Cali Trip!

After Brittney's Wedding, the girls and I hitched a ride with my parents back to California. Beside the 9 hour drive home, it was a great trip. I got to see lots of my friends, ate some awesome real mexican food, shopped, went to the OC swap meet, Laguna Beach, Hollywood, Debbie's aerobics class. It felt like old times. We loved it. We look forward to going back in June!

Ella and her papa

Aunt Brittney and Ella in Hollywood

Ella and new Uncle Davey digging a hole

Laguna Beach with my girls

Utah/Easter

Since Brittney and Davey's wedding was Easter weekend, we got to spend Easter with my family. We attended 3 easter egg hunts in one day. My girls loved it and got lots of candy. It was good spending lots of time with Laurie and Adam and their kids.

Easter morning, waiting to see what the Easter Bunny brought them.

Proud of all her eggs

Daddy helping

City egg hunt

Smiths grocery store egg hunt

Brittney's Wedding

On April 22, 2011, My little sister Brittney got married! It was such a wonderful day. My whole family got to see her get married in the Mt Timpanogos Temple. We are so happy to have Davey part of our family. Ella and McKenna were both flower girls. They were pretty cute!

McKenna, Ella, and Abigail

Our Family Pic

My beautiful sister

Ella and Davey

My Parents with all their 17 grandchildren

Brit and Davey dancing at the reception. I love her dancing dress!

Half Marathon

Waiting for mommy to finish the race. Only in Texas do you get this kind of scenery.

At about mile 10

Finishing the race

Emily, Me, and Joanie

My girls supporting me!

Last Saturday, I ran my 1st half marathon! It was the Austin Zooma Half Marathon and it was challenging. The first 6.5 miles were hills which I was not really prepared for. I managed to get through that when I hit about mile 8 I kinda freaked out and told my friends to run ahead. The rest the of race was very challenging physically and mentally but I managed to finish the race in 2:03:47 which was a 9:27 mile pace. My friends kicked butt. One got 1:54 and the other 1:57. I'm so proud of all of us. This was a challenging accomplishment I hope to beat down the road. I was so happy my husband and girls came to cheer me on.

McKenna Children's Museum

loved turning on and off the light

Shopping at the McKenna Grocery Store

Addie, Jaxson, and McKenna (notice none of them looking at the camera)

Last Friday, My friends, Joanie and Emily went to the McKenna Children's Museum. Yes, the museum is actually called McKenna Children's Museum. How awesome is that? Of course, I had to take a picture of McKenna in front of the entrance. The kids had lots of fun going to each exhibit. Ella enjoyed being a banker at the pretend bank and McKenna liked hanging out at the pretend grandma's home. The museum was a little small so we only stayed for a few hours. It was a good distracted for me before the half marathon and moving and the kids loved it.

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Last Wednesday, our ward playgroup had an Easter egg hunt. Before the hunt, we had potato sack races which were lots of fun. The girls loved the hunt. Ella found her 12 eggs pretty fast and then enjoyed helping McKenna find hers. Now my girls play Easter egg hunt at home. Ella hides the eggs and McKenna finds them. It's great!

She thinks the basket belongs on her head.

some of the kids trying to pose for the pic

helping each other

eating the candy

Dinosaur tracks

the group!

Ella leading the hike

Hanging out on daddy's shoulders

Ella and Jackson

Ella's foot on the dinosaur tracks!

Yesterday, A few friends and us decided to take a hike to find dinosaur tracks. Our good friend is a geologist and said that he has seen dinosaur tracks nearby. So, we went to check them out. After a little short hike, we found them. Ella thought it was really cool. We walked around for a little bit and then headed back for pizza! It was a fun afternoon and we hope to do it again.

YMCA Soccer

Super excited!

playing the game

Upset the kids kept pushing her. McKenna enjoying the game.

High fives at the end!

Ella just started her first soccer experience. She is on the YMCA Bears team. It's a 4-5 yr old division so she is one of the youngest kids on the team. Yesterday, she had her 1st game. We had practiced a little with her and it was always just Jordan and I working with her. When she started the game, she was so upset because the other kids kept pushing her and taking the ball away from her. It was funny at how competitive she is at 4 yrs old. We look forward to the next 7 weeks of soccer. I can now say I'm a soccer mom. Where's my van???

Tubes

Waiting in the waiting room with Daddy.

Modeling her hospital gown!

A little nervous but she was a trooper!

About a week ago, Ella had to get tubes in her ears. After having many ear infections and a trip to the ENT specialist, we decided the surgery needed to be done. We arrived to the hospital at 6:45am. Ella was seen by the child life specialist, anesthesiologist, and doctor before the procedure was done. She was a little nervous and scared but the nurses were amazing. I also got the doctor to remove the skin tag on her ear too. The experience couldn't have been any better. We were out of the hospital at 8:30am. Our good friends, Emily and Darrin, watched McKenna so we can spend this special time with Ella. By 11:00am, Ella was completely back to her normal self and she says her ears don't her anymore.

Girls Night Out!

Heidi, Me, Joanie, Emily, Jodie, Vee, and Heidi's mom.

Last Thursday, we had girls night out. Once a month, girls in my ward get together and go to dinner or dessert. We get to relax and chat girl talk without our kids. I look forward to it every month. This last time, we went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Joanie and Heidi's birthday. It was so nice to get out, I am so sad to be leaving them soon.

Swim Lessons

For about a month and a half, Ella has been taking swim lessons at the YMCA. Before taking classes, she was afraid of putting her head in the water. I figured she needs many swim lessons to help her gain confidence and actually swim. So far, she has come a long way. I took these pics last Wednesday at her last lesson. She now can put her face in the water. I'm so proud of her. I know sometimes things are out of her comfort zone but she is really good at trying them. I plan to keep her in lessons until summer and hope she will be swimming.

Dance Class

learning new steps

She's in the center with the black skirt

McKenna wearing Ella's old ballet shoes that are way to big for her. She thinks she is part of the class.

Ella is part of a little dancers class at the YMCA. This class focuses on ballet and creative movement. Ella loves to dance. Her favorite part is the free dance at the end and she can dance around with wands her teacher Amy provides. McKenna thinks its her dance class too. She kind of wanders around the room attempting some of the moves. Most the time she doesn't bother the girls but sometimes I have to interfere. McKenna also loves the free dance at the end. She runs all around waving her magic wand. It's so cute!

Good Friends

Allie, McKenna, Ella, and Kailee

Last weekend, my friend Shannon came to visit the Austin area. She came from the Dallas area to visit some family and gave me a call. I met her at a park and we let the kids play while we caught up. Her little girls were so cute and I wish we lived closer because I think they would be good friends. Shannon and I were both in the elementary education program at BYU. We actually had our first baby girls a day apart and met up in the hospital to see each other while we were still recovering. We hope to make a trip up to the Dallas area soon to visit them.