California

This trip to California has been four years in the making.  When we were leaving Disneyland the first time we went, Brynn was three and asked us when we could go back.  We told her in about four years when she was seven.  Well, all of us really hung on to that and we made it happen.  Earlier this year we were afraid we weren't going to make our money goals we had set for the trip, so we got a little more intense about the whole thing and we made it!  After all of that, I was so afraid we were going to pour our heart and souls into it and everyone was going to get sick or something.  But everything went pretty smoothly and it was a great vacation!  I've noticed some people have strong opinions about Disneyland. :)  And mine is...I LOVE it!! Marty and I are TOTAL suckers for Disneyland.  The place is so magical to experience with the kids and I wish I could live there, haha!  Yep, they got me. :)

We almost cancelled the vacation after our one-night hotel disaster this summer (Camille cried all night and Marty had to take her home in the middle of the night).  But my parents, who were coming with us, had the brilliant idea to rent a house on VRBO rather than get a hotel and I'm SO glad we did.  The prices were comparable, and even though Disneyland wasn't within walking distance, it was totally worth it to have separate rooms and space for the kids to run around in (not to mention being able to let Camille cry a little at night).

We got there on a Saturday with the plan of going to the beach that afternoon, and visit some temples on Sunday.  Then go to Disneyland during the week.

Church on Sunday was kind of funny because all three of the older kids were asleep about half way through the meeting.  I was a bit nervous about what the week was going to hold, realizing that if they were this tired after the first two days, what are the next few going to be like?  After that we had a quick lunch and headed off to LA.

Here is the LA temple.  This one is incredible partly because it is so massive, and partly because of how peaceful and beautiful the grounds are right there on Santa Monica Blvd.  But if I had to do it over again, I think I might have skipped this one and hit Newport Beach.  The traffic getting there was so stressful, even on a Sunday.  The other hard thing was that we had one too many people to fit in our van so we had to just try to follow each other.

After we got back we had a fun BBQ...and I started laying out all the kids clothes to head to Disneyland the next day!!!