San Diego

On Tuesday my Dad was able to take off work and we went as a family to San Diego! We stopped first at Seaside Village for lunch.

We ate at a little corner "food court" typpe of thing, so they had something for everyone there. And of course, the boys chose burgers and fires haha

We then went to the USS Midway. It is a retired air craft carrier used in 3 different wars (at least i think it was 3) and now they let people go on it and tour it! How cool is that!?! Cam and Cole are sitting in the ejection seats (ones that eject out of airplanes when a lever is pulled). They thought it was pretty cool. Here they are pretending to be flying and their plane is going down so they are trying to decide if they want to pull the lever or not. What great imaginations! haha

On the top level of the ship you could go in many different typed of aircrafts (bombers, helecopters, spy planes, etc) Paige was in her stroller and could not go in so we watched the boys go in some. Trey stayed with us for a little while and was just making Paige smile so much! She really loves Trey! It is so cute to see!

To the right of the ship, or left depending what way you are facing haha, there is this giant statue of the famous post war kiss. (it was a picture taken of a soldier just coming home from the war and he grabs the first girl he sees and kisses her. They do not know who the soldier is but found out who the girl was. And now the picture is pretty famous, and they even made a statue of it) I love that they did that! So cute!

Mom and I trudged on ahead of the group (they were still going inside various air crafts) and went to the front of the boat. I forget what these are called but there are two of them and they kindof look like horns on the boat, and they hang over the water way high! But it was so cool to go on them! They used to be used to catch the rope/elastic thing that helped planes launch from it, or something like that =>

After the air craft carrier tour we drove by the San Diego temple! (on our way to Old Town/ Mormon Battalion center). I LOVE this temple! It is so gorgeous, even with scafoldings. But then again, what temple isnt gorgeous? But this is one of my all time favorite temples! It is like straight from a fairy tale!!

We then went to the Mormon Battalion center. That place is SO COOL! The Mormon battalion was amazing, and I never realized just how much they did for the settlement of CA!

After the battalion center we went to Islands for some food then headed home. What a fun day trip with the fam!

FHE Swimming 2

I took a LOT of pictures on this vacation but for some reason I can only upload four pictures per post, so it is causing me to be very selective and even break it into different posts. Hence, the second swimming post.

I promise Paige really enojyed the water, it just doesn't look like it in any of these pictures. =>

Like I said before, BJ is very protective of Paige. He would constantly come over and lick her and make sure she was ok. I am not an animal person, I think licking is gross and would try to stop it, but there are some times I just didn't move away fast enough. And it really doesnt hurt anyone, and is kind of cute BJ liked Paige so much, it is just gross to me. haha

Pappa sure loves his little Paige girl! And she loves him so much! She is always so smiley and happy when ever my Dad (Pappa) and my Mom (Granny, or any other name we think of) come around. I really don't know why she looks so unhappy here, again I promise she really was happy haha

The pool started getting too cold, but Paige still wanted water (this girl never wants to get out of the water) So Granny drew a warm bath in their bath tub and they had a little pool party in there!

I LOVE swimming! And I love being down here, and I love Paige getting to know my family more! We are having a blast!

FHE Swimming 1

For Family Home Evening (FHE, or family night) we went swimming in my parents pool!

There was an ongoing battle between the boys of trying to push eachother in the pool. Trey mostly won, until my Dad came along. Trey had been particularly picking on Caeron and pushing him in a lot, probably because Cam always tried to push Trey in. So when my Dad came along and flipped Kaden in Trey never suspected Cam and Dad to gang up and get him. But get him they did. haha

Hanging out with Paige on the beach step. The pool really was very cold and none of the girls really wanted to get in. =>

But we did eventually get in a little bit. And Paige loves the water, even when it is freezing, athough she extremely loves warm water =>

 

Showing Off Sunday

Thank goodness my parents church did not start until 11:00am! Paige did great sleeping and only woke up her normal one time in the night to eat and then went right back to sleep. But even with a good night and two extra hours to get ready for church (ours at home starts at 9) we were a little tardy getting there. I think it is my curse to never be able to be on time to things, no matter how hard I try or how much I plan. Oh well, such is life. =>

At church it was so fun to see my parents show off their granddaughter. They are so proud to be grandparents! It is so cute to watch! They would brag and dote and beam everytime someone commented on Paige (which was a LOT). I am so glad I have a cute baby, that was seriously one of my fears (to have an ugly baby).

When we got home from church my Mom was playing with Paige and then her other baby, their dog BJ, came up to play with them. My Mom was so excited to have both her "babies" with her!

Their dog was suprisingly good with Paige! He took it upon himself to be her little protector and gaurdian. Adorable! My parents had also bought a stroller for Paige (and a porta-crib) so they could always have those things at their house for when grandkids come over. So we had to try it out. This is Paige's first "big girl" stroller, the one we have we just hook her car seat onto the stroller so she has never actually sat up in it.

Cam stroller her around the house to test it out. She did very well in it, cam was a little goofy tho haha.

We Made It!

From our pit stop in Vegas we drove about 3 hours to my parents house. Paige was great again, up until the Cahone (is that how you spell it?) Pass. I think she had just had enough of being in the car. But she had her little moment then fell asleep and slept from about Rancho Cucamonga to Claremont (20ish mins with the traffic we had). When we got to my parents house we were greeted with one of the best treats EVER! A giant cookie cake from the Great American Cookie Company! Yummy!

Everyone was so excited to see us, and especially Paige! She is truely one loved little girl!

The boys and my Mom had bought some books for Paige as a "welcome to our house, we love you" present. So nice! And the boys wasted no time each picking a book and reading it to Paige. They are such good uncles!

I am so glad we made it, and especially glad Paige did so well on that long drive! Horray for vacations!!

Paige's First Vacation! Driving There

Vacation Time!! Sat Aug 14th Kalyn Paige and I drove down to Utah! We left our (Mine and Jared's) apartment ten minutes til 7:00am. Early.

Paige did GREAT in the car! She loved to look out the windows and also sing along to the songs Kalyn and I were singing! SO CUTE!!! I just about melted when she sang along to a song for the first time! Thats my girl!

We had a pit stop in Vegas to have lunch with my cousin Cera!! It was perfect timing because Paige was starting to get tired of the car (who could blame her after 5 1/2 hours?) and it was great to get here out and moving around for a couple hours. It was wonderful to see Cera again! The last time I saw her was a couple weeks before my wedding, 2 years ago!! Far too long! =>

Cera is about 29 weeks pregnant with a little girl, Paisley! Paige and Paisley were already just hanging out and chilling together! => So Cute! I hope they are able to play together when they are both older!

Thanks for meeting us for lunch Cera!! I just LOVED seeing you again!

Now onto the home stretch of driving! Claremont here we come!!

Jared Working

Jared started a window cleaning/pest control/christmas light buisness last year. At the height of his buisness he had 8 (or 9, I dont really know) technicians working for him and 4 sales men selling for him. He and his buisness partner decided they wanted to clean and spray some accounts too (more money). I am not always a fan of his work, but he really enjoys running his own buisness and "building and empire out of nothing". While its not an empire yet, he has really built it well. Although there are LONG and ridiculous hours he has to put into it I can support him..... until I get a picture message like this: (sent to me from his buisness partner)All the caption read was "Your husband". Mind you, they use a three story ladder. So this is a very tall window. Great Jared, way to be so safe. => I told him if he falls, gets hurt, or dies, he is sooooo grounded! haha I just love my hard working man!!

Monday Night....Long

Last night was a long night! It started with a family dinner! My Gram and Pa drove up from CA to attend one off their nieces wedding, but while they were up here they wanted to have dinner with all the fam! It was so much fun! I love it when everyone gets together, and it was even better because Gram and Pa were there too!

This is the second time they were able to meet Paige! And she did great! She was smiles all around! Even caught a little half smile on camera! Oh I love seeing my grandparents with her!

We all went to dinner at Golden Corral. They gave us our own private room, which was great because all the kids could run around as they pleased! Again Paige did great!

She wanted that phone so badly! It was quite amusing to see her try and get it.

Paige was just a bundle of awake/talkative/happy cuteness! We could all tell she wanted to be one of the "big kids" running around. She would just stare them down and pump her little legs! I can not wait until she is older! I love to see her learn new things!

After dinner (we left the restaurant at 10pm) I went home, obviously. And right as I parked and was walking the 2 steps to the back of my car to get Paige my Mom called. She said Kalyn had been taken to the emergency room by one of her roommates and Mom wanted me to go down and see whats going on. So I called Jared (he was not at dinner he had to work, and now he was back in our apartment) and he came down and we went to the hospital. I will leave the details to a later post. But eventually she got released and came back to my apartment to stay the night at 2:00am. Thankfully Zach and Pa were so willing and able to help out and Jared and I were able to go to our apartment and put Paige to bed around 1:00am. Thanks so much Zach and Pa for all your help!! Needless to say, it was a LONG night! But Kalyn is feeling better and we are all safe and good. That was our Monday night......eventful.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership With God

I LOVE this talk by Elder Holland. I don't know when it was given or where (I am working on fining it out) but I had to post it, mostly so I could watch it whenever I need to. =>

Long Drive

Friday was an eventful day, full of events from morning to night! The morning I took Paige to Beehive Clothing to meet the ladies I worked with. She did great and the ladies just loved her! That afternoon I went to craft day with my family. Jared was working and went to the temple. That evening was Jared's friends wedding reception. The invitation said it was in the Ogden area so we figurged we would go (we didnt go to the wedding itself because it was in Idaho Falls). The reception was from 6:30-9:30 and we left at6::15, figuring we would get there around 7ish. While driving thru Salt Lake there was a double rainbow! I tried to take pictures of it but the second one was not coming out in the pictures. I was wearing tinted sunglasses so I decided to put them over the camera (thinking of them as a filtered lens). It worked better, suprisingly! The picture was tinted red/brown tho so I had to do some editing to make it normal hues. Here is the finished product:

You can see the one rainbow really well and to the left of it you can slightly see the second one! So cool!! Can you just imagine how much better an actual filtered lens would be!?! Well anyways, back to the story. We ended up driving past Wolf Mountain and Eden! We got to the reception right around 8:45pm. What a long drive! The funny part was we got there, were the last ones thru the recieving line, it started to rain/thunder/lightning (the reception was outside) so we said our "congrats" got in the car (they ended the reception early due to the weather) and drove the 2ish hours back home! We were not even there for 10mins!! haha What a time! But in the over 4 hours of driving Paige did great! It makes me more at ease for my trip to CA this weekend!

And again last night we drove a long ways, up to Layton to go to my aunt Heather's for dinner. Paige did GREAT again! And she fell asleep in Heathers port-a-crib! Which was another thing I was nervous about, to see if Paige would sleep anywhere other than her crib. She does! Wahoo! Now I am even more excited to go down to CA!! =>

Holding Paige

At Nikkis house yesterday all the cousins got to play together! It is so fun to see all those little kids running around playing games, it reminds me of when I was little and would play with my aunts and cousins! And of course, all the girls ADORE Paige. But today there was a new one that wanted to always be with Paige, little Crew! He was constantly wanting to "Hold Baby Paige".

This is one of the cutest things ever! This is how Crew wanted to "Hold Baby Paige". And Paige is almost as big as Crew! He did this at least half a dozen times! He just loved it, and Paige didn't mind haha! Look at those two little people! I hope they will be great friends when Paige gets older! So cute!!

Craft Day

Today was the first craft days for the Utah Walker girls! We all (Jen, Nik, Linds, Kalyn, Myself and kids) gathered at Nikkis house and did some craft! It was so much fun! Some Mod Podged wodden things (letters, tags, frames), some made headbands, and I made flowers for my wreath!

I saw a wreath like this on a craft blog over a month ago and I fell in LOVE! I could not stop thinking about it! So I finally did it! I think it turned out cute, but not as cute as the one on the blog, probably because this was my first attempt at anything like this. But I am still so proud of it and love it!

I have really liked learning how to make all different kinds of fabric flowers, and even tweaking them to make them my own!

I am slightly addicted to craft blogs (ok, maybe big addicted) and I LOVE to make things! I can not wait to make another one of these! I already have the wreath and fabric, now just to find the time/thing to entertain Paige with while I create! =>

Cream Puffs!!

One of the craft blogs look at posted a recipie for cream puffs, and as soon as I saw them I just had to have some! So, I made them! I am so proud of myself! I am becoming a little chef! haha Ok, there is still a ong road to being a chef, but at least I'm starting it haha.
Look at those cute little dough balls!! I borrowed a melon scooper from my aunt Lindsey and it work like a charm!!

There was a slight, ok HUGE issue with the cream. It was dang thick! The recipie said to squirt the cream into the puffs with a cake bag and tip. Luckily I had some! (My in-laws gave me a sweet cake decorating set for my birthday! Thanks again Millers!! =>) (and yes, I did open the present before my birthday. I just couldnt help it! =>) But the cream was so think it broke the frosting bags, no matter what tip I used! It was just way thick! Jared had the idea to try one of his food syringes from his surgery days. It worked like a charm but it took forever to load! => You can see in the picture, the broken bag, blown out cream, and the process of loading the syringe.

And this is how they turned out! They actually look like legit cream puffs! I am so proud! haha. At first they tasted really egg-y, but after we chilled them it got better, and they even tasted better the next day. I have discovered I really like making cream puffs, maybe I will do it again =>

Oh My Dear California....

I stand by my conviction, California is the best state there is! The weather, the beaches, the mountains, the deserts, the attractions, the climate, etc.... you could not get anything better in a state! But, as perfect as this state is there is a MAJOR problem!
There are not smart and dishonorable people running it!!
Latest example: Prop 8 overturned, AGAIN! If you do not know what Prop 8 is, let me enlighten you a little (very little). Prop 8 uses california's constitution to ban gay marriage. And a little more background... CA voted a few years ago gay marriage and the state decided that marriage is between a man and a women. Then the judge overturns it, making gay marriage legal, even tho the people of CA voted against it. Fast forward to last year. The proposition was brought to a vote again, and AGAIN the CA public voted, that marriage is between a man and a woman. And what happens today? A judge overturns it, AGAIN!!

Now, it is a not a little known fact. I am AGAINST gay marriage. Marriage is between a MAN and a WOMAN! That is the way God designed it! Now this is not a post to become all political, and if you want to know more about the nitty gritty details I encourage everyone to go read about it. I just have to voice my EXTREME disappointment in this judge. He is ruining, yes ruining the perfect state!!!! Obviously the people don't have a voice and dont know the "right" thing, because TWICE a judge has overruled the peoples vote. Stupid Judge! He is destroying my perfect state! California I love you! Sorry for all the dumb going on there!

And this is a link to the official statement of the church: LDS Official Statement

More Pictures

I told you, A LOT of pictures. I couldn't resist posting these too! =>

Those CHEEKS!!!! Oh I just can't get enough!!

She was smiling and laughing, but alas, the we were not quick enough on the camera!

Paige and I have the same color hair! She is my daughter! haha Everythign else might be Jared but hair, all me haha jk

Its Super Paige to the rescue! You know, sometimes its very fun having a baby! haha We sure love you Paige!!

Pictures

Sunday was a day of pictures! And I just had to post some, mainly for the grandparents. =>

Paige makes the funniset faces sometimes! We just LOVE it!

She is smiling a whole lot now! I have to say, it is the CUTEST smile I have ever seen!! I have yet to catch a huge, good smile on camera (and believe me, at least 4 different people have tried) but this was a cute little one I got! => She sticks her tounge out in some smiles! Adorable!

When I look at Paige I see Jared. How can you look at this picture and tell me otherwise? I love it! I love that we have resemblance in our offspring! =>

We just love our little one!

Sunday

Today Jared and Paige has some way cute moments that I was able to catch on camera!

The first one is this cute nap! When we got home from church I went to make some food and Jared was playing with Paige. It got quiet so I went to go see what was going on, and I found them both asleep! How cute!!! They just tuckered echother out! =>

Later that afternoon Jared was "training" Paige to sit up. So funny! But she is gettign really good at sitting up. She can't do it by herself on the floor yet, but she can sit by herself on Jared's hand. And she can sit for a good amount of time with a little support behinf her (like pillows.)

For some reason Paige refused to sleep until 11:30 that night. Part of the time she was up JAred was playing a game on his IPad. Paige was entranced by it! She could not take her eyes off the IPad, so cute! =>

And yes, she did go thru 3 outfits in one day! Believe me, thats nothing compared to some days haha.