California Dreamin'

We've just returned from California for an unofficial family reunion. Unofficial because not everyone in Ammon's family were there but, nonetheless, there was a huge gathering. All of us out-of-towners stayed at grandma and grandpa Maughan's house in Palos Verdes. All the beds and couches were taken by the time we arrived so we just pulled up some floor. Talk about a full house!

Dolphins
We really enjoyed being on the beach this particular morning. Ammon and his brother Ricky went running (I went too but not with them- I'm way too slow for them) while Connor played in the ocean with his aunts Amy and Sarah. While in the water, the kids saw what they feared were sharks but what thankfully turned out to be dolphins swimming very near them.
Once we were ready to leave, we went up to this overlook (nicknamed "dolphin point"). We could see those dolphins still very clearly go up and down the shoreline. There were about 6 of them. Way cool!

Here's Connor on the dolphin statue. He really liked the tail. So much so that he decided to take a "nap" on it. He jumped down to get our beach towels, carefully folded one into a pillow and had us drape the other one over him like a blanket. Too cute!

Check out the sweaty (and not too sweet-smelling) brothers after their run ;)

Temple
Early Saturday morning, before all our projects got started, we adults headed to the Los Angeles Temple to do sealings. It was a wonderful and spiritually-bonding experience. My heart took a picture. :)

Projects

Most everyone that didn't live nearby had come out to California for a week. We, unfortunately, were only able to be there for a 3-day weekend. It was quite a crammed schedule while we were there.

Before we arrived many of the family had done some yard work, organization projects, and had torn the carpet from grandma's bathroom. Yet to do were several projects that we were able to help with. The mega project was to put in a new floor in the bathroom. Friday had us at the hardware store checking out vinyl floors. Saturday we were shopping for new bathroom and household items. We also food shopped for the large family dinner on Sunday.

Late Saturday evening found several of the family members figuring out the vinyl floor. Ammon and I stayed up really late actually laying the floor and putting the toilet back on. Sacrificing a little sleep was worth it to serve Ammon's grandparents and to learn some kickin' new "skills"! We were quite happy with the results, even though we didn't have time to get the baseboard on.
Ammon also had his dad give him a haircut. I usually give him his haircuts so I was grateful for the break. Besides, his dad does a much better job in half the time!

Enjoying ourselves
In addition to the hard work, we had time for some good play.

Here's Connor enjoying his big Uncle Ricky on the stairs.
Connor is inside this sleeping bag that Aunt Amy is carrying. He had so much fun playing with this bag. He hatched out of it like it was a dinosaur egg, he used it as a slide to go down the stairs shown above, he made himself into a worm and even a genie inside it...so creative.

Sweet Aunt Liza, Uncle Mark's wife.
Grandpa taking a snooze while dinner is getting ready. If you look closely, you can see the amazing view of the ocean, beach and city they have from their front windows. At night, they call it their treasure box because all the lights twinkle and sparkle. Just beautiful.
One evening we went out to the beach to see the sunset. As you can see, we didn't quite make it.
Maughan parents with their four children. The one on the right is Ammon's mom. l to r: Sue (youngest), Marilyn (oldest daughter), Mark (oldest), Gwendolyn (middle daughter).
Ammon's sweet grandparents