San Diego Trip: Day 5

On the last day of our trip we were able to go to the San Diego Temple. I have always loved this temple since I was a little girl and now I have finally been able to go inside it. When I went and visited Jared while he lived here, 9 years ago, we visited the temple but it was closed for cleaning so I couldn't even go inside to do baptisms. The other thing about this Temple is that I had always wanted to be married here. Jared too wanted to be married here, but, we were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was more important to us to have our families able to attend our wedding so we compromised and stayed close. It was a good compromise! The San Diego Temple was amazing to visit and to do some work for those that have passed on. I loved it here and now the San Diego Temple is a great place for Jared and I to go visit.

(Satan was at work though! Before we left, making sure to leave early enough to get there even with rush hour, we found that we had a flat tire. Byron and Jared changed the flat in their nice new suits. It took a little while to get everything all set. We were sure that we would miss the session. I said a little prayer and we were on our way. Miracles of miracles, we made it safely to the temple with plenty of time to get dressed. Byron and Jemayla were also blessed with being the witness couple.)

I felt like a princess inside these sacred walls. It was grand and beautiful but not in a goddy sort of way. Simple pure elegance!

We then went to the San Diego Zoo. It was pretty cool!

This little guy was the most active of all the animals we saw. It was dinner time and he sure did put on a show. It was fun to see him strip down the bamboo and eat it up. He sat down and pulled his meal onto his lap.

The have a skyfari ride where you ride above the entire park.

Byron and Jemayla enjoying the scene.

 Though the pandas were cool, the elephants were the best sight.

Jared and I hanging out underneath these huge elephant sculptures.

 At the end of the day, I got to meet up with my oldest childhood friend, Pam Kobylarz Heays. We met a week or so before First grade and were instantly friends. We were both 6 years old and so that means we have known each other for 24 years.

Pam and her husband, Julian, live in central California and were going to be in our neck of the woods during the same time, so we took the opportunity to meet up.

 I don't know why I am leaning in so close to Julian here but hey, we're all friends now so it's okay.  Jared was here too but he took the pictures for us.

Pam and Julian got married last year in the spring. Jared and I were planning on going to their wedding, here in San Diego, but then I ended up on bed rest with Jordyn.  So that is why we were able to take this trip now. It was all paid for so we just post poned the trip till our Harvest Break. I still ended up getting to see my childhood friend and having one on one time with her instead of having to just look from afar as she dealt with all her wedding guests.

It was a great trip!

(Thank you Mom and Dad Heath for letting us use your condos while you are away on your mission!)

San Diego Trip: Day 4

We left Idaho at a perfect time. Apparently, it snowed there, a lot. In San Diego, it rained pretty hard for a day and a half but that didn't stop us from enjoying the indoor sights. We went to a science center museum and enjoyed learning about bugs, and earthquakes, wind erosion, clouds, speed, velocity, and all sorts of other things.

Jared climbing a wall, actually, you had to climb sideways instead of up. It was really hard to stay on.

Jared trying to score a goal in hockey. He got 3 out of 5 goals.

 I too, scored 3 out of 5 goals.

 I thought it was hilarious to watch Byron and Jemayla do the wall climb. Jemayla is one tough pregnant cookie!

 This picture is blurry because Jared was in the middle of fighting this huge grasshopper that tried to jump out and eat him.

 We went to a place called Lucky Devils on Hollywood Blvd and they had this pizza called the Diablo. It had some sort of hot sauce pizza sauce on it plus, bacon, guacamole, and arugula. Jared loved it.

The next day, the weather cleared up and we went to Knott's Berry Farm. Jared and I went here a couple years ago and had a lot of fun together and so since it was on our Go Cards, we took full advantage of the opportunity to go again and enjoy the awesome rides they had there.

I was still scared to try this ride, which whips you around and around. Luckily, Byron was there to go on it with Jared.

 I consider their wooden roller coaster to be one of the worst roller coasters in the world. It shakes, it rattles, and it rolls, but not in a fun way. I really didn't want to go on it again after remembering how much my brains rattled the first time riding it, three years ago. But, I went on it anyways, and so here is a picture of us. I ended up holding my head the whole time after this so that I wouldn't have to hopefully go to the chiropractor to reconnect my head to the rest of my body. Again, don't do the wooden roller coaster here, it is NOT worth it!

San Diego Trip: Day 3

We woke up on day 3 with the rain coming down. We left to catch a gps go car tour through San Diego but when we arrived, it was raining harder and the cars were like little go karts. We didn't want to drive around in the pouring rain getting all soaked and so we decided to skip that attraction and go on our harbor cruise. However, we got there too late and would have had to wait another hour and a half to catch the next cruise, (while waiting in the rain) and so we decided to skip it and just hang out at our condo. By the time we reached back home, it stopped raining and the temperature warmed up and so we headed to the beach for the rest of the day.

Jemayla and I sporting our wet suites! Jemayla looked so stinkin' cute in her suite with her pregnant belly popping out.

And here are some pictures of the boys and me in action catching some waves. Jared and Byron went out earlier than us girls to catch some of the big waves from High tide coming in. May and I waited until it started going back down, which actually scared me because I thought the tide would drag me out into the middle of the ocean. Jared and Byron stayed by my side the entire time and constantly reassured me that I was going to be okay. In the end, I was able to catch some awesome waves and ride them all the way back in to the shore.

Byron getting a wave.

Jared and Byron making it all the way in.

Another picture of Jared missing the wave and Byron catching it.

Awwww, Jared finally catches one too.

Then I go in and catch my first wave. Jared said he loved me more then than he ever has before.

The 3 of us waiting for a good wave to come.

Byron, Jared and I caught an awesome wave and rode it all the way in. Even Jared is trying to reach out to me so that we could hold hands all the way in.

I did biff it one time and as I went under, I tried to catch my breath and ended up inhaling a big gulp of sea water. I was choking and gagging so badly. You can never prepare yourself for how salty that water is. Jared stayed right by my side until I was all better.(He didn't do that when we were dating. I got plowed over with a wave, he said, "You're okay." and left me on the shore so he could go out and catch more waves. He is a much better husband than he was a boyfriend!)

San Diego Trip: Day 2

On Monday we went to Legoland. All the statues that you see around the park are made from legos. When you walk around, it makes you want to go home and start building something because everything is done so creatively. This place is very kid friendly and so I think we will be taking our kids here someday. We had fun.

Here is an example of their lego work. An ogre tilling away.

In Dino land, Jared and I sharing an egg. We are twins.

Jared kiss the idol in front of good ol' Indi!

He really is tall is stature! I am not sure why Jared is caressing Hagrids beard, but hey, to each their own!

They had a few good rides there. Jemayla wasn't able to go on many of them because she is 6 months along, but there were a few safe ones that she could go on.

On this one, Byron and Jemayla had to pull the rope to get to the top, then it would slowly slide down.

In a slow moving track ride where you sat and shot at things with a laser.

Jemayla sat out on this roller coaster while Byron, Jared, and I went on it.

Byron and Jared acting all cool when you knew they were scared out of their minds with this kid coaster.

We then went to the U.S.S. Midway Museum. This ship was retired in 1992, after the Gulf War. It was so amazing to walk through the ship. Pour Jared had to walk hunched over almost the entire time while we explored the laundry rooms, Captains Country, Mess Hall, Officers Quarters, and all sorts of other places. It was so cramped even for me that I can't imagine what Jared would do if he ever was in the Navy and had to live on one of these ships. Luckily, once we were on the flight deck, or Hanger, he didn't have to scrunch any more.

 However, I don't think he would be able to be a pilot either, cause he had to scrunch in the cock pit as well.

The doorways throughout the ship.

One of the many kitchens in the ship. This was a private kitchen for the captain.

Do you know this classic pose?

I think Jared and I just found what our Halloween costumes are going to be. Then, when someone asks what we are, we have an excuse to kiss in front of them.

More adventures still to come!

Our San Diego Trip: Day 1

Jared and I have the opportunity to be on Vacation right now. It is Spud Harvest right now and so we have left Idaho and are enjoying the warm sunny weather in San Diego California. We are fortunate to be staying in a condo that Jared's parents let us have and so we are really enjoying our little get-a-way. The condo is right on the beach and this is the view from our porch. 

We arrived last night from our long drive and spent a few hours at the beach and exploring the local neighborhood. I was super tired by the end of the day and completely zonked out that night. Luckily, I didn't have to wake up once to take care of sad kiddos because we left them behind with my awesome sister, Kim, in Spanish Fork, Utah. So this really is a great vacation. (I do miss my kids, but I am having a blast with just Jared and me together. Well, kind of just us, Jared's brother, Byron, and his wife, Jemayla, are with us...but they don't count as kids...sorta!)

Anyways, today, the Sabbath, we listened to General Conference in the morning and then went exploring some more. As we drove along we came upon this beautiful view, the San Diego Temple. We will be going there later on this week. I am so excited. 

California does not believe in separation of church and interstate...haha, get it?

We decided to go to the Mormon Battalion and had a really great experience there learning more about the 2,000 mile march across the southern plains that the Saints did who enlisted in the Mormon Battalion. Their tour was amazing and very interactive. 

This was Sister Young, our tour guide. She is from Massachusetts. She, coincidentally, is the cousin to some good friends of ours back home in Shelley, so it was fun to be able to talk with her.

The pictures become alive just like in a Harry Potter movie. It seriously was such a cool tour. When they told about the Battle of the Bulls,  the ground even shook to simulate what the soldiers thought was a battle coming upon them when actually it was a huge stampede of stray bulls that ran through their camp at night. Very fun, I would recommend it to adults and kids of all ages!

Jared got to dress up in gear that the soldiers would have used in the Mormon Battalion.

We got to do some gold panning.

Byron with his "precious" gold nugget that he panned out himself.

 Jared biting the gold nugget to make sure it was real.

We then went to La Jolla cove to see the seals that hang out on the rocks and explore the caves. Not really explore, you can just look at them. It is amazing to me what strength and power is behind a wave that can cut out such grooves in the rocks.

Jemayla and I hanging back a little. Not wanting to get too close to the water.

Here is Jared and Byron getting a closer look at the caves. 

Afterwards, we heading back home and enjoyed a nice meal in our condo and then walked along the beach. Afterwards we sat at the fire pits that they have in the court yard and chatted with a nice retired couple from Cocoa Beach, Florida. They were very nice people and funny. We headed inside when their speech got too slurred for us to understand them any more. Still, I would hang out with them again. 

Warning

Warning

Warning

Warning

Now the next picture is graphic so do NOT look if you get grossed out easily.

One size does NOT fit all!

More Adventure still to come!