In February Sadie and I went home to see my family in San Diego. Mark was really busy with school and we were getting bored at home. My brother Jay came home from his mission for a short while for health reasons so we really wanted to go see him, plus he had only seen Sadie once when she was only 6 weeks old. So it was the perfect opportunity to take a trip.

Sadie truly has a deep love for animals. Every time she sees an animal she gets so excited, she starts to almost hyperventilate. So I thought it would be so fun to take her to the San Diego Wild Animal Park which is only a short trip from my family's house. So we went with Uncle Jay and Auntie Hayley. I love taking Sadie to new places and watching her reactions.


Sadie could have stared at this lion for hours.

If you are wondering what happened to her nose I will explain in my next post. Lets just say I hate flying with children. You know what? I hate flying altogether.

Sadie and I feeding the animals at the petting zoo. I was more scared to feed them than Sadie.

Having fun with crazy explorer Jay and wacky auntie Hayley. Sadie always has so much fun with her aunts and uncles. I wish we were closer to them!

Oh and one more thing. I used to work at this place when I was 16 years old. It was my very first job ever. Does this bring back the memories Vanessa?

Welcome back, Spring!

As many of you know, the weather has been off and on lately, and winter has really been hanging around. What a drag.  But finally we had some decent weather so we took the opportunity to fulfill my lifelong dream which I acquired 2 years ago: to go on a family bike ride from Mt. Vernon to Washington, DC. We borrowed a bike for Ashley and a trailer for Sadie (who apparently weighs a ton).  Other than some miscalculations, the ride was awesomely exciting and a great family experience.  Riding through Alexandria was very cool, and riding across the I-395 bridge and landing at the cherry blossom festival was very patriotic.  Pulling a huge trailer on a road bike without my clip shoes (oops) became increasingly painful, and riding 32 miles and spending so many hours in the saddle without any training or preparation turned out to be our ultimate demise (notice we didn't document the last half of the trip).  And now we are paying the price.  I am currently looking n ebay for a bedpan for Ashley so she doesn't have to use her legs for the next few days...

We think Sadie had a good time.  But we'll make her be a team player and get her own bike next time.

The bash

About a month ago we went to a wedding of an old college friend up in Washington. It was awesome because some of our west coast friends (who we haven't seen for years) came out east; kind of like a reunion, I guess. But we hung out just like the old BYU days and reminisced about our escapades and adventures and got caught up... all amidst the stunning backdrop of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and Wash DC.

Of course sadie loved her new Marriott Platinum Member Status.

Sadie slowly warmed up to dancing...

...and eventually came up with her own signature move!

Sadie usually loves dancing with mommy