We were desperately in the mood for some serious amounts of SUNSHINE! Hence... Newport Beach was the only logical answer.
After an early morning flight in the rain, we landed in the glorious SUN. We had to do the Matheson family honor by making Tommy's Burger our first stop. 
We were at the Universal Studios outdoor mall and realized that we all had headaches because of squinting in the sun. We realized that the sun was so bright and our poor little eyes weren't used to it. Our first purchase was sunglasses for the whole family!
Our first night we got to stay at the JW Marriott downtown L.A. and the highest priority for everyone was to soak up the Vitamin D.
Lest you be judgemental and think I am allowing my girls to wear bikini's I am not. They have looooooong tankinis on and have chosen, against their mother's wishes to sunbath with their stomachs exposed because for sure if you're from Seattle you need to have a tan belly.
We spent our first night walking Hollywood Blvd.
lots and lots of swimming..
The Crab Cooker has a been a family favorite for a long time in my family. It was scrumpcious! I think I enjoyed it more than anyone else in the family since no one else likes seafood. 
The main reason for us to go on this vacation was to get some sunshine and to do NOTHING as a family. Sitting on the beach, playing in the sand, reading and watching movies was pretty much all we did. 
Jeff and Maryn going after the Frisbee in the freezing water.
One day we were on the beach it got a bit windy and cloudy and chilly. We were determined to stay on the beach but we looked ridiculous in our swimsuits and towels. Everyone else on the beach was wearing coats.
Laguna Beach was our favorite beach when we lived in Southern CA.
Our beach house was 8 houses down from the Balboa shops and arcade. The kids loved going there.
Their father loved going too. He was determined to win big at Deal or No Deal... especially when he saw a little 7 year old girl win 200 tickets. He was not going to let a little girl outplay him... but she did.
Every night we made it a point to go see the sunsets. We planned our whole evenings around it and saw some beauties.
Chris and Mary Etherington and their 2 cute kids spent Saturday with us. We had never been to Ruby's (at the end of the Newport Beach pier) when we lived there because it was TOO expensive. Well, it still is too expensive but we figure since we were on vacation we could splurge.
But, I guess you are paying for the beautiful location.
We finally gave in to the kids begging to ride this bike surrey. It was an hour of driving around in circles since we were so big. We couldn't go where we wanted so we had to drive on the roads like we were a car. Glad we did it... glad it's done.
We sure miss these guys. Chris was like my 5th child for so many years. He really is family and we wish we all lived closer. Mary is great and those 2 kids are adorable.
One evening we were out shopping at Costco which was close to our old stomping grounds. We decided to stop by our favorite friends, the Smiths and surprise them. We arranged ourselves on their porch and heard them all run to the door. There they all stood and there we all stood staring at each other. Alicia's scream at seeing us standing on her porch was worth it all! They invited us to spend Sunday with them after church. So, on Sunday we went to our old Lake Forest ward which was SO great. Jeff bore his testimony and told everyone how great it was to be back and good it was to see them. It was hard to believe that it had been 8 years since we had seen them. We spent the rest of Sunday at the Smiths, talking and eating. The kids had a blast together jumping in where they left off 2 years ago at our reunion.
Those 2 couples on the outside there are some of the most specialist people around. They are such great examples and wonderful friends. Rob and Laurelun Wood joined us in the evening for visiting and Family Home Evening. It was so great to be with them all. 
Ady basking and reading on the dock right out our front door.
Sunday I freaked everyone out with my gross eye. What an embarrassing time to have that happen, when I'm seeing people I haven't seen in a long time. (If you have any idea why my eye keeps doing this please post a comment. Thank you.)
Our friends, the Daynes from our ward stayed a few miles from us. These 2 girls would not have been happy campers if we didn't spend an afternoon together. Their family came and played at our beach with us and helped us eat up a lot of our food.
The sandcastle builders.
Ady was always freezing on the beach. Her swim suit and sweatshirt always went together.
As we sat on the beach mediating, pondering, reading, catching our sun rays, enjoying each other, relaxing, we saw a group of dolphins right close to the shore. They entertained us for a long time. We couldn't believe how close they were to us.
With all that wide open space, Ady couldn't resist doing cartwheels and back flips again and again and again.
Here's a tip for the day: Somehow walking bare foot on the sand I stepped in some tar that got on my foot and shoe. I cleaned and scrubbed and washed and washed my foot for a long time and couldn't get it all off. This actually looks better than it was, but I was still bugged that I couldn't get it all off. Even in all the scrubbing I got tar in the bathroom sink that now wouldn't come off. After googling and researching I learned of many products that could help... not of which we had in our beach house. One thing we did have however, but I thought it sounded ridiculous, but I had nothing to lose by trying it... peanut butter. yep, that's what google said to use to remove tar. So, I rubbed peanut butter on my foot and in the sink and kept it on for 30 minutes. I was shocked at the results.
You can't even really appreciate this since you can't tell how stuck on it was... but as I cleaned off the peanut butter from my foot and the sink it all came off. I swear this is a true story. Too bad Joseph Smith didn't have peanut butter in his time.
Our Beach House. We learned that this is the right way to vacation.
On our way to the airport we stopped at the Newport Beach Temple. Oh, it's so pretty. This was the temple that we helped fast and pray for when we lived there. It faced a lot of obstacles in being built and we felt like we had a part in all of that.
We wanted to take a tour of the Warner Brother's studios until we saw how much it would cost. So, looking from the outside was good enough for us.
Our last stop was back at the Universal Studios outdoor shopping mall where we started our trip a week earlier. We were all in a bit of a depression to have to leave. We weren't ready to go home yet. As Maryn sat being melancholy about leaving, the other kids played in the shooting fountains.
We were at the Universal Studios outdoor mall and realized that we all had headaches because of squinting in the sun. We realized that the sun was so bright and our poor little eyes weren't used to it. Our first purchase was sunglasses for the whole family!
Our first night we got to stay at the JW Marriott downtown L.A. and the highest priority for everyone was to soak up the Vitamin D.
Lest you be judgemental and think I am allowing my girls to wear bikini's I am not. They have looooooong tankinis on and have chosen, against their mother's wishes to sunbath with their stomachs exposed because for sure if you're from Seattle you need to have a tan belly.
We spent our first night walking Hollywood Blvd.
lots and lots of swimming..
The Crab Cooker has a been a family favorite for a long time in my family. It was scrumpcious! I think I enjoyed it more than anyone else in the family since no one else likes seafood. 
The main reason for us to go on this vacation was to get some sunshine and to do NOTHING as a family. Sitting on the beach, playing in the sand, reading and watching movies was pretty much all we did. 
Jeff and Maryn going after the Frisbee in the freezing water.
One day we were on the beach it got a bit windy and cloudy and chilly. We were determined to stay on the beach but we looked ridiculous in our swimsuits and towels. Everyone else on the beach was wearing coats.
Laguna Beach was our favorite beach when we lived in Southern CA.
Our beach house was 8 houses down from the Balboa shops and arcade. The kids loved going there.
Their father loved going too. He was determined to win big at Deal or No Deal... especially when he saw a little 7 year old girl win 200 tickets. He was not going to let a little girl outplay him... but she did.
Every night we made it a point to go see the sunsets. We planned our whole evenings around it and saw some beauties.
Chris and Mary Etherington and their 2 cute kids spent Saturday with us. We had never been to Ruby's (at the end of the Newport Beach pier) when we lived there because it was TOO expensive. Well, it still is too expensive but we figure since we were on vacation we could splurge.
But, I guess you are paying for the beautiful location.
We finally gave in to the kids begging to ride this bike surrey. It was an hour of driving around in circles since we were so big. We couldn't go where we wanted so we had to drive on the roads like we were a car. Glad we did it... glad it's done.
We sure miss these guys. Chris was like my 5th child for so many years. He really is family and we wish we all lived closer. Mary is great and those 2 kids are adorable.
One evening we were out shopping at Costco which was close to our old stomping grounds. We decided to stop by our favorite friends, the Smiths and surprise them. We arranged ourselves on their porch and heard them all run to the door. There they all stood and there we all stood staring at each other. Alicia's scream at seeing us standing on her porch was worth it all! They invited us to spend Sunday with them after church. So, on Sunday we went to our old Lake Forest ward which was SO great. Jeff bore his testimony and told everyone how great it was to be back and good it was to see them. It was hard to believe that it had been 8 years since we had seen them. We spent the rest of Sunday at the Smiths, talking and eating. The kids had a blast together jumping in where they left off 2 years ago at our reunion.
Those 2 couples on the outside there are some of the most specialist people around. They are such great examples and wonderful friends. Rob and Laurelun Wood joined us in the evening for visiting and Family Home Evening. It was so great to be with them all. 
Ady basking and reading on the dock right out our front door.
Sunday I freaked everyone out with my gross eye. What an embarrassing time to have that happen, when I'm seeing people I haven't seen in a long time. (If you have any idea why my eye keeps doing this please post a comment. Thank you.)
Our friends, the Daynes from our ward stayed a few miles from us. These 2 girls would not have been happy campers if we didn't spend an afternoon together. Their family came and played at our beach with us and helped us eat up a lot of our food.
The sandcastle builders.
Ady was always freezing on the beach. Her swim suit and sweatshirt always went together.
As we sat on the beach mediating, pondering, reading, catching our sun rays, enjoying each other, relaxing, we saw a group of dolphins right close to the shore. They entertained us for a long time. We couldn't believe how close they were to us.
With all that wide open space, Ady couldn't resist doing cartwheels and back flips again and again and again.
Here's a tip for the day: Somehow walking bare foot on the sand I stepped in some tar that got on my foot and shoe. I cleaned and scrubbed and washed and washed my foot for a long time and couldn't get it all off. This actually looks better than it was, but I was still bugged that I couldn't get it all off. Even in all the scrubbing I got tar in the bathroom sink that now wouldn't come off. After googling and researching I learned of many products that could help... not of which we had in our beach house. One thing we did have however, but I thought it sounded ridiculous, but I had nothing to lose by trying it... peanut butter. yep, that's what google said to use to remove tar. So, I rubbed peanut butter on my foot and in the sink and kept it on for 30 minutes. I was shocked at the results.
You can't even really appreciate this since you can't tell how stuck on it was... but as I cleaned off the peanut butter from my foot and the sink it all came off. I swear this is a true story. Too bad Joseph Smith didn't have peanut butter in his time.
Our Beach House. We learned that this is the right way to vacation.
On our way to the airport we stopped at the Newport Beach Temple. Oh, it's so pretty. This was the temple that we helped fast and pray for when we lived there. It faced a lot of obstacles in being built and we felt like we had a part in all of that.
We wanted to take a tour of the Warner Brother's studios until we saw how much it would cost. So, looking from the outside was good enough for us.
Our last stop was back at the Universal Studios outdoor shopping mall where we started our trip a week earlier. We were all in a bit of a depression to have to leave. We weren't ready to go home yet. As Maryn sat being melancholy about leaving, the other kids played in the shooting fountains.
When we left we still had a lot of food that we couldn't take with us. We put it all in some big bags and put it in the car hoping to find someone who we could give it too, or dump it in the garbage at the airport if we couldn't. As we were getting gas before dropping off our rental car I said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to please help us find someone who needed the food. There are so many starving and poor people that I did not want to waste any of that good food. I looked up and saw a young lady get out of her small car. She had a baby in the back of her car. I told Jeff to ask her if her baby could eat any of this stuff. He explained our situation to her and told her of all the food we had and she said, "I make brown bag lunches and give them to the homeless people. I'll take any food you have and add them to the lunches." Wow! Talk about an immediate answer to prayers. She was so grateful to see all the bags of chips, juice boxes, fruit and cookies we had. Perfect for what she was doing! What a great way to end our trip... doing good in an answer to prayer.
Even as Jeff and I got on the airplane we said, "don't make us go! We don't want to go!" Our trip was so relaxing and glorious we weren't ready for the rain and busy life of home but we boarded the plane anyway and arrived back in Seattle.
This was actually the easiest time we had traveling as a family. Everyone had their own backpack and suitcase and no one needed to be carried. Everyone pretty much entertained themselves and allowed me not have to worry about entertaining them or carrying all of their stuff. It's nice to have your kids getting older and more helpful. We're already saving for our next vacation!
This was actually the easiest time we had traveling as a family. Everyone had their own backpack and suitcase and no one needed to be carried. Everyone pretty much entertained themselves and allowed me not have to worry about entertaining them or carrying all of their stuff. It's nice to have your kids getting older and more helpful. We're already saving for our next vacation!
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