Morro Bay over Labor Day

Here is a quick little video that Brielle and I put together in iMovie. We went to Morro Bay last weekend and had a great time. We went to the beach and relaxed plenty. Ellie likes to watch the part of the video where she gets (in her words, taught by me) "pwned by the water". Enjoy!

Labor Day Fun!

We drove up to Morro Bay on Friday after work. It has been great to
be out of the smoke and heat of LA for a few days. We have been able
to enjoy some pretty fun activities up here while taking plenty of
time to relax and rest.

Gavin and Brielle on the boardwalk in the Elfin Forest.

Some of the crew in the Elfin Forest in Los Osos

Playing the the waves!

Gavin and Brielle at the Home Depot working on a kid's project.

The whole gang watching the BYU game. We were all surprised (and happy) with the results.

Our BIG baby boy

Ethan finally was able to have his 4 month well-check vist at the doctor today. (He is a little late going in with our move and waiting for new insurance to kick in). He had a few shots and even after the nurse poked him with the first one he cried for a second and then looked up and gave her a huge smile. He is going to be a heart-breaker I'm sure.
So, at almost 5 months old here are the current stats:
Height: 28 inches (off the charts)
Weight: 18 lbs 10.9 oz (about 90th% of average)
Head: 44.5 cm (about 90th% of average)

Yes, he takes after his Dad. Aren't they cute? :)

Camping

We've been busy with a lot of fun adventures. Brielle has been camping a couple times in Michigan, but she didn't seem to remember it. I told her we were going on a road trip to go camping (we went in the Eastern Sierras outside of Bishop, California which was about 5 hrs away.) As we drove she kept pointing out hotels for me, since that is what she remembered from our roadtrip from Michigan to California.


When we got to the site however, she discovered that she LOVED the tent. She honestly would close herself in there and play for minutes at a time. It was like 30 minutes which gave me a chance to sit and relax before getting up to chase her again.


Cousin Gavin was able to come up as well. Brielle and Gavin loved exploring their surroundings looking for lizards or just cool rocks.

Pool Play and New Camera

Ian bought a new camera a few weeks ago and I am considering getting the same one as a graduation present. It is waterproof, so I figured I would put that to the test with his camera before I got mine. It works great! I threw this clip together in iMovie and thought I would share. The kids love playing in the pool and their new slide.

The Big Move

A cross country move is a bit of a challenge. Add a nursing baby, a toddler and a 12 year old van with no a/c and broken windows and you have an adventure!


Our Navigator


The Happy Traveler

We made quite a few stops along the way. Here are just a few of them.


Starved Rock State Park
Utica, Illinois


Historic Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois


The Big Tree House
Marshalltown, Iowa


Union Pacific Railroad Classification Station
North Platte, Nebraska


Ames Brothers Pyramid
Buford, Wyoming


Temple Square (and A LOT more with our week long stay in Utah...more on that later)
Salt Lake City, Utah


And finally we arrived in Duarte, CA. The bear came out to help us unload our pod at the end. What a great help.

SOLD

It's official! We just signed the closing papers and no longer own our home. We put the house on the market the day that Ethan was born (which was 3 months ago tomorrow). We got the offer over a month ago, but it has been a long process of bank stuff going on to get to the closing. It was a little bit crazy trying to take care of a toddler, a baby, and have the house ready for show, but we managed. We are just very happy that it sold before moving on.

Speaking of moving...

With the help of the missionaries and friends we got all of our possessions loaded into the pod to be sent out to California.

Brielle has been excited about the big white box sitting in our driveway. It was a great dance studio before we started getting it filled with boxes.

Our road trip starts tomorrow. Goodbye Michigan. We'll miss you...especially the nice green sunny beautiful days. Maybe not so much the icky icy freezing cold days.