Murray Family Farms

Last year we took a day and went to Murray Family Farms to pick strawberries. We had such a good time that we decided to make it a yearly tradition. Every Saturday in May they have free blueberry pancakes so we couldn't resist. It was amazing how different it was this year from last. We thought we were coming around the same time, but the growing season must be different this year. We went to pick strawberries and came home with peaches and nectarines. The strawberries were pretty much all picked over, and we had some in our garden still, so it wasn't a huge loss. I wish we would have picked more peaches and nectarines though because they were SOOO yummy. I LOVE "pit fruit" season. Emma had a good time playing in their "ant" maze and at the petting zoo. We missed out on the hayride and the homemade blueberry syrup, but it was a fun family outing nonetheless.





About a month ago we went to the temple for a ward activity. The youth watched the kids while the parents participated at the temple. It was a nice get away, but I couldn't help worrying about Emma the whole time. She is a great escape artist, and very fast. They said she only ran away a couple times.:) (What are we going to do!) We were able to get some updated family pictures. Not the greatest, but they will do for now until the baby comes.


I finally took Emma to get her 2 year pictures as well. She does not like to perform for the camera so we were lucky to get the shots that we did. Funny girl. This was the only picture I could get to put on here, and unfortunately it was one of the photos we ended up not choosing. It's so cute I should have.

Weekend Camping Trip

Mike has been wanting to go camping for awhile now, and seeing as I am getting further along in my pregnancy we decided that it was now or never. It was so nice to be able to just get away, spend time as a family, and explore a different part of the state. On Thursday night we headed up to Monterey, CA and stayed in a hotel that night. We didn't realize how much Emma is stuck to her routine. Granted, she didn't get her nap that day, but she just screamed for 2 hours and refused to go to sleep. She finally fell asleep watching a movie, woke up 5 hours later and refused to go back to bed. We all were a little sleep deprived the next day.

Mike was a sweetie and packed/unpacked the car MANY times.



Friday morning we got ready and headed down to Carmel by the Sea. We did a little window shopping and then spent some time at the beach. We took Rusty with us so most of the activities that we did were dog friendly ones. Luckily Carmel has the best dog friendly beach. We were able to let him off leash and he just played and ran around with all the other dogs there. It was a highlight of the trip for me just watching my cute family running away from the incoming surf. Emma was having the time of her life. The water was freezing and she was sure getting wet, but laughing the whole time. Mike also showed Emma how to fly a kite, and we played with her new sand toys. We only stayed for an hour or so because it started getting too chilly, but it was a great morning spent at the beach



Emma decided that she had worn herself out enough to take a nap, and so we just took our time getting to our campsite. We drove along the coast, which was beautiful, and just enjoyed seeing the beauties of nature..
We stayed at a campsite located in the Big Sur state park. There were huge redwood trees everywhere, and it was exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to camp with some "TREES", not Joshua trees and sage brush, but actual trees.


The campsite was nice, but we didn't realize until we got there that all or at least most of the state parks do not allow dogs on the trails and so we were not able to take advantage of hiking or a nature trail of any kind. Emma ended up taking a 4 hour nap, which she needed, and we were able to set up our campsite while she was still sleeping. Fortunately/Unfortunately there was a playground right by our tent and so it gave Emma plenty to play with. The unfortunate part was that she knew the "swings" were right there all night and had a hard time falling asleep again. We were really blessed that once she did fall asleep she slept for the whole night. Saturday we got packed up and thought we might hit the beach again, but it was cloudy, and we decided just to head home. It was probably a good thing because we were sure tired and it's always nice to have a chance to get things put away, and just relax before starting another day.

Mother's Day was nice as well. Mike didn't have to go to meetings in the morning and so he watched Emma for me while I prepared for my lesson. I'm sure grateful for my sweet family. I'm so glad we were able to spend some good quality time together, it always helps to remind you of all the blessings you have. I hope all you mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, grandmothers had a wonderful Mother's Day and were able to celebrate the beauty of being a woman.