Summer Vacation - Part I

In May we flew back to AZ for 2 weeks to visit family. The main reason for our visit was that my brother Tanner was coming home from his mission in Thailand. We started our vacation out by staying with Craig's parents for a few days. We really enjoyed their pool! It was already starting to hit 100 degrees when we got there. We left high 60-low 70 degree temperatures and came to high 90-low 100. So the pool felt REALLY nice. (Our bodies have already adjusted to living in a colder climate, we were dying there!) Craig's parents were also nice enough to take us out to a few of our favorite AZ restaurants, including Weinerschnitzel and Rubio's. They don't have a lot of our favorites back east :( We visited Craig's old work and rented some movies - that no one could seem to stay awake during. Paul Blart Mall Cop - yeah, big thumbs down. We rented some other's too, but with the time change it was difficult to keep our eyes open! 8pm felt like 11pm for us. Or maybe the movies were just that bad because Craig's parents couldn't stay awake either! Oh well, it was fun to watch everyone doze in and out of sleep on the couch :) I think Craig's the only one that made it through an entire movie without falling asleep. We also hit the dollar toy section in Wal-Mart to get the kids a little something to play with one afternoon. And of course Grandpa Marc made a great wrestling buddy!


My brother Tanner came home on a Friday night. His homecoming was a big deal for our family. It had been nearly 4 years since we had all been together. My brother Cameron who had served his mission in Hong Kong had been out for 23 months when Tanner left for Thailand for 24 months. Making it 3 years and 11 months since we had all been together! So it was a special homecoming for all of us!
All of my brothers. You can see how excited Cameron (in the green) is to see Tanner. Awwww....
Tanner had to catch a few different planes to make it home from Thailand. The last leg of his flight went from LA to Phoenix. My parents surprised him and met him in LA so that he would have someone to fly home with. He walked right past them in the LA airport! And then he stopped and was like, "Wait, I think that was my dad???" I would have loved to have seen his face! You could tell that Tanner hadn't really been around too many kids in Thailand. As a missionary you're not allowed to. So when Chase came flying at him with a hug here was Tanner's reaction: It was funny - he was trying to hold Chase out away from him. You can see the awkward position of Chase's legs dangling behind him. We told him it was ok to give his nephew a hug :)

I love Tanner's face in this picture. His lips are sucked in. You can almost read his thoughts. Maybe he was thinking "Holy Cow (he says that a lot) look at all these people (there were a lot of friends and family)! I can't believe I'm home. This is so weird!"

Oh, and ladies . . . . . he's single :)

Shortly after Tanner got home we took off to San Diego for a few days. We stayed at the Lawrence Welks Resort. My parents rented 2 condos for the whole family. Each of our little families had their own suite. It was nice! And the scenery was beautiful. I wish I had taken some pictures! They had a great pool with a big water slide that Chase just went on over and over and over. We spent a day in Sea World. We saw the Sea Lions show:

And of course Shamu
Mallory and Grandpa Alan
Waiting to get on the wet rapids ride - Background is Natalie, Jason, and Tanner. Foreground is Craig, me, and Chase.

And I found some Holly Berries that I wanted to take a picture with. I don't recall ever seeing real ones before. Excuse the hair - we just got off the soaking wet water ride
Chase entertaining his cousin Callie
Clark and Craig
We played the "throw the ring and try to get it around the neck of a Coke bottle to win a larger than life stuffed animal that will probably end up in the garbage anyway" game. Tanner won. Tanner ALWAYS wins at games like that! Apparently he hasn't lost his touch even after a 2-year mission.

How we all felt at the end of the day:

All of us at the end of the day!


It was a fun vacation. We miss living near our families. We don't miss the heat :) Nope, not one bit . . . . .