From Mom August 14, 2015 -- Sunny San Diego

August 14, 2015

Dear Riley,

We have stacked up some great memories this week on our family trip to California.  I’ll just pick up where I left off last week.

Did I tell you we went to Santa Monica Pier the evening of Grandpa's funeral?

Sunday night we lost the girls.  All of them except Cambry.  Our hotel was a half mile from Grandpa’s house.  So while Dad was snoring through a long Sunday nap, I walked down to be with family at Grandpa’s.  Dad wrote you when he awakened and I walked back to the hotel to do the same when he made it to Grandpa’s.  As I was walking back to Grandpa’s, I talked to Debbie who was on her way to the grocery store to get some food with her little kids.  When I got to the house, I checked in on Josie and she was nowhere to be found.  So Grandma drove us back to the hotel and there were no girls there.  Now I started freaking a little.  We went back to the house and there they were.  Debbie had told Sammy to walk the girls back to the hotel where she thought I was.  When Debbie wasn’t back from the store, Sammy walked them back to the house.  They walked Garfield while we went up and down the parallel Isabella.  So no harm done.  But we now know that if a tragedy occurs on Dad’s watch, the momma bear is not very forgiving.  Sorry to say.

Then Sunday night while we were eating, Josie thought she spied chocolate milk:  Oh, yeah!  I love chocolate milk!!!  Then she jumped up to claim some and realized she had mistaken the lemonade they’d made with Grandpa’s lemons.  She laughed and said, “Just kidding.”  We all laughed.  The next morning Dad went across the street to a Thai donut/burger joint.  The donuts were fresh and really yummy.  He augmented the feast with yogurts, chocolate milk, white milk, and grapes.  We had the remaining Passeys over to the feast.

On the way to San Diego, a picture opportunity descended upon us.

We learned that Parker is a good observer.  We walked out of Seaworld to eat our picnic lunch and we weren’t certain where the car was.  One of the tips Dad read was to remember where you park!  But we were so excited to get in the park that we didn’t look for a zone letter/number.  But Parker found the car easily.  Phew!  Dad would have hauled us all over the parking lot hunting.

Dad’s given you the rundown of the locations we visited.  Let me tell you the highlights for each person.

Cambry loved the beach and sitting on Grandpa’s couch catching up with DJ Sunday evening.  DJ told her that he was so happy when her engagement broke off because he really didn’t want to miss her wedding.

Parker loved being with the Passeys.  Even though it meant it had to be in a over-deoderized hotel room.  Dave Passey says there are two kinds of fun memories: the kind that are fun while you’re doing it and when you remember and the kind that aren’t fun while you’re doing, but are fun to laugh about later.  Our hotel is a fun Passey/Parish memory kind of like locking them out of their house and losing the truck keys.

Elise loved the beach best.  It was paradise!  Fine sand, warm water, pleasant waves.  Dad and I went into town and got some sandwiches and salads.  We didn’t share one bite with the eager seagulls.  (We took a family picture on rocks there in case, but all liked the Mindar picure better.)  Then, on the way home we stopped for some remarkable gelato.  Oh, it was good.

While these two cuties are being sweet, Dad is digging a crab in the hole. 

 Dad's got the camera now.  Cute ones of Josie.

 This picture was Josie's request.  She had freaked out about sand on her shorts at Santa Monica Pier.  Dad had asked Kelson to roll his wet body around in the sand to show her the fun she was missing.  He made himself the abominable sand monster.  At Coronado beach, she tried it out herself.

Nado Gelato - oh, so good!

Aleah loved the beach as well.  Makes you wonder why I spent all that money on the zoo and seaworld, huh?  She had a lot of fun everywhere.  And she loved picking the oranges off the Moore’s trees and making a big pitcher of fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Josie loved playing with Joshua Moore.  He’s a little younger than her and just about as cute and perhaps just as remarkable.  The first morning there she had commandeered his cool firetruck and things escalated just as we were trying to say family prayer in the room where the truck was.  Eight year old Julie calmly took a very upset Joshua out the front door to let us pray.  But of course we were more concerned that Josie make things right. She decided she was going to go tell Joshua to share. We explained that this was his house and his truck and she needed to apologize and give it back to him.  She opened the door and as she was telling him she was sorry, Joshua kindly asked, “Josie, can I please play with my firetruck?”  He won my heart right then and there.

Dad’s favorite part was the San Diego Temple.  I’m so glad we fit it in, though it made for a late night last night.  I would have regretted not going but my sleep bank will fill back up.  That temple has an unusual orientation in that most rooms you enter on a corner.  The celestial room is a two story room with endowment rooms that feed into it on both levels.  There is a grand staircase that starts in the middle of the floor on the bottom level and carries you to the top.  Through the celestial room there is a door that leads to the sealing rooms and there is an enclosed atrium with angled glass  that calls up images of a star.  This atrium is between the spires and you can see the angel Moroni atop one spire through the star glass.  This temple is exquisite.

My favorite part of the San Diego trip was picking up relations with the Moores.  I’ve known and loved Amy through Aunt Debbie.  But I was so touched as I spent time with her and her family.  They are so good to listen to one another and are very conscious to validate and affirm one another.  They are a team like our family.  

I always wish I had more time when I go see places.  I hate getting tired and having to concede to the limited resources.  But I’m very glad I did every single thing I did.  I’m glad for the memories.

San Diego Zoo

First we rode the sky tram

At the polar bear exhibit

Aleah pronounced the names correctly and told us what they mean.

Spot the flamingo:  Josie noticed that they were the same color and knew the same dance step!

On to Seaworld

 Her favorite ride at Seaworld.

 Petting the bat rays.

 Yes, she has to go potty.  She did work up the courage to pet them!

 Big Fish!

 We were easy to spot.  We actually got stopped and told that we looked classy and modest and worthy of emulation.

This shark exhibit was super cool, glad we stopped there though we were tired.

Times of change: these were taken 18 minutes apart on the way home. Of course the hottest was in Death Valley.

And I’m glad to be back home.

I hope you had even more success this week working through the members.  And I look forward to what Elder Holland shared with you.  I’ll have to send pictures later from the trip.  Dad and I have to run.  

We love you so much!  I thought of you while watching the dolphins and the monkeys play and solve problems.  You’re welcome.  :)

Love,

Mom