Disneyland

My mom, Ella, and I went to visit my brother and sister in law in LA. We went to Disneyland and the beach. Here's a slideshow of some of my favorite Disney pictures. When I have more time, I'll do some individual posts about some of my best memories. Until then enjoy the slideshow.

A Very Merry Birthday

We celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday this weekend. Grandma Pam had recently bought her an Alice dress so she wanted to have an Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party.

My friend Candace gave Ella an Alice doll. Ella just loved her and carried her around all day.

Ella wanted a cake just like the one the Mad Hatter gives to Alice at the tea party. My friend Katie made it. I was afraid it was going to fall, but it held up all day. It so cute that I didn't want to cut it and serve it, but I'm glad I did because it was delicious.

My aunt, Denise, and my uncle, Scott, decided it would be fun to dress up for the party. Somehow they made dressing up sound like so much fun that most everyone else came in costume too. Ella got so excited every time someone new showed up.
My aunt, Chery and my mom made the mistake of calling and asking Ella what they should wear. Ella told them exactly what to wear to the party. I think they thought she would ask them to be a character from Alice in Wonderland, but instead she wanted them to wear what they had worn to my cousin's wedding a few weeks ago. She remembered and described to them exactly what they had worn.

Costumes: mom in wedding outfit, Alice in Wonderland, March Hare, my aunt in her mother of the bride dress, Queen of Hearts, Tea Party Mouse, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, The Ace, the Evil Queen from Snow White, Twiddle Dee, The Red Rose, The White Rabbit, The Deuce, and Twiddle Dum.

She loved singing Happy Birthday and Blowing out the Candle.

Our family friend also came dressed as the Evil Queen from Snow White and gave Ella a Snow White costume. At the end of the night Ella was playing with her, but when she first arrived Ella wouldn't go near her because she had brought a "poison" apple. When we tried to give Ella the present she had brought Ella say, "um the Evil Queen brought that one." and them pushed it aside and opened a different present instead. It was too funny. She loves the Evil Queen and even has her on her wall, but the poision apple was too much.

OK so I think everything Ella says is funny

Ella has the most beautiful long hair. You just can't help but play with it. This morning Dave was playing with her hair while we were all talking.

Ella: Daddy don't touch my hair.
Dave: I'm sorry. I was just playing with it.
Ella: It's not a toy.

The Gospel According to Ella

So a few months ago I started reading the scriptures to Ella before bedtime. I usually just read a few verses. Sometimes I explain them, but most of the time I just read. I wasn't even sure if she was paying attention to anything I was saying, but I figured at least we would get in the habit of reading them together.

Well Ella has now decided that after I read to her then she reads to me from her "scriptures". Her "scriptures" are a very small wallet size photo album with about 3 pictures of our family in it. She opened it up the other night and started "reading". This is how it went. (oh and FYI: Ella really likes the Wizard of Oz)

Ella: "Nephi wanted to eat the fruit off the tree. It was yummy fruit. Laman and Lemuel were not nice. They did not hold on to the railing. They went to the big building. And then the witch came out ...."

This morning we watched Peter Pan. Tonight at bedtime she read her "scriptures" to me again. This is how it went.

Ella: "And it came to pass that I Nephi had to grow up." Laman and Lemuel told me I had to grow up. That was not nice."

So that's the gospel according to Ella. For those of you reading this who are not LDS, there is no Wicked Witch in the Book of Mormon. :-) The "real" story of Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel can be found here.

I must say I can't wait to hear what tomorrow's story will be about. Maybe Nephi will run into a mermaid or the Queen of Hearts.

Potty Training (well kind of)

So we started potty training Ella recently. We're just encouraging her to go on the potty, but we're staying with diapers until we get back from visiting Dave's family later this summer. My mom has decided to reward Ella with a present for every 5 times she potties on the potty. She gets a sticker every time and after 5 stickers she gets a present. They're good presents too. Sometimes Ella could care less, but at other times all she wants to do is sit on the potty.

Last night she was on the potty for an hour and 1/2! It was crazy and of course she wanted me to stay in there with her. She said she really needed to go and when she finally went and got a sticker, she decided she needed to go some more. I thought she was just trying to get another sticker, but she did manage to go again after an hour. I don't know if she just has trouble actually going sometimes since it's a new thing, or if she just wants a sticker and present so bad that she's going to sit there and try until something comes out no matter how long it takes. Once she said, "I need to go again. I only need 2 more stickers." :-) Oh yeah she's working the system.

Anyways if anyone has any tips that's great, but I would really love some good book suggestions. I need something to read while I wait for her. So if you have a good potty tip or good book suggestion (not a potty book. I'm talking like a novel here) let me know. I have a feeling I may be sitting in that bathroom for a while.

Ewww

This is the conversation Ella and I had after breakfast this morning.
Me: Ella you did such a good job eating your breakfast.
Ella: Thank you. There was a spider and I GOT it with my spoon.

Ewww I hope she killed the spider after she was done eating and not in the middle of the meal. blech!

Tagged "My House Right Now"

OK so my friend Julie tagged me on this one, and I thought what better way to procrastinate cleaning my house and getting ready for bed than to add a new post on my blog. So here it goes.

The Rules:
Take a picture of the following as they are right now:
the refrigerator, the kitchen sink, the toilet, the bed, yourself, favorite shoes, the kids, the closet, and your favorite room. Then list a place you would like to visit.

NO CLEANING/CHEATING
What you see is the real thing!

All my pictures were taken at 9:30pm.

#1-The Refrigerator:
humm so other than condiments and bread we don't have much here. Dave made us waffles on his waffle iron tonight. It was either that or eat Aleo Vera and chocolate chips.

#2-the Kitchen Sink:
Wow the sink looks pretty good. Too bad I can't take credit for it. Not only did Dave make dinner, but also he loaded the dishwasher. He makes me look good online.

#3-the Toilet:
This is the main bathroom. We used to have a cute matching toilet cover and rug, but we started potty training Ella so I put them away until we're done with that experience. With the way things are going they may not return until Christmas.

#4-My bed:
Dave had just turned it down to get ready for bed. It looked really cute earlier today when it was made. It's like a slate blue color. I love it.

#5-Self Portrait:
OK this is the only picture I wanted to cheat on, but what's the point of redoing your hair and make-up at 9:30 at night.

#6-My favorite shoes:
I love my pointy toe high heel shoes. There is nothing better than a pointy toe and a dark pair of jeans to make you feel good. I remember when I wore pointy toes shoes on Back to School Night when I was teaching in Utah. Some of my old students showed up at the door because someone told them I was wearing pointy toe shoes and they really wanted to see them. It's always nice when a 4th grader thinks you're stylish. :-)
I also really love my "fancy" black flips flops. I've worn them every summer for the past 5 years and they were in great shape until this year. Now the toe is rubbing out and I'm so bummed.

#7-What my kids are doing right now:
Well I only have one and she was supposed to be asleep. As I peeked into her room at 9:30pm expecting to take a picture of my precious angel curled up asleep in her bed I saw this...

#8-My closet:
I LOVE my closet! It's a small walk-in that didn't fit too much until my stepdad and grandpa installed the Rubbermaid closet organizers. It can now fit all of my clothes, Dave's clothes, and our towels. It's wonderful. Really go get some Rubbermaid closet organizers at Lowes.

#9-My favorite room in the house: My Front Room
I love this room. It rarely gets too messy so when I need a moment to think, relax, or take a power nap it's the perfect place. Plus I LOVE our black table Mom bought us. It has a drawer on the bottom for storage. I'd been wanting one of these for a long time.

#10-Someplace I'd like to go on vacation:
Disneyland
I'd upload a picture, but I'm afraid of Disney copyright laws. :-)

So that's me and my house and now it's late and I guess I'll be cleaning tomorrow. Really I can't clean until Ella falls asleep anyways and you saw how she looked at 9:30. I hope you enjoyed. :-)

Now, I tag:
Kristi, Amanda, and Heidi
Have fun!

Caycee's Wedding

My cousin Caycee got married tonight and it was a beautiful wedding. She had it at the Country Club Christian Church on the Plaza. It was so beautiful there, and the weather was great.

Her dress was really pretty on her, but I didn't get a really good picture of it. The ceremony was really nice, and I can't believe Ella sat like an angel through the whole thing. It wasn't too long though so that was nice for people who had little ones.

Instead of throwing rice (so dangerous and I guess bad for the birds) they lit sparklers since it was the day after the 4th of July. It was really fun.

Ella loved when they ran down the stairs just like Cinderella and Prince Charming. It would have been even cooler had Caycee lost a shoe. :-)


The reception was beautiful. I loved the colors (black, green, and purple) and the cake was delicious. I was just warming up to the mingling though when we had to go since it was getting late for Ella and she was up late on the 4th of July. I wish I had been able to chat with more people and see Caycee longer, but at least I was able to snag a piece of cake before I left.

Ella's favorite part was dancing with Grandma Pam and getting snacks from the chocolate fountain. She must have walked around with a strawberry on a stick for 30 minutes. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. Before we left Aunt Kim got her some rice crispy treats for the road and she was so happy. That's a wedding from a 2 year old's point of view, strawberries, dancing and rice crispy treats. It doesn't get better than that.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a good time. Ella did a few small fireworks (smoke bombs etc) with Grandma Pam. I thought Ella would be scared of the bigger fireworks so we didn't go out at night, but as I was putting her to bed the neighborhood started their fireworks shows. Ella was so excited so I opened the blinds and she must have watched the neighborhood fireworks from her bedroom for an hour. She was so cute and got so excited whenever she would see one. Her little face just lit up and she squealed with delight. It was really adorable. Plus it was nice watching them from the window since it wasn't as loud and there were no bugs.

Buggers

Tonight Ella had green fangs hanging out of her nose so before bed I took a wipey and got them out. Then we had this lovely conversation.

Ella: What's in your nose mommy?
Me: Nothing see my nose is all clean.
Ella: Oh did Daddy get your buggers out for you?

She totally cracks me up.