Be-lated Easter Post

I'm always excited to create new posts. I guess I think my little girls are cute and want to show the world. Is that bad? Oh well. Growing up, my (Jessica) mom was always the "Easter Bunny". She would make a trail from our bedroom with candy all the way to the living room at which point there would be a special little Easter present. So, I did this with Mckenzie. Unfortunantly, I was EXHAUSTED from the D.C. trip that I woke up too late to do this. So, the Easter bunny came while she was taking a nap after church. She couldn't believe her eyes when she kept seeing more and more candy, let alone the fact that mom was letting her pick it up (she was a little hesitant). As for Abby, she could have cared less. She just wanted to be cuddled and to sleep. Aren't babies fun?

All About Abby

With all the traveling we've been doing, pictures of Abby are usually either of her in the stroller or in the pack. I thought that I would devote a post to Abby and share some pictures of her outside of those two things. Here's some of the things we love about Abby and what shes been up to lately. Abby is 4 1/2 months now! Abby giggles at EVERYTHING! Sometimes she goes on and on with her giggles as if she can't control herself. Mckenzie loves to entertain her and Abby loves to be entertained. She has discovered her vocal cords and this is both a positive and negative thing. She coos all the time. It's so cute. She just goes on and on. There are times when we think she's crying, but we'll go and check on her and sure enough it's not crying we hear, just our little Abby talking away. She's our Gabby Abby! She's rolled over a few times, HATES tummy time unless there's a play pillow under her, hates being cold (I know most babies don't like the cold either, but this is different for us because it didn't bother Mckenzie) and is NOT happy when I eat broccoli. She loves cuddle time, her big sister and her pacifier. Abby is such a wonderful and easy-going baby. She even sleeps through the night until 4am! We love "Abby Smiles". She smiles with her whole face! She has a cute dimple on her left cheek that causes you to melt each time she smiles. Our sweet little Abby is so precious and dear. We hope you enjoy the pictures of our little baby Abby.

Spring Break

Two of my brothers and my sister came to Massachusetts for their Spring Break. They love being an uncle or an aunt and Mckenzie thinks it's the coolest thing to get so much attention. We did tons of stuff in the week they were here. We went to Plymouth Rock, a tour of Fenway Park, and Washington D.C.! They were such helpers with Mckenzie. It was nice to have the help. They even babysat the girls so that Dan and I could actually go to the temple TOGETHER! The Boston temple is BEAUTIFUL. I'm just hoping that one day I'll run into Mitt and Ann Romney there. HA! Here's some pictures of our week with them.

PLYMOUTH ROCK

The area surrounding Plymouth Rock is gorgeous!


The actual rock is a bit of a letdown. I had always imagined it as this HUGE rock that you could climb. Oh well. It's still neat to see the engravened "1620" on it.

Abby, Mckenzie and I standing in front of the Mayflower replica.


FENWAY PARK

If you aren't a baseball fan you will be once you've gone to Fenway Park. If you are a baseball fan of some other team, once you visit Fenway, you'll become a Red Sox fan! The history and intensity of it all is incredible.
View from the pressbox



The "Green Monster"

Oldest and Original Seats in Baseball

Uncle Spencer and Mckenzie playing in the stands. It was so cold and rainy.


A couple random pictures near the park




Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. was incredible. Being there, you gain a greater appreciation for our for-fathers and the sacrifice that so many have made for this country and our freedom.

Washington Monument

Looking out towards the Lincoln Memorial

Shelby at the World War II Memorial

Spencer and Shelby at the Lincoln Memorial

Jessica and Dan and the Washington Monument behind us

Mckenzie and Abby at the Lincoln Memorial

At the Vietnam Memorial there was almost absolute silence. People were so respectful. I wish they would be as respectful to those who are fighting in the Iraq war and show more support then they do.

This tree that Bree is standing in front of smelled so good. If anyone knows what kind of tree it is, please let me know. We couldn't figure out what smell it had, but it was like a mix of sugar and vanilla.

Mckenzie coloring with her aunt and uncle at the White House visitor's center

Mckenzie was so patient waiting in line at the National Archives. We ended up stepping out of line and going there the next day.

Isn't the capital building beautiful? We couldn't believe how much security there was. One of my brothers asked a guard if he could take a picture with him, but he said no. Where's the fun?

You might be thinking this is a random picture, but it's not for us. This is a monumental day for us! Mckenzie fell asleep for the FIRST time in the stroller. We celebrated by taking a picture. Are we bad parents for thinking it's exciting that our daughter is taking a nap in the stroller???

I really wanted to get a picture of us all without the stroller, but we weren't about to wake them up.

Library of Congress

After waiting in a LONG line, we were able to visit the National Archives and since we had a stroller, they gave us special treatment and we were able to go through everything faster once we got inside. Sorry about the picture turnout. They don't allow you to use a flash.
Constitution of the United States of America


I can put Abby's hair up! I don't think any of our babies will be bald.

We came at a great time. The Magna Carta is on display for a few weeks.

Bree in front of the National Archives

Shelby in front of the National Archives

Pregnant AGAIN!?!

Alright, before you start picking up that phone please read on. NO! I'm not pregnant. A couple of my brothers and my sister came out to Massachusetts for spring break. One night we went out to dinner and this is a conversation I had with our waitress:
Waitress: "Wow. So all of these kids are yours?"
Jessica: "No, just the two little girls"
Waitress: "Oh, so soon you'll have your hands full with 3"
Jessica: "What do you mean" (in GREAT confusion)
Waitress: "Well, you're pregnant" (as she looks at my belly)
Jessica: "No, I'm not"
Waitress: "Ohhhh, sorry. I just...just...you never can tell........"

Needless to say, she didn't get the greatest tip. So, I know I haven't been PERFECT in getting back into shape and I know that my sweater was buttoned only at the top, but still! It teaches me that I just have to laugh things off and not get offended.

Second half of our California trip

We've been busy tourists. Here's a look at what we've been up to.

The Mystery Spot is where everything is level, but the gravitational pull or something makes everything off. Hard to explain. An example: The tour guide placed a ball on a 2x4 board that was sloped. He rolled the ball, but once the ball reached a certain spot it rolled back up the board. Creepy, huh?

My aunt and uncle took us around Santa Cruz. It's one of the best places to surf, or so I hear. One of my goals in life is to get my knee strong enough to where I'd feel comfortable learning how to surf. It looks hard, but a lot of fun! The beaches are beautiful and it made for a nice drive. They also took us near the point of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. I'm sure glad there wasn't an earthquake the day we visited! The forest was beautiful and we couldn't believe how HUGE the trees were. Sorry the pictures are so dark.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was a big hit with Mckenzie. She continues to have a fascination with sea life. My cute cousin, Lauren came with us. She adores Abby and was such a big helper.

We went on the "17 mile drive" and saw spectacular ocean views, drove passed Pebble Beach (it's been 6 years since I last went golfing and I sure wasn't going to golf at the "elite" Pebble Beach), and then onto Carmel. Can I just say, I LOVE CARMEL! There are ton's of little shops and a beautiful beach. Being there made me feel like I was back in Europe. Sigh...someday I'll go back.

I took the girls to Half Moon Bay. It's a big tourist trap, but it was beautiful. Mckenzie loved playing on the beach, though after what happened in Carmel she's not quite sure about going in the water.

The Japanese Gardens were beautiful. I found these gardens in the middle of San Jose. You would never expect something like this in a metropolitan area. On our way back to the car, Mckenzie kept picking up rocks and I kept saying, "yup, that's a rock". So, she started saying it too. I love the way she say "rock". She says, "rrrrrrrrrok".

This past Saturday we adventured up to San Francisco. We didn't get to all that we wanted to, but we had fun. We went to Muir Woods and a most amazing chocolate store called Cocabellas. They import all their chocolate and it's definantly worth the money you fork over. We were going to stop by the Golden Gate bridge to walk across it, but Mckenzie and Abby were sleeping and we weren't about to wake them up. We also spent a while trying to find the "Full House" house, but I didn't remember the street correctly, so we ended up driving around for awhile. oops! So, we'll have to do those things when we come back in May along with Alcatrez and the Wax museum.

During the winter time, Dan's grandma lives in California with her daughter and son-in-law and then during the summers she lives in Idaho. They live about an hour and a half from San Jose so we spent a Sunday with them. It was great to be with family. They have a huge orchard with almost any fruit you could imagine!

I took Mckenzie and Abby to "Happy Hallow Park". It's a zoo and amusement park for kids around 5 and under. Mckenzie loved it! She played and played and played some more. She loved the petting area and I was so paranoid about the goat poo. Oh well, she only picked it up a couple of times. Why don't kids see how disgusting some things are?