California Adventures

Sorry it's been so long since an update...we've had an insanely busy month! Right before our trip and when Carter was almost 14 months, we took him to get his hair cut for the very first time. I kept thinking it'd be traumatic for him, so we brought him to one of those kids cuts places where they put them in an activity chair and everything. Turns out it was way overpriced and Carter couldn't have cared less! It was nice to tidy up the 'do, though :) (P.S. Feel free to click on any of the below pictures for a larger version!)

Before the cut, sporting the longer hair

Sitting in the activity chair

He did great the whole time!

All done

I wanted this to be the "after" picture but he refused to look at me...oh well

The next week we set out for our 20 hour drive to California! The drive was long, and between Carter and I we had to stop about every 2-3 hours. Carter did better than anticipated, though, and we made it eventually. The first stop we made was to Los Angeles to attend Tyler's step-sister Taylor's wedding. We were shocked when we saw Tyler's brother Brad, who had come home 2 weeks early from his mission to be there! It was great to have that extra time with him. The sealing was beautiful and we had the short opportunity of getting all 4 of the cousins together for the first time (who knows when that'll happen again!). We drove up later that day to the reception in San Luis Obispo and spent a couple of days there visiting with family.

Taylor and Logan

Jamie and Connor

Everyone at the temple for the wedding

The whole family

Taylor and Logan with all their nieces and nephews

Family Picture

All the grandkids! All 2009 babies, might I add.

Carter (14 mos), McKay (9 mos), Connor (19 mos), & Milla (10 mos)

Sweet little Milla with her Aunt Jamie

Carter and I taking a walk

Connor and Carter in the bath together after the reception at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Andrus's house

All 4 cousins hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's

Carter kept trying to grab Connor's pacifier out of his mouth

Everyone watching Brad's mission slideshow

After the weekend of the wedding, we left to go meet up with my extended family at Bass Lake for the week. The beginning of the week was great! We enjoyed spending time with my grandparents, mom, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Carter was the only one under the age of 18, so he was properly spoiled. Tyler had a blast wakeboarding and cruising around on the Aquatrax, but because of my "condition" I had to refrain from the fun. We had fun hanging around at the cove, playing games, swimming, and just enjoying each other's company. Unfortunately, Carter woke up one morning puking horribly. He threw up 11 times in 3 hours, so we drove the hour drive to the Children's Hospital in Fresno and brought him to the ER. I've never seen him so sick, it was so scary! Fortunately, he turned out to just have a seriously wretched stomach flu but got over it in less than a day. The following night I came down with the same thing, but an even more serious case that sent me to the hospital an hour away in an ambulance. I have never been so sick in my life! Tyler then got the bug and we ended up spending an insane amount of time trying to sleep it off instead of enjoying our vacation. We also passed the intruding bug on to several other members of the family, but luckily most of them didn't get sick until the final night or after they got home from the trip. I'm not sure how it's fair that the pregnant woman got the worst case of it, but I guess that's life. Luckily we all got over it in a couple of days, and were able to make the drive back to San Luis. (Sorry there aren't more pictures, especially of more people! Being sick most of the week was the culprit)

Tyler wakeboarding

Ty and Carter hanging out at the cove (Carter was on a strict crackers-only diet the day after he was sick)

Carter was completely enthralled with the ducks at the cove


Getting some cuddles in with Mommy (I'm pretty sure he just wanted his dad to pick him up, haha)

The final week of our trip was spent back in San Luis Obispo with Tyler's family. We had a blast seeing some old friends, bringing the kids to Avila barn, eating some favorite San Luis fare, going to the beach, watching movies, getting frozen yogurt, and just spending time with the family. Carter had a blast hanging out with his cousins, especially Connor who is closest to his age and size (they are actually the exact same size even though they're almost 5 months apart in age). Unfortunately, both Carter and I came down with colds during the week as well (what the heck is with getting sick so much on vacation???). It didn't stop us from the fun, though.

Cousins taking a bath together...Milla, Carter, and Connor

Connor and Carter playing together

All ready for bed

Grandma and Grandpa bathed the boys one night

Helping out Grandpa with the spa

Heading off to Avila Barn

The boys enjoyed seeing the animals

Jamie and Connor

Connor going after a chicken

Cute cousins

Apparently Carter needed more space

Grandpa Dan got a bag of lettuce so the boys could feed the animals

Carter was too shy to feed the cow, so I took the lettuce and showed him how it was done...well the cow got so ravenous for the lettuce that he stuck out his foot-long tongue and practically ate my whole hand! It creeped me out to no end!

Connor feeding the goat

Carter's turn

Carter and Daddy

Fun at Avila Beach! Prior to this trip, Carter has HATED the cold water and the waves, but he did really well this time and even kept wanting to venture back in! We were really proud of him.

Connor and Grandpa...he didn't enjoy the waves much

Carter and Connor playing at the beach

Grandma Kim shared some of her slushie with the boys

...they kept going back in for more

Tyler, Carter, Connor, and Jamie playing in the sand (apparently when I'm behind the camera I don't get in too many pictures)

Carter with his daddy down by the water

Mr Connor

Carter was quite entertained for a while with the seaweed he found

Connor and Jamie

Ty, Carter, Connor, and Jamie

We filled the duck up with water (and lots of sand courtesy of Connor) and Carter sat in it for a while just playing

Our little family at the beach...we'll have to tell Landon he was there, too :)

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys

All tuckered out for a nap

A long day...poor boys were exhausted!!

We had a great trip and got home after another 20 hour drive (traffic was awful!!). Carter's cold turned into yet another case of croup, but after being on steroids for a few days he's doing much better. We've spent the week trying to get things done...work has been crazy for Tyler and I've been working on finishing up a manuscript evaluation at home. We can't believe we've only got 6 weeks left until Landon's debut! At my appointment this week we discovered on the ultrasound that his growth is slowing down a little too much, just like Carter's did, so we'll be watching his progress closely. His belly is only in the 13th percentile right now, so I lowered the dosage on the offending medication which will hopefully help. We still have so much to do and work will be crazy for Tyler over the next couple of weeks, so we're just hoping to survive the next little while. Overall, though, the last few weeks were great and it was so nice to have a vacation before all the craziness!