In high school Hyrum had a group of guy friends that he was real close to. The last man standing, Matt Gardner, (ie, the last one single) got married over Christmas break, so we took a family vacation to Pasadena, California. Unfortunately we missed the Rose Parade by a day or so, but still had an excellent vacation. The day after Christmas we drove to Needles, California, the first town you come to when you leave Arizona and enter California. It is a podunk place on the Colorado River at the start of the Mojave desert. The best part of that town is a nice Best Western with a sweet pool that we enjoyed, and a cute diner for dinner and breakfast. The hotel had a deal with them that instead of a continental breakfast, you get a breakfast at the diner.
Tuesday, we drove into Pasadena and enjoyed swimming in the pool until it was time to go to a wedding dinner. Matt is a semi-closet Proclaimers fan, so Hyrum played on the accordion and his friend Sam, sang a remade Proclaimers version to “I’m on my Way to Misery to Happiness Today.” I think the Proclaimers should consider adding accordion to the mix because it really added something to that song. Unfortunately, all the pictures I took of them were blurry because Grant wanted to help out.
On Wednesday it was wedding day, but since it didn’t start until 1pm, we decided to spend the morning at the beach. When you live in New Mexico, you have to take every opportunity to be next to the water that you can get.
The boys had a blast playing in the sand. Scottie loved playing in the waves. James did at first too but he got knocked over so he got a little nervous of them after that. We also saw a bunch of dolphins in the water jumping which was cool. Overall, awesome, and I wish we lived by the sea. No wonder people pay an arm and a leg to live in California.
After the beach we had to high tail it home and shower and change in approximately 20 minutes so we could cruise over and make it to the wedding. We arrived huffing and puffing but we made it. It was a beautiful wedding. I had never been in the LA temple and it is enormous and so beautiful.
Our handsome boys dressed up for the wedding. We had one mishap on the temple grounds. James, excited with all the kids around, waiting for the bride and groom to come out, fell over backwards off the temple stoop into a really, really thorny bush. He was pretty sore for a bit and it involved digging out some pretty long thorns from his back, ouch.
Matt Gardner and his beautiful bride Sarah Marie. We had a ton of fun hanging out with one of Hyrum’s other high school buddies, Sam and his wife Elizabeth.
I have to laugh at the picture because James is in bliss right here. At the reception they had one of those tables with all sorts of candies that you can put in a little bag and take as a favor. Well we let the boys help themselves and they thought that was pretty great. They don’t usually get to eat as much candy as they want. The reception was cool. It was located in Sarah’s parents backyard and it was beautiful. Best of all, there was an IN-N-OUT truck in the front yard and you could order anything you liked. Fun.
Thursday, we did one more great vacation thing, we took the boys to Disneyland. I would NEVER plan a vacation to Disneyland at Christmas, it was insanely packed. Since we were already there however, we thought we would brave the crowds for a day and take the boys. Scottie’s favorite ride was Star Tours. He is currently really into Star Wars though he never has seen the movies.
Scottie with his Star Tours 3D glasses.
Grant enjoying eating a Disneyland pin.
James in the Finding Nemo submarine.
We all had a blast on the carousel. James’ favorite rides were the carousel, the Casey Junior train, and the flying Dumbos.
Overall we had a great day. It left us so worn out however, that we couldn’t make it all the way home to Albuquerque, and instead had to stop and sleep a night in Flagstaff, Arizona, on the way home. We had a great time. Who can get married next so we can have an excellent family vacation? Karissa? John? Rosalyn? 
