Aquarium of the Pacific

One of my good friends from Vegas, Kat, got married last summer and moved to Seal Beach. Well, she just had a baby last month and they are now moving to Seattle so, we decided to take the day and go down to see them before they left. However, I forgot to take my camera inside so I forgot to get pictures of her and her family....

Since we were already there, we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was so cool!! Plus, they have a deal where you can get a ticket to the aquarium and the LA Zoo for only $26 (the aquarium is usually $23 just by itself) and you have up to a year to use the other ticket! Don't worry, I'll post pictures of the zoo when we go.


First we hit some of the touch pools. Emma was a little freaked out and wouldn't put her hand in the water. But she loved watching all the "sharks" swimming around.


Then we went over to a play area where Lucas showed off his new skill....WALKING!!! That's right....I SAID WALKING!!! He started about a week ago and is getting pretty good at maneuvering himself around.

Emma got to be the "Queen of the world!" (Get it...from Titanic??)



Next we saw the sea lions and the seals. Emma and I went right up to the the plexi glass and watched them swim around. She got such a kick out of the seal (or is it a sea lion? I can't tell a difference) that got into the tub to "take a bath".

We also went to a tide pool touch pond where Emma got brave and actually felt some of the starfish and anemones that they had. I think it was because none of them were actually moving.


Then we went inside where we saw LOTS AND LOTS of fish....

A seahorse or two...


And some really pretty coral...

And some weird little girl sitting by the glass...

And this really hot, almost bald guy who was watching all the fish....oh wait, that's MY HOT ALMOST BALD GUY!! Back off ladies, he's taken!!


If you can't tell, Emma was fascinated with all the fish and stingrays and sharks and turtles and eels.

How did Lucas like it? Well, at first he was pretty excited to see all the things but....
after a while, it got to be too much and he crashed for the rest of the time we were there.



The most colorful fish were the ones that can change their sex depending on how many males or females are present. They were so bright. These pictures don't do them any justice.




Right before we left, they had some divers in a huge aquarium that were feeding the fish. Those fish swarmed the divers and ate it all up. We absolutely loved the aquarium (Emma keeps asking when we can go back) and I highly recommend it to anyone! However, may I suggest going on a weekday in the winter??? It was a little crowded on a Saturday in the summer.

On the way down, our car rolled over 100,000 miles!! We have had it for 5 years now and she is still going strong (despite the deer incident in November).

Anyone need a haircut??

Lucas got his first haircut!! He did really good and even sat pretty still for me.


Emma got one too. She didn't sit quite as still but I think they both turned out pretty darn good.

Knowledge in the making

So, you may be asking yourself who this lovely young lady is and what exactly is she holding in her hand?? Well, this is Sasha, she is one of my Young Women and she is holding in her hand our activity for the night....we made purses out of Capri Sun juice pouches!! It was actually pretty easy and only took about an hour (that even included me taking a few stitches out). I'm not nearly creative enough to think of this great project on my own. I got the idea from a great site I found called mormonchic.com. The exact address for this purse is http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/juice-pouch-purse.asp
They also have lots of other great ideas for projects and what not. Cute and easy?? What more could you ask for. If anyone plans on doing this as an activity, try to have a sewing machine for each girl so they don't have to wait for their turn and DON'T follow the directions that say to put the juice pouches in the dryer...mine came out pretty mangled. Just leave them in the sun for at least 2 days to dry them out. Have fun!!

VEGAS BABY!!!

This last weekend we went to Vegas for a quick trip (sorry to everyone we didn't see, it was seriously an in and out trip). My best friend from High School, Chris was in town for a wedding so we went to go spend some time with her and her hubby. One of my favorite places in Vegas is the atrium at the Bellagio so we went there and got some pictures...

That would be a giant glass poppy with "hot air" balloons behind it.

This snail was done entirely from roses.

This ladybug is all carnations

I loved this ferris wheel. Each seat was full of sunflowers.

Me and Chris.

The way we really are.

Like mother, like daughter.





We also went to the chocolate store next to the atrium. They have the world's largest chocolate fountain. Emma was amazed and wanted one for her room....me too!

The same store also does amazing cakes.

Did I mention the cakes?? They were so cool!


We also got to go to the M&M's store where Emma got some chocolate lovin'!

Chris and I also go to go see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Can I just say AMAZING!!! I can only wish for one ounce of the talent those actors had! The set was so cool! It was constantly moving and changing. Thanks for inviting me to go with you Chris!!

It was a fun trip but way too fast!

Utah or BUST!!

Right after Mother's Day, the kids and I loaded up the car and headed off for Utah. We had a few family things going on (Kim's dad's funeral, a family reunion and my brother, Stetson's homecoming). Unfortunately, Michael had to work so I did the trip by myself. I have a new found respect for my mom going on all those trips with all 6 of us kids by herself! It was HARD!! But, I'm glad we went.

The first day we got there, the kids needed to burn off some energy so we busted out Grandpa Oz's croquet set. I think it's a Utah thing where you HAVE to own a croquet set (at least that's how it was when I was a kid). Emma loved wacking the balls through the hoops and hitting the stick. Lucas just liked getting down and crawling...

WHEELER FARM

The next day, we went to Wheeler Farm with Grandpa Oz. The kids loved looking at all the animals and I loved just getting outside for a walk....
Lucas loves watching birds so he got a big kick out of seeing all the
ducks and geese swimming on the pond.


I don't really know what these things are but I thought they looked cool.

Hey, Mom...what's this thing for??




Of course we took some pictures of the kids too.

Emma and Grandpa playing in the treehouse.

They had the most beautiful irises I have seen for quite a while.

I miss the mountains in Utah.


FLASHBACK FROM JR HIGH!

While we were there, I also got to get together with a few friends from Jr High that I haven't seen in YEARS!! We all met for some ice cream and let the kids play outside. It was fun to see Emily and Nikki. I wish we were closer so we could hang out more!! Emily is coming to CA at the end of the month so we'll get to play then! :-)

Emily, me and Nikki

All our kids

Lucas really enjoyed his ice cream!

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE

A few days later, we all headed down to temple square to see the sights.
We jumped on the train and headed downtown..




From right to left...Lucas, me, Mom,
Emma, Joel, Trevor, Kim and Zach





Emma loves to see all the "princesses" that are getting married. She was in heaven!


FAMILY REUNION/BIRTHDAY PARTY
We also headed down to Helper for a family reunion/birthday party for my grandparents. My Grandpa turned 88 and my Grandma turned 82.


They are such an amazing and cute couple! I love going to see them and I love hearing all their stories. It makes me sad to see them getting older.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any really good pictures of everyone who was there. I think there were about 45 people all together. It was really nice to be able to see all my cousins and their kids!

I know I mentioned Stetson's homecoming at the beginning of this novel but I completely forgot to take any pictures of him or the gathering. He is looking good (and single, ladies) and has some pretty amazing stories from the mission.

Slacker

So, I realize that I have been quite the slacker on my blog lately and I haven't been keeping everyone informed on our lives. I have every intention of putting up pictures from my trip to Utah and all the things we did there (they are cute!!) However, I seem to lack the motivation and energy to do it. Why? Could it possibly be because I am 10 weeks pregnant and fighting off insomnia and nausea? YUP!! That would be the reason why! I am due the end of December. I am REALLY excited about the baby but not too excited about the birthday day. Why?? My birthday is December 20th and I always swore that I would never have a baby in December (my Dr. says that's what I get for swearing!!) I hate the whole birthday/Christmas combined present so I do here solemnly swear that I will make every effort for my child to not have a "Birthmas" day! Emma is VERY excited for the new baby and Lucas just smiles (like he always does). Michael and I are kind of worried about being officially outnumbered by kids....any advice out there??