Driving, Driving, and more Driving....

OH where do I even begin??? So about a month ago I stopped working because the nanny job just wasn't working out for me anymore and then two days later Kevin got laid off for the 7th time in a row!!! Terrible timing. Poor Kev, it's not his fault at all, just a slow building market. The day Kevin was laid off we were headed to California for Kevin to take the Written test for the California Highway Patrol application process. Kevin has been pursuing this for a few months now and is excited to possibly be working for them. Anyway, so since we both aren't working anymore we decided to spend an extra week in California and see my brother Matt who lives in Santa Maria (Central Cali). So Off we went driving for the first of many trips. We got to see my sister Angie in Long Beach and spend Easter with them. After the 10 days in California we came home because Kevin had school and found out that he passed his test and needed to be back in California in 4 days! So we finished unpacking and washing our clothes and put everything back in the suitcase and headed out again for his Physical test and a board panel interview. (This is trip #4 for Kev, and #3 for me and jack in 6 weeks, the first was an orientation meeting with the CHP and the second was his first attempt at the written test) He ended up passing the physical test and did a great job on the interview and we will find out how he scored on the interview in 3-4 weeks. The CHP tests are designed to be extremely hard to pass to weed out the people who aren't extremely dedicated. Kevin has done incredible so far on the tests and we are excited to find out how this one goes. If he passes the interview he has three other tests to pass before being invited to the police academy. All in all we ended up in California for exactly half of the month of April and have been so busy and driving so much that our heads are swimming! Jackson has been an absolute champ in the 70+ hours he's been strapped in his carseat!!!

Riding Dumbo in Walmart of Cedar City

Staying entertained in the car... best car toy ever!!!

More stickers... kept him entertained for hours.

Playing at the beach in Santa Barbara... Jackson loved the sand and water and had so much fun.

My brother Matt is a chiropractor in Santa Maria and the president of Kiwanis and organized a "Safe kids fair" while we were there. This is his booth, there was a line at it the whole time and he was on the news 4 times while we were there. He did an amazing job.

Jackson doing the bike obstacle course at the safe kids fair.

Kiwanis were giving helmets away to all the kids who did the bike rodeo so Jackson got his first helmet! Thanks Santa Maria Noontime Kiwanis!

Matt, his son Michael and the reporter after one of the news broadcasts. Matt was a natural on live TV.

Another pic of Jackson at the bike rodeo.

Jackson and his cousin Michael at the park.

The beach by Matt's

Tide pools

Easter party with Angie's Long Beach Ward. Jackson with all his cousins.

Easter bunny Jack

So Cal beaches....

We are totally exhausted but had a lot of fun going to the ocean and spending tons of time with my family. Hopefully Kevin will do well on the interview and we'll be headed out there again... but not for a few weeks (thank goodness).