Egbert Family Visits LA

Last week we were happy to have Nana and Grandap Egbert, and Aunt Jenna, visit us in LA.
1. Monday: Huntington Gardens

2. Tuesday: Attempted to visit the beach. Unfortunately although Monday was sweltering, Tuesday was cloudy and windy. Here we are at Rat beach. I found myself asking, why is it called Rat beach?

I think Steve pointed out, it must be because of the giant rats... here, one has left his tail behind:

So, instead we went back to the apt and jumped in the warm-but-not-so-hot tub. We found that our camera takes much better pictures underwater (all the nice pictures are from the folks' camera.)

3. Wednesday we went to SeaWorld. It was a nice relaxing day. No sort of weather for the SPLASH ZONE but not cold really. Here is a picture of Shamu (or one of his buddies, is Shamu really still around?).

Here is Jackson running around. He liked looking at all the animals and chasing the birds.

4. Thursday we hung out at the apt, watched a few movies, then hit the farmer's market in the evening.

5. Friday we were going to hit the LA Zoo, but the crowds were so big that we made a detour to the Griffeth Observatory instead. We were glad we did, it was beautiful and the views were amazing, and the weather perfect. We were wishing we had planned more time to walk around the grounds or hit a show.

Jackson especially liked walking up and down all the stairs.

We met Steve at home after class, and we decorated Easter Eggs- yes Jackson did help a little bit, I was a little intrepid, but no big messes. Gpa Egbert made the green and yellow one and called it a day. Dad (Steve) made the green one with the "Star of David" (christmas?) on it, I take credit for the blue one with the Sun (it's my favorite) and no one knows who made the cool dark blue one in the middle. It's a mystery.

Saturday morning came too soon and the family went on their way. Thanks for coming, we miss you already!

"I Hope They Call Me on a Mission"

We have some great Elders serving in our ward right now- Elder Richins is from a small town in Utah (and used to rock climb!) and Elder Lapauna from Samoa- can you guess who is who? They both have great testimonies. We had them over for dinner and as they were leaving, Jackson grabbed some scriptures (without promting from us) and wanted to go too.

Sorry Jackson, you have to stay with us this time! Only about 17 1/2 more years until your mom cries her eyes out!

Potty-Training

Jackson has ice cream on his face. That is because last night Steve took Jackson to the bathroom and he went "potty in the big toilet"! Steve obviously tells the story better, but we haven't been trying to potty-train really- when Jackson is going to take a bath I always stand him by the toilet first, but he's never gone in the toilet before. Last night Steve notice J's diaper was dry but he'd been drinking a lot so he asked Jackson if he wanted to go in the toilet and they went in and voila he hit the spot. Steve made a big deal about it and gave him some ice cream.

Then today Jackson had some lunch, and then the stove repairman was over (our stove blew up- we've been without for a week) and he started pulling off his diaper and whimpering, so I asked if he wanted to go to the bathroom, he said "EYE" (meanining yes) and we went in and he went potty in the toilet again! SCORE. Maybe this is the beginning of bathroom semi-independence!

Jackson likes to Hide

Jackson thinks it is SO FUNNY to hide behind the curtains when it is time to get dressed or time for a diaper change.