Fun in the SUN!

Last week (the fifth) I took the last final of my life, ever. I wish it was the last test but I am still so happy that it was the last final. In celebration, Aaron, Julian and I left that evening and drove all night to Laguna Niguel, Ca where my bro lives. We arrived at 5:30 in the morning Utah time and then went to bed. We heard driving through the night made it a lot easier to drive with a little ones and it was! We got there super fast and Julian slept through most of the trip. We stayed there from Friday until the following Thursday and I think it was the funnest vacation Aaron and I have ever gone on! I will try to be brief with the pics but really we had so much fun and Julian was so good the whole trip.

the first day we went to the strands beach, I think its called, and just relaxed while Aaron tried surfing for the first time. It was so relaxing but I got SUPER sunburnt which added the daily ritual of slathering myself in aloe vera every morning and night of our trip:O






Julian liked to walk in the sand and he looked so cute with sand in between his toes. We also saw dolphins swimming around which was an all time first for me at any beach!

The next day we went to Disneyland. This was our favorite day of the trip. When we showed up we realized that for the like first day ever Disneyland was closing early to accommodate the Pirates of Caribbean premiere. We were so bummed and got tickets for California adventure so that we could stay later but it turned out to be an awesome day anyway. In all my days and trips to California I have never really seen a celebrity but that day at Disneyland we saw Adam Sandler with his kids, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, and the main mermaid from the premiere. Besides that we rode all the rides that Julian could and we rode the ones that he was too young for when he was asleep. For anyone who is wondering if it is a good idea to take a baby to Disneyland, it is magical :-)






Julian fell asleep during the haunted mansion ride.

The next day we went to church and then hung out with Tony, my other bro for mother's day. It was so nice to see him and he got to hang out with his little nephew while we all ate a delicious mother's day dinner. He showed some of his new scary work. He does scary movies on his Youtube channel called blackbox tv. That's always fun:)



The next day we went to the Queen Mary to take the walking tour. I haven't been for a long time and the last time I went it was awesome. However since then, they have divided the the tour into a very short tour and a ghost tour which took about 3/4 of the original tour and turned it into a haunted house sort of thing. So I planned on not going on the haunted house part but when we went to get in line for the ghost legends I realized it was the haunted house thing and not the movie documentary that I thought we were going to. Anyway, it was complete with screaming, fog horns, flashing lights, and other disturbing happenings and I felt like the worse mother EVER! But lucky for me, Julian managed to sleep through the entire thing.




We also got to go into a Russian submarine from Cold war times. That was pretty scary.

After that we went to see one of my bestest friends from elementary and junior high school. It was crazy to see how much alike we still are! If you can't tell from the picture:) It was great to see her again and her beautiful little girl and it brought back so many memories of the amazing fun we had as kids.



The next day we went whale watching in Dana Point. They were kind of between grey and blue whale season but we saw a ton of dolphins and sea lions. It was beautiful being out there on the ocean. Of everything that we did, I think this was Julian's least favorite activity. I am not sure if it was the boat rocking or the wind but it was his fussiest day. Before we went on the boat ride we discovered Laguna beach and all the cute little shops over there. Aaron got me the cutest hat for mother's day, (which has SPF 50 in it) and I want to go back now for more shopping. Ah... someday.




The next day was our last day there. We spent the whole day down at the Aliso beach in Laguna and just relaxed. Here I am with my big hat protecting my sunburned body:





After hanging out there we went to dinner with Aaron's little sister Anna and her husband Ryan. They live just a half an hour south of where we were staying. We went to a little place called casa del camino and it was so tasty! I think it was our favorite meal of the whole trip. It was great to see Anna and Ryan and enjoy our last evening in ca with them.


The next day we drove back home during the day which took a ton of more time but we got a nice break stopping for a visit with Gina, Aaron's sister. She was so cute with Julian and is expecting her own little baby in a few months. I am sure that she will be a great mom. Also, she hooked me up with so many amazing clothes to fit my post pregnancy body. Thanks Gina!!!

This trip was awesome for lots of reasons. One of them is how baby friendly everywhere we went was. I wasn't sure exactly how a trip with Julian would be but we could take him anywhere! It was so much funner doing everything with him. The other great part was that everyone gave him loves everywhere we went. people would stop us to tell us what a cute baby we had, and that they loved our baby. It was so cute and everyone was so friendly! Another wonderful thing is that we just got to hang out together and take it easy which Aaron and I have not done for about two years now. Last but not least, it was just so beautiful everywhere we were. Thanks to Erik for your warm hospitality and letting us use your place!