California Fun

  Once back on the mainland  Paul and I decided to treat ourselves to the most expensive meal we have ever had.  The rest of the family was having lobster tail on the cruise that night so Paul and I decided why not go all out.  Paul's dad has told us about this little restaurant called The Crab Cooker that he went to as a kid and loved.  He even has a picture of it up in his house so we decided we should try it.

   I got shrimp and Paul got crab and we split it.  It was the biggest crab I have ever had in my entire life and doubt I will ever have that big of a crab ever again.  The sweet candy meat was, no lie, at least an inch in diameter.  It was insane to me.  The food was good and it was to finally be able to try something we had heard so much about.
  After dinner we headed back to Murrieta where we were staying, with my old mission companion.   We had had a very long day so we just showered and went to bed.
  Wednesday we just took it slow in the morning and decided to go down to San Diego for dinner and a game with Lindsay and Chad.  We first had to go to chick-fil-a cause it is all my brother talks about and they had one next to their house.  I have never been before and thought it was actually really good. Later cause I had never been to a professional game of any sort we decided to get tickets to see the Padres play the Colorado Rockies play.  It was a little slow at the beginning and then the game started to pick up.  There was even a home run for the Padres so  there were fireworks and fire too.  It was surprisingly super fun.  Plus the Petco Stadium is pretty amazing cause you can see most of downtown San Diego.  It was a fun night and one more thing can now be knocked off of my bucket list.

  Thursday Chad had to work so Paul, Lindsay and I headed out on the town by ourselves.  We decided to go to lunch at this burger joint called The Habit.  It was such a good burger and for a great price. Sadly we do not have on in Vegas.  After lunch we went to Old Temecula.  It is a cute little part of town that looks old and rustic.  We shopped around for a bit and even tried some chocolate covered bacon.  It was not good.  Not that I expected it to be amazing but it wasn't even good.  The bacon wasn't hard and it was just weird.  We went into a few shops and had a good time then headed down to the beach.

When we got down to the beach we were pleasantly surprised that there was a huge market thing going on down there.  It had tons of booths and tents with lots of food, art and gifts.  Paul got some juice from Ghana that he named Ghana With the Wind Juice. It was super sweet but really good.  We sampled lots of food and walked around until it was Chad's dinner break.  We met up with him for dinner and had an amazing hot sandwich before heading back to Lindsay's house.
  Friday we got up and met up with my parents.  They drove me home so Paul could met up with Bo and his friend and the Hills at six flag.  I was glad to be home and I even got all the laundry and cleanup from vacation done before Paul got home super late that night.
  It was a great vacation and I was glad to be able to see and do so much.  I felt like it was a good last hurrah before the baby comes.

Catalina

   My parents had decided a few years ago that once my grandma's house sold they would take those funds and take my whole family on a vacation.  After much planning and re planning they landed on a four day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada.
   Because I am too far along in my pregnancy Paul and I were not able to go on the cruise but we were able to make it over to Catalina and spent the whole day with my family.  

 

   We met up with most of the family and hung out on the beach until lunch.  Once at lunch the rest of the family met up so we could all eat together.  It was pretty great to have all of us together even if just for a bit.  We ate at a pizzeria and had an experience of a life time when I ordered a veggie pizza.  This veggie pizza was unlike any one I have ever had.  Instead of peppers, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and other typical pizza toppings this pizza had zucchini and carrots on it.  It was GROSS!  Besides that particular pizza it was a good lunch and lots of fun.
   After lunch Paul and I went kayaking with Ryan and his family.  I was a little worried about how I would do being seven months pregnant but wanted to give it a go anyway.  To start off as I slowly got into the kayak the man helping us asked if I wanted him to push me down in the boat to sit me down faster.  I politely said no thank you and took my time.  Once in he pushed us out into the water at and angle and immediately I knew we were in trouble.  We fell right in and I started to freak out.  Once I calmed down and laughed at how silly I was being we made it back to the dock and launched off again with out any problems.  It was tiring but fun and worth it.  I felt bad Paul had to do most of the work but we had fun and it was good to get out on the water for awhile.

     After kayaking we headed back to the beach and spent the rest of the day playing with the kids.
  Once everyone left to go back to the cruise boat Paul and I had about 30 minutes before we had to load our ferry so we walked around and looked into a few shops before heading back.  It was a great little trip and fun to be able to spend the day with the family.
       One of my favorite parts of the day was when the kids all decided to bury Emily in the sand.  All the kids were gathered around her and started piling on the dirt as Emily was laughing it up.  She was loving it so much that once the kids started to slow down she started pulling dirt in too to help cover herself more.  It was the cutest thing.
   My family can be a little crazy and overbearing at times but I sure do love them and am lucky to have them.

Baby Shower

  A couple of weeks ago my family threw me a baby shower.  The shower was fun and had a good turn out even though it was the weekend after fourth of July.
   I was so happy to get to visit with everyone and get caught up with a few friends and family members that I haven't seen in awhile.  I also was happy to enjoy some really good food as well.  Not to mention all the amazing gifts that I got.  Everyone was super nice and we were really blessed to receive so many gifts even ones I thought we would never get.  We also were able to pay for the majority of our car-seat/stroller through generous gift cards we were given.



 The invitations that Jacquelynn made were darling and had a little robot on them, to match the robot nursery theme we plan on doing, and the awesome cake that Jen made had a robot as well.  Just another reminder of how talented and skilled my sisters are and that I am not.
  Everything turned out so nice and I am so thankful for everything.  Can't wait to meet this little guy.