`California Adventure 2013`

Every year since Nick and I have been married we have tried to make it on at least one big vacation trip. We usually try to go during the winter and go somewhere warm just to give ourselves a break from the ridiculously long Idaho winters. So... Examples: Year 1- baja Mexican Cruise, Year 2- Latvia (probably my favorite trip! But this wasn't a winter trip, we went in August of 2009), Year 3- San Diego, CA, 

Year 4- Western Caribbean Cruise.  

So this year was no different. This year we actually were hoping to go on a trip to Florida with our kids and do the whole Disney world thing plus maybe try a bahama cruise, but lets be realistic here, that would not go too smoothly with a 2 year old and a 6 month old. So we changed our plans and decided to go to 

California again. 

A much better decision, and it turned out great!

We actually ended up going with about half of the Barker side of the family and although it would have been fun to have everyone, we had a blast with those that came! 

We stayed in a condo right on Imperial beach near San Diego. We went to Disneyland, played on the beach,  went to Coronado a couple times, played on the beach some more, and also went to Sea World. Now I could probably go on for a VERY long time about every little thing we did and how much we all (especially Sophie) loved it but I am going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking here.
WARNING: There are a TON of pictures! 

It was so nice being right on the beach! We played out on the beach ALOT. Nick rented a surf board for the week and "attempted" to surf almost every day. 

I will admit he got better at it by the end of the week. Its a shame we don't

live closer to the beach ( for many reasons) but I bet he could get really good at surfing. He loves it. Every morning we would go for a walk out to the pier, right by our condo

and look for dolphins. We even saw them a couple of times. Pretty sweet!

The kids also LOVED playing in the sand. All of the kids except Sophie got in the water.

For some reason she is a total wuss when it comes

 to playing in water. I don't get it!

Ya they all made this sand castle... pretty cool huh!

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Disneyland was so fun. Mainly because Sophie loved it so much. But to be honest it was 

SO packed we could hardly do any rides unless we wanted

to wait in line for over an hour. Which we did NOT want to do! Our favorite part was the Disney

parade that night. It had all the characters (which is what Sophie loved most about Disneyland) and it was 

such a cool parade!

Coronado was a blast! We rented a bike thing, went for a ferry ride over to San Diego, ate at some fun restaurants, shopped, played at the park, and played tennis. So fun!

Biggest pizza I have EVER had! It was amazing!

 On the ferry ride with Nick's parents and Stephanie and John's family.

Our last day in California was spent at Sea World. It was SO fun! The weather was a little

chilly that day and it even sprinkled rain a couple of times but that didn't bother

us! I think it may have even made it nicer, because, unlike Disneyland, Sea world was not busy AT ALL! Sophie loved Shamu and liked watching the dolphins. She was too scared

to pet them though, but I really thought it was way cool! We also rode all the little kiddie rides MANY times because there were no lines. AWESOME!

We had a great time on our trip, and we are already planning for next year. We are hoping to go to Hawaii. Who's with us!?! :)

*~Wedding~*

 So I have been meaning to do this post for a little while now but we have been a little busy these last couple weeks (we just got back from a great trip to California, {more on that in my next post}). So its taken me longer than expected to blog about this, but On February 2, 2013 my brother Brady got married to the sweetest girl ever Elisa Johnson. They got married in the Twin Falls, ID temple. Which was great for us because that temple happens to be only about 10 min from our house. It was such a great day and we are so happy to have Elisa as part of our family! We love her!

So I am kicking myself because this is literally the only picture I got of anything at the temple. But lets be honest it was FREEZING so I was really not as worried about taking pictures as

I was about not letting my kids {and myself} freeze to death. Ha

Sophie LOVED going into the temple. Obviously she was only able to 

go into the waiting room but that was perfect. She always wants to drive by it when we go

into town and always talks about "getting married" there. 

That night in Pocatello they had their reception and ring ceremony. Sophie got to be one of the flower girls and looked adorable if I do say so myself. 

She was a little shy but the other flower girls were so sweet with her and 

she loved it! She still talks about it.

The reception was beautiful!

They also had a little dance during the reception and these two little cuties were 

definitely a hit! 

How cute are they!? 

I think it took a little coaxing from his mom (my cousin Tina) to get Derek out there with Sophie, but Sophie was loving every minute of it! :)

Oh yeah... Did I mention I made the cake for the wedding? I think it turned out pretty well.

Grandma Sherri and Cru

Like I said earlier we are so happy for Brady and Elisa! We love them both! 

~Congratulations you two!!!~