Laguna Beach, Newport Beach & Huntington Beach

Since Victoria is so into Hollister clothes we thought it would be fun to take her to the beaches most named on the company clothes.

The San Diego LDS Temple

This temple is located in La Jolla. I noticed how different the architecture is compared to other LDS temples.

San Diego - La Jolla - Scripps Beach

The La Jolla area is absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed stopping at the beach district to shop and play on the beach. Here are some pics. If you click on any photo it will enlarge.

If you click on this pic you can see the seals laying on the rock.

A Joshua Tree

Distraction from Road?

Talk about distracting to a driver. We were almost to San Diego when we came up a hill while driving on I-8. As we crested the hill this was in front of us. We joked about how many drivers may have driven off the road because they were distracted by the wind farm.

Entering California on I-8

The first fun thing we experienced in California were the Imperial Sand Dunes. The kids had never seen mountains of sand before. It was pretty cool!

Knott's Berry Farm

Since some pics are on the laptop and a few were on the camera, I will work my way backwards through the vacation with pics from the camera.


We did Disney for a week and thought it would be fun to go to Knott's Berry on Saturday. I have to say that having been at Disney for a week, this place was so different. It wasn't clean and the food prices were higher than Disney. They did have several coasters and water rides, however I don't think we will go back. When I say it wasn't clean, I was use to seeing Disney employees sweeping here and there and everywhere. The Disney restrooms were quite clean also. At Knott's there was trash on the grounds and the restrooms were...well let's just say not Disney clean. However, one good thing were the roller coasters.


From the parking lot (a dirt field) we could see several coasters. One looked absolutely deadly. It went vertically straight up in the air and vertically straight down. I being a coaster lover thought, there is no way I am going on that ride. My mom asked if those who were going had their life insurance in order. :O) Here is a pic of the coaster.





To make along story short, My Dad, Ron, Victoria. Caitlin and Courtney went on the ride. I sat out with my Mom, Brianne and Tiffany. When they all came off the ride, Ron and my Dad were still smiling and told me I had to go on the coaster. So, Ron and I went. When we got to the loading area, I noticed there were no shoulder restrains. All there was on the seat was a lap belt and a lap bar!! And to make it worse the row we were going to sit in had no seats in front of it...so nothing to hold onto. GULP! I told Ron, ah let's sit one row back. He then said, the twins sat in this seat...you can do this. I just rolled my eyes and said, Okay...We loaded on and the coaster took off and in 2 seconds we were going 84 mph. Yes, that is not a typo, I said 84 mph in 2 seconds.

Here is a specs from the website: "XCELERATORS hydraulically launches you off the line at an electrifying top speed of 82 mph in 2.3 seconds through an exhilarating 205-foot ascent and immediate descent at 90-degree angle." When we went up the first vertical line, I felt like I was being blasted off in a rocket, in my mind I thought, this isn't so bad. But then Physical Science class quickly came to mind and my next thought was, what goes up, must come down! Within a second I was quickly ascended to the earth. It looked and felt like I was in an airplane in a nose dive. Before I knew it 60 seconds was up and the ride was over. I looked at Ron and said, that was it? Let's go again!!

The next ride we went on was Montezooma's Revenge. The website says this about the ride: "Blast from 0 to 55 in just 3 seconds through a giant, seven-story loops, once forward, then again backwards." This was my Mom's favorite ride at Knotts.

We also went on a water ride called Perilous Plunge. Their website says this about it. "The World's Tallest, Steepest and Wettest Water Ride! Just 34 feet shorter than mighty Niagara Falls, Knott's new thrill ride in the Boardwalk themed area sends boats down a world-record 115-foot water chute at a revolutionary 75-degree angle - just 15 degrees from a sheer vertical, waterfall like drop-off!"

Here are some pics of the girls and I going on the ride. We got SOAKED!

Cali Vacation

Some have asked to hear more about our vacation. I will give a full review as soon as I can get my pics off of the laptop. We left the power cord under the desk in the hotel room (duh). We have ordered another one and as soon as we get it, I will begin my blog about the vacation. :O)

Courtney looks like her twin again!

Yesterday, Courtney hit a milestone in life. No more glasses for her! She is now wearing contact lenses. I always felt sorry for her. If she was playing a game in P.E. somehow she always got hit in the face and the glasses. When it is hot and humid, her glasses slid down her face when she was hot. With glasses she had no side vision.

It is so fun to see her eyes and her face again! It is also fun for me to have twins that look alike again! I think they are having fun too. Last night they went to the Faith in God Primary activity dressed exactly the same from head to toe. As their mom, I have to say it was a little tricky telling them apart...I felt bad for their teachers! LOL! Courtney is loving her contacts. She can see so much better and she loves not having anything on her face.

Caitlin & Courtney Awards

The morning we left town, Caitlin and Courtney also had an awards ceremony at school for good grades and performance. We were so surprised to see that Caitlin received every award possible for a 4th grader. Since she was only one of two students to receive all A's, all E's and 100% attendance all year she received a framed certificate.

We were also surprised when they came home and showed us they also had received the Presidential Achievement Award from their Principal. Wow! we were so proud of them. We feel so blessed to have girls who work so hard in school and achieve success.

Brianne loses tooth on the road trip

Brianne had nothing better to do, except wiggle a tooth while sitting in the car. Pop! out it came in the middle of New Mexico!

Two day drive, throw up and almost an accident with a semi truck!

I bet I got your attention with that title huh?!

The first day out Brianne of course got car sick. How lovely. Carol, I bet you wish you could have been there to catch it. ;O) We fixed the "car sick" problem the next day by making all of the kids take motion sickness meds. Thanks goodness for applesauce and Dramamine.

As we entered the San Antonio area, traffic came to a quick halt. We had to slam on our brakes not to run into the stopped car in front of us. As Ron and I (out of habit) checked rear and side mirrors, we both saw a semi truck coming straight at us from the rear and it wasn't stopping. With Ron's quick thinking he swung into another lane and the semi went off onto the shoulder. It was such a close call. I still remember thinking the truck was going to hit us, I was just waiting for impact. When it didn't hit us, I was so relieved and felt truly blessed.



As we continued on, it was getting dark. I-8 was deserted. I am not sure if it was because of the high gas prices or it just being I-8, but we were the only vehicle on the road for miles. It was odd. As we traveled we dodged semi tire blow outs, and watched deer and jack rabbits on the shoulder of the road. The headlights would light them and we'd just hold our breath hoping they'd stay on the shoulder. Ron didn't want anymore deer accidents. One is enough for his lifetime.

We enjoyed stopping a National Parks along the way. The first park we stopped at was in Texas. It was the Guadalupe Mountains NP. There wasn't a lot to see. Except for a few mountain and one tall peak. It was 8,749 ft. It is the tallest peak in Texas. Having been born in Salt Lake City in the Rocky Mountains, I for one wasn't too impressed. :0O I must not be a real Texan. I am sure I'd be hung for this latter comment.



We stopped at Tombstone, Arizona for Ron to explore the town. Us girls were not too excited, but we did enjoy the shopping.

Victoria is off to YW Girls Camp!

We got home from California late Monday night. We had a fantastic trip to Disney and SoCal beaches! The only difficult part was unpacking everyone, catching up on the laundry for seven people, and then repacking Tori for girls camp. Some of you may be asking, what is girls camp? It is a week long camp for the girls in our church ages 12-18. It is a week of total fun and giggling, growing spiritually closer to God by being out in the forest enjoying nature and having total fun and giggling, (did I say that? :O)you make so many memories that you cherish for many years. I still reflect upon my youth days at girls camp at Ensign Ranch in Washington state with Bev Thompson as our Stake Girls Camp Leader. Such happy memories.

So, this morning I sent Victoria off the camp at 7am. 40 youth and leaders went to Colorado. I do have to say there was a part of me that was a wee-bit jealous. I should have gone, because I am in the YW presidency, but I opted to stay home with my kids and to stay home with one the YW who was not going due to summer school and she was just baptized last week!

As a mom, this morning reminded me of the first day of Kindergarten. This is Tori's first time leaving home without her family and traveling such a long distance. She was a little teary eyed telling me that she missed us already. It was difficult to bite my lip and hold the tears back. I just smiled and tried to tell her that this would be a great experience for her...which I know it will be!
Here is a picture of her packed and all ready to go.

Presidential Achievement Award!

Today was Victoria's Intermediate school graduation and awards ceremony. She received many awards, as you can see below as she fanned out her achievements. :O) Some of the awards were for being on the honor roll all A's, Excellence in leadership, Excellence in Behavior, Excellence in Art, and last, she won the Presidential Achievement Award! We were all so surprised and excited for her when they announced her name. What an honor. How do you win such an award? The student must have all A's, Leadership qualities and high standards. Way to go Victoria! We are so proud of you!

Red Velvet cookie bars

A friend of mine shared a cake mix cookie recipe with me this past week. After tweaking it a little bit, the girls and I came up with red velvet cookie bars. Let's just say, you can't eat just one. I would have posted a photo, but all that is left is an empty pan...and red velvet crumbs all over my kitchen and living room floors. ;O)

Here's the recipe all you Turner/Avery junkies!

RED VELVET COOKIE BARS
2 boxes red velvet cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 rectangle of cream cheese (I think it is 8 oz.)

Mix well. Spread over cookie sheet (one with sides). Bake at 375* for 12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the middle.

Delicious eaten alone or even better with vanilla ice cream. Could also make a batch of red velvet icing and spread over the top...mmmm!