Escape Room, Ben and Haley Sealed in the San Diego Temple, Frolfing, Ocean Viewing

It was a happy sight when I opened the door to see these two sons standing on our front porch. Jacob had flown in from Omaha and had picked up Abe who had flown in from San Francisco.

That meant we had the whole crew here, plus Haley's mom Tracie.

We had planned to have a full day of fun with the group, but we ended up dealing with a missionary who was having medical issues and needed to go home early. Those always take a lot of time to manage and coordinate between all the phone calls with Missionary Medical, the Area Medical Adviser, our mission doctor, the nurse, the counselor, the In-field Representative, Elder Cook, the travel department, the stake president, sometimes phone calls or correspondence with the parents and then meeting with the missionary. It is all so time-consuming and so emotionally draining.

We ended up sending the group off to the tide pools without us with the hope that we would meet up with them at their next destination. Luckily that happened and we found ourselves waiting in a parking lot behind a sketchy looking building which we had booked online to have a super hero escape room adventure.

Everyone mocked my super hero pose--and don't ask me which super hero I was posing as--except Glen who apparently wanted a Spiderman super hero pose for the photo.

Here's another one. Super hero Ben is pounding the ground so hard that we all react to the shock of it.

All of us caped crusaders received our super powers and went upstairs into a room where we had to use brain power to solve all the puzzles to help us escape from the room.

The guy in charge seemed very surprised when we broke out of the room in way less minutes than the allotted 60 minutes. Hooray for us!!

Rebecca wondered if I would bring out the tablecloth and use the formal dining room when she was here. Here's proof that I did.

The reason we were all gathered together was for the sealing of Ben and Haley in the San Diego Temple. I loved having all of our children in the temple with us. Such a great feeling. We are very happy Ben and Haley chose the San Diego Temple so we could attend with them. 

Ben wanted a picture of him holding the spires of the temple in his hands.

Our family lunch after the temple was at the Tequila Factory overlooking Old Town San Diego. Our children wanted to have the same experience our missionaries have when we take them to this restaurant before going to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. 

After we changed our clothes we found a frisbee golf course and had an eye-opening experience of what frolfing is all about. Or rather what the players are like who take throwing discs at a target extremely seriously.

Our crew was definitely not as serious-minded as the "professionals" who carry around 35-pound bags full of different kinds of throwing discs. And who have their wind-up routine down pat, complete with kissing the disc before throwing. Hilarious! The game was way more entertaining than I ever could have imagined.

There was a lot of waiting time in between each hole, so Jacob randomly decided to climb a tree.

Sarah had stepped in a tide pool and had gotten her foot soaked the day before. This day we sloshed through muddy grass and her shoe got filled with mud.

After our fun-filled frolfing frenzy, we went our separate ways. Glen and the boys went to a BYU basketball game. Haley and her mom went to a movie. The girls and I walked around the Carlsbad Outlet Mall where my companions decided they needed an ice cream treat.

We had a fun time walking around out in the night air under the stars.

And then pregnant Sarah came home and was exhausted. She had been determined to use her no-kid vacation to full advantage and cram in all she could and she was getting tired.

She did get off the couch to play Qwirkle with Rebecca and me. I love that game!

Ben showed us how he does his morning cheer with his Amazon team. After that, his siblings had to get in a good cheer whenever they could at his expense. Like right before we left for Church.

Abe left town Sunday afternoon and Jacob left early Monday morning. That left these four wanting to go to the ocean one more time before they left town. So off we went to the Oceanside Pier.

 They weren't the only ones willing to pose for a photo on the pier.

I love this picture so much. Not only are the people cute in the photo, but the photo-bombing pelican is quite cute, too.

Ben, Haley and Tracie ate lunch at the Pier before taking Tracie to the airport. The girls had a few more hours before their plane left, so we had a fun girly lunch at Gregorio's in Carlsbad Village.

Ben and Haley left town the following morning. It was a great week of family togetherness.  

Our children decided it was pretty relaxing and fun to go on vacation without their kids. They have since been dreaming about how they can make it happen again--only with their spouses next time.

Any time children. Any time. We are here for another 2 1/2 years.

The Big Chicken, Zone Conferences, Children Start to Arrive

Whenever we are driving on El Camino Real and see this big chicken sitting on the top of this building, it makes me think of the Big Chicken in Marietta, Georgia.

The Big Chicken is a KFC restaurant which features a 56-foot-tall steel-sided structure designed in the appearance of a chicken rising up from the top of the building. It is located at the city's biggest intersection of Cobb Parkway and Roswell Road and is a well-known landmark in the area. (All these details are courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Constructed in 1956, it was built over a restaurant as a method of advertising. The owner later sold it to his brother and it became a franchise of KFC. In 1993, storm winds damaged the structure and rather than tear it down, KFC was forced by public outcry to re-erect the building. We were living in Georgia at this time and I remember the public outcry. By then we were pretty fond of the landmark ourselves.

Among those who complained about the Big Chicken being torn down were pilots who used the building as a reference point when approaching Atlanta and Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The new Big Chicken includes the original design of beak and eyes which move. 

The Big Chicken is commonly used as a landmark for driving directions. When Glen was on the high council and was on the committee for ward boundary changes, he wanted to name one of the new wards the Five Miles North of The Big Chicken Ward. Ha ha!! Instead he named our new ward the Allatoona Ward. As if that was any better...?!?!??

Glen is in heaven now that the missionary department has changed zone conferences from every quarter to having them every transfer cycle. As excited as he was to be able to be with and instruct the missionaries more often, the stake Relief Society sisters who feed us were probably just as unexcited to know they will be asked to feed us twice as much.

Our first day of zone conferences in January were with the Escondido, San Marcos and Del Mar zones. I have been telling the sisters that we are used to using plain church tables with no tablecloths or decorations on them, but they generally like to do some decorating.

These "fishers of men" edible centerpieces were so clever and adorable!

They served us a Mexican salad meal. The women love it when the missionaries sing "Called to Serve." You can always tell who has a missionary out because they are the ones who are crying.

The assistants love it when I take their picture.

Day two of zone conferences was with the Carlsbad, Vista and Fallbrook zones held at the church close to our house. The aprons say "Called to Serve." We are sure glad they were happy to serve us!

It was another Mexican salad kind of meal. It works great for the missionaries who have special dietary needs (like me) who can pick or choose what to add to their salad to make it tummy friendly for each individual.

Day three of zone conferences was up north with the Temecula and Murrieta zones. Inspirational quotes were displayed on each table.

These sisters asked the missionaries what they would like to eat for lunch and they were told they wanted breakfast for lunch. They said they never eat a substantial breakfast and it would be a real treat to have a waffle breakfast for lunch. Complete with fruity toppings and bacon, sausage and cantaloupe.

They were even so sweet as to make gluten/dairy-free waffles for the special eaters. AHHH! So nice of them!

Ben and Haley had arrived in town the week of zone conferences and we pretty much ignored them. They went to the temple one day and were so kind as to pick up their sisters at the airport really late the next night.

We had left early enough in the morning that we hadn't even seen our daughters until that evening. What a welcome sight!

The four of them had a great time during the day playing lazer tag, going to a movie, eating pizza and playing games in our absence.

We had planned to grill chicken that evening. Sarah insisted we eat dinner outside on our patio. After all, she had come from freezing cold, snowy Utah and wanted to take full advantage of our warm, sunny California weather.

Except for the fact it was cold and it was rainy and no sun was shining at all. We turned on the heaters and strategically placed the table to avoid the water drips coming from the roof which should have been water-proof, but we learned it doesn't stay completely dry under there.

 Yummy dinner and great conversation and playing Qwirkle was a great way to end the day.