California Thanksgiving

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving. My whole family was there, and it was fun to spend some time with everyone. My Grandma has an amazing house in Coronado. Josh sure loved to swim in the pool, and would splash us all till we were soaking, and then dunk his face under. It was a nice break and fun to have warm weather. We would run in the mornings on the beach. I am pretty sure this was the first time I went running since I ran my half-marathon in August....sad, I know.

After playing some football. I don't know how it ended up all the old guys against the young ones, but us old ones lost.

Josh loving the pool.

And this next one....before any of you get concerned. You all know Ben... he loves to play, and this picture looks much scarier than the actual event. Still it was pretty amazing. Josh was very proud of himself, and was giggling so hard as he did some amazing 9 month old gymnastics.

He hung on here for at least 10 seconds before he let go. Then after doing it a few times he would just let go for the fun of it. Don't worry we didn't just let him fall to the bed, Ben caught him.

We tried and tried to get some family pictures. They were pretty much all bad, oh well. This one we were trying to get the moon in the background. It was a beautiful night.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Friends...

We just returned from a trip to Washington DC and Virginia. Ben had meetings in DC, so Josh and I came along for the ride and also to try to sort out our living situation. It was a good trip.

We flew into DC and then drove down to Charlottesville, Virginia. There we stayed with some great friends Rich and Emily. It was a beautiful drive into the south and we LOVED Charlottesville. It was peak season for the Fall foliage, and absolutely breath taking. Our friends live in this little neighborhood where every house sits on 2-3 acres of land. The houses cirlce a small pond with huge trees. There were even geese and a blue heron.

It was so fun to reconnect with old friends. We were also able to spend a little time with Amy and Mark. I loved being with friends who know me and my complete family. (I am still learning how to forge friendships with new people who don't know Cameron or me as Cameron's mom.) Josh had so much fun with Rich and Emily's girls.

After our 2 day stay in Charlottesville we drove back up to DC. Ben had meetings and we drove around looking at a few areas. We met Ben's friend from his mission and are going to rent their condo in Falls Church, Virginia. It really has seemed to work out perfectly. I like the condo and it is in a good area. There is a pond and walking trails nearby and a metro stop a mile away. So I am getting excited to live in DC and explore all it has to offer. Our plan is to move the first to middle of January and be there for 6 months.

So I didn't take one single picture of our trip. I brought the camera and everything....oh well. Josh did really well sleeping and being a good sport in the car. He is such a fun little guy and I love to watch him with other people. He loves people and is not afraid to go to new people. He just smiles and captures everyone's heart. How fun to be his mom!
....oh yeah I must mention that Josh threw up on the plane ride there AND on the plane ride home. I am just not sure what to do about that. He is not sick. He just gags VERY easily and then will throw up. I get very nervous to feed him anything when we are anywhere but home. Oh well I hope he grows out of it.

Cameron's Birthday

I wanted to post some pictures from Cameron's Birthday. It ended up being a really nice day. Thanks to all for thinking of us and praying for us.

First thing Friday morning I received an email from Heidi Stanger telling me about the tragedy in her family. (Her brother and his wife lost their twin 15 month old boys suddenly and tragically). My heart just ached for them. This caused me to reflect on all the many blessings I have received since Cameron's passing. I thought back to the days and weeks after the accident and how much divine help I received. I remembered once again the feelings and impressions I had of Cameron and his mission. I thought of his excitement to be about the Lord's work. It was a good way to start this day I had been so anxious about. I again knew that the Lord hadn't forsaken me, and it was all part of His plan.

Ben and I went to the temple in the morning and then in the afternoon both of our families met at the cemetery. We brought balloons tied to pumpkins and had the cousins and Sydney let them off "high to the moon". Josh loved playing with the balloons and watching them float higher and higher. It was a peaceful and beautiful night. Then we all went to our place and ate yummy soup (thanks to Grandmas). I made a baseball cake and "Bobie" helped blow out the candles. We ate cake and watched videos of Cameron. We didn't want it to be too sad and it ended up being nice to remember him and to hear his little voice and laugh. All in all a lot of things we will repeat next year. I must say the birthday was much easier than the anniversary. It was nice to have a day to just celebrate Cameron and his life. Love you buddy!

Watching the balloons go "high to the moon"

Growing up so Fast!

It seems like Josh has grown up so much the last couple of weeks. He talks all the time, and sometimes screams at his Dad when he's being tickled. He has learned how to climb stairs. Josh also has discovered the "bike" and LOVES to walk around with his bike all by himself. He is getting pretty good too. He can turn it and transfer himself from the bike to a shelf or his toybox and then back again to the bike. (For those of you who don't know the bike...it really is a walker type toy that turns into a scooter, Cameron called it his bike). Josh also really likes to tease mom, and is next to impossible to get dressed. He crawls away and giggles as I chase him. For some reason he is faster naked. Yesterday he started waving back to me. He is even starting to eat a little better. yippeee for me!! Ben keeps going out of town for a few days and when he gets home Josh is doing something new. I forgot how much fun (and how busy) this stage is. Our little baby is getting so old!

Happy Halloween!