Bit of a Rewind

I just wanted to add a few pictures to the blog before too much time passes.

Oh how we love the Nelsons and the Blanchards! They are a big reason we will miss Las Vegas so much. We had them over for dinner a few weeks ago. 

I was so happy I caught this sweet ring around the rosie moment. If you look closely, you can see Nate's mustache. :)

My Emmy girl is growing up so fast. The other day she told me to stop talking to her. I said, "Ok." She snapped back, "You're talking to me!!!"

One of my favorite pictures of the kids.

Our poor grill. We have been using it more often than we used to, but this is how it looks more often than not. Credit goes to Natalie of course.

More San Diego Memories

There are a few more things I want to remember about our San Diego trip. The zoo of course being one of them. It was just 15 minutes away from our hotel, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

I love the reflection of Natalie's face in the glass.

Oh my. This one insisted on pushing the stroller up, down, and everywhere we went. With little concern for fellow zoo-goers of course.

Jansen was our map guy. He got a little frustrated with it at times, but it was a big part of what he liked about being at the zoo.

We spend about 5 1/2 hours at the zoo, and it was the perfect amount of time.

Spaghetti has got to be the most non-kid friendly food there is when it comes to actually eating it. When deciding if I want to order it for my kids, I have to factor in the cost of the food plus the cost of the shirt they  are wearing and will inevitably ruin and stain. It gets everywhere. 

Since we were on a naval base we were able to get some groceries at the Commissary one night, and there was also a food court. We ate there a couple times. 

Nate chased the kids around on the grass one evening. I guess I need to relax because all I could think about was the grass stains Natalie was getting. :)

They opened the pool the last day we were there. We only spent a short time there, but Emmy loved sitting on the edge of the pool with me.

San Diego

This year The American Medical Society of Sports Medicine held it's annual conference in San Diego. Nate was attending and had to get a hotel anyway, so we decided to tag along. We stayed at the awesome lodge on the Naval Air Station North Island. This is the view from our balcony.

The day before we were going to leave, Jansen had a really really hard time with a windy afternoon we had in Las Vegas. He was pacing the hall, crying, covering his ears, etc. It really shook me up too because he has never reacted that severely. We were worried about going to San Diego because the beach is almost always windy. With a little bribery, prayers, and just working through it, we didn't have any big problems on the trip.  I am reading some books on childhood anxiety (which I am almost positive he has), and we are hoping to help him overcome this. His fear has transformed a little. He actually does really well IN the wind lately, but he is very bothered by hearing the wind or seeing trees waving in the wind or hearing wind chimes. Even if it is not windy, he will usually not look out the window or be near windows.

He was great at the beach though thankfully.

This lodge is so perfect for a family. Right on the beach, pool, playground, bunk beds, continental breakfast, etc. Our suite had a kitchen and a separate living area, so Nate and I could watch a movie or something after the kids went to bed.

The city of Coronado is SO beautiful as well. That big bridge in the background is what we would cross over each day to get Nate to his conference downtown and then to get back to the island.

This was a fun park we found as we were exploring one morning. Nate attended the conference each day, but some days were shorter than others (or he just missed parts) and he was able to spend time with us.

Jansen loves jumping out of swings lately.

Beaches are amazing to me. I don't love to be in water or in a swimsuit or getting dirty, but I do love being at the beach.

Emmy was very cautious of the waves and didn't have much interest in getting wet at all.

Jansen on the other hand, LOVES splashing in the waves. 

Nate missed a lot of our beach time, but we had a great time one afternoon with him.

My little Emmy running her little heart out on the sand. 

Fries and Shakes from Heaven

Last week I went with Julie, Shadoe, and Katie to Max Brenner (a restaurant) in the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace to "celebrate" my birthday. They have fries and shakes there that I crave practically every day. The restaurant is centered on chocolate.

We did a little shopping at H&M as well. I had to laugh...we were gone for probably 4 hours at one restaurant and one store. I knew Nate would ask me how it was and what we did and would then be stunned that we could spend 4 hours between two places. That's a girls' night for you.

Soccer and Baseball

This spring Natalie is playing on a city soccer league, and Jansen is playing church baseball. I am loving it. It makes for busy weeks, but not to the point that I feel overwhelmed. I have no idea why, but the city ordered medium shirts for these kids (they say 10-12 on the tag), so they are huge. They look so cute in them though.

So far Natalie is eating it up. She loves to go to practice, and she was really excited about her first game. The game ended in a tie. 

Jansen loves baseball too, as long as it's not windy. Nate's schedule has allowed him to be at most of the games, and that has been so nice. Jansen has been hitting really well. He's not too into the rest of it, but I'm sure that will come with time if he decides to keep playing.

Spring Break

Knowing it might be my last chance before we move, I decided to head out to Utah with the kids for Spring Break. Emmy spent the morning preparing to go to "Nutah." As she was washing her hands and arms, she told me she was getting ready to go to grandma's. 

Our plan was to leave after school on Friday. The last couple hours of school that day were spent at the Walkathon that the PTO had planned to raise money for assemblies and other activities for the kids. Luckily it wasn't a hot day. Although we did have the most delicious shaved ice you can imagine.

We left on schedule, and for some reason I will never understand, the drive wasn't bad. We only stop once to gas up and use the restroom every time we make the drive. But this is what awaited us in Utah.

Little did I know this also awaited us. I think Emmy was the first to get sick, but I was slow to recognize it because she never has much of an appetite even when she is well, and I figured her diarrhea was from drinking lots of milk. Then one night in the wee hours Natalie came to me telling me her tummy hurt. Luckily I grabbed something to catch the throw up because a few minutes later she needed it. This is how she spent the next day.

There were some really great times as well of course. Kami treated me to lunch and a pedicure for my birthday. It was SO fun to spend a couple hours with her. We met up with the rest of the family and went to a trampoline place that afternoon.

I love my family. My cousins are like sisters. And my mom has a great sense of humor as you can see.

That night Emmy woke up many many times. I had a stomach ache and I thought it might be from all the up and down when I needed to be sleeping. Turns out I caught what Natalie had. It was one of those days that I let the kids eat and watch whatever they wanted all day. I felt so crummy, and I was so sad because we were supposed to be in Salt Lake with family. We had to miss it all. Luckily the sickness was a 12-24 hour thing.

We loved spending time with Addi.

And had a yummy snack at Einstein's one morning. I love that place.

We were so excited to see Amy and Quentin's new sweet little boy Taft. 

More happy moments. :) Family picture in the basement on the love sac.

We drove home Wednesday morning, and the sickness hit Jansen a day or two later. Happy to say we are well now and missing Utah.

Easterly Things

The Saturday morning before Easter there was a church egg hunt at a nearby park. There were 3 separate egg hunts for different age groups. I love watching the nursery age kids as they slowly collect eggs and open them as they go. Here's Emmy spotting an egg.

Obviously thrilled with the contents.

As you can see, Natalie was hard core with her overflowing basket. I had a couple adults come hand me a few eggs they were holding for her because she couldn't fit them all in her basket. 

And here we are Easter morning. The Easter bunny brought hats for all the kids. He's going to have to stop by again though because Natalie's was a little small.

Emmy loved her hat.

Happy Easter faces...

I was asked to teach the lesson in Young Women's on Sunday. I do not enjoy teaching lessons at all, and it kind of hung over my head all month. As is always the case, I ended up being very grateful that I was forced to do a lot of extra reading and pondering about the resurrection. What an amazing gift it is. I love to think that death has been conquered. We had a delicious Easter dinner with friends that evening...good friends make the world go round in my book. :)