The trip to San Diego had been planned for months... the one that Thayne had promised Tiffany. But after the accident we were constantly gone to the hospital, and running back and forth to the hospital and I felt sick thinking about leaving the kids again. In the end, we decided to go. With only a huge dose of mommy guilt leaving my stomach tied in knots!(And since one commenter felt worried for leaving our family to care for themselves...the reason I felt so worried about leaving was not that I was leaving them alone, but that I actually enjoy my kids and hated leaving while there was so much going on... but thanks to good friends who offered to take kids... we knew that they were very, very well cared for and those great friends insisted on us going... thank you Melissa for keeping several girls and Buffy for keeping several boys so that the big kids were free to enjoy their weekend also! You are all the best and I am so grateful for you being part of our lives!!!) When we left, we left the kids out making snowmen and enjoying what was left of the foot of snow we got the day before! While we were flying into beautiful record breaking heat... they were sending me cute pictures of their snow family.
San Diego is absolutely beautiful... more bautiful than I imagined! We stayed in La Jolla, and it was so peaceful, clean and beautiful. Going to the temple there was just amazing. Garrett was able to see one of his missionary companions that was getting married that day and we were not only able to go through a session, but a sweet couple asked us to help them do family sealings. She could barely speak English but she looked so sweet as we did the work and I felt very blessed to witness such a wonderful event! Did I mention that the San Diego Temple is absolutely AMAZING? I could have sat there all day and did nothing else... but everyone seemed ready to get out on the town and see the sights...
We were able to visit the Birch Aquarium and get pictures of the jelly fish for Kassi... because hey, she asked for them! I can't believe the beauty of the world under the sea... every time I see it, I am newly amazed. A world of beauty we rarely get to see!
We spent a lot of time on the beaches, watching the beauty of the sunsets over the ocean, the waves crashing in, walking barefoot in the sand. There were moments when it took your breath away. Went to Coronado Island and loved the beaches there. We loved seeing all of the seals on the beach in La Jolla... especially the one that looked like a dalmation puppy!!!
We loved sight seeing on the ocean front, going through the USS Midway and seeing the ships and Russian submarine. It's amazing to think of all that the USS Midway, and those that were on it did for our country. We went on a flight simulator and had fun but Thayne flew too far ahead of the enemy for me to shoot them down! :) 
The bad part was that while we were gone, Tallin went to his senior prom! He took Jenna... Caitlyn's little sister and it sounds like they had a great time. We were gone, but so were Jenna's parents, so we left the older kids, and Candice and Shalum to act as the parents! I hated that we missed seeing him off. But thanks to modern technology, it was like we were here because we got pictures on the cell phone of them! 
It was so nice spending the weekend with Thayne, and with Tiffany and Garrett. It was fun to get away and to spend time in such a beautiful place. Of course things were crazy to come home... The top of Jace's incision got infected (Thank you Carrie for taking such great care of him!!!) and he met us over in Utah to see his doctor and get things checked out. Carrie had cleaned it out so well that they weren't worried, but it will take a while for it to close. Again, I am so amazed, and grateful for the blessings of his healing, of his protection. Before Thayne left me in Salt Lake right after this all started, he gave me a Priesthood blessing that told me that the desire of my heart, to see my son's miraculous healing would take place... then it said, "The set back will be minor and everyone will recognize the gift of the miracle of his healing." I think I held my breath waiting for a 'set back' and when Jace called and told us his incision looked infected and that the doctor wanted him right over... I kind of let my breath out and felt like that was what I had been waiting for all of this time. But doctors say he is doing great and we go back on Thursday to follow up with the burn unit to check on the graft! We have had so many miracles and so many blessings... I will just continue to count my many blessings!
