Monterey, California

After the Family Reunion, Ryan & I headed up the coast and spent an evening in Monterey. It was the perfect amount of time to get a quick little taste of what the area was like. When we first got there, we went on the "17-mile drive" through Pebble Beach (famous golf stuff...). Then we checked into our hotel and strolled down Cannery Row, the main street in the city with all of the shops, boutiques, restaurants, etc. We stopped and had dinner at Bubba Gumps and then washed that down with a Ghirardelli sundae. It was such a cute, quaint town and I was glad we decided to go there for a night.

This was the gorgeous view we had for a long time up to Monterey through the vineyards:

The lone Cypress tree... reminded me of Africa.

The sign doesn't lie: "moments of timeless pleasure."

Our first of three Ghirardelli sundaes in a row on this trip. Don't judge- it's allowed on vacation.

Hemet, California

After Arizona, we ventured over to to So Cal to go to the Tibbitt's family reunion from July 4-7. It was nice and relaxing and a good time to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while! The first day everyone got a tour of G&G Tibbitts new home, a trip to the infamous "candy closet," family pictures, and just hanging out. Day two was a swimming day at the Jergensen's, complete with popcorn, snow cone, and cotton candy machines, a bounce house, the tennis courts, etc. The next day was our beach day, where we all went to Oceanside. It was freezing cold but once you got into the water, it seemed warmer. We missed the people who couldn't come this year, but we definitely had a blast with everyone who was there!

Our family with G&G Tibbitts:

A glimpse of the "candy closet" (or more like a convenient store):

We played lot's of games in the evenings that were fun for both the little kids and adults.

Our swimming day at the Jergensen's pool:

High School Musical, maybe?

We made Jackson and Calvin chicken fight in the water. They liked the idea while they were just on shoulders... but that changed when they got to the "fighting" part.

My attempt to not get sunburned (and I was just being too lazy to go put on more sunscreen).

The amazing picnic cakes that Tabitha and Caitlin made for Pam's birthday (this was all edible and made out of cake and candy):

Uncle Myrl (these kids great-great Uncle) has a "money jar" where the little kids get to take a handful of money out of the jar and if they get fake coins then they get to trade it in for a dollar bill. I think the kids felt rich afterwards. :)

At Oceanside for our beach day!

This is how I felt about the temperature of the water (but I'm glad Ryan made me get in):

The waves were huge that day. Here's Jonathan and Craig surfing (actually I think Craig is under the wave in this one):

A bunch of the cousins waiting for good waves to boogie board on:

Since Rod passed away in October, this was the first family reunion without him. Of course we all thought of him and remembered him throughout the whole reunion, but we ended with a balloon release in his honor (BYU colored balloons for his favorite school/teams, of course).

The family is getting to be so big so fast that we don't know how much longer these reunions will be going on, so we were really glad we could make it to this one and we can't wait to see everyone again!

Phoenix, Arizona

A while ago Ryan and I planned a little summer vacation for ourselves for when we were finally done with school and tests and everything. First, we headed down to Phoenix, AZ from July 1-4, then we swung over to Hemet, California for the Tibbitts Family Reunion (Ryan's mom's side) from July 4-7, next we drove up to Moneterey, California just for one night on the 7th, and finished the trip up in San Francisco from July 8-10. We had such a blast and it was fun to be away that long and relax!

Ryan's cousin, Kristi, and her husband, Derek, were nice enough to let us stay with them in AZ. I had only been to Phoenix once (and it was for school, not fun, so I didn't see much) before that and since Ryan lived there for the two years before we met, I wanted to go see this place. Also, Ryan has a bunch of relatives down there, a few of which I hadn't met until this trip.

We went and saw the homes that Ryan built/managed. He worked at Trilogy Power Ranch, which is the active adult division for Shea Homes.

These signs were scattered throughout the community. I thought it was funny. Who knows, maybe that's a normal thing, but not where I came from.

We passed by the "Field of Dreams" in Gilbert and had to stop. They were called something else, but I can't remember what, and they were surrounded by corn fields, so it was fitting. These are city league fields that they built to look like famous stadiums around the country. They looked so real and would be so fun to play on!

Check out that temperature. I wanted to die. I was soaked with sweat after being outside for more than 5 minutes. I was actually pleased when it "cooled down" to 98 degrees at night!

Of course we had to go to a baseball game, so we got our tickets to a Diamondbacks game.

We got there during batting practice and everyone was waiting for a home run ball down in the first row, but right when Ryan and I walked in, a ball was hit, landed by all those people waiting, and then bounced right back to us!

This picture was taken after a long, hot day of walking around outside, hence the sweatiness. Luckily, Chase field can have the top closed on it and so the game was air conditioned.

The next day we went to breakfast with Ryan's cousins, Kristi & Derek, and JR at T.C. Eggington's. Check out the food... it was soooo good!

We finished off that day by doing a little shopping, going swimming with the Ridings (cousins) at some pool park thing, and then going out to Five Guys on Mill Avenue with Ryan's old co-worker Alex and his wife, followed by a walk around Tempe Town Lakes. It was such a fun few days and a perfect, relaxing way to kick off our trip!

Happy birthday to you, you belong in the...pool?!

We finally celebrated the July 9th birthdays yesterday and had a blast doing it!! Jackson requested a robot party, meaning robot cake, robot decorations, robot hats, and pin-the-antenna-on-the-robot. We also had Ryan's favorite marzipan birthday cake. Two cakes? I'm not complaining!

A while ago it kind of became a tradition to throw the birthday person in the pool, fully clothed. This year did not disappoint. Anyone. Not even the non-birthday people!!

Pin-the-antenna-on-the-robot:

Ha! I love this picture with Ryan sporting the robot party hat and his new water belt thingy for running. Making a fashion statement for sure!

Just testing out his new water belt running thingy (that's definitely the technical term for it):

The cakes. Michelle made the robot one and I slaved for hours over the marzipan one (or at least for a few minutes to put in the order at Granite Bakery).

Marc was leaving for Spain the next day so he joined in the party from California via skype, hence the computer Mark is holding.

The birthday boys blowing out their candles (what should have been a combined total of 58 candles-woah!):

This is where the real craziness began. Jackson was "trying" to push Craig in, when out of nowhere Jonathan sacrificed his dry self to get two of the three birthday boys in the pool:

At this point, anyone standing this close to the pool is guaranteed to be wet in less than 60 seconds...

Before we knew it, one-by-one everyone else ended up in the pool. This was one of the best reactions:

I thought I was safe since I was holding our camera, but that ended up not being the case. We all ended up in the pool by the end. Too bad many of us had no extra clothes or underwear with us!

It was a lot of fun and after we all dried up and the kiddos went to bed, we finished up the party by watching the Bachelorette, of course. The best part was that Craig was the one who requested that (don't deny it, Craig!) and the guys were all just as into it as the girls. Makes for some really intelligent, high-quality conversation. American T.V. at its finest. :)