A Happy Week, and Start of San Diego

We had so much fun having Kindal and Rosie here to start our week.

Bennett was so bummed he had to go to school when Rosie was here, but Rosie and Camden had a lot of fun together Monday! We did a photoshoot while we were in the same state, and Camden, Rosie, and Asher played Cover Your Assets and giggled together all through that hour in the studio. I just loved watching them.

We finished Kindal's thank you cards, reworked the final images of our next book, did some planning, did some healing and chatting and talking and laughing, and just loved being together for the weekend. They left bright and early Tuesday to beat the snowstorms and I followed their dot all the way home to St. George while checking the weather constantly to make sure they stayed ahead of the snow. They had a smooth and sunny drive and we were so grateful for that.

On Tuesday Bennett had the cutest little second grade concert. I loved listening to them sing Hold Your Hand by the Beatles, and we all loved the Valentines Bennett wrote for all of us. Then later Tuesday night we had our annual tea party where the youth invite some older people (or younger people!) from the ward to a little tea party/trivia night, and it was so sweet. It's one of my favorite activities we do. 

Westin was so happy to go to the CSU Women's basketball game on Wednesday for a field trip. He has been looking forward to that. All the parents who went talked about how incredibly, incredibly loud it was -- fourth graders from multiple schools filling the stadium. I can only imagine haha.

Thursday was one of my favorite things I've done in a long time. My friend Carrie and I went to this exhibit called Remember Me, where Jane Deschner hand embroiders quotes from obituaries onto black and white photos. It was so poignant, and funny, and sweet, and connecting. Camden and Asher were our little tag-alongs and they did great at the museum. They "played" checkers for a while, which was so cute because it was part of the old-timey display vibe and so there was an ash tray next to them and it just looked so funny. They're such cute little buddies to bring around. Then we went to lunch at the Arboretum, which is a coffee shop run by refugees. There's a woman who has been coming to our ward from Haiti who works there, and they do an incredible job at giving opportunities to refugees from all over and helping them with their English plus connecting them with future opportunities. There is so much terrible sadness right now. It was nice to see a really great thing that's working well for well-deserving people. I just don't understand how messed up the last few weeks have been in this country. 

On Friday I did that pre-trip scramble -- laundry, packing, baking our signature airport bran muffins (not sure when that became a tradition), dropping off Luna (oh that crate), and packing some more. When Michael got home we hit the road and stopped at Jimmy John's before sleeping close to the airport that night. A SUPER early flight out was so much cheaper than later on in the day, so we figured sleeping close to the airport was still saving money and would make it doable. BUT... it was the worst, haha. None of us slept well (ok, Asher and Westin slept well, after Asher accepted that he would be in a Pack n Play that night -- "I'm just too BIG for 'dis bed!" and he was). But Camden and Bennett and Michael and I were awake SO much that night. At one point Michael woke up and looked over and Camden was just wide-eyed smiling at him across the space between the hotel beds. And then just reached his arm out to hold hands with Michael for a while hahaha. It's cute now but when you all want to be asleep it all just drives you a little insane! But we made it to the airport no problem for a early flight out to San Diego.

One nice part of flying out so early is feeling like your travel day is still a total vacation day! That first day we walked around Cabrillo National Monument, drove to the border (why not!), did not cross the border :), ate some fish tacos, saw the sea lions in La Jolla (I could watch them forever), and did a Costco run for the trip. Then we found out our whale watching tour had been canceled the next day because this crash blocked off the bay where our boat was going to leave from -- everyone was ok, but pretty random bad luck for a lot of people! So we switched up our plans to try to find a different whale watching tour for the day after our original plan.

So, the next day ended up being our zoo day, and we LOVED it. What a zoo! We've been to the San Diego Safari Park when Westin and Bennett were little, but we haven't gone to the San Diego Zoo together yet. So many fun animals! Our favorite part was the double decker bus ride early in the morning -- the animals were really active and so many of them were out. We even waited in line for those sweet Pandas. They are incredibly cute.

We brought our stroller along for the first time in forever, and Camden or Asher parked it in that stroller almost the whole day. We walked so much! But it was really so much fun. Then we went back to the Airbnb to make tacos and the boys loved playing in the game room (pool, nintendo, and basketball in the garage). Such a good day, and I just love being on a trip with all my people.

The sweet tea party at the church. I love this activity!

I spy little Bennett at the cutest second grade Valentines program.

Westin is testing out how packaging changes fruit ripening for his science project.

Look at all those thank you cards Kindal and I made it through.
We were very proud of ourselves :)

Bennett is doing smell tests for his science fair project to see if your smell gets better as you get older.
Rosie and Kindal were his first participants!

We have storyboarded this book through so many different circumstances with so many different perspectives. It's been quite a journey and I really am looking forward to holding this next book in our hands.

Genius, talented Kindal.

Our photo shoot was a fun time.
We used the sister photographers that do my family photos and they were really great to work with.

Our little dog feeding boy. He's very responsible. And loves to wear daddy's shoes.

More smell test participants! 
I've been driving Bennett all over to collect his data, because we'll be traveling right before the science fair.
Oh science fairs :)

Some of our smell tests have been hilarious. It's been a fun project.

The Remember Me exhibit was my favorite thing I've seen in so long.
Look at these cute old timey checkers boys.

This one, though.

Made it to San Diego!
Waiting by the water for daddy and the car :)

Border Wall

Spot the sea lions!

Such funny creatures. And stinky! And so cute.

Hide and Seek with three-year-olds is the best.

I really loved our zoo day with these boys.
I just love their ages right now so, so much.

Double decker bus ride!

The game room/garage was a big hit with the boys.

This panda though. SO cute.