Sea World

 Brock has been anticipating this part of our trip for months! For a kid whose favorite show is Free Willy, you better believe that this was the Big Daddy of them all for him! The look on his face was absolutely priceless when he first saw the killer whales. Oh how I wish I could keep him just like this!

 We headed straight to the Shamu show to make sure we got good seats in the splash zone. Brock wanted to make sure we were going to get wet. I for one was not really looking forward to that part, but it ended up being the perfect combo. Trent and Brock got soaked and me and Jaida we just sprinkled, I really couldn't have planned it better. Pierce was somewhere in between, but everyone left happy!

 The kids had a great time seeing all the exhibits and we reported no major melt-downs and that is pretty amazing after a really hot day of walking and walking and walking! We stopped for lunch of Chicken Nuggets and fries, yes they cost a small fortune, but every little morsel was savored. Upon completing our meal, the table next to us was filled with Sea World executives. One came up to us and asked how our meal was. We said great! Then Brock Chimed in with," My name is Brock, we came here for my Birthday all the way from Maryland." The guy was completely shocked. Yes, Brock tends to do that to people, shock them! After he had a good laugh he went and got all the kids a free churro and wished him a Happy Birthday. (In case you were wondering it wasn't quite his Birthday, but it was what he had asked for!)

 The kids all got to pick out a souvenir from Sea World. Pierce and Brock both picked out mood necklaces with killer whales and dolphins on them. Jaida went with a more stylish move and got these cute flip flops. What can I say this girl loves pink and Shoes!

After Sea World Jaida and I crashed at the hotel. Pierce and Brock on the other hand had a burst of energy and decided that they needed to take a dip in the pool. I guess after watching all the other sea creatures swimming around all day they needed to test the waters themselves. Our hotel there was awesome and had the most kid-friendly pool I have ever seen. Our kids just couldn't get enough!

Seal Beach in LaJolla

 We made it to California all in one piece. We were excited to meet up with Uncle Cory! He came to our Hotel and we headed to In and Out so that Trent could get his Hamburger fix. With this Pregnancy hamburgers have been my enemy, So I got fries and a shake! After our dinner we headed down to Seal Beach in LaJolla. It is so awesome to be right there by the seals.

 Couldn't get enough of this Sunset either. Brock had a good time digging in the sand. Pierce chased around a fly for the better part of an hour trying to smash it, with no luck. We got some good video of that. It will come in handy when he has a girlfriend. We had a good laugh. We finished with an impromptu game of tag.

Here is my 3 cute kids! We sure love Uncle Cory!

Road Trip - first of many!

 While we were in Utah we took a road trip to California. We left on a Sunday morning to take our first attempt at our road trip. Our destination for the night was St. George. the kids were pretty good troopers and actually did better than I thought they would. Uncle Brady and Aunt Sasha were kind enough to let us borrow their Acura. Brock thought it was a Ferrari and couldn't get over how awesome of a car it was. He was constantly asking Trent how fast it could go, to race other drivers and to rev up the engine. Cute kid! hanks for trusting us with your Ferrari!

We made it to Uncle Pete's winter home in St. George to spend the night. Right as we got all settled into the house a fierce rainstorm began! It really was like nothing I have seen, which means a lot coming form Maryland. The streets were completely flooded and it was yucky. That night my Nana and Papa invited us for dinner. She made this really yummy stir fry and some fresh vegis from the garden. We enjoyed chatting and laughing with them. The kids loved riding her elliptical and jumping on her mini-tramp. It was great to see them.

 The next morning Trent got up early and went golfing with Jordan Hammer. They had a great time together and it was great to see him again.

The kids and I caught up with some of our friends. Our original plan was to go to the river and catch polly-wogs and wade in the water, but since that big storm came through it kind of flooded those plans. So luckily they have a pool in their backyard that we swam in instead. My kids were not disappointed at all. The kids had a fabulous time together. I also enjoyed chatting with Ashley and catching up on life. We went home and cleaned up and met them for dinner later at Cafe-Rio. ( I had to get my fix~ and it was so good!) After wards we went back to their place for some more swimming and chatting followed by a super awesome firework show! It was a very fun-filled day. We were sad to say good bye!

City Creek

 This picture has nothing to do with City Creek, but it cracked me up. These too are such hams.

 On Saturday July 14, 2012 we went with all of my family to the new City Creek Mall. We parked at the Gateway and took the Trax train over to the City Creek. The kids got a kick out of that.

 Jaida was feeling pretty big sitting in her own seat.

 Brock loves spending time with his Dad and was so excited that he was finally here.

 Pierce was not in the mood for picture time and was not having a very good attitude once we first got there. But after we walked around a bit and he was able to see all the cool trout and get some good food at Chick-fil-a he snapped right out of it. They loved looking at all the animal tracks to figure out what animals they belonged to.

 The waterfall was pretty high on their list too. Literally I think they could have spent all day there.

Jaida wanted her picture taken by the Temple. We had a really great time. to top  of our already fun-filled day Grammy and Papa Russ took us all to the new Ice Age Continental Drift movie at the Gateway. It was a great laugh. Lots of fun memories here!

More Utah

 We loved the fact that there are Splash pads everywhere you turn. In Maryland it is hard to find free kid fun. We went to go and get a cupcake from the Sweet Tooth Fairy and we couldn't resist a quick dip in the splash pad.

 Yes, we looked a little on the white trash side with our kids just taking their shirts off, but we were at Valley Fair Mall so I don't think we were too out of place. It didn't last long since out of the blue it started to rain and be windy. We took the rain with us to Utah because it had been kind of a drought there and us Marylanders were sick of the rain. I think my mom said it hadn't rained in Utah for like 40 straight days or something, but the very first day we were there it rained and continued to rain off and on our whole time there. Figures!

I also got to see my Friends for a  quick get away at the Cheesecake Factory. I was sad that not all of them could make it. We missed ya! It always feels good to see these girls and laugh.

Adding another

Our house is full of excitement these days. We are happy to announce that we are having a GIRL! I guess it is time to make this announcement official. Brock kind of already did when he raised his hand in Primary 2 weeks ago and yelled out at the top of his lungs, "MY MOM IS PREGNANT!!" Thanks, Bud!
Pierce says he is really excited because now he will get to boss around 3 kids. He was hoping for a boy because he already had the name picked out and everything (St. Nick) yup, too bad it isn't a boy would've been a great name! ;) Brock just keeps asking when it is coming, what it will look like, how big is it, yada yada. You get the picture. Jaida is somewhat clueless. When she hears us talk about it she will just say , "My baby too!"
So I have reached the half-way milestone always a thrill. I have been really sick with this one. Yuck. The pregnancy began with lots of sickness and unexpected twists. Hamburger is not my friend and I have little or no desire for chocolate, must be something wrong. But I am glad to be feeling better now. My official due date is January 4th, but I am guessing it will come around Christmas time. Yay! Now to just try and find a name we can agree on.

Cousin time

 Every year we make our annual Summer trip to Utah to go and see our family (and Friends). It is always a fun time and good to see every one. We didn't waste anytime going to see Dax, Jo and Tess ASAP. My kids have missed seeing their cousins. They have been talking about jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath it since last year and couldn't wait to do it again.

 I was a really bad mom this day and forgot to put sunscreen on my children. Yeah they pretty much got fried. The sun in Utah is a lot more harsh than our Maryland sun. Ouch.

 The kids played and played and played and didn't complain one bit. I think we ended up having to drag them out of there after 4 hours of Sun and Fun.

 Jaida and Tess played too. They are too cute.

And Jaida layed out and got some sun too. It was a fabulous reunion and just the beginning of our fun vacation! As I look through my pictures I realized how little I took. We also enjoyed the company of our cousin Mia and Aunt Ninny too. But I was a slacker and didn't document that. We spent a lot of time with our family.
 This year was a little more chaotic and we had to do more traveling than usual. We didn't get to see everyone that we had hoped to and always leave feeling really bad and guilty. To those we didn't see, I am sorry.

(Elder) Jordan Hammer Visits!

 We had the awesome priviledge of getting to know a lot of missionaries while Trent's parents were the Misssionary Presidents here in Baltimore. One of our family favorites was definetely Elder Hammer. Sunday dinners at the mission home were always a good time with him around. He would play tricks on the kids and make them laugh. He told them about how Scooby-doo lived in his apartment. And was just an all around fun time. Trent really got along well with him to, since Elder Hammer was/is an avid golfer, also on the BYU golf team. To me he just felt like a brother. When he left Baltimore literally I cried! We took him dinner the weekend before he left, Cafe Rio, and I went to hug him goodbye and realized that I couldn't hug him. It was a sad day.

So when he called to tell us he was coming back for a visit we jumped at the opportunity to have him for dinner. Not knowing that it was going to be a weekend of a huge storm and we would have no power, but we made do! It was great to meeet his parents too. It felt like old times and was so good to see him again! Until next time Jordan! We will miss you!