San Diego Vacation 2012

This year for Christmas we decided that if we could pay off several of our debts and put ourselves in position to pay off the rest, we would go to San Diego with our friends the Recksiek family. They are a traveling family and while they like to go to Disneyland often, I have struggled getting excited about Disneyland. So, when they said San Diego I thought it could be promising. To be honest I have struggled taking time off at all for vacation, not that I don't like time off, but because I fear coming back. Nonetheless, I decided if my wife was willing to work for it that hard I was not going to be a fuddy duddy. Besides the other part of the deal was that it be paid for ahead of time.

So, after planning things out with the Recksieks we were excited for the new adventure. We decided to leave a day earlier than the Recksieks so that we could visit with the Lee family in Irvine on the way down. So we left on Saturday the 14th just after noon in our rental vehicle, a GMC Canyon. The ride down was rather uneventful. DeeAnn wanted to drive and there were not any dirt roads for "short cuts" to slow us down so we made good time and arrived just about midnight.

As we entered the valley we were taken back with the size of the moon. It was incredible. We used our handy dandy GPS app on my phone which worked pretty good. There were a couple of areas that it wigged out on us, but we were able to get to our destination without too much hassle, in fact we beat the Lees home.
Sunday morning we got up and ready for church. We were a bit late, but we made it to most of our meetings. That day the Elders quorum had taken over the Primary for the Sisters so they could attend a special Relief Society meeting. I decided to stay with the primary where we had a cool lesson on protecting ourselves spiritually by putting on the Armor of God. During the lesson I had this thought, God's laws do not restrict us, but they reveal those things that do restrict us.

After we got back from church, we hung around the house, talked and rested some until about 4:30 when we were going to try and catch a sunset at Inspiration Point at New Port Beach. Not the best time for a sunset picture due to the clouds and the coming storm, but we still got a couple of pictures and the kids got their feet...and a little bit more wet before the wet from beneath us started meeting with the wet from above us. And that ended our stay at the beach.
Monday we visited with the Lees and Lauree got to help Jean make sushi for us before we headed off to San Diego. Our timing couldn't have been any better as We met up with the Recksieks just after we got checked in at the Plaza Circle Ramada. That was would be our base for the next 5 nights. We shared neighboring rooms. It probably drove the people underneath us crazy, but we had kids back and forth from room to room at times. It was really fun.
That first night we ate at Ricky's it was supposed to be like the 2nd best place to eat in San Diego. We didn't have to fight for seating and the food was pretty good, but I was not sold on 2nd best. Maybe it was because I looked at the wrong side of the menu to determine what I ate, but I would definitely eat there again.

Tuesday morning after we got back from the hotel breakfast nook we prepared our lunches for the day and headed out on our first activity. We decided since Legoland was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday that we would go to the Point Loma Lighthouse museum and then to the Aquarium.
Did I tell you I really love technology. All I did was put Point Loma into my GPS and wallah it sends me to Point Loma...naval base where we were greeted some very friendly well armed sailors who were nice enough to turn us around before declaring us enemies of the state...
The ride to Point Loma lighthouse was quite humbling as we past through the cemetery where thousands of sailors have been laid to rest.
The museum and lighthouse were pretty cool as you can stand above the bay and watch ships coming and going from the bay. I have been to harbors before but nothing like this. It was impressive. The lighthouse was interesting as we got to learn about how a small light could be magnified by the shape of the glass. The living quarters were interesting as well. I heard someone say that it was 10 hours away to get any wood...That is crazy. It took us not much longer than that to drive from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

After the Lighthouse we took the road down bellow the lighthouse to the tidal pools along the shore. There we ate lunch and played on the rocks looking for hermit crabs, fish, and any other signs of terrestrial life forms that we could find. We got there a little late for the to explore too much, but it was fun and we found some interesting life forms.

On to the Birch Aquarium. Birch Aquarium was not as good as the Aquarium of the Pacific, but it was fun. The kids got to play in the mock tidal pool. Emily made friends with gentleman who was instructing us as to what we were seeing and giving us the opportunity to do some hands on activities. At the overlook we were told we could see the whale spouts as the whales were migrating through the area...Indeed we did see the whale spouts. I even got some pictures of the event. After going through the aquarium portion they had some cool water features and games for everyone to play.
We had received a tip that in La Jolla there was a beach that taken over by sea lions. It was getting kind of late, but I also wanted to get a sunset picture so once found the park in La Jolla I was able to get a few pictures in before the sun went down. One of my favorites was a split second shot of 5 seagulls flying in directly toward me with the sunset at their backs. It was awesome. Bytheway, those sea lions were not very graceful when they were on land, but they were beautiful creatures nonetheless.
We had to laugh at our GPS which thus far had given us the correct pronunciation for the streets in San Diego, but when it came to La Jolla it pronounced it with the English rules. So it became our joke when ever we passed the La Jolla exit.

After getting some dinner at Wendy's we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. So we could get some rest for the day to come...

Wednesday was the Zoo. We headed out right after breakfast. I think I ate more waffles that week than I have in a couple of years, it was a good thing we stayed active through the week.
The Zoo was incredible. We started off with the bus tour, which was a good thing because had it not been for the bus and the sky ride we would not have seen half the zoo. It was amazing how big it was and how many different animals we saw. I think my favorite part of the zoo had to be the primates, but the polar bears were pretty cool as well in fact all the animals were pretty cool. We learned that zebras are identified by the stripes on their butt. It seems that their butt is more identifiable than any other part of their body. So I took a picture of a zebra leaving his identity in tact. It was a lot of walking, but it was tons of fun. We were there from just after opening to closing time.
For Dinner we decided to go to Little Italy, to eat at Filipa's Pizza Grotto. The food was really good, but this was where the Recksieks vacation started to take a dip to the south, as little Millie got sick at dinner. You would not have known it by looking at her because Millie is probably one of the happiest sick people I have ever met.
This was just the first of their children to get sick on the trip. First it was Millie, then Hyrum, next was Emily, and finally Sam on the way home. I can't say enough about how well Amy and Joe handled it. We would have never known that they were having such a hard time had we not seen what was going on. We learned a lot from them about parenting in general just by observing them in action. I am so glad that we have friends that we can continue to learn from. Amy and Joe are certainly a great couple and it is obvious their children are in good hands.

 So, Thursday was the day that the boys had been waiting for. It was a day at Legoland where they could spend the money that they didn't lose by disobeying adults or running off. They did well so they were excited. Legoland was probably my biggest surprise. I have to admit it did not sound like fun to me. I was going for the kids and was going to have fun watching them have fun. I mean how much can you do with the legos that I grew up with? I was impressed from the get go as they had life sized sculptures of people just outside the entrance to the park. It only got better from there. I took tons of pictures, but I have to say my favorite area was the several world cityscapes. They were breath taking how intricately detailed they were. from the band playing in front of the the United States Capital replica, to the streets in New York City. it was just amazing. You felt like you could just step in and be a part of it. They had life size elephants and giraffes, as well as....well so many things I couldn't name them all without several pages of mentions.

They had a whole area dedicated to Star Wars including a life size Chewy, R2D2, and Darth Vader. It was just out right fun. Not to mention the venue they had where you could go as a family and make your own cars and race them. They also had several rides, mostly geared to the kids, but it was fun as an adult as well. Legoland was just awesome.
At the end of the day we decided to try going to a restaurant there in Carlsbad, but unfortunately it was Hyrum's turn to be sick. Joe and I ended up going to Carl's Jr to pick up dinner.


Friday was a little more lax as we got a little slower start getting out. Our first destination was the USS Midway Museum. That was an incredible experience. The first thing I noticed was the passage ways through the ship as you passed from one section to the next you had to watch your step or you find out what they meant by the swearing like a sailor. Your shins would constantly be exposed to the possibility of severe punishment if you ever had to run from place to place. Next sleeping quarters were not for the claustrophobic or the weak of stomach. I can only imagine the smell of a bunch of young men who were working in those conditions, it must have been an terrible smell. I began to realize that those who serve our nation are special people. As we talked to those who were posted on the ship as guides you couldn't help but notice the love they had for their time in the service.

Anchor chain

I was in awe at how big this carrier ship was. I had seen pictures of them in the movies and such, but seeing one in person was more impressive. One link on the anchor chain, they said, weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 130lbs. I can only imagine the sound they made as they were being lowered or raised. Looking inside of the cockpits of the jets brought me another admiration for our service men as I can not imagine all the controls they had to know to fly these machines. If anyone ever infers that our service men are less than intelligent I think we should place them in a plane and have them fly off the backside of a carrier. These young men and women who serve our country are very intelligent.


After the USS Midway we decided it was time for lunch. We found a place that looked promising just up the street from the museum. Anthony's boasted of the best fish and chips in San Diego. Fish and chips was what we were looking for. I ordered the "treasure chest" an assortment of deep fried fish, shrimp, calamari, and clams. Oh my goodness! This was the best place we had eaten all week long. If I thought I could have I think I would have forgotten my good senses and ordered more. Poor Amy was  not left with such a desire as Millie added her to bits to the clam chowder. The boys, once they finished their lunch had a lively conversation with a couple of the board walk vendors.

Following Lunch the Recksieks decided to head back to the hotel to take care of Millie and so Amy could get a much needed nap in. We on the other hand decided to go to Fisherman's Village.
Fisherman's Village as a small retail village with several small stores with lots of souvenir opportunities. It was a fun place little place, prices were for the most part more than I wanted to pay, but I ended up getting a couple of T-shirts from a small camera shop.




When we were done shopping we headed to Coronado Island to meet up with the Recksieks and to get our sunset pictures on the beach. There was not a lot of time to play, before the sun was nearing the horizon. The sand on the beach was super fine and looked like it had gold glitter sprinkled through out the entire beach. It was cool, but the water was not extremely cold so it was fun to let the water lick our toes as the tide continued to rise while we were taking pictures.
Just a note to follow so...It is not as easy as it looked to hold a crane pose with the waves taking the sand out from under your feet. :) After leaving Coronado we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant not far from our hotel. While the food was pretty good we were not impressed with the service, kinda bummed.
After dinner we went back to the hotel. DeeAnn, Emily, and Amy all went shopping for ice cream while Joe and I went down and braved the swimming pool with the boys. We swam for probably an hour or so playing Marco Polo and other such water games. It was lot of fun. Once the other group left the hot tub we took it over for a few minutes while we relaxed before heading back up to our room to get ready for ice cream and games.
We had been trying to do ice cream and games several nights but one thing or another kept going wrong. Mostly we were tired by the time we got back at night, between that and sick kids we finally got together and had ice cream, but following ice cream, Spencer got sick and we were so tired and people were still not feeling super duper so we took a rain check on the games.


Saturday we had planned on going to the Mormon Battalion museum, but after we cleaned up and got ready to leave for breakfast we realized that it was raining. The pull to head home was greater than the desire to see the museum. Not that we did not want to, but we were anxious to get back home and the rain just increased our anxiety as we new what we were headed back to in Utah...a major snow storm.
On the way home we ran into all kinds of weather. We started in the rain, ran into fog about 45 minutes later, followed by monster winds. On I-15 we played a game of frogger with tumble weeds, we being the cars. We almost named one tumble weed that disintegrated upon contact with our bumper. In Barstow we stopped for lunch the wind was blowing so hard that it had shredded a flag above the eatery across the street. On the road from Barstow to Las Vegas we went through a sand blaster of a dust storm and finally in Primm a Semi had been blown over. The wind continued pretty much all the way home. We finally caught up to the Recksieks in Cedar City where they decided to wait it out at Joe's sister's home. We thought about staying, but decided that we would continue on up to Salt Lake City. Had we realized how bad the roads would be we might have been more tempted to stay back in Cedar City, but as the old saying goes, fools go where angels dare not tread.. and so it was we made it home. And we would do it again.

I Am Tired Of Political Parties

Beware of political parties. The more I think about political parties the less I see the need for them. I mean in the current atmosphere of political stink I think we have lost the purpose of the primaries and caucuses. We have already determined that come this fall we are going to elect one of two parties both of which are to blame for our current mess and both of which are unwilling to admit their part in the mess which will lead to just a bigger mess.

Politics are inherently corrupt due to the intoxication of power. Like alcohol or any other drug some may be able to function for a time, but the danger of addiction is almost inevitable. Once addicted denial and self aggrandizement begin to corrode the character of even the strongest of statesmen. It is no wonder that George Washington served with reservation and left without regret.

Once we give our total allegiance to a party we tend to lose our objective point of view and we tend to give "our side" the benefit of the doubt while scrutinizing our "enemy" for the same actions. We tend to drink the kool aid of our party leaders, not realizing that both sides are drinking out of the same bucket. Those in power are more concerned about their next fix (election) than they are about the consequences their actions have on the average person. Both parties seeking the ultimate prize of total control and domination over the other party never mind the casualties along the way.

That being said, I do believe it is our duty to get involved in the process of electing good men, getting them in and getting them out of office before they can be poisoned by the power. I have affiliated myself with the Republican party, but I have many reservations in embracing the party completely. They should have to earn my vote as much anyone.

Our country is being torn apart by all the hot air that is being blown in every direction. I am so tired of the class warfare, name calling, emotional insults, and campaign rhetoric. If I believed everything that was said I don't think I could vote for anyone.

It is the political parties that play tug of war with different demographics, with no real concern for the truth at all. All they care is that we believe them long enough that we will elect them and that we forget after they are elected. If I sound a little bit cynical then I must be communicating effectively.

I am tired of listening to how terrible this country is. I am tired of politicians thinking that we can't live without them. I am tired of political ads. I am tired of debating my friends on issues that I know if it weren't for politics telling us we believe different we might actually understand each other. I am tired of being called a racist, when I know I am not. I am tired of being accused of wanting the poor to suffer. I am tired of being accused by my friends, who know me, of being anything but what I am. I am tired of politicians defining what is right and what is wrong and what I should believe. I am tired of government forcing us to bow to the god of environmentalists and saying we do not care about the environment if we don't believe them. I am tired of being painted with  broad brush that leaves me unrecognizable.

Beware of Political parties they are destroying our desire to get along. Don't give them that power. Yes, we may think differently on some issues, but we really don't believe that differently. We may disagree with how things can be accomplished, but no one wants poisoned water, or dirty air.
Let's be honest. If our goal is to feed the hungry does it matter how it gets done as long as it gets done?The hypocrisy of our leaders is they preach one thing, and enforce another. They speak of equality, but make it impossible for us to become equal. They speak of freedom and of defending our rights while at the same time abusing the agency we gave them to defend us. They have so successfully destroyed the premise of right and wrong and made the argument about right and left, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, that the right answer is not even in the equation.

Until "We the People" come together and realize the gift that God has given to us in this country we are going to be kicked to the curb by the very machine we allowed to be created under our very nose. We have to shake ourselves out of the sleep we have been put under and remember who we are and who we are meant to be. It doesn't matter which side you stand on, choose to stand in the light.

Dinner Rolls

We have been making these for years…kinda. I was introduced to the idea of dinner in a role when I was going to school. I can’t remember exactly what the ingredients were other than I believe it had cream cheese and ham. It may have had ranch dressing as well. Anyways if it didn’t have those ingredients we have added them and then some…. The past couple of days we have tried a couple of new ideas with terrific results. Previously we have used a different recipe for the roll dough, but the results of this past couple of days prompted my daughter to ask me to write the recipe down so I chose to use my blog that way she can find it while she's at school. So, now you know the why I will now tell you the how:

Dough-

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

1/4 +Cup Canola Oil

1/3 –Cup Honey

2 Tbsp. Yeast

1/2 Tbsp. Salt

1 Cup Oat flour

1 to 1 1/2 Cups Wheat flour

*2 Tbsp. Dry Basil

* This is optional, but it is really good especially for the pizza roll.

Approximately 3 Cups of White flour.

When I say approximately I have learned that I use just as much as I need to have the dough pull away from the sides of the bowl it may be a little less or a little more thus approximately . 

You will notice also that I used the + and – signs for oil and honey. This is because I don’t use exact measurements, this may drive some of you crazy, but I was once told that bread is not an exact science and therefore to work on principles rather than exact amounts. That being said I do use measuring cups. Before measuring cups were available people still made bread so, don’t worry too much about exact measurements it will turn out ok as long as you are close to the amounts and at the end the dough pulls away from the bowl. The idea is to make a soft dough but not sticky. That makes for a light roll.

Roll your dough into a rectagle about a 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 350^o F.

Once your rolls are rolled and cut you will let them sit for 15 minutes or until they begin to rise. Then you can throw them in the oven and cook them for 20-25 minutes.

Now what to put inside the roll? Let your imagination run wild, but here are a couple of ideas that we really like.

Philly Cheese Steak

8 oz Cream Cheese

2-3 heaping scoops of Mayonaise just to help the cream cheese more spreadable

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. Chipolte tabasco sauce (Note if you are afraid of the heat of the Chipolte, don't be you can't taste the heat, but it gives depth to the flavor.)

1 Bell Pepper Chopped

1 Medium Onion Chopped

1 lbs ground beef.

1 1/2 Cups grated Swiss Cheese.

Sauté the onions, peppers, and meat together. Mix the Cream Cheese, Mayo, Worcestershire sauce, and Chipolte tabasco sauce together and  then spread it on the rolled out dough. Sprinkle the sautéed ingredients over the top of your other mixture sprinkle Swiss Cheese over that and roll the dough like you would cinnamon rolls. Cut them 1 1/2 inches and place them an inch apart on a cooking sheet. Let set for 15 minutes then throw them in the oven.

Pizza rolls

Spread  Alfredo sauce on rolled out dough then add your favorite ingredients. Obviously Red sauce will work as well. Roll that puppy up and follow the previous instructions.

Ranch Rolls

8 oz Cream cheese

2-3 heaping scoops of  Mayo

1/2 Pkg  of dry ranch seasoning

2 Cups of Hamburger or Ham

2 Cups of Grated Cheese of your choice

I could add several more but there are plenty of other sites that will get your culinary imagination going. I just wanted to share these ones because they were such a hit at our New Years party as well our dinner tonight.

Now, I think I will go pull out my dumb bells and work some of this off again. Hope you enjoy! I know we did.  

Kid Tested and approved :)