What we've been up to

A long long time ago (the first week of August) Cori and I went our separate ways to fulfill some scouting responsibilities. Gracie and I headed to Nevada, where I spent 8 days at Camp Fleichmann on staff for the Wood Badge course that my father directed. My sister was also on staff, and my brother came as a participant. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, "Jess, that's great that so many of your family were there, but what possessed you to spend a week of wilderness living while 8 1/2 months pregnant?" I'll address this and the wonders of Wood Badge in my next post.

Gracie got to live it up with her Grammie Marla, her Aunt Thea, the three dogs, and the two horses. We got to spend a couple of days with everyone before heading back to Cali. Sara gave me a much needed pedicure. And the fam even had a little belated birthday celebration for me, where I was gifted a beautiful pink pearl jewelry set from their recent trip to China. They also got a white silk pants suit with embroidered dragons, some fun Olympic stuff and these cute ('toot' in Gracese) shoes for Grace. Oh, and a Tommy Bahama shirt for Cori.

Meanwhile, Cori headed to Camp Chiwanakee with the scouts from our ward for their week of summer camp. They kicked it off with a day of water skiing with our Bishop at Shaver Lake, and then spent 7 days at camp. It was a good experience for everyone. Cori is the extra tough looking guy on the left (in case you couldn't recognize him).

Since returning, we've stayed pretty busy. My sweet friends here, headed up by Kristy C*, threw a terrific baby shower for us. It was an intimate evening of great food, and plenty of friends completely free of any games that would distract us from all of our chatting. We were given so many generous gifts. I was waiting for the representative from Baby Gap to show up to congratulate me for owning their complete line of baby boy stuff. The biggest treat was just being able to spend that time with all these special women who have become so important to me.

Gracie and I have made a couple of trips to Disneyland. (Hopefully, we'll get one more in before we leave next weekend) This is Grace at the little water park outside of Bugs Land in California Adventure park. I was smart and brought her swimmies so she could do what she wanted. She loved running from splashy place to splashy place. I loved standing in the misty shade watching her entertain herself.

And we spent our Saturday afternoon at the beach. Grace LOVES the water. She wants to go as deep as her dad will take her, and loves when the waves "crash" on her head. Anytime the word 'beach' is heard, she pats her head and says (about 50 times) "crash, head... crash, head... crash, head...) As you can see in the picture, Gracie loves the waves the way most people love big drops on roller coasters. The smile seems to say "this feels funny, but I love it." We picked up some of our favorite Mexi-food on the way home. El Burrito Jr is the place to go if you ever visit. We like to get the beach basket. Two burritos, two enchiladas, two chicken tacos, beans and rice, chips and salsa: $13.55. It usually takes us about 3 meals to finish it all. So good.

So, we've got about 8 or 9 days left in our little paradise here. We've got a bit to do to make sure we're ready to go. And now that its finally final that we are leaving, we are both a little melancholy. We love the people we've met here, and we will really miss the area. I'm sure I'll spend some more time writing about this soon...