It was a neat experience having all six of us in the temple together for the first time.

Super cute niece and nephew picture. We're missing four though :-(

The Steed bunch. We gotta work on this group.

My baby sister's married. I was just watching a video (it was a VHS no less) of this little flower girl at my wedding and now she is the bride. She was beautiful and so happy and I am happy for her.

 

Bellflower

Jamie's uncle, Bryan died in a car accident a couple of days before the wedding and we learned the funeral service would be in Cedar City Monday so Jamie stayed in Vegas with his family to drive up for the viewing and service while the kids and I traveled with my family to Bellflower to visit my grandma. Jamie caught a ride with my cousin Trevor a few days later to meet us for a reunion in San Diego.

Few places are as sentimental and enjoyable as grandma's. The oranges and kumquats, the cool but sunny California weather, movies and treats at Diane's, the swimming, the al fresco dinners with family, these are the things that say family and vacation to me. 

For my kids, the "pirate park" is a must but this is a new addition, fun, but not part of my childhood.

My grandma could no longer be on this big property on her own even with the help from friends, family and caretakers so it was time to sell the house and move her to some place safer, with 24-hr care. She was very fortunate to have a family in the ward that wanted to buy the home before it even had to be listed. It was sad to say goodbye to this home that my mother grew up in and I have known all my life but glad to be able to visit my grandma and know she will be safe with constant care. She made the decision herself and was willing to part with so many worldly possessions, passing them on to family. As her body grows weak her mind stays sharp and her patience and kindness seems to get stronger. She is an amazing woman and I have gained so much from her example.

 

KOA campground

We had a Hatch family reunion (my mom's family) in San Diego. We stayed in cabins at the KOA campground. It was a fun spot with an open grassy area in the middle and firepits and picnic tables for meals and activities, a pool, a playground, and a bathroom with showers. So definitely easier than our traditional tent camping. it was fun to get together and visit with my aunts, uncles and cousins and their growing families.

Weston, Grace (my cousin), Ruby (my cousin Kara's daughter), and Emma 

San Diego Zoo

Thursday we got to spend the day at the San Diego Zoo, and it really takes the whole day to see everything and still have missed some.

The kids loved the Skyfari, we rode it three times. We didn't mind though it gave us a break off our feet, the shade and breeze were wonderful and....

the views were awesome!

Weston loves petting zoos. He likes to go up to each animal, give it a gentle one-armed hug around the neck, then lean down and look it in the eyes. He's the goat whisperer....

and sometimes they whisper back.

Moonlight Beach

We headed down to Moonlight Beach Friday morning with perfect beach weather. The kids LOVED the beach! Even Andrew loved going as deep as he could and letting the waves crash over him.
 
Emma became quick and close friends with my cousins Eli (11) and Grace (7) at reunion. It's weird having cousins my kids' ages but it's fun watching them get along so well.

Andrew and Carson spent a good hour planted in one spot digging in the mud. They were easy to keep track of, unlike Weston who had a search party out for him when he came out of the water and went to warm up on some sand a ways down from where we pitched our umbrellas.

Andrew enjoyed making "mud poops." 

Jamie pulled the kids back and forth around the edge of the water on the boogey board then Nate took a turn taking each kid out for a ride on the waves.

This my friends is how you maintain the "favorite uncle status" as Nate will tell you.

Old town and drive home

Friday evening we headed down to Old Town to eat some Mexican at Fred's.
 

Then Angie, the pied-piper, danced the kids out of the restaurant and up the hill to the Mormon Battalion building where we followed the story of our great, great, great (did I get enough?) grandfather, Zemira Palmer and panned for gold.

Saturday morning we packed up and headed home. I was a little surprised when I saw the map as we were planning this trip to find out that San Diego is closer to Austin than Las Vegas.

Long vacation and traveling hours in a car will do weird things to you.

Jamie decided to change things up on our second day of driving home and detoured through Fredericksburg, a quaint German farming town in Texas. It was fun driving down mainstreet and we didn't stop long, just a potty break at this park area. We crossed the park to get to the bathroom and just a few feet away from the bathroom behind the police building we turn around to find Andrew with his pants down relieving himself on a tree. There's always a great danger in pulling off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for emergencies on these trips, it always comes back to bite me. Boys, with great power comes great responsibility. 

The german settlers making a peace treaty with the Indians- "You give us smoke, we give you beer."

Some serious reading

I love the serious, studious face he puts on (and his stylish blend of checks). Weston's reading material lately: paper airplane books and Star Wars books. He is really into "the Catalog" lately and it's magical abilities to find the books he wants.