Happy Birthday, Matt!

Diaper Diaries

Day # 840

To say that the holiday season was a busy time for us would be the understatement of the year! It seems like I am always starting out my posts by mentioning how busy we have been with this, that, and the other thing, but if you know me, Matt or Quinton, you know I'm not exaggerating in any case!

Rather than bore you with the details, I'll dazzle you with the highlights!

Quinton and I flew to San Diego on the 14th of December to help with the wedding details for my mom. Matt arrived on the 19th, just in time for me to register him on United Life Church's website to be authorized to perform weddings! If you don't believe me, check it out at http://www.ulc.org/! Within 24 hours, Matt received his credentials in an email conferring upon Matt the title of Reverend. It worked out great because we couldn't find a bishop from our church available to perform the wedding so Matt conducted my mom's nuptials!

The wedding and reception were on Decmber 20th. It was raining on the 19th so we were very worried about the weather for the OUTDOOR wedding on the beach on the 20th. As it turned out, it was a cloudy YET dry day on the 20th. Perfect for taking pictures without the sun scorching our eyes! The affair was simple...my mom's one criteria for her wedding. It was at a park on the beach in La Jolla, California. The guests were mostly family, some friends and with the dolphins frolicking in the ocean near the ceremony, it was as picturesque as it gets.

Later that evening, my sisters and I threw a fun reception. With the help of a friend of my sisters', the club house at her condo building looked beautiful. It was a fun send off for the happy couple.

Christmas Eve, Quinton, Matt and I spent the day at Sea World San Diego. Quinton was free, so even if he didn't enjoy Sea World, we weren't out any money! As it turned out, Quinton loved Sea World! Ever dolphin, sea lion, seal and seagull was a "SHARK" to Quinton. When we went into the real shark tank, Quinton was mesmerized beyond words! The funny thing is, is that to go through the shark tunnel, you are on a moving sidewalk. Yeah, I spent about 10 minutes dodging people coming through the tunnel the right way because Quinton didn't want to leave the tunnel! Nobody complained , though, it was fun to see his expression watching the sharks overhead.

Christmas Day, we enjoyed an early wake up call by my sister and her kids, who were ready to open presents (early for me is before 9am). The presents were piled high and only grew once my mom stopped by! Quinton received, from his cousin James, a really cool radio controlled Lightning McQueen car and to him, he didn't care about any other presents. I think Matt and I opened more of Quinton's presents than Quinton did!

Later that afternoon, we took full advantage of a San Diego Christmas and headed to the beach with a frisbee. Quinton had a blast with his cousin James, in tow. Matt didn't know what to do with himself...getting a tan on Christmas Day is just too foreign to him, even after living in Phoenix!

We flew back to Tulsa the day aftyer Christmas - which was a sort of miracle in and of itself with so many flights having been cancelled the week before, I was lucky to make it hom with Quinton!

We spent the next day and a half settling back into life in Tulsa, only to find ourselves bored to tears on Friday night. I suggested, after my sister-in-law Teresa planted the seed of the idea, that we head to Utah for New Years. Matt asked me if I was 10% serious or 30% serious and I said, 30%. Then, I check flights and they were VERY expensive so that was out of the question. In the end, we decided to drive to Utah at 7:30 pm and were headed out of Tulsa by 10 pm with the car loaded! It took us roughly 22 hours of driving with a few potty breaks and some walking for Quinton, but we made it to Matt's brother and sister-in-law's place, but not before suprising my sister and dad, who live about 20 minutes away from Matt's brother's place. My sister's face was priceless! I had her on the phone, thinking I was in Tulsa, only to show up on her doorstep in Eagle Mountain, Utah! My dad was just as suprised and LOVED the fact that he was able to see all of his kids and grandkids in the month of December!

We had a fantastic stay in Utah and is was totally worth the 44 hours of interstate driving time we logged! We even traded in our Camry for a newer Suzuki XL7...that was a MUCH nicer ride home!

Now, on to today, Matt's 33rd birthday! We had friends over last night for cake and ice cream and today Quinton and I took Matt out to lunch. We even had one of Matt's favorite dinner's tonight, Forest Service Pie (think Sheperd's Pie but with a cornbread topping). Some of Matt's birthday highlights were a 1 year subscription to Triathlete magazine (a real page-turner) and a couple of books. He's saving up for race entry fees for some triathalons later this year.

Well, I don't want to bore you too much more and I have to go to bed since the realtor is showing our house tomorrow and I have a lot of straightening up to do in the morning! That reminds me! It looks like Matt's boss needs him in Tulsa until the middle of February (NOT November as previously erroneously mentioned) and then our address will be changing to the Chicago-area! Our house has been on the market for about a month. Check out our MLS listing, if you are bored!