Carolyn's Baptism

The much anticipated day arrived at last!

My beautiful Carolyn was baptized and confirmed today.

She looked radiant!

Her smile lit up the room.

She is an amazing little daughter of God.

I wish she could really understand how special she is.

I love her with all my might.

San Diego trip

Jeremiah and I were able to go away on his birthday for an extended weekend getaway to San Diego. I have a lot of family in the area, so we go there frequently for various family functions and events on my side, but this trip was actually in conjunction with Jeremiah's cousin's wedding.

We spent a fun day in Disney's California Adventure! Our very first date ever was at Lagoon, and we spent a week in Florida at Disney World for our first anniversary, so being there together - just the two of us - was reminiscent of the early days of our courtship and marriage. We go to theme parks fairly often, but I believe the last time we went without kids was to Universal Studios when I was pregnant with Carolyn over eight years ago. Which is about right, I guess, because about nine times out of ten I would prefer to have our kids with us.

The first time we rode on California Screamin', I closed my eyes and gripped the safety bar. Jeremiah took me on again with the challenge to keep my eyes open and hands up for the entire ride. I did it, and it was a blast!

Lightning McQueen and Mater are some of Isaiah's faves. I thought he might appreciate this picture - and I was right!

The weather was perfect! By mid-day it was warm enough that we thought a water ride would be refreshing, so we hit the rapids and got a little wet.

For lunch, we went out the private exit/entrance to the Grand Californian Hotel and enjoyed lunch at an outdoor dining area next to the pool area.

The Tower of Terror is always fun! The empty seat beside me was in honor of Carolyn. She was there in spirit. :-)

It was so fun to have a Disney date with my husband!

We hit the beach for a little while. Still too early in the year for optimal beach weather, but it was a lovely day! Jeremiah went out in the water for a while while I lounged on the beach with a book.

We walked around and gathered some shells for our children.

We love the ocean!

We stopped in for a visit with my Grandpa and went out for burgers together at a great joint in his neighborhood! It was nice chatting with him and hearing what he is up to with his duties as a member of the San Diego County Grand Jury.

I love the San Diego Temple! When I was in 7th grade my dad took my sister and I and some of our friends on a road trip to San Diego for the temple open house. It was so much fun! Since then, I have been back many times and enjoy it every time. Fun for us that Jeremiah's cousin, Mike, and his new wife, Ashley, chose this temple for their wedding! It was a wonderful ceremony, officiated by the temple president. Ashley looked stunningly gorgeous!

My beautiful grandma was so kind to provide us with a delicious feast! We had a great time visiting and eating, and we only wish we'd been able to spend more time with my grandparents! We didn't even get to play a game this time.

Grandpa looked so happy and healthy - especially considering he was at death's door just a few months ago. It was very reassuring to see him looking and acting so great!

We were able to have dinner with my cousin, Scotty, and his awesome wife, Katie. It was so much fun to see them!

I love my cousin and don't get to see him nearly enough. But I'm glad for chances like this to squeeze in a quick visit.

We flew home the next morning. (We were upgraded to first class since Jeremiah is a medallion member from all his business travel - very cool.) It was so nice to wake up in our nice hotel room in SoCal and be home with our children a few hours later!

My sister, Rebecca, had taken fabulous care of my children and home. We appreciate her for making all this possible!

Tumbling

Carolyn and Kylie took a tumbling class for a few months at the start of this year. They had taken it before and really enjoyed it, so we decided to give it another try. This time their cousin, Ammon, took the class with them, which was fun. I love the community education program our school district offers!

Jeremiah's birthday

In honor of Jeremiah's 34th birthday, our family had a little celebration! He and I are leaving on his birthday for a getaway to San Diego, where his cousin is getting married this weekend, so our family celebrated a few days early! We had a great evening!

We all love Jeremiah so much and could not ask for a better husband or father!

Isaiah Singing

Maeli

My new little niece, Maeli, was born on Saturday, February 27th!

We waited anxiously in the hallway for the first glimpse of her. Thankfully, Joey didn't make us wait too long before he brought her to the door for a quick peek.


Kambria sat on the bed with her mom to get a closer look at her new sister.


She was so sweet with her baby sis!


Of course, there were many cameras out at all times capturing this baby's first moments and hours!


We all took turns holding Maeli. Am I a proud auntie, or what?!


We are so happy to have Maeli join our family! She's such a sweet little thing!

Earrings!

We had never really settled on a specific age or time when our girls would "allowed" to get their ears pierced. For me, it was 12. I always kind of figured that if my children were old enough to make a decision about baptism, then they were old enough to decide whether or not they wanted their ears pierced at eight. So that was the idea in the back of my mind.

However, as Carolyn approached the age of eight, I could sense that ear piercing was actually a bigger deal to Kylie than it was to Carolyn. So rather than tie it to a certain age, we decided to take them both to the mall and just let them do it.

First, we stopped at Chili's for lunch, where Uncle Danny works.


And since it was a slow time, he was even able to sit with us a bit and entertain the kids.

After an enjoyable lunch, we headed over to the mall and got down to business. Carolyn chose some sparkly round cubic zirconium earrings.

The lady drew the dots on her ears where the earrings would go.

She gave Carolyn a teddy bear to hug while the piercing was taking place.

As soon as it was done, Carolyn was given a mirror to look in. She liked what she saw!

Next was Kylie's turn. She chose some star-shaped CZs. (Obviously, she went through the same process, but it turns out we have a lot more video than still pics of her ear piercing.)
Once the ears were pierced, we all went upstairs for a ride on the carousel.

Kylie chose a reindeer.

Isaiah chose a dragon.

Carolyn chose a kitty.

These pretty girls love having their ears pierced!