We finally went on a very long overdue trip to San Diego. John and I hadn't been back to San Diego since we moved from there 4.5 years ago. (I had been once by myself with Li'l John when he was just a couple weeks old, to go to see my friend Joy's wedding) We just haven't had the time or the money to make the trip. But since this summer was my 30th bday I leveraged a special trip. ;) We had never really been on a trip like this before as a family. It was really fun. We jam packed soooo much into just a couple days. We had a blast and somehow hardly spent any money! Some family members gave me a gas card for my bday, so that helped pay for the gas. Auntie Sandi bought us discounted Sea World tickets. We stayed for free at family and friends' houses and we were given free tickets to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, where John use to work. We spent most our money on food, which wasn't very much, since all we wanted to do was hit up our old stompin ground hole in the wall burrito or frozen yogurt joints! ;) Our kids did amazing driving so far, having nothing but endless fun everyday, and absolutely no naps!
Ok, so the most amazing part of this trip is that I got the best Birthday present I could've ever asked for! My best friend in the whole wide world, Prisilla Huisman, and her ENTIRE family (husband and 5 kids) came from Phoenix, AZ and surprised me! They were on their way to family church camp near LA and came a day early and went through San Clemente just to meet up with us. John told me he had a suprise for me and that we had to get up early and leave our house by 4:00am. I had absolutely NOOOO idea that Prisilla was the surprise. We showed up at my mom's house before noonish and she said, "Don't worry about getting out of the car, let's just head to the beach". So I was like....Sure! I was dying to get to a warm southern CA beach! So I started walking down the stairs of the beach and saw this little boy. I stared at him and thought..."Hmmm, that's funny, that boy looks just like Josiah, Prisilla's son....I'll have to call her and tell her I saw a cute little boy at the beach that looked just like Josiah." But then I walked a few more feet and saw another little boy. Then I thought, "hmmmm, this is strange...TWO little boys that look just like Prisilla's boys?!" Then I looked up and saw Prisilla and her whole family. I cried! I'm crying just thinking about it. So we spent the afternoon playing at the beach. It was like this too good to be true dream watching her kids playing with my kids and our husbands swimming out in the ocean, on this beautiful sunny day. You have to understand that Prisilla and I make it a point to see each other once a year or so. But never have we been blessed to visit one another with ALL our kids AND our husbands ALL together at the same time! It was so great. I will never forget it. Then we went back to my parents condo. (My mom was so gracious to let us all have a giant slumber party.....prisilla's family, my family, my parents, my sister and brother....16 people all staying in her roughly 1,000 sq. home.) So we went swimming in the pool with all the kids, then had a great BBQ, ate my dad's famous hot fudge, and stayed up late and talked. In the morning we sadly parted ways, them to family camp and us to San Diego.....Had it all been a dream???
Rick, Prisilla's Husband, burying the kids
Shosh and Sugar
Malachi and I
John got stung by a sting ray!!!! He had to sit in the life guard station while they took care of him. It hurt sooooo bad! There were tons of people that got stung on that beach that day.
John and Malachi...very close in age...little buddies
Faylen in the mix of a bunch of boys wrestling on the couch.
Prisilla being a mother. So fun to watch!
Everybody...Let's climb on Uncle Josh!!!!
Malachi and Jediah getting acquainted
A Priceless Picture
We miss you guys!!!
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