She's 7 months!!!

Today marks seven months that we have been blessed with our beautiful little Ella. I can't believe how the time has just flown by! At the same time, I can't imagine my life without her. Ryan and I love to just watch her and marvel at how she has grown and developed into this hilarious little girl. Her little personality just cracks us up sometimes. Anyway, this post is dedicated to my favorite little seven-month-old!

Looks like it's time to lower the crib!

This picture reminds me of that part in Shrek where Shrek and Donkey get their picture taken without knowing...you know that part? It also kinda looks like my mom's Costco card! :)

Here's a few old favorites...

Taking Ella home from the hospital in freezing cold Omaha

Ella's blessing day

Our little Easter Bunny

The RAGING Bull!!!

So for the past couple months, Ella has come up with a very discreet way to let us know she is unhappy. Well, not so much discreet...more like furocious! She does this thing where she crinkles her forhead and nose and breathes in and out SO LOUD through her nostrils. She's like a little cartoon bull getting ready to charge! The face she makes is one only a mother could love. It's hilarious! The funniest part is that she'll go from the Raging Bull to the biggest smile in 2.2 seconds. Ryan thinks it's a sign that she might be a little on the dramatic side when she's a teenager.

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa H

Last weekend Ryan's mom and dad came down hang out with us. They got here Wednesday night and were here until Sunday night. We did our best to make the most of the time we had with them. We went to Balboa Island, had dinner out on the pier here in Huntington Beach, we went to Downtown Disney, we drove down to San Diego to go to a Padre game, we hung out on the beach on Saturday, we had a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake factory and we even had time to get our own little personal tour at the hospital where Ryan works. Ella loved all the attention she was getting and we all can't wait until the next they come down to visit!

This is a picture of us as well as Ryan's little brother, Steve, and his wife, Stacy. Steve was down in San Diego visiting while his wife was working down here for about a week and a half.

(I wish I had more pictures of this weekend...but I totally spaced bringing my camera almost the whole time!)

A little bit of heaven

Well thanks to my generous Uncle Chuck who has made it a tradition to give the married women in our family a gift certificate to a spa each year for Christmas, we all got together last week to use it. I look forward to this day every year...not only for the massage (which is heavenly, by the way!) but it is such a fun day with all the girls. There's a "Quiet Room" at the spa...which we are not allowed in because there is no way we could all sit together and just not talk. It would be impossible. We topped off the night with dinner at Flat Tortilla. If only we could make this a monthly tradition...

Bath time!

Ella's absolute favorite time of day is bath time...actually it's every other day (she's got a bit of echsema...) Even if she's in the worse mood, a long soak in the tub will always lift her spirits!

All clean!

Ouch!

So I finally took Ella in for her 4 month check up (nevermind that she 6 1/2 months!) yesterday. She has a GREAT doctor and we are so blessed to have such a healthy and strong baby. She's in the 50th percentile for height, weight and head. Then comes the worse part...the shots! I have to admit, I was already a little worked up about the shots myself, so I was not looking forward to this part at all. It was so sad! As the nurse was SLOWLY getting through all four shots, Ella was just looking right at me like, "Why are you letting this lady do this to me! Pick me up already!" In the end, we both made it through. But I think I'll send Ryan to the next appointment...

This is for you, Krissy...

Just a couple more of this little face for a good friend up in Utah.

Plus Carson...

...and Kaitlyn.

Lazy days at the beach...

One of our favorite activities to do (and cheapest!) since we moved to Huntington Beach is to load up the car, swing through McDonalds for some 69 cent Diet Cokes, and meet the family at the beach.




My sis, Lindsay, with her little man, Carson.

Ryan and Mike, our brother-in-law, trying to do some body surfing in Laguna.

My favorite little beach bum...

Our little angel...

Here's just a few pictures of our favorite little girl...

The Harbertson Family Photo Shoot

Right before we left Omaha, our friend Kellie went with us to the Botanical Gardens (that we were lucky to live right next door to) and took some pictures. We absolutely LOVE the pictures she took!
Ella was workin' it for the camera...and I think it shows!

Que Viva Mexico!

To celebrate Ryan's graduation, we decided to cash in the sky miles and head to Cancun. Somehow all of Ryan's family found out and decided to crash the party! Just kidding. We had so much fun with all twelve of us (and no kids!) We all went scuba diving in Cozumel, snorkeling at Xel-ha, and the Harbertson boys tried to dominate any and all competitions at the resort.

When summer began...

So graduation kinda marked the beginning of our summer. After four years of hard work, Ryan graduated from Creighton Dental. I was/am so proud of him! He's now officially Dr. Ryan Harbertson, D.D.S. That sounds so old! This weeked was actually kinda bittersweet. It was such a whirlwind of emotions. We were so excited to be done with dental school and move out to California but also so sad to leave Omaha and all of our friends that have been like our little family since we were all hundreds of miles away from home. With any luck though, we'll all keep in touch and really go on all those vacations that we talked about...starting in 2015 and then every 5 years after that!

How do I do this?

So Lindsay convinced me that I HAVE to start a blog. I've been planning on doing this for a while...especially since parting ways with some of my greatest friends in Omaha. Anyway, like the good big sister that she is, Linds gave the final push that I needed to get 'er started. So here goes...