We had a trip planned to go to California for several months.
When we found out we sold our house, we debated not going since there was so much to get done!
But we decided to take a break from all the stress of packing, cleaning, moving, stressing.
And go relax and spend some fun, stress free time together as a family.
Two Sundays ago, I loaded up the kids, and Carissa and caravanned to Utah with Tim and Danizza (Devry's brother and his wife). We stayed at Danizza's grandparents that night.
Devry got off work and flew to Rock Springs, jumped in his car and booked it to South Jordan to meet us. He arrived at 4:30 am. We got ready, packed up and were on the road by 6. Devry and I took our Jetta (that gets 45-50 miles/per gallon!) with Cohen and Kayson, and Tim and Danizza took Payton and Carissa. We drove straight through to Anaheim that day! It went pretty good! A few feeding stops, potty breaks, a little bit of bad traffic, and we made it to the hotel. We went swimming, then crashed for the night.
The next morning we woke up and went to Disneyland! It was a blast! Seeing Payton so excited about everything was the best! Here are all the pictures from Disneyland. I'll caption them!
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| Tim, Danizza, the Twins and I on the bus headed to the park. |
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| Devry, Payton and Carissa on the Bus |
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| At the entrance! Carissa's Boyfriend is serving a mission for our church in Australia right now. So she made a minature Braden on a popsicle stick so he could be in the pictures too! |
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| Meeting our first Character - Pluto. Payton loved him from a distance, but got a little nervous and I had to hold him. |
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| Devry, Payton with Goofy! Payton was getting a bit better! |
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| Carissa and mini Braden with Mickey! |
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| Payton and I with Minnie |
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| Family Pic. Babies were in the stroller most of the time. They did GREAT! |
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| Payton with Cute mickey ears! |
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| Devry, Payton and I with Mickey |
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| Super Dad Devry! He pushed the BOB most of the time with all 3 kids on it. Payton wearing his new mickey hat and sunglasses! |
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| Carissa, Payton and I on the Dumbo Ride. We took Payton on alot of the little rides. Devry gets motion sick so he volunteered to stay with the babies :) |
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| Me and Cohen! I really didn't take many pictures of the Twins this trip. They were in their stroller, and I rarely thought about taking them out to get pictures. I think I will regret it...but I didn't want to mess with them when they were being SO good! |
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| Devry and Payton in a Car in Mickey's Toon Town. Payton's favorite part of Disneyland! |
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| Payton was in the BOB at this point, so Carissa volunteered to pack Kayson around for a while. She was SUCH a HUGE help to us on our trip and we are SO GLAD we took her! |
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| Carissa and I were waiting for Devry and Payton, who were on a Train ride, so we had some fun taking pictures of braden. I would hold him and make him lifesize. It made for some pretty fun pictures! |
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| Rocketship ride in Tomorrowland! |
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| Buzz lightyear ride. Payton had fun shooting everything! |
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Pretty much summing up what Payton thought of Disneyland!
We had a blast at Disney! Payton loved the rides, the Characters, everything! We went out to eat at Outback Steakhouse that night..of course we had to take a picture of Carissa and Braden at Outback! |
After Dinner, we cooled down from the hot day by swimming. Then everyone crashed.
The next day we got up and headed to California Adventure.
It was also a reallly fun day!
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| Payton at Cars Land. I really think this was one of the biggest highlights of his life! He was in HEAVEN! |
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| Devry and Payton with Lightning McQueen! |
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| Carissa, the Twins and I with Lightning. I was super bummed my eyes were closed in this pic since its the only one we took, and since its really the only one with the twins in it with a character! |
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| Superdad again! |
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| Carissa and Payton outside Cars Land. |
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| Carissa and Braden with a Tractor |
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| We took the Babies on the Little Mermaid Ride. They were just looking everywhere, in awe! |
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| Carissa, Danizza and I left the kids with the guys and hit up some rides! |
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| Devry and Payton with Jessie |
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| Carissa and Kayson with Mater! |
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| Payton with Woody! He Loved him! |
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| Buzz Lightyear! Uncle Tim and Payton! |
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| Carissa and Braden wtih Jessie |
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| Payton loved the bumper cars in A Bugs life...he rode it 3 times |
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| Carissa and Payton on the ferris wheel |
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| Payton and me on the ferris wheel |
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| Payton on a ride in A bigs Life |
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| Tim and Danizza |
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| Payton and me with "Donald Guck" as payton says. |
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| Family Pic at California Adventure |
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| Devry and Me |
After that day, we were exhausted! We drove to my Aunt Phyl's house in Carlsbad, stopping at In & out on the way. We got there, visited with her and her son Alan for a bit, and crashed for the night.
The next day (Thursday) was a really fun, more relaxing day. We got up, and headed to the beach! We enjoyed playing in the waves, building sand castles, getting buried in the sand, and Carissa even surfed for the first time ever! We stayed all morning and into the afternoon. About 1:30 we went and ate fish n chips and a local seafood restaurant. So Yummy! Then we headed to my Aunt's timeshare where we had access to the awesome pools (kids splash park area and pool), hot tub, sauna and showers! It was SUCH a blast and So generous of her to offer it to us!! That night we went out to eat at Round Table Pizza, and headed back to my aunts to sleep. Here are lots of pictures from Thursday!
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| Devry and I with Cohen and Kayson at the beach. |
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| Family Pic at the beach. |
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| Carissa Playing in the water with Payton. |
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| Carissa in the waves |
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| They had so much fun! Again, we were SO glad she was there!! Devry and I were holding the twins most of the time, so it was great to have lots of ppl to play with Payton. |
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| Carissa with her surf board! It was like twice her size! She impressed us all (and the lifeguard and guy who rented it to her) by getting up and actually surfing 3 times! Most ppl don't get up that quick. She's a champ! |
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| Aunt Danizza burying Payton |
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| Covered in Sand! |
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| Carissa headed in from surfing. |
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| She was EXHAUSTED |
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| Building Sand Castles with Uncle Tim |
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| He had SO much fun! |
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| More Sandcastle building |
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| At the seafood restaurant for lunch. |
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| Playing in the pool at the timeshare. It was nice and warm so even the babies could get in! They LOVED it! |
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| Carissa and Me with the Kids |
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| Family Pic in the pool |
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Devry and I at Round Table Pizza. As you can see, we definitely got some son! All of the adults got burnt!
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After a fun filled Day, we headed back to sleep. The next day (Friday) We went to sea world! I think it was my favorite park of the trip! We had so much fun seeing all the animals, watching the shows and riding a few rides. It was a hot day, and we were all sun burned, but it was still a BLAST!
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| Payton and I with a turtle |
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| Ernie and Bert in sesame street part of sea world |
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| Cohen and Kayson chilling in the BOB |
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| Devry and I at Sea world |
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| Payton and I waiting for a dolphin to come over |
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| We got to touch a few dolphins! It was amazing! |
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| Carissa, Payton and my hands touching a dolphin |
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| Payton in a Shamu hat |
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| Family pic outside of sea world |
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| Tim and Danizza |
After Sea world, we ate at In n Out again, and went to the time share again to cool off in the pool and shower. Then went back to my aunts for one more night.
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| This picture was just funny :) Payton getting tackled by Payton while holding Kayson. Just wait till they are all big enough to do the tackling! |
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| Here is our Family with My Aunt Phyl. It was SO great to see her!! She was so generous and kind in letting our large group stay at her house! I'm so glad she got to meet Devry and the kids! |
Saturday morning We got up early, and got the car packed and ready to go. Then Aunt Phyl's Son Warren and his Wife Lisa, and their daughters Alex and Andy came over to visit. It was great to see them! I haven't seen them in about 6 years!
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| Lisa, Alex and Andy with Cohen and Kayson! |
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| Warren holding Kayson |
After a couple of hours visiting, they left and we got on the road. We decided to break up the driving a bit and stay in Vegas Saturday night. We got there, checked into the hotel, and went out for dinner at The Cheesecake factory. I was so excited to go because I LOVE it...but it was probably the only disappointment of the trip! The food was great, but the kids were NOT. I don't really blame them...long week, and spending all day in the car. Payton was cranky and not listening, and the twins decided they were hungry almost an hour early, right as I was getting my food. So I ate a bit while holding screaming babies, and finally just got up and left. I didn't even get a chance to get cheesecake :( Oh well, another time I guess :)
We went back to the hotel, I fed the babies while Devry took Payton swimming in the pool. That was another adventure. I went down to get Devry and Payton, who had just gotten in the hot tub. Devry got up and was SO itchy and his skin was burning! He must have had a bad reaction to chlorine wherever he had a sunburn. He was on fire for like half an hour to the point he just stood in the shower. Nothing we had helped (lotion, aloe vera, soap). Finally I had Tim go get some anti itch and burn cream. That helped a little bit. He could tell I was getting a little overwhelmed with the kids, so he was adamant that we go out and do something. Luckily the itching and burning eased enough we could. I think he was in a lot more discomfort then he would let on, but didn't want to ruin anything. Tim and Danizza werent feeling great and didn't want to go out anywhere, so we put the kids to sleep and left. Devry, Carissa and I went down on the strip, to the Bellagio. Carissa had never been to vegas so it was neat to show her part of the strip. We watched the water show a few times, walked to ceasers palace, then decided to head back to the hotel.
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| Carissa and Braden in front of the belagio |
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| Devry and I |
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| We found a bumble bee on the strip, so we had to get a picture. |
Sunday morning we got up and got on the road. Devry had to be back in rock springs by 9 that night. We drove to Danizza's grandparents, switched everything back over to my car, and he took off. The week went SO fast! I couldn't believe it was time for him to go again! I can't wait until we don't have to say goodbye so often! It gets harder and harder!!
The rest of us stayed at Danizza's grandparents again, then got up and headed home Monday.
It was such a fun week and we made SO many memories!! It was nice to get away from all the stress we have going on, and just enjoy some fun things as a family! I hope someday we can do it again when all of our kids are old enough to enjoy it.
