Family Visit

My sister, Kimber, and her family came to visit us over Easter. I was so excited! I absolutely love it when family comes to visit and we had such a great time!

Because Kimber's husband is a pilot they get free flights when they fly standby. While I love this since it means they can come visit, it sometimes has some unfortunate side-effects, like lost luggage. Fortunately, the airport provides small bags of necessities when a passenger's bag gets lost.

Here is a picture of three cute kids wearing the t-shirts the airport had provided for them since they didn't have any jammies. They loved watching Uncle David play games on his computer.



On Sunday I had the kids go into our yard and cut some flowers for a boquet. Here's Gracelyn with the finished product. I thought it turned out pretty good!

Here's us at Easter dinner. We had quite a few people so we pushed two tables together to make a huge square table. Cameron's mom, Daleen, came as well and brought me some beautiful popcorn ball flowers which reminded me of home since my parent's house has several of these plants that bloom every year. I used them as the centerpiece. They were so beautiful. Thanks, Daleen!

We had an Easter egg hunt in our back yard that actually entertained the kids for quite a while. I was impressed! Good job hiding the eggs, Kimber!

Afterwards the kids compared what they got and ate way too much sugar.

Since the adults...I mean, the kids were pretty exhausted after all the Easter festivities, we ended up decorating eggs the next morning.

Afterwards we went to the Guilford County Courthouse National Park where the kids learned about the Revolutionary War and earned junior ranger badges. Then we had fun bowling. Well, I had fun watching everyone else bowl since I'm a little front-heavy at the moment so I decided not to participate :) Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to all of these escapades so you'll have to use your imagination.

The next day we went to the Greensboro Children's Museum. I had never been there and I was so impressed! We spent three hours there and the kids easily could have spent another two. It was so fun and actually pretty relaxing for the adults since the kids were so entertained.

One area had a stage with lights, sound effects, instruments, and costumes. Sorry these aren't the best pictures but I wanted to include them because the kids were so funny! Brian Dean wanted to wear the Cookie Monster costume but it didn't fit so he just wore it on his arms and his head with the rest dangling. McKenna wore zebra pants, a hat, and vest and played the drums. Meanwhile, Gracelyn was in charge of lights and sound.

There was also a store where you could be the baker, deli manager, cashier, or just a shopper. Gracelyn was great at being the deli manager.

Here's Gracelyn giving McKenna a checkup at the doctor's office.

Apparently, Doctor Gracelyn found that McKenna had broken her leg and needed a boot!

Brian Dean liked the construction zone and looked good in his tool belt (even if we had to tie it twice around his waist to get it to stay on!)

He also got to be a firefighter and drive the fire truck!

Last but not least, here they are shoveling coal to make the train run. This was really cool because the area where you put the coal was motion-sensored so when you put the coal in it would light up like a fire and then dim again when you removed the shovel to get more. Also, the screen you see showing the tracks was a video screen and you could actually make the train appear to be going faster or slower depending on how you drove it. It was pretty cool.Overall we had a wonderful time. Thank you again for coming, Kimber!

Nineteen Weeks

I'm now nineteen weeks along in my pregnancy. My first trimester was not fun but slowly I'm seeing an improvement in how I feel and what I'm able to eat. I still get a little sick at night but only for an hour or two so I'm grateful for that small blessing.

We haven't been able to feel the baby kick yet but I can usually tell where she's at and feel the hardness of my stomach where she's laying. David loves to feel her in my stomach. We are getting so excited to bring this little girl into our family!

Our California Adventure

We just returned from a family vacation to CALIFORNIA! It was a vacation I've been looking forward to for months and it lived up to all my expectations. David and I had an absolutely wonderful time and are so grateful to my parents for allowing us to make these memories with all of my brothers and sisters and naky babies. What a wonderful way to start 2012!

David and I flew into LAX on Saturday and drove to Anaheim where we were staying. Seeing my family for the first time since becoming pregnant was extremely emotional. It made me feel so blessed to have this opportunity since it will probably be the only time my family will see me while pregnant. Thanks again mom and dad. It meant a lot to me!

On Sunday we attended church with my mother's cousin. Afterwards we headed to the cemetary where my great-grandparents are buried. My mom and her cousin talked about their grandparents and some of our other ancestors. It was a nice way to start our vacation.

The cemetary where my great-grandparents were buried is one of the nicest cemetaries I've ever been to and it has a whole plot owned by the LDS church for members to be buried in. It was really neat.

Afterwards we stopped by the New Port Beach Temple. We weren't able to walk around the grounds but it was nice to stop by and see it.

We then stopped by Huntington Beach where my Grandma Ivins grew up and spent her summers. It was fun to think of her there in her bikini flirting with the lifeguards!

My brother Brian and his family spent some time with us there and we had a great time picking up shells, looking at starfish, and hanging out on the pier.

These two guys were not afraid of humans at all and kept popping up looking for food. It was amazing to be so close to them!

On Sunday night we had a family dinner in our hotel room and talked to the kids about going to Disneyland the next day. As usual it was a little hectic with nineteen naky babies.

Here's our group at Disneyland! This was actually taken the third day we were there so if we look tired that would be why. You can just see Sleeping Beauty's castle behind us.

Here's JD and Doug's families getting ready to go into Disneyland: California Adventure on the first day we were there. I had never been to California Adventure and it was pretty fun! JD and Doug were nice enough to let us tag along with their families for most of the time which made our experience even better!

And the couple that made it all possible!

Bumper cars in A Bug's Land

Mr. Incredible with his newest sidekicks, Kaleen and Bridger.

At the 3-D Muppet Show

That night we went to the water show, World of Color. David and I didn't stay for the whole time because I wasn't feeling well but it was still fun to see the park at night.

For dinner, we went to Boudin's Bakery and got clam chowder in breadbowls. It was delicious! Sophie and Lilly were excited for their Mickey Mouse cookie. Too bad it turned out not to taste too great!

Meeting some Disney characters!

Kaleen, Logan, and Bridger begged David to go on the teacups with them. I warned them about David's crazy-fast teacup skills but they didn't listen. Still, I think they enjoyed themselves!

My absolutely favorite place in all of Disneyland is a little-visited area of New Orleans square. I seriously have wanted to share this beautiful place with my husband since I was a little girl and I was so excited to have David see it. Thanks to my sister, Kimber, for taking some pictures.

After playing at Disneyland for three days we headed to Universal Studios. I think David's favorite part of the entire trip was the burning car we past on the way to Universal. They had just put the fire out when we got close enough to take pictures.

At Univeral Studios

The next two pictures were taken by my naky baby, Gracelyn. She did a great job! Thanks Gracie!

After Universal we headed down to San Diego for the last few days of our trip. When we arrived at our hotel they had a welcome sign and welcome bags for our family. It made us feel pretty special.

Here we are at Sea World. Don't we look happy? Or maybe tired?

Our favorite thing at Sea World were the beluga whales.They were feeding and training the whales when we arrived at the exhibit and it was so interesting to see the whales doing some tricks. When we went to watch them under the water one of the whales came right up to the glass and actually pressed his head against it. He sat staring at me for probably 20 seconds. It was one of the coolest things I've ever had happen to me.

The kids loved Sea World too and just got a little wet!

Our last day in California we did several different things. First we went to Old Town and visited the Mormon Battalion Museum. They've changed it since I've last been there and I was extremely impressed. I would recommend it to anyone, especially for kids. They've done a great job retelling the story of the battalion.

Here is Lizzie after the tour getting us some water while the rest of the kids panned for gold.

And Lilly loved her horse ride. I love how her pigtails are jumping in this picture!

We then headed for the Coronado Beach. My Grandma Ivins had a condo here where she spent her winters every year so the beach held a lot of memories for all of us. It was bittersweet to return there without my grandma but I'm so grateful we were able to go.

We also walked through the Coronado Hotel, my favorite place in all of San Diego. Built in 1888, the hotel is absolutely beautiful and holds a lot of memories for me since it was one of my grandmothers favorite places too.

The kids enjoyed playing in the beach and relaxing.

Overall, it was a great trip. It reminded me how wonderful my family is and how grateful I am for all of them! Thanks, mom and dad, for allowing us this memorable opportunity.