California Trip

(Warning: This is a long post, feel free to skip through and just look at the pictures!)

We were able to take a fun vacation in August to California. It was originally for Jon's wedding, but we decided to extend it a little longer.  The night before we left was insane - Matt stayed up all night finishing the wedding video he made for Jon and Sariah's wedding, but overall we had a great time!

We started up north for Jon and Sariah's wedding.  Dan and David were able to come pick us up and we met up with the rest of the family.  All of us, Mom, Dad, David, Ellen, Dan, and Katie were able to stay in a hotel with rooms close together.  We started off by helping Jon move out of his house and into his new place.  After some hard work, we took a much needed dip in the pool with all the kids.  That night we had dinner as a family and the next day was the wedding!  The wedding was beautiful - both Jon and Sariah looked great.  It was Matt and my first time at the Oakland temple and it was a gorgeous temple.  After the sealing we took some pictures and then headed to the luncheon.  We ate a lot of food and then headed to the reception for more food!  The reception was amazing - food, decorations, entertainment, everything.  We had a great time and were so happy we could be there to support Jon and Sariah on their special day.  Quick side note: Poor Sariah was called Sarah all day long!  Even the sealer referred to her as Sarah.  Her family was quick to correct them, as they should!

The happy couple

All of us in front of the Oakland Temple

Matt and I

Ellen and I

Groomsmen

Katie and I visiting and keeping track of the kids during the millions of pictures

The Reception Site

Some of the cute decorations

The cake

Digging in!

Jon and Sariah Leaving
(Can you find Matt and I?)

The next day we headed to Dan and Katie's to visit with the family and be able to spend more time with their kids.  We went to church and then spent the rest of the day visiting.  On Monday we had a lot of fun and were able to go to Funderland (think tiny amusement park with carnival rides).  We had a great time with the nephews and also Jane (the sole niece).  On Monday night we had a flight down to Southern California to spend time with my side of the family.

You can see Matt and Blake clearly, if you look behind you'll see me and Clark's little hand

The fun continued in Southern California.  We were the first ones to get there, so we had a day alone with just Mom and Dad.  We were able to go to the beach and boogie board.  Ashley, Byron and their kids, Lila and Miles, were next to arrive.  We had a fun time going to the Orange County fair, although our ear drums were left damaged from "The best dog show you'll ever see."  Kelsey and Keith were last to arrive.  Ashley and Byron had just gotten a dog, Daisy, and Kelsey and Keith have Chipper, so it was a full house!  We took family pictures the day after Keith and Kelsey got there and then went to the beach that afternoon.  Sunday was a relaxing day and more family was able to come over (Grandpa, Ralph, Deanna, Kendra, and Jordan).  I love having big family dinners on Sundays!  Monday was the best day of all - we went to Catalina Island.  On the boat ride over we saw hundreds of dolphins - it was a good thing too because my dad told Lila we would see dolphins!  Matt, Ashley, Byron, Kelsey, Keith, and I were lucky enough to go zipling while we were.  It was scary at first, but none of us wanted it to end!  We had a great time and weren't ready to say good-bye, but it's always good to get back home.

One of the many family meals (Left to Right: Kelsey, Keith, Byron, Lila, Miles, Me, & Matt)

Matt looks like he's still chewing!

You can barely see, but all the sons-in-law and dad are playing a game of football.

Here they are close-up.

I don't know if you can tell how many dolphins there really were, but I promise it was hundreds!

Here's a few dolphins close-up.  The water was so clear that you could see the dolphins swimming under water!

Keith, Kelsey, Ashley, Miles, Me, and Matt infront of the beginning of the zipline.
(Miles obviously didn't zipline - my parents watched Miles and Lila)

Here we are in the middle of our zipling (there were 5 different lines)

We rented golf carts, the main mode of transportation on the island, and toured the island.