The Madness that has been March!

WARNING: POST OVERLOAD! SIT DOWN, GRAB SOME SNACKS, IT'S A LONG ONE.

March blew in like a lion at our house, that is for sure!! It has been busy busy busy, and now it's almost done!

We started the month out by heading to Aggie land so Nate could recruit at their big career fair. We were pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to the presidential suite at our hotel! It pays to have friends in Logan :) We LOVED having two separate rooms, so we could put Evan to sleep in the living room, then shut the doors to our bedroom and watch tv and not have to go to bed at 8pm with him!

 

 We also really loved the HUGE bathroom, especially the giant jetted jacuzzi tub. This was the funnest bath Evan has ever had. He thought he was in a swimming pool!

 Evan was not exactly thrilled to be driving to Utah again, though. Here's his, "Didn't we just do this?" face:

 We had so very much fun spending time on campus and seeing lots of people we knew. We also got to spend time in Idaho and meet our future brother-in-law. He passed all of Nate's "tests" to get into the family with flying colors. Luckily, we got a little bit of time with my family, too. It's always a whirlwind of a trip when you are going on the governments time and money, but we make every second count. Evan loved all of it and was so good. But he didn't get nearly as much sleep as he is used to. He crashed in his high chair during dinner at my  moms; I have never seen this happen before! So we gave him a little pillow and let him rest as long as he wanted.

 On our way back to Cali, we decided to go through Death Valley to avoid weekend Vegas traffic. It was a really interesting place! The landscape is like nothing I've ever seen. We want to go back and actually stop and see the sights.

 Rocky, boulder covered mountains.

 Strange yellow hills

 Crater shaped mountains

And giant sand dunes, of course! We are glad we took this route. Much cooler to look at than Baker, CA.

 We got home from Utah and I suddenly had a little boy living with me instead of my baby!

 The weather was lovely and we spent much time outside, before we quickly took off to San Diego! Nate had work down there for a week, so we got to tag along again. It was such a great vacation!!

 This is the fort we had to make around Evan's pack n play so he couldn't see us. Though Marriotts are nice, it was no Best Western presidential suite ;) We debated putting him in the bathroom, but decided on this instead.

 Our hotel was right on the harbor and Evan and I spent a lot of time walking on all of the paths and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

 This giant ship was docked on the sand for display. As you can see, Evan REALLY wanted to get down and go see it.

 That's looking at our hotel from a nice little bridge down one of the walking paths.Literally, right on the harbor!

 All of the sail boats were so fun to look at!

 One night, we ventured up and found the San Diego temple. It is simply stunning.

 I love the peace you feel just being on the temple grounds. It brings us so much joy.

 This temple was truly breathtaking. I could not soak it in enough.

 I am so very glad we got see it. Wish we would have made plans to go in and do some work, but maybe next time.

I have a friend that lives in San Diego that told us all of the must see sights and restaurants (THANK YOU, LINDSEY!!!!!) She was so awesome and sent me maps, told me how far things were from our hotel, what was worth it, what wasn't, etc.I think we accomplished everything on her list!

 She told us about the "best Mexican restaurant in town", Cafe Coyote, in Old Town San Diego. So, of course, we had to check it out! It was really good, and a really fun environment!

 Evan figured out how to drink from a straw and blow bubbles at Cafe Coyote :)

 We went to the La Jolla Cove and saw the Sea Lions chillin' in their natural habitat.

 Again, simply beautiful. I really fell in love with San Diego!

 Is their really anything better than a sunset on the beach???

 We explored Coronado one afternoon, a little island off San Diego. It was awesome! It's such a cute little beach town, and the homes were immaculate. Plus, the beach was totally NOT crowded. I loved all of it! And so did Evan; this boy would be a fish if you let him. He can't get enough of water, so the ocean is a dream to him.

 Ahhh....

 We had a blast searching for sand dollars, watching all of the 'tweet-tweets' play in the water, and running from the big, cold waves!

The sand at this beach was really different, with streaks of black in it. My favorite thing is just walking on the beach and letting my toes sink into the sand.

 There was a GIANT, fancy hotel there. It looked like it had the potential to be haunted by some very snobby ghosts. Nate just kept saying how it would be the first thing to go when the tsunami comes.

 Evan absolutely loved playing, throwing, and eating the sand.

 Best day ever for him. He's a beach baby, like his mama. Easy to please.

 Teaching Evan the art of walking on the beach

We had such a great time! Oh, and that's our honorary Mormon Batallion picture from Old Town. (PS-I highly recommend that museum. It was really cool!) My pictures are starting to get all skiwampis....

 Having a blast!

 OH! I'm pretty sure that's Mexico. (Stacey) We couldn't go and I was ticked. But my sister said they would try and steal my baby, plus, Nate has to get permission to leave the country. It really wasn't worth the hassle, just so I could say I've been to Mexico. But at least I can say now I've seen Mexico (I think).

 San Diego had pirate ships parked on the side of the ocean!

 What would a San Diego trip be without Sea World?! We really enjoyed ourselves. None of us had ever been, and it was magical. :) Evan now says, Muuuu! for Shamu. It's awesome.

 Waiting for the dolphin show to start. We had great seats for this one, and he couldn't take his eyes off of the water.

 The dolphin show was amazing! There were bird people, evil vultures, divers, a mermaid princess...

 Seriously, I could watch this show over and over.

 Evan also now knows what a sea lion says.

 They are such funny animals.

 And their show was super entertaining!

 I was, of course, IN LOVE with the penguins.

 It took everything I had in me to not buy Evan everything from the penguin gift shop. I just love them so much!

 The baby beluga whales...

 They looked like they were smiling :)

 I also have a thing for polar bears.

 This one looks like he has got the kind of life that I wouldn't mind!

 We saw lots of cool fish in the aquariums. Like this humongo guy; that's Nate's hand for comparison.

 Evan only had one minor melt down at the park, and all I had to do was take him out of his stroller and he was happy. Within two minutes of being in the car, he was OUT. (Notice the animal cracker hanging out of his mouth). He didn't get a nap all day, and he was beat from having such an exciting time.

 We ended our awesome week getting to visit my sister and her family. We partook in one of their crazy busy Saturdays, jam packed with soccer and baseball games. I forgot to take pictures until the end of the day. Here is my cute niece Addie, who is the best little mom to Evan. I get a kick out of watching her with him.

And my nephew Kolby, who was the starting pitcher for his baseball team. It was exciting to watch him; he was really good!

 Amongst all of this traveling madness, we have managed to enjoy every second of:

It's a splendid time of year at our house!