We interupt your regulary scheduled vacation photos...

for a birthday boy!! I can't believe he's 10 already!! It's not fair really... He was greeted when he woke up with 10 donuts, complete with candles. And about 50 balloons just thrown all over the place. I was going to fill his bedroom, but then thought better of it, when I realized how many trips I'd have to make to get them all in there. At 11:00 at night, I'm lazy... forgive me:)

Imagine a really cute picture of him excitedly opening a present here, but when I put it up to post, I realized Tanner is standing in the background in his underwear!   

 And we have one happy (spoiled) kid. Grandma Dial got him a case and Grandma Mortensen gave his $25 with which he's bought a basketball so far.

I'm sure he'll resurface again in a week or so!

Man this kid is sure growing up and he's defiantly in this weird pre-teen stage, where he's part kindof little kid, part grown up.   He was so excited to download the free texting app, and text his cousins, (and me repeatedly from the other room) and then I heard him giggling uncontrollably at some other dumb game.

He's your typical boy and loves basketball, and MineCraft. He's just a few inches shorter than me, we can share flip-flops and socks, and I finally broke down and bought the boy some deodorant, cause things were getting a little stinky around here!  He's of course dying for independence, but when I told him he could ride his bike to his friends house, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind. He's definitely Scott's kid, in that the paranoia of ALL the things that could go wrong, runs deep. The other day, I needed to run to the bank (about 5 minutes away) but didn't want to have to take all the kids, cause it was morning and this bank doesn't have a drive thru. I spent the next 15 minutes walking him through how to use the phone to call me if something went wrong, and assuring him, that it was very unlikely that in the next 10 minutes, he or Tanner would throw up, or break an arm. It would have been quicker just to make them all get dressed. He's your typical oldest child and is very responsible and is constantly disciplining his brother and sister. Most of the time it makes me cringe, cause I know that's how I must sound.

For dinner we had his favorite, PIZZA & Wings. Man can this kid ever eat. AND EAT AND EAT. I thought I'd have a few more years before I had that kind of eater on my hands.

Man, I love this kid, so much. Attitude, spunk and all.

San Diego, part 2... The sights

We started the day by going to visit the temple. It was SO SO BEAUTIFUL! It truly looked like a castle, and I find myself wondering why on earth I didn't get married here??!!? Anyways... It felt super strange to be dressed like bums (we were going to the beach next) and acting a little less than reverent. Of course everyone had to have their pictures taken...

 

 

Also, as a side note... these flowers were growing every where in San Diego. Anyone know what the heck they are, and possibly how on earth I could get them to grow in Phoenix??!!

Well after the temple, we headed down to Old Town San Diego to visit the Mormon Battalion Museum. That was seriously one of the highlights of the trip.

First you walk in and begin a tour, the missionary is talking about some pictures hanging on the wall, when all the sudden they come alive and start talking back, like Harry Potter style. Needless to say my kids were totally sucked in!  You get inducted into the Mormon Battalion, dressed in battle gear, pan for gold, brick laying. All the things that the Saints had to deal with. You could truly feel the spirit there, and my kids had a blast.  Also they took our picture, printed it out and emailed us a copy, all for free of course because the church is cool like that. A picture of yourself (screaming your brains out on a roller coaster) at Sea World was $14.95, so this was a pleasant surprise!

 

San Diego, part 1... Sea World

Where to begin... we had the BEST week in San Diego. Our kids are finally reaching that perfect age, where they were all able to walk (most of the time, we did resort to using the stroller near the end of the week), they are able to communicate when they had a need, so there wasn't a whole lot of crying or fighting...and they beg with out ceasing for us to buy them stuff (ok maybe that last part is not so great!)

Sea World has a deal going right now where you pay for a day and get the rest of the YEAR for free. So we were able to go back everyday for the whole week. (And who knows, maybe we'll make a weekend trip before the year is out!)

Chase & Tanner loved the Roller Coasters, Sienna loved the Sesame Street land, and we all loved the shows. It is truly amazing the things that the dolphins and whales can do.  The weather was AMAZING we left temps near 110 degrees and came to 60-80 degrees. It was cool in the morning and comfortable with a light long sleeve shirt on.

Here's a bunch of pictures, it will be overload for sure!

Dude is it just me, or do we look old??!!

She would NOT touch the sting ray's but was fascinated by them in the water

THE MANTA! I can't tell you how many times we rode this ride. Fortunately the lines were very short. I'm pretty sure I'm still suffering from whip lash. It was SO MUCH FUN!!

This is the Elmo's flying fish ride. I can't tell you how many times we rode this either. She's been walking around making the fish sound elmo makes ever since. (Kindof a "bloop bloop" sound)

This was sea world's equivalent of the tea cup ride. I'm just glad I didn't throw up! She's so excited she can barely contain herself:)

If we would have let her, she'd have played here all day!

Sea Lions

Shamu

The dolphin show was seriously amazing!  It was about a princess who dreamed of a magical world. She met a prince, and dolphins, pilot whales, birds, and then there were all kinds of acrobats, and divers. Sienna sat with her jaw open the WHOLE time!

Shamu was another amazing show. Sienna was bored at first and then one of the whales did a flip right in front of us. I only wish I'd gotten the look of pure shock on her face on camera! We consented and sat in the soak zone. Everyone around us left the stadium just dripping, but somehow we managed to stay completely dry. I wasn't about to tempt fate a second time, so on our second show (when I took the pictures) we sat up high.

It was a really magical place and somehow we managed to come home with a car full of stuffed sea animals. It's an experience I hope the kids will be talking about for a very long time!!