A Few Other Moments

The high point of our little vacation was, of course, visiting Disneyland. I left out the part where we were in the car for a lot of hours before and after. And the part where Bridget left our copies of the Book of Mormon in the drawer of the hotello where the other ones were. There were the trips into disgusting gas station bathrooms for false alarms. The time I dropped $11 in the toilet and didn't even hesitate to get it out. Bridget screaming from Anaheim to Las Vegas because we forgot to charge her DVD player and she needed to watch Mulan. My cousin Ashley had a lovely post yesterday in which she explained that her blog is for the beauty that she finds in her kind of messy life. Me too! I also hope I'm not leaving anyone with the impression that I am awesome all day every day. I do find beautiful moments and I like celebrating those.

The first stop we made on our trip was lunch at Taco Time in St. George. We pulled into the parking lot and Bridget said, "Is this the Princess Castle?" It's really too bad that we had to go and raise her expectations.
Next we made a stop at the St. George Temple. At our last stake conference the Mt. Timpanogos Temple President, Edward Brown, spoke about putting one drop of oil at a time in our child's lamp. It takes time and it can't be done all at once - preparing them for life, I mean. Sister Brown suggested that we let our children spend time on the temple grounds, let them touch the temple. I loved that. I loved everything about the Browns, really. I want to do what they said.
We thought a trip to California wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Pacific Ocean. It was about a half hour drive to Sunset Beach from our hotello in Anaheim. We passed four Carl's Jr. on the way there. (Just a little Carl's Jr. sighting update for you. Too bad I chose the second one on the way home for dinner instead of the one 50 feet from our hotel.) The ocean is always a sight to behold. We stood in it, Bridget ran into and out of it with abandon until she got hit with a wave, we made sandcastles, and I collected shells for my Pacific Ocean Sailor Valentine. (Finally! I've had my Atlantic Ocean Sailor Valentine for eight years now. I made it during a beach house vacation with my family.)


It was funny to watch Bridget get off balance when she'd watch the water. This trip was all about watching our child experience some amazing stuff for the first time. Those are the most beautiful moments of all.