Breakfast with Papa & Grandmother

Though our SoCal parents were both out of town during our unexpected visit, Robert's parents flew in just before we left so we got to have breakfast together in Pasadena.

Buster joined us too.  It was fun to visit with them and we look forward to them joining us at our house for Christmas.

LA Temple

This is where it all began....May 27, 1995

Robert and I were married for Time and all Eternity in this sacred temple and made sacred covenants with God and with each other, that we strive to live each day.

And together with God, we have created this fun family with 5 wonderful daughters.  

We never could have imagined what our lives ahead would hold, but we are grateful for each other and for the temple covenants we made that morning, that bind us together and to the Lord. They guide our lives and bring peace to our souls as we journey together through life.

Back at the Beach

 The SoCal Stingray may have kept us from the beach for one day, but today we headed to Santa Monica to enjoying the pier and a long bike ride along the boardwalk.

Hollywood Sign Hike

This trail  head didn't get us very close to the actual sign, but it had a great view

Emi holding it UP

Hipster Flipsters

Beautiful Day in Hollywood!

Magic Mountain Thanksgiving

We are not the most spontaneous people.  We have found in order to fulfill all of the responsibilities and obligations we have, we need to stay organized and on schedule, that's one of the crazy things about this trip.  No schedule, responsibilities, no obligations, just do what we want when we want and enjoy being together.  It's Thanksgiving - and we're headed to Magic Mountain. No 'Turkey Trot' race in the morning and no Turkey Dinner in the evening - just a day of being together have fun and riding rides. 

This is one they are going up Backwards.

Brenna and I sat that one out and ate.

Sunny and warm here in SoCal - couldn't ask for a better day

Here was the line for the Mountain Railroad Ride.  Pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Hence Brenna got to ride the train herself,  drive the train herself, do the cage ride by herself

It was just that kind of day....and we loved every minute of it (except when Emi's sting hurt, but she did great!)

TK Burgers

TK's is one of favorites in Newport.  We carried Emi in, propped her foot on a chair, and enjoyed some good TK Burgers & Fries

Stingray's Really Do Sting

We've been going to Newport Beach for years, even rented a house there for a week, and never had any problems.  And even today. we were enjoy a great day there, temps on the 80's in late November, couldn't be better, until disaster struck.....or stung.

After hours of boogie boarding and body surfing, Emi started screaming in the water, and Kayla piggy backed her up to the sand.  There was bright red blood dripping from her foot and she said she thought a crab bit her foot.  Seemed odd...but not alarming.  We hurried to collect our things and head to car, as Emi's cries and moans increased.  We applied napkins and band aids to stop the bleeding, but it didn't stop the intense pain.  We quickly moved on to Advil and tried taking her into a donut shop for food, but by now her teeth were chattering, she was hyperventilating, and her whole body was tensing up like a rock.  Time for an Urgent Care Google search.   

As soon as we carried her through the doors, they swooped her away into a room.  We hadn't even filled out paperwork or explained much about what had happened, but this was Newport Beach, and apparently they see this injury a few times a week, so they knew exactly what she needed.....a scalding hot foot soak - to break of the proteins from the stingray's venom.

Stingry.....yep, #2 on the chart posted ehin her.  We had no idea.  Though we had seen a seal and dolphin that day very close to the shore, none of us  saw or even realized there were stingray out there.  Our next Google search brought up this: "Patients often will say they never saw the animal but were walking in the surf, felt something squishy, and then felt a pain in the ankle or the top of the foot akin to being prodded by a soldering iron. The resulting linear laceration may look trivial, and the pain is out of proportion to the wound."   

  They soaked her foot, administered pain relief via a shot in the bum, wrote a prescription for antibiotics, a wheelchair request for tomorrows trip to Magic Mountain, and an hour later, we were out the door with our usually Emi back to herself - laughing and telling jokes all the way home.

There it is:  Official California Stingray sting.  

Newport Beach

  Newport is one of our favorite beaches in SoCal.  It's fun, relaxing, beautiful, and makes us happy!