San Diego

Since Jonathan had to go to San Diego for a fireside and a few meetings, we all decided to come along. What a fun trip!!! It was a long drive, but not too bad. The kids were great. We drove to San Diego, went to the beach, Sea World, and visited some old friends. We only wish we could have stayed forever!! The people in Escondido were FABULOUS. They hosted an amazing fireside, where several hundred (like 700) came to hear about how they can get involved as a stake in online missionary work. It rocked!!!

These Sea World pics are awesome. I love Chanel's face on this next one...
Jonny and Briggs were brave enough to sit on the 3rd row!!! They were right next to that platform in the middle. Nelly and I sat waaaayyy up on the billionth row, to avoid the water. It was a great show, though. I filmed a lot of it...even caught the boys getting really wet!
Our favs: dolphins.
Looking at the otters.
This was the only way to get Nelly to stand by them for a pic...I had to stand there.
Pets Rule show...pig.
Our only full- family pic at Sea World. I was pretty possessive of the camera to avoid any awkward preggo shots.
We had such an amazing time in San Diego. Here's the church where the fireside was held. The members were soooo hospitable and sweet to us. Jonathan and Karen did a great job in their presentations.

Here's a pic of the kids at the stake president's home, where his cute daughters took care of them.
Here's the poster the Escondido stake made for the fireside. They must have done a ton of work to publicize this event. We were shocked at the amount of people who came. Awesome. They were all fired up to get involved in the online conversation about our church.My ideal day: beach!!!

Strawberry Reservoir

We knew we wanted to go on a family trip with Jonathan's parents and brothers and their families. We just didn't know where. We all had about 10 ideas, but finally: Strawberry Reservoir was the place. We heard the elk (and the cows), wondered about the large hole that was freshly dug near the cabin, boated, BBQ'ed, laughed, s'mored, and all agreed that we HAD to do this again. It was absolutely beautiful there.
Briggs looks so proud here...

Jesica was reading Fablehaven, and was somewhat disappointed when the ending wasn't quite an "ending"...but she looks forward to reading the next one.

Jared always makes us laugh. He's the party man.

Chanel loves his Uncle Jared. He can do no wrong.
Gorgeous view. We saw deer right here, and 3 elk a little further.


Tagg and Grandpa. G & G were sweet enough to stay with Tagg whilst the rest of us partied it up on the boats. Thanks, sweet Marc and Karen!

Here's Chanel with her twin, Grandma Karen. Chanel's middle name is Karen...maybe that's why they look so alike!
Spoiled dog! Charlie was in heaven here!
Chanel in the dog cage...for fun?
Cutie sis-in-law buds! Bridget and Jesica.
I'm so glad I caught this lil' moment of the hand-off. So sweet!
Boston had enough of the tube! What a good sport, though!
Jesica's dad's boat. It was fun to have 2 boats, b/c we could film (and laugh at) each other.
This was the best. Boston and Chanel had a great time together.
Sea monster? Fish? No...it's Uncle Jared..."Lt. Dan!" Yes, he did the Forrest Gump jump of the boat. It was the funniest freakin' thing ever.

We love our family!!!

Passing out at the temple & First Baby Pic!

Friday was an interesting day. My cute mom drove down from Farmington to babysit my kids, so Jonathan and I could attend an endowment session at the temple. After the temple, we would have just enough time to go to my first doctor's appointment for this pregnancy.

We arrived at the temple a little late for the 7 am session, so we were able to sit in the chapel and just be still and quiet for a while. It was very peaceful. We were asked to be the witness couple for our session, so we accepted. During the endowment session, we were kneeling at the altar together. I started to feel queasy and gross, but didn't know if it was because I was going to vomit, faint, or die! My head started to drift downward, toward Jonathan's hands on the altar. He asked, "are you okay?" and I said, "no." I stood up, Jonathan helped me turn around and sit down. The temple workers all came to help me. They escorted me out, and as they did, I apologized to the people who were sitting there, confused.

They sat me down outside of the endowment room, and called security. They brought a lovely wheelchair, and took me to the first-aid room. I was crying the whole way from embarrassment. I felt soooooooooooo dumb! I was given OJ and crackers, and Jonathan told me to lie down on the bed in there. (It's nice to have an EMT for a hubby during times like this). He was very comforting to me.

Then, we walked down an obscure hallway back toward the locker rooms...and bumped into our friend, Bronson. He looked at the OJ and crackers in Jonathan's hand and said, "did you just get hungry, Jonathan?" We laughed, and then were dressed and headed out to IHOP for food.

Doctor's appointment: all is well! Although, I had to experience both arms getting poked at the lab! Ouchy! Baby has a heartbeat! We're due on April 8th! So excited! Grateful! Glad that day is OVER!!!!

Back to School & Yoda

Brigham's First Day of School: I thought I would cry, or at least I was told I would cry. It didn't happen. He was fine, I was fine. It was no big deal. Is something wrong with me? Maybe. He's a confident little guy, which made me feel okay about the whole thing. Here's some pics of the day:
With Jordan, his buddy
Mrs. Ball, his teacher
With Matthew
Cameron, Briggs and Matthew
Jordan, a new friend, Cameron, B, and Matthew
Kesley (his sweetie pie), Cameron, B, and Matthew, with Jordan and Ethan in front
Okay...here's the cat. Yes. He's really weird. He's ugly. He was named Cocoa when we got him. We've called him several different names...such as: Smeagol (the character on the Lord of the Rings) and Yoda. He has a smashed-looking face, bright green eyes, and dark brown fur. He's sweet, but makes the strangest snoring sounds. We'll put up with him, I guess.