#stokerfamilyreunion2013

We got to go to the beach this past week with my family! There were 47 of us there altogether. Everyone was camped on beach sites that are on a bluff overlooking South Carlsbad State Beach. You can just walk down the stairs and the beach is right there. This year Michael and I opted to stay at the Motel 6 which is just a ten minute walk or 2 minute car ride away. We are glad we did. It was nice to have our own bathroom with a tub for Lily and to not have to worry about the temperature or things like that. It was also nice to be able to watch T.V. and play on the internet too! It was a good deal, only $44 a night and they had just remodeled them so they looked clean and modern!

The Journey
We left Friday, the 14th  around 11 towards Primm to stay at Whiskey Pete's for the night.. It was good timing because Lily took a nap for the first part. We were very nervous about the drive because Lily HATES the car. She is still rear facing so that is hard. This turned out to be good training for that. I made sure she had lots of movies to watch and I kept her in good supply of treats and she was mostly very happy. We stopped a couple times to let her stretch her legs and eat real food too. Overall she did great. My parents and my brother Tyler and Anna were staying at Whiskey Pete's too. We saw them for lunch and ate dinner with them at Panda Express together.  That night.It took forever for Lily to go to sleep. She thought it was play time since she could see us. So it was good training that night for the rest of the week since that was the only hard time we had putting her to bed.

Saturday we all had breakfast at McDonalds and then were off on our way again. Lily was perfect on the drive. I don't think she cried once. She just slept and watched her Baby Einsteins. We were the first to arrive. So we settled into our hotel and then went to Walmart to get more supplies before heading over to the beach campsite to join everyone. It is really fun to go because we get to see my brother Ryan and his wife Jayme and their 5 boys. They live in Arizona so we don't get to see them as much as we like! My niece Holly and her husband and baby boy flew down from Minnesota as well! Bentz had grown so much! Our cousin Chelsea came down for a day too! So it really was a family reunion! That first day everyone just kind of set up and we all ended up eating at our favorite Mexican Dive Restraunt there called Juanitas! It has the most delicious food. Michael and I ate there 3 times that week! Yum!

Lily's Bed

Our hotel room!

This time Lily went to bed really good but thought waking up at 5:30 CA time 6:30 our time was a good idea! Ugh! She got up later and later each day though so that helped. Every morning Lily and I would head over to the campsite in the car and eat breakfast and hang out with my family and do crafts and just chat and hang out while Michael went back to sleep and got some alone time from us :). He would then walk over and join us and then when it was warm enough we would all head down to the beach! Which is quite an ordeal to carry all the supplies down those stairs, but so worth it.

One of the crafts we made at the beach: Duct Taped Bracelets! Lily and mine are on the bottom.

Lily and Kash

Father's Day!
Sunday was Father's Day at the beach! Grant made ribs for everyone. Michael and I just ended up having Juanitas again that night ha ha. My sister Judy gave Lily a shirt that said "Daddy holds the key to my heart" I was happy I got to be at the beach with my amazing and hot husband and my awesome Dad! We did miss the Maloufs too though. Michael and I celebrated his father's day a little early. Lily and I gave him a Roku Box 3 so he can watch the BYU games and stuff at home and also a Bluth Banana stand t-shirt, and some shoes. We also gave him a poster of a collage of Lily's 15 month old pictures. We gave my dad a card and a gift card to Chili's and we gave Michael's Dad a gift card to Costco (he loves that store) and a card as well.

My Dad holding Lily and Kash the 2 youngest grandchildren. They also have a great grandchild who is right between these 2 in age.

Food!
The dinners were quite tasty! On Monday night, 2 of my sister-in-laws Jayme and Nicole made us some delicious taco soup. It was wonderful! On Tuesday my mom and I paired up to make sloppy joes for everyone. We had to buy 10 lbs. of hamburger meat to feed everyone!  On Wednesday most of us went to Sea World so we had Juanitas again and Thursday we had Sammy's Woodfired Pizza (Yum!) and Friday my sister Judy and her husband Grant made us Brisket! So good! With a ton of sides too. It was a delicious home cooked meal. That night we also celebrated Bentz's and Kash's 1st birthdays! We got to watch them stuff their faces with blue cake. It was adorable. We had s'mores quite a few nights. Everyone was quite impressed with the s'more I made. It included 2 full graham crackers, a full hershey's chocolate bar, 2 Reese's PB cups, and 2 HUGE marshmallows! Boy was it tasty. I had a marshmallow beard after though. We had some delicious cobbler a couple nights too! I'm surprised Michael didn't have to roll me into the car to get home.

Juanitas! Our favorite Mexican Dive! I want it right now...

The Beach!
We didn't just eat at the beach :) Besides Wednesday, We got in the ocean every day boogie boarding. We love catching those waves! This year my mom even got in! I think she was in the water more than me! She bought herself a full body wetsuit and water shoes and she was set to go! My dad was dying to get in the water but with his 6 broken ribs he had to watch the fun from the shore and give us thumbs up whenever we caught really big waves. Lily loved the ocean too! She would have swam out there herself if we let her. She loved getting down in the sand too and playing with the dirt at the campsite. It was fun for her to explore the new textures! Her favorite game was to scoop up sand in her shovel and then dump it down my swimsuit :( But I am glad she liked the beach! She even took a couple of really long naps there in my arms which is something she never does. It was sweet to be able to cuddle her and watch the waves and my family and Michael playing at the same time. A couple of the days the waves were really crazy and strong! Which made it fun! :) I did get run over by my older brother Ryan and my younger Ty on boogie boards and I did do a somersault in the waves and would sometimes catch waves without meaning to and go all the way into the shore, but that just made it more exhilirating :) Michael did great out there too! One time while he was out there he got stung on the knee by a jellyfish! Ouch! We had the life guard spray some vinegar on it which didn't feel good, but helped it get better. On Monday, my niece Cami stepped on a Sting Ray while she was out there! I saw her come up from the beach and she was crying and saying "There is literally salt in my wound!". I ran and got the camp host and he took her to the lifeguard who said to soak it in the hottest water she could stand for 2 hours or so! She got better and was back in the waves the next day! Michael and I invested in a beach tent to help keep Lily in the shade and some beach chairs. It was very nice! Totally worth buying. There are some pretty michievious squirrels there too. Lily enjoyed feeding them her wheat thins behind our beach tent.

Lily and Daddy enjoying the waves!

The last day we did a couple silly things that were pretty fun. We did a Harlem Shake video. My 9 year old nephew, Zeke, started out wearing a storm trooper's mask dancing all crazy on the beach while a few of the little kids were just playing on the sand around him. Then all of us joined in and were dancing crazily wearing our family reunion shirts that we had all tie-dyed a couple days before. My sister Judy was dancing so crazily she got hurt! You can see her crawling away on the left at the end of the video :( She pulled a muscle or something. Then later that day we also had a shaving cream fight! We were able to just wash off in the waves after and all smell really good so it was a great place to do it!

Sea World!
Most of us went to Sea World on Wednesday! We saw the Pets Rule show first which was maybe my favorite one. It had dogs, cats , birds, and even a pig doing tricks! Lily fell asleep during that show and slept until the next one we saw started which was the Sea Lions Live! They were good but it wasn't as funny as I remembered it being 12 years ago. Then we ate some lunch and then saw the Madagascar Show which was just a bunch or singers and costumed people dancing, but Lily was mesmerized. It was inside and cool so that was a plus as well. Then we saw the Blue Horizons Dolphin and Pilot Whale show which was really pretty and then Shamu! I was disappointed that they don't swim with the killer whales anymore, but they were still awesome. There was a little baby one that was only 4 months old that was so cute. It would jump when it's mom would jump and then randomly jump somewhere else. We were in the shade during this show so it was great. After that we  were free to wander and look at the different exhibits and aquariums which was more Lily's speed :) Her favorite part was when we were waiting for Michael to use the restroom and she started chucking her goldfish crackers at a pigeon. The pigeon probably ate 30 goldfish crackers from her! Michael rode the roller coaster they had there and then we bought our traditional souvenir, some playing cards. Lily got a pink Sea World zip up hoodie. We bought it to help keep the sun off her arms because no matter how much sun screen we put on her they just get redder and redder!. It really cooled off later so we were glad we had it then too. It was a really fun day and I'm glad we went! Lily was soooooooooooo tired when we got back. She fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep the whole time while I changed her diaper and got her into her jammies. It was amazing.

Trey and Lily with Anna photobombing behind.

Trey was such a helpful cousin. He tie-dyed Lily's shirt for us. We love him!

The Madagascar Show

Me, Trey, Anna, and Ty

Michael and Lily gazing at the Beluga Whale

Lily and I waiting while Daddy rides the Manne Ray roller coaster

Shopping!
Michael and I also have a tradition when we go to Carlsbad that we have to shop at the outlets there and stock up on Puma stuff. We each got a pair of shoes, a hoodie, and Michael got a shirt and hat too. We love that store!

While We Were Gone...
Apparently Cedar Hills went to crap while we were gone! Just kidding. But I guess there was a couple who was going around trying to kidnap kids and there was a fire really close to our house. Michael's family was on call to go in and get all the stuff we wanted out if it got too close. So they asked us what we wanted out of there for sure. We were both pretty peaceful and not too worried about it because what was most important was already here. Our family. We said we would have them get our big grey tub that holds pictures and other momentos and the framed cross stitching that Renee did for our wedding and Lily's birth and my wedding ring (since I just wore my promise ring to the beach). Everything else can be replaced. Fortunately they put the fire out and we still had a house to come home to!

Going home :(
The week went by way too fast! Friday night Lily was acting pretty sad and sick. She had developed a scary sounding ,barking cough. Michael and I decided to drive straight through over night instead of our original plan where we were going to do half Saturday and half Sunday. Michael drank a Rockstar and drove all night while I slept on and off with my head bouncing everywhere! Lily slept most of the way but would wake up with terrible coughing now and then. I had Michael pull over and give her a blessing and that seemed to help a lot. We got off the Pleasant Grove exit at 9 am and went straight to the After Hours Alpine Pediatrics. Lily had an ear infection and croup :( Poor baby! I think this week was kind of rough on her. She was up 3 hours or so past her bedtime most nights, with unpredictable naps, and a totally different environment then she is used to. She did really good though and was happy and sweet most of the week. We are lucky to have such a sweetheart. Michael and I thought this was our favorite trip so far even though it was like a hundred times harder to do things with a kid. She still makes it more fun! And having a motel was a plus too. It was a great family vacation to remember.

It was so wonderful to spend time with all my family. I'm so glad we are all sealed in the temple and can be together forever. I love them so much. We are lucky to be such a tight knit family that loves to spend time together. I can't wait for the next reunion! Go Stokers!