Newport Beach and Vegas with the Allreds

While we had a great time at Disneyland, we were exhausted afterwards and everyone agreed a day at the beach was just what the doctor ordered. So we headed to Newport Beach and played for most of the day.  It wasn't super hot outside and it was mostly overcast, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. 

Most of us thought it was too cold to be in the water, but Benson and Aunt Sarah decided to go boogie boarding. They were brave souls.  The water was definitely colder than we are use to in the gulf. 

But Benson loved playing with Aunt Sarah and they laughed and laughed together. 

Bailey also decided to try boogie boarding and while she didn't make it nearly as long as Benson and Aunt Sarah, she did attempt to play. The water was just so cold. 

Chris and I were pretty content to just sit and watch our kiddos play. 

Tanner made a massive collection of drip sand castles. He was pretty proud of them. 

Meanwhile, I helped the kids make a real sand castle. 

I was pretty proud of my contribution. 

What is it about kids and digging holes in the sand. All the kids loved digging holes.

The younger kids made a little "foot spa" and took turns putting their feet in and then making the right kind of sand. It was pretty cute to watch. 

Max and Tucker enjoyed digging in the sand. They played forever and could have kept playing for days more. 

Because no cousin outing to the beach is complete without matching swimsuits, we had to take a few pictures. I just love all the kids. 

 

The boys looked so cute in their matching swim trunks.

And of course the girls had matching suits too. Poor girls- they are so outnumbered. 

After playing for a while we decided it was time for some seafood. 

We found a place almost directly across the road and we got changed out of our swimsuits. 

Benson was so tired that he almost immediately fell asleep once we sat down at our table. 

We had a really yummy lunch and then piled into our vans to start the next part of our trip. 

We had decided a few months earlier to stay the night in Vegas on our drive back to Utah. Vegas is about halfway so it was perfect.

We arrived in Vegas and checked into a BlueGreen resort around 10 pm. 

The Allreds arrived about an hour after us and we eventually all got settled in for the night. 

The next day we went to the Vegas sign first thing before it got too hot. 

Then we went to breakfast. We found this yummy place off the strip called "The Omelet House" and we all really enjoyed our meals. The boys especially enjoyed their massive pancakes. 

Because it was literally 115 degrees outside, we decided to just go play at the pool back at the resort. 

The kids swam a couple hours and had so much fun together. 

Grant got tired at one point and decided to snuggle up with me and look at lego sets on my phone with me. It was a cherished time for me. 

We made dinner at our room that night and then we hopped on the shuttle and rode it down to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. 
The kids were excited to be out at night with all the bright lights and energy. It was nice to have a shuttle because driving on the strip is insane. 

We watched the Bellagio fountain show  and then went inside Caesar's Palace to grab souvenirs. There was a mall inside and lots of little spots of find souvenirs. Then we hopped back on the shuttle and headed back to our resort. 

I think the kids saw way more than they wanted to see on the strip. We tried to make them close their eyes but it was wild . We thought it would be okay since the shuttle dropped us off literally across the street from the Bellagio and all we had to do was cross the street, it was still an eyefull for everyone. 

After taking the shuttle back, the kids decided they wanted to have a cousin sleepover in our room. 

We found a place for everyone to sleep and the kids eventually went to sleep. 

The next morning we started the second half of the drive to the Allred's house. 

After all our car trouble on the drive to California, we weren't expecting any more car trouble. But then when we were about 5 minutes from the Allred's house, their car broke down. They were able to coast into a gas station and then they all piled into our van and we drove the remaining 5 minutes home. 

We just had to laugh it off because it was just so ridiculous. 

Luckily, Johnny was able to get a mobile mechanic to come fix their van and then the drove it back to their house. 

We attended church with the Allreds the next day and then just hung out at their house. 

The kids enjoyed playing "Disneyland Monopoly".

We all enjoyed a relaxing day to just hang out and spend time together. 

We are grateful to the Allreds for letting us stay with them and we were sad to have to leave. 
On Monday we had to leave to head up to Idaho for the Herb Family Reunion so stay tuned for that. 

Disneyland Day 3- Disneyland

Our last day was spent at Disneyland. We took some pictures in front of the park before riding any rides. We slept in a little bit since we didn't feel the need to rope drop. 
Day three was mostly just us trying to make sure we got to the rides we hadn't ridden the first day. 

 

We also got pictures in front of the castle. 

I love these pictures of Sarah and I. I am so happy that Sarah and I got to take our families to Disney together. 

 

Then we headed over to ride our first ride of the day. We rode "Finding Nemo- Submarine Voyage" and it was pretty cute. It was actually really cool and realistic. 

 

Then we rode the Indiana Jones ride and it was so fun. This was Uncle Johnny's favorite ride and we were all excited to experience it. While we were in line the ride actually shut down, but it didn't last long. We all loved it. 

 

Then we went to ride "The Matterhorn". 

This was another fun ride

Then it was time for lunch. We decided to get some clam chowder in bread bowls. Even though it was hot, the kids were so excited. We love clam chowder. 

Then we rode a few more different rides and then decided to go meet Mickey Mouse. 

Then we rode the train back to the front of the park and walked back to the hotel. 
The Allreds stayed because they had an appointment at the droid depot for Grant. 

We went back to the hotel and the kids went swimming while Chris and I laid out at the pool and relaxed. We were exhausted at this point but we grabbed some dinner and then went back to the park to watch the fireworks. 

We found a spot close to the castle and settled in to wait. 
I went and bought some treats for everyone and that helped with the wait. 

While having to watch the entire firework show standing up, because they made us smoosh in like sardines, was not ideal, the firework show was unreal. We loved it.

There was a show projected onto the castle and that was so cool, but then there were fireworks too. 

It was so cool. We all enjoyed it. 

Then we made our way our of the park with the rest of the people and because we were all so tired, it felt like a very long walk. But eventually we made it back and stumbled into bed. 

We had such an amazing trip to Disney. We got to see and ride everything we wanted. We played hard and loved our time with our cousins. I don't know if we will ever go back to Disney, but we made the most of this trip and I have no regrets.  

The trip wasn't over yet though, stay tuned for the rest of our time with the Allreds.