Spring Break

Before Alex headed off to school he asked if it would be OK if he brought a few friends home for spring break. Figuring a "few" meant 2 or 3 we of course said it would be no problem. We began to be concerned when we saw a facebook page all about the upcoming spring break trip to San Diego and it looked like there were many interested people. 

The first car (Alex, Wendy, Ryan and Harrison) arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning.  The second car  (Parker, Felix and My) arrived Friday night. There was a trip to the airport on Saturday to pick up Mark and the third car (Matt, TJ and Scott) arrived that night. Sam and Sarah got here on Tuesday. All totaled we had thirteen people here for spring break and it was a lot of fun. 

If you're not familiar with Instagram you should be. It is an app for smart phones where you can upload a picture and give it a short description and share the picture with your friends. You can add little tags to the pictures and tie all the pictures together. Alex and his friends took a ton of pictures of spring break and tagged them all "sdtothe13". It doesn't make a lot of sense to me but I guess it was supposed to be a cool way of saying "we are going to San Diego for spring break in 2013". Clicking on the flag you will find over 100 pictures of the fun these 13 kids had here for spring break. Rather than try and describe the week I have chosen to upload all of their pictures and share them with you. 

It would take far too long to sort the pictures in the correct order so you will have to excuse the random order. 

The fun actually started before they even got to San Diego. They had to stop in Las Vegas and drive through the strip.

This is Sunday dinner at our house. We must have gone through $500 worth of groceries this week. These boys ate a lot. For Sunday dinner we boiled up a full bag of potatoes and cooked two large roasts.

One of our kids favorite places to eat is In-n-Out. One smart thing that In-n-Out has done is they have a complete "off menu" list of specialties. Such things as "animal style"meaning the onions are fried. This is a 4x4. It is a hamburger with four hamburger patties and four slices of cheese. You won't find it on the menu. It doesn't seem possible but some of the boys told us they were still hungry after eating one of them. I've never had one myself.

Alex and Wendy down by what looks like mission bay somewhere but I'm not sure.

This is somewhere around La Jolla Cove I believe.

Scripps Pier

Instagram has all kinds of filters you can apply to make the pictures look all fancy. Personally I don't like any of them and I usually upload my pictures as they were taken. This picture showing off Alex and Wendy's new coats at the beach has some weird beige colored filter on it.

Some rich old lady built a large wall to protect a section of the beach so the children could swim without the surf knocking them around. The seals decided it was a nice place for their children so now the Childrens beach is Seal beach. Alex decided to pose next to one.

Tuesday was Alex's twenty second birthday. It was fun to have him home for his birthday because the last time he was home for his birthday was in his senior year in high school. Alycia posted this picture of when her and Alex reconstructed the scene from Lady and the Tramp when they were sucking on spaghetti.

I think Mom posted this picture.

This one would be Sarah

We celebrated his birthday with a barbecue. I cooked over thirty hamburgers and I'm sure if there had been more they would have disappeared.

Alex and Wendy back at the beach.

This is Alex and Scott. They served together in Chili and knew each other quite well. It is a bit of a coincidence but Scott came on the road trip with another friend of his not knowing that he was coming to Alex's house. They had a ton of fun reminiscing about Chili.

There are many wonderful places to have very good Mexican food but one of our favorites is Cotija's.

Cotija's carne asada fries. Not exactly pure Mexican but they are good.

This is a Grande Burrito. It is as big as Marks head.

Alex's Grande Burrito

A half eaten Grande Burrito

I'm not sure why but some of the boys apparently went into the local pet store and took a picture of this budgy bird.

No sooner did the guys wake up but what they headed for the beach. I'm not quite sure what Parker is doing here but it looks like it might be some Matrix stunt.

Parker cliff jumping at La Jolla Cove. This is a very pretty beach.

Matt Roundy used to live in our neighborhood. He was loving being back home. Here he is skim boarding at La Jolla Shores.

I think this is Scott skim boarding

Parker still playing.

Parker

Matt Roundy 

Ryan and My served their missions in Riverside California which is an hour and a half up the freeway. Sunday evening they both headed to Riverside to see the old stomping grounds. I'm sure this place means a lot to them but I know nothing about it. Maybe I'll have to go give it a try some day.

This dude kind of looks like Einstein but I have no idea where it is or what its for.

Sarah goes to UVU and had spring break the same week as Alex. Sam however goes to BYU and they do not have a spring break. Some how he managed to break away for a few days and they showed up Tuesday late. Sarah and Sam brought the total number of people staying in the house to fifteen. There were beds everywhere. Here is a picture of them at Sea World. Sarah loves Polar Bears.

While the weather at our house (8 miles inland) was absolutely beautiful the marine layer at the beach was quite heavy making the beach a bit on the cool side. Here Sarah and Sam are at La Jolla Shores but she eventually decided that while she loves the beach she could freeze in Utah. That is when they came home and went to Sea World.

It looks like Sam is about to eat that lizard. They are at Sea World.

I assume this is while Ryan was in Riverside but I have no idea what he's doing with a signed baseball.

Sarah and Sam

This might look like a serene picture of some seagulls gliding by the setting sun but it is no such thing. Alex saw a bunch of seagulls on the beach and decided to run into them. As they were frantically flying way he was snapping pictures as fast as he could. He got some rather amazing shots like this one.

And this one.

The Beach

All I will do for this picture is quote Alex's comment that he posted with it. "Spring break has officially started!!!"

One of the nights they were here they went over to the church to play basketball. All but one of the guys are wearing Alex's high school uniforms.

Alex found a friend at the beach.

You can imagine that when you get ten unmarried young adult men together, a common topic around the house was girls. I don't know the story behind this picture but I know that on one of their trips to the beach they did hook up with some girls. This must be one of those occasions. 

At the beach

On Wednesday night they all went to the beach and had a bonfire.

The very first day the first car load of boys arrived I warned everyone to wear lots of sunscreen. The first day they all came home with some pretty nasty sunburns. They didn't let it ruin their week but we did have to be careful how we touched them.

Mussels

This is the crowed before they all head off to a young adult dance on Friday night. They had a lot of fun. they came home with some phone numbers. We'll see if they actually call them. Everyone but Sam and Sarah are in this picture so I will try and name them. Standing left to right is My,TJ, Mark, Parker, Ryan, Scott, Matt, Wendy and Alex. Kneeling left is Felix and right is Harrison.

Playing cards out on the deck in our back yard.

Fish taco's at some joint at one of the beaches. In case you've never had one, fish taco's are very good.

A few of the boys really wanted to go deep sea fishing so Thursday morning they headed out on a boat. I was hoping for some good fish for dinner on Friday. It never happened. What little they caught they cooked up on the boat.

Dinner on Friday was three large New York Giant Pizza's. We actually had some left overs.

They were all rather excited.

I'm very interested to learn the story behind this picture. Parker never left any description on it.

Everyone was going full steam this week and they were always dead tired. We had two air mattresses in our front room?

It was only ten minutes to the beach but Harrison couldn't keep his eyes open that long.

Friday Sarah and Sam went to Sea World a second time and the rest of the boys went for their first time. There is Sarah's favorite animal, the polar bear enclosure.

I don't know where this is or what it's about.

Thursday night a car accident on the freeway took out our power. Everyone is eating their In-n-out burgers by candle light.

And Harrison is heating up his soup on my camp stove with my headlight.

Beans and Rice. I'm not sure why they like to take so many pictures of their food.

Going for a run on a beautiful sunny day.

Settlers of Catan

More Settlers

Seagulls (presumably this is before Alex ran them down)

Sarah and Sam arrived late Tuesday. They normally make the drive in two days but Sarah was so anxious to get here she talked Sam into doing it in one day. As you can see, long car rides drive her a bit batty.

Sam enjoying a turkey leg at Sea World. Looks better than that lizard did.

Alex knows the best place to sit at Sea World for the Killer Whale Show. This is Shamu.

A sea shell?

Once again, I don't know anything about this shot.

There is Alex's friend again.

Street taco's, they are very good. I believe this is on Ryans trip to Riverside.

A turtle at Sea World

This is a huge tree at Balboa Park. It's too bad you can't get an idea of how huge the thing is.

The boys had two or three plans to go to the temple but they all fell through. They did make a few trips over there to look at it though.

They were doing their best to get some fancy angles with the cameras. Some of these pictures look pretty nice. 

Our back yard opens up onto a small canyon that leads to the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. Hiking (or running) through this canyon is gorgeous. One of our traditional hikes was to the waterfall in the preserve. Some of the boys made the hike.

The hike to the waterfall crosses the Penasquitos creek. It is one of my favorite places in the world. It is also where I broke my toe on a run last year. By the bridge is this huge tree that is growing sideways. It is fun to sit on.

Alex fell off this cliff when he was a kid and broke his thumb. He is lucky he didn't crack his head open. It sure scared us. 

Parker doing his lion king act with his back pack.

A very common pass time was playing on the XBox. One team is in the family room and the other team is in the guest room.

Saturday morning we all packed up and headed different directions. It was a sad day. Some of the boys were near tears. Sarah and Sam headed up to Placentia to visit Ben and Sharley.

And to play some more XBox

Wendy left Alex a nice love letter on our car window and then they head for Salt Lake City.

The other car load of boys decided to go up and see Los Angeles. This is Santa Monica.

Lisa, Alex and I headed for Arizona to go to the home coming talk for one of his missionary companions. On the way we had In-N-Out for lunch. Alex had to take a parting picture. 

The boys left some nice thank you notes for us. It as a very fun week.

The house is very quiet right now.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Students spend more than $1 billion during their spring breaks.

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He is Risen

During the night well after midnight, Roman guards were watching the tomb of Jesus. It must have been very boring for them and I'm sure they were debating the events of their time in an effort to keep each other awake. Falling asleep on the job was not an option for a Roman soldier since such a dereliction of duty would be met with harsh punishment. Suddenly a bright light appeared in the sky and gradually drew closer and grew brighter. As the light drew nearer they realized that in the center of the bright light was a man. They were probably quite frightened but soon realized that the man wasn't coming toward them but rather to the tomb. As the man approached the tomb there was another earth quake and the guards were thrown to the ground unconscious. As they returned to consciousness they saw that the stone covering the tomb had been rolled away and checking inside their worst fears were realized. The body of Jesus Christ was gone. 

The guards were now faced with a very difficult decision. If they told the true story of what they saw to their superiors there was a good chance that they would end up on the same cross upon which Jesus had died. If they tell their superiors that they fell asleep and someone stole the body the punishment would be a very severe scourging. Finally they decided to go to the Sanhedrin and see if they had any suggestions. The leaders of the grand council must have been horrified to hear the story from the guards. Could it be true what the guards were saying? Of course at this point the deed was done so they had to go on the assumption that the body had been stolen. In the end they chose to pay the guards money to tell everyone that they had fallen asleep with the promise that they would use their influence with Pilate to keep them from a beating. 

Meanwhile Mary Magdalene couldn't sleep. She'd been up all night long as had everyone else in the house. She decided to head out to the tomb well before sunrise and before anyone else. She arrived at the tomb just as the sun was coming up. Her heart must have froze when she saw the stone had been rolled back. As she stepped into the tomb and saw the burial clothes laid out on the bench and the napkin that covered the face neatly folded she burst into tears. She quickly ran back to the house where everyone was staying. 

Meanwhile another group of women who included Jesus' mother had set out for the tomb not long after Mary had left. They must have taken a different path than Mary had because as she ran back to the house she missed the group of women. When Mary reached the house she first saw Peter and John. She told them how she'd found the stone rolled back and except for the burial clothes the tomb was empty. 

Peter and John both ran for the tomb as fast as they could but John being the faster runner left Peter far behind. Mary followed after them. John arrived at the tomb before the other woman did and he immediately saw the stone rolled back and the tomb open. For some reason, possibly out of respect for Peters status as the head apostle, he didn't enter the tomb but waited for Peter to arrive. Peter led the way and they both entered the tomb and saw the linen laying on the bench. When John saw the empty tomb he knew that Jesus had not been taken away but that he had risen. They both headed back to the house understandably exited about sharing the story of the risen Lord. 

Peter and John were gone by the time the group of women found their way to the tomb. Perhaps they had been delayed by making a wrong turn but as they arrived they were wondering how they were going to roll back the stone. They too noticed right away how the stone had been rolled away and upon entering the tomb they saw the linens and the neatly folded cloth that had covered the face of Jesus. As they left the tomb however they saw another sight that they would remember as long as they lived. Two men were standing there and the light shining from them was brighter that the noon day sun. As the women tried to compose themselves one of the men spoke saying, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?"

Some of the women were understandably frightened and upon seeing this, the angel again spoke, "Fear ye not! Be not amazed. I know that you have come seeking Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. Why seek ye the living among dead? Jesus is not here. He is risen. Behold the place where they laid him. Remember, remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee? Did he not say to you that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified? Go, go quickly and tell Peter and the disciples. Tell them this, 'Jesus is risen from the dead.' Lo, I have told you so."

The group of women did as they were directed and went back to find Peter and the other apostles. Mary on the other hand was still headed back to the tomb. She must have met up with Peter and John but chose to continue on to the tomb anyway. Still very distraught she decided to enter into the tomb probably just to be near where her Lord had last lain. As she stepped inside the tomb however she was startled to see that two men sat there, one on each end of the bench where Jesus had been laid. The two men were dressed in white and the tomb appeared to be bathed in sunlight. One of the men spoke to her asking, "Woman, why weapest thou?"

Mary responded, "Because they have taken my Lord away, and I know not where they have laid him." Suddenly Mary caught sight of movement outside of the tomb and noticed a man standing there. "Woman", he said, "why weepest thou?" It was the exact same question asked by the two men within the tomb. He then asked, "Whom seekest thou?"

Suddenly Mary had a glimmer of hope. This must be the gardener. Perhaps he knew where Jesus had been taken. Perhaps he himself took the body. Meekly she asked him, "Sir? If you have borne him somewhere, tell me where he is, and I will take him away."

Jesus then spoke her name. A name that he had lovingly spoken to her hundreds of times and when he spoke it this time she instantly knew who he was. Jesus said, "Mary." 

When he spoke her name she cried, "Rabboni? Master?" It was him, She had watched him suffer and die on the cross but here he was. Joy filled her heart and she ran to him with her arms outstretched. To her surprise Jesus stepped back and held up his hand to stop her. 

"Mary," he said ever so gently, "touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father." He smiled at her and she wept but this time they were tears of joy. 

Jesus continued, "Go to your brethren and say unto them that I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God."

Mary dropped to her knees, was barely able to stop herself from leaping into his arms but through her tears she answered, "Yes, Master." Looking up he was gone but now the empty tomb beside her held a whole new significance. Rather than a symbol of pain and sadness it was a symbol of hope. 

The group of women were on their way back to the house certainly going over and over  among themselves the words that the angels had spoken. "He is not here. He is risen." As they walked they saw a man standing on the road ahead of them. As they approached the man they recognized him as Jesus. Jesus raised his hand in greeting and called, "All hail."

Back at the home where they were all gathered, the apostles and other friends of Jesus were having a hard time accepting Johns conviction that Jesus was resurrected. When Mary and the other women returned it became still harder to reject the idea that Jesus was resurrected. The woman were either liars or deluded and they were reluctant to accept either of those options but these women claimed to have seen Jesus on the road and they told how they had touched him and they witnessed the wounds in his feet and in his side. The glow from these woman must have convinced most that Jesus was risen but still some of them doubted. And then when Mary added her testimony to those of the others they must have been very convincing but think about what they were claiming. Jesus had risen from the dead.

I imagine it must have been hard on the Lords apostles to know that after all of their devotion to him, Christ would appear first to the women but personally I find it touching. While I don't know why he did this it isn't hard for me to believe that he appeared first to those who needed the comfort of seeing him the most. What love he must have had for these women. 

Some time during the day the Lord also appeared to Peter and then still later in the day a man named Cleopas and another man who was probably Luke were walking to a nearby city named Emmaus. As they were walking they were talking about all of the wonderful things that had happened that day. Along the way they came across another man who asked them what they were talking about. They walked together for a couple of hours until they arrived at their destination at which point they invited the stranger to stay with them. At this point the veil that had been drawn across their eyes was lifted and they recognized their companion as the Saviour. They witnessed the wounds in his hands. 

In the evening the Lords disciples gathered again to make plans. The Sanhedrin were furious that Christs body was gone and they were doing everything in their power to quell any rumors that he may have been resurrected. For this reason the disciples were once again afraid for their safety. They were anxious to be headed back to Galilee but at the same time they weren't about to leave until they knew exactly what was going on. So far the only witnesses they had of the risen Lord was a bunch of women and many were still quite skeptical. Many of the disciples gathered for a meeting that night. When everyone was in the room they barred the door and windows out of concern for their safety. They had food prepared and as they were enjoying the food and sharing stories and opinions on the events of the day the Lord suddenly appeared among them. What a wonderful experience this must of been for all of those present but especially for those who had not yet seen the Lord. Jesus invited every single one of them to touch the wounds in his feet and in his hands. There were no skeptics left at this point. The knowledge of the resurrection was now made sure for everyone present. This was especially significant at this time because even though many prophets from the old testament spoke of a resurrection of the body many at the time of Christ believed this only meant a resurrection of the spirit and not a restoration of the flesh and bones. Now here was their Lord in flesh and bones. What a comfort this must have been to them. After Jesus had personally addressed everyone in the room he spoke a few words to them all. He asked them why they doubted? Didn't he tell them that he would rise on the third day? Didn't the women tell them that they had seen him? Finally he addressed his apostles but the words he spoke were clearly meant for all of those in the room.

Remember the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, how that all things must be fulfilled which was written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Thus it is written that the Messiah should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day. It is also written that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in the name of Christ to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high. Go ye therefore into all the world, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the Holy Ghost. teach them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." 

And then with everyone in the room looking on he was gone. 

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the work with signs following.

Mark 16: 19-20

Jesus continued to visit his disciples for forty days teaching them and helping them to prepare for the difficult ministry that was before them. The scriptures record at least eleven appearances made by the Saviour and the first five of them were on the day of his resurrection. These are:

1) Mary Magdalene at the tomb (John 20:11-18)

2) Other women (Matthew 28:9-10)

3) Peter (Luke 24:34)

4) Cleopas and an unnamed disciple (Luke 24:13-32)

5) a group of disciples on the Sunday evening (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25)

6) a group of disciples on the following Sunday evening with Thomas present (John, 20:26-31)

7) seven apostles and others not named on the shores of Galilee (John 21:1-25)

8) eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20)

9) 500 brethren at once (1 Corinthians 15:7)

10) James (1 Corinthians 15:7)

11) His ascension from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:3-12)

The Sabbath Day

Can you even imagine what the night must have been like for Mary (Jesus mother) and the rest of Jesus close friends? The Sabbath day must have dragged on at a snails pace. Jesus' burial wasn't even completed and yet they couldn't do anything about it. I'm also certain that Jesus' apostles kept asking themselves over and over again through out this day what more could they have done to prevent the death of their master. In the end they surely came to the conclusion that this crucifixion wasn't an accident. For some reason that they couldn't understand Jesus allowed this to happen.

At one point during this sabbath day the Sanhedrin came to a frightening realization. Jesus had prophesied that on the third day he would be resurrected. They suddenly became afraid that the disciples of Jesus would take his body from the tomb and make the claim that he was risen from the dead. Once again they went complaining to Pilate who finally agreed to post a guard at the tomb to make certain no one took the body of Jesus. 

While the Gospels don't make it clear, it is likely that Jesus friends gathered together somewhere in Jerusalem so as to be closer to the tomb on Sunday morning. No one wanted to be alone and they were anxious to get a good start and to have a proper fair well with their Master.