Drum roll, please....

Many have asked with this new pregnancy if we are trying for a boy. We usually respond with, 'no, we are trying for a baby'. However, we would find it a pleasant surprise to have another boy. We realize, though, that the likely hood of having another girl is rather overwhelming.

So this was our mindset as Cathy went to get a routine ultrasound. She was pleased to see that the baby is developing well. However, she was surprised (yet not surprised), that the baby is a Girl! Adam remains the lone boy. Though he misses having wrestling partners, he has learned to enjoy his own room and sometimes special attention because he's the only prince among many princesses.

Baby feet are so cute, in or out of the womb!

February happenings and a few pictures

-Jamie, Mackenzie and Adam have been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA. They really enjoy it. Laurel can't wait to have a turn too.

-we had a good two weeks of illness that went back and forth between all the kids.

-Adam advance in scout rank at our stake's Court of Honor. He enjoyed wearing his merit badge sash for the first time.

-Mackenzie and Jamie have really been interested in Sign Language. They watch plenty of Signing Time dvds, as well as learn from books and an online site. Mackenzie is often seen finger spelling words that she or someone else has said. (without realizing she's doing it)

-Cathy went to a Book Club meeting with sisters in our ward. It's been a couple of years since the last time she went and she really enjoyed it. The discussions are coming out of a book called Women of the Old Testament. Unfortunately, most nights she has a conflict with a Cub Committee meeting, but hopes to go to Book Club as often as she can.

-Derek had a big snow outing scheduled with his Varsity scouts. They were going snow camping (aka building and sleeping in snow caves) with our local district scout council, but bad weather in the planned area got the activity cancelled. Derek was a bit disappointed, especially since he had spent much time and money getting ready for the experience. Hopefully they can try again next year!

A few pictures:

Laurel has fun making faces for the camera

Jamie, still waiting for some teeth to come in

Katelyn loves to dump books from a bookshelf and then sit down and look through them

2 day San Diego trip

Derek and I were able to take a short getaway for our anniversary (a few months early, 15 years!) Derek planned it for my birthday weekend and asked his mom to come out to stay with the children. They were quite excited for a visit with Grandma and we were excited to take a break from our usual routine and enjoy a beautiful location together. It doesn't take long looking through a brochure of San Diego to realize how much there is to do there. So we had to decide what was really important to us and just focus on relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

One thing I had tried for the first time last year and wanted to do again was kayaking. There are tons of kayak rentals and tours in San Diego. We chose a company in La Jolla and went for a tour. It was supposed to take us through some natural caves in the coastal cliffs there, but once we were finally out there, the guides didn't feel like the tide level was right for taking us in. So they told us all about it from outside. We did enjoy the sunny day and fresh sea ocean. We saw many birds who live on the cliff walls, sea lions, and leopard sharks. We also kayaked over one of the largest kelp forests in the world. It was a great couple of hours!

wearing wetsuits, waiting for the walk to the beach and for our kayaking to start

Cathy

The Pacific Ocean at La Jolla, so beautiful!

Some of the caves we didn't get to see inside

Derek

We stayed in Mission Bay near Sea World. This was the view from our hotel room balcony. It was so nice and peaceful. Every morning we could watch rowing teams out on the bay practicing.

We visited the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, which is near Old Town San Diego. (http://lds.org/placestovisit/eng/historical-sites/san-diego-mormon-battalion-historic-site) The museum is wonderful. Everything looks great, even the missionaries are wearing pioneer clothing. They take you on a tour presentation and you learn quite a bit. They even take a picture of you if you like. It's a must see if you are in San Diego.

After the Mormon Battalion tour and walking through Old town San Diego, we headed to the piers to go on a whale watching tour. Derek has wanted to do this for quite a while. This section of San Diego was extremely crowded. We knew it would be busy for a Saturday, but we were quite surprised at the numbers of people. Come to find out there was an airshow happening at Coronado Island in celebration of the Air Force anniversary. Many people were showing up to watch it for free on the San Diego side. Tighter security made the coming and going of all boats very slow, so our tour got a very late start. I got tired of standing in the heat, so I sat down in our line and waited and waited and waited.

Here is the boat we went on, it finally made it in. But once we got going, it still took about an hour to get out of San Diego bay. We enjoyed the sites though. Lots of boats and birds and San Diego sky line to enjoy.

Looking back at San Diego

We saw plenty of signs of whales on our tour, as indicated by seeing them come to the surface for a breath. They didn't want to show themselves much though, for we only saw their tails a few times as they went down for a dive

One of the few whale appearances we saw

We were later rewarded with a visit from dozens of dolphins who apparently love to play with boats. They swim toward them and follow in the waves made by the boat. They stayed near our boat for quite a while and it was fun to watch them. They are not shy at all like the whales were.

This was the last activity of our trip. Because our tour was late leaving and coming back, we nearly missed our flight home. So much for having dinner first! We made a mad dash to the car rental company, then to the airport, then through the airport, and just barely got let on, they thought they had everyone. It was a hectic ending to a very relaxed trip. We were glad we had the chance to spend time together, just the two of us, and we have great memories of this trip. Thank you grandma for your help!