We had kind of a crazy summer. So a few weeks before school started I told Dave to take some time off work because we were going to be headed to Disneyland for a little R&R before school and schedules ruled our lives. It was a very short trip, but totally worth it (as always).

Here are some shots that I took just around the park.

Years of people passing by and unknowingly touching this knob has made the grain of the wood stand out. It’s weird, but Dave and I love this. Anyone recognize what/where this is located?

I love my baby’s cute legs and feet sticking out of the stroller. They go straight out like this when she’s excited about something.
(I like to think she’s just excited about being at Disneyland.)

The obligatory picture from Dumbo.

Gwen always asks to see Winnie the Pooh. Since it isn’t usually very long, that’s the one line we stand in for characters—especially since you get to see two-three characters after only one line. Plus, I just can’t say no to that face.
Well, I can say no and do say no to her quite often. But in this instance, I can’t.

I love the coy little smile she gets from seeing Tigger.

Inez and I happened upon Sulley at California Adventure. Inez was really sad that she was unable to get his autograph (his hands are hard plastic and huge) but settled for a hug where she nearly disappeared into his fur.

On our last day Gwen wanted to wear her Alice costume.

As we were leaving the park, the Disneyland Marching Band was out by the entrance/exit along with Alice and the Mad Hatter. They pulled Gwen out of the crowd to participate. It was really cute and I took about 5,000 pictures.

This was the Band Leader, the Mad Hatter, and Alice discussing what song to play/sing with Gwen.

Afterward I asked Gwen if she felt a little shy. She said, “Yes. I was a lot shy.”

‘I’ for Inez

‘G’ is for Gwen but since there is not a ‘G’ in California, we tried to get Gwen to make the ‘C’ look like a ‘G’. We weren’t very successful.

‘O’ is for Olive.

And a close-up on Miss Olive.

‘L’ for Lesue

We loved our hotel, which was a really good thing because this was our first trip in about five years where we actually went back to our room to rest. I was extra tired being in my first trimester during this trip.
Do you see the hidden mickey in the logo?

Until next time…

I want more.

More time with Dave. (I love having him all to myself)
More visiting with family and friends.
More of these cute and happy girls. (They fight a lot less when we are on vacation)

On the drive home, I kept thinking these three things:

1. I don’t want Dave to go back to work. Ever.
2. I don’t want to face all the laundry that awaits me.
3. I want to eat another tigger’s tail.

More pictures from our vacation to come after I come conquer the mountain of laundry that awaits me.

I miss the warm sand in my toes when laying in the warm sun. I miss the sound of the waves crashing. When we were in Coronado and we could hear them at night, it took me right back to BYU-Hawaii. What a lucky little 20 year-old I was to be living there well, for many reasons. But one of the things I miss the most is falling asleep to the crashing waves.



I miss how good hot dogs and s’mores are when you roast them on the beach. I miss watching the sunset, and the sunset at Sunset for that matter. I miss cutetanlines. I miss the smell of coppertone mixed with the smell of the beach. I miss standing in the surf and feeling the sand being pulled out beneath you. I miss the beachy breeze. I miss it all…the good and bad, tan and sunburn.

Here is my nephew Charles’ recent experience at the beach. I wonder if he misses it at all.

What do you love and/or miss about the beach?

Here we are feeding the bat rays. Inez was really excited to do this until I fed the first one and kind of let out a little squeal because it was a bit startling.

Feeding the dolphins

So we (as in the Lesues) visited them (as in the Makaafis) whilst in the real O.C. We let the kiddies run around awhile and then we went to Sprinkles for some delicious fatness. After that, we headed on over to the Newport Beach Temple where the children were perfectly reverent angels. Except that Inez stole a rock from the fountain. They are all glued down or sealed or cemented or something, but she must have pulled one loose somehow. Oops. Maybe we’ll put it in the fountain of the Provo temple.

Here are some pictures of the Makaafi children, who should all be modeling and putting their parents through vacations and houses and such. My children couldn’t look whiter next to them, and rightly so since that is what they are. Beth’s children are half Tongan and once again, rightly so since their father is Tongan himself. Ilai, Inez, Gwen, Eden and Anela (or “Vanilla” as Inez called her).



I was also priveledged enough to taste some taro (is that right Beth?) with coconut milk. It wasn’t too bad. The coconut milk helped, I think.

Then Sprinkles…

It looks like someone is presenting them in this picture, but it is just Inez going for the one with the candy dot on top. The flavors are (left to right, top row): banana, chocolate peanut butter and dark chocolate, (bottom row) black and white, another chocolate p.b., and vanilla. They are very rich, and very yummy.

And not too far from Sprinkles is the Newport Beach Temple.


Beth and Fo’ou posed for the Prom

Here’s our perfectly reverent angel.

James and Melissa are also responsible for introducing us to Settlers of Catan and Apples to Apples. We once spent a whole weekend in Park City playing “Settlers” as we nerdily call it, and consequently haven’t played together since. There was a lot of talk of playing it during this vacation, but it never came to pass. We did however watch a pretty bad movie, Because I Said So. But sometimes the bad movies make for memorable memories, aww, girrrll! Am I right guys? We also rented Fletch, because to everyone’s surprise I had never seen it. Add this to the list of movies that I haven’t seen and thus am shocking to others, like Saturday’s Warrior. Well you can continue to be shocked because I fell asleep and still haven’t seen it.

Besides hanging out, watching movies, making cookies and reminiscing about random topics, such as Small Wonder, we spent Memorial Day on Coronado Island, staying with James’ grandparents who live down there and just happen to be the nicest people on the planet (I want to move in with them). We went to Sea World and Disneyland as well, which I’ll post about later.

Here we are at the park with the coolest bubble machine. We were the most popular kids there.
Natalie LOVES Minnie, hence the dress.





Memorial Day on Coronado Islandand it was perfect. No crowds and not too hot. The girls lead us down to the beach.


A true girl, Natalie loves shoes.



We had a lot of fun with the Whites and look forward to our vacation with them next year! Well at least I had fun, but I’m just one person.

The mandatory stop at In-n-Out Burger.

Gwen with her fast little hands is learning quickly that there is much out there that tastes better than baby food.

I have to say that there are some really dumb people out there. This actually looked worse if you were driving right behind this person, but once we moved over into the other lane we were a bit nervous to be behind this loaded truck again.

These are for you James! I saw a flyer at church for Mormon Night at Angel Stadium. I totally miss that.

Vacations are fun, but it’s great when you have wonderful things and people to come home to!

So, as soon as the first nine things are taken care of, the last one can happen.

And that is something I can look forward to.

Anyhoo, we are off on a little family vacation. We are going to hang with some of our good friends, James and Melissa, go to Disneyland, Coronado Island and Sea World.

So, we will be taking a bit of a blog break. We promise lots of pictures when we return.

Beth, I will be calling you, I want to see you!