"She-shells" at the "She-shore"

We were holding our breath and crossing our fingers that our plans to go to Disneyland on Monday would still happen and that the weather wouldn't be as bad as was predicted. This was not to be the case. Saturday night the fog rolled, and so did the snow. The house in the hills and mountains outside of San Diego that we were staying in seriously got snow! Enough that we were snowed in on Sunday and most of Monday too. We were supposed to go home on Tuesday, and when we called Trevor's boss to say we were SNOWED in, in CALIFORNIA I'm not sure he really believed us....

Once Monday rolled around we were feeling a little cabin fever. We wanted to get out. The snow had finally stopped and with some shoveling we were able to get out. We decided to go to the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. They had a whole display featuring artifacts from the Titanic. I remember first learning about the Titanic in 4th grade and having a fascination about it, so I couldn't wait to see things from the actual boat!

(on a side note, as we drove under a bridge that led into balboa park a cop slowed us down and we thought there was an accident ahead, but it was a dead body! We are pretty sure it was a homeless guy that had jumped off the bridge. We realized that this was a common occurence because there were suicide hotline signs on every bridge we went on)After nearly being charged an arm and a leg, we were admitted into the crowded museum and got to see not only the titanic artifacts but dinosaur bones and other interesting things. When we came out the wet and chilly day had turned warm and sunny! We decided to make an unplanned trip to the beach.

Brody had been talking about finding "she-shells" at the beach for days. In truth, a few weeks ago he was playing in the dirt at our house and looking through the rocks trying to find sea shells and was pretty disappointed when we told him that there weren't any at our house far from the ocean.

We thought we'd just walk along the shore. Then we thought we'd just let our toes get wet. Then we ended up splashing, falling, and playing in the water. We had no towels. No swimsuits. It still wasn't all that warm, but we didn't even care. It was so much fun. Brody loved every minute of it. Ryder liked it until he fell in. Twice. After that whenever the tide rolled up onto the sand, he ran away. He loved running in the sand and chasing the birds best.

The beach we went to was on Coronado Island and because there is a naval base right there, there were so many naval planes that flew over us and the boys thought that was pretty awesome too.

We left that day and brought some of the beach with us. Going on this unplanned visit was fun, but messy. Ry was especially unhappy at being so cold, dirty, and wet. We really didn't have any choice but to dump a few bottles of cold water on the kids to get as much sand off as we could, and strip them down to just underwear and a diaper. Then we piled the jackets and blanket we had in the car on top of them as we made our 45 minute cold trek back home.

This wasn't our only visit to the beach on our trip. Because we stayed a few extra days, we were able to go back to the Coronado beach again and also mission beach. Seagulls flew away with one of Ryder's croc shoes and poked holes and drank the capri suns we had brought one day, but we were able to gather some she-shells, play, and make memories. It was such a fun time and Brody proudly shows off his shells and talks about it all the time to anyone who will listen.

Adventures in California!

We found out that someone we knew was getting baptized and joining the church. We had known it was going to happen eventually and had talked about going and supporting him, but we didn't realize it would happen so soon! Luckily for us we had just received our tax return money so we knew we could do it. Why did we need money though? Well because he lives in CALIFORNIA! Why not make a vacation out of it, right? The baptism was one of the first things we did when we pulled into beautiful, sunny, CA on a friday afternoon. Things went great and I thought the speakers did a really good job. Things weren't going to stay so sunny and great. A storm began to blow in the very next day. We decided to brave the rain and drive into San Diego from Steve's (the newly baptized friend) house in the mountain area about 40 minutes away. We wanted to see the ocean. A first for our kids.

It was cold, a little windy, and rainy. And although Brody found the ocean pretty cool, it wasn't exactly a picture perfect day by any means. Ry wasn't very happy about most of it. We even visited some tide pools and got to see some sea urchins and little crabs. Brody loved looking, but wouldn't touch.

I think we spent maybe an hour out until the fog and rain really started to come in, and we decided to find "dry ground." We ate in Old Town San Diego and found a museum up the road that was all about the Mormon battalion. It was a pretty cool (and free, rare around these parts) little museum to visit.

We finished the day at the movies and then dinner. We were just crossing our fingers and hoping for better weather. I mean when in California.....disneyland, sea world, beach, zoo, all outdoor-sy things!

18 Months of Ryder

Wow, not is it only hard to believe that my BABY is 18 months, its incredible to think of how fast those 18 months have flown by. Ryder still seems so little to me. So much more little at this age than Brody was and yet, he's not. I mean, I was pregnant with Ryder when Brody was this age. I was preparing Brody for the arrival of a sibling, and I cannot even FATHOM Ryder being an older brother yet. He just needs me so much it seems. I don't know if he's prepared for sharing me with a baby.

Ryder had his 18 month check-up a couple weeks ago, and things are going great. He weighed 27.6 lbs and measured 33 inches tall. This puts him in the 70% for his age. Although Brody was only about a half inch shorter and a few ounces less than this at 18 months, he had really started to average out, and Ry still seems to be growing at an above average rate. Ryder's head is measuing smaller than Brody's did though, but it is proportionate to his body.


When we only had one kid, it seemed we rarely had sickness, but for one reason or another once we added Ry to the family we have had sickness quite a bit. This winter was no exception. We've had more than our fair share and haven't ever been really able to fully shake it. When we went to this wellness check-up and they were examining Ryder he had the start of an ear infection. This was a first for us. Trevor, Brody, and I have NEVER had an ear infection in our lives! The Dr. seemed to think Ry probably only got his because we have had so much sickness going around that he was never able to fully get better. Bring on the antibiotics (also a first for us)!

Some things to know about our 18 month old Ryder. He still really isn't saying much. In English that is. He talks quite a lot in his own language! Does that count? We swear he is TRYING to say things like shoes, teeth, ball, and ears.....but it is only when he wants to, and thats not very often. He continues to enjoy food and out-eating his big brother. His eating habits are becoming more finnicky though. He will love something one day and refuse to eat it for weeks after. Ryder looks more and more like his big brother. Just in the past week alone, we have had multiple people ask if they are twins. There is a height difference and Ry usually had a pacifier in his mouth so I don't know how anyone can think that they are the same age?!

Ryder has always been a momma's boy, but is becoming more and more attached to his dad these days. He'll crawl up on Trev while we are watching tv and night and just nestle in the crook of his arm. He even gets really ticked if Brody gets in "his spot" with daddy.

Ry is pretty funny. If I say he's crazy, or he's driving me crazy he'll just laugh. He loves to do just about anything that exercises his defiance towards us or rules. He laughs when we get mad. It gets to be pretty taxing when your 18 month old just laughs at you, it means that nothing you say or do is of any consequence. I have a whole theory on second born children.....

Brody is becoming more of a friend and someone to follow for Ry. If Brody does it, so does Ryder...or he TRIES. If Brody thinks something is funny, Ryder will keep doing it just to entertain Brody (can we say future class clown? I think, yes....poor teachers.....poor us....). If Brody gets hurt, Ryder will purposely head butt the wall or something so that I can kiss his owie better too.

He loves balls, cars and trucks, dirt, playing with Brody, animals (weird because we don't have any), aunts/uncles/grandparents, and his blanket. He isn't cautious or afraid of much. He is a handful, wonderful, adventurous, loving, and the cause of a few gray hairs on my head!