California Trip

So this is how our trip to California and Disneyland started...with a blown out tire on the highway. Everything seemed to be going great. We left a little ahead of schedule and Mia has fallen asleep so it was so calm. Then we heard this loud noise and started to fish tail. I am so glad that Jon was driving and I wasn't because I would not have known what to do. Jon got us over to the shoulder safely but then we tried to figure out if it was safe to try and change the tire because there was not much room between the shoulder and the lane of traffic. Well we decided to call the highway patrol and have them send a cop out just to be safe. Well we sat and waited for awhile for the cop to come and then there started to be big breaks in traffic so Jon and Wade decided to change the tire during the breaks of traffic. Well they did a great job and changed the tire with no problems at all! I am so grateful that heavenly father was watching over our little family and kept us safe. Little things like this make you realize how quickly life could change and you should be grateful for every breath that you take. I love my family so much!

We had to unload all of the luggage to get the spare tire!

And then the fun part of trying to put the shredded tire back into the spare tire bag. Jon and Wade got away with only a few pokes from the metal in the tire.

Mia slept through the whole thing and woke up right after we started driving again! Silly girl!

Beckett woke up and started crying right when it happened- poor baby!

So our trip continued.....

Our first night we stayed in Long Beach. We had a balcony off of our hotel room that was probably bigger than our room. To bad it wasn't very warm or we could have had some fun out there. This is a picture from our balcony (Love my hair in this picture by the way!)

And then we had fun playing at Huntington Beach. Mia loved playing in the sand!

....isn't she the cutest!

Jon with his sand castle...or sand mansion! What you don't see if that Mia destroyed this just seconds after the picture was taken!

Beckett stayed warm in the moby wrap with me while everyone played in the sand. What a fun day the beach even if we didn't swim!

And then it was time to go to Catalina Island...

Our little family on the boat ride from Long Beach to Catalina Island

Me and my cute kiddos on the boat!

Mia wanted to ride the seal and take a picture! She kept saying riding the range, riding the range, yahoo!

Mia wanted to show me some of her moves!

Jon trying to teach Mia how to throw a frisbee

This is how I mini golf with Beckett! It's definetely not as easy to golf this way- but hey it works!

Mia had fun golfing too!

Jon showing off his mini golf skills!

Jon got in the super good range. I got in the better than most range, and Mia got tennis anyone!!!

Chilling and having some ice cream after mini golf!

See that book in Mia's hands....well there is a funny story about that book. This picture is taken on the pier. We kept telling Mia not to drop her book in the water or it would get lost forever. Well good thing it is a bath time bubble book because the book took a swim. Mia was so upset. Jon tried to go and get it before it got too far from the dock but it was too late. Then a shore boat came in to the dock and Jon being the good dad that he is asked if they could go on a rescue mission and get the book the was floating out into the ocean. Well the shore boat driver just laughed and said to get in. Well needless to say the book was saved and when Mia saw that Dad had the book in his hands she ran over to me and said "they saved it" and then started to bawl. Being the emotional person that I am I started to bawl right along with her!

And here is the book rescuer himself, along with Mia and Beckett!

And now it is time for Pink's hot dogs and the LA temple and visitors center...

Pink's Hot dogs is a famous hotdog place in Hollywood. They have some many different types of hotdogs it is unbelieveable.

Jon tried the 3 dog night. It is a 3 hotdog, 3 slices of cheese, 3 strips of bacon, along with chili, wrapped up in a tortilla kind of hotdog! Good luck with that one Jon!

This is the Muholland Drive hot dog. A hot dog with grilled onions, mushrooms, and nacho cheese over the top. MMMMMMM delicious!

Next we made a trip to the LA temple and visitors center. The visitors center had just been redone and it was definetely hi-tech. Mia had fun doing some of the exhibits in the visitors center. Just a cute little story about Mia...We went into the room with the christus and I have always showed Mia Jesus' owies on his hands and feet and told her that he has them because he loves us. Well this day she went and sat down and looked at Jesus and showed me his owies on his hands and feet and then told me that he needed a princess bandaid to make his owies feel better. I think it is so cute that she cares so much about other people and also how much she remembers what I tell her!

Me and Kids at the visitors center

Our family in front of the LA temple.

And to get everyone excited about our day at Disneyland we decided to go to Downtown Disney....

We told Mia she just had to look and then when we went to Disneyland the next day that she could pick out one prize. She was being really good about it for a 2 year old, but she definetely wanted this little bag of princess toys. Well a very special Grandpa noticed how patient she was being and told her to come with him.

This is Mia waiting in line with her princesses. How cute!

Someone is very excited!

And she loves the princesses so much she had to sleep with them. I moved the princesses to the floor after she had fallen alseep and she woke up a few hours later hopped out of bed and got the princesses held them and then fell back asleep! How cute is she!

And now what we have been so excited for... DISNEYLAND...

Our family in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle....don't you just love the kids mickey mouse ears!

On the carousel

Mia with Tinkerbell

Mia and Jon getting ready for Autotopia

Mia thought it was pretty cool that she got to drive. Jon thought it was a bumpy ride!

And time for a little nap!

Mia with Belle

Mia with Jasmine

Mia with Princess Tiana

I don't think she was excited to see the "real" princesses!

One of the castle helpers loved Beckett!

Glow in the dark wand for the parade

Pinocchio was Mia and Beckett's friend during the parade. He kept giving them high fives and blowing kisses. At the end of the parade he picked up some confetti and gave it to Mia and gave her a hug!

Mia got pulled in the parade to do the twist...

and the conga line!

We had such a great time on our trip! Thanks Lyle and Kellee for a great time!