San Diego

April 1st, the girls and I (and Mom) got up bright an early and hopped on a plane to sunny Southern CA. Just in time to skip out on the cold weather here! These girls were superb travelers (and I was more than a little nervous).

 Much easier with Grandma to help. 

 We got in, met up with Sharon, Eve, and Halle, shuttled over to the rental car place, and picked up our minivan. We grabbed lunch and were able to check into our hotel early. Everything went so smoothly- I was shocked! We quickly changed into our swim suits and headed for the beach!

 The girls all loved the sand and the big girls loved the water too. Daryn and Halle gave it a try, but it was a bit too chilly for them. 

 Total beach bums. 

 We had to stop by for a quick ride on the carousel that was right there on the beach

 Before hurrying home for baths to get the copious amounts of sand off.

Daryn was a little tuckered out at this point and just laid there kicking her legs. 

 Once the girls were all clean, it was time to go to dinner and meet up with the boys! Dad, Merrill, and Evan drove out from Colorado. 

 Grandpa loves. 

 Thursday morning- time for Eric! The reason we all came! He was graduating from boot camp and becoming a full-fledged Marine. 

Our first glimpse of him:

 Waiting patiently. 

 Almost time...

 There we go! 

 Reagan was absolutely enamored of Eric and his "soldier uniform".

 We got to spend some time that afternoon with the missionaries on base and the members in his company (about 10) and eat cake!

 My favorite part was when they sang the Marine hymn.

 Daryn's was the cake. 

 What a stud! The girls got little USMC t-shirts. 

 And I got a hat. Proud USMC sister!

 After family day on Thursday, Friday was the actual graduation ceremony. Daryn was not thrilled to be there. 

 Until I let her sit on the steps. She sat right there and ate raisins nicely for an hour. 

 The Marine band was there and played lots of music throughout, so she stayed very entertained clapping her hands, etc. One time after a song she clapped with everyone else, then when it was completely silent, she yelled "Yay!" really loud, and everyone in the sections around us laughed. When the laughter quieted down, she looked at me and said (again loudly) "I said yay!" and everyone laughed again. It was so funny- little class clown! 

The D company marched down the parade deck and all around, and they sure looked good!

 

If you can't recognize his derrière, I believe Eric is in the 3rd row, 3rd from the left below. 

 Like I said, she adores him. 

 Proud military parents.

 We had a nice lunch buffet on base after the graduation, and then spent some time at the Marine museum there, and then came back to the hotel for some ice cream treats and swimming. 

 Then ordered pizza and watch a movie in the hotel room- we were too tired to go out at that point!

 Saturday was our last day. We got up, checked out, and drove over to the USS Midway Museum. It was so cool- a huge aircraft carrier! We spent 3 hours touring it before we had to leave for the airport and probably only saw half. 

Then it was time to say our goodbyes. Bittersweet! 

Before went went to the airport, we took one last drive- over a huge bridge that went all the way over the bay. Great view!

Somehow we made it through the rental car return, the shuttle, and security, onto our flight and all the way home!

I don't know if I've ever been so glad to see Lance waiting for us! We had a blast in San Diego, but it was go go go, with no nap times, late nights, and early mornings. I needed a break. And I got one! Lance told me he had a surprise for dinner- homemade chicken parmesan from scratch! I was so impressed. It was delicious. And today we were able to take it easy and watch Conference. So happy to be all together again.