San Diego & Disneyland

We had so much fun in California. We drove to Las Vegas first on Saturday night to stay with my friend and MTC companion Stacy Perry. I'm bummed that I totally forgot to get a picture with her! Thanks Stacy, for letting us stay with you! We watched the Jazz win that night, too, which was fun!

Sunday was more driving to San Diego. We stayed with my Grandpa and his wife, Phyllis. We had a lot of fun there and I think Phyllis is one of Kaitlyn's favorite people! The highlight at their house for Kaitlyn was picking an orange off of their orange tree with grandpa. Wow! I wish we could grow oranges here. They are so juicy picked right off the tree! I'm enjoying the bag of oranges grandpa gave me to take home--store bought will never be good enough, now!

On Monday, April 28th we went to Sea World. I loved seeing Shamu jump out of the water. After the Shamu show we went downstairs to the underwater viewing area. As we were standing there, Steve said, "I'd love to see Shamu jump out of the water from underneath". Not one minute later that's exactly what he did!! It was awesome!We also stopped at the San Diego Temple. Unfortunately the gates were closed because it's not open on Mondays, but we still got to see it through the bars...what a beautiful place.

On Tuesday we went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. We saw a brand new baby (I'm not really sure what type of animal it was) right after it was born. Before we left, we took Kaitlyn and Michael on the carousel. She screemed every time we tried to get off. A person can only handle getting dizzy on a carousel so many times, though. Little did she know we'd be going on ride after ride at Disneyland the next day.

We drove up the Pacific Highway on our way to Anaheim and stopped at the beach to let our kids experience the sand and waves. I wish we could've stayed longer, but it wasn't extremely warm that day. Surprisingly Kaitlyn still had a lot of fun! She was a little upset about all the sand on her feet.

We met up with Brandee, Matt, Kurtis, and Tate Keddington on Wednesday to go to Disneyland for the next three days. Steve and I both hadn't been there since we were kids. We had so much fun on all the rides and seeing all the fun characters and parades. We would switch off staying with the kids, too, so that the other adults could go on the "big kid" rides.

After every ride, and I mean EVERY ride (including the Haunted Mansion) Kaitlyn would say, "I wanna do that again".

The kids were all so good. I really couldn't believe it! Wednesday and Thursday we stayed from opening to closing of the park...Kate did get a little nap in the stroller. Michael was so good, too. He'd take a little cat nap every few hours and then just be mesmorized on the rides.

I ate my first churro EVER on our trip to Disneyland--so good!!

The highlight of Disneyland for both Steve and myself was watching Kaitlyn meet Cinderella. She actually went up to her and gave Cinderella a kiss on the cheek. So adorable!! It's so neat how nice all the princesses are to each little girl they see.

It couldn't have been a more perfect trip: The weather was PERFECT, the kids were FUN, the company was GREAT, the wait for the lines was SHORT, the parades were MAGICAL, the princesses were BEAUTIFUL, and it was just SO MUCH FUN!

I LOVE DISNEYLAND!!!

Unfortunately when you drive to California, you also have to drive back home. Saturday and Sunday were about 6 hours in the car each day, but it really wasn't that bad. The kids both slept quite a bit. We stopped in St. George for the night to break up the drive.

Our Little Scooter!

So I'm not sure that this can be considered crawling, but Michael can get across an entire room without rolling over...pretty talented! (F.Y.I. The interesting sounds in the background are coming from Kaitlyn).

Michael is Sitting Up!

Michael started sitting up on his own today! We were having fun taking pictures of him with our new camera!

He still tips over after a while, though...this face just makes me want to laugh!

I Finished the Half Marathon!

Ok, I realize this picture is taken in my backyard, but I promise I really did finish the half marathon I ran...I just didn't have my camera there to document the event, so I took this when I got home. My dad and Steve also ran the race. The Half Marathon (13.1 miles) race was around Pine View--through Eden & Hunstville. It was a chilly race. A couple miles into the race I met up with Libby Jacobs, Kysha Hill, and Lisa Johnston from my ward. I didn't even know they were running in the race, but I was able to run with them up until about mile 9. Just after mile two, we had a scary experience as Steve and I saw a lady running about 30 feet in front of us get hit by a truck. She was running in the middle of the road on the double line and all the sudden she jetted across to the left without looking behind her (we were all supposed to stay to the right). The truck was thankfully going pretty slow and stopped very quickly, but hit her and we saw her shoe fly across the road. I couldn't believe she just stood up and said she was fine after getting hit by a truck. I heard later that someone broke their leg--I'm assuming that was her. It startled me so much that my heart just felt like it was racing and I actually started crying! The end of the race was pretty cold with a head wind, but I was happy I was able to run the entire the race without stopping and finished in 2 hours and 3 minutes.

Doctor's Visits Galore!

It seems like we've been visiting the doctor's office an awful lot lately. I think it started about a month ago with:

1. Steve coming down with the flu/sinus infection.

2. I woke up a few Sundays ago with my eye infected and had to meet the eye doctor at his office on a Sunday night to see why my one of my eyes was completely red, constantly dropping tears, and so light sensitive that I had to have Steve put blankets over some of the windows and wear sunglasses inside the house.

3. We took Kaitlyn to an Endocrnologist on St. Patrick's Day to see if there is a reason for her "short stature". We have to go back to Primary Children's to get some chromosome testing.

4. On Easter Sunday we took Kaitlyn to Wee Care and she had a double ear infection.

5. March 27th I went back to the eye doctor for my yearly eye exam. The eye I had the infection in went from a prescription of -2.75 to -3.25.

6. March 31st we took Michael to an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) Specialist to check his overall hearing in a sound booth.

7. April 1st was Michael's 6 month check-up visit: 15 lbs and 25 inches!!

8. Friday Michael woke up (after not sleeping well) with a temperature of 102, a cough, runny nose, and just the saddest sounding cry you've ever heard. I made an appointment with the pediatrician for later that afternoon. When I went in his cheeks were bright red and you could feel the heat coming off of him...the nurse took his temperature...104.3 degrees! The doctor was pretty worried with a fever that high. He listened to his breathing which was fine. Then he wanted to make sure it wasn't a bacterial infection so he had to put a catheter in to get a urine sample and then the nurse had to get a blood sample. She tried the vein in his arm first (didn't work), then a vein in his head (barely worked). I ended up having to go over to Davis Hospital Lab and they drew the blood out of his arm. Interestingly enough as he was screaming on my lap, the nurse says, "Oh look, he has his two bottom teeth!" I had no idea he had teeth! That explains all the drooling. After all the testing everything came back normal. It's just so sad to see a little 6 month old feeling so sick.

9. I "get" to go to the gynecologist on Tuesday to decide on a new birth control--so much fun!

Although we've become experts at doctor's visits and copays, I'm thankful for health insurance and that we're all doing really well.