Parents Come to Visit

My parents flew out for a little visit for the first time!  It was so good to see them and I was so excited to show them the place we have called home for the past two years (I can't believe we've lived here for two years already)!!  We did a whole lot of stuff that we have never done before so it felt like we were on a mini vacation in our own city!  It was a blast and they spoiled us rotten.  Ella loved having her grandma and grandpa here and was sad when she woke up from her nap and realized they were gone!  Here are some pics of some of the things we did.

THE ZOO

Ella and Grandma on the baby elephant

The lions were out and about which is totally unusual.  They usually just lay there and stare at the giraffes next door.

Grandma and Grandpa on the train ride.

Ella being her cute and silly self

The four of us in front of the zoo sign after a fun day seeing all the animals

CHURCHILL DOWNS

This was one of the things we did with my parents that Brad and I have never done before.  Because Brad was graduating his class had a day at the downs.  I have to say it was pretty fun to watch the horses race.  Even though we didn't bet anything it was pretty exciting watching the horses race to the finish line!

Barbaro's statue in front of Churchill Downs

Grandpa and Grandma in front of the race track and infield

The guy in the red came out and blew his little horn before every race

Brad had tickets to the Presidents Box and was able to get some extra ones so we could enjoy the view from the top.  I must say, I could get used to that kind of lifestyle.  It was so nice up there and it was catered too so there was food and delicious cake and all the diet Pepsi I could ever want.  Let me tell you, it was fabulous!

View of the horses rounding the corner from the top

Ella and Grandma cuddling in between races.  Silly Ella, she was being camera shy. 

The racing horses exercise in this little area before their races and you can go and watch them.  Ella loved it and she made herself comfortable in between these two random men.  

LOUISVILLE SLUGGER BAT MUSEUM

 

Me, Ella and my parents in front of the Slugger Museum

My dad and Brad trying to see what the Babe is looking at

Checking out the game used bats.  They let you hold them but you have to wear gloves before you can touch them.  

  

Ella holding Mickey Mantles game used bat

My dad holding Mickey Mantles game used bat

My parents, Ella and I sitting on the stone mitt in the museum.  The artist who made this mitt is one of the mom's that I used to nanny for.  She is really talented.

 Ella playing t-ball in the kids play area.  I see baseball in her future!

Belated Derby Day

Well folks, derby has come and gone again here in KY.  I'm a few weeks late in posting but I wanted to make sure I did post so I would remember all the fun we had!  

In celebration for derby Ella made a hat at school.  She looks very dashing in it I think!

Derby hat close up.  They took newspaper and let them paint it any color they wanted.  I thought it was pretty crafty. 

The Evans put on a great party this year.  The food was awesome and the company was great!  Pictured are Laura and Harrison Cluff, Heather Cloward,  Brian Evans, Daphne and Matt Parker, and Sarah and Andrew Steele.

Out back Brad kept the kiddos busy playing games on the trampoline.  They loved it! (He had a priesthood meeting that he had to go to right before the party, hence the shirt and tie)

The kids also loved dog-piling on Brad!  You can barely see the top of his head and one of his arms :)

I just took pictures of the TV while the race was going to try to capture the excitement.  Here is the take off.

And here is the mud covered winner.  He had like 4 pairs of mud plastered goggles hanging around his neck by the time he finished.  He was totally an underdog and he won.  Pretty exciting.

Video clip of the finale.  If you listen closely you can hear someone yell, "who  is that!"  Nobody had any idea who it was!

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.