Our Adventures in California

We finally made it to California....and it was definitely worth the wait. We had such a great time, I already want to go back! We visited the beach, Disneyland, Sea World, and most importantly...Josh's baptism. Josh was super cute...all smiles and so very happy! (Josh is my nephew...my brother Tyler's son). Here are a few photos (okay, so there's more than a few, but count your lucky stars I didn't put them all in) to fill you in on our family vacation....

A vacation wouldn't be a vacation without swimming! (at least I remember that being one of my favorite things to do on vacations from when I was little)

My dad pushed Ellie in her 1st swing ride......she loved it! My parents were in California as well to see Josh's baptism, so we got to hang out with them too!

Tanner and Spencer "CHEESING" it up for the camera. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the park with Tyler's family.

Josh and Meagan posing for a picture.

It was a chilly day at the beach, upper 60s, but the sun was warm and everyone had a good time. You can't really see, but the waves were HUGE!

Silly Tanner, running from the waves.


Despite the cold, Ellie really enjoyed the beach, especially when we took her down to the water. She loved the feeling of the waves rushing past her legs as they washed back to the ocean.

Watching Josh's baseball game. Doesn't he look adorable all suited up! Wish I'd gotten a picture of his face?!

Loving our first experience (as a family) of Disneyland! Ellie isn't in many Disneyland pictures, she was sitting in the back of the double stroller, sleeping or just being a good girl. She was a little sick, but such a trooper!

Waiting in line to ride Autopia. It was sooooo cold!

The kids really liked getting their picture taken with any Disney character they saw...especially Tanner.

Our nephew, Austin, (Brad's sister's oldest boy) performed at Disneyland with his high school ballroom dance team. He is amazing!

Notice that we're all smiling at the camera and Tanner is ignoring us. He refused to look while my mom took the picture. I thought it was a perfect picture and really expressed how he was acting at the time. He really did have fun, but it was getting late in the day.....

This was one of my favorite pictures.....if you look really close, Tanner is just grinning!

I've always loved the Shamu Show at Sea World!

Notice that Linds has her arm in and Meag doesn't. Linds is a little more brave than Meagan with stuff like that. Actually, I really don't blame Meagan at all.....it was a sting ray.....the Sea World staff did say that they'd had their stingers clipped, but you can never be too safe, right?!

They had the Sesame Street characters at Sea World and we couldn't pass up the chance to get a picture with them. Tanner LOVED Elmo, and kept going back (3 times at least) to give Elmo hugs!

Just hanging out with the cousins. Tyler and Suzanne just purchased a home in Fontana, and they invited us to stay with them. Their house is beautiful and I was serioulsy so sad to leave their home....do you think I could've packed up the kitchen and rented a UHaul to get it back?!

One funny thing I do have to mention...notice the dolphin Lindsay is holding...we told the kids they could get something while we were at Sea World and Lindsay had the hardest time deciding between the dolphin and Shamu. (Seriously! It took her almost 15 minutes at the gift shop to decide! And that was after a whole day of walking around Sea World thinking about it). So I asked her what made her choose the dolphin, and she (very non-chalantly) said, "Because it passed the most tests." What?! "It's taller, easier to cuddle with, and he's very soft." Oh! I was impressed.

The End.....or should I say To Be Continued?!

Tampa, Florida

Brad was lucky enough to get approval to go to a PE conference in Tampa, Florida so Ellie and I decided to tag along. (I mean seriously, wouldn't you?) We arrived in Florida safely and Ellie was a pretty good traveler, but wouldn't fall asleep until the last 45 minutes of a 4 hour flight! She just wouldn't give in - STUBBORN! She never started "crying" but got fussy and didn't want anything for a while. Thank goodness I had Brad to help with her. She loved the video we brought for her to watch on the laptop, and kept the headphones on pretty good, but I packed my camera with our luggage and didn't get a picture. The flight was pretty smooth, but the last 35 min or so were pretty bumpy - Brad was NOT feeling his best. He looked a little green around the gills by the time we exited the plane! We sat next to a NICE lady, and she even held Ellie a few times. It turned out that I knew her sister from when I worked at Kings in Logan many moons ago. She was going to the same PE conference as Brad - so they had a lot to chat about (and chat she did!!)

Once we landed and got our luggage, we took a cab to our hotel. Ummm, it was interesting. The cab driver was driving so fast, that on one turn, I had to hold my hand out to stop the stroller from toppling over me! We very nearly missed (I'm talking mere inches here!) side-swiping about 3 cars, and then he had the nerve to honk at a guy going through the intersection. He wasn't even close to cutting our driver off, but apparently our driver didn't think so! And our drive to the hotel wouldn't have been complete without our driver driving on the grass/gravel along the freeway exit ramp to pass a couple of cars! We did make it safely - and Ellie was oblivious to the crazy driving. (although it probably didn't help Brad's naseau too much)!

The weather was nice and sunny the whole time we were there. Low to mid 80s everyday! I wish we could've brought it home with us! Being right next to the bay, it was a little humid and I was afraid that by the end of our trip, I'd end up looking like Monica from Friends! (I told my family not to be surprised if I came home with cornrows and beads!!! Augh! Never!)

Brad had a great time at his conference and Ellie and I had fun just relaxing. It was so nice to sit and read a book all day if I wanted...and not worry about what to fix for dinner...and not feel guilty for eating all the licorice myself. I did miss my kiddos, but they were having so much fun with my sister and brother-in-law that I don't think they missed us too much.

We found some fun restaurants to eat at, and I even got Brad to "branch out" a little on his dining choices. Don't get your hopes up, I didn't reinvent the wheel with him, but he did try a few new things! Progress!

Well, I'll let these pictures speak for themselves! We had a fantastic time, and I'd love to go back again!

Our hotel - the Sheraton Riverwalk. I think my picture-taking ability on this photo is particularly "postcard worthy"?! ha ha The water you see in the picture is the Hillsborough River, it feeds right in from Tampa Bay.

She carried her "lovey" around with her everywhere at the airport. I know, I know, totally disgusting, but you do what you have to do to make the little one happy. I just had to grit my teeth and pray that she wouldn't get sick from all the disgusting germs!

Yeah, all clean! No more disgusting airplane germs on me!

Totally LOVING the grass on her feet! lol

She loved crawling along the ledge and splashing all over herself.

"Playing" in the hotel

Of course the garbage would be the funnest toy!


Brad was so embarrassed when I took this picture - so "touristy"! But I just couldn't pass it up - these window washers were so far up, and the wind was blowing them all around! YIKES! I hope they got paid well!

Loving the feel of the flower petals



She pulls some of the funniest faces!

Just waiting for our dinner - all the restaurants by our hotel had these fun outside dining areas! We took full advantage of the beautiful weather!

Brad "vacationing" (he was actually doing homework...poor guy)

What a fun game to play: pack...unpack...pack....unpack...

I'm so cute Mom! And there's a little girl who looks just like me, she's great too!

Uh, I think I'm full now - but that licorice was tasty!

On a bridge overlooking the Hillsborough River

I took a LOT of these types of pictures of Ellie in her stroller. Brad wasn't with us for a lot of the time, so while Ellie and I were vacationing and walking around, I didn't have anyone to hold Ellie in the pictures. "Ellie sweetie, hold still and look at Mommy. Say cheese! No, no, no, don't stick your head through those bars, you could fall through and land in the river, what a silly girl?!!" I was trying to avoid any situation that even resembled that! :)

My precious little Ellie Belle!

Our last day in Florida, killing some time before we headed to the airport.

Is it?...It might be...I think it is...SPRING!

Hooray for the sunshine! Hopefully spring is just around the corner, but the last few days it has felt like its already here. It has been so nice lately - we've actually been outside for more than just getting the mail. I'm not sure how long this beautiful weather will last, but we'll try to take advantage.

First off, Happy St. Patty's Day!! Ellie looks a little dazed and Tanner is giving his "say cheese" face, but we're green and mean. lol whatever!! Brad is taking the picture because he bummed out on us and didn't wear any green.

Yeah! We were able to get the stroller out and go for our first walk of the spring! Tanner kept saying, "Cheese!" and Ellie kept looking over at him. Notice he's not looking at the camera - he's got the "cheese" thing down, but looks everywhere but the camera while he's saying it. :)


Can't resist a close-up of my sweet Ellie Belle!

Tanner and I had fun today with our new kite. I went to get my camera from the house and told Tanner to stay still and not move, but he couldn't hold the string without walking at the same time, so we ended up getting the kite stuck on the roof of the house. No worries, we got it down and back in working order!

Of course it's a Lightning McQueen kite!

He was trying so hard!

Look at that grin, pure enjoyment!

BBall and Swimming

Last weekend we went to SLC for the 3A BBall tournament. Brad's team didn't do as well as they would've liked, but 6th in state isn't too shabby! The kids got to go swimming a couple of times and that was their favorite part of the trip, but what kid doesn't like that?! The kids were pretty good to watch so many games, but I had a lot of help from my family that came to support the Morgan Trojans! On Friday afternoon, Brennen and Aimee stayed and went swimming with the kids. Uncle BJ is always so much fun!! Their little girl Kaylee (4 1/2 months), also came swimming and enjoyed it much more than Ellie, that is until my kids splashed a little too much! Sorry Kaylee bug! After our last game on Saturday, my Mom, Dad, and sisters took my kids home with them and I got to stay and enjoy a few more games (3rd and 4th place, and Championship game) without taking anyone to the potty, digging in the bag for more fruit snacks, sharing my drink with anyone, or trying to get my baby to sleep while the fans were cheering and the pep band was playing. Thanks mucho familia!!! I took a bunch of pictures of the kids swimming, but neglected to take my camera to the games and didn't get any of Brad coaching. Oh well, there's always next year! What cutie pies!

Tanner LOVED swimming!

Sweet Linds

Brennen and Meag

I love this pic of Brennen's face!

My little Ellie, not so much a fan of swimming!

Her funny face thing she's been doing lately

The Nintendo DS, a life saver for entertainment at the hotel and bball games!!!!