Belated Derby Parade

We made it out to the annual Derby parade Louisville has the week of Derby.  It was so windy but fun as always.  Here are just a few pictures that I got.

Super Grover

Spongebob Square Pants

Nemo

Derby Princesses

Pegasus, since it is called the Pegasus Parade

Thunder Over Louisville

Every year before derby there is a big celebration called Thunder over Louisville.  We didn't make it to the party last year because the weather was pretty crummy and we heard it is super crowed and crazy.  This year though the weather was fabulous and we just couldn't pass it up.  And since this is a free event we knew there were going to be a TON of people there, and let me tell you there was!  During the day they have an air show and then at night they have a HUGE fireworks show.  Everyone lines up along the Ohio River on the KY side and the Indiana side.  The fireworks come from the bridge that goes over the river and from big boats out in the water.  We met some friends and staked out for the big event.  Even though Ella tried to run away when the fireworks first started, it was so much fun and worth fighting off the huge crowd!  

Some of our group that we met up with.  Even more showed up later on.  

The bridge that the fireworks shoot out from.

Ella and Tiffany, one of the ladies that watches Ella for me during the week.  Ella loves her and I couldn't go to school without her help!

Ella and Victoria, a friend from church

Fireworks!  They have two different shows going at the same time.  These are the ones that are up in the sky and.....

.....these are some coming from the bridge. 

Here are some video clips.  I finally understand why it is called Thunder over Louisville.  My whole insides were shaking by the finale!

Hilton Head '09

Over Spring Break this year we headed over to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  We rented a beach house with three other families and had a blast!  We did so many fun things and it was so sad to have the week come to an end.  I took a million pictures and posted about 1/2 million!

The Beach

The beach was awesome!  Ella loved the water, sand, the sea shells and the birds.  She would sneak up on them and then scream as she ran toward them to scare them away.  She loved picking up the sand and throwing it into the water and once she got used to it she loved splashing around in the ocean with her feet.  

Ella and Dax digging in the sand

Chelsea, Janelle, and me catching some rays

Sea Pines.  These trees are pretty cool.  They are kind of like a mix of palm trees and pine trees...hence the name "sea pine"

Beach Bikes

We rented bikes for the week and cruised around everywhere on them.  They were sooo much fun.  And, my legs got an awesome workout!  Every night we would take an evening bike ride on the beach.  It was so peaceful and so beautiful.

Ella and Brad on our sweet beach bikes

Ella was just plain worn out by the end of the day and fell asleep on our bike ride.

Other Adventures

The boys: Jon and Dax Dickson, Hans and Austin Meyer, and Brad and Ella's baby on top of the lighthouse

The girls: Ella, me, Janelle, Dayna, and Chelsea on top of the lighthouse

We found a ton of jelly fish that had washed up on the shore.  Ella wasn't too sure what to think about them.  And Hans tried to kill me by flinging one in my direction with a stick!  Silly Hans :)

Alligators and turtles hanging out on the lawn of some houses.  It seemed like an odd match but they seemed to all be getting along nicely!

A picture of the bird poop that just happened to land on MY head.  This is like the third time in my life that I have been pooped on by a bird.  Seriously, something is wrong here!

Brad, Ella, Hans, Austin and myself obeying the sign

Ben and Brad cuddling up close while watching a little March Madness.  Ahhh, what a cute couple.

During our vacation the boys got to spend a morning golfing and the girls got to go and get pedicures.  It was my first one and I LOVED it!  My toes are the ones on the right.

Just a clip of Ella enjoying the ocean water!

Spring Time Fun

Our apartment complex had an easter egg hunt for all the little kiddos.  We thought Ella would enjoy it so we headed over to the club house to check it out.  They had A TON of eggs scattered everywhere and Ella got super excited.  Here are a few pictures we got of the first-time event.

There was a 20 egg limit so we had to stop and count.....we were a little over our limit!

The loot :)

One of the eggs was a special prize egg.  The winner won a big gift basket full of treats and toys.  Ella just happened to pick the prize egg and was so excited to win such a big present full of treats!

After the egg hunt they had activities for the kids.  There were eggs to dye for the older kids and plastic eggs to decorate for the little kids.  

Ella getting all the stickers ready for Brad to put on the egg.  

The finished product.  Good job Ella and Brad!

Ella with her bunny and a chick one of our neighbors made for her.

Today was a Good Day

Today turned out to be a really good day.  To start off, I had the afternoon off and got to spend time with my little sweetheart.  I love it when I get to be home with her!  By 7:00 Brad and I had realized that Ella didn't need to have her nose wiped the whole afternoon.  Not once!  For those of you who have been around her the past year and a half know that her nose is CONSTANTLY running.  And she can totally breath out of her nose also, which is something else I haven't seen her do in about a year.  It was so awesome!  I just sat there and stared at her while she was breathing.  She had surgery on Wednesday and we can already see a MAJOR improvement.  And to top off the day, Ella went on the "big girl" potty for the first time today!  I was so amazed.  I have been putting her on the potty when she asks to since December and she has never gone until tonight.  She went number two and I think it surprised both of us.  She started crying and I started yelling "yay, yay, yay!"  Then she realized that something really exciting happened and we jumped around the bathroom yelling "poo poo in the potty!"  It was a very exciting evening in our house!

Anyway, here is a preview of our trip to Hilton Head, SC over spring break that I will be posting about soon.

ABC's

Just a quick clip of Ella saying some of her ABC's.  She's so cute!  Hopefully you can hear it ok.  And don't laugh at my camera work.

A little of this, A little of that

We've had a busy couple of weeks but nothing as exciting as the bus fire has happened!  School for all three of us has been going great.  Brad is keeping busy with his Young Men's calling and is still working hard in school with all sorts of group projects.  He graduates in May, he's worked really hard in his program and I'm really proud of how well he's done!  Ella is really enjoying going to her "school" as well.  It was kind of a rough adjustment for her when we switched her day-cares, but she seems to really like it there and is always so happy when we come to pick her up.  She is learning so much everyday and it blows me away with how easily she can pick up on things.  She is really starting to talk more and more!  It's so fun to be able to some-what carry on a conversation with her (it still requires quite a bit of translating on my part and repeating words on her part).  School is going great for me also.  This semester is a lot more relaxed than last semester and we have started seeing some patients!  It's very exciting.  Anyway, here are some pictures....  (p.s. I didn't realize how long this post was until I was finished, so I apologize in advance)

 

The other day I only had to go to school until noon and so I was able to pick up Ella early.  Unfortunately she was NOT in the best of moods.  We call her Ella the grouch on days like this one.  She wouldn't lay down for a nap and even though I had a paper and a test due the next day, nothing compares to cuddling on the couch with your baby!  So that's just what we did...cuddled

The next few pictures are just of Ella being silly.  She has so much personality and makes me laugh all day long with her silliness. She also has a ridiculous amount of attitude but can get out of any sort of trouble with a smile and laugh.  How do kids learn how to be so manipulative with their charm...

Ella being silly while eating her favorite snack, applesauce.

Ella climbing in our pantry closet probably looking for some sort of treat.  Notice her "I'm busted" face!

I sent Ella in to get me a diaper so I could change her.  She was taking a long time and I could hear her talking to herself so I decided I should go and check on her.  She had found her diapers but instead of bringing one to me she decided to climb into the drawer that held them.  I guess she thought that it was the perfect seat. 

Brad and I went out for the first time together on Valentine's Day.  Ever since we started dating and since we've been married we've never been able to go out together on V-day so we decided this was the year.  Papa Murphy's makes heart shaped pepperoni pizzas (shown above) and we ate that for dinner.   We got one of the Young Women in our ward to watch Ella and went out to a movie--Confessions of a Shopaholic.  I loved it!  Sooo my type of movie! 

Ella got an awesome art kit from Grandma Jan and Grandpa for Valentines day.  She loves to color and was very excited to see all the markers and crayons.  She's giving her best "cheeeese" face for this picture!

From Grandma Sharon Ella got a Leap Frog fridge alphabet.  I thought it was going to run out of batteries on the first day--she played the alphabet non-stop!  This has been the best toy for her.  Before we got this Ella probably could identify maybe 4-5 letters.  We've had it for a week and the other night she knew every single letter!  We were so surprised.  We knew she was learning them but had no idea she knew all of them.  It's funny because she still can't sing the song but she is getting better at it!

My Bus Is On Fire!!

So, funny story.  On Tuesdays I get out of school late so Brad goes and picks Ella up from the babysitters and I ride the bus home.  I don't mind riding the bus and it's usually no big deal and uneventful.  Today however was a different story. 

 It had been drizzling pretty much all day and I had to wait a long time for the bus to come.  It was terrifying from the start.  I get on and the driver is having problems getting the bus to go.  It wouldn't accelerate but after a while we were able to get on the freeway.  She was a Craaazy driver, and what is that?...a burning rubber smell, great!  

We made it, who knows how, on and off the freeway when all the sudden we hear some sort of explosion coming from the bus.  Me and my bus mates thought it was a tire.  But, oh no, the honking motorist yelling out the window of her car informed us that the explosion came from UNDER the bus and it had started a FIRE.  That's right a fire, we are talking like actual flames engulfing the bus.  I really didn't think that the fire trucks were going to get there before the bus exploded.  Basically, I could have died.  Ok, not really but it was quite eventful.  

All the people around me on the bus were laughing because I was already on edge and when I heard the explosion I hurried and called Brad and said I was getting off on the first stop and asked if he could come and get me.  Little did everyone know that we would ALL have to get off the bus!  I sure wish that I had my camera with me, but I didn't so you will have to use your imagination!