

My dad then confiscated my camera and after I got the nerve to go back out, we headed off with Brennen on my dads shoulders and Ever on mine. We saw so many it was unbelievable! Ever kept yelling look mom a mommy shark and a daddy one!! This also is no zoom, they were right there! The surf was so big it about toppled me and Ever over so we decided we couldn't get any better than that and we headed off.

So in one trip we saw dolphins and sharks in their natural habitat!! So cool.

We attempted to go to the San Diego temple this is not a picture at night this is at 5:30 in the morning in the rain. We got all ready and found out the hours were wrong online and they didn't open until 8...bummer. We had to leave that day. So to you San Diego Temple, I love to see the temple I'll go inside someday~

And on our drive home the universe confirmed the awesomeness of our trip with a rainbow. It meant I am supposed to go back every year. Kurt just needs the same sign apparently, so I will patiently wait for him to get it.

Thank you Thank you Natalie and Greg! You Rock!!

Much Love, Peace and Blessings!