California & Rhys' Baby Blessing

For the Fourth of July weekend, we packed up the family and headed to "Sunny" California. Two of Ryan's siblings live in Southern Cali and another one of his sisters and her family was going down for the weekend, so we decided to tag along. We also thought it would be cool to get Rhys blessed while we were there. We weren't sure if we would have anyone come if we did it in St. George, so we brought the blessing to the family.

We had a fun trip. It was great to be with family and to spend time with them. Rhys had a lot of firsts on this trip...

His first time at the pool... he was super upset when we got there because his sleeping schedule was off. So, Ryan gave him a bottle and Rhys slept in his daddy's arms the whole time we were at the pool.

We also went to an Angels baseball game. They were playing Kansas City and lost, but going to ball games is a perfect summer activity and was fun nonetheless. I was a little worried about Rhys the whole time because he wasn't in his element. He did great until the last inning. It got too loud for him and he was not a happy camper. He was just sleepy and needed to go to bed.

On the Fourth of July, Rhys was given a wonderful blessing by Ryan. It was just perfect. He wore the same outfit that Ryan was blessed in. We're so happy that it fit. It was a newborn size and fit him pretty perfectly. Again, right when we were about to give him his blessing, he got really fussy because he was hungry. It always works that way. So, he got blessed while drinking his bottle. It kept him calm and also everyone else, so Ryan was able to take his time and give him a great blessing. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of him on his blessing day. Hopefully I can get some from the family.

Rhys also was able to enjoy his first fireworks show. Of course he slept right through it. But that's ok. He'll get to see them next year... or even this year on the 24th. I love fireworks and was super excited to see them.
On Monday morning, we gathered up the family and went to the beach. The beach, might I add, was absolutely freezing. I've developed some thin blood from living in hot areas, and when it's 60 degrees on the water with no sun, that gets cold. Rhys again slept through the whole experience. I'm actually glad because then he didn't get sand on him or anything and was able to be tightly wrapped in our arms.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of one more of Rhys' firsts. The first time he experiences car problems on the freeway. While driving home on Monday we got a blown out tire in the middle of Death Valley. It was pretty scary, but we were truly blessed. Ryan was able to pull off immediately after it happened. Rhys got scared when we heard the tire blow, but I'm not sure if it was from the tire or from Ryan yelling. We have AAA so we were able to get towed (up to 100 miles). We waited on the freeway for about 30 minutes before the tow truck got there. It got pretty hot in the car while we were waiting, but we put Rhys in front of the vents so he was as happy as a clam while we waited. We were able to get towed to Vegas (98 miles) where we were planning to stay at my brothers house and then get a new tire the next morning. Well, it turns out that Vegas, has tire places that are open 24 hours a day. The driver took us there, had the tire replaced and we were on our way home. Whew. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. I wanted to get a picture of Rhys in the tow truck, but we were trying to figure out what to do, so I completely forgot!

All in all it was a great trip. We are so grateful to Ryan's family for the time they spent with us. It was great to see them all and for Rhys to meet most of his Whitaker cousins!! Can't wait to do it again!