The week of Christmas was a busy one!  Monday was Megan's sixteenth birthday!  After playing her several sappy sweet sixteen songs from the 50s, I took her out to buy her what she really wanted for her birthday!  A blue mandolin.

She is ready to join her first bluegrass band!  Later that day she went out with some of her sisters and some of her friends to see a movie (Big Hero 6) and get a treat at the mall.  It was a happy day!

The 23rd and the 24th were a blur of finishing Christmas and trip preparations!  We settled down at last to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house.  We enjoyed delicious food, great company, and yearly traditions.  We watched a sweet movie, the kids reenacted the nativity, we played the bells, and finished the night with a music recital.  Savannah read us a poem, Meg played Joy to the World on her mandolin, and each of the other kids played us a Christmas song on the piano.  It was peaceful and nice.

The next day was Christmas!  We opened presents and then ate French toast with orange juice and then opened more presents!

 

We left that very day for our trip to California!  We drove away from the snow that was beginning to fall into the sunshine.  We spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Elton and got to see my sister, Amy, and her family, too!

The next day it was on to the beach!  We got there in time for a walk on the beach as the sun set.  Hello ocean!  Did you miss us?

The next day was Saturday!  We tried to go to a local aquarium in the morning, but it was closed.  So we looked at their big ships instead, browsed their gift shop, and took another good look at the sea. 

After lunch, we packed up and went to the San Clemente pier.  The kids played in the water and gathered rocks and Ben and I walked down the pier and back.

The next day was Sunday.  We attended sacrament meeting at a local ward and then came back for a walk on the beach across the street from our hotel.

After our walk, we went to the family lounge at the hotel with windows that looked out on the sea and played games until the sun set.

Monday morning we drove to the local park that we had seen on our trips to the grocery store.  Kevin, I, Sarah, and Megan played tennis!  Mariah and Chey and Cali played basketball.  Beth and Ben played on the playground and Savannah sat under a tree to read.  After lunch at the hotel, we went back to the beach!  This time to Salt Creek Beach about 10 minutes away.  This is our favorite beach.  You walk down an enormous hill to get there, but once you're there, the beach is long and flat and has great waves and great soft, sand in abundance.  We borrowed wetsuits from our neighbors and bought some boogie boards and boy howdie did we have a good time playing in the ocean!

On Tuesday, it rained!!  That's okay.  The morning was cold and cloudy but the older girls and their dad had planned to go to the Newport Beach temple anyway and that, I am told was a great experience.  I took the four younger kids to the pool where I read my book and they spent more than half of their time in the hot tub!

We decided it was a good day to drive to Old Town in San Diego.  So, we drove through the rain and went to the new Mormon Battalion exhibit.  It was a neat exhibit complete with talking pictures, instrument playing, a cattle stampede, and panning for gold!  Afterwards, we walked through some of the shops in Old Town and had dinner at a Mexican Café.  It was fun.

Wednesday was beautiful again!  We drove up to visit Kevin's brother's family in Ranchos Palos Verdes and then had professional family photos taken on the beach.  It was also New Year's Eve so we watched a movie back at the hotel and toasted Utah's New Year at 11:00.

Thursday morning we walked through the shops at Dana Point Harbor, but the afternoon found us back on the beach at Salt Creek where we rode the boogie boards, jumped the waves, and built sand castles.  What a wonderful way to spend a birthday!  It was mine!



Friday we finally had to leave.  I promised the little kids one more time at the pool, so before breakfast, we were back!  (While everyone else was packing!)

After we were packed and checked out, Kevin dropped us off at the beach for one more visit while he got some gas.  We tried to stay dry, but did a lot drawing in the sand.  Meg drew a picture of me so I could stay at the beach.  Funny girl.

Farewell ocean!  Until next time!

We stayed at my mom and dad's again that night and it was so good to see them and get hugs like always!  The next morning was even my mom's birthday so we made her a big breakfast before we had to go!  It was a great trip and a fun two weeks!