Coronado Beach, Balboa Gardens and Old Town

Good Morning from San Diego!

Ready for church! I hope Quincey appreciates one day how doting her older sisters are. They are the cutest little helpers.

We drove across San Diego to the nearest church and pulled up to a crowd of other confused tourists. Turns out it was the weekend of Stake Conference so they were somewhere else. Well, we figured our effort was worth it, and decided to spend our morning on the beach instead. But first, I had Greg take a pic of me in front of someone's lemon tree. Jealous! I've alwasy wanted one.

We decided to hit Coronado Beach and show the girls the cool bridge and famous hotel. But, we got an interesting surprise when we pulled up ...

So it turns out the Mexico was pumping their sewage straight into the ocean. The waves were the nastiest yellow/brown color I've ever seen. Needless to say, no one even touched the water.

We also had the best time flying kits until the local coast guard told us we couldn't do that either  ...

But we had food for lunch and toys to play in the sand, so we did our best to have fun.

On our way back to the car. Quince was a good helper.

After the beach, we decided to go see the Organ Performance at Balboa Gardens. There is the coolest outdoor organ there and it's fun to see who the performers are each time. It's always the same guy but different local kids learning to play the organ. It's fun to see.

We didn't stay the whole time, but watched enough for the girls to get bored, so we took our scooters and went exploring. Balboa Gardens is huge!

And there were some really interesting living statues to see. 

We found this cool hidden trail that took us down and around through some amazing tree's. I forget how cool the vegetation is in California.

Quincey with her blankie exploring. She sure was cute to follow around.

Greg let loose in San Diego 🤣. Strangely, we weren't embarrased. Behavior like this is common on family vacations.

Quince showing some cleave.

After Balboa Gardens, we headed over to Old Town. It's always a favorite and we had fun hitting up the Mormon Battalion Museum. It's never changed in all the years we've been.

These giant succulents were EVERYWHERE in Old Town, and I absolutely loved them! I have tiny Hens & Chickens all over our yard, so I'm determined to somehow get my hands on one of these big ones.

Waiting for our tour.

Greg went to get the car while we waited in the Old Town tower. Kind of funny how we took a picture of each other.

Quincey takes the cake in this pic! 🤣. She was definitely having a moment.

We loved Old Town!

More giant succulents!

We ended the day under the car - the heat shield of our car kept giving us grief. Our vacation wouldn't be complete without some form of car troubles.

San Diego or Bust!

Here I am, on May 1, 2025 FINALLY documenting our amazing San Diego trip last year. Here we go ...

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We left on a Friday, stayed overnight in Cedar to break up the trip, then headed south again Saturday morning. We (as in Heidi) left Quincey's bag and had to do a U-turn to meet up in Kanarraville, but all was well after that. We sailed into Las Vegas just in time for lunch and a bathroom break at Chik-fil-A. Let's just say, Vegas was HOT! and we were glad we weren't staying there. We continued on without incident (other than traffic) into San Diego and were so excited to be there!

Greg's knees were getting cooked through the windshield in Vegas. He had to keep changing out the wipes on his knees :).

Lunch Break at Chik-fil-A! It felt good to be out of the car.

The cutest little besties climbing around the car while we drove. We're so safe.

When we pulled into San Diego, we were HUNGRY! We googled places to eat and came upon a pasta place, but after sitting down we realized it was way too bougie for us, so after getting our waters we stood up and walked across the parking lot to the Oliver Garden, much more our speed. It was our girls first time ever eating there and they have been HOOKED ever since. Quince took it upon herself to finish Sofi's Root Beer. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing she ate.

Our hotel was in kind of a sketchy part of town, but the hotel itself was great! Claire is our little travel girl and was so excited to be somewhere new, and the girls loved exploring our hotel. We wouldn't wait to have the best time in San Diego over the next 3 days.

May: The busiest month EVER!

May was so, so, so busy! We did so many things and managed to have fun along the way. Hold on! Here's a major photo dump ...

Because, why wouldn't it snow May 6th?

Sof has been needing her own room for a while, and we finally managed to clean some junk out enough to fit her stuff in here. It's a work in progress, but she was thrilled, so it was definitely worth it!

Cute Claire gets the driest wrists. I loved seeing her sleep in these little red mittens :).

Funny story about this dang shoe: We were down walking in the water in the Hollow. Claire was being Claire and splashing everyone. Well, Karma got her back by sending one of her new Easter sandals down the rushing river. She was distraught, and I was livid, so I chased the stupid thing down and eventually saw it stuck in some of the reeds on the side. The shoe gods must have been in Claire's favor that day, because there is no logical reason why the shoe should have been stopped anywhere with how fast the water was flowing.

I never know how I'm going to find her. She is hilarious!

Our beautiful tulips with a not-so-fluffy Mr. Mittens

Quincey and I had a fun morning exploring the fancy Layton RC Willey. She loved finding furniture her size to climb all over.

And bigger furniture too.

The Layton Temple Open House!

And it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Quincey wasn't so sure about wearing the little booties, but they sure looked cute on her.

#Superstar

We took an impromptu bike ride one day where I seriously misjudged my time and had to rush from one end of town to the next, between picking Sof up from the orthodontist and Claire up from Singing. Don't worry, we were only 10 minutes late for Claire (Sorry Claire!). But, it made for a fun memory and me learning my lesson by having to sacrifice my bike seat for Claire. Luckily the GOAT is electric and pedaling was a breeze.

The cutest little Kindergarten graduate!

Mothers Day!

I'm seeing a pattern ...

luckily I'm still bigger than them so I'm able to force a picture.

I'm so lucky!

And because Mother's Day is always one of the most beautiful days of the year, we celebrated by taking the bikes down the Hollow. One of my favorite things to do.

Our neighbors foster dogs on the weekends and Claire was overjoyed when they let us play with their most recent puppy. I will admit, he was pretty adorable!

She was really sad to have to give it back.

Kaysville Creamery's #1 Fans

So much personality. I love her!

Quince brought a friend with her to Home Depot one day.

Sofia's teacher threw a dance party ... and it was so much fun!

The best part was watching Claire randomly drop into the middle splits.

Happy Memorial Day!

The girls have a little bit of a different relationship with their Grandma LuAnn and Aunt Lindsey, but it's good to know they're always here whenever we need to visit.

We did a thing ...

My cute little helper!

I've been scheming for MONTHS about how I might put a wooden fence up on the existing posts of our awful chain link, and lo and behold, my plan worked! I've learned that if I dream about something I scheme about, it generally comes to fruition. And it's freaking beautiful!

And generally a quick project, all things considered. Greg dug out the dirt/placed pavers while I screwed everything together. Our neighbors are a lot happier too (They're so lucky to live next to us).

And I had the cutest little helpers!

Greg got a kick out of watching Mittens figure out how to walk through chain link.

Happy 14 Years to Us! We celebrated by finding a babysitter and going hiking up beautiful Farmington Canyon.

Somehow we managed to not fall to our deaths while both teetering on one leg.

I spy Quincey (and Mittens).

We FINALLY made it to Cherry Hill! May was the strangest month for weather, but we made it happen!

We started with Snow and ended with sunshine. Bring on Summer Vacation!