Temple Trip, Downtown Disney, a Fair, and another Fun Filled Weekend!

As I sit here on a Friday morning I think, "Where is Brad!?" These past 6 weeks while we were in Pismo Beach, Brad had Fridays Off! We are now back at our apartment in Bakersfield (which I love) and Brad is working 5 days a week here at the PCL Office/Shop. 

We got to enjoy Brad's last Friday off last week by driving down to Los Angeles to go to the Temple! We got up and drove to L.A. which is about and hour and 1/2.  To get to the temple we drove through Hollywood! It was sure a sight to see with LOTS of traffic!

It was so cool seeing everything down there! I felt like I was in a Movie because all of this stuff you only see on TV! We didn't get the chance to really walk around Hollywood, but Brad promised another trip before we move back to Rexburg!  

We drove through Beverly Hills and at the end of Santa Monica Street was... 

The Beautiful L.A. Temple! 

Brad and I had such a great session at the temple! The spirit was so strong and it was nice to have such a spiritual experience together! It seemed as though a lot of our prayers and worries were answered and it was just a special time that we will never forget. 

For my friends who are not of LDS faith and have questions about the temple please visit this site! It is very informative and may answer questions you may have! 

http://www.lds.org/church/temples/frequently-asked-questions

 The temple grounds were so Beautiful! 

Everything about this temple was just amazing!  

After our temple session we headed down to Anaheim to see Brad's sister and family in Downtown Disney. Megan and her sweet family were vacationing in Disneyland and we all decided to meet up for dinner. 

Before our dinner reservations we walked around the stores in Downtown Disney. One of our favorite stores was the Lego store. All of the Lego sculptures were awesome!  

Hulk...

Beauty and the Beast 

And Buzz and Woody!  

It was crazy that all of these things were made out of Legos. I can't imagine the time that had to go into those in order for them to be built and displayed! 

Then it was time for dinner! We went to Tortilla Jo's! It was great! 

There was a balloon maker in the restaurant and he made Rex for Brexton

And Ariel for Maci!  

We had so much fun with them! It was so great to see family! Thank you Megan and Bart for a wonderful dinner! It was a memory we will never forget! We love you guys!  

Before we left we walked down the Downtown Disney Sign! Wish we could have spent more time there in such a Happy Place! 

After a good nights rest we got up and went to the Fair in Bakersfield!  

We enjoyed walking around the booths, enjoying some entertainment, seeing the animals and eating delicious FAIR FOOD!! 

Brad had a Gyro for lunch!  

and I had a french dip with sweet potato fries!  

We saw every kind of fair animal that you could think of but these rare pheasants were my favorite! I had never seen anything like them!  

Probably the highlight of our trip to the fair was paying a dollar to see a 9 year old pig that weight 1,052 pounds!  We couldn't get a picture to show how ginormous this pig was but it was definitely mind blowing!!

And of course I had to take a picture of an elephant! (its my favorite animal) I had never seen an elephant at a fair before but it was fun to see!   

Saturday after a long nap, I went to the General Relief Society Broadcast. 

For those who don't know, here is a little description. 

 Every year The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds a General Relief Society Meeting which is broadcast to church buildings throughout the world. This annual meeting is usually held the fourth Saturday of September at 6:00 p.m. (MDT) for 1.5 hours in the Conference Center located in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Members of the First Presidency and General Relief Society give talks to encourage, teach, and strengthen women worldwide. Every woman, whether or not she is a member of The Church, is invited to attend this meeting, either in the Conference Center (free tickets may be required as seating is limited), at her local stake building, or to watch the broadcast online. 

One great thing during the Broadcast was seeing my friend sister Kaylie Madsen (in pariwinkle on the left) singing in the Sister Missionary Choir. She is currently in the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah before she is sent to Germany to serve for 18 months! 

It was such a great meeting and afterwards our building held a dinner. It was so great to get to know more people here in Bakersfield. 

Speaking of getting to know more people, The Foulk Family in our ward at church asked us to come over for dinner Sunday Night! Becky is a single mom with two awesome kids, Kaili and William. The kids were so cute! They made us the sweet Welcome sign that said, "Welcome Brother and Sister Duffy" 

They had Tri-tip tacos and William made these awesome cookies! After dinner we played games and talked for hours! They already have plans to have us over again for dinner this weekend! They are so fun! :)

We are so grateful to be living here in Bakersfield. We both feel that this is where the Lord wants us to be at this time. We both miss our families but it is great that we have a church family and friends here to make us feel so welcome! Brad has had a great week of work back here in Bakersfield and I am so proud of him and all of his hard work to provide for our small family! We love you all and hope all is well! 

P.S. Baby Duffy is sure growing (19 weeks)! Next Thursday, October 10th we find out if baby Duffy is a boy or a girl! What do you think we are having?

How I love being an AUNT!

One of my greatest joys is being an Aunt to 5 sweet nieces and one handsome nephew! (one more nephew is on his way in just a few months!) 

Yesterday I received this photo of Maci and Brexton from my sister in-law Megan. The de la Houssaye Family is off to Disneyland this week! These two kiddos were so excited to go and we get to see them on FRIDAY! Brad and I are going to drive down there and meet up with them for dinner after we have a day at the L.A. temple! We love you guys so much!

I received this Picture from my sister in-law Nicole this morning! Receiving pictures of these cute girls and the other nieces and nephews make my day! Annie and Shae will always have a special place in mine and Brad's hearts. We had the wonderful opportunity of living close to them in Rexburg when their Dad, Nathan, was going to school. We miss seeing them all the time but seeing them grow thru pictures and videos are second best! They are going to be big sisters to a new baby brother at the end of this year or early in January. Can't wait til we get to see them again or to our fun phone conversations! 

Even though this picture is about a month old, I can't forget about these two cuties! Zoey and Quinn are my brother's girls. They are about 12 weeks apart in age and are so fun together! I haven't seen Zoey since April and man has she really grown up! I was able to see Quinn for a day in July when she was visiting Mimi and Papa. I will get to see them both at the end of October in Spokane for my Baby Shower! I can't wait!! 

I also can't wait to see all of them to one day interact with our baby! Cousins can definitely be lifelong friends! Only 16 more days until Brad and I find out if our baby is a boy or a girl! We are so excited! 

Anniversary and Fun Weekend!

 Wow time goes by so fast! On September 10th Brad and I celebrated out 2 year wedding anniversary! 

Brad brought home these beautiful flowers after work. Since we were at Pismo Beach, we had to improvise for a vase! We used the ice bucket and just cut the stems short! :) 

Brad surprised me with dinner plans, which he had been researching the perfect place for a couple of weeks. We went to The Old Custom House in Avilla Beach, just a few minutes north of Pismo. 

There for an appetizer we had the coconut shrimp! It was so delicious!  

We had the nicest time enjoying the scenery! Our nice waitress brought out this ice cream sundae for us when she found out it was our anniversary. We were so full! I had the Fillet Mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and Brad had shrimp and scallops. We were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures of our actual meals! 

I honestly couldn't ask for a better husband! I am so proud of him with all the hard work he has done with his internship! He is always thinking of me first with all of his endeavors. He takes care of me better than I could take care of myself! We are so excited to see what this next year brings with welcoming our baby into the world this February! I love you Brad! Thanks for making our anniversary so special!  (He also surprised me with some jewelry and a new watch!)

One thing I have loved about Brad working in Pismo Beach, is that he gets Friday's off! It has been so nice because we can get all of our errands done on Friday and still have a couple more days of the weekend to enjoy. 

One of the errands we run is getting our car wash! We have this awesome car wash by our house and they take our picture when you go thru! I have forgotten to get our previous pictures because they only keep them on their website for a few days! 

This last Friday we had our 16 week appointment. It was very short and sweet. Our doctor checked the Heart Beat and we were able to record it! It is such a relief to hear that sound each time we are at the doctor! 

(I had to record it from my laptop to get it on here, sorry if the quality isn't the best! And you might have to turn your sound up high)

We have our next appointment on October 10th and we will be finding out what we are having! We are so beyond excited!!

At our apartment in Bakersfield we have a high school right across the street. They had their first home game on Friday night, so we decided to become Centennial Golden Hawk Fans! It was so fun to enjoy some football and half time entertainment! 

One thing about Bakersfield that I think I have forgot to mention is that it never cools down! The game started at 8:00 pm and it was still in the 90's! I was getting very hot during the game so before half time Brad got me a delicious Snow Cone! Even though it was hot and our team lost we had a blast! 

On Saturday we went to Panda Express for lunch! I crave orange chicken!! I had the most perfect fortune and later I found out it was going to come true!  

My Mom is going to be coming to Bakersfield the night of October 10-October 14! I am excited to have fun with her and do some baby shopping since we will know what we are having by then! I can't wait!!

After lunch, Brad and I decided to do a little baby browsing for fun! When we got to Babies R Us we got to park in the front row since I am an expectant Mother! One of the perks I guess of being pregnant!  

My baby bump is really starting to come out! I am so happy because I am finally  out of the "fat" stage! I have been so lucky to not have any known complications with this pregnancy! I have been feeling great and really can't complain except for small back pains are starting here and there! The doctor showed me great stretches to ease the pain! 

All is well here! We only have one more week in Pismo then we are back in Bakersfield for the rest of Brad's internship! It will be nice to be consistently in our apartment instead of just 3 days out of the week! 

We Had Visitors!!

Over Labor Day Weekend we had our cousins Courtney and Matt Duffy come and visit! (They are the newlyweds mentioned a few posts back)

They live near San Jose, California and traveled about 4 hours down to see us in Bakersfield! We had such a blast! It was our first time meeting Courtney and it felt like we had known her for forever! 

When they first got to Bakersfield on Saturday, we went to the Original Roadhouse! We had heard a lot about it and it was some pretty good BBQ! It was very similar to Texas Roadhouse but not quite the same! 

After I thought I couldn't be any fuller, we went to Sonic and got 1/2 off Shakes! One thing we learned quick about Matt and Courtney is that they love food as much as we do, and they also love to talk and share stories like us too! I think we stayed at Sonic for a couple hours just catching up and Matt and Brad were reminiscing on childhood  memories! 

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and made BLT sandwiches for Lunch! 

We then enjoyed our afternoon with watching Despicable Me! Matt had never seen it before! I can watch this movie over and over and it never gets old! 

For dinner we had fajitas, corn and black bean salad, and  chips and guacamole! We got full once more! We decided to walk dinner off by going to the park across the street! 

Monday before they headed out of town we gave them the grand tour of Bakersfield!  

 Cousins re-united! 

While driving around town Courtney and Matt were so fascinated with the oil pumps! If any of you have been to Bakersfield before, you see these everywhere!!  

Some construction workers explained how they worked and were kind enough to take a picture of the four of us!  

We had such a wonderful weekend! We can't wait to go visit them at their new place soon! Thanks Matt and Courtney for making the trip! Many memories were made! Love you guys!! 

Pismo Beach

After two weeks of working in Bakersfield, Brad was assigned to oversee and help with a project out at Pismo Beach. Pismo is about 2 1/2 hours away from Bakersfield, so we spend 4 days of the week out in Pismo and spend the weekends in Bakersfield. It has been really nice to get out of the heat of Bakersfield and enjoy the ocean at Pismo. 

We got to Pismo Beach for the first time on August 19th. We immediately wanted to check out the beach. Sadly our first day was very foggy and overcast but we still enjoyed our time! 

 

We were SO excited to see the ocean!  

This was when I was 13 weeks. When I wear this sweatshirt now you can tell I actually have a belly! (Crazy to think I am almost 17 weeks!!) 

My North Face Boy! We got a steal of a deal on that sweatshirt right before we ventured out to Pismo!  

The first week at Pismo, we spent every night walking on the beach. Our favorite spot is walking on the pier and watching the surfers! It is cool because when we are on the pier we are right above them when they catch the waves!  

 

 There are always a ton of guys out there waiting for the perfect wave.

This pelican flew in right next to us. Once I got my phone out, I scared him away. But I was able to snap this photo before he took off. This pelican was like my size, I was pretty scared when it flew right over my head! 

 More of hanging out on the pier. 

Once it gets close to sunset, we then go down on the beach and see some wildlife, mainly seals! 

I loved this sand! It is so fine and soft!

Isn't this beautiful?

My favorite time of the day! Spending time with Brad!   

One night the tide was pretty low so we were able to hike out to these caves! They were huge! (I would hate to get trapped under there!)

Walking on the streets of Pismo we found Brad's! We haven't tried it out yet but we need to in the next few weeks that we are out here!  

Just this last week we went north a little bit, to Shell Beach. It was nice but very rocky!  

It was very secluded but there was only a small beach. The sand was like gravel and easy to write in, so I decided to do a cheesy writing in the sand photo!    

Right above the beach there was a nice park that was fun to walk around in. They had sight seeing stations that you could look in the telescope and see so far out!  

Last Friday, after dropping Brad off at work, I went down to Pismo Beach. A lady told us that if you go early enough, you will see dolphins passing by! I got there at 6:30 am and saw some at about 7:15 am! It was so cool!! I had never seen wild dolphins like that before! Sorry I don't have a good enough camera on my phone to capture them! I need binoculars for future early morning trips!  

The tide was pretty low that I scored on collecting sand dollars! Every time we went in the evening, the shells and sand dollars were pretty well picked through and broken. 

I also found this Crab.... 

And this cool Starfish!  

Other wildlife I saw were otters swimming on their backs and I saw a ton of seals! It was so fun, but not as exciting by myself! :) 

I have been occupying my time at the hotel while Brad is at work. I have been crocheting this baby blanket! I just ran out of gray yarn last night so I am going to hopefully find more today! Crocheting takes so much time! To do one row it takes me about 30 mins. and I have done about 44 rows! Only like 100 more to go before its complete! I can understand why these are so expensive! 

We just found out we will be going back and forth to Pismo for just a couple more weeks, and then Brad will get transferred back out to Bakersfield. We are excited to be more permanent at home instead of being in and out of hotels each week. But it has been a blast, don't get me wrong! I am proud of Brad and all the hard work he has been doing! We have been so blessed to be in this beautiful place for the past 4 weeks! Time really flies when you are busy and having fun!!  

Love and Miss you all! I have a Doctors Appointment in the morning! 

More posts to come!