Vacation

(Rob with Heston, Erin with Bridger, Hyrum, Levi, Brigham, Alisa with Mason, and David)

We just had an amazing 2 days with Rob, Erin, and their kids.  They are moving to Texas soon and so we wanted to spend some time with them before they left.  We got to Chino late Tuesday night and got up early Wednesday to head to DISNEYLAND!

A few of the rides had pictures that were taken as you were on the scary part of the rides.  This one was the best one!  I was holding onto Hyrum for dear life (he's just so little...I kept picturing him falling out) and yes I was scared!  But Brigham's face is just priceless!  You would think, from this picture, that he was terrified of the ride but this was actually his favorite ride.

It was too hot for my liking but I still had a great time.  I have always associated Disneyland with children so I was surprised just how much I kept thinking about how fun it would be to just go with David someday.....someday.....

We paid a ridiculous amount of money for one day at Disneyland and after seeing how much they charge for things in the park, I was disappointed.  Disappointed that they could get away with that.  But then I started to notice all the quality that is in this place.  It really is amazing the detail that goes into so much of the park.  But what really made me appreciate all that Disneyland had to offer was when we lost our children.

My Dad texted me before we left for Disneyland, reminding me to keep my kids close.  It made me think that I should probably get them matching shirts so that I could locate them easily.  I found these cute shirts of 3 boys playing video games at Target :)

So we are at the park for a few hours when Rob and David leave to go get fast passes.  They were going to take Levi and Brigham with them.  So I am with Erin, the twins, Bridger, and Jake (he is a friend of theirs).  I have one of the twins in my arms when a few minutes pass and Brigham comes up to me and says that he lost David and Rob.  So I quickly call David (soooooo thankful for cell phones) because I knew he would be freaking out.  Sure enough, he had already gotten a little party together to look for Brigham.  So everything is fine….so we think.  After they get the fast passes, David and Rob get back and we talk things over about keeping us all together when all of a sudden I get this sick feeling.  It just hits me that I don’t know where Hyrum is.  Keep in mind, this is Spring Break week.  Disneyland is a busy place as it is, but this week it is crazy busy.  I remember telling David to take the 2 older boys and yet while they were gone, I just kept doing the head count of “I have Mason, Erin has Heston  look for Jake and Bridger…check.”  Just over and over.  Completely spacing that I had Hyrum as well.  I can’t describe that sick feeling when you not only figure out that your child is missing but that he has been missing for probably 10 minutes and you haven’t even realized it.  For some reason, I just had it in my mind that he was with David and the boys. 

I get to an employee and she is just as calm as can be as she gets security.  She calmly tells me that there are no lost children in Disneyland…only lost parents.  A kind parent next to me helps me as David and Erin take off looking for Hyrum.  After that, only a few minutes had past before security came walking up with Hyrum.

He isn't scared at all, but I am just slowly coming unglued.  I just had to get us out of there. 

I haven’t had an anxiety attack in quite some time but that all too familiar feeling came back and there was nothing I could do to control myself.  I hate that feeling.  No matter what I did, I couldn't stop myself from crying or that feeling like everyone was closing in around me.

So yeah, I freaked out but I had amazing family around me as they waited for me to calm down.  So, some things I learned is that you should tuck a little piece of paper in your little one’s pockets who don’t have your cell phone # memorized so that security can call you right away.  It is also a good idea to take a cell phone picture of your children before entering crowded places.  We did good with having them all wearing matching things but it is good to have an actual picture so that people who are searching are not just going off of your memory.

But once that was over, we really did have a great time.  I was already so grateful for the staff there but also everything was so clean for having so many people around.  Just a unique, fun, and actually beautiful place.

The next day Rob had to work so the rest of us headed for the beach in San Clemente.  Talk about a cute beach town. 

 (Alisa and Heston)

It wasn’t crowded so it was just perfect.  It was a little too cold but it didn't stop the boys from loving it...well, except for Bridger being afraid of the water :)

We flew kites,

we played in the sand,

and the boys went boogie boardin' with Aunt Erin.

 (Levi and Erin)

(Brigham)

It was cold and I think the adults were exhausted from the whole day we had spent at Disneyland but the kids just couldn't get enough of this beautiful, fun beach!

But before we left, Erin told us that we could eat on this pier.  I thought this would be a perfect way to end our beach trip.  So we got on the pier and headed our way to the very end when we came across an Air Force vet who was fishing.  But instead of catching fish he got a...

...Shovelnose Guitarfish!

We were getting all kinds of new experiences including, unfortunately, eating with the birds!

Just as I was taking this picture, a pigeon flew right up to our bench.  All I heard Bridger and Hyrum say from there on out was, "Shew, nasty bird!"

We left the next morning.  As always, it is always so nice to get in our own beds but we just really had such a great time.  Rob and Erin let Bridger be an adventurous boy which led to me being VERY comfortable in their house as I wasn't so afraid of my boys being too loud or breaking anything :)

(April, Alisa, Ronald, Dad, and Amanda)
I forgot to add that the whole reason I had the boys bury David was because of a picture that Dad just happened to text to me the other day (he had no idea we were going to the beach).  I thought it was such a fun coincidence since this picture captured my first time at a beach while this trip was the boys' first time also.