Beach Fire

The waves, the crackle of the fire, the sand covered hot dogs,the guitar, the cute boy to cuddle with. I love everything about a beach fire. One night we had a fire on a beach with gorgeous view of the city lights, and then in Carlsbad we booked a KOA on the beach, so we got to sleep with the back of the element open falling asleep to the fire and waves. Seriously perfect. Oh how things are going to change in 4 weeks, probably to a whole new version of perfect.   

Just Trippin'

Gosh, it's so hard to be this cool 

 Yes, I spent 50% of the vacation in Todds sweaters

Hotel Coronado

 Point Loma Lighthouse

Todd LOVES lifting the 17 pound heavier me

      After the tide pools we headed to a cool San Diego look-out point by the Point Loma lighthouse. We then saw and laughed about the Cabrillo National Monument and then we creeped around peeking in the windows of our little dream motor home we found parked in the parking lot. After that we explored the gorgeous Coronado beach. We were then led on a search for firewood that landed us deep in the spanish branch section of San Diego. I loved listening to Todd complain incessantly about the cash only joints, and the bad roads of California. We finally found firewood and hot dog sticks at a Wal Mart in National City. After that we stopped at Jack in the Box to steal some ketchup and mustard packets for our weenie roast that night. 

         I love exploring new places with Todd even if they are sketchy places that we never hope we have to see again. Some of my favorite moments on trips are the little ones, like where Todd is driving through the city while drinking a mountain dew in one hand with the GPS in the other, while I shoot photos out the window and yell out houses or views that he has to look at. It reminds me of being on motorhome trips with my family. My dad would have the map spread over the big old motorhome wheel while he maneuvered through the city. On these trips we always talk about trips we took as kids. Todds family would pile into their suburban and take a huge two week trip every summer, and I spent my summers in "bessie" traveling from baseball tournament to baseball tournament. We are now amazed at what our parents were brave enough and cool enough to do with eight kids. We hope we can provide our kids with as memorable of trip experiences as they did for us. Hopefully our trips will just be better documented and entail better restaurants than our trips growing up.   

Tide Pools

        The Tide Pools by Cabrillo National Monument were super fun. Todd had never seen tide pools before. We both wore the stupidest tide pooling shoes ever and we were slipping all over the rocks. It was pretty comical to watch Todd try to go from rock to rock without getting his feet wet. He is seriously such a wuss. He wouldn't even touch some of the stuff and would just pick it up with sticks-- who is this kid? We had no idea the names of the creatures we were discovering and would make up names that we thought would be good, like "sea sphincter" and "sticky shells." We almost had ourselves convinced this purple thing we found was a shark egg. Seriously there were little bones in there and Todd swears he felt it kick. Some dude spoiled it for us and told us what it really was. It was pretty disappointing. It was also pretty disappointing not to see a star fish, they are my favorite and I had Todd all amped about seeing a star fish in the wild. One time we went to Oregon as a family and my mom let me bring a starfish home in a ziploc bag (I'm pretty sure this is like a felony now or something). Well, by the time the trip was over I had forgotten about my suffocated star fish. A few weeks later when we went to load the motor home for a baseball trip there was the WORST smell in the whole world coming from one of the cabinets. Apparently star fish don't keep well in zip locks. Whoops. Something I learned about Todd at the tide pools, is that he basically has the movie the Little Mermaid memorized. He says it was his sisters favorite movie growing up so he heard it a lot. He kept busting out quotes from the Little Mermaid and kept singing his own rendition of Ariels songs. It was absolutely killing me. I tried to recreate the epic moment where Ariel finishes her song and gets up on the rock and the waves crash up perfectly behind her. Unfortunately for some reason me trying to mount a rock while singing and being 8 months pregnant just ended up being a little awkward for everyone involved. Shoot.

Hey babe- you want to see whats in the box? I've got 20... haha. Kills me every time

Old Town

 Old Town San Diego was a lot cooler than expected. Hello Mormon Battalion Museum! We did not see that being so awesome. I am definitely hormonal and pregnant and cried during the tour, even though it wasn't sad. I was just so proud and happy to be a member of such an amazing church. After we watched "Family- Gods Plan" in a little theater and I was just a crying. The lights were still off and Todd started making fun of me, then when the lights came on he started making fun of himself, because his eyes were a little moist too. We are such saps. We loved the tortilla making Mexican ladies in their little spanish senorita get ups, we loved the Church of the Immaculate Conception, We loved the salsa and the friend ice cream, we loved the little shops where we added to our Christmas ornament collection, we loved the cobblestone streets. It was just a cool little place and we are happy we didn't skip over it.

Food Fetish

Remember that one time that I couldn't gain any weight at the start of my pregnancy... well gone are those days for sure! I am positive I gained at least 20 pounds this week.Vacation to us = good food. Seriously, there isn't a whole lot that tops a surprising and delicious meal for me. I plan ahead the spots in different cities I want us to eat at. If there is a Diners Drive-ins and Dives joint anywhere in the vicinity, you better believe we will be eating there. We love to watch the episodes before we go and get excited about what to order. Not once have we been let down by a Guy Fieri recommendation. We just love the vibe of little hole in the walls. We love their quirky decorations, their plastic menus, their always interesting waitresses, their great prices, the grease. We love everything about them. This trip we got some recommendations from friends and locals that turned out to GEMS of  diners...For our record, our faves were:

*Bear Paw 

*Luigis Pizzeria 

*Pipes Cafe  

*Cafe Coyote

*Four Kegs Sports Pub 

*Fredricks Cantina 

*Pellys Fish Market 

*Studio Diner (my fave of the trip... we went in our PJ's at 1:00 in the morning and had the most to DIE for sweet potato fries with secret sauce)

 A cool map of people that have come to the joint because they saw it on Triple D's.

 Our man...  Guy Fieri. 

Beach Fire

Heaven. 

LOVE

Another perfect day. 

State

          It's kind of funny that my family goes to state with the Madison Bobcats every year, even if we don't have any siblings playing. It's just something we've done ever since I was little. I LOVE state basketball. I love being in Boise, I love the shopping, the food, the hotel stay, the Idaho Center, the red garb, the free chocolate milk, the familiar faces of Rexburg, Billy Hawkins, the United Dairy Men of Idaho... I love everything state related. We were super bummed this year because we didn't think we would be going. It didn't make any sense to go. Todd had school all day Friday so we would only be there one day and we have been driving to Idaho so much lately, so we decided to pass this year... Until 10:00p.m Friday night. Todd and I were out enjoying a lovely dinner at P.F Changs trying not to think about my whole family together in Boise when we got bombarded with texts from my siblings telling us that Madison had won and that we needed to get our butts to Boise. We sat in the restaurant for twenty minutes telling ourselves the many reasons why we shouldn't go, telling each other how stupid and irrational it was. Then lo and behold we got the check early and embarked to Boise. We got there at 2:00 a.m and slept in the queen bed with my little brother Rhett. We spent the next day shopping and eating and the boys went golfing. The game was totally disappointing and we ended up getting second, but just being there was totally worth it. We all went and slept at my sister Hilarys house that night. We capped the night off with a little "Mudcats" (a new must watch for all Swamp People lovers like me), a little BYU basketball and a lot of laughing. It was another awesome state trip, and I'm glad we didn't let ourselves miss out. Until next year Boise, Go CATS. 

Wrestling Weekend

 Proud Dad

Nervous Uncles

         Last weekend Todd and I made a spur of the moment trip to Pocatello to watch Todds nephews wrestle in the Idaho State Wrestling Championships.On Friday night we got the call that they had both made it to the semi-finals and a few minutes later we were out the door. We had to make an emergency stop at Target, because the pants I was able to wear last week suddenly weren't fitting! The only thing my prego booty could fit into was leggings, and lets be honest how many outfits can you make out of black jeggings? So, we stopped at target and hooked me up with some pants that actually fit... for now. They aren't maternity, I just opted to go up a size or two in pants. Then we drove to Pocatello, stopped and ate the blooming onion we had been craving and went to the fabulous hotel where Todds parents were staying. This place was totally Suzy and Todd quality. I'm thinking it was a two star that should really only be a one star. BUT, it was amazing because there was a club called the Rubicon Lounge attached to it. You better believe that Todd and I in all my 7 1/2 month pregnant glory went and busted some moves. Clubbing at the worlds most ghetto hotel club to last decades rap hits in Pocatello Idaho while pregnant= AWESOME. 
         The wrestling tournament was quite the experience for me. In high school I had to work off a suspension once by being a score keeper for the Madison invitational. So, I knew what the refs hand signals were meaning, but that's as far as my wrestling knowledge goes. I spent my time watching the scoreboard hoping it would change, listening to Todd yell things like "spladle" and "chicken wing." I also spent my time googling the safety of wrestling and the history of the singlet. Justin and Stetson both won their first matches putting them in the state championship.They both did awesome and ended up placing second. I was so happy we went and am SO happy we are having a girl. I'm warming up to the sport of wrestling, but I don't know if I'll be able to whole heartedly support my kids in it yet. It just looks too hard and painful. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that with this first bean... (hopefully).