Beach Day & Neptune's Net

We attempted a day at the beach while in Los Angeles.  Yes, attempted.

It was about 80 degrees as we checked into our hotel and got changed into swimsuits.  We got in the car and then slowly the clouds came...  By the time we got to Malibu beach, it was only 60 outside and it felt like 40.  Crystal and I didn't even stay out of the car for long.  The boys though, they were bound and determined to get in the water.

 venturing into the water

 freezing

conquering

The whole reason we went all the way to Malibu beach is because Dave told us we just HAD to go to Neptune's Net.  A little hole in the wall restaurant with supposedly the best clam chowder we had ever tasted.

I HATE clam chowder and I don't like seafood in general, so I wasn't excited about going but it was Dave's one and only request so off we went.

Jason's brother lives in California so we had them meet us at Neptune's Net for dinner and they finally got to meet Cryst!

It was very authentic.  Like, live seafood you could pick from a tank and watch them cook it if you wanted.  Spence and Cryst got this huge seafood sampler platter to share with everyone and I stayed in my comfort zone and got a burger.

The sampler platter.

Fish, shrimp, calamari, scallops, clam and crab cakes.  Oh and fries, of course.

Dave couldn't believe I was really gonna taste his clam chowder.

The result?  That clam chowder is the BEST seafood soup I've had.  For real.  They even serve it in an absolutely delish sourdough bread bowl.  I would wait in line and pay double for that soup, and for hating clam chowder, that's saying something!  Maybe we'll believe Dave now when he says something is worth driving an extra 45 minutes to eat...

MAROON 5!!

After we got back from Alcatraz, we settled in at the hotel, had some dinner and then Spencer and I went to the MAROON 5 concert!  They are my FAVORITE.  It's actually the whole reason we planned a California trip in the first place.  Maroon 5 hasn't come to Utah for a concert in YEARS and I was sick of waiting, so we went to them!

Small problem: we didn't realize the concert was going to be outside.  I should have looked into it further, but this was the picture on the website when I bought my tickets:

Looks indoor right?  Ya, it's not.  It has an overhang for all reserved seats, and then a huge grassy hill behind it for general admission.

Thankfully, we had pretty good seats under the overhang but I was still pretty cold by the time the opening guy was done so I bought a really overpriced Maroon 5 jacket to keep me warm.  I was MUCH happier after that!

 so excited!

We had SUCH a great time at the concert!  They were AWESOME live and they performed at least half of every album. 

Can't wait to go again!  Maybe someday they'll come to Utah again...

The Rock

We just got back from a fantastic vacation to California!   We drove to San Fransisco with Crystal, Jason, Dave and his childhood friend Jake.  The first morning, we headed into downtown (after an hour and a half of terrible traffic) and visited Alcatraz island!

 The famous Alcatraz Island sign

 Waiting for the ferry to the island.  

We hardly ever got Jake or Dave to make normal faces for pictures.  Awesome.

 

 The boys had a great time pretending to be prisoners

They even used Spencer's handcuffs to complete the look

Spence jokingly said he always wanted to be locked up at a maximum security prison.  Check!

 Overlooking the bay and Golden Gate bridge

 Dave. . . being Dave

 My man

My siblings

The whole gang.  We had such a great time!
 

Evening Run

We've enjoyed our new jogging stroller a ton!  We're trying to go out at least a couple times a week and even our girls are having a good time.

Sadie doesn't last very long in the stroller before she wants to get out and run with mom and dad.  She also doesn't last very long running before she wants to get back in the stroller  :)

Hopefully we still have a few weeks before it gets too cold...

River Rafting

Every year we try to go down to the Provo River once or twice since we get to go for free with Spencer as our guide!

We took Sadie and Kate last year, but Jason, Cooper and Khyler hadn't ever been, so after a few scheduling conflicts, we finally found a day to make it work!

The day we went up it was SOOOO busy.  They had so many people wanting to go down the river, they were almost an hour behind schedule.  The kids were incredibly patient and mostly just played in the water and talked about their cool life jackets and swim suits.

The kids all took turns being in charge of rowing the boat which they thought was pretty cool (after forcing them to release their death grip on the boat and walk up to Spencer, that is)  :)

 Kate

 Khyler

 Sadie

Cooper

We had a good time floating down until the weather suddenly turned cold, windy and rainy!  Spencer had to row as hard and fast as his arms could handle to try and get us down faster so we could miss the worst of it.  Thankfully he's pretty tough  :)



The kids got a lot more brave the longer we were on the river and we had a great time!