Honeymoon - Zoo Day

Friday we spent all day at the San Diego Zoo. It was awesome. That place is huge. Luckily we did not get lost, but we walked all over that place...and took a bus tour just to make sure we didn't miss anything. We were wearing t-shirts, and when we were getting off the bus the Zoo worker was wearing a big coat. She looked at us and said, "You guys are NOT from southern California." :) Nope. Not even a little bit. We thought it felt really nice out there.

Timon seems to have retired to San Diego after a successful acting career.

These aren't llamas, they're some African-type animal.  I still thought they were pretty cool.

Brooke snapped this shot of the lioness.  It was about as photogenic as Brooke is!

A picture of my elephant mishap...

They managed to get me out in time though.

The Skyfari tram, which goes over the entire park

Wonderful view.  Great for kissing!

The Komodo Dragon

Jayde's best friend.

Jayde's other best friend.

Ask Jessica about the noises these make...

These flamingos randomly went all psycho.  I wish I had filmed it.  They were making all sorts of racket and wagging their heads back and forth.  I'm sure it made a lot of sense to them.

Spencer's camera died in the middle of the day though... but that's ok. It died at a convenient time for me. We did, however, make sure to get some good snake pictures for my brother Jayde. Because they are his favorite! (bahaha)

I wish the battery hadn't died...  They had this little picture thing where you could poke your head through a hole in the ''ice'' right next to a fake seal.  It would have been awesome.  I'll just have to imagine how cool it would have looked.  After the zoo, we went to this little Mexican place in an obscure part of town.  Brooke was really good about it, and the food was great!  Not to mention the enormous servings!

Honeymoon Temple Stops

Our Honeymoon was destination San Diego. But we stopped in Vegas on Christmas day and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Dana. The next morning we went with them to a temple session in the Vegas temple. It was super pretty!

They sure were good company!  Lots of good stories, although grandma and grandpa seem to remember their early years of marriage somewhat differently!  Ruth made us some good french toast as well.  We also got to see Great Grandma Dana, who is 90.  Mostly it was nice to be out of the cold, since I had been sick the past few days.  I could finally talk normally, without the stuffy nose!  

From there we hit the road and were on our way to San Diego.
Thursday morning we attended the San Diego temple. It was gorgeous! Holy smokes! Really. The Celestial room is two stories and you can go from there to an atrium in the center of the temple and look up at the angel Moroni from inside the atrium. We also did some sealings while we were there. Which was super cool because we were in the sealing room at the exact time we had been for our own wedding one week prior to that.

That was a really pretty temple.  Grandma and grandpa later told us that the church really went all-out on this one.  There probably won't be any more like it.  They said it had a Catholic architect, so the style was a little different than what we're normally used to.  It was neat to see something a little bit different.  The session was nice and peaceful, with an entire six people in attendance!  Just a little different than Salt Lake!  After that, we went to T.G.I. Friday's and spent some quality time in the hot tub!  Oh yeah!

 

Christmas

Christmas Eve we had a fantastic dinner made by Carrie, acted out the Nativity with Spencer's family, and got Christmas Eve pajamas :) Mine match Jessica's.  

Always nice to do the little Nativity scene.  Although I never had to be Joseph before!  I think it was Nate who asked me, ''So are we going to all sleep in your room tonight?''  Umm... how about no!  Not anymore, buddy!  It's pretty low-key at my parents' house now, especially since we're all older.  Not the same excitement as the Bertoch family!

 

We spent Christmas with Spencer's family. We did however, get up really early to watch my siblings open presents at 6 am. Yeah, they are early starters. Spenc was super enthusiastic when we woke up that morning, so I drove  ;) haha. My dad, that punk, totally had me fooled at the reception. He told me that he just bought the new flat-screen t.v. for him. He said it was his early Christmas present to himself. So when we got there on Christmas morning and that t.v. was sitting with my stuff with two bows on it... I was totally shocked! Couldn't believe it. That's just kind of how my dad is.
After Christmas at the Bertoch residence, we headed back to Allen and Carrie's. 
My favorite thing that I got was the electric blanket from Allen and Carrie. They know me so well :) Spencer also got me a new scripture set with "Brooke Wallace" on it. I love it. Of course it was easier for him... because I told him that was what I wanted. HE was harder to get something for. But from the picture above... I'd say he liked it.

So I basically remember Brooke saying, ''Spencer, wake up'', and the next thing I know, I'm suddenly at her parents' house watching her siblings open presents!  Phillip sure was nice getting us that TV!  We'll put it to good use when we're not all busy with school and work!  It was nice being with family though.  Except I forgot Brooke's new scriptures in Salt Lake and had to give them to her in January.  Oops!  Brooke is now helping me get fashionable, and the other day one of my coworkers asked if she was picking out my clothes yet.  Yep.  She is!  

We left for our Honeymoon on Christmas day around noon-ish.

It was more like 1:30.  But it all went very well.  A lot of one-on-one time with a wonderful wife!  I liked when she fed me candy while I drove!

Reception

I've decided to just post a bunch of pictures that Carrie took at our reception in Roosevelt on December 22. And I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

        

                         

            

 

 

       

Ps - Blogger doesn't like when I try to organize a bunch of pictures the way I want them :P