San Diego March 2011

This past week has been so great. I wish there was a way I could have stayed in San Diego. The only problem was that I missed the kids. It was so great to get away with Tyler. The break was needed so badly. I needed a break from all the medical drama in my life. My health has been crazy and it was such a pleasure to just take a shrt break from reality for awhile. I want to remember this trip, so I will remember with some pics. It was such a surprise to even go on this trip. It was my valentine's day surprise from Tyler. He had a business trip for HP and they were so awesome to let me come too. We stayed at the Sheraton Bay Hotel. It was literally on the San Diego Bay. This is the view from our back deck. I took this picture the minute I stepped into our room.

It was the marina. It was so fun to see all the boats. It reminded me of our Honeymoon in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico because out the back we could see the marina like this. That was so great. I immediately felt my spirit lift with the beautiful sunshine, all the green beautiful hills and of course the ocean, which I love, love, love. I was able to hang out and chill while Tyler had to go to his Classes. Hp had about 1,000 employees at the convention. I went out and this is what I saw when I walked out the front door of the hotel.

There was this great walkway, sidewalk along the bay. You could see down town San Diego and the Bay Bridge. It was absolutely beautiful. If I looked a bit more to the right I could see the Naval base. It was fun to just sit there and see quite a few naval ships come through and watch the planes land and a lot of action going on. In fact they were loading a ship right there that was being deployed to help the disaster in Japan. San Diego is south right next to Mexico. And With the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan there was actually 9 foot high waves that came into Northern california, close to Oregon also. We were in no danger being so South from the damage, but it did cause a lot of damage in Northern California. The Tsunami had such devastating effects. To think it was so far away in Japan and the waves actually caused some damage in the US was crazy.

One of the many ships from the naval base

I was able to just chill out for a few days and relax and Tyler Finished his convention by Friday night and we were able to go into downtown San Diego for Dinner. It was a lot of fun. It's one of the biggest cities I've been in, in the US. HP took us downtown to a place called the lamplight district. It was a huge sreet with these huge beautiful lamp/lantern lights that adorned the whole street miles long. There were so many restaurants, shops, galleries, theatres, and many cultural activities going on. It was so much fun. We decided to eat at one of our favorite places "The Old Spaghetti Factory" When we went inside it was 6 levels. I love the restaurant, every city you go to where this restaurant is, it's very fun to see how they decorate it. It was a very vibrant and fun place to be.

The next day we set out on our adventure. It was our vacation without ANY plans. It was so fun to just decide what we wanted to do. The first thing I wanted to do was find the San Diego Temple. It's always been my favorite temple. That is until the Rome temple is built. haha. Of course I will be biased to that temple considering I served my mission in Italy. But I've always wanted to see the San Diego temple for as long as I can remember. It really is magnificent and gorgeous. You drive down highway 5 and you kind of turn a little bend and it stands out majestically. I think i took a million picures. I'll just post a few of my favorites. It was so fun to see a few brides come out. It was fun to see the look on those couple's faces. They looked so happy. It took me back to that beautiful day I was married. There is no place like the temple and knowing that you are sealed together forever.



Just the most beautiful place

After we went to the temple we traveled up the coast a little to a beach in an area called Del Mar. It was a beautiful beach. It had the beach and a lot of very pretty hiking areas above the beach with a park that had so many families and pets. I was wishing so much my kids were there. It was so fun and it had a little street that was the pride of the little town that had a lot of shops and fun places. It reminded me a lot of Italy. It is so hilly and green with beautiful flowers and the smell of the Ocean was just so great!

So great to have our feet in the ocean



haha Not too sure why I couldn't wait to set my purse down before I ran to the waves



After we hiked around for a little bit we walked up to the charming little town of Del Mar. I loved it. I loved the Ivy covering the buildings.

After a lot of walking around it was so great to go back and have that oh so lovely hot tub to sit in. I told Tyler if he wants a happy wife he needs to get me a hot tub. It was so great because the pool and hot tub had a glass wall around it so you could see the marina. It was fun to see all of the people that we're hanging out or living on those boats. We wanted to walk down onto the docks and see if we could just claim one of the boats for the night.haha
The next day we decided to check out the San Diego Zoo. I'm kind of crazy about the zoo. I can stare for hours at certain animals. We had heard a lot about the zoo there. When we got there I couldn't believe how huge that place was. I was so excited to see the panda bears because I've never seen one before. They were so cute. Also, there was a momma Hippo who had a 2 month old baby and she ws trying to teach it how to swim and hold it's breath under water. It was seriously the cutest thing ever. I couldn't believe how big that place was. The amount of trees and green was so amazing. One of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

If you look close you can see baby being pushed by her Momma

After the zoo we decided to go across the bay bridge to a beach called Coronado. It was absolutely beautiful, huge, and several miles long. There was an absolutely beautiful Resort on the Southern Part of the Beach. We had so much fun on the Rocks looking for seashells, that was Alaria's main request that we bring home some real seashells. We saw some crabs and a lot of sea urchins and clams. It was fun to lay on the beach and walk in the surf. There is nothing more relaxing to me than the beach. I love the sound of the waves and the way it smells. It was a great beach that I can't wait to take the kids back to.

We Love Alaria and Nick

Resort from Heaven

After we left the beach on our way back to the hotel we passed by the Temple at night and we stopped to see it all lit up. I could have stayed there all night just staring at that place. Just so beautiful to me. It felt gro sit there with my husband and reflecting on the last 11 years. It hasn't been all an easy road. Nothing normal that is for sure. A definite trial that I didn't count on was having my body betray me in a way that I never expected. I sat there and was so happy to have a break from the reality that my body continues to do things that I don't want it to do. We have had 2 beautiful kids and I'm so happy for that, but I won't lie and say that I alwas dreamed of having a large family with lots of children. And as I sat there looking at the temple I was reminded that we will have our chance to add to the great family we have one day. And after the trial of this life is over we will all get the chance to to realize those dreams we have. I felt a strong love from my Father in Heaven.  I sit here today and don't know my fate. I'm waiting for new news about the problems my body is having. It can be scary, but i'm so thankful for my family and my friends, and most of all my faith that gets me through the hard times. I know I'll get through it.




My Love!