Girls Weekend Out!

My wonderful Mother in law treated all the women in the fam to a much needed kid free weekend in Sunny St. George. We went to Tuacahn and saw Footloose. It was amazing. We ate and ate and ate, played games, shopped, layed out, swam, stayed up late, slept in, and ate. We had sooo much fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.... even the drive was fun. We went with Dorene, Alex, Kristie, Karli, Rakel, Rena, me and Vick. I really feel like we are so lucky because we are not only sisters in laws and cousins but we are friends at the same time. Thank you girls for making it such a great weekend. I love you all! I will never forget where I learned to play hand and foot.

Thank you soooo much Vickie Ann. You are soooo wonderful and I love you. I had the best weekend ever.

Lake Powell

We went to Lake Powell for a week with the Hansen's and Johnston's and it was wonderful. We were able to leave Garrett home with Vickie and Lenny and several other people so that we could go relax and have fun in the sun. We played in the water, swam, wakeboarded, knee boarded, slid down the slide, surfed, had water balloon fights, and rode the wave runners. We had a few perfect days and one windy day! The houseboat was wonderful and the kids has soooo much fun. Gracie tried out the kneeboard and loved it. She got right up. She had a great time playing with Dax and the big girls in the sand and water. Everyone was so sweet to her. We ate the best food ever and the whole week could not have been more PERFECT!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We made it to Disneyland this past weekend and had a fantastic time. We went with Kim & JR, Krista & Josh, and Sharon & Curtis and of course all the kiddos! We were able to leave Garrett home with the Grandma's and Karli so we could spend time with Gracie! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! But, we missed him so much by the end of the trip.

We flew in on Wednesday Morning and played at the pool the whole first day. The second, third, and forth days were spent at Disneyland and California Adventure. At first, I wasn't sure who was more excited.. me or Gracie. Probably me!

Here are a few of the highlights with photos to follow:

We had Lunch with the Princesses... Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine, & Arora (Sleeping Beauty) all came right up to our table and talked with the girls and took pics. The girls loved it but we didn't eat until about 3:00 and Gracie was sooo hungry she barely stopped eating to say hello to the princesses. Actually, the lunch was fabulous....I ate every bite down to the white chocolate seashell! Gracie loved it too... so much she saved her leftovers all day and had a complete meltdown when they spilled on the floor of the hotel when we got back. So sad! At least we know she cares about her food as much as her mother. ha ha!

The kids were able to meet some of the characters while we were over at California Adventures. This may have been the best part of the trip. They all had little autograph books for the characters to sign. We went to Pixie Hollow to see Tinkerbell and the girls were able to meet another fairy named Fawn too! Gracie was a little nervous to meet the awful Queen but got brave just long enough for me to get the picture!

Swimming at the pool and playing in the sun!

Gracie was so brave and went on Space Mountian and the Tower of Terror and did great! She didn't love the rides but she also didn't cry! I was so proud. While we were on the haunted mansion She said "I am really enjoying this" I think we made such a big deal about it not being real that she had to act all grown up and not scared.

Hawaii Report

Is this the most beautiful place on earth? I think so...

Hawaii was amazing. I did NOT want to come home to the cold. We went for 8 days to Kauai thanks to my wonderful parents... this was our Christmas Gift. I may have some of the best parents on earth... not because of the trip but because of what the trip allowed us to do... spend time with each other with no other obligations or worries in the most beautiful place on earth. The kids had a blast and loved hanging out with each other 24/7. We left on Friday morning and arrived after dark on Friday night... that made for a very long day traveling with a 9 month old baby... but, we made it! The first 2 nights we stayed in Princeville which is an amazing resort/condo community. The rest of the week we stayed in a 3 bedroom house in a little town called Koloa. We ate ice cream and shave ice... and everything else we could shove in our faces.. It was the best. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE to eat? Well, eating is by far my favorite thing to do and I did it well in Hawaii...

Here is Gracie playing on the beach and in the ocean. She hated the sand in her swim suit... we had to rinse it out more than once. One day, she was playing in the water and a huge wave came and knocked her down and spun her around in the sand... we all went running to see if she was okay and she just sat up and laughed....what a sport, she was completely covered in sand...too funny!
Baby Garrett loved the ocean as well. He would laugh every time a wave would reach him on the beach. He ate more sand than I want to admit and he wanted to be big and play like the other kids. He spent a lot of time practicing his walking skills, back and forth, back and forth between us. Oh yeah, he cut two more teeth while we were there... top right and left. It gave him a fever and it sucked.

We went to a luau and played on several different beaches, went in the canyon, saw whales and turtles, but my favorite thing we did was stop at some local house that was advertising fresh lei's for sale. An older couple lived there and started feeding us all this fresh fruit that they had grown in their back yard... it was very neat. We had apple bananas, coconut, oranges, and some wierd spiny red fruit that my brother was allergic to. His lips swelled up so we improvised and doped him up on baby benedryl. Funniest part of the trip... poor guy!

San Diego

Well, it was due time to take a trip with just Jake and I... we have not been alone on a trip since our honeymoon, and even then, the second half was shared in Vegas with the entire baseball team and their wives...(which, by the way, was sooo much fun - I'm really not complaining just stating the facts).

Here's how it went... we were originally going to go camping over Labor Day with some friends and the kids to Flaming Gorge but those plans were disintigrating rapidly. As I was on the phone with Kim on Monday night(4 days before Labor Day weekend), we got talking and she had this great idea for just Jake and I to go somewhere fun and Voila... San Diego here we come. THANK YOU KIMMY! We booked a flight and a hotel and left on Saturday afternoon for a few nights without the kids. I was soooooo looking forward to getting some uninterupted sleep. Yes, I still get up every night with Garrett.

So we got there about 6:30ish on Saturday night, picked up the rental car (a sweet Mitsubishi Galant painted brown) and a much needed GPS. We were on our way (so we thought) not even a block away from Enterprise rent a car and the Hazard lights were flashing, we looked everywhere for the button but could not figure out how to turn them off. We were laughing so hard, we finally pulled over to get the owners manual. It turns out that the BIG red triangle button in the center of the dashboard (the one that you can't miss) did the trick and it still took 10 minutes to find.

So... long story short, we had a relaxing weekend eating wonderful food,(Fish Tacos mostly) playing at the beach(we actually went to 4 beaches), shopping, exploring San Diego, swimming, and eating more good food. The first night we went to the pier downtown (thanks to our Handy GPS) and had dinner overlooking the bay, it was really nice. The second night we had dinner with Melissa and Dave who, by the way, are really great. I wish we could have spent more time with them. Shout out to Mel and Dave: THANK YOU AGAIN FOR DINNER...AND THE GOOD TIMES. IT WAS FUN TO GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER! The fish Tacos were the Bomb... so good that we went back the next day for more.

Dave and Melissa at dinner... notice the palm trees in the background!

Well folks, that pretty much sums up our quick trip to Cali. It was sooo nice to get away but we missed the kids a little too much. Next time they are coming with us. Thanks mom and Karli for taking them off our hands while we were gone. XOXO



Here is my hot husband at Balboa Park! Gosh, I am LUCKY!


Melissa and I on the Pier... we took a perfect walk after dinner. Thanks again you guys!