Happy Birthday to you!!

I would post a most recent picture of Monica but it is in the last post so just scroll down a little bit and you will see it! :) I just want to wish a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Monica Rose! She turns 6 today!

Monica was due January 4 but I knew and hoped she would come sooner. I was miserable at the end of this pregnancy. There was so much pressure that it hurt to walk. But walk we did, got Megan and Karly strapped into the double stroller to walk around the mall. I felt a lot of contractions while I was walking. The only thing was that it was a Sunday night so we chose the Newgate Mall in Ogden because we were sure no one there would know us. I mean it was Sunday. Got to keep it holy! ;) No luck so I told her in-utero that she had to come the 23rd or wait until the 26th. I did not want a baby born on Christmas Eve or Day. Crazy me because I like it now and so does she. She announces to everyone that she is a Christmas baby! So she actually listened and came the next day on Monday, December 23, 2002 at 12:22 pm weighing 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long.

Monica is my sweet and crazy girl. We told her that Joseph Smith's birthday is also December 23rd. She replied, "but he's dead already, right?"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA ROSE!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

You can't escape genetics....

It has happened. My third child has gotten glasses. Monica got her glasses this last week. She is actually quite excited to have them! And she looks quite cute I might add! Mike took her and helped her pick the frames. He is better at that than I am. So now Megan, Karly, and Monica all now have glasses. Mike has tried to blame it on my family genetics. Not gonna work. I informed him of all the people in his family that wore glasses, two-thirds of his immediate family were glasses. I got my glasses in kindergarten. I still wear contacts. I feel bad for Katelyn and Mikayla because it is just a matter of time.

....and then California.

First some backround info. Mike is the second child of Merle and Kathryn Jacobson. But they go by Jake and Kitty. I mean if your name was Merle Omar, wouldn't you choose a nick name also? I agree. Mike has 1 older brother, 5 younger sisters, and 2 younger brothers. He is the second of nine. The order is Kevin(37), Mike(35 basically, his b-day is Dec. 12), Michelle(33), Katie(32), Kim(29), Melissa(26), Kristin(24), Matthew(21), and Kyle(15). Now there is a little bit of a guide so if I mention someone you can refer to this list! :)

Anyhoo, Matthew came home from the Texas Fort Worth Mission on November 26th. Yeah!! We have not seen him in 2 years. I got pregnant with Mikayla 2 weeks after he left. So he had never seen Mikayla except in pictures. So we left Utah on Tuesday the 25th, planned to spend the night at the California state line and make it the Ontario airport in time for his flight to come in at 12:20. It was a command performance by Kitty that EVERYONE had to be there to see him of the plane. So we were all there to see him come down to the baggage claim. It was fun. Kitty bought all her grandkids "cowboy" hats for them to wear. They were supposed to yell "Yee-haw!" when they saw him, but you know that this did not happen because they are kids and forgot when they saw him. He hugged Kitty first. And it took him a while to hug everyone else. But it was sweet and good to see him. My kids were way excited and had made signs for him to see.

Matthew when he got off the plane and got closer to the "mob" waiting to see him.


Matthew and Mikayla meeting for the first time. She was not sure about him but she did not cry!

The next day was Thanksgiving. We ate dinner at Jake and Kitty's and had dessert at my parents' house. Becky, Greg, their kids, Mike, Nikki, their kids, my Aunt Ellen, Uncle Larry, Sarah, Hayden, their baby, Greg's parents, and my parents were there. It was good and a lot of fun to see them. Sarah and Hayden's baby, Emily, is getting so big!! She's over 12 pounds now. Not bad considering she was just over 4 pounds starting out in life. She has tripled her birth weight in 4 months! I will post some pics of her another time. She is so cute!

The day after Thanksgiving we did not go shopping. Instead we went to SeaWorld. We were very lucky to have one of Mike's suppliers give us free tickets for our whole family! And the coolest thing is that when you bought day passes they automatically converted to season passes for the entire year of 2009! We live in Utah and have season passes for our entire family for the year of 2009! Very cool!! The kids were thrilled because they had never been there and I hadn't either from what I could remember. We went with Mike's sister, Michelle, and her family. Michelle's husband, Jason, and her kids, Kaylee and Austin, were great. They showed us around and told us what we should see. We also met up with Mike's brother, Kevin, and his family about lunch time. So it was a group of 6 adults and 12 kids! We had a blast and the kids loved spending the day with their cousins.

After we left SeaWorld, Michelle and Jason suggested that we go for dinner at a place in downtown San Diego called Dick's Last Stand. It was a hoot! They gave you cloth napkins to use for your dinner because the dispensers of paper napkins that are on the table are used to throw at people! Seriously!! You have paper napkins fights with any one that you see! It was crazy and so much fun! I mean, who would not have fun when you can have a paper napkins fight during dinner!

Saturday was spent at my parents house. But late in the afternoon we met up with Mike's family for family pictures. Then we had dinner back at my Mom and Dad's with Becky, Greg, Mike, Nikki, Sarah, Hayden, and all their kids.

Sunday we went to Mike's parents ward to hear Matthew report his mission. He did a very good job and it was great to hear some of his experiences in Texas. We left right after Sacrament Meeting because we had to get home. We drove home all in one day on Sunday. We were planning to drive home on Monday but Mike's boss said he had to be there for a meeting Monday morning so home we went.

Monica seeing the dolphins. She also petted them too with Uncle Jason's help!

The kids with their cousins, Kaylee and Austin. Austin is easy to pick out because he was the only boy in this picture! They are such great kids! We love them!

The Beluga whales (or at least one of them). I thought they were the coolest animals there. Sure the polar bear, the penquins, sharks, killer whales, and dolphins were cool. But I loved these!! They way that they move through the water is amazing!

I will post some more pictures later! There was a lot more!

First, Arizona....

First, I am going to write about our trip to Arizona. Leaving the day after Halloween is not very bright I tell ya, but we survived. Packing for a trip plus 5 costumes is a little crazy but you just make it through. Mike had to be down to Nogales by Monday so we left Saturday. We decided to drive it in 2 days because it is a very LOOONNNGGG trip. It takes about 12 to 14 hours depending how much you stop. So we get to my sister, Susan's late afternoon on Sunday and had dinner. Mike had some guys from work pick up and he headed down to Nogales. I mean Mike working was the whole reason we were there. He was helping with a third party food safety audit that was on Wednesday. So Susan took me and all my kids in. Bless her soul! Monday we took the kids to the park because the weather is about perfect down there this time of year. Tuesday is when all the "fun" started. Susan broke her hand when she tripped and fell down taking a neighbor's daughter to school because the neighbor had broken her leg. Susan had a double compound fracture of her right leg almost exactly 4 years earlier. She is quite talented I know. Then that night I started feeling sick to my stomach and threw up from 8:30 pm to 2:30 am. I felt better the next day but weak. Katelyn started to throw up Wednesday night but was better Thursday morning. On Thursday, Susan and her oldest daughter Amy got sick. Karly got sick Thursday evening, threw up twice and was over it. Lucky! On Friday, Susan felt better, Amy was still sick, Sean (Susan's husband) got sick, as did Daniel and Kimmy (2 of Susan's other kids). On Saturday, Becca (Susan's youngest) got sick. By Sunday, everyone felt better. We only had 3 holdouts who never got sick, Aaron (Susan's oldest son), Monica and Mikayla. Sadly Aaron lost the fight on Sunday afternoon. So of the 13 people in the house on 2 did not get sick. Megan got sick Halloween night and threw up. I thought it was too much candy. So I guess we took it to Susan's house. I felt so bad and kept apologizing. She felt bad that we couldn't do all she planned. So we forgave each other. I was glad that I was there to at least help out after her hand. On Monday, all the former sick people had a cook out in their back yard. Arizona uses a lot of rock in their landscaping so in their side yard they made a fire pit and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids had a blast! It was a lot of fun! We headed home on Tuesday about lunch time. We got home on Wednesday, November 12th and relaxed until it was time to get ready for the trip to California!

Here is Susan's dog, Missy Good Puppy. Very sweet dog. She would sit in Sean's chair when he is not home. :) Katelyn loved her and called her Missy Puppy.

Cousins having fun and wrestling.

Susan holding Mikayla and watching the wresting.

Karly, Monica, and Megan in front of the Christus statue in the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center.

The fire pit in their back yard. The kids thought it was so cool!!