if i want it then its up to me to make it mine

our summer was pretty top heavy with fun and excitement this year.  as in, its june 19th and we've got nothing on the calendar until october...which is good because i'm still recovering from all the adventure.

our most recent memory-making family fun was a trip to la jolla, california for a long weekend over memorial day.

there were 6 of us all on the same flight and nobody got kicked off or reprimanded for being too wild, maybe the 8am departure time worked in our favor.  

cause for such a beautiful trip was the wedding of whitney, chris's cousin, and josh.  most of us stayed at la jolla shores hotel on the beach.  talk about something out of a dream.  wow,  

this was the sunset view from our room.  yes, that's the ocean.  i dare you to sleep better than i did while listening to the waves crash all night...even with bronchitis.  haha.

the world was on our side the day we traveled to san diego.  our flight arrived before 10am.  we promptly summoned an uber that arrived in less than 2 minutes to pick us up.  when we got to our exquisite hotel, we got an early check in...and when i say early i mean before 11am!  so, when in rome....

since california doesn't have all those goofy laws about alcohol like we do here in the promised land of utah, first thing was first.  mimosas at the hotel bar while we waited for the rental car folks in our party to arrive at the hotel.  

besides the ocean, the sun, and lax liquor laws the food was the best part of the trip.  we ate a lot of good food and most of it was a stone's throw from our hotel.  on friday, shortly after arriving, we went to a magical little brunch spot called barbarella.  full disclosure, the bartender at the hotel bar suggested it when we went for mimosas...it's his other gig.  he was right though.  it was fantastic and not the only visit we would pay while in la jolla.

after lunch it was time to show zade the ocean.  chris and i shared a room at the hotel with zade and mikelle. i'm so glad we did.  that kiddo makes my heart happy.  the 6 of us hung out on the beach for a while soaking up the sun on friday afternoon while we waited for others to arrive.  behind us on the beach is our hotel.

chris and z spent a lot of time discussing the intricacies of beach life and ladies in swimsuits....oh, and cheetahs.

normally not stoked about pictures of just me.  chris took this photo of me on the beach with the enchanted portrait mode on my phone and it's not so shabby.

 josh and whitney made it to town friday afternoon and we joined them for another amazing meal.  we all had dinner at galaxy taco.  yum.  fish tacos were tops.  and the churros.....well, i could never do them justice with words.  and to think that i fancy myself a writer. ha.

saturday was the day we got to hang out all day together with everyone.  so.much.fun.  of course, we started out with more fantastic food.  we had breakfast at shorehouse kitchen.

z loved the hot chocolate.  i loved the mimosas and sourdough toast.

 while testing the spoon on the nose skills of a few in our group i caught an awesome/eerie photo of whit dropping her spoon.

 z showed everyone up by balancing a crayon on his spoon while it hung on his little nose!

after breakfast it was more pool time at the hotel.  z, chris, and mikelle played some serious water ball games.  

saturday evening before dinner we all went to the sea lion beach.  it was really cool to get so close to those guys...but some people just are not smart, i wish the sea lions had more protection from dummies.

handsome fella

i love this picture of rayah!  she's so beautiful.

sunday was the big day.  wedding at sunrise under scripps pier which was exactly 0.8 miles from our hotel.  

a perfect little walk down the beach.

we sure clean up nice.

gah, i ruin so many things....but most of them are photos, thankfully.  :)

mr and mrs

mikelle and i with smiles that say, "no, we aren't freezing..."

man, i sure love everything about that one.

scripps pier

after the wedding we all had breakfast at caroline's cafe, just above the beach.  in the above photo you may notice that chris and i are absent.  why, you ask?  let me tell you a story.....

josh and whitney had just exchanged the most beautiful vows that words allow, making even the most hard-hearted among us well up with tears.  we were all shoving donuts in our faces and i was just making my way to the coffee when someone says, "coleman's, it's your turn for pictures." it seems like it all happened at once but the next thing i knew, chris was ducking, i looked in the air and saw only "spots" falling toward me, and in a last ditch effort, lunged to the sand hoping the "spots" would not land on me...they did.  it was seagull shit.  and there was a lot of it....in my hair!!!!  a few of the things i remember hearing that made me laugh in the subsequent moments after the incident:

"well, at least you didn't have to look like a girl for very long."

"of course you're the one this would happen to..."

"did i really not get any on me????"

"there's so much of it!"

"EWWWWW"

also lots of gagging from the lovelies who helped clean me up for pictures.

once i was somewhat composed we took our turn for photos.  thankfully it was on one side of my hair and sort of in the back so some strategic placement in the photo helped to hide it.  this is also the reason there are NO cute pictures of me in my dress with cute hair and makeup.  Hopefully the magical photographers got some.  :)

as soon as we were finished with photos, chris and i hightailed it back to the hotel and i showered, washing my hair three times....i think i got it all out.  with no time to get ready all over again i did this sweet wet hair move and put some mascara on and we were back down the beach to caroline's cafe.  

still smiling after [sh]it.

i said goodbye to sunny california on monday with a full blown case of bronchitis.  that's how you know a trip was a true success for me.  some sort of lung-comprimising ailment by the time i get home.

but really, i'm so glad i found chris and that in addition to him being the most perfect human for me he comes with a family that most people only dream of.  they aren't perfect, and they don't believe it's real when i say that i hit the family lottery....but it did!