The Harbertson BLOGertson

Ward Halloween Party

2011-01-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

It seemed like our ward Halloween party came up really fast this year so Sadie didn't actually have her costume ready yet. My idea was to have Ella be a butterfly (after I convinced her not to be what she wanted to be--a skinny fish, what???) and Sadie was going to be a caterpillar. Oh well, maybe next year.

Ella and all her cute friends.
Ella, Hope, Chad, Spencer, and McKay

Ella and Chad with his little brother Gabe. Chad and Gabe won the "hunkiest" costume award with Chad being Edward and Gabe was Jake. I think I'm team Gabe. :)

They had a bunch of fun carnival games for the kids plus a scary haunted Young Women's room and a Trunk or Treat.

So Sadie ended up dressing like her mom. Can you tell how excited she was about her costume?

Fall = Punkin Patch!!!

2011-01-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

One Saturday this Fall, we met up with some friends at Chester's Party Barn (probably the worst name for a pumpkin patch but still lots of fun.)

Ella has no fear of any animals!...except chickens for some reason? :)

Ella and her cute friend, Kenzi.

So this slide was here when we came 2 years ago and it was super fast. This time they had this plastic thing over it to slow it down I guess. I was a little nervous to send Sadie down by herself, but that was not necessary as it was probably the slowest slide on earth.

Ella was looking forward to this pony ride for so long!

Sadie loved it too!

Sadie and cutie little McKay.

At the end, we all got to pick out a pumpkin!!

Chocolate covered bacon and more!

2011-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

Since this is our last fall here in Oklahoma, we thought we'd better hit up the Oklahoma State Fair. The fair was good for many reasons: the people watching, the crazy food (deep fried snickers, deep fried oreos, foot and a half long corndogs, chocolate covered bacon, donut bacon cheese burgers, etc...) and the unstable rides.

They had the cutest little bumper boats for the kids. Ella loved it.

Ella and her friend, Addicus.

Ella was the train conductor!

The previously mentioned donut burger that a guy we went with got for his dinner. Yuck.

The absolute highlight of the night for Ella was this ride on the camel. To this day, Ella still tells people about the camel that she got the ride at the fair.

Addicus got a turn too.

GO SOONERS!!!

2011-01-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

This past September, one of Ryan's co-residents, Mary, gave us an early graduation present in the form of two of her season tickets to an Oklahoma football game. We were so excited about going to a game and I have to say that the experience did not disappoint. The energy in that stadium is so intense! I think it holds something like 85,000 fans and it sells out every game with what feels like just as many people outside tailgating while the game is going on. I was so glad that we got to go to a game before we move. Thanks Mary!!!

We got there before kick off and I thought that was the best part. They play a little video on the big jumbo screen to get everyone all pumped up and then the team comes running through and the music is loud and the jets fly over the stadium. This game was especially patriotic because they were playing Airforce.

Every time they scored, this horse and wagon came running on the field. I had to take a picture for Ella.

This is the outside of the stadium. I always thought the BYU stadium felt pretty big until I went in OU's stadium.

Ryan's OKC wakeboarding adventure

2011-01-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

Out here in Oklahoma City, they have a little lake that has a cable system all around the perimeter so that it can pull people who want to wakeboard without a boat. Ryan went with two of his co-residents one day and the girls and I tagged along to watch them.

This is the platform where you wait in line to grab a rope.

Since there's no boats (so no wakes) they set up some jumps and rails and stuff for them to play on.

When you fall, you have to swim to the side of the lake and walk back over to the only starting platform. For this reason, Ryan always waited for the jumps that were closest to the platform to try his tricks.

Ella LOVED hanging out with all the teenagers on the starting platform.

I thought this was the best picture I got of Ryan so I was bummed that that little boat got in the way.

This is Ryan's co-resident/friend, Jansen.

Another resident/friend, Jason.

A New Blogging Leaf

2011-01-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

Once again I'm trying to be better at blogging. 2011 will hopefully have lots of "blog-worthy" things for our little family so I better be able to keep up.

Over Labor Day weekend (I know it was like 4 months ago) we went out to San Diego to talk to a couple of periodontists. My sister and her family came out too so it was a fun, family filled weekend! The first night we were there, we headed down to Seaport Village. I love downtown San Diego.

Ryan thought it was funny that we were right next to the ocean and Ella just wanted to hang out by this little pond with ducks in it. :)

We didn't bring a stroller so we had to use this one that my parents bought in Hong Kong when my little brother was Sadie's age. Old school!!! The front wheels didn't even turn.

We spendt one night at my dad's house. He got a fun new toy that is sure to make a few marks on his walls.

We met up with my aunt and uncle for dinner one night and then fed the ducks at the pond behind the restaurant.

Sadie and Ella with my brother's son, Nolen, and my cousin's son, Tyler.

Sunday night we went to my Aunt Melanie's house for a little b-day party for my cousin Hallie.

Sadie and my cousin's daughter, Stella. They were born 2 days apart.

On Labor Day, we all headed out to the beach in San Clemente.

Carson doing some digging.

More Summer Fun!!!

2010-08-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

As with a lot of other things in my life, I'm sort of all or nothing when it comes to blogging. That being said, get ready for a lot of pictures of what we've been doing lately...

With Sadie's birthday being the day after the 4th of July, and this year the 4th was on a Sunday so we decided to combine the two and have a little BBQ at our house and let Sadie dig into her own cupcake and call it good.

Thanks to Target for a little help with Sadie's "cake". Maybe someday I'll be one of those cute mommies who bakes a cute little cake that goes with the theme of the party.

Unfortunately, my camera was on macro-focus so all of the pictures turned out blurry. :( Oh well, here's a couple of them.

After the BBQ, we all headed over to a local college that does an AMAZING fireworks show. We sat right next to where they set them all off.

This was actually Ella's first experience with fireworks since last year I was just about to go into labor and the years before that we were more concerned with getting her to bed than letting her see fireworks. She was not a fan.

Sadie was though!

At first I was kinda bummed when I thought about how Sadie's birthday would always be kinda overshadowed by the 4th, but now I think she'll think it's pretty cool that she gets to see fireworks every year the night before her birthday.

We made the mistake of getting really good parking. Unfortunately for us, that meant waiting for about 45 minutes to be able to get out of the parking lot.

Another fun thing we've been doing lots of this summer is going to the water park. Since we don't have access to a community pool and it gets so dang HOT here in Oklahoma, I bought a season pass to the water park and we have definitely gotten our money's worth!

Ryan's even been able to come with us a couple times. (Ella now goes down any slide that you can ride a tube on. See those slides in the background?...She's gone down the blue one and the yellow one. I have to admit that even I get a little scared as I'm climbing those stairs to the top, but she's a brave little toaster and can't get enough of those slides! The blue one is one of those enclosed ones that's totally dark and you can't see which way you are about to turn. She loves it!)

This is how Sadie likes to enjoy the water park.

The Lazy River.

For Sadie's birthday, my dad and sister went shopping together and got my girls a couple of matching outfits (and their cute green polk-a-dot swimsuits.) I think that's one of the funnest (most fun?) parts of having 2 girls is dressing them the same (or 2 boys for that matter.)

We have some good friends out here that have the perfect back yard for Ultimate Slip-n-Slide. **We did a version of this in Omaha with some dental school friends but I have to say that these guys perfected it with the addition dish soap. :)

One day we were swimming at a friends pool and Ella got ahold of my camera:

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Dallas for a meeting that Ryan had. Ryan's program pays for it every year so we always like to tag along. There was a pond behind our hotel that had some ducks in it so one night after having some yummy Jimmy John sandwiches, we asked the guy for some extra bread so that we could go feed those ducks. He gave us like 4 loaves so we fed the ducks for a LONG time!

The ducks saw us coming.

Sadie didn't quite understand the concept of feeding the ducks. She was more concerned with feeding the Sadie.

Ryan really gets into feeding the ducks.

One for you,

one for you guys,

and one for me.

I don't know how many remember, but Ella would ALWAYS do this face when she was Sadie's age and breathe thru her nose like a little bull. It makes me laugh so hard to see Sadie do it too!

Look closely at this next picture. Ella was literally feeding the ducks out of her hand. Crazy girl.

What we've been up to...

2010-06-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and our little family couldn't be happier about it! This is what we've been up to the past several weeks.

***So I had a pretty upsetting experience...half way thru out vacation when we went to Utah and then on to California, I was messing around with our camera and I ended up deleting all of our pictures that I had taken up to that point! I was so MAD! I keep thinking about this one picture that I had of Sadie that was SO CUTE that I will never see again and I just get sick to my stomach! Anyway, thanks to my Falther-in-law, I still have a few pictures from a night that we went up the canyon with the family.

Cute little Hannah.

While we were in California, my cousin Aubrey used her "princess powers" to get us into Disneyland. We were so excited to take Ella because we went all the time when we lived in Huntington Beach but now that she's older and loves everything Princess, we knew she was the perfect age now to love Disneyland.

(BTW, some of the pictures are the wrong way, but I'm on Ryan's computer and too lazy to figure out how to rotate them. Also, be warned, there are way too many pictures.)

Aunt Mel, Kylie and Ella on the tram ride in.

When Ella was small, this was her FAVORITE ride at Disneyland. I was excited to let her ride it again. You can tell by her expression, she wasn't as easily impressed this time around.

Our girly little Storybook boat captain. So Disneyland! I love it. :)

Any of you out there that take your little 3 year old girls to Disneyland--you HAVE to take them to Bippity Boppity Boutique! They do your hair and make up and turn you into a real princess. My cousins hve gone before and my mom really wanted to take Ella. It was so fun for all of us to see how much Ella loved being treated like a princess!

This was Ella's audience.

They had her hold this little plastic thing that gaurded her face from all the hairspray.

Sorry Sadie. Bald babies can't get turned into a princess...

Hair's all done. Now time for the make-up.

A little sparkle sticker

After she was done, they pulled back some curtains for the "big reveal" and Ella couldn't take her eyes off the mirror! Then they had her do some princess poses...

We rode Dumbo while Sadie...

...took a little nap.

Ella and my cousin with the princess powers--Aubrey. Thanks again Aubs!

Sadie and my dad.

Ella showing us that she's tall enough for the Mattahorn (I don't know if that's how you spell it but Ella just called it the white mountain with the scary monkey inside.)

Ella and my cousin's son, Gid.

Ella and my cousin, Kylie.

***That last picture was taken right before Ella got knocked in the head by the gate that you have to wait behind when you're the next in line to get on the ride. What happened was the gate opened, the people in front of us got on the ride, we stepped forward and Ella went just a little too far forward and when the gate closed, it hit her right in the forehead! There was a huge knot right away and she was kind of crying but luckily she was tough enough because it was our turn to get on the ride!!!

Notice the bruise:

It's the end of the day and look how great her hair still looks! That was some strong hairspray.

When it was time to go home, Ella was convinced she wasn't tired. It took about five seconds for her to be completely out! For some reason, Sade was not only awake, but in the best mood of her life!

The next day...this is what all that hairspray did to Ella's hair. I thought she looked like Beetlejuice.

When we flew from San Diego back to OKC, we had a layover in Phoenix. My sister and her family were nice enough to come and spend a couple hours with us. Ella and Sadie with Kaitlyn and Chloe (Carson was there too...somehwhere.)

Back in OKC, we went to the zoo one day to check out the new Children's Area. There's lots of fun areas to play in the water which is noce since it's so stinking HOT!

We got a season pass to a little water park out here so excited to spend some more time in the sun there with friends!

the past few months...

2010-04-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

So since my last post was about our Christmas vacation and it is now April...that pretty much makes me the worst blogger on the planet! Oh well. I'm over it.

Anyway, I'm just gonna do one big post about what we've been up to the last few months.

My little baby...well not so little anymore...Ella turned 3 in January! I cannot believe that I have a 3 year old. Our little Ella is such a complete JOY (most of the time at least) and I am so grateful every day that she "came from my tummy!" (That's what she tells me: "Mom, I'm so happy I came from your tummy."--She makes me want to cry at how much I love her.)

If it was still socially acceptable to have arranged marriages, this little guy would be Sadie's future husband. It's only appropriate because Ella is going to marry his older brother.

Another good potential husband for either one of my girls! Little "T" is such a sweet boy and his mom is one of my good friends out here in Oklahoma.

This is Ella's BF I mentioned earlier...

Blowing out the candles on her Ariel cake before the song was over.

My 2 little girlies after bath time. Now that Sadie doesn't need to take a bath in her little plastic blue tub, it's so much easier to bath them at the same time! And Sadie LOVES doing anything with her big sister!

We went down to Dallas in February for a conference Ryan had to go to and this was the only shot we took the whole weekend. Nothing puts a smile on Ella's face like a ride on the Merry-go-Round!

There's a cute little museum here with a little kid area that his a dress up area. We go sometimes for a playdate with friends.

Ella and our friend/neighbor "H". These two are so funny together. Every time they see each other, they have to run to each other and give a big dramatic hug. It's like they've seen 1 too many Disney movies. :)

They day after we got back from our Spring Break trip to AZ to visit my sis and her family, there was a crazy snow storm. When Ryan got home from work, he and Ella went in the back yard and made a little snowman (sidenote: Ella was building the snowman with no shoes on! Only in Oklahoma!) The next day Ella woke up and all that was left of her snowman with the hat and scarf in a pile on the grass. She was pretty sad.

Awww...what a cute little boy!! Just kidding. Sadie had to borrow a shirt from her little friend because she was playing at his house when she had a pretty messy diaper. All I can say is--Thank heavens for headbands!!

Easter was kind of weird this year since it fell on conference Sunday so the girls had to wear their cute dresses (thanks Grandma Karen!) to church the week before. Our ward starts at 8:30 in the morning--yikes!--so needless to say we never have any spare time before church and Sadie was already asleep when we got home so I just have a picture of Ella in her Easter dress. Oops.

The zoo just opened a cute little "Children's Petting Zoo" so we met up with a friend earlier this week to check it out. This is Ella with another one of her good friends, "A".

Ella LOVED getting to pet the goats. I swear, she is not afraid of any animal. Well, except chickens. I don't know what it is. I don't think she trusts them. In fact, I think she is a little hesitant of all birds...probably a left over effect of the "duck biting" incident from a couple summers ago.

I think she looks SO OLD in this picture! Even though I feel like she gets more fun the older she gets, it still makes me a little sad to see her get bigger. :(

The three amigos by the lions. As soon as I put Sadie down, thought "she's gonna try to eat these wood chips."

So far, so good...

...and there she goes. Nice.

Christmas Vacation, Part 2: California

2010-01-07T20:03:00.001-08:00

Back on the plane to head down to San Diego...

Ella was catching up on what to do in case of an emergency.

On Christmas Eve, we all (me, my brother, and my sister and our families) all spent the night at my dad's house so we could all wake up Christmas morning together.

Sadie was hitching a ride on Carson's new Tonka truck

The Katie-bug

Mike providing some Christmas morning entertainment

Carson was LOVING what Santa brought him. His little jammies said "Dear Santa, I can explain..." Perfect for this little guy!

My BIL arranged for us to stay in his brother's in law's beach house that they weren't going to be using for a few of the days we were there in Laguna Beach. This was the view from the balcony.

This is how Ella took most of her naps while we were in California. Poor thing.

Carson fell asleep with his hand on Sadie's. So cute.

The day after Christmas, we did a big party with all of my mom's side. I know I'm not looking, but this is the best picture I had. (p.s. I love the look on my cousin, Aubrey's, face. Not very "Aurora" of her, is it? To be fair, we did have to wake her up to come get in the picture.)

Ella was not in any mood to be taking all the pictures we wanted her to be in.

I had to bribe her with M&M's to even do this:

Back at the beach house, I was loving the balcony!

Santa's lil' helper

One morning, my sister and I had to run an errand so just Ryan and Ella hung out on the beach.

They were throwing rocks in that water.

The house that we were staying in was in this little gated community that had it's own private beach with swings and a playground so our kids were loving it!

One night, we had the rest of the family come out to the beach house and what did we end up doing??? You guessed it...taking more pictures.

My kids were not into all the pictures we wanted them to be in.

Oh well. We tried.

Maybe next year.

My cute Glitter Toes that I treated myself to while I was in Utah. Love them!

Ella and Ryan exploring the rocks.

Ella and Grandma Karen

They found some starfish that Ella had to touch.

It was a fun-filled trip! Thanks to all the family for all the fun memories! :)

Christmas Vacation, Part 1: Utah

2010-01-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

I think the best part about Ryan being a resident is that we still get a nice long break at Christmas time. Back in July, we found pretty good tickets to be able to fly to Utah and to San Diego. Ella was SO excited to go on the airplane...

We went to see the lights on temple square (along with half of Salt Lake.)

Ella LOVED every minute she got to spend with her cousins.

Ella and the "Ram Sam"

(I promise Sadie was there too but it was too cold to get her out of the stroller.)

All 13 of the Harbertson grandkids

I was taking pictures of the 2 youngest grandkids, Sadie and Macey...

...and guess who decided to pop in?

Then we decided to get all the girls in there...

...so of course we then made all the boys do the same thing.

Thanks Harbertsons for a fun trip!!!

A little Christmas spirit

2009-12-13T20:13:00.001-08:00

My mom sent the girls these cute little Christmas dresses and wanted to see a picture of Ella and Sadie in them. (As usual) we were running late this morning as we were getting ready for church so this is the best I could do...

Thanks Mom!!!

Thanks Aunt Lindsay!

2009-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

My sister is one of the busiest people I know and yet somehow she managed to squeeze in a little time to make a couple cute onesies for my little Sadie. These pictures are kinda old but I wanted to put a few on the blog to show Lindsay how cute they look on my little model.

Of course, after I snap a few shots of Sadie, guess who has to come join the party...

...then she wanted to be the photographer:

While we're on the subject of a silly Ella, lately she's wanted to take a bath in Sadie's little tub. Whatever floats her boat I guess...

Storybook Forrest

2009-11-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Every year at this time, the scouts around here put on a little Storybook Forrest where you walk along a little trail in the forrest and along the way there are scenes from different fairy tales. We went last year with the Richins so we decided to keep the tradition alive and go again this year!

Even Sadie got to do some trick-or-treating! (I should say that she HAD to do some trick-or-treating. They made us pay $7 for all 4 months of her!!! So you know I was going to make each station give her some candy.)

They didn't have that cute scout from last year by the sword in the stone. (The boy that was WAY into his job and was shouting "Come one! Come all to test your strength!") Kind of a bummer but Ella still tried to pull the sword from the stone!

I don't really know what story this is from but there was a lady in this pumpkin and Ella went up to the little window and wanted to have a conversation with her. The lady was just looking around for the parents to come take their "talkative" girl away. :)

On the hay ride...

A Witches Gathering

2009-11-01T14:20:00.003-08:00

Each month some girls in my ward get together and do a little "culinary night" and this month we were lucky enough have a little Witches Gathering. Candice and Becky hosted it and they provided an amazing and delicious night. We all got in the spirit of things and dressed up for the occasion. This is what I came up with:

(I HATE taking pictures by myself)

It was such a fun night. From the decorations, to the food, to the costumes and the company...it was all fabulous!!!

When I got home, Sadie wanted to try on my spider web eyelashes.

I just can't resist kissing those cheeks!!!

Halloween Playgroup

2009-10-25T13:23:00.001-07:00

Last week, a girl in my ward hosted a little playgroup and she was nice enough to turn it into a little Halloween party for the little ones. Ella had so much fun celebrating with all of her little friends...

Ella and her two besties: Hope and Chad

Hope was a good witch

Cute little Avery

The kids played the game where you eat a doughnut off a string. It was hilarious to watch.

Chad figuring it out...

Ahh! Much easier.

Success!

Sadie was there too doing this... (don't tell my pediatrician I let her sleep in her tummy!)

My girls...

2009-10-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick pictures of my two favorite little girlies.

Sadie's blessing

2009-10-06T13:01:00.001-07:00

The weekend before last was Sadie's blessing. Ryan's parents as well as my mom and Dave (her husband) were nice enough to fly out for the special day. Ryan's parents got here first and it was fun to spend a couple days with them and then my mom and Dave were here a little longer so it was nice that it staggered a little--although Ella (who was absolutely in seventh heaven with all of the attention she was getting) was a little beside herself when all the grandparents were gone.

One of the days we went downtown to meet Ryan for lunch and then we stopped by Bass Pro Shop. It's like Disneyland for the "outdoorsie types".

Ryan pretending he knows what to do with a gun. (But I have to say, I'm glad it's all pretends!)

The next day I took my in-laws to the zoo. This is where Ella met Sheldon the turtle.

When grandparents are in town, Ella wants very little to do with me...can you tell?

On Sunday was the blessing. Ryan did a great job. I'm so grateful for the fact that I'm married to a man who is worthy of the priesthood and can bless our daughter.

Ryan's parents left the next morning and we ended up using our little zoo pass one more time with my mom and Dave. Ella would go to the zoo on a daily basis if it were up to her!

My two little monkeys in the tub.

That night we went to dinner out by the lake. It was so nice out that we walked around a little outside...until we got eaten by mosquitos; then we high tailed it back to the car!

Ryan visits "Bean Town"

2009-10-06T12:17:00.003-07:00

A few weekends ago, Ryan's program paid for him and his 2 co-residents to go to the annual Periodontics convention out in Boston. I would have loved to have gone with him but I had to settle for the Girls Only weekend here at home with my two little friends. Most of the time Ryan spent at the convention but he did manage to get out and see some of the sights that Boston has to offer.

Where everybody knows your name...

Ryan said it was really cool to be in a city that is so old (for our country) and has so much history.

Paul Reviere. Is he the one who said "The British are coming!"? I guess I should brush up on my early American history.

Ryan and one of his co-residents, Jansen.

One of the nights, they snuck off to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. This is Ryan, Jansen, and his other co-resident, Mary.

The Green Monster behind Ryan.

**I'm glad Ryan had a fun time in Boston, but I was even happier when he got home. I'm SO grateful that he doesn't have a job where he travels a lot. Our home is a much more fun place when he's around!

Miss Sadie D!!!...and a little Ella too.

2009-10-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

I wish that someone would invent a blog where all you had to do was think of a blog post and it would magically be done. I would be such a good blogger if I had one of those kind of blogs... In the mean time, here's a few from the past month. It's hard to believe our little Sadie will be 3 months old tomorrow!!!

I kept trying to rotate this picture, but it wouldn't stay rotated. Anyway, she's sitting in her swing and look up at the mobile. I remember when Ella did that for the first time. Ryan and I thought it was so cool that she was "playing with her toys!"

This is what Ella would do all day long if I let her...watch Ariel!

Bath time!

The good news is Sadie loves her bath. The bad news is she hates getting out!

Thank heavens for binkies!

Whenever I start taking pictures of Sadie, Ella has to jump right in and say "Cheese"! Jealous much??? (I like Sadie's gangsta sign here. She's in the pinky gang.)

We just got Sadie a little Bumbo cuz we heard how much everyone who has one loves theirs. I thought Sadie would be too little for it, but she fills is out quite well. :)

Once again, Ella comes running from the other room to be in the picture.

Knock 'em down!

2009-09-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, we got to go bowling with all of the residents that Ryan works with and their families. It was Ella's first experience at bowling and she was loving every minute of it...except for the part where you have to wait your turn.

She got to use this handy little ramp

Oh the anticipation!!!

Ryan snuck this picture of me. Look at that form!

The one and only Pin Daddy!

Oops...no pictures of Sadie! (Or anyone else we went with?!) I'm not the best photographer...

Party like it's 1999!

2009-09-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Sadie and I got to go home to San Diego for everyone to meet the newest addition to our family. While I was there, I got to go to my 10 year high school reunion. (BTW, I have no clue why this is all underlined and I don't have much time or patience to figure out how to fix it...) I'm so glad I got to go to my reunion. I was a little hesitant as to whether I really wanted to go or not but it turned out to be a lot of fun! It was really weird and kind of a trip to hear what some people have been doing with their lives the past ten years but all in all, a really fun night!

Me and the Jill-dawg (I wonder how old we'll be when we stop using our softball nicknames?!)

Me and Marcella...love, love, LOVE this girl!

Playing catch-up!

2009-08-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to update this stupid blog for a while now but I just haven't thought to take many pictures lately. Anyway, here's a little catch-up...

Coming home from the hospital

Ella loves her little sis

My mom was out for a week and she was SUCH a huge help. Ella was so sad when she left...

It's been sooooo hot here! We try to cope with our little pool in the backyard. Even Ryan gets in it sometimes! (can you see his arm in this picture?)

***Ryan's mom and my sister were also nice enough to come out and visit but I was too brain dead to remember to take any pictures!***

Last weekend we got to go down to Dallas cuz Ryan had a perio meeting he wanted to go to. The girls and I tagged along. We mostly just hung out by the pool.

Why do all dads get such a kick out of throwing their kids in the air???

Their little pool had a fun little fountain in the middle that Ella loved!

My cousin Rachel lives in Dallas so while Ryan was at his meeting, the girls and I met up with Rachel, Gid, and Stella (who was born 2 days before Sadie) at the Galleria mall.

There was a pond with some ducks by our hotel so you know we had to go feed them...

We also met up with Rachel and her family at the Dallas Aquarium.

I didn't get it on camera, but one of those rays jumped up out of the water towards Ryan and Ella!

This creepy alligator was just sitting there with its mouth open...like it was waiting for one of the parents to drop their kid!

Introducing...

2009-07-06T11:48:00.001-07:00

SADIE DANIELLE HARBERTSON

Making her debut almost 2 weeks early, is little miss Sadie Danielle Harbertson. For some reason, coming up with a name for this little one proved to be a little tricky for Ryan and I but after much deliberation, we finally narrowed it down to Sadie and we feel like it's a really good fit for her. Danielle is my sister's middle name so that's where we got Sadie's middle name.
She was born last night at 6:30 CST. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 21 in. long! So far she is doing just great. Eats, sleeps, poops. What else can you ask for?!

Ella was so funny when she first got here. She was with some good friends of ours while I was in labor and they brought her to the hospital later that night. When Ella first came into the hospital and saw me in the hospital bed with tubes in my arms holding a little baby...she was not too sure what to think about things. We were telling her "Here's baby sister! She came out of Mommy's tummy!" I think this picture kinda shows what she was thinking:

It wasn't too long after that though that she was all about this new baby of hers...

We're so happy that Sadie is here. She and I are doing just great and will be leaving the hospital tomorrow. More to come later!!!

Utah family fun

2009-06-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks in May Ryan had off so we packed up the car and made the drive out to Utah. We packed in a lot of fun (and Ryan packed in a lot of golf!) into those two weeks. Here's some pictures from our trip...which, btw, are completely out of order but I don't have the patience to fix the order so it'll have to do.

The last few days we spent down in Southern Utah at a cabin that was big enough to sleep Ryan's whole family (all 23 of us!) It was so fun to all be under the same roof! One of the days we went to Zion National Park.

I think Ella's favorite part was being with ALL of her cousins. She had plenty of options and wanted little or nothing to do with her parents when her cousins were around. She hung out with the big kids...

...and the little ones.

One of the days we drove into St. George and went swimming at a very fun pool. This is Ella, Jason (Bubba), and Claire right before they got in trouble for climbing on this hill.

This little girl is part fish. She loves the water!!!

Ella and Claire

Debbie, Allie, cute little prego Megan and a nice pose from Scott

Ella was so funny with this life vest on. She figured out she could just float on her back so that's all she did...float!

Here's Ella floating by in the lazy river

On the drive back to the cabin, everyone was a little tuckered out.

OK, now we're back at the start of our trip in SLC. Ryan's parents have a pool in their backyard which is lots of fun even on cloudy days.

My mom actually was in town for one of the weekends and since she brought my niece, Kaitlyn, we decided it would be fun to take the kids to the children's museum downtown at the Gateway. It was so cute and the kids all LOVED it!

They had a little stage area where the kids could dress up in costumes from the book "Where the Wild Things Are"

Ella and Claire putting a show on for us

Kaitlyn's favorite part was the little market. She could have spent hours in there!

Kaitlyn would do all the shopping, give me the basket, and then check me out.

They even had a helicopter to play in!

One of the days we went to Wheeler Farm. It's a great little park where you can look at animals, feed the ducks, have a picnic...and we did it all!

This picture was taken about 30 seconds before that rooster "cock-a-doodle-doo'd" right in Ella's face! She was so scared! It was so funny! Why do I think it's funny when my daughter gets scared? I just can't help it.

Ella (and Ryan) feeding some baby geese. Actually I think Ryan was a little nervous about some of the bigger geese getting a little too close to his daughter.

As we were eating our lunch, Ella kept trying to "herd" the ducks. When some of them went into that little creek to get away from her, she reached out to try to get them back out and one of the ducks had apparently had enough of her and snapped at her (it didn't leave a mark) and scared the heck out of Ella. Then as she was crying and walking over to me, she tripped on some roots of a tree and scratched her shin a little. It was a tough time to be Ella. Later that afternoon, she kept telling anyone who would listen to her "Duck bite Ella! No, no duck! Mean duck!" It's a tough lesson to learn but she's gotta know, when you play with fire, you might get burned. Or in her case...when you try to herd ducks, you might get bitten!

While we were there, Ella little cousion, Hannah, turned one. We had a fun party in Ryan's brother's backyard to celebrate the big event.

As I said before, Ella loves the water. She was quite the little swimmer this trip.

But her favorite part is the hot tub!

Thanks Harbertsons for a fun two weeks!!!

Moms

2009-05-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

As you all know we all got to take a day this weekend to celebrate moms. Being a mom, I was able to reap some benefits on this blessed day but it also gave me the opportunity to think about the importance of this role. In addition to the amazing mother that I have been blessed with, I also have an incredible mother-in-law and a couple great grandmas. I just wanted to take a couple minutes to reflect on the amazing women that I have been blessed with.

My Mother: Geeze...where do I start? Words cannot describe my mom. She is so many things. Unselfish, loving, kind, caring, smart, beautiful, genuine, exemplary...I could go on and on. Above it all, I would say that she is one of the strongest women I know of. She's been through some tough trials in her life and each and every time has come out of them better. My mom is the greatest examples to me of what a mother should be. She is the type of person that would give you the shirt off of her back. I strive every day to be a little bit more like her in that way. I think my sister got that from her but I'm not sure that gene got in me. I love her so much and I'm so grateful for the ways she has taught me to be a better mother.

My Mother-in-law: First off, I will always be indebted to my MIL for the amazing job she and my FIL did in raising Ryan. He is one of the most loyal, hard working, trustworthy men I know of and I know that those are all attributes he learned from his parents. My mother in law has quickly become one of my most favorite people on the planet. She is genuinely loving and cares for each and every one of her children--including those who have married into the family. She is the best care taker I know...the type of person who really makes you feel like they LIKE to take care of you, even if they don't. Even though our families live in separate states, every time we visit Utah, I feel like I'm going home and I thank my mother in law for that and the way she makes me feel so welcome.

My Grandma Snead: I don't actually know my Grandma Snead because she died two months after I was born but somehow I have always felt a special bond with her. Maybe it's because my mom would always tell me that during her last few months when she was in the hospital and all the adults were rushing around her trying to come up with some way to make her more comfortable, they would just place me in her bed and she would seem to be comforted. I don't know how true that is but I do know the special spirit and peace a baby can bring to anyone. I look forward to the day when I can run up to my Grandma in heaven, give her a big hug and really get to know her.

My Grandma Dewey: Once again, I'm almost speechless when it comes to describing my lovely Grandma Dewey. I was blessed to be able to grow up living 10 minutes away from my grandma and because of that she is present in a lot of my happiest childhood memories. She was at birthday parties, graduations, softball games, or even just a Sunday dinner. In fact, when I think of my Grandma Dewey, I often think about Sunday dinners at her house. Roast beef, mashed potatoes (loaded with butter!), corn, cooked carrots (which we would always tease my grandpa for not eating), rolls and Texas sheet cake for dessert. My grandma was a great cook but she didn't waver on the menu too often---which I love! Why fix what isn't broken? When my grandma passed away, it was one of the hardest things in my life. But again, I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for the day when I can be with her again...and if she wants to make me some caramels, or melt-aways, or fudge or whatever...then all the better!

Lastly, I can't do a post without a picture of this little one. Now you know why we call her our little monkey. Plus, she's the reason I'm so proud to call myself a mother so I think it applies. :)

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'll admit that I'm not that festive when it comes to celebrating Cinco de Mayo (although I will say that we will be dining on Mexican food tonight) but I just had to do another post so that every time I got on my blog I didn't have to read about Ella's potty training...or what I should say is lack thereof! I'm so frustrated with the whole thing that I think I'm throwing in the towel. I just had to buy another box of diapers today and I was not happy about it. I don't know why she won't just pee on the potty. I know she can do it. She's just so stubborn! I don't know where she could possibly get it from. Must be from her dad...

On a lighter note...this is what I caught my little monkey doing the other day.

This is my old tap dancing costume (from when I was in 3rd grade...so it was little big) but Ella decided that she would slip this little number on. And what goes great with a lime green and black leotard? Yep...hot pink cowboy boots. In this next picture she might just be singing a song into her "microphone". This, I admit, is a trait that she might have picked up from her "teeny-bopper" mom. It's embarrassing but true.

Potty Training

2009-04-28T07:52:00.001-07:00

Ugh...potty training. I always knew this day would come and I've been dreading it for a while now. I've heard all the stuff about how you can't push a child into it and that they have to be ready on their own time. But that's the problem...how does a two year old know? Are they just going to say "Mom, you know I'm really tired of sitting in my own urine/feces. Would you mind teaching me to use the toilet?" So I've been looking for signs. It all started a couple months ago when Ella saw her little friend Hope using the potty and suddenly she wanted a turn to sit on the potty. I got all excited because every time I had tried to even sit her on the toilet, she wigged out and would refuse to. I guess I can see how it would seem a little scary. Anyway, she got right on the potty after she saw Hope do it and has asked me several times since then to sit on the potty. Trouble is she doesn't know what to do when she's there. I tell her "Okay, go pee pee now" and she looks at me like "How?" I was talking to my mom about it and she said that she can remember her mom bringing the little potty out in front of the TV and sitting there for a long time until something happened. I figured I can't move our toilet but I can bring a TV to the toilet. So this is what we did last week:

Ella sat like this for about an hour and NOTHING! In fact now she thinks this is a new fun way to watch a show. She now asks to watch Tinkerbell on the potty. I took her off after an hour cuz she had little red marks on her buns.

I've tried letting her pick out her favorites panties at the store (Ariel by the way) but when we put those on her, even though I sound like a broken record asking her "Do you have to go potty?", she just pees in them.

I've also tried motivating her with treats. The problem is that she takes after her dad and doesn't really get too excited about food. I don't get that.

I've tried letting her just be naked from the waist down but she either holds it until nap time when I put a diaper on her or she sneaks off to a quiet corner pees like a doggie. Ryan said that I should rub her nose in it and see if that works. (In case the sarcasm doesn't translate in writing, he was just kidding.)

What do I do??? I really feel like if she could just somehow understand the concept of how to "release" her pee pee on the toilet (is that too graphic?) then we would be in business. I need help. With another little one coming in a couple months, I just really don't want to buy two sizes of diapers. I know that's a little selfish on my part but that's just me being honest.

Stick a fork in him...

2009-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

This past week I had the "opportunity" of having jury duty. I have to admit that when I got the letter about 3 weeks ago that I was to report last Monday morning, I immediately thought of a way that I could get out of it. At the bottom of the paper that told me when and where to report, there was a section about how if you thought you had a legitimate reason to be excused from jury duty, you could come talk to a judge on the Friday before. So what do I do? I completely forget about it until about an hour after the time I was supposed to be there. Now I'm stuck. I can't just not show up. I still wasn't that worried cuz everyone I talked to said that they've never actually had to go in more than a day for one reason or another. Plus, being that I'm "great with child", I figured they'd have sympathy for me/no use for me and release me back to my little world of Sesame Street, laundry, and Mac n Cheese. Nope.
After being selected to sit on a jury, I learned that I was now going to spend the next few days listening to a trial about a man accused of sexually abusing his daughter. I know, SICKENING! I'll spare you all the details (and let me just say, it was VERY detailed!) and just cut to the chase...I (along with 11 other people) found him as guilty as the day is long and was able to send him to prison for the the rest of his life. Well, technically he'll be able for parole when he's 85 but I'm guessing even if he gets out then, he'll do something to get himself right back in prison. See, this was his second rape conviction and his third felony charge. Oklahoma doesn't technically have the "three strikes and you're out" law but we all figured this guy had been given plenty of chances to live amongst society and we'd all be better off with him behind bars.
Anyway, I write about this whole experience because it was one of the most eye-opening, interesting, and humbling weeks of my life. I learned to be grateful for things I rarely ever thought of before...
*MY CHILDHOOD. This girl that was the victim in the case was 12 years old when she reported what was going on in her home. 12! You know what I was doing when I was twelve? Probably the worst part about this situation was that the girl's mother either refused to believe her or was too scared of her husband to let herself believe her daughter. Either way, this little 12 year old had the support of no one! At least, neither one of her parents (and most of her extended family.) I think about the home that I grew up in and even though I joke about my crazy family, I always knew that I was loved and protected in my home. This seemed like such a basic thing in my life but now that I have seen that not everyone is given that blessing, I'm extremely grateful to my parents for the environmet they created for me to be raised in.
*OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM. I know it's not perfect. I know there are bad people that get away with things and that there are also good people that have to pay for crimes they did not commit but I do believe that it's the closest thing to perfect that's out there. It was so interesting to watch first hand how things work. It also made me grateful for the people who choose this profession and that it's not me cuz I really don't think I could do it.
*MY BORING EVERYDAY LIFE. You know how they say "You don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore?" So true! It seems like just as I'm thinking about how "not exciting" my life as a mom to a 2 year old is, I get a little taste of life as a working mom. Once again, I am so grateful for the fact that I GET to be home with my little Ella everyday. I missed her so much last week! On top of that, I was exhausted in the evenings and had no desire to cook or clean the house or do any laundry. I don't know how some women can work full time and take care of their home at the same time. I have a new found respect for those who have to.
*MY FRIENDS. This is one thing that I was already aware of but has been especially meaningful to me this past week. I had some amazing friends in Omaha and to be honest, when we learned that we were moving to Oklahoma, I had doubts that I would be able to make friends like those I had in Omaha. I'm so happy to say that I was so wrong! I am so blessed to be surrounded by some great friends here in OKC. I had to ask four different girls to watch Ella for a WHOLE day. Each friend was so generous and so kind and never made me feel bad for the huge favor I was asking of them. A couple of them even prepared a dinner for me to take home when I came to pick Ella up in the evening! It was so nice to know that I didn't have to worry about her for one second while I was away all day and that she was being loved and cared for. I feel so indebted to these friends and can't thank them enough for the comfort they gave me each day.

All in all, even though it was an extremely difficult week that I tried to avoid, I am glad that I was able to take part in it and even more happy that it's over. Like I said, it brought things to my attention that I know I needed to be aware of to make me appreciate the abundance of blessings in my life. I know I'll think twice next time I complain about...well anything.

The Easter Bunny (and parents) comes to town!

2009-04-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, we were lucky enough to get a visit not only from the Easter Bunny, but Ryan's parent's came out as well. They flew in Wednesday night and were here until Sunday. As usual, Oklahoma served up some crazy weather but we all had a good time anyway.

Thursday was a pretty sunny day so we headed out to Lake Hefner where they have a pretty fun park that Ella loves. This was one of the WINDYEST (is that a word?) days I've experienced in this very windy city! There's a reason behind the line in the play Oklahoma "where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!"

The next day, Ryan ditched (or as they say in Utah "sluffed") his residency to hang out with us. Ryan's parents really wanted to see the Oklahoma City Memorial for the bombing that happened back in 1995. It really is a neat memorial with such a sacred feeling.

Ella thought the memorial was ok but was really interested in this ladybug.

On Saturday, Ryan took us down to his school for a little tour of his office and where he works. It's kinda cool cuz in dental school he was always rotating around to different chairs but here he has the same chair (most of the time at least.)

Did someone call for a doctor?

OU's medical campus is huge! Totally different from Creighton. This is a Sooner or a Sower or something.

That night Ryan's parents told us to pick a place for them to take us out to a nice dinner. Since it was Ryan's parents in town, I let him do the choosing. He chose Lakeside Fish Grill. Being that I'm not a huge fan of stinky smelly fish, I was little bummed, but any dinner without a loud two year old at the table is fine by me! (A big Thank You to Candice for taking Ella for us!) Actually, I can't complain. They did have a very yummy chicken pasta dish that I loved. Plus it was right on the lake so it had very cool atmosphere.

Easter Morning! Now I'm not usually one for big huge flowers on my daughter's head but in the spirit of the holiday where some wear big goofy hats, I thought Ella could get away with wearing a big goofy flower.

My mom got Ella this dress for her birthday and Ella was so excited that I finally let her wear it. This is her doing her best twirl.

Spring Break in AZ

2009-03-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

The best part about being a forever long student is the breaks that regular grown ups don't get. Last week was Ryan's Spring Break so we loaded up the car and set out to visit my sister and her family in Phoenix. My dad even came out from San Diego to hang out with us for a few days. We went to the zoo, the boys went golfing (twice), we got to go to the temple together (thanks to my dad for babysitting the kids!), the guys went to a Phoenix Suns game, and Linds and I even got to sneak away to the spa one morning. It was a week long of FUN!

Ella loves a good roadtrip...

As you can see, Ella was a little excited to be with her cousins.

Carson was taking a spin on his bike and he got a little hungry so he grabbed the "travel size" box of pita chips...

The next day we went to the zoo. They had a little petting zoo that Ella couldn't get enough of. She had to introduce herself to each and every goat.

She even went in the "Goats Only" section to meet more.

I think this picture is funny cuz it looks like those are her droppings...

Ella is a sucker for a Merry-go-Round.

On the morning of St. Patrick's Day, my sister made a special breakfast for the kids.

Ella was a little hesitant about the green eggs.

We took the kids to the neighborhood pool one evening. The pool wasn't heated yet...but that didn't stop these three from having fun.

Texas Roadhouse. Yum...

Carson digging into some dessert.

Ryan and Mike took the kids on a little train ride.

Thanks Banner family for a fun Spring Break. Way better than Cancun!

The newest little Snead!

2009-03-11T13:35:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, my little brother became a dad! Can I just say how weird that sentence sounds?! Nolen Robert Snead was born weighing 7 lbs and 9 oz and he was 20 in long. We all are so happy and excited for this new adventure that Owen and my cute sis-in-law, Jules, are starting. I know they are going to be great parents and that little Nolen is one lucky little boy to be loved like he is. I can't wait until we can meet and hold this little guy in person! It's at times like these that make it really hard to live away from home. But at least we have pictures...

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

2009-03-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, Ryan's grandma celebrated her 90th birthday. To celebrate the big event, all of her children and grandchildren came together and had a couple parties. Ryan, Ella and I were lucky enough to be able to fly out Thursday night and be there for all the festivities that weekend. We were only there a short time but we packed a lot in.

Friday night there was an "adult's only" dinner at The Roof in downtown SLC. (A big Thank You to my friend Eliza for watching Ella for us!) This is Ryan and his younger brother Steve.

Ryan and his older brother Scott

Our family shot. We wanted to get one with all the aunts and uncles and cousins, but our group was just too big.

The next day we had another little party with all the great grandchildren and more extended family up at Ryan's Aunt Wendy's house. Here's Grandma Howe about to blow out the candles.

Ryan's Aunt Sandy is an excellent music director (or at least she thinks so.) Here she is leading us all in Happy Birthday.

Ella and her Uncle Steve just wanted to make faces at the camera.

Me, Ryan, Cindy, Stacy, and Steve

The classic grandkid shot

Ella had so much fun playing with ALL of her cousins! Here she is with Sammy.

p.s. I left my phone in Utah so I'll be a little harder to reach for a few days. I still have my home phone and Ryan's cell that I can be reached on. Kind of a bummer but I think I'll survive.

Breakfast at Ella's

2009-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

As I was eating breakfast with my little sweetie this morning (and if I new how to use photo shop, believe me I would definitely be deleting those Fruit Loops and filling it in with a much healthier breakfast but what do you do...so I don't win the Mother of the Year award. It can go right up there with the YW Medallion I never got either.) I thought I should document how silly my little monkey is. I don't know why but lately the girl is obsessed with forks. No spoons, just forks. She eats everything with a fork. Ice cream, yogurt, cereal (I know, she has a really healthy diet.) I think it's because she loves the Little Mermaid and Ariel finds a "dingle hopper" from the human world that she just loves...and Ella loves anything Ariel loves. I'll have to draw the line when Ella starts combing her hair with a fork.

One other cute little thing I wanted to remember from this picture was how Ella--at the ripe old age of barely 2--is already a spiritual example to me. For the past couple days, we'll both be sitting down to eat breakfast and as I'm starting to dig in, she say "Mama!" and then proceed to fold her arms and bow her head. I'll quickly say "I know! I was just about to say a prayer, I was just checking to see if my food was okay." I think she sees right through me. But seriously, it made me think how lucky I am to have this amazing little spirit living with me and teaching me each and every day what our priorities should be. I love her more than words can explain. I know she is going to be such a good big sister and that her dad and I feel so blessed that she is in our lives.

p.s. Please look passed the crazy crimped hair in the picture. She had her hair in french braids the day before and this was the remnants they left behind.

Sorry, Meg...I had to.

2009-03-03T14:46:00.001-08:00

So my little Smarty Pants friend Meghan thought she could satiate my need to know about her every move by just e-mailing this to me. Next time you try a move like this, I'm gonna be forced to write all about the "trampoline story" on my blog. You know what I'm talking about and you know I'll do it.

8 favorite TV shows:

-24

-bachelor

-biggest loser

-the city

-the mentalist

-american idol

-oprah

-big brother

8 things i did yesterday

-took porter to preschool

-helped in preschool

-ate lunch at bajio's with mark :)

-cleaned my house

-ate a rootbeer float

--changed a poopy diaper

-made my bed

-watched the bachelor...and almost died about it

8 favorite restaurants

-bajios

-pei wei

-rumbi's

-?? i like them all...haha

8 things i'm looking forward to

-working out

-reading a good book

-watching the 2nd part of the bachelor after the rose ceremony

-when mark comes home

-eating a good dinner

-kissing claire's cheeks when she wakes up

-summer weather

-summer vacations with my family

8 things on my wish list...

this is hard and would take way too long for me to think of righ tnow...but i hope you're satisfied! love you angela...

how are you feeling with the prego belly? i'm sure you look darling. when is your due date again? miss you...

xo xo meg

2009-03-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

LIST OF EIGHTS

List of eight tag:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the five '8' items
3) Let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
--24

--PrisonBreak

--Barefoot Contessa

--The Office

--Grey's Anatomy

--Private Practice

--American Idol

--The Bachelor (although after last night...I might scratch this one off the list!)

8 things I did yesterday:
--Dropped Ella off at her friend Chad's house for a "play date"

--Washed sheets

--Vacuumed--the house and cushions on the couch

--Mailed a package of hair things to my sister

--Drank a Diet Coke---shhh...don't tell my husband

--Babysat Ella's little friend Atticus

--Watched the season finale of The Bachelor

--Yelled at the TV for an hour afterwards because I now HATE that show!!!

8 favorite restaurants:
--Texas Roadhouse (yummmm...I drool just thinking about the rolls!)

--Cheesecake Factory (oooo...avocado eggrolls)

--Bennihanna (fried rice!!!---can you tell I'm pregnant?)

--Chipotle

--Pei Wei

--Cafe Rio

--Kneaders

--In N Out (I don't know if those last ones are considered "restaurants", but I get excited every time I get to eat there.)

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
--Being in Utah this weekend to celebrate Ryan's grandma's 90th birthday!!

--Going out to Arizona in about 2 weeks for Ryan's Spring Break to visit my sis and her family

--My mom coming out to visit at the end of the month

--Ella one day giving up the binky

--Bringing home a baby girl in July (I'm just not looking forward to the sleepless nights!)

--Figuring out a name for this baby girl (any suggestions?)

--Ryan being done with school and feeling like a real grown up

--Any time I get to spend with my husband and little girl

8 things on my wish list:
--To have a maid who follows me around and cleans/organizes anything at my command

--To have a child who eats things other than carbohydrates

--That every weekend night could be a date night with Ryan with unlimited time and money

--To live somewhere beautiful (no offense Oklahoma)

--That we could hang out with friends/family who live far away any time we felt like it

--That the stupid Bachelor gets dumped on national television to see how he likes it (oh wait...he already did. Well, Molly should still do it anyway.)

--That there was no such thing as money. I don't know how that would work but I do think there would be a lot less messed up people in the world.

--A new car for Ryan. (Someday maybe...) **I hope I didn't just jinx us. Nevermind. We love the Honda! Please don't die on us.

8 People I tag:
1. Meghan Maughan

2. Meghan Maughan

3. Meghan Maughan

4. Meghan Maughan

5. Meghan Maughan

6. Meghan Maughan

7. Meghan Maughan

8. Meghan Maughan

***C'mon Meg. I know you're too cool for these little things, but suck it up & play. It's fun. Really, who doesn't love talking about themselves???

A little Catch Up

2009-02-18T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I've put anything on here so I'm just gonna jam it all into 1 post. Naturally, the majority is all about Ella. What can I say? She kinda runs things around here.

A few weeks ago, Ryan had a day off so we went with some friends to a Bounce House place--you know...one of those big warehouses with a ton of Jumpy things in it. Anyway, Ella has these two friends that are so cute and she LOVES to hang out with them. Hope, Chad and Ella are quite a team. We do a little play date with them twice a week where they all play at one house and the other two mommies get to have a little "kid free" time. I love it. She loves it. It's a win-win situation. Here's the three of them climbing the big slide.

Recently I feel like I have been witnessing my little baby turn into a little girl right before my eyes! I don't know if it's cuz we're gearing up for Baby #2 but it's like she grows into this sassy little girl more and more each day. Ever since we've been home from our Christmas trip, she's been LOVING her princesses. It's like she went from being the little baby who loves Elmo to a little girl who can't go anywhere without her princesses. I mean, she still can't get enough of that Elmo--and who can, really?--but those girly princesses are like her new best friends. It's so fun to see her in her little imagination talking to them and dancing with them. Her little friend Hope has some dress up princess dresses that I literally have to RIP off of her every time we leave her house because Ella just loves to put them on and twirl. Anyway, this is a picture of Ella with all of her necessities when she goes to bed: Yankee, two blankets, Ariel in one hand, Cinderella in the other, and that wretched binky--I think the Binky Fairy is gonna have to come to our house and rip that thing out of her hands!

About 2 and a half weeks ago Ella turned 2!! To celebrate the big occasion we had a little party with some friends. Here's Ella with her friend Chad.

Ella's cute friend Atticus eating some "noo-noo's"

Cute little mommies Lindsey and Holly

Somehow the Wii found it's way out

Ella clapping for herself after we sang "Happy Birthday"

Finally, we were able to get an ultrasound today of the new baby and we found out that we're having another little girl!!! We're so excited. I think Ryan is starting to get a little worried about the fact that he teased his sister that she would have all boys--which she did-- and now karma is coming back to get him. Whatever it is, we're all anticipating the arrival of this new baby girl! I still don't think Ella completely gets it but I do think she senses something big is about to happen. She's been acting super clingy to me lately. It's like how the animals somehow know when a storm is coming--they act all weird. Same thing with Ella. Hopefully she gets it out of her system before her new little sister gets here!

One last California post

2009-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Alright, this is the last one...I promise. The day before we flew out we decided make the most of it. We went down to Coronado Island (why they call it an island, I don't know because it's actually a peninsula. Whatever.) Anyway, after a quick stop at Panera for some lunch (yum), we went over to this spot right by Hotel del Coronado to rent a 4 wheeled bike. Is that what they're called? I know it's not a "4-wheeler". My sister called it a surrey but for some reason I don't think that's right either. I thought a surrey was that cart in the musical Oklahoma? ANYWAY...I'm gonna call it a 4 wheeled bike because that's basically what it is. So it was my mom, my sister and her 2 kids, and then me, Ryan and Ella.

We first got on the bike all excited to go up and down the boardwalk and all around but quickly realized that the pedaling was a lot more difficult than it looked. We were so confused. We saw all these "older people" cruising along like it was no big deal. What was our problem? I mean, none of us claim to be in the best shape of our lives, but were we THAT out of shape? So we do a little rearranging and when my sister switched to the back and Ryan took the driver's seat, we quickly learned that it was MUCH easier to pedal when you take the parking brake off. Thanks Linds. My thighs still shake a little when I think about what you put them through.

This is my mom helping Ella with her "hat"

Carson and Ella had their very own spot up in the front

All of us (Carson was not a huge fan of the helmet. Can you tell?)

Ky-Ky's Birthday Party!

2009-01-29T13:32:00.001-08:00

A couple days before we left San Diego to come back to Oklahoma, it was my youngest cousin, Kylie's, sixth birthday and what better place for a girl to celebrate this momentous occasion than the one and only Chuck E. Cheese's! The food was not the best but the company made up for it!

Ella and the Birthday Girl

This was Ella's first experience at the Cheese's and boy did she LOVE it! Plain cheese pizza, sugary birthday cake, and all the games she could sucker her Grandma Karen into paying for!

La Jolla

2009-01-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

One of our most favorite places to take a walk and enjoy some beautiful nature is in La Jolla. Seems like no matter what time of year, we always make time to head out to La Jolla shores and breathe some fresh ocean air. This time we went we my sister and her family and my brother too.

This is Kaitlyn (my sister's little girl) and Ella. They're almost exactly the same age difference as my sister and me.

Ella loves Kaitlyn

And Kaitlyn loves Ella

My little monkey

Ryan and Ella with Owen and Kaitlyn

Raking leaves with Grandpa Jim

2009-01-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

One afternoon, we were hanging out with my dad and my sister's family. My dad had just finished raking some leaves and the grandkids just couldn't resist undoing what he just did.

My dad has this bucket for mopping the floor and Carson wouldn't let it out of his hands!

Hike at Torrey Pines

2009-01-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

One of the days that we were in San Diego, we went with my mom and Dave to a really cool hiking trail that was on the cliffs over looking the ocean in Torrey Pines. It was kind of an overcast day but we still had a great time enjoying some great views.

Rose Parade Floats

2009-01-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Day, we went with my mom and Dave up to Pasadena to go view the rose parade floats. We're never ambitious enough to spend the night on the sidewalk to see the actually parade (a fact that I think Ryan is very grateful for) but they park the floats after the parade and people can walk around and see them up close. We actually timed it just right this year and got there about 10 minutes before the gates opened. Last year we learned that if you wait and go later in the afternoon, you're going to have to deal with half of southern California trying to see the floats also.

We had to take a family shot in front of this float. It was done by the city of Huntington Beach--our old stomping grounds last year.

Look at how HUGE those gerber daisies are! Gorgeous!

This picture is a little shout out to our Alaska friends--the city of Anchorage did this one.

Our Omaha Family

2009-01-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

Another fun thing we were able to do while we were in Utah was to catch up with some of our friends that we made while we were in Omaha for Ryan to go to dental school. Even though we all live in different cities now, I still cherish the friendships we made and love to take any opportunity we can to see these guys.

Our friends, the Wyatts, live in Idaho and were only able to be down in Utah for a short visit to go to a family Christmas party. The only time we all could coordinate to be with each other was for breakfast on a Saturday morning. Because of all of our kids (okay mostly just Ella), it wasn't the most peaceful meal but fun nonetheless!

Cammie effortlessly entertains all of the kids. Logan is a lucky boy to have such a great mommy!

Pratts, Wyatts, Harbertsons

About a week later, we had a little get together with some more friends from dental school. I had so much fun chatting the night away with everyone that I totally forgot to take some more pictures!

Ella + Snow = Happiness

2009-01-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

This year we were blessed with a very white Christmas! We were in Utah for two weeks and while we were there, it snowed and snowed and snowed some more. It doesn't really snow here in Oklahoma and I'm beginning to think that Ella wishes it did. She loved looking out the windows at the "snow pie" (I have no clue why she can't just say "snow"--it was always "snow pie" for some reason.)

This is Ella taking Pete for a walk...or Pete taking Ella for a walk.

Ryan just LOVED taking Ella outside to play in the snow. Not really, but he was a good sport to do it anyway...especially when she wanted to go out and then back inside and then back outside etc...

Ella's cute cousin (and new BFF) Claire

Bounce House

2009-01-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

While we were in Utah, we went with all of Ryan's family to a really cool bounce house. I think it's called Jump on It. It's just a big warehouse filled with trampolines and those inflatable bounce houses. It's really cold inside and when we all walked in we were surprised to feel how cold they kept it. But after about 3 minutes of jumping, it's easy to see why they do.

A few quick thoughts

2009-01-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

I thought that as I was waiting oh-so-patiently for the computer to load ALL of the pictures that I am way behind on blogging, I'd unload some of the thoughts that have been going through my mind recently.

*First off, The Bachelor. I know, the fact that this "reality" show is taking up some of my thoughts is a little embarrassing but it's one of the guilty pleasures that I (as well as my husband) LOVE to watch. I don't know why really. I mean, it's such an unrealistic situation that the relationships like never work out, but for some reason, I'm drawn to it. A moth to a flame, I guess. So anyway, last night we saw Jason go out--or should I say make out--with the last 12 women that he has left. Now I have to stop here and say that I was really excited when I saw that Jason was going to be the Bachelor. He was the cute, single dad who totally got his heart broken last season. Always saying what a family man he was and all that. But can I just say that I don't remember the last time when a Bachelor kissed so many women! I know that these women are like throwing themselves at him, but c'mon. I think there's only like 3 women left that he hasn't kissed. Gross. Alright, that's all the rambling I have about that subject. You know I'm gonna keep watching it. I'll just have to make sure it's not on a full stomach.

*Secondly, (and quite a bit more importantly) I've been watching President Obama's Inauguation all morning and it's surprising to me how emotional I've felt during this process. I'll be honest, I haven't been the biggest supporter but now that this man is my President, I can't help but feel proud that our country is starting to feel more united. Politics has always been a tricky thing. Now matter how much I've learned about our politicians, I've never felt I know enough to make any kind of judgments. Depending on what news station you watch, you can get different news and different takes on the same events. I hope and pray that President Obama is the right man needed at the right time to make the changes that are needed to make each and every citizen proud of their country again.

*Lastly, (and maybe most importantly) Ryan and I are so excited to be getting ready for another little baby. It feels really weird to be doing this again. Ella came in and completely turned our world upside down (in a good way) and just when we felt like we might have a hold of things, we're going for Round 2. The baby's due in July (so looks like I'm gonna be 9 months pregnant in one of the hottest places in the nation at one of the hottest times of the year. Nice.) It's so hard to believe that our little Ella is now gonna be a big sister! We're trying to let her know about what is about to happen by talking about the "baby in mommy's tummy" but I don't think she really gets it. She thinks we're talking about my belly button cuz she will always point to her own belly button and say "Baby!" Good thing we have about 6 months to work on that concept.

Sledding

2009-01-10T19:30:00.000-08:00

So we're finally back from our LONG Christmas vacation. We were in Utah for 2 weeks and then in California for 8 days. We had so much fun and were so lucky to be with our family to celebrate the holidays but we're happy to be back in our own home. I have tons of pictures and not very much motivation to put them all up on the blog at one time so I thought I'd just chip away and do a little at a time. This post is from the day we went sledding. This was Ella's first experience with snow (unless you count her first few months in Omaha) and she loved it! I was a little nervous if she would like sledding. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan. I should have know though that Ella would love it. She's our little extreme thrill seeker. She couldn't get enough! She kept dragging her daddy back up the hill to go some more.

Scott and Sam

Ryan's sister, Cindy and her little Bubba J

Cute cousins Hailey and Jake

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Even though we're still on our Christmas vacation, I thought I'd do a quick update and say Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope that you all had a fun Christmas day! This year we got to be with our family in Utah for Christmas and then we're going to do visit our California family on New Year's Eve for about a week. We're so lucky that Ryan has so much time off from his residency and that Ella is still free to fly!

Ella, Ryan and Ryan's mom

Ryan's dad has a train under their Christmas tree that Ella is OBSESSED with--she even says goodbye to it when we leave or when she goes to bed at night.

On Christmas Eve, every year all of Ryan's mom's side gets together. It's gotten to be so many people now that we have to use the church that's right next door to Ryan's parent's house. It's really nice to be at the church and have all the room to let the kids run around.

Another tradition on Christmas Eve is playing Christmas music on the chimes. It's really fun and everyone loves it but don't forget to bring the Advil!

We also always play the Candy Bar game on Christmas Eve. Two seperate dice go around the circle and if you roll a 1 or a 6, you get to pick a candy bar from the stash in the middle. Ella had a really hard time choosing her treat.

Christmas morning Ella didn't wake up until 10:00! We were all waiting around for her to get up and open up her presents.

Ella was so funny cuz she LOVED opening up like the first 2 or 3 presents but then she just wanted to play with what she opened. She was kinda bugged that we kept making her open up more presents.

The art of the tantrum

2008-12-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

I've never really been one of those moms whose thought their child was advanced in every way but I'm here to say that Ella is quite advanced in one specific way. She's only 22 months and yet she has practically perfected the art of the tantrum. I actually don't know if this is "advanced" or not, but I just figured that these tantrums wouldn't show their ugly face until she was two...thus, the "terrible twos". Nonetheless the tantrums are here. It's actually kinda funny to witness (when I'm in the right mood.) Anything can set it off from putting a lid on her sippy cup to not letting her take her mac 'n cheese in my room. Before you know it, full blown tantrum. It starts with the most pathetic face she can muster up, sometimes she'll like run into a wall or something to really let me know that she's upset, but then it usually ends up with her face down on the floor with arms and legs all about. Kinda like this:

I'm really hoping that this is just a stage and that we're not going to have a 16 year old doing the same thing when we have to tell her that she can't take the car out tonight or something just as tragic. She really is a sweet little thing that I love beyond words could explain, but MAN, sometimes she really knows how to push my buttons. I think she gets that from her dad.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Originally our plans for Thanksgiving were to drive (through the night--the only way to drive with a child!) out to Phoenix to be with my sister and her family. Plus my dad and brother and his wife were going to drive out from San Diego so we could all spend the holiday together. Well, we had a last minute change of plans because my sweet Grandpa Snead passed away the weekend before Thanksgiving. Lindsay and her family were already in San Diego so they just decided they were going to stay there to be able to be at my Grandpa's funeral. Even though I thought it was a long shot, I got online to check to see how much it would cost to fly out to San Diego. I was totally expecting to only see tickets available for like $800 but to my surprise we were able to get round trip tickets for a little more than $200! Can you believe it?! I mean, this was Monday night that I was looking for a ticket to fly out Tuesday morning! AND it was Thanksgiving week--the time when plane tickets are usually the most expensive! Anyway, I was so grateful that we were able to be home for Thanksgiving and to be with family. I was especially grateful that we got to attend my grandpa's funeral. It was such a special day to be with family and remember the great man that my grandpa was. All of us felt very blessed to have him at the head of our family.

One of the mornings my sister and I went down to San Diego to spend some time with my mom so Ryan and Mike took the kids to the beach. (BTW you can always tell when Ryan is in charge of Ella--nothing in her hair!)

Ella and Kaitlyn

My Grandpa served in the Navy...

Some of my cousins

Here's what Ella and Carson did during the funeral--ran around the cemetery.

L-train, this one is for you. Let us know if Oakley needs any models...

Naptime

2008-11-13T11:19:00.001-08:00

I just put Ella down for her nap and all I can say is...ahhhhh! Some days, even though I always look forward to my "alone time", I'm actually a little sad that my little buddy is gonna be sleeping for 3 hours. Not today. I don't know what her deal was but it was like she just couldn't find enough things to get her in trouble! She was going through all my bathroom drawers when I was in the shower, she wouldn't eat her oatmeal for breakfast so I got her some Honey Nut Cheerios and after eating a couple bites of those, she tosses the rest all over the place. Then I had to run to the grocery store for a few things and you would have thought I was torturing her when I was trying to get her to sit down in the cart. We come home and I look at the time and think, "Yes! Ella goes down for a nap in like 20 minutes!" So I hurry and make her a PB&J, applesauce and try to give her some juice (for some reason she doesn't like juice but I keep trying--she's got to get sick of milk and water some day!) Anyway, I turn around to make myself a quesadilla and her applesauce is poured onto her tray, her sandwich is stuffed into her cup of juice. On top of that, she's spreading the applesauce around her tray and all in her hair. That's when I kind of lost it. I had to just scream. I felt bad cuz it scared her a little (but at least it didn't leave a bruise!) Also, lately she's not really into the part where I wash her down with a washcloth at the end of the meal so of course there was a little fight there too. Finally I gave up on getting all of the applesauce out of her hair and just changed her clothes and put her to bed with a couple of books. Normally I would have read her a couple of stories before putting her down but I just didn't have the patience today (plus, she kinda likes to just look at books in her bed as she's falling asleep.)

The funny thing is about all of this is that today isn't that out of the ordinary. I mean she's 21 months so it's not like she ever eats a meal without making a mess. And she's a SUPER active child who doesn't like to be told what to do. I guess it's just that some days I have more tolerance and some days I just don't. Anyway, I'd just like to say that it's on days like these where I am oh-so-grateful for nap time!

Fun with Grandpa Jim

2008-11-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

Last week my dad came out for a little visit. Ella was LOVING all the attention/sugar he gave her. I was loving that I had about a week's vacation from cooking dinner. If my dad wasn't taking us out to dinner, he was making it for us at home. Here he is in the kitchen about to get to work.

Ella was busy decorating the little Halloween house that my dad brought her with stickers

On Halloween we went to the zoo. It wasn't very crowded so we took a train ride and had it all to ourselves.

Ella trying to get in with the ducks

Here's Ella talking a little trash to that cougar. You see, she was already getting into character for what she was dressing up as later that night...

Later that day while Ella was taking a nap, Ryan and I ran a few errands. (And can I just say that I forgot how easy it was to run errands before I became the mother of a toddler!) Anyway, we decided to pick up this little toilet training seat since Ella insists on taking her diaper off. I don't think we'll be using it anytime soon but I thought we'd have it around just in case... So this is what she does with it...

Before Ella headed out to trick-or-treat, we thought we should give her a little practice

I know the pom poms don't match...but that's all I could find at the dollar store that day (I know I'm kind of a slacker mom when it comes to planning costumes for Halloween. Maybe I'll be better next year. Probably not.)

This is her very fist trick-or-treat house. It only took her like 2 seconds to realize that she LOVES this thing called Halloween!

My favorite part was after she would get her candy, she would try to slam the storm door in their face and yell BYE! Not the most polite trick-or-treater...but I thought she was cute.

Ahhh...finally she got to taste some of her hard work.

A big THANK YOU to my dad for coming out to visit us! And what a great visitor he was! Beside keeping us all full the entire time, he was a HUGE help with Ella. He read her countless books, babysat her so Ryan and I could go to the temple and even had a night out at the movies, and played with Ella until the cows came home! We miss you already!

Good List

2008-11-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

This is in response to Hot Stuff and Hug-n-Kiss. L-train, you're next!

**The rule for this little game is your response to each question can only be one-word.

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Where is your significant other? school
3. Your hair color? dunno
4. Your mother? inspirational
5. Your father? giving
6. Your favorite thing? sweets
7. Your dream last night? dancing
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? Ella
11. Your fear? snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? west
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? artsy
15. One of your wish-list items? airplane

16. Where you grew up? California

17. The last thing you did? Panera
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? guilty pleasure (sorry, 2 words)
20. Your pet? nope
21. Your computer? dying
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? always
24. Your car? X-terra

25. Something you're not wearing? shoes

26.Favorite store? Target

27. Your summer? beach
28. Love someone? forever

29. Your favorite color? changes

30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? October

Fairytales in the forest

2008-10-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights ago, our friends called to see if we wanted to join them at this little---I don't even know what it was called. Basically it was a bunch of fairytales brought to life all along a pathway through a forrest. And at each little stop, the kids got a piece of candy. It was a way for little kids to celebrate Halloween without having to worry about being scared. It was so cute and so fun!

The little old lady who lived in a shoe

I think this was the Gingerbread Man's house

Rapunzel

Sleeping Beauty

The 3 little pigs (I didn't get a shot of the other 2 pigs houses)

**There were a bunch of others that I didn't get pictures of but the one I really wish I would have taken was the Sword in the Stone. Well maybe not the stone part but the cute little Boy Scout that was working that stop. He got really into his role and would yell out to the crowds "Come one, come all and step right up to the sword in the stone! Try your strength to see if you have what it takes to become the King of all the land!" and on and on from there. The whole event was put on by the scouts as a way to make money and most of the other boys were like "Here's your candy. Happy Halloween." One scout didn't even look up from his phone as he was texting while handing out candy to the kids. But not the sword in the stone guy! I wish he had a little tip jar in front of him. He deserved to be paid for his performance!

At the end of the path, there was a hay ride (notice how Ella won't take her eyes off the candy!)

Ella enjoying the fruits of her labors

Happy 30th Lindsay!

2008-10-28T14:18:00.000-07:00

So today my sister turns the big 3-0!!! To help her celebrate this monumental achievement, her husband planned a surprise little "Girl's Weekend" in Sedona, AZ. He flew me out and then my mom, 2 aunties and 3 of Lindsay's good friends from California all drove out to meet up in Phoenix. After making a little shopping detour in Scottsdale (the shopping in Sedona is not great...unless you're in the market for dream catchers or turquoise jewelry) we made our way up to Sedona. The first night we just went out to dinner and stayed up late talking and playing cards (we played cards so much this weekend that I have calluses on my hands from shuffling!) The next day we spent the whole day at the spa. It was heaven. It pretty much consisted of relaxing, our massages, more relaxing, lunch by the pool, relaxing some more, laying out in the sun and finishing off with a little more relaxing. That night we went out to dinner at The Cowboy Club (complete with REAL cowboys!) and back to the hotel for...you guessed it...more card games!

The next day we had a yummy breakfast at the Wildflower Cafe and headed back down to Phoenix. I didn't fly back to OKC until the next morning so I was able to spend that evening just hanging out with Lindsay and her kids (and Mike of course.)

Needless to say, it was such a nice weekend...all of which would not have been possible without my great husband's willingness to stay home with Ella. He did such a great job being both Daddy and Mommy to her this weekend. Not only that, but I actually came home to a clean house and laundry done! He's amazing.

This is all of us outside of our hotel

Auntie Jill, Aunite Mimi, and my mom

Jill and mom doing some relaxing

The big surprising moment!

She shoulda been a cowgirl...

2008-10-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we got together with some of our friends and headed out to Piedmont, Oklahoma (about 30 minutes away) to get in the Fall spirit by going to a pumpkin patch/petting zoo. Ella LOVED every minute of it. By the time we left, we both agreed that maybe Ella would have liked to have been born to parents who lived on a farm. Oh well. She got us instead. Anyway, from the goats, to the cows, to the ponies, even a lama, she just couldn't get enough!

Ella and her little friend Chad on a tractor

Running thru the corn maze

They had this big slide that went faster than what you would think. Ella's never been one to turn down a slide and even though kids under six had to go down with an adult...

...she decided rules were made to be broken!

I think her favorite part of the day was riding the pony all by herself. (How weird is it that I have a kid old enough to do that!!!)

Before we left, Ella got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.

After searching high and low...

...she found the perfect one!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

2008-09-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we got our passes for the zoo here. We've been a couple times since and so these pictures are from both of those trips.

Ella does really well with keeping her little sunglasses that her Grandma Harbertson got her. Even when they are almost falling off...

Can she at least fake that she wants to take a picture with her mom?

Scary...

The "eye of the tiger"

There's this cute little merry-go-round with all the endangered animals. Ella would "roar" every time she went by me.

Seattle for Ryan, California for us

2008-09-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Ryan had a Perio national meeting/convention out in Seattle. He had been planning this for about a month and a half and when he made his final plans to go, I of course did a little planning of my own. I really wanted to go out to Seattle with him because Ryan's little sister, Debbie, lives out there and I've never been. However, Debbie just had a baby a few weeks ago and I didn't think she'd be up to visitors just yet. So I ended up finding a really cheap flight into San Diego and since Ella is still free to fly, we were able to be out in California for a week. I have to admit, I was kinda nervous about flying all by myself with Ella for the first time, but thanks to a little DVD player and some YoGo's, it was a piece of cake. Well, maybe not a piece of cake, but not nearly the disaster I had pictured in my head!

We stayed most of the time with my sister in San Clemente because they are about to move out to AZ for Mike's job. It's always nice to have extra helpers...especially at bath time!

On Saturday, we got to host a little baby shower for my cousin Julie. (I wish I had more pictures!)

Sunday we went over to my Aunt Mel's house for some family bonding...which mainly just consisted of eating and watching Brian Reagan. I wish I had my camera but since I was a single parent for a week, I'm chalking it up to the fact that at least I remembered diapers and wipes...and boy did I need them that night. 'Nuff said.

On Monday night, I took Ella, Kaitlyn, and Carson to meet up with my mom and Dave for dinner and a little walk on the pier in Oceanside. When I was younger, this was the beach that our ward would meet at for FHE at the beach every other Monday night in the summer time. Such fun memories!

Watching the surfers...

Tuesday Lindsay and I took the kids to Disneyland. It was so fun to see how much more "into it" Ella was now that she is just a couple months older. She was so excited to see Mickey Mouse until we went up to see him...then she had to make sure I was with her.

Linds and the kids on Autopia

Ella's all time favorite ride is the Nemo Submarines...or as she would say "Memo!"

This was Ella's old favorite ride. She's not so impressed anymore.

My good friend Laura (or to those who know and love her most: L-train) and her little cutie, Kate, we able to come meet up with us for a few hours at Disneyland. We always had planned on doing a Disneyland day when I lived there, but leave it to us to wait until I move half way across the country to actually do it.

Linds and I with the kiddies

L-train and Kate on the new Toy Story ride at Cal Adventure

Ella totally kept her 3D glasses on the ride the whole time!

Later the day, my Aunties Jill and Melanie and two cousins, Hallie and Kylie came and met up with us. This is everyone watching the Pixar parade at Cal Adventure.

It was at this point that my battery in my camera died and I didn't bring the charger with me. It's okay though. It probably would have just been more of the same pictures at Disneyland. Thanks to all my family for making our trip so much fun! Also a big thank you to Debbie and Chris in Seattle for letting Ryan stay at your "extra place"!

Goodbye Mullet...

2008-08-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

...Hello short, trendy bob! Ok, so it's not exactly a "Posh Spice bob" but I don't have that much to work with. Ella's hair is so thin and fine that I was just letting it grow out as long as possible to be able to do anything with it. It just got to a point though that the only way to get rid of the mullet was to chop it all off and start fresh. Now, hopefully, it will all grow in the same length and start to look a bit more full...we'll see.

Here's the before shot:

During: (thank heavens for the little DVD player and her beloved Elmo movie)

After:

Ryan thinks I cut it too short and now she has a boy haircut. Looks like we're back to the days of not leaving the house without a hair accessory!

Dallas

2008-08-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ryan had a perio meeting down in Dallas that his program wanted him to go to and said they would pay for his expenses, so we loaded up the car and headed south. The drive really wasn't bad--about three hours--so it was perfect for just a quick little trip. We stayed right down town so the first night we were there we just put Ella in the stroller and walked around to see the sights. We saw some fountains so of course Ella had to do some running around in them.

We also walked by this memorial that was built where JFK was shot. Kinda simple but still pretty cool.

The heat was CRAZY hot so we had to do some swimming. (For such a nice hotel, the pool was kind of a let down...)

The next day Ryan had to be at his meeting from 8:00 until 4:00 so Ella and I just hung out at the hotel (after I stopped to buy Breaking Dawn of course! :) )

...and we did a little more swimming.

After we picked up Ryan, we went up to the Galleria Mall. We found a little play area that was PACKED with kids and Ella loved it! She's such a people watcher! She can be all crazy and wild but then we get around other kids and she just wants to watch them. She also did some playing of her own...

This was from the first night we were there. I guess Ella's only ever been in a hotel room once (when she was like 3 months old) and she was loving every minute of it! Anyway, I had to put this picture in there cuz she just started making this face lately and it cracks me up every time! She knows that's how to get me to let her do what she wants. I think in this picture she was wanting to jump on the bed...guess who got her way!

A shot of our hotel

Bookworm

2008-07-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

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)