Surprise for Heather

My cute sister Heather graduated from San Diego State University at the end of May!  A few of my sisters and I decided it would be fun to show her how proud we were of her and surprise her for her graduation!

It took a lot of planning... Heather knew that my mom and Mike were going with Megan, but she had no idea that Erin and Lauren and I were going to come. My dad and Heather's friend Serena plotted to preserve some tickets for us and they planned the "big reveal" at the Buca di Beppo restaurant in downtown San Diego. We got assigned the Pope room... complete with a bust of the Pope in the middle of the Lazy Susan on the large round table. I have to be honest, it was a little unsettling :).  Heather expected to have dinner with my dad and Ruff, my mom and Mike, and Megan. She wasn't super excited because of possibilities of tension... but she was a sport and went anyway. She was shocked to walk in and see Serena and her parents and another close friend... but it took her several minutes to register that Erin and I were there. She was crying and smiling and laughing. I love surprises like this! We ate (and ate and ate and ate) and had a yummy celebration cake.

The next morning I got up early and met my mom and Mike for a temple session. The San Diego temple is beautiful! They only have sessions each hour, and we just so happened to be there during a Spanish session. I was happy for that, but my mom and Mike needed headphones for the translation. My mom kept wishing for the gift of tongues (maybe the headphones ARE the gift of tongues for these days?).

After the temple I went to the swap meet... fun shopping and people watching there. Then I went to the beach by the Hotel Del Coronado. Someday I want to stay there... but during this trip we just got to hang out on the beautiful beach and soak up some rays. This was the site of the big reveal for Lauren's arrival. It was glorious! I love the beach, particularly when I can snooze or read a magazine without having to chase kids, it was so relaxing! We all missed our kids though, and Erin inspired the "Miss You" message to send our families.

That night we ventured to Old Town for dinner. Once again we tried to eat at the Old Town Mexican Cafe, and once again it was so busy, so we crossed the street and ate at Fred's. Once again, it was delicious!

Can you tell I got a little bit of sun? I really am good at protecting my childrens' skin, just not so much when it comes to me. My face and neck are red... but you should have seen my legs. They hurt for many days. I always say I will do better next time... we'll see.

Mike was smiling! We had to capture that image.

The next day was Sunday, and Lauren and I went to church before the graduation. It was almost comical as we drove around. Lauren lived in San Diego many years ago for awhile, so she mostly knew her way around. I was driving and trying to listen to the GPS while Lauren tried to tell me where to go... it made for a confused and frustrated driver and passenger. Eventually we got there (after turning the car around many, many times) and got to witness Miss Heather receive her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies from the College of Education at SDSU. I'm so proud of Heather! She has worked hard and long to finish this degree.

We went to Balboa Park for a lovely lunch. Heather opened some gifts (the beautiful denim quilt was made by Grandma Cole) and read letters from all the siblings. It was the day of the solar eclipse... some kind, science-inclined people were there with glasses and a telescope that he let hoards of people use to look at the eclipse.

We ended the night at Sunset Cliffs. We had hoped to see a great sunset, but it got really cloudy and overcast. It was still soothing to be near the water again. My family was laughing at my dress because it was so flowy so I started spinning around and it made my mom laugh so hard. I am sure these photos don't capture the hilarity of it all, but it was funny. We stopped for a milkshake at Hodad's. Heather and I cracked up when a youngish, drunkish guy stopped in front of me and looked me up and down and then asked, "How you doin'?" Heather texted "Lisa just got hit on" to Ryan who later told us that he read it and thought it said "Lisa just got hit by a car." I still think it's funny that Ryan finds it more likely that I would get hit by a car then get hit on by another guy...

We had such a great time. Heather was so grateful that we made the effort to go. I loved that Ryan and a few good friends took care of the kiddos so I could escape for a few days. I loved that driving to California in our Prius costs so little money that we could do it! I loved that Heather was so happy that we were there and that we could share her special, amazing occasion.

Spring Break 2012

Back in April we surprised our kiddos with a trip to San Diego for Spring Break. It was so hard to keep it from them! But it was worth it. Ryan checked them out of school a little early and told them to come home and pack their traveling bag (we packed their clothes and other needed items). They were perplexed! All along the  way we kept putting them off and finally told them after we crossed the state line into California what our plans were. We stayed for a night with the Reis family (why, oh why did I not take any pictures of our close friends???) and then continued south.

We stayed in a hotel in between my dad's house and Heather's apartment... and Sophia was enamored with her crib. Until she had to actually go to sleep that is... then she loved that she could get out of it. I thought it looked like a sad little jail, but it all worked out :).

We love visiting Balboa Park. They had a group with exotic birds and Olivia got to hold one! I loved this picture in the middle of my cute family with my dad while they were looking in the pond. We spent an afternoon at The Nat (the Natural History Museum) in Balboa Park. The picture on the top left is what I spent my time doing (chasing after Miss Sophia) but we had a great time! They had an interesting display to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic which was fascinating.

It was warm enough to go to the beach! The last few trips we've made to California have been in the late fall or winter months, so we were thrilled for seventy degree weather. The water was FREEZING but that didn't stop Coleman and Olivia for developing a love for boogie boarding. WE loved being at the beach together and ended our day for yummy milkshakes, fries, and onion rings at our favorite beachside joint Hodad's.

We were there on Easter Sunday and visited a ward somewhere that started at the time we wanted :). Ryan took some cute photos of us in our cute new Easter clothes.

I asked my dad if he and Heather could plan an egg hunt for the kids... they went crazy and hid so many eggs! The kids loved searching for eggs in his lovely back yard. Sophia wanted to open every one and eat the candy right there. I loved the expressions on their faces!

Coleman LOVES Legos. We decided this was the year to make the trek to Legoland since Sophia was still free and Olivia still qualifies as a "child." I know there are fans of this park, but it wasn't our favorite place. It was expensive (despite finding some good discount tickets), the lines were long, and the rides weren't the best. There were several rides that we "got" to power ourselves. I'm not in any way against exercise... but if I pay so much money for an amusement park, I really don't want to hoist myself up and down a tower. Coleman loved it though... and the displays of Legos were rather amazing. We were excited to be there for the new Star Wars mini-land. Despite not loving the park, we still had a good time together and there was great people watching, especially while I sat on the bench and held napping Sophia for an hour and a half.

We reprised the seashell t-shirts(we made them with my dad when I was young and again with Liv when she was little... the photo on the bottom left shows them off ) for our day at the San Diego Zoo.

We went to Old Town for dinner and tried to eat at the Old Town Mexican Cafe... but as the wait was way too long, we ended up across the street at Fred's. Dinner was delicious!.

We did a lot of fun things while we were there, but most of all we loved spending time with my dad and Heather. Sophia calls Heather "Helly" and it is just adorable. Even now she pretends to call her on the phone and have funny conversations with her ("Hi, Helly. Yeah, right. Giggle, giggle."). We made gourmet quesadillas (apples, pepper jack cheese, and pepper jelly; pesto and mozzarrella; etc.) and met Heather's fun friend Serena. We spent our last morning at Cabrillo National Monument and the kids got to see the low tide and the lighthouse. We even incurred international roaming charges because it juts out into the ocean enough that our cell phone company thought we were in Mexico.

All in all it was a great trip and so fun to surprise our kids. I highly recommend it!