Beach Fun!

We've had some weather in the high 70's lately which has made for some fun beach days. One day after preschool we went to La Jolla Shores Beach with EJ's preschool buddy, Gabe, and his mom.

Gabe brought his boogie board to show EJ how to use it. They had fun in the water, chasing birds and playing in the sand.




We stopped for a shake at In-n-Out Burger on the way home. EJ is developing a fondness for In-n-Out...just like his mom and dad!



We had another beach day celebrating Lila's Birthday! Eric's cousin, Allison and her family recently moved to town from Oregon. It's been really fun getting to know them better. EJ loves both Owen and Lila.

Here's little Charlie, the son of Eric's other cousin, Lauren, who also lives here. He loved the balloons at the party! EJ adores Charlie and is really sweet to him.

Cupcake time! Lila with her mom, dad and EJ.

A Valentine Poem

EJ's sweet spirit was in full effect on Valentine's Day! Here's a video of him reciting a poem for me. He even took Grandma to buy me a rose plant for the poem! He chose yellow because it's my favorite color. He also cut out and finger painted a yellow heart for me. Such a thoughtful little boy. Made my day so special!

Valentine's Day

There was a lot of love flowing on Valentine's Day! It was a dog-themed Valentines Day for EJ this year-which happened unintentionally! He got the "hearts" Beanie Baby in a package from Andi, the white Hallmark puppy from Grandma Bobbie and the Lady and the Tramp dvd from me. He had a Valentine party with Grandma while Eric and I went to a dinner and swing dance at our church. Here's grandma and EJ opening presents.





Here's EJ giving Eric the Valentine he made for him.


Our church threw an amazing dinner and dance. The swing band was really good and there was lots of dancing. I even got out on the dance floor 9 months pregnant! We had steak and lobster for dinner and the wonderful desserts shown below. Here we are before we left.

SURPRISE!!!

I've been lied to...a lot!

I've been lied to by my friends and my family...a lot!

Alas, it was for a VERY fun reason. My amazing sister-in-law, Kellie, planned and exquisitely executed a surprise baby shower for me on the patio of an incredible restaurant near the La Jolla Shores Beach. I really had no idea which is so cool because Eric generally can't keep a secret. :-) Here's Kellie with one of the prizes for the fun game we played.



By vocation, Kellie is a marketing specialist which was obvious by all the sweet and amazing touches she put into the shower. She could be a professional party planner! She made delicious cake pops, beautiful decorations, a wishing tree and a diaper cake. The cake topper was a soccer ball "wee wee tent"--hilarious!










The guests included Eric's mom, aunt, and cousins, Kellie's mom and sisters, the other coaches' wives and my friend Charity. Kellie also tracked down friends across the country who sent gifts. Ali made the invitations that were in the form of a book telling a story about our love of reading and asking party goers to bring a favorite book. I was so touched by the outpouring of love.





Here is half the table of guests and some of the gifts that I received. I'll be sure to add pictures as I collect them from the other cameras that were there.









This is Oliva, her husband works with Eric. She has two boys who EJ loves hanging out with at the ballpark.

This is Christi, her husband also works with Eric and they host a Bible study that we have connected with. She also has two boys and a daughter EJ enjoys playing with.

Here's Grandma Carol, the Cox gals, Clark gals and Newmans. It's great living near all these fun family members! After the party I made the comment that having a sister is really fun! I'm grateful for all Kellie did to celebrate Baby Jack. I was so surprised and I felt really special!

Game Day!

It's our first weekend of play at UCSD. The weather was awesome! We had a great 14-4 win and some losses but overall a strong showing for a very young team. A side note for the photo above: The Scripps hospital in the background is where I will deliver Baby Jack on March 19 (if he doesn't come sooner on his own).


The pictures above and below are pregame warm-ups with some encouragement from the coach. Eric is #3 this season. He picked three to represent me, EJ and Jack, the three most important people in his life.

EJ loves going to the batting cage and hitting balls off the "t" but in his excitement he threw the bat and it got stuck in the netting. Thankfully, I was able to help the poor kid out so he could get back to batting practice.


All of the coaches have kids and they make up quite the "sandlot" after the games. They run the bases and play games waiting for their dads to finish up. I love how laid back the atmosphere is. It's a great place for the kids to grow up.

This was the only picture of the three of us I was able to get but EJ wouldn't move his hands off his face because the sun was in his eyes. That's life with a 4 year-old; if he doesn't want to do it--he won't do it.



We are so grateful for our new opportunity here in San Diego. We're hoping and praying not only for a successful playing season but for the opportunity to have a positive influence on the lives of those we interact with.

Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3!

Uncle Andy and Aunt Kellie gave us tickets for Disney on Ice so we all went and saw Toy Story 3 tonight. EJ had a great time!



To start the festivities off Kellie brought a Buzz Lightyear backpack she found and it's oh-so-cute! EJ loves it!

The skating was great and EJ loved seeing all the characters. He got excited when he saw Slink the dog. The "claw" scene also made a big impression since it was in all neon.

A big thank you to Andy and Kellie for a fun night on the town!

Touring San Deigo with Andi

Our friend, Andi, came to visit and warm up a bit from Nebraska's winter. She was our next door neighbor for 3 years so she was quite amazed at how much EJ has grown and matured in the 6 months we've been gone. He was very excited to play with the moon dough she brought him. It was a hit.



After a fun lunch in Old Town we headed back the next day to catch a Trolley Tour. EJ has wanted to ride the trolley since we moved here. He was super excited!

Here's Andi's first morning at the beach. We had a nice breakfast watching the surfers hit the waves. We found a fun collection of stores in Encinitas and eventually wore EJ out!


Eric took us to a great spot in Torrey Pines were they have a glider port. Excellent ocean views and lots of fun airborne toys like this guy.

When Andi heard about our pregnancy last fall she got right to work making Baby Jack a quilt. She finished it in time to bring it with her on the trip. It's really beautiful. Thank you, Andi!

USS Midway Museum

On my parents most recent trip we toured the USS Midway, the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th century. We thought this would be fun since my dad served in the Navy from 1958-1962.



Our favorite part was looking at all the aircraft on the flight deck. The other exhibits included the crew's sleeping quarters, the galley, engine room, the ship's jail, officer's country, pilots' ready rooms, and the flight control room on the bridge. We learned that newer ships have more space to manuever including two feet more headroom. I could've used the space as there were some very tight spots I could barely get my big belly through!



Here EJ and Grandma are "releasing" the anchor. Each link in the anchor chain weighs 150 lbs!




We were able to sit in a few of the planes which EJ loved. He also went way down to the engineering room where grandpa showed him what his job was on the ship he was on. He spent several months at sea during the Cuban Missle Crisis.