Tamara, Tom, and Kids: Scenes from 4th of July

JULY 2, 2014

So, we put Kohler on the plane headed for the Provo MTC and we got in our car and headed to California! No way was I going back to the house and walking in his room, all empty but still smelling like his cologne and stuff. I just didn't want to do that. We decided several weeks ago that we would spend our 4th of July in California just to get away.

But speaking of getting away--as emotional as we were having just put Kohler on the plane hours earlier, we just couldn't get away from seeing his name! Every bathroom had his name on the sinks and it became a joke. Kelsey and I couldn't believe it!! Ahh!!

We stopped in San Diego at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center on our way to the beach. It is such a first-class facility they have there. But again, as soon as I saw the missionaries there, tears filled my eyes--now with pride because my son was now one of them. :)

Happy 4th of July!! We had a blast playing at the beach and the pool with Suzanne, Tony and their adorable children!

Oh my gosh - how we ALL love little Noel!

We watched fireworks at our hotel in Dana Point but everyone agreed that they weren't as fun as Stadium of Fire in Provo!! Suzanne let Spencer and Hailey stay and watch fireworks with them and spend the night with the cousins. They had a much better time than we did. We had lots of drunk people and no breeze at the beach so the smoke from the fireworks just hovered over the ocean and we couldn't see the fireworks when they exploded. It was pretty lame.

Still, we were just glad we were together!!

I just love these two little firecracker girls!! Olivia and Hailey are both 8 now and such beauties!

So, the next day we went to the beach and had a blast! We met up with the MacLays and it was so fun to see them!

Nice crab, Spence!

Kelsey and Marli, living it up on the paddle board!!

Of course, I had to get this shirt since it had the Argentina Flag on it for the World Cup!!

Back in our hotel room, we were short a bed and they were out of roll aways---so we just made a little bed with the two chairs. How awesome is it that Hailey is still little enough to pull this off? Those days are numbered for us----but we got lucky. She was a great sport about it too! So cute!

We stayed at the Marriott in Dana Point. It was really nice with great views of the ocean.

It was right here that Tom and I sat with our Ipads and we received Kohler's first email from the MTC. We were SO excited we could hardly contain ourselves!!!