California Vacay

Hey Ty—

I was looking forward to talking to you tonight, but I guess I’ll have to be patient and wait a few more days! I hope you have had a good week. How did your p-day competitions go? I hope you were able to enjoy General conference and be uplifted by the music and messages. And I hope zone conference goes well! 


I apologize—this email is very much just a travelog of our trip to California, so feel free to skim if you don’t need all the details!


  1. Monday we went to Universal Studios. It was a cool, rainy day, and the crowds were pretty low. That was super nice because we didn’t have to spend a ton of time in line. We went to the new-ish Mario Land, and it was really cool. Tate was tall enough to ride all of the rides, and I managed to ride most of them. But we all drew the line at the Simpson’s ride. Dad and Blake and I rode it in Florida a few months ago, and I swore I’d never do that again! Tate really wanted to ride it, so Jett got stuck going with him! 
  2. Tuesday we drove up to the Griffith Observatory and took in some awesome views of the city (who knew LA was so big?!), and then had some amazing fish tacos at Bear Flag Fish Co. by Huntington Beach. We dropped off Michael at the airport and then made our way to our campsite. Dad rented us a sweet camper trailer with enough beds for everyone. That’s for sure the way to camp!
  3. Wednesday was our beach day. The water was cold. I mean really cold. But Tate and Jett still played in the water and used the boogie boards. In the early afternoon the wind died down and it was so nice to sit out in the sun and enjoy the fresh air and sound of the waves. 
  4. Unfortunately our perfect beach day ended with the most stressful situation I can remember being in for a very long time. Tate went missing for about two hours. He had been climbing up the bluff near the stairs that led up to our campground, and he got to a spot where he didn’t know how to get down by himself. I told him it might be better to just climb all the way up and hop over the fence to the campground area. Dad was on a work call up at the campground and I texted him and asked him to come out and help him over the fence.  That was around 3:15, and that was the last I saw of him. He went behind a rock and I didn’t see him again. The problem is that dad couldn’t see him from up top either. Dad walked along the top, and I walked along the bottom and neither of us could spot him. I went up and checked the trailer and the bathrooms. After about 45 minutes I got Ethan and Blake to climb up the bluff and look for him on the cliff side. After an hour of searching I got the lifeguards and police involved. I started to get really worried because the sun would be going down soon. And also because when we went to Universal Studios on Monday I had reviewed with him his phone number and what to do if he got lost. So I kept thinking if he was anywhere near people he would ask them to call me. But the other possibilities were that he had fallen and gotten stuck on the bluff somewhere we couldn’t see him, or possibly someone had taken him. Finally around 5:15 we got a call that he had been found by an officer. What a relief! He was about 1.5 miles away from us and walking along the side of the road barefoot. As far as I understand, this is what happened: He climbed up the bluff and hopped the fence before Dad got there. But then he walked the wrong way—the opposite direction from our camp spot and the stairs going down to the beach. So he walked through the campground until he found another set of stairs and went back down to the beach. On the beach he kept walking in the wrong direction for a very long time. Eventually the beach access ended and he had to go up toward the street where he was finally found.  I just cannot get over the fact that nobody noticed a 6 year old all alone on the beach! And I can’t believe that he didn’t stop to have anyone call me. He told us that he was sad because he thought he would never see his family again. When I asked him why he didn’t ask someone to call me he said, “nobody asked me my phone number!” Needless to say, we were all very relieved to have him back with us. 
  5. On Thursday we went to Knott’s Berry Farm where everyone enjoyed the rollercoasters and I managed to get out of riding most of them. We all got Boysenberry "tasting cards” that allowed us 3 meals/treats during the day. We ate boysenberry BBQ pork, shrimp with boysenberry grits, boysenberry lasagna, brownies with boysenberry drizzle—you get the idea! I think it was a hit for Dad and the kids. The brownie was definitely the best thing I ate all day. 
  6. Friday was supposed to be my second beach day. But I got out-voted and we ended up on a kayak tour out to some sea caves. It was fun, but only bearable for me because dad rented me a wetsuit! The outside of the sea caves were covered in birds—cormorants and pelicans. The pelicans were huge! Our guide said the cormorants dive up to 50 feet in the water to catch their food. And sometimes they will fill their beaks with rocks to give them extra weight and allow them to dive deeper. Crazy!
  7. That evening Ryan and Kelsey brought their kids to our campground for a quick visit. We fed them ice cream bars and roasted marshmallows and they were all super happy to see us!
  8. Saturday we packed up the camper and drove all the way home. We listened to conference in the car and also the book Dune.  Dune was long and super confusing, but now I think I’ll understand the movie better the next time I see it!
  9. Home sweet home! There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed after being away!
  10. Today we enjoyed conference at home. I did 75 loads of laundry and finished my Singapore puzzle! Grandma made us roast beef and mashed potatoes for dinner. I’m working on my calendar for the week and I want to cry just thinking about all of the baseball, soccer, track, and basketball events happening. Welcome spring! Sigh. 
That’s all for now. Back to school and real life tomorrow! I look forward to talking to you on Wednesday!

Love you,
Mom














































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