San Diego

We went to San Diego a couple weekends ago and took advantage of the free tickets once a year for military families and went to Sea World and then the beach. It was a lot of fun!

Lincoln riding in his own airplane.

The kids even rode rides all by themselves! 

I was surprised when Bekah said yes to riding the roller coaster splash ride of Atlantis! She was very brave and hardly got wet.

The boys wanted to go again and the second time they got soaking wet!

 
Got to have the token Shamu shot.

We visited the beach.

Checking out the tide pools. The kids loved looking at all the little crabs and anemones in there.

Seth was even able to catch a little crab. Notice though that it only has one claw! Made it much easier to catch! 

San Diego is always fun and the kids loved it. Good to know it is not too far away.

Joshua Tree

We have gone hiking in Joshua Tree National Park several times now and here are some pictures from those as well as our trip to Saltoan Sea, the biggest lake in California that unfortunately is also almost as salty as the Salt Lake. As a consequence there were dead fish everywhere though Seth still caught some live ones!

The infamous Joshua Tree that is really just an overgrown type of Yucca!

Some nice desert cactus flowers

Some cowboys built this dam to create a little watering hole for their cattle and horses way back when.

And here is a trough they built too. Pretty cool!

Most of the park looks like this, with just miles of Joshua Trees. 

Nice sunbathing lizard. 

Here we are at the Saltoan Sea. The beach was really made up of tiny seashells and tiny fish bones. Not for walking on without shoes!

We bought the kids a little Camelbak so that they could have some water of their own while hiking.

 

And this big guy is in the iguana family. 

And finally we have some cool Native American petroglyphs. 

Joshua Tree is quite a fun place to live.

Graduation to Utah to Joshua Tree

It has been a little while but we have moved across the country again and now find ourselves here in Joshua Tree California where Seth is starting his work as a Chaplain! Here are some pictures from our drive to Utah and our time with family.
 
Here is Seth at his graduation looking handsome in his new uniform.

 

 Uncle Mikey gave the kids these lollipops and they had to eat them in the bathtub.

 Lincoln wanted to get baptized in Utah with family. He wouldn't unwrap his legs from daddy.

 Amma Sue got confirmed with Lincoln that same day.

 Here we are with the cousins teaching them a little about the passover on easter.

Lincoln enlisted the help of a naked barbie for his easter egg hunt!

 

 

 

 
 It looks like cute Creighton is trying to fly!

And here we are finally in Joshua Tree. The base has a fun splash park that I took the kids to.

 Lincoln wanted to take some pictures so this is one he took of me.

This is a start. Soon will follow more pictures from Joshua Tree including from the National Park itself. It is good to be here!!