SAN DIEGO AND UTAH

Our flight left Sunday morning at 5:45am. Again thats when our flight LEFT! We arrived about 161/2 hours later. We got picked up and taken to Chris's parents house where Kristi was making us a delicious crock pot dinner...yummy.

We ate and let Taimi do whatever she wants for 4 hours or so rested then ran over to the hospital to meet the newest edition to our family Guage Miles. Then we hit the open road.

Due to the Jet-Lag and how it was really 2 in the morning Germany time when we started to drive WE WERE EXHAUSTED!! We only made it to Mesquite Utah that night. I don't remember being that tired before in my entire life. I plopped myself on the bed and was out cold I even slept in my clothes and shoes :) yeah I was that tired. The next morning was Valentines day Chris surprised me with love notes and some Cadbury Eggs...my first one :)

My real Valentines present were THESE. One thing Europe lacks is breakfast especially pancakes. I could eat pancakes every single morning of my life and not get sick of them...no lie. And I would except Chris isn't especially fond of them. So for Valentines we stopped in Vegas and had the most wonderfully fluffy ALL YOU CAN EAT pancakes. MMMMMMM GOOD!!

We made it to my Grandparents in the early evening. Just in time for some delicious Mexican food. San Diego has the best Mexican food which is another thing Europe lacks. Prague had ONE (what they call) Mexican restaurant so it's also something we REALLY wanted.

It was such a lovely evening. We really enjoyed ourselves. Although we were very ready for a bed and pillow.

My Grandpa and Uncle Bruce kept us laughing especially Taimi. My Grandpa is hilarious always making every smile and laugh it comes so natural to him

We mostly did a lot of cuddling and visiting. My Grandma (who is the greatest cook) made us some ribs for dinner and a delicious breakfast pie the next morning.

Once we were leaving we had to pry Taimi off my Grandpa's neck.

We took a lot of pictures and tried to cherish every second we had with my Uncle and Grandparents.

My Uncle Bruce. One of the greatest Uncles in the world.

My Beautiful Beautiful Grandma.

We promised Taimi we would either take her to the Zoo the beach or Sea World. I wish we could have done all three but time wasn't on our side this time.

The zoo closes super early right now and it was a little nippy for sea world since you inevitably always get wet so we headed to the beach.

She loved it so much!

Most my childhood summers were spent In San Diego at my Grandparents. They would take care of me and my two older sisters for months on end sometimes. So playing in the sand, splashing in the water, and riding those waves were a big part of my life. It was only natural that Taimi would love it too.

We all longed to go in the water but it was cold and we didn't have wet suits or buggy boards.

We looked for shells to make bracelets, got our feet wet and ate sand.

Taimi had at least a good 2 full buckets.

Between the sand eating and the shell sucking she didn't really care to leave.

This cute SDSU student came by to take pictures of Taimi I can't wait to see them.

She frolicked and played the Ashley way. I was so proud.

Saying goodbye was especially hard. When we woke up Wed. morning we noticed Taimi was coughing so we knew we shouldn't linger.

We had to say goodbye a little sooner than planned.

It was a rainy day. I cried and cried the first hour or so back to Utah.

I said a few prayers and begged for my faith to kick in and the hole in my stomach to disappear. When all a sudden there were rainbows everywhere. We saw at least 6 different rainbows that morning. 6!!

For real I hadn't seen a rainbow since my mission 4 years ago and now I was seeing more than one...sweet!

It was such a divine reminder that NO MATTER the storms, big or small, God promises it will pass and that he will always send us rainbows and sunshine.

Goodbyes are never permanent EVER!!

I am grateful for all the memories.

We headed back to Utah spent the night in Mesquite again.

But we especially enjoyed the ride together.

We love the hours we spend talking. When Chris and I are road trippin it the radio is never on its such a great time to reconnect.

Taimi was a champ like always she was a perfect child the whole trip. Except when we realized we forgot her favorite sippy cup. The ONLY sippy cup she will drink our of. She never liked bottles she went from the teet :) to the sippy.

We stopped in the middle of somewhere to buy her a new sippy and some DVD's for Taimi...it was a disaster she hated ever one we tried. She was crying wanting milk but the 4 different sippy cups we bought just weren't cutting it. LOL! Target wasn't too pleased with the screaming baby and the two sippys we had to return because Taimi didn't approve.

Hours later we found the ONE sippy we thought we forgot in Chris's bag pack :) oh joy!

So we headed home for Chris's best friends funeral. I didn't bring my camera to any of it. But it truly was incredible.

Chris said the closing prayer and had the honor of being a pall-bearer.

It was the neatest experience. Chris and I became so much closer than ever before. He was there to hold me up, hold me, kiss me and be there for me and I got to do the same for him a day later.

It was most definitely a trip no one ever wants to make. But it will be one we will forever cherish.

After one doctors visit and one ER trip we found out Taimi had RSV (a form of bronchitis) and an ear infection. So we had to stay away from all our nieces and nephews :( BOOOO!! We didn't get to see any of them. The rest of the trip was spent renting redbox's and eating Cafe Rio.

It's okay though we already have our flights home on April 18th!!!

**Oh And I Got Some FEATHER Hair Extensions**

THEY ROCK I LOVE THEM!

I can't wait to post pics!