Reading a Book

At 2 1/2 years old, December has learned how to read. Ha! Not really, this is just her current favorite book (called "The Wedding Day") and has memorized the words. You'll notice she doesn't read it all perfectly here, but Brad and I were amazed when she just picked up the book and read the entire thing, all by herself! So we thought we'd share our amazement with you.

Mom's Visit to California!

Hello all! We are in California! Here's some pictures about our travels down here from Calgary and Mom's visit to help us move into our apartment...

This picture is of the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, UT. We decided to take a slower pace as we traveled back to CA, and our second night was in Salt Lake City (the first night is best left in distant memory. We had slept in the van at a rest area, and despite the fact that Brad unselfishly gave me double cushioning, it was exceedingly uncomfortable for this pregnant mother, and we all woke up sore. Except December. She played most of the night, so I don't think she laid down long enough to get sore. This also contributed to it being a night best-forgotten.)

This is the sanctuary of one of their chapels. They don't allow ANYONE in to see the actual temple itself, so we walked around the well-maintained grounds and looked at the things they allowed us to see.

These were the two girl "missionaries" that also acted as tour guides. The boy missionaries are the ones that you see two-by-two on the streets, but they send all of their girls to the Temple, to do this kind of thing.




The third night we spent in Las Vegas, and we loved the hotel we stayed in! We went driving on the Las Vegas strip that evening, but it was pretty crazy. I've never seen that much traffic in my life -- the people walking along the sidewalks were making it to their destinations faster than we were! And it was actually a bit lewd, too. So we decided to go back to the hotel and hang out, just the three of us. We arrived back to our apartment on Day 4 of the trip, safe and sound!




Mom arrived the day after we did. She was SUCH an enormous help in moving! I honestly could not have done it without her. She helped us all week, and then on Saturday we took a break from unpacking and went to the beach! Here Mom, Brad, and December are choosing a prime spot to lay our towels down.




Kristin, fat and happy. Ha ha. I really do love it at the beach -- we all had a great time there!


Mom keeping December warm after a good swim in the ocean.

Mom and December again. December just LOVES Grandma, and that entire week I could not do a thing for December. No putting her in her carseat, no dressing her in her pajamas, no reading her books -- nothing. I just heard the refrain, "Gramma do it! Gramma do it!" December wanted to spend every waking minute with Grandma...and I think Mom liked it that way!

I love to see Brad and December together at the beach. Brad always takes her in the waves, which December thinks is great fun. I'm such an awful wimp in the cold water and think I'm really stretching myself if I get in past my knees, so it's great that Brad takes her right in to splash and swim!

One of my favorite pictures, with the reflective water, the sunlight, and the rocks in the background. I like it.

Oh, I spoke too soon. This is my favorite picture.

After the sun went down, we walked along the pier and stopped to eat dinner at a fish 'n chips place. It was SUPER tasty!

We ate outside, right on the pier.

The Monday before Mom left, we went to the San Diego Zoo. Brad and I had only been there one time before and Mom had only been there once too, a number of years ago, so we were all excited to get back again. Here's Brad and December checking out some birds...flamingoes, I think.

Here's an alligator, December's worst fear presently. If she's pretending to be afraid of something, she'll say, "Oh no! An ah-go-gae-ter! Run -- run!" But she thought this one was pretty interesting.

We stopped and watched a show. Here's a cheetah, with a golden retriever as its comfort. The cheetah has been around this dog since the cheetah was just a baby, so the dog is its friend and makes it feel comfortable when it's out doing shows. Pretty cute.

Panda...

December and I are waiting for the show to start.

The polar bears! What an enormous animal! They were fun to watch.

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Brad helping December get a closer view of the polar bears.

December sitting on her very own polar bear!

We also went to see the sea lion show. We got to sit in the front row, and it was great! It's very worth going to see.

We also took the sky train across the park. It lifts you up and over the whole park, above the trees. It's the fastest way to get from one end of the zoo all the way to the other side, and it was especially nice for me to get a break from all of the walking!

Brad and I on the sky train.

The children's petting zoo. December loved feeding the goats, but she also loved the rabbits.

Here she is, all tuckered out from her day at the zoo.

I'm so thankful that Mom was able to come for the week and help out. We still miss her! But we'll be seeing her again in less than three months -- and the rest of the family! -- when we come to Michigan for Christmas. Brad started seminary three days after we arrived back in California and has been full swing into it since. This will be another challenging semester for him, with six classes, plus working in the seminary's library a few times a week. He only has one hugely long day, though, when he leaves for seminary at 7:30am and doesn't get back from working in the library until 10:30pm. But December and I usually like to bring him dinner on those days, and then we get to spend a bit of time with him before December goes down to bed!

I am feeling good with this pregnancy...no major problems except a herniated belly button (it's not painful yet, and it's really not a big deal), and earlier this week I was really dizzy and off-kilter. But that seems to have gone away. And it continues to become more difficult to breathe as the baby takes over the space my lungs and organs usually occupy! All of these things are minor, and I'm thankful for being so healthy and that the baby seems very healthy, too. I'm excited, though. There's only nine more weeks until we meet this little baby!

Last Sunday

Here we were on Sunday, our last Sunday at the church. Brad is trying to convince December that smiling is GOOD for pictures!

They took this picture for the church directory...as Brad pointed out, that means that we are now in three church directories all over North America: our home church in Michigan, our interim church in California, and our internship church in Alberta!

December being cute on Sunday...

We leave tomorrow morning! Brad is hoping to be on the road around 6:00am. We'll see if we can drag our weary bodies out of bed by then, hehee. I'm doing the final stages of packing right now, and I hear that the dryer has just beeped at me, telling me my last load of laundry is finished. So I'll fold that, and it should be the last bit of clothes that need to be packed! I keep finding random December toys in out-of-the-way places in the house, so I'm hoping I find all of these treasures before we go! Please pray for us if you think of us in the next four days, especially for December, that she is a good, patient traveler! We hope to arrive back to our apartment on Monday sometime. Thanks for your prayers!

Heritage Park

Last week Monday December and I went to Heritage Park with Erin and Caden, Mike and Kim, and Rusty, Janice, Trey, and Jackson. Janice is Brad's cousin who lives in Florida with her husband Rusty and two little boys (they had come up to visit for the wedding). We loved hanging out with them!

Heritage Park is an outdoor park where they have lots of buildings from the late 1800's/early 1900's, and the entire park simulates what the world looked like in that time period. There are horse-drawn wagon rides, trains, people dressed in costume walking around, etc. Here we are, watching the train pass by.




They also had carnival rides from that time period. Here the kids are, playing on the boat swings.




December on the carousel, which she loves

The view from the ferris wheel. Kim, December, and I shared a ferris wheel cart, and it was December's first time on such a big ride! She did great and enjoyed herself.

Auntie Kim and December, getting a close look at one of the trains.

Here's the snow-plow train. Its front is shaped weirdly so that it can get all the snow off the train track.

This is inside the caboose. It's a sort of living quarters, with a table on the left with a bed behind it, and a bench on the right. Just out of sight of the picture is a little sink with cupboards, even!

December sitting on one of the train cars.

Pushing Jackson around in his stroller. December fell in love with Jackson, which hopefully bodes well for her liking our new baby, too!

This was taken a few weeks ago...sometimes December makes me laugh. She insisted on watching "Sit and Be Fit" on PBS, which, if you've ever seen, is such a dull show. It's made for elderly people who aren't able to move well and exercise, so this show makes them able to just sit on a chair and "exercise." Ha ha! It's possibly the most boring show I've ever seen, but December wanted to watch it and would NOT let me change the channel! It enthralled her.

December loves her Uncle Matt

A sleepy girl. She loves to sleep in the same bed as Brad and I, so this was a special treat one Sunday afternoon when we let her take a Sunday nap with us!

Last week Sunday, on the way to church. December got this beautiful dress from her Grandma, Brad's mom.

Yesterday was Brad's last Sunday at the church. We ended up being there quite late because of all of the kind people who wanted to say goodbye! It was a wonderful church to have Brad's internship at. Everyone was very encouraging. Today is Brad's last day at his warehouse job -- yay! It's not the most favorite job he's ever had, and his days are so long there. On Mondays he wakes up at 5:00am and doesn't get back home again until 7:00pm...long days! Tuesday through Thursday, he'll be finishing up at the church, and then on Friday we leave! I'm not sure if I'll be able to put up another post before we go, but I will be sure to put one up as soon as we have internet back at our apartment in California!