“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”

May 21st-27th, 2008 was the Stagg annual vacation to California. John's sister, Shelly, lives in Huntington Beach (about 5 minutes from the coast). We LOVE staying with her family and spending our vacation on the beach. Unfortunately the weather was a bit chilly for California, but we didn't let it get us down!

On Wednesday night, May 21st, we took off from our house after John got home from work. About a five hour drive later, we arrived in Mesquite, Nevada. Autumn did wonderful on the way down to Mesquite. Clarissa sat in the back seat with her and kept her busy by reading books and meticulously feeding her cute mouth lots of yummy baby-friendly treats (we stocked up on TONS of goodies before the trip!).

Mesquite was HOT and WINDY. BLAH! We took one step into our room and were about knocked over by the heat. We quickly turned the A/C on, but to our dismay, only a wimpy little breeze puffed from the unit. It was late and we were tired, so all we could do was strip down to our skivvies and lie on top of the covers. Needless to say, it was a long, sweaty night, so we were anxious to get on our way the next morning. We woke up, got ready and packed up, and headed over to one of those "famous Mesquite buffets" for breakfast. People were giving us the most crazy looks while we pushed Autumn through the casino! Clarissa was dying at the thought of Autumn's little lungs inhaling all that cigarette smoke! We quickly made our way to the buffet and enjoyed a very yummy breakfast. All of the servers went crazy over Autumn. Every single one that was working had to come see her and say "hi, baby!". It was too cute.

We hopped into our SUV and made the rest of the journey to California. We made it there at about 4 in the afternoon. We unloaded and got settled into the Holbrooks guest room. Shelly made us dinner and we enjoyed a nice meal with them.

The next day we woke up and headed out to Newport Beach. We absolutely love this beach. It's lined with these cute, whimsical beach houses and the sand is full of sea shells. It was a bit chilly this day, but a light jacket was all we needed to enjoy the outdoors! John showed Autumn the ocean and put her feet in the water. She loved it! We knew she would be a beach girl! She loved playing in the sand with her cousin, Sarah. A while later we loaded our beach gear up and headed over to Jane's Corn Dogs, a must-visit spot for the Staggs. We go crazy over their funnel cakes oozing with strawberry goodness! We had forgotten how HUGE these things are and were only able to eat half. We should have shared one! Autumn even had a few bites and LOVED it (of course!). A few moments later a homeless man walked passed us, over to the garbage can, and took OUR half-eaten funnel cake out of the garbage can and proceeded on his way. Of course we were all shocked by this, but it made us all stop and think about how blessed we are to have so much! We headed home and that night we decided to treat the Holbrooks to some good ol' Pizza Hut. We gave Autumn a small bite of an appetizer and she showed the Holbrooks her new trick...she spit the piece of potato all over the table, and it sprayed! The kids were almost rolling on the floor laughing! It was so funny.

The next day was cold and dreary so we thought it would be best to spend the day indoors. Shelly told us about this awesome aquarium in Long Beach, so we headed up there and spent the day at the aquarium. It was so neat! They had everything from jelly fish and star fish to sharks and sting rays. It was amazing seeing these creatures swimming around. While we were there, a movie was being filmed and we had a star sighting! None other than, Tommy Lee from Motley Crue. We didn't get to talk to him but we snapped a quick picture. It was sort of comical how crazy people were going over him! After the aquarium we crossed the street and grabbed a quick bite at Bubba Gump's Shrimp. It was the neatest restaurant, if you're a fan of the movie Forrest Gump.

The next day was a bit nicer so we headed over to another Stagg favorite, the pier at Huntington Beach. There is a restaurant called Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier and we have to eat there every time we visit Cali. It was a very pleasant stroll down the pier to the diner. As long as we stayed in the sun, it was nice and warm. We ate a very yummy meal and then headed back to the Holbrooks. That night Shelly and Brett wanted to have a "date night" with us, so Autumn got to stay at home with the kids while the "adults" went to a movie. Hannah was kind enough to baby sit so we could enjoy the evening with Shelly and Brett. We saw the movie "Iron Man" and loved it. It was a very fun and entertaining movie. After the show we headed over to a new frozen yogurt shop called Cherry On Top. Wow, is all we can say! It was such a fun and yummy place! It was all self-serve. There was a wall with all the frozen yogurt dispensers and TONS of flavors to choose from. Blueberry was the best! Then there was a topping bar full of fresh fruit, candy, and cookie dough. They weighed your cup and charged 39 cents an ounce. It was well worth it! We savored every bite of that frozen yumminess!

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready for church. We were planning on leaving this day, but we decided to spend one more day in California. We were hoping and praying for nice weather on Monday so we could have a swimming suit, get-a-tan-kind-of beach day. Autumn was VERY fussy and cranky at church so we left after sacrament meeting and took a nice nap in the quiet Holbrook house. Later that evening, Shelly made us a delicious taco dinner. She made shredded beef in the crock pot and it was very good! I think between the both of us, we at about 10 tacos! That night we played games with the family and really enjoyed the time we had together.

The next morning we woke up and headed back to Newport. It was still chilly, but very pleasant. We wore our light jackets and enjoyed the sun and sand. The sun was just bright enough for sun screen. This was our first experience putting sun screen on a baby. We had to rub it all over Autumn's fare skin...it was some greasy stuff! She was all greased up, it was so funny! The sand stuck to her head and face like glue, but she totally didn't mind. She dug in the sand, put some in her mouth, and sat in a sand hole her cousins dug for her. Clarissa covered up with towels and took a nice, relaxing snooze on the beach, while John soaked up some rays. We packed up again and headed over to Balboa Peninsula. We found a yummy taco shack for lunch and sat on the green grass. We munched on our yummy Mexican food while the kids ran over to a playground on the beach. Autumn napped in her stroller. Although it wasn't swimming suit weather, it was still a very beautiful day. We walked over to the Balboa Fun Zone where there is a Ferris wheel and a ferry that takes cars to Balboa Island. We strolled along and checked out a couple of shops. We were desperately holding on to every last moment we had in California with the Holbrooks. We knew once we got back into the car, it was time to head home to Utah. It was inevitable, so we drove back to Toucan Drive, packed up our belongings, and said our sad good-byes. We were SO sad to leave this sweet family and SO sad to leave the coast. We love the beach and we love the ocean, but we knew it was time to head back to reality in Tooele, Utah. We hit the road and made our way to Mesquite again. This time it wasn't so hot and stuffy, and we crashed as soon as our head's hit the pillow. We woke up early, grabbed some McDonalds and made the LONG journey back to Utah. Autumn was such an angel, only fussing a little bit. We made a couple stops so Mommy could nurse her, but other than that, she rode pleasantly in her car seat.

It was good to get back to our quaint home in Tooele. We are excited for Summer to start and work on our yard. We are so grateful for the Holbrooks and their hospitality. We will never forget Autumn's first vacation to the beach!