Memorial Weekend

We had a fun, family-filled Memorial Weekend. Friday was Nicole's open house and Saturday was the wedding. It was a privilege to be in the temple to see this wonderful couple sealed together. The ceremony was tender and everyone was so happy.

 After Nicole and Jordan's wedding dinner, we didn't want the family togetherness to stop, so we saw the 10 o'clock Avengers movie with a group of family. After dreaming about Hulk smashing things all night, I taught YW the next day (where I told the Laurels all about the wedding and was able to use it as an example of the importance of temples). Then we had a birthday celebration for Nate and Alisha's 6 year-old Kylie that evening. I didn't break out the camera for that party. Instead I took pictures of our Mount Grandeur hike the next day. The beautiful weather inspired about half of the valley to head for the canyons, so it really was a "veritable freeway" on the trail.

 These cute cousins loved chasing lizards and even caught a baby one.

The weekend was capped off by a barbecue at Brian and Sharla's cabin. Good food and great family all weekend--summer's perfect beginning!

Krysta's Graduation

All of Krysta's hard work has paid off. She graduated from UVU at the end of April! A few weeks later we got the good news that she'd passed all of her boards, so now the job search begins.

 

 Krysta needed a black graduation cap. Kevin's high school cap arrived just in time. Therefore, Kevin's cap "graduated" before he did.

Rachel's 11th Birthday

Rachel turned 11 in April! For a fun party we took the cousins to the zoo.

Rachel also earned the Great American Award. Fifth graders could earn this by memorizing all of the states and capitols, memorizing the preamble to the constitution, doing a service project, and creating an art project about America amongst other projects. She really had to go above and beyond to get this recognition.

Beaches and the Temple

Beach time, finally! We have been informed that the next vacation should be to a beach house. No amusement park is necessary.  Next time we are near a beach, it will have to be in the heat of the summer. It's always fun to see some people playing in the water (crazy tourists from the north) and some people wearing jackets.

Wealthy residents in La Jolla built a breakwater to provide the perfect, protected beach for their children to play. This breakwater also provides the perfect, protected beach for the harbor seals and their babies to lay. So out with the kids and in with the seals. Seals are really cute and fun to watch...as long as they are downwind.

My mom and dad on the breakwater.

The tour of the Mormon Battalion Museum was excellent. It's a very fun, interactive, multi-media production. We got to view our ancestor who marched with the battalion and appreciate our ancestors that much more.

Point Loma was one of our last stops before leaving. Blue skies, blue ocean, beautiful views.

 How big are you compared to a grey whale? You can find out here.

This is the view from the door of the public bathrooms. I thought this has got to be the best view from any bathroom anywhere. I wondered if I was weird to even think this,  but then I overheard another man say the same thing. I guess great (or strange) minds think alike.

 Point Loma lighthouse.

 This is the courtyard of our cute, little, mom-and-pop, motel--the Dolphin. This place was older but very clean. The owners really take good care of the place. They have had the same head maid for 30 years. That is really saying something. She dressed like she was going to work in an office and was really friendly as was everyone there. The owner comes by every morning to talk to guests. He was concerned that Camille didn't have a jacket on and wanted to lend her his. I would definitely recommend this as a great place to stay with wonderful customer service.

We were able to see the temple twice,  on our way back from the beach and on our way out of town. The second time we met a missionary companionship where one missionary had ties to Cedar City and the other had family in Idaho. My mom and dad and Curt knew one or the other's families.

On our last day we finally got the blue skies and sunny weather we needed on spring break!