Family Pictures

Before my little brother left on his mission to Brazil we had some family pictures taken.  My mom gave them to me for Christmas so I decided to post them.  It was just kind of spare of the moment so it's totally casual and we don't have a color scheme or anything, but I thought they turned out so cute!  I don't have any pictures of my whole family so I was very excited to get these!

This is me with my sisters, brother, and Mom and Dad.

This is the whole clan!  

Even though it is the middle of January, I decided that it would still be ok if I posted some pictures from our Christmas vacation.  We were able to go back to Utah to visit our families!  I was so sad when I realized that I had left without packing my camera, so I relied on others taking pictures for me and then waited until they were e-mailed to me.  I was so excited to get to Utah and see family and friends.  We had a fabulous time staying up late and playing games and then sleeping in until 10 in the morning.   It was awesome!  Here are some of the pics that I have so far...

On Dec. 18, Brad and I had our 4 year anniversary!  He knew how much I love the show "Good Things Utah" and miss being able to watch it since we don't live in Utah anymore, so he took me to it and we were guests in the audience.  It's LIVE and they have fun segments like cooking and crafting and things like that.  Brad was a little self-conscious since it is a "girl show" but he was a great sport and we had a ton of fun.  Here I am with the hosts of the show: (L to R) Necia, Marti, and Reagan (yes we are on a first name basis)!

 

This is me, my sister Kim, and my niece Aubrey.  We had the fam over to Kim's house and made Chinese food and devoured it!  Kim makes the most delicious orange chicken.  The chinese food dinner is something that I look forward to when I come to visit!

Alison, Lauren and Ella hanging out on Lauren's bed.  What cute cousins!

Ella with her "happy" face during dinner.  Notice the big blob of ketchup on her plate.  That girl sure loves her ketchup.  She will eat anything if she can dip it in ketchup....is that weird?

Ella and her terrifying encounter with Santa Clause (notice I'm not the one taking her up to see him--people in costume just freak me out!)  When we told her that Santa would give her a present she wanted to go up and see him, but as she got closer the more nervous she got and burst into tears when it was her turn to see him.  When he said he had a present for her she immediately stopped crying and very carefully took it from him and then wanted nothing else to do with him.  It was pretty cute.

Ella showing off her new PJ's and her cute boots that she got from Grandma Sharon.  She loves those boots!

Brad, Ella, and I at the Joseph Smith Memorial building.  The tree behind us was beautiful.  We also looked at the lights at Temple Square.  It was so cold and there were sooo many people, but the lights were gorgeous and you can't help but have a wonderful feeling when you are near the Temple!

Free Stuff

Check out this website.  You can get free stuff, and they advertise a different free item every month.  You just have to pay $1 for shipping.  I am not sure of all the rules, but I do know that I've gotten a silicone muffin tin, silicone spatula set, and silicone cookie liner all for $1 each, so see what you think.  Just go to www.easybakeware.com and click on the "freebies" tab. 

Ella is 2!

This week we celebrated Ella's 2nd Birthday!  We didn't do too much, but we tried to make it a special day for our special little girl!  Ella got a kitchen for her birthday and has loved opening and closing all the cabinets and putting together all sorts of imaginary concoctions!  I see a chef in the making!  Here are a few pictures:

Ella enjoyed a scrumpcious Happy Meal from McDonald's.  They made the crown for her at school.

 

This little apron came with her play kitchen and looks so cute on her!  My very own little Betty Crocker!

Yummy birthday cake.  She was so nice to share with me!

It is hard to believe that two years ago we had the surprise of our lives when Ella decided to come 13 weeks early!  Every time I look at her I am reminded that she truly is a miracle.  We feel so blessed to have her part of our family!  Ella, we sure love you and enjoy watching you grow more and more every day.  I'm so proud to be your Mom!

Ella, 2 weeks old

Tag

I was tagged by Jamie Shepherd and since I've never done one before I thought I'd give it a try!

RULES

1- Post Rules on Your Blog

2-Answer the Six "8" Items

3-Let Each Person Know They Have Been Tagged by Leaving Them A Comment

8 Favorite Shows

1. That's So Raven 

2. So You Think You Can Dance

3. Amazing Race

4. American Idol

5. What Not To Where

6. The Mentalist

7. Jon and Kate Plus Eight

8. Flip This House

8 Things I did Yesterday

1. Took Brad and Ella to work and school

2. Went to school

3. Took a test

4. Removed calculus from my classmate's teeth (It was Awesome!)

5. Went to lunch with my cute husband

6. Took Ella to the Park

7. Made dinner (that was quite the accomplishment!)

8. Watched The Hulk

8 Thinks I look forward to

1. Graduating

2. Brad Graduating

3. Having an income

4. Getting out of Debt!

5. Seeing our Families for Christmas

6. The end of this semester!

7. Ella's Birthday

8. Hearing if Brad got into Dental School

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Panera Bread

2. Paula's (mexican rest. in St. George)

3. Pizza Factory (in Cedar City)

4. Toast (in Ky, I highly recommend this place!)

5. Melting Pot (I've never been, but I've heard it's good and it could be a fav.)

6. Tucanos

7. Olive Garden

8. My Mom's house (she's a good cook!)

8 Things on My Wish List

1. Brad to get into dental School

2. Owning a home

3. Ella's nose to stop running!

4. Traveling, I want to go everywhere!

5. A shopping spree for Ella, Brad, and myself

6. For everyone to stop smoking!!!

7. Settle down somewhere I love with great neighbors and family closer than a 24 hour drive away

8. Getting an A on my next Head and Neck test (that's a long shot, but oh well.)

8 People to Tag

1. Jami Cowan

2. Hayley Kartchner

3. Angela Robinson

4. Tiffany Haggerty

5. Heather Mills

6. Erin Brown

7. Nichole Hiatt

8. Whoever wants to do this tag

8. 

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet

I love the fall season!  The leaves are gorgeous, the air is crisp, and of course we get to go around to peoples homes and get candy just by saying "trick or treat."  It's fantastic!  This year was Ella's first experience trick-or-treating and she loved it!  It took her a while to get the hang of it, but after a few houses she was pointing to her "peet" (pink) princess dress, saying "trick-or-treat", "thank you" and "bye-bye" to anyone who handed her candy!  Needless to say, she was having the time of her life.  I was about to have a nervous breakdown watching her ingest so much sugar, but she was just so stinking cute and excited that I just let her have whatever she wanted.  That's what Halloween is for isn't it?

Our weekend started off with a party at Ella's school.  Brad and I were able to come and spend a couple of hours with Ella.  We got there a little early and were so impressed at how well the kids behave there!  They were just getting up from their naps and they all just sat there and waited as the teachers went around to all of them and changed their diapers.  Then when it was time, they all walked over to the table and sat down and enjoyed the yummy snacks that all the parents brought (we brought grapes and I don't think any of the kids touched them!  I guess grapes just can't compete with cookies and fruit snacks, oh well).  It was so cute to see them all sitting in their little chairs and eating so good!  Here's a few pics: 

Ella was So ExcIteD to see all the goodies on her plate for snack time!

All the kiddos being so well behaved sitting in their cute little seats!

Next, everyone got into their costumes and went trick-or-treating around the school.  They made little baggies for them and we made a loop around all the classrooms.

Princess Ella receiving her crown!

Trick-or-Treating

These are Ella's teachers Ms. Tristan and Ms. Megan.  Ella LoVed her teachers and they adored her.  It's hard for me to drop her off each day, but these girls made it so much easier!  This was Ella's last day at her school and we are sure going to miss it there!  If you ever need a great place to take your kids for daycare or preschool check out Providence!

Next are just a few pictures from a fun Halloween party that we went to on Saturday.  The Estrada's threw an awesome party with delicious food and amazing decorations.  It was so fun to be with good friends and enjoy the beautiful evening!

Since we are kind of party poopers we weren't going to dress up, but at the last minute we decided that we would be a family of kitty-cats.  Creative, I know :)  

Ella loves "cat-kitties" (that's what she calls the stray that lives by our apartment) and was so excited to pretend to be one.  She would lick her hand and say "neow neow".  Too cute.

Oh, Tessa and Ella.  These two are so funny together.  They had a blast running around!

You could definitely tell that all the sugar from the past couple of days had really begun to kick in.  These girls were dancing like crazy to the music that was playing at the party.  Ella would get so dizzy from running around in circles she could hardly stay on her feet.  I was really starting to wonder if someone had spiked the punch!  She had so much fun and was sad to leave!

Holy Moly

The other day I was doing a little cleaning up around the house.  Ella, who is normally tagging along right beside me, had run off to find something else to occupy her time.  After a while I noticed that she hadn't checked back in with me or called my name or anything like she usually does so I began to wonder what she was up to.  As I walked down the hallway towards the bedrooms I could hear her playing and talking to herself.  I thought, "Oh, how sweet.  She's playing so good by herself and talking so sweet."  When I found her this is where she was.  All I could say was Holy Moly!

I guess this is just another good reason to stay caught up on your laundry!

The Park

Last Friday, after we picked Ella up from school (where she got bit again for the third time, but that's a whole other story......sigh), we decided it would be fun to go to the park.  Ella has recently discovered that she is a big girl now and loves playing on the toys and going down the slides all by herself.  I'll admit that it makes going to the park a lot more fun for all of us since now she can play on the toys by herself and I'm not AS worried about her falling and breaking her neck as I have been in the past.  Anyway, she really loves it and we have been trying to take advantage of the nice and cool weather while we can. 

This is Ella checking out the slide deciding if she was going to go down it or not

Still deciding....

Noticing an airplane that flew by (a stalling tactic she's picked up and uses frequently)

Saying "hi" to the "eh-pane" ---as she calls it

Checking it out one more time

Finally going down the slide!  She actually didn't mean to but ended up slipping down before she could climb back up after she sat down.

SPRINTING (she's surprisingly fast, even in her crocks) to the stairs to do it again!

Lounging with Dad at the playground.  She looks so cool, don't you think ;)

This is some video of Ella going down the Big Kid slides.  Her little jogging suit allowed her to pick up some speed going down the slide.  I think it surprised her a little bit, but she had a blast!  Enjoy