California, here we come!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged!  Perhaps someday I'll go back and fill in the past two months, but if I don't post about this trip soon, I know I'll never catch up.

Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to spend a week in California with my entire family. We celebrated Mother's Day, my brother Ben's graduation, and my Dad's birthday while we were there. My dad rented us a house on Newport Beach and, despite the fact that we had 21 people sharing 2 bathrooms, it was an amazing time!

Here we are, acclimating and entering the wifi password into our devices.  First things first, you know.

We stayed in the beach house with the red umbrella.  Notice all the windows.  I absolutely LOVED waking up and opening those blinds every morning to watch the ocean waves while I had breakfast.

 The view from the back patio.  We were literally ON the beach.  The kids and their cousins were in heaven. The day we arrived (Saturday) was very crowded with people playing volleyball, surfers, and sailboats.  Every day for the rest of the week looked like this:

 I've had to vacuum sand out of my washing machine twice, but it was totally worth it. I love the ocean.

"Help, Mom! Quicksand!"

On Sunday morning we got up early and went to church in Ben and Carrie's ward. Not sure how, but amazingly we all made it to 9AM church on time.  I don't miss the California traffic.

 After a wonderful Mother's Day lunch at my brother's house, Grandpa took our boys to the Huntington Library gardens.  I'm sad that I missed this, but Todd and I weren't feeling well so we stayed behind to take a much needed nap.

Later that evening, we attended Ben's final recital at USC. The performance was wonderful, and for his encore number, he played a Mother's Day song from the Primary Songbook. What a Mother's Day gift!

Next up: Disneyland!