San Diego Fun - Sea World

This past weekend we were able to take a fun family trip to San Diego. It was a QUICK trip and at times a little difficult with an almost 2 year old but overall we had a great time together as a family. Our hotel was right on the beach in Mission Bay! Landon was such a trooper dealing with lack of sleep, lots of travel and hours of sitting still. It was amazing to me that a 4 day trip required a pack n' play, carseat, stroller, diaper bag, 2 suitcases, and a laptop bag...I felt like we packed the whole house!

We got into town late Thursday afternoon and on Friday morning headed to Sea World. This was a day of "live and learn". We had a good time but made some bad decisions that caused Landon to have some major meltdowns (hot afternoon, no snacks, no milk, 40 minute nap in his stroller and lots of sitting/walking). A sleep deprived, overheated, starving, dehydrated child is never a good combination! He loved seeing fish and animals up close but didn't have much interest in sitting so long for the dolphin and Shamu shows!

Also, Landon is virtually impossible to get a picture of right now! He will not look at the camera if you want him too, so we got few pictures of him looking at us and even fewer family pictures!!!

Watching Shamu through the glass...our first stop of the day

Landon won't look at the camera for us but we got a cute couple pic!

Shamu doing an impromptu performance for us!

Waving goodbye

Fish tanks were a big hit!

Seriously, some of the fish were HUGE

Watching the sharks up-close

Sea lions were fun to watch, especially when people were feeding them fish

Looking at starfish in the tide pool

Smile with mommy and daddy...or not!

The Shamu show

It is quite amazing what they can train the whales to do!

(Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the dolphin show, as that show was a bit of a disaster!)

The net and play area was a big hit!

It exhausted Jared going up and down and running around

Trying to get Landon to look at the camera, while Landon only wanted to go UP

Attempts at some family pictures....Take 1

Take 2

Fish tank fun, showing Landon's excitement!

Unfortunately it was a little dark, so you can only really hear him

I was accidentally recording when we first tried to get our family shots...

proof that Landon wanted none of it!

Another post to come showing our fun at the beach...stay tuned!!!

Baby #2

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and decided to find out this time what we were having. It was soooo much fun to see our little one and we found out that Landon will have a little brother in May!!!

I really thought we were having a girl, so my womanly intuition isn't the strongest!

We are thrilled with another boy and can't wait to hold the little guy!

He was so fun to watch, super squirmy and moved a ton. He was laying like a little pretzel with hands and feet up over his head, moving and playing with his toes!

It is such a miracle how the Lord forms little babes inside their mama's!

Here are some fun pictures we got from the ultrasound:

Profile #1: Already such a cute little nose and mouth :)

Toes over his head

Little stinker is in the EXACT same position that Landon was in...breech position, bottom down, with feet right by his face!

Proof that it's in fact a BOY!

Reaching up over his face stretching

Profile #2: Those are either fingers or toes up over his forehead

Profile #3: Another cutie picture

Cute little baby feet!

Sometimes it was hard to tell what were fingers and what were toes because he was so squirmy and was intertwining everything!

Little guy stretching and wiggling!

Big Yawn!

(Good strong heartbeat too!!!)

Playing with his little feet and toes!

What a miracle this little one is!

"For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:13-14

Amen!!!

Pumpkin Patch

What a FUN morning we had at the pumpkin patch with our good friends the Searcy's!

We didn't get to take Landon last year and I had major guilt about this (feeling like I had already ruined his childhood :)

...so I was really excited to take him this year!

We went to a really small, local farm. It was fun to support such a small farm and Landon had a lot of fun.

He was a little unsure of all the festivities and wouldn't leave our side at the beginning, but he warmed up to the place and we had to drag him out when we left.

The farm had some animals you could feed, tractors to sit on, a hayride (which mesmerized Landon), yummy honey straws and of course a pick your own pumpkin patch!

Posing with Annie and Trey

(we are bound and determined to make sure Landon and Trey are BF's and they are cooperating nicely with our plan!)

Hanging with daddy

(they were looking into the sun which accounts for the stink faces!)

My favorite picture of the day...he is getting so big!

Playing with pumpkins for the first time!

Exploring the farm

The best part of it all...SLIDES!

It was a really nice morning full of great weather, a great atmosphere and great friends!

Update, Cousins and Vegas!!!

Blogging has been foreign to me lately but I've decided it's time to get back into the swing of things. As a quick update, we finally found a house after 4 1/2 months of living with Jared's grandma. We were very excited to move into our own home again and have been happily settled for almost 2 months now! Landon is 18 months old, busy, stubborn, joyful, funny, and a ball of energy! H seems to love his new home as much as we do. I'm planning on putting up pictures eventually (I just have to get around to actually taking some)!!!

At the end of August we went to Southern Oregon to visit my family and I got to see my nephew for the first time!

He is just a ball of cuteness! Landon and I couldn't get enough of him!

Landon wanted to kiss him and kiss him and kiss him every chance he got!

He also tried to constantly "sneak" his pacifier!

I just can't imagine how much fun these two boys are going to have as they get older!

(not to mention all the trouble they will get into)

At the beginning of the year Jared entered an employee transformation contest at work to get more fit and healthy. He committed to 12 weeks of intense workouts and strict diets and it completely paid off! He took 2nd place out of 75 employees who entered the contest. His second place finish won us a trip to VEGAS!!!

We went this last weekend, it was my first time and it completely wore me out! Unfortunately our hotel wasn't on the strip and so we walked and walked and walked until I thought my feet were going to either fall off or start bleeding.

It was really fun though to see all the sights.

We went to a Cirque De Soleil show "O", ate at some great restaurants, went through the different casinos, saw the attractions and walked a lot!

We also went to the Mr. Olympia competition and an after party at 'XS' a club in Encore (Jared's company is a big sponsor). It was crazy to see how muscular those guys are...a completely different lifestyle for sure!

Overall, we both had a lot of fun but to be honest I'm not dying to go back anytime soon...I think our next vacation needs to be somewhere on a beach where we can just relax and walk as little as possible!!!

We're Alive

Seems unreal that it has been almost 2 months since my last post. There is so much I have to catch up on! The reason for my absence is that our last month and a half has been a little hectic, crazy and full of change. To make it brief I will just give the "Reader's Digest" version...in September of last year we decided to try and sell our house to take advantage of getting into something bigger while prices are low and interest rates are good. We accepted an offer in the middle of March (after 2 offers that fell through) and the buyer asked if we could close quickly. We agreed and so we had 2 weeks to pack and move out of our house. I packed one weekend, we put all of our stuff in storage the next weekend and moved in with Jared's grandma. The plan was to not be at his grandma's house long...but here we are a month later still as house guests. We put an offer on a house at the beginning of April and during the home inspection water started leaking from the upstairs bathroom into the living room/kitchen downstairs. It was a bank owned property and the bank didn't fix it to the standard we had hoped for so we backed out of the house (we had both felt a lack of peace about the house off and on, so I feel as if the Lord gave a way to get out of it). The next day we were going to make an offer on another house we loved in a neighborhood we loved and Jared's Aunt (our realtor) called us that morning to let us know the house had just accepted a different offer. Needless to say we were VERY bummed and are now back to square one. This has been an overwhelming experience and one that has definitely not been as smooth as we had hoped for. Jared's grandma has been very gracious and we are so thankful for her hospitality. We are praying that the Lord will lead us to the right house quickly so that we can settle into our own home again!

Landon has been a real trooper throughout this entire experience and hasn't seemed to mind on bit all the change and new surroundings. I wanted to update on him (both for my family as well as myself as this blog has become his "baby book"):

* You are a fabulous sleeper and about a month ago you stopped wanting to be rocked to sleep and now we just lay you in your crib for naps or bedtime and you put yourself to sleep.

* You are still taking two naps a day, although this weekend you only did one each day and I think you might be ready to make that transition (right now you nap at 10:00 and 3:00)

* You are a great eater and will try anything I give you (I recently learned it takes our brains 10 times to try something new before we can really determine whether or not we like it...so I've decided I'm going to introduce you to all sorts of food to hopefully give you a broad spectrum of likes!)

* You still drink 4 bottles a day, this is how you like to wake up

* You started walking the weekend before your first birthday (February 27th was the day you took your first real steps). You are now toddling, cruisin' and practically running everywhere...you only crawl about 5-10% of the time

* You love to say "da" and so far that is what you label everything. You are very vocal but have very few real words (I can't get you to say 'mama' for the life of me!)

* You know a lot of what people are saying and can get items that are names (spoon, cup, bottle, ball, shoe, duck, car, etc.)

* You love music and rock, clap and sway to all sorts of beats. You also like learning the hand motions to songs and will start songs on your own by doing the motions.

* You still have the happiest, most joyful personality and make us laugh daily. You also think your mom and dad are pretty funny right now and I take full advantage of all the laughs I can get!

* You are obsessed with Addie and she graciously puts up with your climbing, tackling, attempts to ride her, kisses and face smooshes

* You have learned how to go up and downstairs since we have been at Jared's grandma's house and think you are hot stuff

* You like being outside BUT hate the grass on your bare feet!

* You really like to put toys in things and take toys out of things. You like balls and anything else small you can throw. You also love playing in water both at bath time and in your water cup when eating.

* You can drink straight from a cup but need help to help with the water flow. You are also becoming more independent with a spoon and fork (along with self feeding all sorts of table food)

* You rough house, try to climb on things, love playing hide-n-seek, chase, wrestling and tickling. To me you are all boy and the rougher the better! You are also quite the daredevil and rarely get scared of anything.

* You are in size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes (although there are still some 12 month that fit you)

* At your 12 month appointment you weighed 21lb 14 oz and were 31 inches long (I think)

I know I am missing some details about all you can do and all that you enjoy but those are the highlights I can think of right now. You are definitely a toddler and no longer a little baby :( It has been such a fun adventure though watching you change and grow more and more into your own self and identity!

You also had your first Easter egg hunt and did really well "finding" the eggs and putting them in your basket (and then taking them out again!)