Day3- Carlsbad Beach

Saturday morning the kids were a bit bummed that our Lego Land experience was over. But they had no idea what was in-store for them at the beach. Hunter, Madelyn and Emily have all been to the beach. However during our last visit Emily was 1, Madelyn was 3 and Hunter was 4. We had gone to California for a cousins wedding and decided to make a quick detour on the way home. We didn't have swim suits or toys and we didn't stay more then 30 minutes. I remember it being windy and chilly. None of them remember their last experience. 

Daddy and Hunter had spent several day's teasing the younger kids about there being sharks in the water. Brayden and Kylie really took it to heart. Kylie was saying,"no, no, no" all the way to the beach. She didn't want to get out of her car seat and then refused to walk. The closer and closer daddy got to the beach the more upset she became. It didn't help that Brayden was close to tears also saying he didn't want to get eaten by sharks and die!

One scared and unhappy girl!

One happy boy when he realized what the beach was and that he didn't have to go swimming with the sharks. 

Our cottage that we stayed in had a box full of beach toys and a boogie board that we could use. Hunter and Madelyn really loved the boogie board and spent most of their time on it.   

Some of my kids were afraid that they would get out to far and not be able to swim back to shore. Before we left home (in Utah) they asked if we could take grandpa's life jackets with us. I finally relented but I really didn't think they'd use them. Madelyn's my cautious girl. When she got the courage and was able to rise above the fear of encountering a shark she wanted to take the boogie board out a ways but insisted on wearing a life jacket. 

The waves bringing her back to shore. 

It wasn't much of a surprise to me that my children were the only ones wearing life jackets. I can only imagine what the locals and other tourists thought of us.  

Daddy watching over the kids trying to use the boogie boards.

Emily twirling and dancing in the sand. 

Madelyn wanted to be buried and asked Emily to help her. 

When she finally crawled out she said, "look mom a new legging design". 

All that sand in her hair. 

Dad was a good sport and let the kids bury him.

After watching their dad Brayden and Kylie decided they wanted buried to.

Emily loved writing in the sand and then seeing how long it took for a wave to come wash it all away. 

Hunter's turn at the boogie board.

He finally got brave enough to swim out a bit and try to ride the waves.

These 2 enjoyed chasing birds. 

Brayden wanted a go with the board. He put it in the sand and thought that when the waves came in it would take him out to the ocean. 

The wave came in and he lost his balance.

It knocked him down.    

 Then he says he saw a sting ray and was done with trying to go out in the ocean.

Brayden and Emily digging for sea shells.

Emily wanted to be safe to and insisted on wearing a life jacket.

I think we need to go to the beach more often.

Kylie never did venture into the water by herself. She was content if mom held her hand but preferred to play in the sand. 

We spent 4 hours at the beach. I was really surprised how quickly those hours ticked away. The kids had so much fun and wanted to go back later that afternoon but we never did make it. We spent our time doing other things and lost day light.

Day3- Ocean Side Pier

After the beach we all took showers and tried to get all that sand out of our hair. Mom and dad took a nap, the kids played and then we drove to the Oceanside Pier which was only about 5 miles away. 

It was neat to see how high up and how far out the pier went.

Somebody has found her pocket's.

There were several people fishing on the pier. We were lucky to walk by after a 7 year old little boy reeled this guy. 

 The kids were so excited to see this new fish. The kids went fishing quite often in Alton but have never seen a fish like this. This kind of a fish doesn't even begin to compare to a trout out of a pond.

After our visit to the pier we decided to treat the kids to some real fish n' chips. 

The Harbor Fish Cafe 

We ordered fish and shrimp. For some of the kids this was their 1st time eating sea food. I think the majority liked the shrimp the best.

The food was good, the experience was great and I loved the company. 

Time To Say Good Bye- Day 4

Sunday morning before we hit the road I made sure to take some pictures of where we stayed. This was our home away from home. The kids loved that the front door was "cut in half" so that they could open the top but leave the bottom closed. The weather was great and most of the time we were at the house we usually had it open. 

Here's our tiny little family room. 

With the weather being as nice as it was the kids spent a lot of their mornings and evenings outside.

We had plenty of seating for everyone.

Brayden loved the open pit. Our 2nd night here the people renting the sister house to this cottage came out and asked if the kids wanted to roast marshmallow's with their kids. What kid doesn't like an open flame and the chance to play with fire? The kids loved it. 

We had a ping pong table out front too. The kids really enjoyed playing and having family tournaments over and over again.

The little ones tried to get into it to.

Entertaining himself with an extra ping pong ball.

This was our view in the evenings just at the end of our street. It was beautiful!

 On VRBO I found this perfect little cottage for us to rent at $100/night. With taxes it cost us a total of $485 for our 4 night stay. It was perfect! It was also only 4 miles away from Lego Land. Most of the hotel's near Lego Land were over $150/night. A little farther away I found some cheaper and not very good rating hotels for about $85/night. It would have been a little cheaper in our sleeping cost if we went with the $85/night hotel but I can't imagine having all 7 of us in one small room for this long of a period. Lego Land was only open from 10-5 so we had several hours during the day to entertain ourselves. Renting the cottage gave us a full sized kitchen that allowed us to fix and eat all of our meals at "home". That alone I think saved us a ton of money that we otherwise would have had to spend in restaurants and fast food joints if we had rented a hotel. Having a place for the kids to be able to play outside on their own was also a great convenience.  

We were not ready to end our family vacation Sunday morning but the time had come... We loaded up the car and hit the road. Once again we got stuck in traffic but...

 the kids didn't seem to notice it as much this time. They were being entertained by a movie on the lap top.

Unlike our 2 hour standing still jaunt on the way in this one only had us creeping along the highway for an hour. We don't usually take the lap top to watch movies in the car but having had to deal with so much stand still traffic this trip I'm really glad we had it.

The kids had a blast during our vacation. Kory and I really enjoyed it too. We used the money we made at the Kane Country Fair selling navajo taco's to pay for this trip. The kids are all for selling again next year and taking another family vacation with it's earnings. They are already making a list of the possibilities. 

Emily's Baptism

Saturday, October 11, 2014 was a special day for our Emily.

She chose to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Her baptism was definitely one of the best. We got many compliments on her day and was told several times how strong the spirit was. As much as I'd like to take credit for that I don't feel like we did anything. It was the music and the speakers that were able to bring the spirit that day. 

Her Grandpa Heaton started us off by giving a wonderful talk about baptism. He used the analogy of a door. That is Heavenly Father wants us to live with him again. He wants us to not only be with him but also with our family. He told Emily to imagine herself on one side of the door and her family on the other side. She's all alone and so of course she wants to open that door and be with her family. But she can't open it. It won't open when she tries. She's becomes frustrated trying to get that door open. She wants to go inside where her family is! That door represents baptism. Baptism is the 1st step in returning to our Heavenly Father and being reunited with our family. We must be baptized to open that door. It was such a great talk and he used something that Emily and everyone else could visualize and understand what baptism means.

After the baptism talk we had her Grandma Christensen talk on the Holy Ghost. She too did an amazing job. She brought a white gift box with white ribbon's attached. She told Emily that receiving the gift of the holy ghost was the best and most precious gift she will ever receive. She reminded Emily that sometimes the gifts given to us break and we have to throw them away. Sometimes we loose our new gifts or we leave them outside and they get ruined. Sometimes our gifts get to small for us to wear anymore and we have to get rid of them too. The Holy Ghost is a gift that we can't outgrow, we can't break and have to throw away because it doesn't work anymore. The Holy Ghost will always be with her. The Holy Ghost can be a constant blessing in her life. She then pulled out little strips of paper from her box and spoke just a minute of the way's the Holy Ghost can bless her. It can be a comforter, it can help her make decision's in her life, it is a protector and can worn her from things that might hurt her. It was such a great talk and again it was given in a way that Emily and everyone else could understand. 

After the talks Emily was baptized by her dad and then was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

Emily was baptized in the dress that my mom made for me at my baptism. Both of my sister's were baptized in this dress along with Madelyn and Emily's cousin Carlaya. It has become a family heirloom. Part of the dress floated to the top during the baptism and Emily had the privilege to be baptized twice. She was so embarrassed!

After the baptism and confirmation a video was played that the Primary President and I put together. It showed pictures of Emily growing up from a baby. During the slide show there were little segments of Emily sharing what her favorite scripture story was, her favorite primary song and what it meant to her to be baptized. At the very end it closes with Emily bearing her testimony. This is a dvd that I will always treasure. It is something that will remind us of what this special day meant for her when she was 8. 

I had a table set up inside the church for when our guests arrived. A few pictures of Emily in her new baptism dress. We went with a rainbow theme so I added a few colorful pinwheels. My favorite picture of Emily I had put in a mat and with sharpie markers those that came could sign their name and write a little message to Emily. We will frame this picture and hang it on her wall so that she will remember those that came and witnessed her being baptized and making her 1st covenant with her Father in Heaven.

Following the baptism we had a luncheon using the church's pavilion. Going with my rainbow theme we had all the colors of the rainbow. We served chicken croissant sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly for those picky eaters. Emily loved the matching plates and forks that matched the napkins. I thought it was funny that those things were the first she listed off.  

We made up a fruit tray and vegetable tray in rainbow order. I realized the vegetable platter was upside down and forgot to take another picture after I turned it around. This picture drives me crazy! 

For drink I bought a case of these small water bottles. I dumped all the water out and made colored kool-aid of the rainbow of course and then poured them back into their bottles. Madelyn was setting them up so nicely and in order for me. Dad thought he was helping when he picked up the extra's that wouldn't fit and dumped them on top. Totally took away our rainbow.  

For dessert we were going to do a rainbow cake but decided on rainbow colored mini cupcakes instead. They were a hit.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how long you plan or how hard you try some things just don't turn out. I spent several hours on the phone trying to come up with white carnation's. I wanted to color some mason jars the colors of the rainbow and then put 2-3 white flowers in each for our center piece down the tables. I called every Wal Mart and every grocery store in St. George, Cedar and Hurricane. No one could get me my flowers. I had several people that told me they were going to try and would let me know if they could get them or not. Apparently they needed 4 weeks to order them. Heck 4 weeks prior to her baptism we thought she was going to be baptized 2 weeks earlier then she was. By Thursday after not hearing from anyone I went with something different. I filled 3 large vases with candy separated into my rainbow colors. This jar is filled with gum balls. We had another full of peanut m&m's and skittles. These were a hit and everyone loved them.

About 20 minutes before we headed to the church for Emily's baptism I got a call from a florist. Apparently my flowers were ordered and had been waiting for me for a few day's. They wanted to know when I could come pick them up. I was so bummed but there was nothing I could do at that point.

I sat and visited with family during the luncheon and so didn't get many pictures. But here are 2 that I did take. This is cousin Brionney, Brayden and cousin Jamie.

Emily, cousin Sara, cousin Rachel, cousin Ruth and Madelyn.

Grandma and Grandpa Heaton were able to make it too. They had been released from the MTC the previous night and was catching their plane headed to Latvia early Monday morning. We had a few Aunts and Uncles that couldn't make it and they were missed but we understand. Our extended family on both sides are growing and sometimes we just can't make it to everything. We enjoyed visiting with the family members who were able to make it. It was a special day for our Emily and I love it when she says "Remember at my baptism......."