Merry Christmas 2012

Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas! We hope this letter finds you well.

This was a year of CHANGE for our family. First, we changed states, trading Kentucky for California. Notwithstanding the many crazy people^* who live in our new state, we are enjoying being “back west”.

Second, we both changed careers (at least sort of). Wes officially became an orthodontist after finishing his residency at the University of Louisville and is now working full-time in an orthodontic practice in Bakersfield (Not Baker. Not Barstow. Bakersfield. We’re about an hour north of L.A.). Wes works with a great orthodontist who likes to play with all of the latest technologies, so they have a lot of fun together. He loves watching people’s self-consciousness disappear and transform into confidence. Lindsey has temporarily given up her dental hygiene career to work as the concierge in Wes’ practice. She is enjoying the change and wants to help Wes grow the practice, but she is also anxious to resume scraping tartar off teeth!

Third, we are changing our family size, adding another Cardall in June 2013. We are super excited—and nervous!—about this huge change. We could use your advice, wisdom, experience, and babysitting (J) as we enter this new phase of life!

We wish you a truly Merry Christmas and much joy in 2013. We are grateful for the Bethlehem miracle we celebrate during this season, as well as for your friendship over these many years. If you ever drive through the central valley of California, you have a place to stay with semi-decent company.

Love,

Wes & Lindsey Cardall

^*Wes had a different word. Lindsey made him change it.

The Post You've All Been Waiting For...

We are so excited to welcome a new addition to our family on June 14th!
I am 13 weeks along and have been very blessed to not be sick so I can continue to live my life normally besides the fact that I have less energy.
We heard the heartbeat (which is a pretty crazy experience) and we find out the gender of our little one in just a few weeks!! :)

San Diego

We had a couple days off work so we took a little trip. Wes it trying to introduce me to California and all the fun things it has to offer. Our vacation started out in Orange County then we headed down to San Diego for my first visit to Sea World! 

We rode our bikes from Wes' parents' house in laguna hills all the way down to Doheny Beach and back - somewhere between 20-25 miles. It was fun until Wes pointed out this lifeguard station and asked if it looked familiar. No. This is the one I went to after I broke my nose... Bad memories started flooding in... Then I took a picture.

Shamu. He could really splash people! And it was cool to watch such big whales jump out of the water, but I had a hard time capturing it with my delayed camera.

A splash ride to cool down.

These starfish were pretty cool. When you held them, they started to suction to your hand and wrap around your fingers.

And the ugliest fish in the whole world award goes to this guy right here! hahaha

The dolphins are always fun to watch. They can jump pretty high out of the water.

This guy (on the right) was our favorite! I should have gotten a better picture of the rock he was sitting on. Basically, there were a bunch of sea otters in this cage and people would buy fish to feed them so they all would bark and swim to the people with the fish and beg for the food. Not this guy. He had the system down. He would sit up on his perch and make this loud, long noise (sounded like "the most annoying sound in the world" on Dumb and Dumber if you know what I mean). And he got the most fish because he knew how to work the system! It was hilarious!

One of the best parts! Touching a dolphin!!!

Sharks

These flamingoes were just going for a stroll down the sidewalk!

This guy was pretty funny too. He just swam back and forth and back and forth. He would swim down one side of the tank, do a summersault, swim back on his back, then do it all over again.

We visited the Mormon Battalion site and were impressed by how technologically advanced it is. If you haven't gone there, we recommend it. Wes got all dressed up as one of the soldiers.

USS Midway. It was ok. Probably more interesting if you like planes.

We thought about taking this one out for a little test drive.

Coronado Island. Fun little place to visit. On the right is the haunted Hotel Del Coronado.

We took a walk out to the border and it looks like they have improved the fence, however, it still doesn't look like it could stop too many people from getting around it. I think I could get around that if I tried! It barely extends beyond the shoreline! No wonder we have an illegal immigration problem!

Lake Powell 2012

Oh Lake Powell. How I love thee. 

It is one of my favorite places in the whole world. 

The water is not too cold, there is so much to do, and everything about it is beautiful!

We were excited to be able to make it to the annual Lake Powell trip with the Masons this year since we live closer. We met my parents, 2 sisters, one brother-in-law, and another family which all totals 12 people, 1 dog, 2 boats, 1 1/2 cabanas (after one sort-of blew away), 3 tents, a few sunburns, and a whole lot of fun.

That's our little camp on the beach!

                     Wes jumping the wake.                                                                         This is what we did every night to wind down :)

This was a crazy, little, short storm that passed through. We were trying to hurry to the marina to wait it out when we saw someone on a jet-ski waving for help. We turned around to find he had a severely handicapped person in the water and was unable to get him back on board. Without missing a beat, Wes jumped in to help (I was so proud) and we ended up having to load him on the boat because he was unable to get on the jet-ski without tipping it (which did happen). We took him to the dock, then the guy he was with jumped off his jet-ski without tying it up then looked at it with a questioned face as to why it was floating away! So again, Wes jumped in and rescued the jet-ski, but then the guy jumped in the water and met Wes half-way instead of having him take it to the dock... This guy was crazy and obviously didn't know what he was doing out there. But it all turned out and everyone lived! I didn't get pictures because we were busy saving lives.

This is called... are you ready for it? "Hole in the Rock" haha. It's pretty cool! You can drive in there and it's a little cave! The picture on the right is from inside looking out.

And of course, you can't leave Lake Powell without cliff-diving, and everyone found out how wimpy Lindsey is. See everyone else jumping from the top of the rock then see me not even half-way up? Yup, that's where I jumped. Wes was embarrassed that everyone knew what a chicken he is married to.

My sisters double wake-boarded. It was pretty sweet! And tubing is always a blast. Except I was a little wimpy again only because my poor nose was still a little tender from my surfing accident last month. Tubing has always been one of my favorite parts though :) You're never too old to get thrown around on a tube!

Pretty pics

The dam and us just enjoying the ride (and yes, I do have bottoms on haha)

Sequoia National Forest = The Biggest Trees You Will EVER See!

We visited the giant sequoias and I was awestruck at the size of these things! You can't tell how big they are in the picutres. 

They are HUGE and really, really tall!

Pretty waterfall

Wes got a little thirsty.

Even the pine cones were giant! I've never seen pine cones this big!

They always split at the bottom and of course, a small slit on one of these bad boys is a massive manhole! I could live in one of these trees!

I think the whole world shook when this tree fell. 

He's standing on one of the BRANCHES from the top of the tree! They are so high up you can't tell how big they are!

They seriously look like they came straight out of a fairy tale! They were so awesome!