California Beach and Animal Vacation

Our summer vacation this year couldn't have been better! We headed out to San Diego in a rented mini van with Travis' parents to a VRBO house a block from the beach in Del Mar. These first few pictures are us on the first day. We decided to relax on the beach and play in the sand. Dallen LOVED the sand and warmed up to walking in the calmer waters. He ran from the waves at first and then braved walking through them around a rocky point. Travis did a little boogie boarding in the freezing cold water, but it just wasn't worth it to me. The weather was just barely warm enough to be sitting on the beach in a swimsuit. So that's just what I did while Travis and Dallen took a nap and David and Linda went to the store. I sat on the beach and had some wonderful quiet time, all alone.

The next day we were up early and off to Seaworld! I'd never been to Seaworld and it turned out to be such a fun day! The exhibits were pristine and the shows were amazing. The animals were a lot more interesting to look at than I thought they'd be and they had a couple of hands on areas too- sting rays and star fish. The swim with the dolphins area was one of our favorite places to stay and watch. Made me totally want to do that one day. Our favorite show by far was the Shamu, Killer Whales show. It's just mind boggling to see what those whales can be trained to do. The park also had a kiddie play and rides area so Travis took Dallen on his first amusement park ride. A flying Elmo ride. He loved it except for the waiting in line part. To end the day, I chased him around a super high jungle gym playground thing. I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day but loved every minute!

 

The next day we got up early again and headed out to the San Diego Zoo. Dallen had never been to the zoo before so we were excited to see how he would like all of the animals there. He really likes animals- animals on TV, his animal figurines, the farm animals around town, etc. I would say that he probably enjoyed running around the rain forest part of the zoo the best. We weren't as impressed with the zoo as we were Seaworld, but how can you compare animals sitting or sleeping in caged areas to animals doing tricks at Seaworld. Plus, the animal areas were not kid friendly if you were short or riding in a stroller. We had to pick Dallen up to see just about all the animals. We did the tram tour and then Dallen took a nap in the stroller while Travis and I did a speed walking tour of the parts of the zoo we wanted to see more of. David and Linda rode the aerial gondola a couple times until we met back up. It was a good day, but not my favorite activity of the trip.

 

The last day we decided to head over to the county fair just a 15 minute walk from the house we were staying in. We checked out the petting zoo and all the animals entered into their varying contests which were mostly sheep and goats. Dallen just loved running up and down the aisles in the barns while stopping to pet a few. It was a pretty busy day there so after meeting up with Travis' Aunt Cheryl, we headed back to the house for some food and then one last evening on the beach. We had lots of leftovers from all of the yummy dinners we had had the 3 nights before- OutBack, Mexican, and Olive Garden. Dallen got a lot of energy out that night running up and down the beach and even got in for a swim in the lagoon area.The sunset was gorgeous and made me want to stay and just be a beach bum for another couple days. The trip went by way too fast but we loved every minute!

Dallen at 2 years!

Having a 2 year old is so amazing. They learn at such a faster rate now, that almost every day I'm surprised at the things he's saying and doing. He talks all the time. His jibber jabber has at least one or two words in it that I understand so I get the gist of what he's talking about. He loves to tell either Travis or I what he's been up to when he comes back from doing something fun with one of us or the other. He likes to have jibber jabber conversations too. It's even amazing to me that he knows how to communicate by conversing. 

We got him an ipad around Christmas and he's learned how to play all the learning games on there in just a few weeks. He can totally navigate the device all on his own as well. That has been amazing to watch as well. He loves the 'pad' especially when he gets to watch his movies on it. He's rotated through quite a few favorites in the last few months- Bolt, Rio, Tangled, Tarzan, Nemo, Beauty and the Beast, and Toy Story. He stuck with Bolt and Rio for a really long time and is pretty attached to 'Dori' (Finding Nemo) now. 

As for eating, he's pretty picky like most kids are I guess. He rotates through the typical lunches- mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, PB&J, and Flautas. He loves the meatball from my spaghetti and is into dipping things. He especially loves salsa. He eats grapefruit almost every morning but use to have a Danimal yogurt smoothie every morning a couple months ago. He isn't a big breakfast eater anymore but use to love eggs. His favorite veggie and almost only veggie he likes is corn on the cob. On occasion I can get him to eat something else but that is rarely. He moved from his booster seat at the table to a step stool at the counter and now to a chair at the table. He still uses the step stool and stands and eats every now and then, but I realized that was a bad habit to continue so I'm trying to focus on eating at the table more. We took the bottle away at 23 months but he still likes his sippy cup with milk when he's sleepy. The binky is a whole other story. He's addicted. He only gets it when he's sleeping and right after he wakes up, but he sure does throw a fit every single time we take it away.

I can FINALLY say he's sleeping through the night. He's loved his crib now for a long time, but just couldn't get himself back to sleep in the middle of the night for a long time there. In just the last few weeks he hasn't woken up at all but it was a slow tapering out. I'm definitely enjoying my full nights sleep. 

Dallen is a very active little boy and loves to run run run. We take him hiking with us, and he does pretty well keeping up. He loves pushing his trucks down the street and whenever we go on walks he wants to push something. He loves 'swimming' and says it with so much excitement. He loves to throw rocks in the creek and when we took him fishing for the first time he couldn't get enough of throwing rocks in the lake. He loves the dirt and will play on the mini BMX track behind our neighbor's house, pushing his trucks around for quite awhile.  He loves horses, use to be fascinated with brushing his teeth, he loves to slide and climb, he loves the 'Beet Bee' (ATV's), and loves to follow his Dad around the garage fixing things, stealing Daddy's tools. It's adorable. He still loves the game 'I'm gonna get you' and will go run and hide in Daddy's clothes hanging in the closet. He's starting to play make believe a little bit with his trucks and animal figurines and plays alone better than ever now.

He's got a few funny quirks too- like if his blankets are messed up in his crib when I take him out he has me make his bed for him before we leave the room. He likes to line toys up too. Already mister organized. :D

Potty training is around the corner. I've been sticking him on his little potty for about 6 months now right before bath time. It's now become part of the bath time routine and he loves it. He recently learned how to say 'pee' and is catching on to going in the potty. I think I'm waiting until he has a few more potty words and will listen to me or understand me a little better. Not looking forward to potty training, but this before bath time method has been a pretty good buffer.

It's crazy how much more we love him and love seeing him learn and develop so well. We're such lucky parents.

A Two Year Old Birthday

Dallen's birthday was so much fun this year! He was more excited about his presents/toys than last year.  We decided to celebrate his birthday one day early since Daddy was scheduled to work 24 hour on call including the clinic during the day on his birthday. So on the night of the 5th I decorated the house with streamers, balloons and his presents. I really like the streamers on his bedroom door frame and think I'm going to do that every year on his birthday. 

In the morning we leisurely opened his presents and let him play with his toys. He loved the animal figurines from Gma&pa Heeb and his BBQ table from Gma&pa Hicks. We was pretty excited about his Beet Bee toy and bike from us. I was glad we found a lot of things he really likes. After all of the playing, he took his afternoon nap while I made his cake. I was happy with the way it came out and was glad he could tell it was a horse! We were going to have a bunch of our friends over for cake but most people were busy or gone so we decided to go hiking instead. Afterwards, we took Dallen to McDonald's for a special yummy birthday dinner and then did the cake late after we got home. We sang happy birthday and he was intrigued with the candles, but didn't really care for eating the cake. He wanted to poke his fingers in it but that was about it. So weird because he was the same way last year. All well. I'm still glad we had a nice cake for him. It was a fun packed day and was followed up the next day with a trip to the pool which he absolutely loves. It's so fun celebrating a 2 year old's birthday!

Cousin Fun

Sarah, Jacob, Caleb and Jordan came down for Memorial Day Weekend. Sarah usually comes down every spring to get in her small town get away and we love getting the boys together. Some of our fun events were wading in the creek and throwing rocks, riding the Ranger, playing with the neighbor's puppies, checking out the peacocks and ducks, swimming at the city pool and having a picnic at Little Res. I think Jacob's favorite activity were the puppies, and probably Caleb's too. It was fun having Jordan here this time as well. We spent the evenings looking through the old family photos that we got scanned while he was on his mission. The 3 of us just huddled on the couch and reminisced the good old days. It was a great visit that I look forward to every year.

A Sparkly Mother's Day

When Travis started asking me what I wanted for Mother's Day this year I suggested a Memory Foam bed topper or some new multi-sport shoes. He wasn't too excited about either of those ideas and suggested that we get diamonds for my engagement ring since the 2 smaller stones have been cubic zirconium these last 7 years. I jumped all over the idea especially since we'd be in Vegas the week before Mother's Day and had the time to leave my ring and get the new stones put in. We shopped around and finally met with a jeweler I felt good about. I even got to see the diamonds before he put them in. He polished my ring and fixed it where it was cracked and it came back looking AMAZING! Just like brand new, super sparkly! It was a wonderful Mother's Day gift.

We went to church on Sunday and Dallen decided to throw a tantrum for most of Nursery. Of all the Sundays for him to be a pest it had to be Mother's Day. psh...He usually LOVES nursery. So Travis took him home early so I could enjoy Relief Society. Then that afternoon we all got to video chat with Emily in Chile! We talked for over 2 hours and it was just a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, with my entire family. See seems so happy and has a great countenance about her. It was a great Mother's Day this year. :D

Vegas CME week

It was a fun filled week in Vegas during Travis' CME Conference. We decided to do an 8 day visit and it was great to be back with friends and family without being rushed. We stayed with Nick and Mindy on a weekend that they happened to be installing carpet in most of their house. It was interesting to watch and see how doing flooring is just about as bad as moving! Anyway, they did set aside Saturday afternoon to take us boating. It was Dallen's first time on a boat and he loved it! Sadly it was the windiest day ever so we just chilled in a cove while Nick and Travis spear fished. We dipped our feet in and later watched Travis attempt to water ski out on the choppy lake. We still had a great time despite the weather.

On Sunday we went to church at our old ward and said hi to a few old friends. It's crazy how much a ward changes in 2.5 years though. There really weren't that many people to talk to. Then we spent the evening with Travis' family and had a Cinco de Mayo dinner with them. Throughout the week while Travis was at his conference, Dallen and I hung out with Mindy and her kids until they left for Disneyland on Wednesday night. We spent a lot of play time at a few different parks. The park is finished in our old neighborhood is done and even has a splash pad.  Dallen loves going down the slides and climbing all over. The weather wasn't too hot yet so it was perfect park play time.

We filled the evenings with other eventful things, dividing our time equally between family and friends. We went to a pizza get together at the Pursers where Savanna showed Dallen how to scoot down a hill. Mindy babysat Dallen for me and I got the most amazing massage I've had in a really long time. (Thanks Linda for the bday gift!) We took the cousins to Bass Pro to see the fish and mounts. Linda and I went to Toys R Us and got Dallen's gifts all picked out. We tried Cook on Wok again and were actually pleasantly surprised this time. I met up with Brighton and practiced softball with her. We had the most delicious Sushi with the Draneys and had a nice time visiting with them as well.

The last night Travis really wanted to take Dallen to the strip to see all of the lights and water. We went with his family and we all thought Travis had gone crazy or something actually wanting to spend time on the strip. We went to the Cheesecake Factory in Ceasars for dinner and kept Dallen occupied with the ipad while we had a delicious dinner. As we were walking through Ceasars to head outside over to the Bellagio, Travis encountered a statue that he had to introduce Dallen to. :P Dallen enjoyed the water show but didn't like getting sprayed with the mist coming off of it. This water show was one of my favorites- Michael Jackson, Just Beat It. The water seriously looked like it was dancing doing Michael Jackson moves. It was too bad his parents couldn't make it over because of their bad ankles. On our way out of town on Saturday we met up with Travis' parents one last time for lunch at Ricardos. Dallen fell asleep in his stroller so we had a really nice long conversation with them. It was our Mother's Day lunch for Linda.