Visit to Sea World with The Motley's

My brother Chris, SIL Lindsay, nephew Hudson and niece Georgia came down to San Diego this past weekend. They stayed with us Thursday night and then we headed to Sea World on Friday.

Camryn with her cuz Hudson at the Sea Lion show. He is almost exactly 6 months older than Camryn, it is so fun having close in age cousins.

Here is the picture. How cute are they? Why are parents such a sucker for pictures like this?

Back to it...

Hudson has been obsessed with whales, dolphins and turtles lately so his parents thought it would be a perfect B-day present to come to Sea World. He was obsessed to say the least.

Camryn didn't mind it all that much either.

And here is Georgia! I am not sure if Georgia had more fun watching the shows or having Camryn fuss over her every move. She was so obsessed with the Georgia and is still asking where the baby is.

Ryan and Lindsay posing with the kids at the dolphin pool. I think we spent a good hour here. Trying to call the dolphins over to us. Hudson would put his hand out and say "here dolphin, dolphin..." No luck, but real cute.

The whole Motley family-for those who wanted to see Chris and Georgia

We tried to get a picture of the dolphins jumping in the background, again no luck. Better luck next time.

I think by far Camryn's favorites were the sharks. She could have stayed in this spot all day and threw the best fit when we had to leave. I do have to say this was probably the best shark aquarium I have seen. Very clean water and glass. Good job Sea World.

After lots of time in the backpack/stroller we took a break and let the kids run around the play area. They ran themselves ragged. It was so nice to have a place like this for them and for us adults to sit and chat.

We went all out from 11-5, Camryn had mild issues and Hudson had close to no issues. But finally just as we were getting ready to leave Hudson kept saying "all done, all done" and Camryn passed out. It was such a fun day with these guys. And we can't wait to go back, since we got the whole rest of the year free! So it worked out perfect just as our Zoo passes were expiring. Too bad they won't be able to make it down every time we want to go! Happy Birthday Hudson! Glad we got to be apart of your fun day!

Weekend at the Beach with Family

This weekend Ryan's cousins came in town. Lou (on the left), Layth and their cute baby Ty and Erika (on the right) and Jensen. They were in Newport for work so the wives and baby tagged along and we got to benefit from it!

So after a yummy mexican dinner in Sunset Beach we walked around Huntington Beach and grabbed some Hot Chocolate for the wimps and ice cream for the undaunted. Short visit but good time had by all.

Then saturday came. I made about $80 doing a garage sale with a friend in my ward (not bad for selling useless junk). We then headed to San Diego. It just so happened that both Ryan's brother and his girlfriend Lindsey and my sister Nikki were in town!

I headed down to the Gaslamp District for dinner with Nikki and her girlfriends she was having a girl weekend with. While Ryan went to a LA Galaxy/ Salt Lake Real Soccer game with his friend Tim. It was so great getting to see Nikki even if it was justs for dinner. And Camryn was in heaven with all the attention she got from who she calls Nitnee. I was super jealous of her girls weekend and realized we need to do this with our mom, sister and sister-in-laws.

Since we didn't get to spend much time with Greg and Lindsey we went out with them to Mission Beach for a nice Sunday stroll. Boy do I hope this one works out! They would work so well together and Ryan and I just love her! Aren't they cute together?

And aren't we cute together?

Such a fun busy weekend with family! Doesn't get much better than that!

What our future holds...

Camryn went and stayed with her Grandparents in SD (thanks again!) and we took on 5 other girls! 5 other teenage girls I might add. Why you ask? I am not sure, but it was a blast! Ryan and I were host parents for Youth Conference. Meaning from Thursday night to Saturday night these were our daughters.

Whitney, Carolina, Florencia and Emily-the 4 we had the first night. Striking a pose in between a battle with 350+ youth. The Stake made all of these "swords" out of wooden dowels and pool noodles. Talk about fun!

On Saturday we collected can and dry goods from our neighborhood with a cousin group. They did better than any other group. And they got a taste of what it would be like to serve a mission. A lot harder than they thought.

Dropping our donations off at HOPE-Helping Our People in Elsinore. Pretty amazing they have this for our own community. Mckenzie joined our family on the second day-because we are the coolest!

For our second service project the girls went ALL out. This Dad just got back from Kuwait in the ARMY and the wife has been taking care of her parents and her Grandma all in one house. She just had surgery and the Dad is going into surgery next week. They were so inspiring to the girls. The mom is doing so much for her family while her husband is away serving our country. We cleaned a huge pool liner, washed two cars, pulled weeds, washed 4 sets of sheets, cleaned 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and put together there HD TV with surround sound. The girls were such troopers! And the family was so grateful!

Our first and last Family picture. Pranks with the boys, yelling the words to every song on the radio, long showers and crazy emotions- it is hard work but always worth the experience and spirit felt in the end!

Easter

Started the day out with a bunny pancake breakfast, but I think it looks more like a cat than a bunny. But Camryn liked it.

This year Ryan put together a scavenger hunt to find my basket! I love these so much! My favorite clue "You walk by me everyday. I'd said hi if I could, but alas I am just a piece of wood." So entertaining and yes understood that immediately. Even more impressive. We loved doing baskets for each other but Camryn's was the best. When we saw it she just said, "WOW" and pulled everything out one by one and checked it out. Kids make holidays so much fun!

After the first session of Conference we went down to SD to spend the rest of the day there with her Grandparents. This spoiled little girl hit the jackpot here too! So nice that both sets of Grandparents care so much for this little one.

After days of practice she got to hunt for the real easter eggs. I love this picture with her Banpa.

Camryn probably would have been happy hunting for eggs the whole day. And of course carrying her basket around like a purse.

Trying to get a descent picture of her is so hard these days. This is as good as it got.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole family but mom and daughter will have to do.

After a delicious dinner of Ham (which Camryn says so matter of fact that it is kinda freaky) and funeral potatoes, we relaxed in the hot tub. Camryn loved splashing Ryan in the face with the cold water. I am starting to think Easter may be one of my favorite holidays.