CA vacay...full of mishaps and adventure

So another trip to Encinitas, CA for days of fun in the sand, surf and sun. But first we had to prepare. Piles of laundry folded...check.

I had my little laundry helper to give me moral support...

The car packed to the max. Off we go!

After hours on the road, our little peanut needed to use the bathroom. Luckily we were next to the only exit in sight, forty-five minutes before Vegas.

And then, the unimaginable. The car broke down. The serpintine belt snapped in two...Thus began our adventure of sitting for nine! (9) hours at the gas station waiting for it to get fixed (that in itself is a very amusing story, but I'll save that for a later date). And just so you know, the kids were AWESOME! But after hours and hours we all had had enough of sitting in a miniscule room entertaining one another. MASH was our favorite, and we finished our little french book that I can't now remember the name of. Thank you helpful strangers, Mike and Ben! And also my mom and dad who were hours behind us on the road, but then caught up with us and stayed for 5 hours making sure we were okay. The joys of road trips!

Poor Sophie!
Almost 24 hours after leaving UT, we finally arrived!

Our happy Lola, who was an absolute angel, but got her first eye infection and cold on the trip which required the doctor to phone in a prescription.

The cousins did sleepovers every night.

Lucy and Maria were inseparable.

Sophie had the first sighting of spiny starfish, which we had never seen at Moonlight beach before.

Spencer the mermaid.

Grace had a surfing lesson.

Coyote Cantina in Old Town. This picture was right before we left for the parking lot (without Lucy). I didn't realize she was missing for about 15 minutes, and then I bolted back to the restaurant looking for her. She was there (whew!) with the restaurant manager, where she promptly burst into tears saying, "Mommy, you left me!" Yes, I did. And I felt like the worst Mama ever!

Mormon Battalion Center with the cousins

And our poor Gracie fractured her foot in a terrible kite flying accident in La Jolla. 

Her crutches put a little damper on her 'fun in the sun vacation', but she was a very good sport and tried to be content reading on the beach. Here's what she read: 1) Howl's Moving Castle 2) The Limit 3) The Grimm Legacy 4) Turtle in Paradise 5) Moon Over Manifest 6) Nerds: Cheerleaders of Doom. Her favorites were The Grimm Legacy and Turtle in Paradise.

Spencer's poor back after he fried it a few days before...but let me state for the record I DID harass him to put sunscreen on, which he refused. Don't think he'll do that again. And hopefully he also won't have his previous nights dinner of Sour Cream and Onion Chips and four glasses of Chocolate Milk (he woke up that night vomiting it away). Hopefully lesson learned. Whew. What a trip. Next year will hopefully be less exciting! Until then.

A party is on the horizon...

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We Had A Baby!

And that's why I haven't blogged a thing in three and a half months. For shame! But, well, I've been a little busy.

We are slightly in Love.

Okay, we're a lot in love.

More from the World of Ballroom...

We spent last weekend at the UVU Ballroom Dance tournament. And when I say "spent" I mean, SPENT. Like seven hours of Ballroom Dance. Whew. My ankles and feet were completely unrecognizable after that event. Thank you pregnancy!

For some reason the photographers only got one very small picture of Grace (even though she competed in three events, and danced more than Soph). But I guess it's fair because last competition, Sophie only had one picture taken. Sophie danced with a new partner, Brennan.



And Grace scored so well in her dances that she gets to move on to BYU!!! She is so excited (and so am I) because Grace likes to win, and if she doesn't? Well. I'll let you use your imagination, but it isn't pretty. We're still evolving on the whole "sportsmanship" thing. I'd say with each competition she gets better at being a good sport, even if things don't go the way she would like. Personally, I blame Adam, because that boy has one competitive spirit. :) It's a good thing, right?

PS. Four more weeks until Big Baby Day! I can hardly wait for one of these little sweeties. (This is Lucy, a little over four (!!) years ago.)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I got this great idea from Little Birdie Secrets. Last night we made our own Valentine's Tree. On each heart someone in the family wrote something they loved about another memember of the family. It was very sweet. We also watched a short video entitled "What Matters Most."
And this morning we had these:

Adam loves Dunford Donuts.
Hope everyone has a great day spreading the love.

Hey Mon, Did I Talk About Jamaica?

I think I forgot to blog about our recent trip to Jamaica. We took three whole pictures. Here's one:

And actually out of the 6 days we were there, this was one of my favorite days. The hike up the falls was amazing.
We had a guide who took us up and because of my pregnant state he held my hand the whole way! By the end of the day he was calling me 'jen jen' and had turned into my new BFF. I trust he didn't want a birth on his hands. So thank you lovely guide for keeping me nice and safe.

The other great day was Sunday, when we went to the LDS Branch in Ocho Rios. There were about 25 Jamaicans in attendance...so we overwhelmed them a bit with our 25 strong Utah presence, but they handled it well. I LOVED sacrament mtg in Jamaica. In fact, wish I could go to church in Jamaica every Sunday. What an amazing branch they have, full of people who literally sparkle because of the lives they live and the choices they make. My favorite was Karrie Ann (I think Vasa?) who was late twenties, married, w/ 2 adorable babies. Her talk on prayer was amazing, inspiring, heart felt and honest. She is my new hero. Not to mention how awesome it was that she stood at the pulpit completely comfortable in bare feet. Now that's something I want to try.

Anyway. As for Jamaica itself? Uhm. Don't think I'll go back for a revisit vacation. Once is enough. It's pretty, but there are many other beautiful tropical vacation spots that seem safer and not as needy. Driving through the towns made me really sad, just because of the poverty and the drugs. It makes me want to do something to help and also grateful to live in the US.

But don't let me deter you if you have a trip planned. I'm glad I got to have a Jamaican experience.