Driving Home

On the way home we drove on the coast so we could see as much of Oregon as possible before we leave (we'll probably be leaving in December).  We started by driving to Tillamook, where, I HAD to go to the cheese factory.

We have fun being dorks.  Especially if it includes free cheese samples.

Kennedy complained the whole time we were in the factory because all she wanted to do was drive this car.

Brett got mad because he had to be in the picture and I didn't.

Things we discovered about Tillamook:

1. It truly smells like cow manure.  It's slightly gross.

2. The cheese factory is hopping because there's nothing else to do in town.

3. The cheese at the Tillamook factory is more expensive than the cheese at our grocery store 7 hours away.

*Brett wrote a complaint about the price of the cheese and popped it in the suggestion box.  They then proceeded to send us a "thank you for your comment" in the form of coupons for cheese.

We then made a small stop in Newport for lunch and a trip to the aquarium.

Swimming with pirahnas.

How Brett got that stroller in that tiny tunnel on the floor that I could barely fit through is beyond me.

My Favorite Part

Hawaii was great, and there were tons of awesome things that I could nominate to be my favorite part.  Taking Kennedy to the beach was awesome and she had so much fun.  Having Roy's molten lava soufflé, which is pretty much my favorite dessert ever, was great.  Being with my family was fun, and hearing Kennedy learn new words like "woohoo" and "chicken" was fantastic.  But I have to say that my favorite part of Hawaii was the positive pregnancy test.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We're going to have another addition to our family!  We are so excited for Kennedy to have a baby brother or sister in March.  And although I am getting bigger much faster this time around, I know it will be fun to feel the movement again in a few weeks.  We will also be moving around a little bit while I'm pregnant, but I'm sure that it will be fine.  Brett is a wonderful father who takes care of us so well, and I know he'll do everything he can to make me comfortable.  I'm so excited to share my news with you all!

Beach Babe

We've been in Hawaii for almost 2 weeks and I haven't put up any view shots or beach pictures!  So here they are.  This is the view from our hotel room.  The beach is just beyond those trees.  We can see the water, but even though it isn't really a beach view, the grounds are very nice.

There are a few pools to choose from, and Kennedy has enjoyed them all.  She loves the jacuzzi and she also loves the beach.  She thinks it's so fun to have the waves come and hit her feet.  Her little beach outfit is killer cute too.

I love that hat.  And we bought her some Crocs the other day.  Brett tried them on her and when I took them off she got mad.  How could we not buy them?  Plus, they look so cute on her.

I couldn't get any good pictures of Brett and Kennedy just standing there on the beach because Kennedy wouldn't smile and Brett kept trying to get her to smile.  But they look cute nonetheless.

And she just has a blast every time she gets in the water.  She laughs and smiles and could care less that the water is cold sometimes.  She just wants to jump right in!

She always wants to lift her feet up in the water for some reason, so we always have to keep a good hold of her.

We're having a great time here in Hawaii, but we are leaving on Friday evening.  We'll be back in Provo on Saturday morning.  And although it will be sad to leave the beach, it will be nice to be home and to see Lucy again.  Brett will be swearing into the Coast Guard this coming Monday too, which is exciting because then we will know when we will be leaving Utah.  We have some exciting things ahead of us!

At Least Someone's Having Fun!

We're all having fun, but Kennedy seems to be really living it up.  She's having adventures and getting into all kinds of mischief since we left for Hawaii.  We don't have any beach pictures yet, but she absolutely loves it...at least up until the time that her teeth start chattering and her lips turn blue.  She did have her first run-in with headphones on the airplane.  She watched a Baby Einstein.

And ever since she's been here she has had the urge to clean up.  Shoes, toys, blankets, socks, trash, and pretty much anything else you can think of ends up in her crib.  Every time we need to put her to sleep we have to clean it out.

She also decided that every single one of her clips needed to be in her hair at one time, and daddy obliged.  Of course, daddy didn't do this neatly, in a straight line, or in any kind of design, so it turned out like this.

She has also been relaxing more than anyone else.  After the pool this morning, we wrapped her up in a towel and mom carried her back to the hotel room while she was sipping a smoothie the whole way.

We certainly have one spoiled little girl, but she's awfully cute.

How can you say no to that sweet face?  She's having a blast here, and so are we.  I'll be sure to post some pictures of the hotel and the beach soon!

Hawaii, Here We Come!

We are leaving for Hawaii on Saturday!  We will be staying on Kauai and going to the beach a lot.  Hopefully, Kennedy will be a little bit happier at the beach than she was back in March, because if not, we will be spending a lot more time at the pool.  We will get to see my aunt, uncle and cousins who live in Beijing, my cousin Daniel who I haven't seen since my wedding, and my mom is getting married, so we have lots of things to look forward too.  We will be gone for 2 weeks, but I am bringing my computer and plan to blog while we're there!  I also wanted to mention that Noelle won the Williams-Sonoma Main Dishes cookbook too!  When we get back from Hawaii I have one more to give away, so somebody had better give Noelle some competition!

Good Times in Texas

Apparently I took almost no pictures in Texas.  I always take way more or way less than I thought.  I do have some to share with you though.  Like Kennedy, after having been woken up at 6:00 to go to the airport.  The poor girl was exhausted.

She was horrible during the first half of the flight there, but she was pretty good after that.  Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with patience and calmness.  Otherwise I would have cried.  When we got there we went out to lunch at Chips and then went to get some cupcakes at Sprinkles.  We spent the day just having a good time.  Next day we went to the Farmer's Market and tried to go swimming with the kids, but we were thwarted at every turn.  On Thursday we went out to breakfast with grandpa.

And then it was off to the zoo!  Kennedy particularly enjoyed the penguins, the flamingos, and this gorilla.

When he saw her, he came over to the window and stared at her.  She was pointing and talking like mad and started banging on the glass.  He stayed there for quite some time, and even took time to inspect the sketch that Christine made of him.

After deciding that it wouldn't be a good idea to try and pet the ocelot, Blake fed the huge turtles some fresh leaves from a nearby tree.

We had a good (but tiring) time at the zoo and then went out to dinner with mom's fiancé Mark.  On Friday we went to visit Kennedy's great-grandma and grandpa Emigh and then came home to pack.  Kennedy helped.

She was ten times better on the flight home.  On both flights (although it took up more time on the second flight) she completely tore apart the SkyMall.  She made a huge mess, but as long as she wasn't crying, I didn't care. :)  We had a great time seeing everyone, and Kennedy really loved playing with the puppies (mom's - Wrigley, Blake's - Rorscach).  We're happy to be home with our daddy though and we missed him while we were gone.  Thankfully, he will be there for the next plane flights.

Let's Get the Ball Rolling

I rolled a ball in a triangle for a while this morning.  It went like this: I rolled a ball to Kennedy, since she can't roll it in quite a straight line yet Kennedy rolled the ball to Lucy, and Lucy rolled the ball back to me.  I'm not kidding.  We did it a few times in a row.  It was some good girl bonding time.  Speaking of which, tomorrow is the big day that Kennedy and I will be heading off on that airplane.  Kennedy has had a cold for the last little while and has been coughing/sneezing/randomly irritable.  So I think I may just break the "no bottles during the day" rule just for the plane ride.  I think I might go insane otherwise.  I will make sure to document the flight to the best of my ability, as well as the rest of our trip to Texas.  Look for pictures on Saturday!  I might do some posting between now and then, but we'll be pretty busy with crafting, the zoo, girl movies, and I'm sure a lot more. :)

Our Last Day in Seattle

On Saturday morning, we headed to the flagship REI and I was able to get some awesome shoes and a harness for rock climbing.  That harness is awesome and is so much more comfortable than the ones you can rent.  After that we headed down to Pike Place Market.  I was so excited and looking everywhere that we only got one picture!  The flying fish store was right at the entrance to the market, and I was lucky enough to get to see a fish get thrown over the heads of those watching.  Brett missed it, and we didn't see them do it again.  We did get a picture of Brett with the ugly monkfish they had on display.

This thing had a string attached to it's tail that the employees would pull when people walked by or tried to get a picture of it.  It was hilarious.  There were tons of awesome vendors with fun and beautiful produce.  There were tons of flowers for sale, and I went nuts trying to take everything in.  We bought some roasted garlic and herb flavored pasta, cheesecake truffles, marinated cheese curds, and some roasted lemon pepitas and caramel cashews.  We tasted pepper jellies, beef jerky, chocolate pasta, and a wonderful orange.  We had a fantastic lunch there too!  I was also pleased to find out that Chez Shea, which is mentioned on Frasier all the time, is a real place!  I thought they just made it up. :)  The market was spectacular, but we couldn't stay all day.  We headed to the Seattle Aquarium.

I love aquariums, and this one had tons of seals and otters, and some glowing fish!  It was fun to walk through and see all the kids.  Brett got this picture of the Space Needle as we were driving by it.

We decided to head about an hour north of Seattle to see a tulip festival that Noelle's dad recommended.  We stopped at Trophy Cupcakes on the way there.  Although they were good, they don't come close to Sprinkles.  The tulips and daffodils were gorgeous, and there were so many of them!  The first field we came to was just a sea of red.

Other fields had sections with many different colors.  Here were some of my favorites.

There were tons of yellow and white daffodils too, and tons of people!  We had a hard time getting pictures because so many people were there.

The next morning we headed out early so we could come home to get Kennedy.  It was a fabulous and beautiful trip, and I'm so glad we got to go.  I was sad to leave, but hopefully we will be there someday!

Hopefully We'll Be Huskies

After visiting Snoqulamie, we headed over to the University of Washington campus to take a self-guided tour.  UW is our #1 choice for Brett's grad school work to get a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.  It was our top pick even before we visited, but now, we really hope that we'll be huskies soon!  The campus was huge and gorgeous.  I can't believe that we didn't get pictures of the beautiful gothic library.  Holy cow.  I think I would have gotten all A's if I had had that library to study in because I never would have wanted to leave it.  It was a beautiful day (which helped of course, it didn't rain at all the whole time we were in Seattle), so we had a good time seeing what the campus has to offer.

This fountain is huge.  It would be such a nice place to sit when it's nice outside and hear the water rushing.  You can see a sample of the buildings behind it.  There pretty much wasn't an ugly building on campus.  We then found the bookstore and decided to find the health building.  In order to get there we had to go through a huge line of pink trees.

Talk about pretty.  People were taking pictures like mad, tons of people were out on the lawn playing frisbee, napping, and having fun.  We talked to some people in the nursing department, and we are so excited to apply in a few years!  Here is the view of the main part of campus from those pink trees you just saw.

Isn't it beautiful?  We just loved the campus, loved the people in the nursing department, loved the fact that there is a hospital on campus, loved the library, loved everything about it.  We are so happy that we took the time to visit the campus and solidify our desire to be here for grad school!

Mariners and Waterfalls

Our trip to Seattle last weekend was a huge success.  We had a fantastic time!  It was a long drive (but beautiful through Oregon and Washington), but when we got there we went straight to Safeco Field to meet our friends for a Mariners game.  Neal and Michelle Bastian were nice enough to get us some tickets and show us around since they were in town.  The game was great.  The Mariners beat Tampa Bay 1-0.  The field was right on the water and was beautiful.  We forgot our camera, so the Bastians have all of the pictures of us at the game.  Afterwards, we went on a drive to a beautiful area of the city to see some views.

That was our view of the city from the hill.  It was beautiful.  And the houses on that hill were beautiful and probably worth millions of dollars.  Here is a statue on top of that hill too.

Since Brett always wants to be behind the camera, there are more pictures of me than of him.  Here I am with Michelle, Neal, and Neal's brother Daniel.

After that we went to Dick's and had some burgers.  Really cheap, and really yummy.  We spent the night with Neal's parents and watched the Jazz beat the Lakers.  (Too bad they couldn't do it again.)  The next morning we headed down to Snoqualmie Falls.  And it was gorgeous.

The city of Snoqualmie was gorgeous too, and we stopped there to have lunch.  Beautiful nature, beautiful houses, nice shopping.  It was just awesome!  I just realized how many times I used the word beautiful in this post.  I guess that's probably the best word to sum up Seattle!  I will probably use it again for the next couple of posts.

Bittersweet

Brett and I are heading to Seattle tonight.  And we'll be leaving Kennedy with Brett's parents from this afternoon to Sunday night.  We have never left her before, and I am really sad!  I am excited to have a weekend away, check out a new city, meet up with friends, etc, but I am so sad to leave Kennedy for so long!  If we took her with us, we would all be miserable (since we're driving and not stopping at all while we're there), so it really is for the best.  But we will miss her terribly and already look forward to seeing her on Sunday night!

Beach Bummer

Apparently Kennedy is not a fan of the beach.  Actually, I'm not positive whether it was the poopy diaper or the sand that actually upset her, but she was not a happy camper.

She was really happy and just being herself before Brett put her feet in the sand.  We didn't even go anywhere near the water.  But she cried.

And then Wyatt started crying because Kennedy was mad.

So they were not going to have any more sand.  Hopefully she'll get over this fear of sand before we go to Hawaii.

Thanks grandpa for such a fun trip!  We all had a blast.

Disney Hats

We all tried on a lot of hats at Disneyland since they are plentiful in the shops.  I have some Mickey mouse ears with a graduation hat on them from my senior trip to DisneyWorld with my family, and Brett and I have a set of bride and groom ones.  I had to buy Kennedy a hat, so we tried several on.  First up is pirate Goofy.  Christine ended up buying these and wearing them around.

Next up: Wyatt in the Sorcerer's Apprentice hat.

Here comes Kennedy as Minnie Mouse.  And you can see Christine sporting the pirate Goofy look.

Here are Kennedy and Wyatt in the hats that we bought for them.  I wanted this one because her name is embroidered on the back.  And of course Wyatt has his name on his hat too.

While we were waiting for the hats to be embroidered my dad found a Grumpy hat that we all thought was pretty funny.

The Disney Experience

Saturday was Kennedy's first experience with Disneyland.  I can't definitively say that she had fun, but I don't think she didn't. :) She had some nap issues and was really tired, but she was a trooper and let us have a lot of fun.  She was tired even when we got there since it was nap time.

Wyatt on the other hand was excited and ready to go!  He was a smiley boy in his cute Tigger outfit while we waited for grandpa to come back with tickets.

Here's grandpa with Kennedy and Wyatt at the entrance to Disneyland.  We had to get a picture with the Mickey flowers.  But by this point we were ready to go get on some rides.

First stop: Dumbo.  We didn't want the line to get too long, and we only had to wait about 30 minutes, which was great.

Kennedy had a good time with the air blowing in her face just like I knew she would.  She loves wind and liked the wind that was in her face during the ride.

After that we headed down to Splash Mountain, but it broke down on us twice during the day, so some people didn't get to ride it.  We of course went on all of the big rides: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion.  After the lights came back up in the elevator going down, Kennedy started clapping.  I think she liked Haunted Mansion best out of all the rides she went on.  Here is an appropriately scared but clapping picture in the elevator.

She finally fell asleep right before we got in line for Pirates.  Poor Brett was tired from carrying her around, and she was exhausted too.

We weren't able to do as much as we would have liked - I didn't realize how much having kids slows you down at a place like that.  But we had a great time nonetheless!  Considering that we went on a plane and to Knott's Berry Farm the day before and didn't get home until almost midnight that night, Kennedy was great.  And I think she had as much fun as a 10 month old can have at Disneyland.  I certainly loved watching her there and can't wait to take her back!