Baja Mexico Cruise Jan 3-9, 2011

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary by going on a Baja Mexico Cruise. We left the boys in Arizona with Nanna Anna and Grandpa McCleve. It was hard to leave them but it was nice to be 'alone'. I was also able to pump during the cruise to continue breastfeeding Max after I got home.
Before boarding the ship in San Diego, we enjoyed a foot massage, detox & paraffin wax treatment at a spa. It was a GREAT way to start our vacation!

We cruised on the Carnival Spirit. We liked the food and entertainment better than when we went on Royal Caribbean in 2007.

Jordan's office overlooked the bay and he watched the cruise ships coming and going and was DYING to get on and go somewhere! So.Much.Fun!

I wish I had noticed what was behind us for this picture. It looks like these random ladies are looking over our shoulders!

We were not expecting to share a dinner table but it ended up being very enjoyable. We ate with Gordon & Alisha Mosher from Yuma, AZ. They have 2 children and Gordon worked for Hensel Phelps while in High School. We were shocked at all the similarities between us! (Gordon Mosher vs Jordan Moser, 2 children, Jordan currently works for Hensel Phelps, I am from AZ, Yuma is currently about 2 1/2 hrs from our home)

The food was FABULOUS! We had the chocolate melting cake several times and just really enjoyed our dining experience. The nightly comedy shows were actually clean and very funny too so that was great.

Our first stop was in Cabo San Lucas Mexico where we spent two days of fun. The forecast was for cool, cloudy weather the entire trip but we got lucky and the first day in Cabo was actually pretty hot. We enjoyed relaxing on the beach... except when someone tried to sell us something which was every 30 seconds!

Jordan has been parasailing before but I haven't and have always wanted to go so we took the opportunity! It was great! We had a girl from LA who was waiting for her turn take pictures for us. We were a little concerned a few times with how close we were coming to the water and to other parasailers but it was a great way to see Cabo and very relaxing!

Next we went on a tour in a glass-bottom boat, which was WAY overrated since we could see more fish over the side of the boat than through the glass! The fish like quesadillas and enchiladas. If someone feeds them green chilis, they disappear for a few hours. :)

The next morning we went snorkeling in the 'two best spots' Cabo has to offer. On the way we were lucky to see some whales! They were AMAZING! Had we known how cold the water was going to be, we would have been happy whale watching instead of seeing all the beautiful tropical fish in the frigid water. We had made reservations well before we knew what the weather would be though so $5 for wet suits was money well spent and we still had a good time.

Our last stop was at Ensenada Mexico. We went to see La Bufadora (The Blowhole). There were vendors all along the road from the bus to the site. They were unintentionally quite entertaining with some of their comments to passing tourists. They would say anything to get our attention.
Some of the things making us laugh were 'almost free!' 'non-profit', 'Hey Churro man, come see what I have', 'We sell panchos for lovers!', and 'hey honeymooners, come see what I have!' We must have looked like newlyweds! :) The air was filled with the smell of fresh churros and they were the best we've had.

This video is taken from the side so the water coming in from the ocean is on my left. It resembles the water/air coming out of a whale's blowhole, hence the name.

In case you were wondering: La Bufadora is the largest blowhole in the world, often shooting more than 100 feet above sea level. It is caused when ocean waves and air are trapped in an underwater cave and then the water and air explode upward. It is actually quite loud and shoots off every minute or so, sometimes much higher than others.

We totally enjoyed spending the week together!

After a long disembarkment, I jumped in the van and drove to Arizona. It was great to see our sweet boys! McKay smiled and gave me a hug before going back to his game with Uncle David. Max wasn't ready to let me out of his sight for quite a while!

THIS Is Why We Were Excited to Move Here!

We've had a rough time getting settled (more on that someday) and were wondering why we were looking forward to living here. So for family home evening we went to the San Diego Temple and then walked along the coast and watched the sun set. JUST what we all needed!

When we drove up to the temple McKay was so so excited and kept saying 'Hi memple'. This was my first visit to the San Diego temple. We are excited to have a temple so close again.

My cute McKay so happy to be out of the house!

This may become a favorite FHE activity for our family. McKay wanted to go in and it just so happened that all the workers were there for a special meeting (with plates and plates of goodies... ) so he was really confused as to why we weren't going in too. We talked about the Angel Moroni again with McKay and he said "Moroni is not nice to people'. I was confused until I remembered there was a little boy in his nursery in Santa Clara who frequently had to be taken to his mother because he was too rough with the other children. Different Moroni buddy.

We went to the beach a few minutes from the temple in La Jolla. The ocean is always so rejuvenating for us and we loved being able to see so much wildlife near the beach. I don't think I've ever seen pelicans so close before.

McKay LOVED watching the waves 'rash' against the rocks.

These harbor seals were fun to watch.

I love watching the sun sink below the horizon. So So beautiful. It was a perfect way to start a new week.

Last Visitors

Well, we've had our last visitors here in Northern California. Yep, we're moving! Jordan will be working on a project in San Diego so we will be moving south in the fall. We are all excited for a new place to explore. We will still be about 13 hours from Jordan's parents (go figure) but we will only be 9 hours from my parents instead of 13, which is perfect timing for our drive home for Christmas this year with a 7 month old baby!

We really enjoyed having my parents and Dustin & Chantelle visit us for Max's blessing. This was Dustin's first time visiting us and they were here for a full week. We did some sight seeing (of course), relaxed a couple of days, blessed Max, and celebrated McKay's birthday. As has happened whenever anyone leaves, McKay goes through withdrawals and asks me to play with him all day every day. And no prayer is complete without saying 'please bless Nanna, Papa, Dustin Chantelle to come back soon.'

Uncle Dustin and Max

Grandpa and McKay reading 'The Gruffalo'. I think my Dad spent the first hour of each day reading books to McKay. And everyone got the opportunity to read 'The Gruffalo' to him!

McKay decided to lay on Grandpa instead of next to him to watch a show. He seemed to think on Grandpa was also the best place to be when he was helping him get ready for bed. Silly boy!

We went to Monterey/Carmel on Wednesday and did the 17 mile drive with them. The weather was much better than when we went in November!

Cannery Row in Monterey.

We are sitting on a bench made of rocks.

Chantelle, McKay & Nanna 'by' the Lone Cypress

Thursday we went to Big Basin. Dustin & Chantelle had not seen the majestic redwoods, which is a definite must when visiting Northern California!

We did a beautiful 3 mile hike to see some waterfalls. McKay is a good little hiker.

Exactly 6 weeks after Max was born. I was glad McKay was setting the pace. :)

On Saturday we went to the city. Because it was the 4th of July weekend, it was more crowded than we've ever seen it - people everywhere! We still managed to see everything and ended up at Ghiradelli Square. Man, thats good chocolate!

Sunday was the 4th of July. That evening we walked 1/2 mile to Central park for a fireworks show. McKay is still talking about it and asking for Nanna Papa, Dustin Chantelle to come back and take him to see more fireworks.

Monday was supposed to be a perfect beach day so we headed out to Santa Cruz. Well, we never did actually see the sun. The waves were enormous and the water was frigid, as usual. The ocean really is calming and Max slept the whole time, minus the few minutes he woke up to eat.

We just got this lovely sports-brella and I am a fan! I wanted it to protect us from the sun but this time it was the wind. Love it!

The rest tried out a skim board and found it is MUCH harder than it looks. They've got the bruises to prove it!

I think his eyelashes grow every day!

McKay loved flying the Buzz Lightyear kite he got for his birthday. The wind was perfect! He didn't quite understand that it isn't something you fly and then come back to later and often left Grandpa or Daddy holding it while he played with something else.

McKay sang the whole way to the beach. He gets his song making-up skills from his Daddy. He was SO excited and still talks about everyone coming back to go to the beach with him. In fact, when we leave to go somewhere, he points the opposite way and says that is the way to the beach.

March

Jordan plays basketball every Tuesday night at the church. He had been playing on Thursdays too in the stake tournament. That is until March 2. He came down on some one's foot and really hurt his ankle. He couldn't walk on it but he drove home (yes it IS his right foot) and banged on the window for me to help him in the house. Not what you like to hear at 10pm: "I need your help. I can't walk!" It was very painful and we wondered if he had broken it. A guy in the ward brought over some crutches (ironically the same guy whose foot was in the way :)) which saved us. The next morning we went to urgent care and x-rays confirmed that he had not broken anything. Ice and elevation was the advice. He was hoping to be done with the crutches well before his birthday on the 8th but it just didn't happen. He couldn't handle much weight at all. So Wednesday he stayed home and on Thursday and Friday McKay and I drove him to work and went to pick him up. By Monday he could put enough pressure on it to drive. When he went back to physical therapy for his elbows on the 9th the therapist took one look at his ankle and told him he needed to get to a doctor because he was pretty sure more damage had been done than just a sprain. He saw a doctor that afternoon and confirmed that he had torn ligaments and damaged tendons and would need physical therapy on his ankle. So, he has been going to physical therapy three times a week for a couple of hours first thing in the morning. It seems to be helping quite a bit though it will still be quite a while before he is back to running and playing basketball. Yesterday afternoon we walked to the park and back which is about 1.2 miles round trip. After about a mile he had had it and felt like he had pushed it too far. A week ago we couldn't even make it half a mile so he is improving.

We invested in some nice ice packs that wrap around his ankle and have definitely gotten a lot of use out of them. McKay likes to 'help' Daddy by bringing him the ice or by 'helping' him walk by holding onto his pants as he walks.

Hopefully his 27th birthday will be the one and only birthday Jordan ever has on crutches! The 8th was on a Monday (the first day he drove to work after his injury) so we went to dinner on Saturday and then McKay and I took him to lunch at Black Angus on his birthday. He requested a Pineapple Upside Down cake for his birthday. Y.U.M! McKay is getting lots of practice blowing out candles and is even more excited for his birthday in 'vulai' (July). He even prays for 'birthday' when he prays for 'Nanna, Papa, Daddy, Mommy, work (Daddy's job), Baby, and me'. If he forgets one he 'tries again'.

He got a hooded running rain jacket, a coupon for basketball shoes (kind of ironic...), trust/will software, Pilate's for Men, a vegetable grill basket, Trader Joes nuts, and several large t-shirts and lotion from my parents. He also got a card from Grandma and Grandpa Cardon on his birthday. Once again, McKay was very involved in opening gifts. Knowing this would probably be the case, I wrapped a lot of it. Birthday's are fun! I can't wait for July!

Saturday, March 13th we went to the Ano Nuevo State Park for a guided walk to see the Elephant Seals who come there to have their babies. We had made the reservations weeks ago - before Jordan hurt his ankle. The walk is about 3 miles on the sand so we were able to get our reservations switched to equal access so we rode a bus out to where the seals are and probably got a better view than we would have otherwise. McKay thought it was pretty cool to ride on the bus. It was his first bus ride and he kept looking at me with a grin and saying 'Bus Mommy!'

This pup was playing peek-a-boo with us. After a while, he and another pup worked their way up the beach to sun bathe. It was fun to watch them work their way up for a while, take a break, and then go again.
They start doing tours in the middle of December through the end of March so we were at the tail end of the season. All of the females were gone and most of what we saw were pups with a few older male stragglers.

Pups sun bathing. It is a natural reserve so nothing can be altered. We were fortunate enough to get to view most of what we saw near a dead pup. I was glad I didn't realize what the stench was until we were leaving. :)

This guy was huge. They stick their heads in the ground to sleep and can hold their breath for over an hour. They wake up long enough to take a breath and then go back to sleep. McKay thought it was pretty cool when this male used his tail to throw sand up on his back and kept asking for him to do it again. This guy also had scars all over his back from fighting with other males during breeding season. We would like to go again in December when the battles take place. :)

It was a beautiful day and we all loved being out!

We drove from the reserve to Half Moon Bay. At the recommendation of one of our guides, we stopped in Pescadero for some Artichoke soup. It was wonderful! We also stopped in at a bakery and got some garlic and artichoke bread which was also really good. My bread lovers (Jordan & McKay) really enjoyed it.

Everything is very green and there are fields and fields of beautiful yellow wild flowers. Love it!

I don't even remember what we were making but McKay enjoyed 'helping' me! This kid loves to make things and STILL asks if we are going to make pizza when we go to church. :) (We made pizza for a ward playgroup activity in January this year.)

McKay knows our routine when we go to the doctors office. He heads straight for his chair and keeps himself busy either with his doodle, eating goldfish, or coloring.

Snowman socks, train underwear and Mommy's shoes. :)

33 weeks

McKay looks forward to the weekends when Daddy doesn't have work and can stay home. By Thursday he is sure Daddy should be staying home. It is super cute. Here he is after they finished making cookies on Saturday - licking the flour off the table!