California

Nick's baptism

At the end of March my sister's fiance was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We were able to drive out to California to be there to support Nick in his decision.  It was such a wonderful baptism and we are so grateful that we were able to be there.

This was our first trip to California as a family.  I have not been to California since I was 14 and Ben has only been there for business trips, so it was fun to explore and enjoy it with our family.  On Saturday morning we found a park with a duck pond and a lot of different hiking trails.  We spent a couple of hours going all over.

The kids were totally impressed with the size of the trees, and the running water, something they don't see very often in AZ.

Later in the day we went to the beach.  It was very cold, as you can tell from the jackets they were wearing in the above pictures.  It had been raining off and on all day.  So in an attempt to keep them from freezing to death I told them that they could only go wading, and not above there knees.  Well, I'm sure you can guess how long that lasted.

Ben and I and Becca and Nick watching the kids play.

My two little mermaids.

The artists who created them

Kids hunting for sand crabs

Gwen before she "fell over" into the water.

Jared and Bonnie looking for seashells

Nate the mummy

We had so much fun in California and we can't wait to go back and visit Becca and Nick again.  They were great hosts and we loved spending time with them.  Besides, I think my children have decided to live at the beach.