San Diego

Eric and I were in San Diego this weekend. His company has this thing called President's Club which is a yearly trip for all the top producers. We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado and it was awesome!!! Here are some (a.k.a. many) highlights from the trip:

We'd find a cute note like this and a sea shell on our bed every night and this was the view from our room. I don't think it could have been better!

Eric and I found this delicious cafe on Coronado Island and ate there everyday for breakfast. The quiche was SO yummy and so was the lemon poppy seed cake!

We spent a lot of time at the pool and the beach with some of the guys getting their surf on!

You can rent bikes by the hour, so we thought it would be a fun way to see the island and it was. We also stopped by the liquor store to get my "fix" (diet coke with Dr. Pepper). Sadly, they only carried Pepsi products and these cool guns with liquor inside them.

This is baby Sierra. She was the only baby on the trip. All the other moms that left their babies were able to get their baby fix with Sierra. She was a really good baby and I don't think I ever heard her cry.

Eric was given special recognition at the company dinner on Saturday night for being the top producer so far this year. Eric's boss announced the requirements for attending Pres. Club next year and he should meet that requirement by the end of July. It's in Mexico and I'm already excited!

Eric's boss rented limos for us everywhere we went. We felt like celebrities and it was nice that all 19 of us were able to be in the same vehicle where ever we went. We even took the Hummer limo to In-N-Out Burger!

So, if you couldn't tell by ALL the pictures and narrations, we had a great time. We tried new things - a cheese and chocolate bar, the spa (my new home away from home), and dancing at a "real" club and spent some time just relaxing. We missed our Megan a lot though and we were sad that she was sick while we were gone. I'm still trying to get her feeling better. We owe a lot to my sister-in-law, Jen, who watched Megan and took good care of her. This trip wouldn't have been possible without her!

Oh Summer, where have you gone?

It was hot earlier this week, so I took Megan swimming at our friend's condo. The water was a little cold at first and Megan wasn't too sure about it. She clung onto me (which NEVER happens) so it was kind of nice that she wanting to be in my arms for a change. It was quite the ordeal to get all 3 kids ready with sunscreen and ready to go, and then to be on constant watch to make sure none of the kids accidentally fell in the pool. We had a good time though. I did buy a little blow-up pool for the backyard and I think we will be using more than going to a big pool. That's of course assuming that it will stay warm here. We had more rain and coldness after a few days of almost 90. I'm really starting to get nervous about the snow level up at girls camp since I'm going in about 3 weeks and there was still about 7 feet of snow before this last storm. I was told the storm was going to bring about another foot of snow to the mountains. Great for the snow pack and the drought, bad for me and my girls up at camp. I keep telling everyone to keep their jackets and warm clothes close by so they can pack them. They've already moved the two stakes that were scheduled to go the two weeks ahead of us to the end of August, so we'll be the first stake up there. Can you tell I'm a little nervous about the cold?! Eric and I are escaping the cold and rain this weekend for San Diego. We leave this afternoon and I should really be finishing packing instead of blogging, but I thought the pictures of Megan scantily clad in her bikini were too cute not to post!

Family Pictures...Finally!

After a month of rescheduling and a few weeks of waiting not so patiently, we finally got our family pictures. I'm really happy with how they turned out, especially because it was a really windy day and Megan didn't take her afternoon nap (of course). Now I just have to figure out which ones to enlarge hang up. The ones in the slide show are some of my favorites. The photographer we used is Hayley Anderson. I just have to give a little shout out to her for being so willing to work with us and the weather so we were able to take them outside. She's awesome and if you're in Utah and looking for a photographer, check out her website: http://www.hayleyphotography.com/ . I really like that you get to keep the cd and the pictures are yours to do what you want with them.

On another photography note, I'm taking a photography class through UVSC's community education classes. I had my first one last night and I'm really excited about it. It goes for 6 weeks and we have assignments each week about what we learned that say. That means that I will be posting more pictures than normal and looking for feedback. Constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated, so don't be afraid to tell me when my pictures are lame. I'll still be your friend, promise. This week is taking 2 pictures with unusual lighting and a black and white photo. Here are the black and white ones I took and played around with this morning.

Tags

Normally, I don't do tags, but since I got one from my sister-in-law and a friend on the same day, I guess it's meant to be.

5 Things on my "to-do" list this week:
1. Do, fold, and put away laundry - it usually stays in the dryer or basket WAY too long
2. Finish cleaning the bathrooms (yuck!)
3. Gather permission slips for girls camp
4. Sending out Mother's Day cards - hopefully they arrive on time
5. Iron Eric's work shirts

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. My "secret drink": Diet coke and Dr. Pepper mixed from the fountain a.k.a the gas station
2. Popcorn
3. Strawberries and fat-free 1/2 and 1/2
4. See's candy
5. Ice cream

5 Things I do if I was suddenly a billionaire:
1. Buy a plane
2. Buy my sister a Vespa
3. Buy my brother a house on the beach so he could surf everyday
4. Go on a sweet around the world vacation - and maybe not comeback :)
5. Buy Eric a crazy fancy car - maybe 2!

5 Places I've lived:
1. Orem, UT
2. Provo, UT
3. Antioch, CA
4. Westminster, CA
5. New Orleans, LA

5 jobs I've had:
1. Brenden Theaters (by far the most fun!)
2. Prints Plus
3. Antioch Water Park
4. Dispatcher for BYU Auxiliary Maintenance (a close second to the movies)
5. Insurance Agent

5 things people may not know about me:
1. I went to 5 different school in 5 years
2. I was expelled from seminary in the 10th grade - LONG story
3. Snow skiing scares the crap out of me
4. I wish I would have been a nurse
5. I get really warm when I sleep

5 favorite musicians/bands (currently):
1. Better than Ezra
2. Josh Groban
3. Jack Johnson
4. Regina Spektor
5. Rocky Votolato

"C" is for cookie and that's good enough for me!

Eric makes chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies that are to die for. They're a favorite in the family and when we make them, we make a double batch, scoop all the dough, and freeze most of them. This way we can just bake them whenever we need to. It's a lot less work this way, and as a bonus, there is always cookie dough in my freezer for when I have a craving. We almost always make them when Eric's brother, Lance, and his family over. When we ask Lance's 3 year old, Trevor, if he wants to come over to our house, he now says, "and make cookies!". We are really grateful to have lots of family within 40 minutes of us and love to get together. Here are a few pictures of Trevor from Sunday enjoying some of Eric's famous cookies.

5 Years Already?!

It's hard to believe that Eric and I will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary this Saturday. Sometimes it seems like it was just last week that we were the young couple in those pictures and then so much has happened that it seems so long ago. I just wanted to say thanks to Eric for putting up with me these last 5 years. I'm stubborn and can be a bit of a snot sometimes, but he's always been patient with me. He's been my rock through hard times and inspires me to be a better person. I love that he's taken me all over the world on fun vacations and still plans on going to more places. He's the best husband and Dad (to Megan) a girl could ask for!

We are celebrating a day early and going up to Salt Lake on Friday for dinner and to stay at the Little America Hotel. I'm really excited for the buffet in the morning. It looks awesome! We lucked out with Eric's mom being in town this week and she's going to watch Megan for us. It'll be a good trial run for when Eric and I go to San Diego over Memorial Day since Megan isn't coming on that trip either.