Well, it has been about two weeks since I graduated, and we set a date for our move. We will be heading to Texas in less than a month! My fellowship doesn't start until August, so we are taking advantage and going on vacation! We had a family get-together in California and spent a week at Jake's family's lake house. It was awesome.
We flew to Las Vegas where Jake picked us up and drove us into the California desert. There, in the middle of nowhere/the Mojave Desert, is Newberry Springs, and a man-made lake that the Tarabildas have a house on. Let the vacation commence! Also, just to preface the rest of the post, there were over 500 pictures taken on this trip, so I cut that way down, but these pictures are not in chronological order by any means.
Emmy was so fun to observe on this trip. She absolutely loved wearing a life vest. She absolutely loved going on the pontoon. She absolutely loved riding on the speed boat. She absolutely loved being outside. She absolutely loved kayaking and paddle-boarding with Mommy. She absolutely HATED being in the water. It was baffling. She couldn't get enough of every single thing to do, short of actually touching the water. In her defense, the water was very cold. She was a cutie, though.
And I am not kidding about the life vest. Very few pictures exist from the trip of her without it on. She even wanted to wear it inside, and would get a little cranky if we tried to take it off of her. Cory very promptly established a rule that Emmy could not go on the deck or a boat without a vest. Little did we know, Emmy was way ahead of us in the safety department.
Emmy also really loved playing on the pontoon when it was docked. We could set her up in the captain's chair and she was content to sit there and pretend to sail the open water.
Emmy also loved anytime Cohen was involved in anything. Cohen and Jake were twinning with the backwards caps, and it seriously wasn't long before Emmy tried to weasel her way in there to get a turn driving the party barge.
Cohen isn't quite big enough yet to really be able to play with Emmy, but there was still plenty of interaction, and Emmy learned to be gentle with the baby and give him hugs and kisses.
Just two cousins hanging out at the lake house. I wonder what they will think of these pictures in twenty years.
I am just throwing this in here to prove that Cohen not only thinks I am funny, but clearly loves me even when I haven't showered in two days...
Yeah me and Cohen are pretty tight. He actually spent the least amount of time with me, which makes a lot of sense with Mom and Dad, grandparents, and aunts all around as well, but we didn't need a lot of time for the bond to strengthen. Cohen aka DJ CJ aka DJ Coco knows where we stand. It goes without saying.
While not inside or on the water, we played some lawn games. Ladder golf and badminton mostly. Buzz brought along Myles, who she has been dating. I guess I was the last one to finally meet him. It feels nice that they were "dying to get my approval", according to some sources, and "couldn't feel settled until I was okay with the whole idea." I mean it's flattering, but live your life people. Everything doesn't revolve around me. No, but really, Myles was my badminton partner against Jake and Coach Tarabilda (Jake's dad) and Myles won the match for us by sacrificing his body numerous times. That grass was sharp!
We weren't just boating on the water. At least once a day we got out there on some kayaks or paddle boards. There was a tandem kayak that we enjoyed the first day.
Emmy also rode on Mom's paddle board with her while Dad kayaked. Fun fact: I only capsized getting out of that thing once, and it was my first time, so just give it a rest.
Despite what you might think about me, I actually know nothing about boats and water sports. So when I say we also did things with the "speed boat", I just mean the boat that goes faster than the pontoon. I don't actually know what constitutes a speed boat and a regular boat. I will also say, that my natural inclination is to avoid being outside in nature, because nature is trying to kill me, but I didn't want to look like a loser to Jake, who is VERY excited about outdoor activities. Luckily he had Myles there, who also was VERY excited about all the nature. It's not that I didn't enjoy tubing. I did. But also in a very real sense, if I wouldn't have tubed, or done anything on the boat, my vacation would not have been worse. So, there is that. I just really want Jake to like me though, and I am afraid he won't want to be my friend if I don't do everything he wants to do. I would have played ladder golf and badminton all day, for the record.
Jake taught me the whole "tube on your knees" technique.
Jake and Myles really like jumping back and forth between the tubes...I didn't get it. I did think it was kind of fun, though, to try to hold on to the tube when I tipped over and see how long the boat would drag me before my arms were ripped from their sockets. You can see me perfecting that technique if you look closely in the picture below.
I was glad Cory got out there to tube with Anna. She is pregnant, she isn't dying people! Coach Tarabilda aka Captain Tarabilda aka Jake's dad made sure not to go too fast for them, but they acted like they were going over tsunami waves. Emmy kept waving to Cory and repeating "Hi." over and over again.
In fact, Emmy loved riding in the boat any time someone went out to tube/ski/board. It got to the point that she cried if the boat left without her. She had to be on that boat, but when she was, she never looked like she was having that great a time. Just a hard stare with a slight grimace. I think she liked being a part of the group, though. She has really become sensitive to the FOMO. That means "fear of missing out" for everyone that isn't super cool. Cory had to explain that to me. Poor Emmy, but someone was usually very willing to hold her while boating, like Aunt Sarah!
Or Grandma. Grandma always likes being with Emmy! Buzz was behind the camera so much that this is one of the few pictures of her on the trip.
When the sun set, we ate good food together and enjoyed the view. Saturday night we even celebrated my upcoming birthday with burgers and bratwurst. It was delicious.
It was also a perfect time in the evenings to show off all of Emmy's tricks. She recently started going to nursery and has loved learning hand motions with songs. It is awesome to see her not only mimic the gestures, but remember them later and do them at the semi-correct time. I consider myself a pretty rational person, so I think I can say without any bias that she is a genius.
The evenings were also spent watching Angels games, and I learned a lot of Coach Tarabilda-isms.
All in all it was an awesome family vacation. Thanks to the Tarabildas for opening up their lake house to us. We actually weren't going to be able to fly home from Las Vegas, so we drove back up to Provo with Anna, Jake, and Cohen. The six of us made pretty good time in the suburban with two babies. We spent less than a day there, but it was fun to be back. We went downtown to see the new City Center Temple, and snapped a picture. We left on a red-eye flight and would arrive back in Memphis on my birthday!
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