Cousin Time!

On Monday we got to go the beach with Brady's family. Marissa and Brighton were there (so cute, glad I finally got to meet him!), and Amy and Sean and gang were there along with Tanner Jacob, Kearis, and of course Nana. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins!

Are these two related or what?

Ella and her Tanner Jacob

Aren't they cute? Patrick was protecting her so that she wasn't scared from the show they were watching.

Playing with Nana's really cool sprinkler!

Baby Brighton is sitting up!!!

Carter's Birthday Party

The first Saturday we were in California we decided to do a birthday party for Carter. We don't know many people here yet and I wanted him to get a party (mostly since Ella did her first year). Lots of family and friends came and it was a fun time. Thanks for coming everyone! And a big thanks to Nana for all of the food/lemonade she made! Warning, this will be a picture overload!

We had a Tonka car theme. Turns out the roads were the hit of the party for the kids!

Can't believe how big this boy is.

Patrick, my nephew, dressing up as the construction worker!

Thank you Kearis for being my model. Here's how the front yard was decorated. Threw a few people for a loop!

Looks like he likes his cake, right?

WRONG! He hated getting dirty. Had to spoon feed the kid.

Alex, pretty much a nephew of ours (cousin technically) checking out the hose. =)

Emily and Darren looking cute.

Our good friend Martina (missed you Jeff)!

Carter loved getting some boy things to play with!

And lots of kisses for Papa to finish the night off!

California Day One- Park & Fishing

We had so much fun in California this time. We got to see both sides of the family and have two parties, as well as a family reunion! I am going to do these posts as i get time since there will be lots of pictures. Here's day one.

Carter hanging at the park

Ella played chase with Grammy.

And went fishing in the pond with Papa.

And got her motorcycle ride!

Then Brady tried his hand at the motorcycle. Luckily he didn't hurt himself!

Will Power and Destruction

This girl has will power. We started a reward system with Ella this week. She is very into money these days so we made paper money and she earns a dollar each time she does something good (like behaving while we are out, not getting upset to leave places, taking a NAP!, etc). I set up a store of things I knew she would like to have in my closet and priced them all various prices. I thought for sure she would go for the small one and then maybe someday save up for a big Strawberry Shortcake Boutique I had priced at $12. She is going for the gold! She has been saving all week and is only $1 away now! She should have it in no time. She will count her money daily and go in to check if she has enough, then put it away and say, "I'm going to save it for the big prize." I am so impressed with her will power. Most adults don't have that!

This little man is just the sweetest. He is loving his sister and misses her if she isn't around at all times. He is taking about 3 steps at a time now, going from furniture to furniture or people to people. He wants to walk so very bad. He's pretty brave so it shouldn't be long now. He is a monkey and a smart one at that. He is already climbing everything he can. He will push stuff over to climb on as to reach something he would like to have (usually naughty things). His smile and giggle is so cute though that I can't get enough of him. Wait....at night I can. He still isn't sleeping through the night and I have come to terms that it will be on his own time. I am just going to get through this next bit and hope it ends soon. He sure has a destructive nature. He will roam about the house taking everything out of the cupboards or off of the tables that he can reach. He is sure keeping me on my toes. I can hardly believe in one short month Mr. Man will be 1! I love these two, even if they do exhaust me.

The River

We found this awesome river about 45 minutes from our house. It is so calm, quite and clean. We plan on going back often this summer (especially since they have kiteboarding there!). The kids were in heaven to have sand again, and Carter ate his weight in it.

If you look closely on the very left and also toward the right you can see the volcano's with snow on them still. Pretty cool!

LOVE this picture...Brady gets credit for this one!

Don't mind the sand man, I finally got a picture of his teeth for those that wanted to see them!

And this is just a cute picture I had to add since he doesn't get many up here. =)

Dance Class!

Ella got to take her first dance class yesterday! They said they would let her give it a try if she was potty trained and acted old enough. She did great! She was actually better than some of the 4 year olds, so she gets to stay! She was super excited to take class and listened very well. Only problem we had was getting her to leave after class. She wanted to stay longer. Sounds like she may take after her mother! (I can hope, right?)

And for this video of her dancing you may want to mute your speakers. It was through a window so all you hear is parents talking, kind of takes from the cute dancing. =)