Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny left some treats for us in our mailbox! 

A day early too! Thank you Easter Bunny (aka Mom)!

p.s. I always knew it was really you...  

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE! 

We had a great Easter weekend together. We also got to spend some quality time with our friends (who will be missed more than they know!) 

Conference was awesome! It was the perfect opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of our loving Savior and also celebrate His resurrection and eternal life. How wonderful it is to know that our Redeemer lives.  

We hope you all had a amazing Easter weekend as well!!   

Bliss.

What's better, on a Sunday afternoon with beautiful weather, than a drive up the coast (sunroof open and windows down.) with your sweetheart, and an ocean full of kite surfers to watch?
  Not much. That's right!

Visit from the Boggs

The Boggs family was here for five days! Dad Boggs, Mom Boggs, and Rachel (little sister Boggs) came to see us and we had a great time! They got here on Saturday (the 20th) We met up with them at the r.v. park around noon. 

The first day we just kinda hung out, we had a BBQ at their campsite and made a cobbler in our dutch oven. The park they stayed at had a pool, and a game room with a pool table, and ping pong so we hung out in there too for some intense competition. The West's came for the ice cream and cobbler (moochers!) and for Kent to kick the trash out of all of us on the ping pong table. (I beat Sean in pool with a really sweet shot that ended the game, but I guess that is another story...)

Day two (Sunday) consisted of church, and walking around at La jolla shores... we witnessed the birth of a baby seal (seriously! what are the odds??) also geochaching (we placed our travel bug) and beach combing at Silver Strand State Park. --Sean's aunt and uncle (Cindy and Dan Strobell) were down here too and they stayed at the r.v. park in the state park. So we to spend some time with them as well.--   

The next day (Monday) we checked out the Mormon Battalion visiter's center, the tour was cool! We ate lunch at Rubio's (three cheers for fish tacos!) and then we went bowling on base at North Island. The losers fate was to buy milkshakes at Corvette Diner (my score was higher than Sean's... just sayin'!) Dinner? Cheesecake Factory, obviously! It was amazing!
                                          

This is the seal that we saw being born

   

Pioneer Sean and Melissa
Geocaching

Gold Diggers

La Jolla Cove

Day four. (Tuesday) We made waffles and smoothies (vita-mix style!) at our house. The guys and girls split up. We went shopping at IKEA and Deseret Book. The guys also went shopping... for tools or something equally manly, I think. We made dinner at our house and afterwards had a giant bonfire (that was hotter than you know what!) on Mission Bay complete with s'mores!

This was our heat shield!

Mom and Rachel in the dark

Day five (Wednesday) we went geocaching in the morning. We had lunch at Hodad's which never lets you down on an awesome burger and yet somehow you always leave with the feeling of never wanting to eat again!! We went down to the base at 32nd street to check out the ships... that was a production and a half... We drove on base and quickly figured out that it was a bad idea, the roads looked like parking lots. Traffic was completely stopped. We literally drove on, then turned right around to go back and that took us over 3 hours. 3 bloomin' hours of driving a mile (at the most!) They were doing some kind of training drill "threat con charlie" blah, blah whatever that means. We went to the Nex and got some navy pride shirts. Then cashed in on our bowling bet for some Corvette Diner milkshakes. YUM!

Me and Sean at Hodad's

Mom and Rae

Sean and Dad at Corvette Diner

 What a great week!

 Thanks for coming guys... Glad you got to see us! :)

The Traveling Patriot

Our geocache travel bug:

We placed it today... hopefully it will find it's way to us in North Carolina while we are there. Fun huh?

These West Coast Kids are Going East

We found out where we are moving. It's far away...

Sean will be stationed with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune 

in Jacksonville, North Carolina

Click the link to read about: 2nd Marine Division 
Sean will follow those guys around, do what they do, look just like 'em, and save their sorry selves when necessary...
They would quite literally die without him... you're welcome jarheads.
 You'd think the Marines would have their own medics, seeing how they are always knee deep in drama but for some reason (unknown, to me.) they don't, so they borrow the Corpsman of the Navy occasionally... and by occasionally, I mean all the time...
I am so dang proud of Sean, he is awesome at what he does, and the Marines are very lucky that he will be fighting beside them.

This is where Jacksonville is: 

 and here is North Carolina: 

(just in case you didn't pay attention in elementary school or you're senile and forgot.)

Division isn't the job we wanted him to end up with but we are optimistic anyway, and excited for a new adventure. We know that Heavenly Father is guiding and directing our lives, and that He also has His hand in this new chapter that is beginning for us. 

Sean is thankful for the opportunity to serve our country and proud to be beside all the great men and women who fight to protect our nation and our freedom. 

I am thankful for a husband with incredible integrity and a willingness to do whatever his service entails.  

We are thankful for all the support that we get from our amazing family and friends. 

We are also very excited for the chance to say the word "y'all" as much as we want!
The very thought of possibly picking up a southern accent just makes my heart skip a beat :)  

Palm Canyon Trail

Since Sean didn't have to work today, we decided to drive to Borrego Springs and hike the Palm Canyon Trail. The trail is three miles and winds up through a canyon to an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was awesome! The hike was really easy (which is good, because it was way hot out there!) The scenery was gorgeous. We saw a million lizards, and some birds, a frog, and a few big horned sheep. The oasis was really cool, there was a small waterfall at it and a creek too. The trees were all really close together, so it was almost like a fort inside of them. We took 102 pictures but didn't get any of us... We were bummed we forgot to and almost (and by almost, I really mean the idea was only mentioned jokingly) hiked back up to get some shots of our lovely selves, but our laziness won that battle (again, not a battle because we were never actually going to go back) .... So, here are some pictures of the scenery...which are almost as good to look at as we are: 

These are pictures from the start of the trail

The creek... 

The first view of the oasis

Pictures from the inside of the oasis

The waterfall and looking back down the canyon

 

Geocaching with my Valentine

My Valentine had some flowers delivered to our house for me on Friday... a huge box of them (like in the movies!) Isn't he the best?! 

On Saturday we went to dinner with the Coxs at Claim Jumper, it was really fun and tasty too! we didn't take any pictures, of course...

Sunday, after church we went geocaching around Mission Bay and made dinner together (oh, how sweet!)

One of the caches were searching for said "look for the pelican skeleton"... we found it. eww! 

(The cache was in the bush underneath)

another cache was right by the bay... not a bad view huh?

I think I will pick the same Valentine next year too... he was a good one!!

yes, my hair is out of control... it was pretty windy on the bay... 

We had a good weekend... and it's not over yet, Sean doesn't have to work Monday (yay, for President's Day!) 

Operation: Relocation, update

On Friday the 5th we went to check if we got any of our five choices that we put in for orders.
We didn't get any of them... not a single one.

The detailer (aka "bearer of bad news guy") gave us an opportunity to call and request a few more choices over the phone on the next Friday. He said he could give us an "informal" yes/no right then, so we wouldn't have to wait for the application process this go-around because we didn't have time to do that. If the orders we asked for were denied we would no longer have any choices and would just go where they want us to. So, we looked, prayed, and stewed over the list of orders that came out on Thursday the 11th and came up with a list of three options that would be the best for us.... All of that was absolutely pointless.
Again, we didn't get any of our choices!

Now? We wait. Until next Friday, of course (it's always a waiting game with the military) 
To see where they (whoever that is...) will be sending us.

Let's pray that it's somewhere good and Sean won't be doing a crazy job that keeps him away from home a lot.....