Girl's Trip in Cali!

OK, our third annual girl's trip to California this year was by far the best one yet. I was pretty pregnant and barfing all over the place last year, so compared to that this one was great. I was VERY nervous about leaving Sage for three whole nights and days, and when I say nervous, I mean NERVOUS. I didn't worry about whether or not she would be well cared for, I did however worry about me surviving without her. I didn't want her to feel like I abandoned her or something. Sounds silly, but it was really hard for me to leave. Shari picked her up Thursday afternoon and kept her through Saturday night. I called Clint in tears right when she drove away. I'm not used to being without my sweet baby. More on Sage later.

Thanks to the Copple's, we had a timeshare on the beach and were living the high life in a two bedroom house. Katherine couldn't join us till Saturday afternoon, so for the first two nights it was just us four and we each had a bed. We got in late Thursday night and stayed up late talking. Lots of our conversations on this trip dealt with how different times are now and how it's only going to get worse. We talked a lot about the gospel and how we need to really provide a safe house for our children; really teach them the fundamentals of the gospel. It scares us that we are responsible for teaching our babies right from wrong, when there are so many people out there who have such different values and are eager to persuade our babies to share their opinions. Clint has always wanted me to home-school our kids, or send them to a private school. I never once considered this, but when I think of how rough things are getting in public schools and what kinds of things will be taught if certain laws are passed, I feel sick. I know I can't keep her in a bubble and protect her from everything, but I can at least shield her from some. He might get his wish. We just kept coming back to the gospel and how lucky/grateful we are for being a part of it and knowing that we can be eternal families if we are faithful.

Friday morning we woke up and went to the grocery store to get a few snack foods, then took a blanket down to the beach to soak in some rays. We spent like an hour at this dumb rock. We were trying to get pics on it, but every time the waves came in the rock got soaked. So we would run out and try to get a shot before the wave hit, then run back as fast as we could. It was HILARIOUS. Probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but here are some pics to help you get a feel for it.

Here's mom making a mad dash back. From these pictures, it doesn't look like the waves are big, but they were. Promise. Mom pretending dad is next to her.
We're all ducking and these waves really do look pretty wimpy.My mom is hot. Who has 8 kids and looks like this??Just the gals, minus Katherine. We missed you on Friday, K! Can you tell whose feet are whose?? Hint: mine are the ugly ones.After a few hours at the beach, we walked back to our room, put our suits on and went out to the pool. It was so pretty outside we didn't want to do anything else. We read/slept at the pool for an hour or so then cleaned up and headed to Bini Hana's (sp?) for dinner. My mom treated (thank heavens, cause that place is expensive! Thanks mom. Miss you.) and it was so yummy. If you've never been there, go!! It's so fun. You have your own personal chef who does all sorts of tricks and makes cooking look so easy. The food was so good. Here we are...Our chef
I'm not too sure what Audrie is grabbing....K in the middle of dinner, Amber's two dollar shoe broke. It doesn't seem that funny now, but we were cracking up. She was limping out of the restaurant, and everyone was laughing. (With you, not at you Rambo.) So because of the shoe we decided to head over to the mall. At this point, mom was worn out. Here she is snoozing in a chair while we were shopping.Saturday we slept in then went for a jog on the beach. It was so pretty!!! I was so impressed with my mom, too. She was jogging right along with us. Once we made it back to our room, we showered and got ready. I spent pretty much half of my time there pumping so my milk wouldn't dry up, and while I was stuck w/ a MANUAL pump, this is what they did. What a bunch of dorks. ;) Just kidding, I was just jealous cause I couldn't be reading too.Once we made it out, we picked Katherine up from the airport and headed back to the mall. We stopped at the MAC counter and had our first ever make-overs!!! I've been wanting to try wearing make up for a long time, but don't know how to put it on, so this was a priority on my list of what I wanted to do in Cali. I talked everyone else into getting one, too.

Can you tell how much my mom is hating this?
I told her to go easy, but I don't think makeup artists know what that means.
Katherine
Audrie and I w/ our makeup artist
K, shopping without kids is the best! We took full advantage and spoiled ourselves rotten. Here is Amber trying on shoes....for like an hour. ;) love you.
This is the floor of our dressing room. The poor people who worked there hated us.

We are all shoved into one room. And it's not the handicap room, either!! We could've gotten our own rooms, but this was way more fun and made for lots of booty shots.
I won't post any of those though...
After the mall, we had dinner and went back to our room. Sunday we went to the beach again and then headed home. It was a much shorter drive b/c Katherine drove most of the way and has a lead foot. She went like 95 the whole time! Lucky duck; if that had been me I for sure would've gotten a ticket. Anyway, I got home and this is just a glimpse of what my house looked like:


Burnt hard boiled eggs, a kitchen sink full of dishes, a poopy Sunday dress because he gave her a whole jar of prunes, dried baby barf on my rocking chair, etc. It looked like a tornado hit. Clint had Sage Saturday night and all day Sunday; she must've worn him out. She was happy and clean though, so I couldn't get too mad. I was just happy to see my sweet little gal and hubby again. Sage got all excited when she saw me. It was a feel good moment. Anyway, it was THE BEST trip ever and I already cannot wait till next year. We figure all four of us will be pregnant, so that should make for some fun times! Poor mom. I love you gals!