Bookworm

If there's one thing our little Ella couldn't live without, it's her books! She's obsessed! She is CONSTANTLY trying to get anyone and everyone to stop what they're doing and read her a story. I can't tell you how many times I've read "Goodnight Moon", "The Runaway Bunny" or "Guess How Much I Love You". I think I could recite them all without even opening the book. Some other of her favorites include Fancy Nancy, Mickey and Friends, and Robin Hood.  I just hope she keeps up this love affair with books! 

Here she is pretending to eat the chocolate cake from the page (I think she learned this from her Grandma Harbertson)

Getting settled

So we've been in Oklahoma for about a month now and I just don't get it.  Why can't I get this house all settled? You know, like my pantry organized how I want it, pictures hung on the wall, Ella's room decorated, the office organized...stuff that I thought I would do soon after moving in.  I thought it was because I was just waiting for Ryan to start his residency and I was giving myself little projects to do while he was gone all day, but he's now into his program for about 2 1/2 weeks and still...no pictures on the wall. I'm always telling myself "I'll do it tomorrow..." and come up with something else that has to get done right away...like taking Ella to the mall to let her play on the little indoor playground.  I don't get it. I didn't have this issue when we moved to California or when we moved to Omaha. Why is it that I just can't seem to "settle" here? Alright. I think I might know why.  I think I might just be a little homesick. I never got homesick in California (cuz I was home) and I never really got homesick in Omaha cuz we were surrounded by like 100 insta-friends which quickly turned into a family away from family. It's silly for me to feel homesick out here because I really do like it. I like our neighborhood.  I like our ward.  Plus I'm talking with at least one member of my family like every day.  I think it's just the time of year. Last year at this time, we were spending most days outside at the beach or a park or even just a little walk.  Here it SO hot and HUMID that we only got outside at night...and even that it for just a short time. Ryan and I decided that it is definitely hotter here than it was in Omaha...which I'm okay with if it is also warmer here during the winter! We'll see...

Ok, that's enough ranting from me.  Maybe I'll go hang a picture. Oh wait. Ella's taking a nap. Maybe tomorrow.

My little beach bum

Utah on a whim

Last Monday was Ryan's first official day of his residency. He came home on Tuesday and told me that he was going to have Friday, Monday and Tuesday off--there was some staff convention thing.  So right away we checked to see what the airline tickets would be to fly out to Utah but they were SUPER expensive.  After looking into making plans for some other weekend get-away, on Thursday night we thought we'd just check out the plane tickets one more time. They actually went way down to something that was somewhat affordable so that night we booked a flight to leave early the next morning (a big THANK YOU to our friend Jansen for the early morning airport shuttle!)

As usual, our time in Utah went by way too fast.  We not only got to spend time with family, Ryan got to go golfing with his brother and dad, I got a much needed pedicure and I got to catch up with some good friends.  It was great weather which was good because most of the time was spent lounging by the pool in Ryan's parent's backyard.

Okay, so here's some pictures from the trip but they're all out of order and for some reason they won't "click and drag" to where I want them to be. Oh well. 

On Monday we headed down to the UC for a day at Seven Peaks. Ella actually stayed home with her grandma (thank heavens) but then Ryan's parent's were nice enough to come down that evening so we could take her down a few slides.

My newest little niece, Hannah (and about 90% of the reason I was dying to get out to Utah!)

Ryan's parents have a dog, Petey, who Ella just ADORES. Here's Petey taking Ella for a walk.

Ryan at Seven Peaks on the Boomerang

Cute Burton brothers who like to dress alike

Ella and Ryan enjoying the baby slides

Back at the Harbertson pool Ella gets a little help from her cousin Jason

Scotty and Sammy doing some tricks in the pool

Cute Harbertson brothers who like to dress alike

When I was younger, we used to have to line up like this with my cousins all the time for pictures. I thought it would be cute to continue the tradition...although we were missing one cousin and soon to be two (we miss you Debbie!)

Ryan's dad has a couple remote control boats that Ryan and I couldn't help but play around with.

While Ryan was golfing, I got to go meet up with my very good friends Eliza and Tyson. This is Ella with their DARLING little boy, Jack and sadly, this is the best shot I have of them.

I also got to meet up with Krissy and her BEAUTIFUL daughter Hailey.  I can't believe how old she's getting--Hailey, not Krissy. Krissy will always be the same 21 year old that used to babysit me.

Ella doing what she loved the most--hanging out with her cousins in the pool!

Ella and her Grandpa

Ella playing with her daddy

What happens in Vegas...goes on the blog!

A couple of months ago Ryan and I were really wanting to plan a little get away before the big move. We thought we'd take advantage of living near family who could watch Ella (THANX SO MUCH to my Aunt Jill and Uncle Todd for taking such great care of our little Ella!) So we started thinking about where we could go and what we could do. Since our funds were sucked into paying for yet another interstate move, we thought we'd just drive on up to Las Vegas for a little fun in the sun. After making plans to unload their kids with my mom, Lindsay and Mike were on board as well. Originally we had reservations to stay at the Mandalay Bay but a couple nights before we were to check in, we got an e-mail telling us that they were giving us the boot and kicking us over to one of their "sister properties" the MGM Grand. What?! We were a little bummed but they said we could get another night free (we already had one night free with our deal we found for the Mandalay) plus they could upgrade us to a suit on the 27th floor...plus we could still use all of the amenities at Mandalay Bay. It was such a fun trip! The boys got to go golfing, Linds and I went shopping, we spent lots of time by the pool, and ate LOTS of good food. We might have even slipped a few coins in the slots...but now that they just use those little slips that you have to cash in, it's not nearly as fun as scooping out all those dirty quarters.

The MGM actually had a way nicer pool than we thought they would. Complete with Lazy River and everything! Here's Ryan relaxing in the pool. (I was on the side with my Diet Coke and Nicholas Sparks book...is there anything better?)


Here we are in front of the Mandalay Bay's wave pool (don't ask me why I'm flashing the peace sign???)


Ryan took this picture of the center part of our suite (the 2 rooms were off to either side.) This was like the biggest hotel room I've ever seen! It also had a really cool 180 degree view.


The biggest problem with shopping with your sister is finding the same cute shirt, getting ready in seperate bathrooms, then having to take a picture when you walk out wearing the same thing!

Howdy Ya'll!

HOWDY from the great state of Oklahoma! We rolled in last Tuesday night. A big THANK YOU to our brother-in-law, Mike, for being the great trucker that he was as he hauled our big rig all the way from California to our new driveway. Seriously, he did all of the driving. Ryan and I just trailed behind in the Xterra (Ryan's Honda was towed behind the big truck.) It took us two days. We got to Albuqurque the first night and then into OKC the next and I think we hit every snack store in between! My mom was nice enough to keep Ella and then fly out with her a couple days later. As we were pulling in to OKC, Ryan got a call from a resident he'll be working with who's already been here about a month. He offered to come help us unload the truck, plus he brought another guy, plus he brought his two-wheel hand truck! So nice! It made unloading the truck so fast! (If only loading the truck was that easy!)
The next night Mike had to fly back home so we spent the day showing him the "sights" of Oklahoma city. We went to the OKC federal building memorial, showed him the Ford Center (where the new Sonics will be playing), and then had lunch at Toby Keith's restraunt. I think I can speak for Mike when I say that there are so many good times to have here in OKC...which leads me to invite any and everyone out for a visit! Seriously, we would love to have visitors and with our new spacious house (k, it's not that big but compared to our tiny little Huntington Beach apartment...) we've got plenty of room! Once we get things in order, I'll post some pictures of our new home.

Here's Mike and Ryan outside Toby Keith's "I Love this Bar and Grill"