The Ritz Carlton

Tanner and I have been looking forward to this weekend away for months. I felt good about leaving the kids knowing we were only an hour away and we thankfully got Audrey to babysit! The kids know and love her and she knows my kids, so that took some of the stress of leaving them away. I still hated to leave them and to tell you the truth, I probably obsessed a little too much about it. I was constantly checking our monitors and wondering if they were ok. I need to learn how to relax! Well, I still wasn't feeling too great either. So that's not fun. But a weekend at the Ritz with beautiful weather is nothing to complain about!

The fact that it happened to fall on the exact same weekend as James' funeral services was hard. We both felt extremely torn on whether we should go to Utah or spend the weekend at the Ritz. In the end, we decided to stay based on the fact that I was still not feeling good and we just opened escrow on the house across the street and need to save every dime for the down payment. My parents, Jon, and Cami were able to attend, though. And my heart was with them the entire weekend.

So, with not feeling well and missing James' memorial kinda put a damper on the weekend. But we still tried to make the most of it!

When we first arrived we were given a room with a garden view so Tanner upgraded up to an ocean view! Why stay in a hotel on the beach if you can't see the water!?

I had a short list of things I wanted to do on our weekend away. Top of that list was watching the sunset each night. We've had a lot of rainy and cloudy days so I was so happy to have 3 beautiful, warm sunsets. I tried to look out of the water and see the view through James' magical eyes. He said that everyone has an imagination but few choose to exercise it. It takes meditation and being thoughtful. When the ideas are accumulated and stored we can then put them to use with our creativity. 

The view from the gym was ALMOST good enough to make us want to work out.

Our first night out, we went to La Sirena Grill for dinner and then grabbed some Oreo milk shakes from Ruby's for dessert. We snuggled into bed pretty early and watched a movie. The next morning was glorious! A warm, beautiful, sunny day!

Breakfast in bed! So expensive and truly a luxurious splurge!

We spent the morning sitting on the sand enjoying the fresh air down on the beach. It's so nice to take a little golf cart down to the sand and have someone hand you chairs and towels and anything you need. This is the life! The surfers were so fun to watch!

In the afternoon, Tanner went golfing with some work friends. He invited me to tag along but as always, I was not feeling up to anything. It was sad not having my parents around. We would have walked around Laguna, grabbed lunch, maybe got a pedicure or made some earrings at the Bead Shop. I called Kari but she was busy running errands with the kids. I called Robyn but she was at a volleyball tournament for Sophie. I was really not feeling up to anything so I just went over to my parents house, made a sandwich, and watched HGTV. It's interesting to note that I was more comfortable and happy to be at my parents house than sitting in my hotel room at the Ritz overlooking the ocean. There's something to be said about "home" and the spirit that dwells in my parents house. To tell you the truth though, it was sad. I missed my kids like crazy and felt lame for not making the most of my free time. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon but not the best either....

Had to snuggle with my Mom's slipper since she wasn't there to hug.

Tanner was stoked. He had a great time! And I'm glad. He deserves it!

We stopped to watch the sunset before our fancy dinner on Saturday night. I was clearly not feeling up to being social. I was sooooo tired and it's always awkward not knowing anyone and sitting alone while Tanner flits around and mingles. But the food was super good and everyone was really sweet to me and I had a great night chatting with another admin's wife. We had a lot of overlapping connections in our lives and it was fun to get to know her.

I love this picture. I love that there is a mother there with her little baby. A few minutes later, the Dad came out of the ocean carrying his surf board and the baby went running to him. Such a sweet scene. And, I love my Mom so of course I sent this to her.

Sunday, we woke up to a delicious breakfast again and took our time getting ready for church. We went to my parents ward (once again, kinda sad we couldn't go to church with them). I was so looking forward to church  because I've been so sick and not feeling well enough to go since the start of the year. And to be able to sit quietly and worship without the distraction of the kids was a real treat. Unfortunately, we soon realized that it was Stake Conference and we were 1 and a half hours late!!! The best part of the day, though, was listening to the last half hour of the meeting which was President Davis' talk. He told a miraculous story and the theme was that the Lord will not leave us comfortless. I felt like he was talking straight to me. The Lord gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to comfort us. But we also have friends and family on both sides of the veil, music, the beauty of the earth, easy access to church materials, and so on! I realized that I have been denying myself the comfort afforded to me. I have not been diligent about praying, scripture study, and serving others- mostly because I've been so sick and tired. But then I feel guilty that I haven't been praying and reading with my children either. I've got to re set my priorities and the structure of my day and make sure I am feeling the comfort He wants me to feel each and every day.

After church we stopped by Robyn's for a visit and it was so nice to catch up with her and the family. We then went to Cafe Rio for dinner before heading to the Ritz to watch our 3rd and final sunset over the ocean.

We took the shuttle down to the sand and the driver gave us blankets and chairs to use. It was so nice sitting there with Tanner talking about our goals for the future and enjoying the moment. When the sun was down and it started to get chilly we walked back over to the shuttle and the driver had hot chocolate for us! Such a sweet and thoughtful gesture! That really meant a lot to us! We stopped by the hot tub on our way back to our hotel to dip our feet in and warm up a little bit.

That night, because EVERY night Tanner wants popcorn, we splurged and ordered the "movie" package. We got a movie, popcorn, soda, and tons of candy. It even came with glasses and ice and drawn butter to pour on the popcorn. It was amazing. Tanner was in heaven!!!

We woke up Monday morning to a bright, beautiful day. We headed down to the spa for some pampering. I took the best shower with sea salts and tons of water jets, luxury shampoo and conditioner, I shaved my legs AND washed my hair! I love getting ready at the spa with all of the salon quality product all for me to use!

I was so excited to head home to our kids! Audrey did an absolutely amazing job. She's the best. The kids were happy but we had a lot of cleaning to do. And Parker had an orthodontist appointment... Back to reality! Maybe someday we can just live on the beach.... :-) In the meantime, I'm NOT complaining that we live so close.