playing at the park

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

happy mother’s day

 me and my mommy

 

I am feeling the love from my four beautiful daughters

who gifted me with

tennis balls,

a book from my favorite author,

the Young Victoria DVD

and earrings.

erika’s wedding day

 

 

The Temple

The Luncheon

 

Her  parents,

Rachel and Craig,

 

and the rest of us.

The Ring Ceremony

 

 

 

 

 

The Reception

Mom with  me, Rebecca, Kate, Fred and Rachel

 

Rebecca’s three girls, Kim, Tiffani, Lindsey and my Melanie

erika’s family barbeque

 

Aaron and Mercedes Attig and Chanel

Uncle John and Aunt Carolyn

Caleb, Craig, Karissa, Neal and EQ Workinger

Nolan eating up the angel food strawberry dessert.

legoland

with thanks to Melanie for this post:

On an early Friday afternoon, there was no-one at Legoland.
It was awesome!!!

We ran on every ride.
Sometimes more than once.

My dad loved Mini-land.
He wants to be the person who maintains it and keeps
everything operating and looking good.
That is so my Dad! He is the details guy.

We watched our favorite Legoland show.
"Put the wet stuff, on the hot stuff, and put that fire out!"

The boys had their special rides they wanted to do with Papa.

getting in

We were quite surprised that the San Diego Temple did not look like this tonight! They are  doing some restorative work and scaffolding is the main feature of the temple at the moment. Inside the windows are all temporarily draped as well.

The comment was made that perhaps Erika might have chosen another temple since there are a few in southern California to choose from and the pictures are going to be less than ideal.

Spencer pointed out that if the St. George Temple were draped in black and you had to get married in a hole in the basement that would have made no difference to us, and we laughed and acknowledged that it was true. Then Craig told us that the temple had sent Erika a CD for the photographer to use to photoshop their pictures. Thank heaven for technology. And thank you images.google.com  for the above picture.

On the way to the temple, Doug always asks me if I have my recommend. I always answer that I have him. It is my way to tease him. Come on, there ought to be a few perks for having the stake president as a husband.

He dropped my mom and I off at the door and then went to park. When he arrived at the front desk, we were both still there. I had handed my recommend to the worker, and he scanned it and then said that he needed to make a call.

Make a call? Ummmm…my stake president is just on his way in?

Then I remembered that I had just received a new recommend and pulled it out of my purse. Since the old one had been invalidated, they kept it.

Next up, my mom. Her recommend expired in March and she had forgotten to check it and/or renew it. They gave her the go ahead as well, but told her to have a new one before the wedding on Saturday.

So we made it. It was a small session with only the 11 of us and a very few other patrons. It is  always great going to the temple and going to the temple with family is even better. We loved gathering round Erika as she entered the Celestial Room for the first time and sharing all the joy.

mormon battalion

 

Amidst school runs, swim lessons, baseball practice, meals and a trip to the temple today, we carved out a couple of hours to see the new visitors center in San Diego documenting the experience of the Mormon Battalion.

 

 

 

It was awesome. Doug’s ancestor, Richard Carter, died on the march. It is suspected that he died because the medicine that the doctor was giving him, and others, was laced with arsenic.  There were a few inconsistencies in Richard’s story. For example, it was recorded that he died in New Mexico and  arrived in California a few months later and then went to Utah. He was quite a traveler for a dead man apparently.

balboa park

Called the “jewel” of San Diego, this park lives up to every expectation. The museums rotate free admission for residents on Tuesdays and even though it was perfectly clear that I wasn’t a resident…they let me go right on in with my resident daughter and grandsons. We were heading for the dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum. This whale fossil

 

was discovered last year! while digging  the foundation of a new building. Apparently traffic was tied up for ages while they extracted the Gulper.

 

 

 

 

 

Nolan was not amused when sidelined with the Brontothere. 

 

 

 

Nor did he care for the robotic T-Rex which actually made him cry!

Elliot loved it all however.

 

We had a great time, but Doug’s plane was due in soon. So we said goodbye to the Allosaurus.

Fortunately, Melanie had built in enough time to make a quick side trip to the Botanical Building on our way out of the park.