Bear with me...there's a lot to catch up on

So we're back from Christmas break, which we spent galivanting all over the western part of the US. We left on Saturday, the 16th, for Phoenix and stayed for a couple nights at Spencer's sister's house. The first night we went to see Santa and Carter and I got to ride on the cow train. (He was probably big enough to ride by himself but it looked too darn fun to pass up, so I squeezed my not-quite-back-down-to-size keister in it and we rode together, the whole time me laughing and squeeling with the rest of the children)

We left Phoenix and drove out into the middle of nowhere, to a po-dunk little no-Wendy's, no-Walmart town called Eagar, to see Spencer's Granddad and Grandma. I'm really not much of a car traveler, but it was definitely worth it going to see them. They are such amazing people. This is also where Carter first experienced snow. We had a snowball fight and built a snowman.

The next day we drove from Eagar to Salt Lake. It was a long trip on these one lane highways that was (seriously) in the middle of nowhere (have I mentioned that we were really out in the middle of nowhere?) What makes these highways great is that there are no other cars on them, they are super bumpy and uneven, and best of all, the speed limit is 65. I won't say how fast I was going, just know it was not 65.
We got to my brother's house in Salt Lake at midnight, put the kids to bed, and started eating as soon as we woke up. I don't think I actually stopped eating until we left, a week later. I was dying to go sledding so we bundled Carter up in a lot of winter clothes that either didn't fit or were made for a girl and we hit the dinky hill by my brother's house. We had a blast.
Check out this gettup...red hat and gloves, green coat, purple pants, black boots, pink cheeks.













The adults went out to dinner and bowling one night. We had a great time.
We laughed

We got to wear some sweet shoes

and we (my team) lost, thus having to clean up turkey dinner Christmas Eve.

The rest of the time we hung out (my dad, but not my baby)

Decorated cookies for Santa









and tried to convince Wes to never make this face ever, ever again

Santa did visit us on Christmas eve and the kids were so cute to watch opening their presents. The best gift-received awards go to:
1. Samantha- for her Cinderella dress and makeup. She had pink lipstick and glitter smeared all over. It was so adorable.











2. Logan- for his horridly ugly Godzilla teradactyl, and
3. Mom, for her bracelet from dad which made her cry.
Whew! Well that was fun. Now to top it all off, an adorable picture of Nolan, who was so fun to cuddle with in the cold.

My Favorite Words

1. "Thanks, Mom!"
2. "Please"
3. "I'm ready for a nap. I go sleep in my bed."
Yes, my child actually said these words to me today. It was awesome. He didn't even fight the preceding diaper change. That's my great story for today.
Time for my nap, too.

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Here Come Santa Claus

At our ward party this weekend Carter got to sit on Santa's lap. I was totally thrilled because he wasn't going to but then I put Nolan with Santa for a picture and so Carter wanted to as well. So he got up on Santa's lap and looked at him and said, "hi". Then Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas and he said he wanted a baseball (we had rehearsed this in the car. It was supposed to be a baseball GLOVE, which he may magically get for Christmas this year) Anyway, today on the way to church he asked me if Santa was going to be there. I told him he had to go home. He told me that Santa was nice and not scary.
I was changing Nolan's diaper in his room yesterday and Carter yelled, "Mommy, where are you?"
"In the baby's room"
(him)"Oh, here I are"
(Me)"It's here I AM. Can you say that"
"Here are me"
"Here I am"
"Here me are"
"HERE I AM"
"Here me are"
"HERE... I... AM"
"Here...I...are"
"Nevermind"

I Can't Believe I Did It

No, I didn't lose my weight yet. I excercised every day last week and ate like a champ but by Saturday had only lost .2lbs. Can you say discouraging? Wow, that's not much incentive to skip out on all the sweets and bad food. But I'm not gonna let it get me down...yet. I'm gonna see what happens this week. This may be more difficult than I thought...
Now, focusing more on the positive- guess what I DID do today? I got up and went running, did 2 loads of laundry, mowed the lawn, swept all the concrete and my back patio, vacuumed my house, mopped my kitchen, fed my kids, and...dun dun DUH!! (are you ready for this?) I got them both down for a nap at the same time (hence the new post). Are you amazed? I am. Seriously. Too bad today isn't one of those days I was dying for a nap. Those days the kids are wide awake the whole day and Carter's "quiet time" consists of him banging on his zylaphone the entire time (It just never gets old, does it?)
One funny thing that happened this week...We were eating chinese chicken coleslaw (don't get the wrong idea. I HATE coleslaw but this is more like a salad, just made with cabbage. It's delish.) for dinner and it has chopped green onions in it. Carter was on his 2nd helping (see, it has to be good) and we noticed him picking his nose a lot. Spencer kept telling him to get his finger out of his nose but he just kept picking. Spencer said, "Is there something up there?"
"Uh huh"
"Did you put an onion up your nose"
"Yes, I did"
"Put your head back, let me see"
So he tilted his head back and sure enough, there was a green onion up his left nostril. Spencer said, "Try to blow it out". He huffed and he puffed...and the thing wouldn't come out. So I had a genius idea- plug the other nostril. So I reached over and plugged it as he continued to blow out and then like a sweet snot rocket, it came flying out onto his plate. It was awesome. We were beside ourselves. The best part about it is that it made that popping noise when it came out, like "thhhhhhhhhwp". That was pretty much the best thing that happened last week, with the exception of Friday, when I got to take a nap and it was freezing cold and raining all day. That's about as good as life gets.

They say that one of the best thing to do when trying to accomplish a goal is to tell others so that you are more motivated to actually accomplish the goal, rather than let it go by the wayside. Well here's my goal...I figure that there are 4 weeks until Christmas. That means I could lose 1-1 1/2 pounds a week and be 5 or more pounds thinner at Christmas. That means that I would only be 5 pounds away from the weight I was before I had the baby. Not bad, not bad...
SO I hereby state that my goal is to lose 1.25 pounds a week until Christmas. I'm off to a good start so far. Excercised on Sat., ate really well yesterday, and am doing both those things today. I'll keep you updated on how it's all going.
One more thing...why is it so stinking hard to lose weight? I sure can pack it on easily but taking it off, whooee. A whole different story. Oh, one more motivatiion I have is that I just bought some new shirts for Christmas and I'd like to be looking good enough in them to wear them after Santa gives them back to me.
Well, like I said, I'll keep you updated on how things are going. Hopefully some sugar free chocolate fudge pudding will get me through this time of trial.

Carter's Breakfast

I went into Carter's room to wake him up this morning and he said, "Mommy, I got a owie." I could tell he had been picking at his scab on his foot because it was all bloody and he had some blood on his fingers. He was whining about it and I was putting a bandaid on it. Spencer was trying to make him feel better. He was saying, "Oh! You're a tough guy. Tough guys don't whine." Carter kept whining. I told Spence he had picked his scab. He said, "Tough guys don't pick their scabs." Then he said what we both had hoped had not happened.
"I EAT IT"
Wow, there went my appetite.

Nap Time

Yesterday I got the kids down together- exactly at the same time- for a nap. I was so impressed with myself and made the mistake of thinking that that was going to become a regular routine.
Today was a much different story. Carter's having a hard time going to sleep at night when he has a nap during the day so today I told him he could stay awake during nap time and play with blocks and stuff in his room. I thought he'd end up laying down and taking a "rest" but after 45 minutes it was apparent this was not going to happen. I got the baby to sleep and in the swing and finally slipped betweeen the sheets only to hear my son banging around in his room againts the walls with his sword. Ugh #1. So I had to get up. "Son, you're being too loud with the sword. Don't hit the walls, please."
Again I got into bed, set my alarm for 1 hour later and fell into the part of sleep where you're twitching and occationally wake yourself up. I was just starting to really relax when I heard Ugh #2. The baby. What was going on? The swing is like a drug. You can't wake up when you're in the swing! But he was defying that natural law. So I dashed into his room. Maybe if I can get the binky in the hole before he wakes himself up too much I can sleep some more. It worked. For about 3 minutes. So I put him in bed with me and fed him.
There, that'll do it. Ugh #3- I hear the long grunt and the unmistakable gush of stinkies flooding the diaper. SO, I changed him. By now I've only got 20 minutes until my alarm goes off. Carter has finally fallen asleep. Now the baby should sleep. I changed his diaper and laid in bed next to him, started to doze off (he was wide awake, though) I was almost asleep when UGH (#4), and I heard the beautiful sound of my 2 1/2 yr old yelling, "MOOOOOMMMMM! I wake up! MOOOOOMMM! I'm waking up!....." I ignored it. Surely he'll stop and get distracted with a toy. No such luck. He repeats this about 200 times in 10 minutes, which is when my alarm goes off.
What a nap time.
Here's a recent pic of the littlest stinker in our house, though.

The Baby is Sleeping...

So today Carter was in Nolan's room while he was sleeping, playing with G-ma Staub's cell phone. I peeked my head in and in a normal voice said,
"Carter, don't play with that, please. C'mon out of here."
He turned around and put his little finger up to his lips and reprimanded me.
"Shhhh! The baby's sleeping!"

An Update

Well Nolan and I are hanging out at home together today while the rest of the crew is at church. I thought I'd spend a bit of my precious quite time to update the blog, so I hope you enjoy the pics.
Yesterday Grandma and I went to the mall with Nolan, and Carter and daddy stayed home and did lots of work outside. Nolan did great as we were out and about and slept like 90% of the time. He is sleeping pretty good at night- letting me get about 2.5 hours of sleep at a time, give or take an hour (usually more take than give). He is getting more alert every day. I still can't figure out what color his eyes are going to be. Carter's were so dark right off the bat that I was almost certain they'd be brown. Nolan's are still that steely-blue and I think he may end up with hazel/green eyes like Spence. Oh, and the big news today is that his cord fell off, meaning we can give him his first full-fledged bath tonight. I'm so excited.
Grandma has been a wonderful help and has kept the house up so nicely and been cooking and entertaining...She and Carter have had a good time playing together. He likes to chase her on his bike and swing in his new swing. I know he's really enjoyed her being here (as have the rest of us!) We miss Papa being here as well, but luckily we'll see him at Christmas.
Plans for this week include a trip to Oak Glen, McDonald's and the park for Gma and Carter, and finally...Disneyland, given that I feel up to it come Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is Nolan's first Dr. appointment. It should be a fun week!
That's about it for now. Enjoy the pics!

Some Pics

As you can see, Carter loves to hold his new "bwover". He likes to kiss his face and give him a nose-nose. Don'y forget to look at the video in the next posting. Sorry about all the crackling noises. Our camera is wierd.

Nolan Video

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So I sat down to put this on the blog like 2 hours ago. It was inevitable that the second I sat down, the baby cried and then once i took care of that problem, Carter woke up. It just wouldn't have been right if I actually got like 10 minutes just to get it done. So, it's a little later than expected but nevertheless, here's a new posting.
I thought that everyone could get a better idea of what Nolan really looks like through a video. He is such an angel baby and we are just nuts about him. If all newborns were this great, there'd be a lot more kids in the world.
I will post some pics as well but right now its having trouble uploading them. Check the next post.

Baby Nolan Arrives

Our new baby, Nolan Mack Burk, arrived yesterday at 1:15pm. He was 8lbs 1oz and 20 inches long. So the run-down of the whole experience, in a nutshell, goes like this:
Monday at the Dr. I was dilated to a 3 or so and the Dr. stripped my membranes. She told me labor would probably start within 24 hours. By night, I was skeptical because I hadn't felt any contractions.
Went to bed at 11:30, woke up at 2 with contractions about every 10 minutes. By 4 in the morning they were bad enough to get me out of bed and in a hot shower. Spencer woke up around 6:30 and we were off to the hospital by 7:30.
8:35- got to the hospital. I was the only patient so I had nurses all over me, eager to help. It was great. I was happily resting with an epidural about an hour later.
The epidural made my contractions stop so I had to have pitocin. After that I progressed quickly and had the nurse check me. She said, "OH, he's like, RIGHT there." Within 5 minutes I was pushing and another couple minutes and the baby was born. It was awesome and so much better than the first time around.
So everything's going really well. We are all healthy and happy and I'm especially happy to be home. We got here around 2 this afternoon.
So here are some pictures. Spence is wearing a mask because he was a little sick the day before. Carter is SO excited about his "baby bwover" and loves to give him kissies on the cheeks. He's adjusting to sharing mommmy and daddy, I think. He was sucking his thumb while watching a movie today. He hasn't done that since he was a little guy.
Anyway, just wanted to post a few pics and an update. I'm off to bed as soon as I'm done here!

6 Things About Me

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I was tagged by Gina 'Messick" (New Last Name).

6 Facts about me:
1. I have become an obsessive-compulsive house cleaner. I will figure out after pregnancy if this is just a temporary nesting thing but until then, I have to assume that I've become one of those annoyingly clean people. On a typical day when I get the cleaning "bug", I'll start outside with mowing the lawn, sweeping, weeding the garden and pruning the rose bushes, then I'll move inside and clean my entire house top-to-bottom, including doing laundry.
2. My favorite part of my day is in the morning, when I wake Carter up at about 7:30 and he says, "Hey, mom! I want apple-juice. I lay on the bed with mommy." Then we lay in my bed for 15-20 minutes and cuddle and talk. I ask him what he wants to do that day and he'll either say, "I go a-Diseyland!" or "Go Chuck-E-Cheese!"
3. I hate television. Like seriously despise it. There are very few shows which I enjoy watching and everything else seems so completely worthless that I feel dumber after watching them. We don't even have tv. We watch movies if we need entertaining or watch a tv show on the internet.
4. I love to exercise. I do work-out videos at home, walk, and lift weights. Last year I thought, "I think I'll train for a 1/2 marathon." I got serious about it for about a month and actually woke up early (!) to train and stuff. Then when I could go about 7 miles I started thinking to myself, "Wow, I'm only 1/2 way there and I'm spending a lot of time running. This stinks." So I stopped training. But I still love to exercise. Just not one of those with a lot of endurance.
5. I take a nap every day. Regardless of if I'm tired or not, I nap. I love it and I know it's coming to a close real quick.
6. My favorite movies are mini-series ones like Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. Others include North and South (not the one with Patrick Swayze), Victoria and Albert, Wives and Daughters, Daniel Deronda, and The Forsyte Saga.

I don't have that many people's blogs so I tag Kate, Sheena, and Michelle.

A Couple Carter Stories

Yesterday was a day for stories, I guess. The first one happened when we were getting ready to go for a walk. Carter said that something was "Booful" (beautiful) and I asked what was beautiful. He said, "It's pretty, mom" and I said, "What's pretty, bud?" and he touched my hair and said, "This one hair". It was so cute. I was especially grateful because I had put extra time into my hair that day. Then today while he was saying a prayer on the food he mumbled something about "Daddy pretty hair. Mommy pretty hair." He notices the cutest things.
So story number two...I was digging through some old photos when I came across pictures of me and Spence in Palm Springs on a short gettaway when I was about 8 months pregnant with Carter. My face and everything was so fat so I went to go show Spence. I said, "It's that disgusting?!?" and Carter comes into the kitchen going, "I see as-gusting, mom?" so I showed him the pic. He goes, "WHOA, MOM. AS-GUSTING! Das HOWBOL!"
Thanks a lot, buddy.

We went to Oak Glen again last weekend as a family and had a good time going to the petting zoo and eating fresh apple donuts. Why is it impossible to get a good picture of my kid with an animal? I've tried it like 10 times and have maybe gotten one decent one. Actually, I'm pretty sure the problem lies with just my kid. He is in the "I'm not going to cooperate with you" phase that I love.
I had a Dr. appointment yesterday and tomorrow I'm 37 weeks along. She'll see me again in 2 weeks and said that if we want to at that time she can strip my membranes which will hopefully throw me into the horrible agony of labor within 24 hours or so. I think that's what we are going to do but I keep asking myself, "Why would I want to intentionally put myself into labor?" I guess that it is inevitable that it's going to happen sometime, so I might as well know when. It's just so freaky that it's so close. I've pretty much blocked my pregnancy from my mind this whole time just to make the time go faster. Well, it worked, and now I'm at the end and in a sortof panic that I let it creep up on me. We are really looking forward to seeing the new baby, though, and having a sweet little-little-one in the house again.
I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. That is a nerve-racking experience. I'm still trying to grow it out (man, it is taking forever) so getting it cut seems like a bit of a step backwards. Plus, I'm seeing a new girl. That's the most scary part. You never know if she's just gonna go berzerk and whack off like 3 inches. I usually end up with lock-jaw for a couple hours after my appointment because I get so nervous in the chair. I'm just completely vulnerable and at her mercy. That she does a good job is my humble prayer.

Belly Update

Well I am in the middle of my 34th week of pregnancy and still feeling good. For those who can't remember or who simply don't want to have to do the math, that is in the middle of my 8th month. Everything is still going well with the pregnancy and I feel really good, except for not being able to bend like I would like. Other than that, really no complaints. Here's a pic so you can get a visual on how big the belly is getting.


Last week Carter and I went to Oak Glen with Clarice, home of the famous "Mile-High Apple Pie" that Justin got a couple years ago. It was a nice cold day (about 50 degrees) up in the mountains and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We ate lunch, went to the petting zoo, and sampled apples and cider. It was really fun and Carter loved it. When it was time to go he kept saying, "No, mom. Not go home yet."


Saturday we actually got RAIN for the first time in a long time. It wasn't much but it was very well-received. It was quite blustery around here for a couple days; fall-like enough to make me whip out my fall decorations, lite and pumpkin candle, and make some delicious pumpkin bread. So on Saturday we let Carter play outside in the rain with the "Coombella". He was so excited about that.


Sunday was my last day as the Laurel advisor. I have a new calling as the Primary secretary. Though I will miss my girls, I was ready to move to something different and I am excited to be working with these new ladies. I haven't ever been in a presidency, so that's been new. This Sunday will be my first time doing all my new stuff alone. Luckily I have until then to figure out what all that entails.

New Shoes

So Carter really needed some new shoes so after stake conference last night, Spence and I went to Target to check them out. We picked out a pair of super-cute blue ones that look like skate shoes. Also this week, I had bought him a new pair of "church shoes" at Walmart- just basic brown ones to go with anything. Anyway, I thought he'd be totally pumped about his new shoes like he has in the past, so we got dressed for church and I said, "Okay, let's put on your new church shoes!" I whipped them out of the closet and we put some socks on then...oh man... For no apparent reason he was NOT happy about his new shoes. He started kicking and saying, "NO! I no like em! I take em off!"
So what do you do in that situation? I did what any kind and understanding mother would have done- I forced them on his little feet and made him walk around in them, crying for like 10 minutes. Spencer had gone to the stake center early for a meeting, so we called him and I let Carter tell him about his new shoes, thinking that maybe that would help...it didn't. Another 5 minutes later he was still unhappy about them. Finally I completely ignored him and then after that he was totally fine. He even said in the car, "I likey new shoes!"
So anyway, later on I wanted to try on the new blue ones previously mentioned and luckily he was distracted by a movie, so he didn't fight me. But once he ran around in them for like 5 minutes- same story- didn't like them. Sat down and wanted to take them off. This time daddy let him win. We put them back on when we went for a walk this evening and on our walk, there's a horse that Carter likes to look at. The owners of the horse were outside and we totally friendly and asked us if we wanted to come see the horse, so we did. They haven't put in any lawn yet so the whole place is just dirt and while we talked to the couple, Carter was having a great time running around. So anyway, his new blue shoes are completely filthy now. I guess they have to be broken in sometime or another but it just makes me so sad that they look like hand-me-down's when really, we bought them last night. So this has been our saga with the new shoes.

Our Home

Mom's been wanting me to put a few pictures of recent decorations on my blog so that she could see what it looks like since I've updated it a bit. So, here they are!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carter was being a goofball on the way to go camping and made this up, himself. Spence and I thought it was pretty funny and luckily, got to record it. He won't do this anymore because he says it's, "Too loud". I think it scares him when Spence and I do it. The sound is a bit off, but you still get the idea. Enjoy!

Family Update

Well Carter is finally making the transition from crib to toddler bed and is doing pretty well with it so far. We were going to get him a twin-sized bed that can be stacked into bunk beds for later use, but I found this toddler bed, completely by accident, at a garage sale on Saturday for $10- mattress and all. So we are deferring the expense of bunk beds until later and using this. Spence assembled it for him on Saturday and he was SO excited. He just laid down in it and then sat up and looked at me and said, "Bankie, pease". So I went and got his blankie and pillow and he just laid there for like 10 minutes. It was pretty cute. So today is the first day he's actually slept in it, though. Actually, right now, he is napping and I hope he'll nap as long as he normally does. We'll see how it goes.

Carter's favorite game right now is hide and seek and he loves to hide from mommy. The other day Spence and I were playing with him and I hid him in our basket of dirty (I know, I know...) laundry. Had I not hinted to where he was, Spence might not have found him. It was a sweet spot, and now that's where Carter likes to hide.

And finally, here's a picture of "the belly" at 7 1/2 months. Everything's going really well and I am so lucky to still feel great- no aches and pains- nothing really to complain about. The only thing I have noticed lately is just that I'm a bit more tired during the day. I take care of that with a daily nap during nap time. So that's about it.



Gerrold has hired a new guy to work at Spencer's Allstate office, which has been nice and given Spencer more freedom to leave the office if he needs to or come home and get lunch occationally. It will still be a bit before he is completely caught up with everything going on there, but Spence says he's doing good so far.

That's pretty much all that's going on with us. I know its not for another month at least, but I'm excited for summer to wind down and to get on with some cooler weather. It's been blazing hot here every day and even though I really have enjoyed it, for the most part, it's getting a bit old. I'm ready for fall and Halloween and...(gulp) a new baby (but mostly, not to be so hot all the time).

Family Vacation Update

Well, we are back from our vacation and house-sitting. We had a really good time up in Utah and Idaho and the van was awesome to be in. We saw lots of family and covered a lot of area, including going to J&V's, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Malad, Logan, Ogden, and back to J&V's. In Malad we went to the farm and got to see all the animals and Carter loved that. He always says, "Stinky piggys" now, instead of just piggys. At the reunion, he got his face painted and played non-stop at the park. He was pretty bushed by the end of the day. He was such a good boy in the car and slept a lot and watched movies. By the end of the trip, he was actually movied out, which I didn't know could happen, and was having me change the movie about every 1/2 hour. Spence and I got to listen to Harry Potter most of the time and we just finished the book like 2 days ago. It was awesome.



When we got back to Cali, we slept at our house one night then immediately went over to babysit the next day. It was so nice to have a pool in our back yard and Carter and I used it at least once every day, sometimes more. Yesterday was our first day back at our house and we are SO happy to be back in our own bed. We picked all of our grapes this morning and I knew we had a lot, but holy crud, we have a LOT of grapes. We have to figure out who to give them all to because there's no way we'll eat them all. They are really good, though, and are so pretty! Well, that's it for now!

This summer Carter and I have spent SO much time in our little pool, at the water park, and at our weekly ward swim parties. So much time, actually, that for the first time, literally, in years, my legs are not ghostly white. I've really had to work on tanning them and I've decided that they look a lot cuter with a little color.

This has been a ton of fun and Carter has really enjoyed swimming. He has also become obsessed with water guns and swords lately and loves to squirt mommy. I'm trying to teach him to float, but he wants nothing to do with it, and hits be on the head with both hands after every time I make him do it. He's doing well at blowing bubbles and putting his face in the water, though.

One word he's really struggling with is "swimsuit". I love the way he says it. It's something like, "Siswimit". It's funny cuz he's really so good at pronouncing new words. I can't get enough of it.

Our Burk family reunion in Malad, Idaho is this week and we'll get to see my mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law, and lots of other family as well. I am really excited. We are both really excited to take our first long road trip in the van. Should be a little more luxurious than the Escort.

Spencer and I are plugging our way through the 7th Harry Potter book together. We hope to get our hands on the book on CD before leaving on our road trip so I don't get carsick reading in the car.

That's pretty much the update of what's going on here. Oh, I taught Gospel Doctrine today and was basically terrified. Luckily the class was a bit smaller today, but some of the people in our class make some interesting comments and it's been known to get a bit contentious in there. I did manage to keep the class under control, though, and overall (as it always is), it turned out to be a good experience.

San Diego Overnighter

A couple weekends ago Spence and I went on an overnight gettaway to San Diego. We rented a hotel room there and went to dinner at Buca Di Beppo, which we loved (the antipasto was amazing. It was in downtown San Diego, though, so it took us about 25 minutes to find parking, and that was like 6 blocks away). We also went and treated ourselves to a 1 lb. box of See's chocolates and took turns picking out our favorites. That night we scarfed them and felt like 100 pounds heavier the next morning. The next day went to the Mormon Battalion to see the Joseph Smith movie and hit up the zoo before returning home. The zoo was a lot more walking than we anticipated and we didn't think we'd be there that long, so yeah, we both wore flip-flops. I think we both got a few blisters, but it was fun. The gorillas were the best part. The babies rode around on their mother's backs. I haven't been to a zoo in so long. So here are some pictures of the zoo. Also, we harvested our plums off our tree and got a ton of them. They were so stinking good. We each ate about 6 a day and stayed very regular.

Camping Trip

This weekend we went on our first family camping trip. Carter got sick the day we left and by the time we went to bed that night, was crying and said, "A go-go car!" about 500 times. We were pretty close to just packing everything up and going home since we were only about a 1/2 hr. away. Once he finally fell asleep he woke up about every hour for the rest of the night. The next morning we slept in until about 6:45 and got up and had a delectable breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash browns. We packed up our stuff and headed to the park at the campground, by which time Carter was saying, "Go-go car. Watchy movie". He was really thrilled to be there. He still has a horrible cough today and I kept him home from church, much to his disappointment. He loves nursery. Anyway, we survived our first camping experience and overall, it was a good experience.