California Vacation

My brother, Quinn, came home from his mission to Mexico on May 17th. Becca and I flew down on the 15th . Kyle was unable to come with us because he is taking some tough summer classes and couldn't miss even one day. Becca did pretty well on the flight down, thanks to a backpack of toys, and my brother, Vance. Becca has seen Vance the most and is very comfortable with him. We were able to tag-team and keep her happy. My brother came home on Monday, and on Tuesday, we went to Disneyland. We were all able to get in free thanks to the "Give a day, get a Disney Day" promotion. We made quilts for the Utah Karing for Kids organization. I figured Disneyland would be a little overwhelming for Becca, but I thought she'd "ooh" a few times. Her face in the following picture was pretty much the face she had on every ride, even those she seemed to enjoy.


She rode the Carousel twice. I've never been on the platform of the carousel, and I must admit, it is a different experience. I was kind of getting dizzy.

She really liked the Dumbo ride. After the first time, I was taking our seat belt off and she said, "Again" and tried to put the seat belt back on. We went on again later.

On Friday, we made our trip to the beach. She loved playing in the sand. One of her favorite games was burying her feet. My dad dug the holes and then covered her feet and she would uncover them to find her toes.

In an effort to run down the beach to meet me (I was playing in the waves), Becca crashed. She didn't like that aspect, but calmed down after we wiped her down a bit.

She didn't love walking in the water, but seemed okay when she was on my hip. I made sure to stay away from any of the bigger waves that could have unbalanced me and caused us both to land in the water. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I wish we'd gone earlier so we could have stayed and played longer.

My friend, Samantha Malm, is expecting a baby on July 1. In honor of the Girl Scout Silver Award project we did in which we made baby quilts for the babies in the NICU, I made a baby blanket for her little one, Madyson. The pattern was very easy to piece, the hand-quilting relatively straightforward, and the quilt was finished in a week and a half (not working on it constantly . . . it probably could have been finished in a weekend). If ever you think of making a baby quilt, I highly recomment the "rail fence" pattern. I missed Samantha's baby shower by a few hours, since I flew home Saturday morning, but she was nice enough to come over to visit Friday night. I must admit, I was very proud of how the quilt turned out.

We had so much fun in California. The only thing to mar the trip was the fact that Kyle couldn't come. I loved visiting with my family and seeing some of my friends. Oh, and the weather was beautiful! I left sunny California to come home to the bizarre 48 degree with patchy showers weather in Utah. Still, it is nice to be home.