Victoria's Baptism

So the time finally arrived, we baptised Victoria June 6, 2010. We have been planning it for months, family coming into town from every direction. Victoria was so excited. Aimee made her a cute skirt and a bow to match her shirt. G'ma Mary and G'ma Julie both gave the talks. Everyone was there to celebrate with her, with the exception of Aunt Sandi and Aunt Melissa. They couldn't make it but Uncle Jeff, Riley, Owen, Uncle Brenton and Kingston came bringing both of them in spirit.




As a favor to me I asked all of my siblings and in-laws and both sets of Grandparents and Great Grandpa Joe to all put their testimonies down on paper directed to Victoria. I made Victoria a book so that at any given time she can look back at it and see the testimonies of the people who love her most. I appreciate everyones cooperation, they are all beautiful testimonies and will be a great support and remembrance for Victoria to look upon for years to come.






It was a busy but a great day. I am very appreciative of all the help I had. Help planning, setting up, cleaning up. We are truly blessed to have two wonderfully supportive families.

I couldn't have asked for a better day. My beautiful young lady has grown so fast. I am thankful we have a worthy priesthood holder in our home, that Blayne was able to baptise her and also confirm her. I am also blessed to have such a great husband who blesses our family every day with the worthy life he leads. I couldn't ask for a better husband, children, and family. Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. I love you guys! Love Aerin!!

Victoria turns EIGHT!!!

Our big girl turned 8 yesterday. Not only did we have a party but we are planning her baptism too. She is quite excited as are we. Victoria has grown up so fast and is definitely ready to be baptized. I am impressed at the responsible, smart, beautiful young lady she has become. We had her take all of the missionary discussions in preparation for her baptism, I was impresses with her knowledge of the gospel and how prepared she is.





Victoria is a very loved girl. Not only did she have her Grandparents there and her immediate family. She had Aimee and Emily, Truman, Shannon, and Lexi, and also Tony and Chelsea. G'ma and G'pa Fletcher and Mom and Dad bought her scriptures, Shan and Tru bought her a matching hymnal and G'ma and G'pa Yates bought her a church bag to put it all in. For her scriptures my Mom made her a custom corduroy case and I embroidered her name on. It turned out great.She had a fun day and are looking forward to a wonderful baptismal day.

Out trip to California to see Sean, Brenton, Melissa, and Kingston, and Family!

**********WARNING, THIS IS A LONG POST**********

So Tuesday morning I called Blayne at work and asked him to try and get the next 3 days off, he asks,"WHY?", I say "because I want to go to California tonight!" WHAT!?!?! Completely out of my norm, I usually pack five days ahead for things like this, to top it off Blayne didn't know for sure he had the time off until 3:30pm. So yes, we packed,got out the sleeping bags, took the studs off the Subaru, and left for Cali.(with the help of my in-laws who, brought up dinner. Dad helped with car, and Mom helped pack Me and the kids.) So I wanted to be out by 7:00 but of course being a last minute trip we left about 8:30pm.

Heading to Fresno to spend a few days with Sean. Sean had to work but Aunt Sharon (Blayne's Aunt) lives in Fresno and Brenton and Melissa drove up from San Diego for Wednesday and Thursday.

We got there at 9:15 or so, went by Sean's house, dropped all of our stuff then headed over to have breakfast at Aunt Sharon's and meet Brenton and Melissa there.





Then after everyone had gotten there. We had eaten breakfast. Someone mentions the Zoo, let's go to the zoo. So we did, we all packed up and went to the Fresno Zoo. The kids had fun seeing the animals that weren't in our zoo. Animals like the Kangaroos and flamingos. They even had a spot where you paid to go in and "pet" the stingrays. Did my kids enjoy this, No, but did their Dad make them do it anyway, Yes!
We had our family, Brenton's family, Uncle Scott and Aunt Sharon with grand son Payton, and cousin Kara with her two little ones Grace and Ethan.
















After driving through the night, then having a full day we were spent. We went back to Sean's and I think the kids weren't out in matter of 2 minutes.
The next morning, Brenton and Melissa met up with us then we were meeting Sean for lunch before they headed home.
While we were killing time before lunch Blayne's was playing with Kingston, or should I say Kingston was playing with Blayne's hat.






We met Sean at a place called Dog House Grille, his favorite place. I gotta tell ya, I had the best tri-tip sandwich EVER! Gavin played with Kingston a bit before them taking off after lunch.




We had dinner at BJ's pizza, can I tell you how tired I got of eating out. But when your staying with a single brother who lives with 3 other single guys, there isn't a whole lot of home cooking going on. (I love you Sean!)





We wanted to take the kids to the beach, after deciding every beach was about the same distance away we decided to go to Pismo Beach. We got up early, met at Aunt Sharon's with Payton, Kara and her husband Carlos with Grace and Ethan and then headed out! The beach was warm and beautiful. A tad windy, not anything like the Oregon Coast. The kids played in the water, ran from the waves, Victoria found several whole sand dollars. Blayne found a huge sand crab and tried to get the kids to hold it. Maddalyn freaked out, Gavin held it but then started laughing because it was tickling his hand. After a few hours and a little shopping we headed home to meet up with Sean after he got off work and went to In and Out for dinner.

















On our way out to the beach Carlos took us by the James Dean Memorial. It was interesting, I didn't know he died in a motorcycle accident.




Saturday, knowing we were leaving early the next morning, was very laid back. I sent the boys to the Bagel shop to get breakfast, they were gone forever, apparently the entire city was at Fresno Bagel. So we ended up eating a late breakfast. We went to the mall, got Blayne's iPhone warrantied out, went to a few other stores. Then we went out to Rally's, an only in Fresno joint. They had good fries, Sean loves them for thier BBQ wings. I missed getting a picture of Blayne and Sean with BBQ sauce all over thier faces. We went to say our good-bye's at Aunt Sharon's. The kids and I took showers. We were killing time, Sean room-mate was having a get together. We still went home farely early. Got up at 4:30am, left by 5:00am and we got home about 6:00pm. It made for a long couple of days but we had a lot of fun. I asked the kids what thier favorite part was and they all said the beach, Victoria threw in Kngston too!