Huntington Beach, CA

Last weekend I went to visit my best friend, Tanya. She and I have been BFF since 1st grade and she is also pregnant but due July 10. I hadn't had the opportunity to see her pregnant yet, so I wanted to visit her before the baby arrives. We had a really great time together. We went to El Pollo Loco and In-N-Out Burger, two of my favorite fast food places in California. They were really yummy. We also went kayaking in Huntington Harbor, where I used to live. We went to the beach twice, we attended the Newport Beach Temple, and we just had a lot of fun laughing, catching up, and spending great one-on-one time together. I also had a great time visiting with my aunts and my cousin, Amy. I had a really wonderful trip and I am sad it had to end so soon. I can't wait to see pictures of Tanya's little girl though. Here are a few pictures of my trip to HB.

Standing on the beach on Trinidad Island where I used to live.

Kayaking in Huntington Harbor. It was a gorgeous day!

Posing in front of the beautiful Newport Beach Temple.

Comparing our pregnant bellies. hehe :)

Pregnant

Ok...Finally I have decided to happily announce that I am 12 weeks pregnant today! Alex and I are very excited that we will have the opportunity to be parents by the end of this year. My due date is December 17th. We will find out the sex of the baby in about 8 weeks and we can't wait to know if we are having a boy or a girl. It will be fun to see what it is since Alex comes from a family of all boys and I come from a family of all girls. Alex thinks it is a boy because he claims he only shoots 'Y's, but I hope it is a girl because he needs a little princess and so do Del and Daneen. I really don't care what we have though. I'm just very excited to be having a baby! YEAH!

Happy 23rd Birthday Alex!

Today Alex turned 23 years old. Even though he is a big boy, he really really wanted a pinata for his Birthday. He asked for one last year and I didn't get one for him, so he never let me live that down until I got him one this year. I ended up getting him a Spongebob pinata because we both love that show and he seemed to really love it. We also had a yummy dinner of BBQ Bratwursts and he requested Rice Krispy treats with extra marshmallows on top for dessert. He is funny and still has a little kid inside of him, but I love him very much and he keeps me younger too. I hope he had a great Birthday! Here are some pictures of him attacking his Spongebob pinata.

Here Daneen is spinning Alex around and he is taking a whack at Spongebob.

The candy spills out of Spongebob's head and Alex rips more candy (guts) out of Spongebob.

Memorial Day Weekend

So....I think this Memorial Day Weekend was the first one that Alex and I didn't go somewhere. We have always gone camping or done something really fun and this weekend we hung around at home, but it was still a nice weekend. On Saturday we went riding on the Harleys to Yakima and Tri-Cities and we saw the Indiana Jones movie. That movie was great! I totally recommend seeing it. Sunday we went to church and that evening, Del and Daneen went to Yakima to pick up a new Chihuahua puppy. She is 8 weeks old and so cute. Del named her Xoco (pronouned Soko) which is Aztecan since that is where Chihuahuas were believed to have been bred. Xoco means "youngest sister" and it was the only name Del could pronounce. But she is super cute and playful. They are both very happy to have a dog in the house again.

For Memorial Day, we had a barbeque with a few friends and the food was really yummy. We had BBQ chicken, ribs, and flank steak. The evening was really gorgeous and I took a few pictures of the boys playing ball outside. I think that life out here on the farm is beautiful.

Last Week's Activities

So last week was kinda crazy. My brother-in-law, Dallon, left on Monday to go back out on his mission after being sent home from Argentina in January because he developed Type 1 Diabetes. It was a difficult decision for him to make because he was home for four months and very comfortable here, but we are all proud of him for deciding to go back out. He has 10 months left to serve and he is now serving in the Las Vegas West Mission. He is currently in Reno where the endocrinologist can keep good tabs on him and his Diabetes.

After sending Dallon off at the airport, we all went back home and planted 200 trees around my in-law's house. These trees are meant to block the house from the crazy wind that blows out here on the farm. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun to do all of the work as a family. The worst part of it all, and which I am grateful I didn't have to help with, was reconstructing the sprinklers in order to water the trees properly. The boys broke the sewer pipe as well as another pipe in the process of digging up the yard. That wasn't any fun for them, but at least it is over with now.

One sad piece of news, the family Chihuahua, Mya, died on Sunday, which was the worst day ever for her to die since it was Mother's Day. The dog was only 5 years old, but it had been acting strange for a few days when my mother-in-law, Daneen, decided to take her in to the vet. It turns out that Mya got into some sort of pesticide while the boys were working outside on the sprinklers and she started having seizures. The vet had good hope for Mya, but I guess she was worse off than they knew. Del and Daneen have been taking this news very hard and it is really strange to think that she is gone when she was running and playing around the yard just a few days ago. She was such a joy in our lives. We will greatly miss Mya.

Hopefully this week will be a bit happier. I am back to my usual routine this week, but Alex left today with his dad to drive all the way to Calgary, Canada on their Harleys in order to attend a potato conference there for 5 days. I will miss my husband and I am already worrying about him and the long 10 hour drive there on a motorcycle. Hopefully this week will go by quickly so I can get my hubby back soon.

Cruising the Caribbean

Alex and I along with his cousin Bryce and his wife Sharee just came back from a cruise through the Caribbean April 13 - April 20. It was so much fun! This was the first chance Alex and I have really had the opportunity to go away since we went on our honeymoon and it was so relaxing. We arrived in Galveston, Texas on Saturday afternoon and we boarded the cruise ship Sunday. We were at sea for the first two days and on Wednesday we arrived in Jamaica. On Thursday we arrived in Grand Cayman and on Friday we visited Cozumel. Saturday we were at sea again and Sunday morning we disembarked the ship bright and early to catch our flight back to Seattle.

There was a lot of stuff to do on the ship including miniature golf, shuffle board, ice skating, rock climbing, and, of course, relaxing in the sun. It was awesome!

In Jamaica, we visited a pineapple plantation. This particular plantation grows 17 different types of pineapple and we were able to try 5 of them. They each had a distinct taste, but they were so delicious. I wish I could grow these pineapples and eat them all day long. It was so lush and gorgeous there. You can see the small pineapples in the bushes behind Sharee. This plantation had all types of exotic fruits growing there. There were macadamia nut, mango, starfruit, cashew, coffee bean, banana, passion fruit, and many other types of trees. It was paradise.

Here Alex is pointing to a starfruit. We are all posing in front of the plantation sign. Even though we loved the pineapple plantation, Jamaica was rather ghetto and we would not feel safe walking the streets on our own there. I was glad that we were on a guided tour.

This is a picture of our ship from Grand Cayman. While we were there, we went swimming with the stingrays. They were very friendly and I bought an underwater camera to get some closeups of them. They were huge and amazing! The water in Grand Cayman was incredibly blue and gorgeous. I still can hardly believe that the water was that beautiful color. Alex and I decided we could definitely live there.

We loved taking pictures with the giant stingrays and Alex even enjoyed kissing it. :-)

See how long their stingers are? If you ever visit Grand Cayman, make sure you swim with the stingrays. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they are so docile and wonderful!

In Cozumel, Mexico we went to Playa Mia beach. It was beautiful and the weather was great. They even had yummy food. Sharee and I had to get our hair braided of course.

There were lots of fun shops to look at in Mexico and I love palm trees, so I had to have a picture with one.

The two Royal Caribbean ships docked right next to each other and I thought these were some pretty awesome pictures.

Overall, we had an amazing vacation. If you ever take a cruise, you must go with Royal Caribbean. This was my third cruise with them and they are a wonderful cruise line. There are a billion things to do on the ship, the shows were great, the food was fabulous, and the staff was friendly and accommodating. We had a great time and I am sad that it is over, but I hope we will get to go back again soon!

Park City

So in March, Alex, his brother Dallon, and I traveled to Park City, UT to have a ski week with my family. It was great because not only did I get to see my parents, and my sister Stephanie who is studying at BYU right now, but my older sister Miranda also flew up from Fresno, CA with my 3 month old niece, Leila. It was so great to see them and to hold my niece a whole lot. It was a really fun trip and the snow was pretty good for spring skiing. I even bought some new skis and boots, but I only got to use them once. I miss everyone a lot already.

Me, Stephanie, my dad, and Miranda on the slopes of Deer Valley.

My mom and Leila in her warm bunny suit.

Alex doing his best to hold the baby.

Stephanie, her boyfriend, Trent, me and Miranda waiting to eat at the best Italian restaurant, Grappa, located on Main Street in Park City.

All of us posing with beautiful Leila.