Eli turns four!

Eli turned 4 and we celebrated hard. We had sort of a "birthday week", culminating in a fun friends party at our place complete with lots of pizza and birthday cake. I was pretty out of commission so Dan really did the whole thing. Thanks Dan!

Eli tears into his gifts. He was pretty over-stimulated during the whole thing. 

Playdough!

Cake!

Hey...baby baby.

As anyone not living in a cave on Mars is more than well aware of at this point, we are expecting baby #3 in June! Woot. We're pretty sure it's another boy, judging from the dangling apparati present in the 13 week ultrasound. This one's been not super pleasant thus far. The nausea this time around was pretty brutal. November was sort of a blur for me. The only time I was able to leave the house was the have Dan drive me to the hospital for IVs. Dan was a trooper. He wins all the medals. 

I discovered how much I loved the IV therapy group at American Fork Hospital. Those ladies really know their veins. 

This is what I did the other part of the time when I wasn't getting pumped up. Bed bed bed and more bed. 

We got a little peak at the bb around 8 weeks. 

More bed. 

More needles. 

My thrice weekly view. 

And there he is! We are super excited. At 16 weeks things are starting to feel better and we're getting our brains wrapped around the thought of 3 times the insanity coming to a house near you in June!

Halloween 2013

So yep. It's January and I'm finally getting the family blog updated. Halloween! It was a blast...as far as I can remember. The kids were cows. That's...about it...

I was David Bowie. Eli thought I was Han Solo. Both are fine with me. 

My cowboys. 

Chilling at Daddy's work. 

Crazy kids. 

Cornbelly's. The kids had so much fun. 

Sammy looking pensive.

Taking down the bad guys. 

Too much sugar, but everyone's happy.

California trip part 2: LA and Disneyland

I'm being really lazy with these posts, this one should be broken up in at least two more. So be prepared for lots of photos. And if you're wondering why there are so many of me and so few of Dan, it's because he was on photog duty with the nice camera. 

Tuesday after the beach we headed south through Los Angeles. I'd never been to the tourists spots in LA so we made a detour through Hollywood. In retrospect...it was not a great place for kids. We lasted about an hour. But the walk of fame was pretty awesome. 

Eli was not amused when I set this animal hat on his head. 

Then I found this guy. 

We spent the night with Mariah and Jered and Luke. They have the coolest place in Yorba Linda. There's even a little horse on the property! My kids were in heaven. 

We made it to the park! This was the night before we went to Disneyland, eating dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. The kids loved it, although Sammy was super scared of all the characters. 

Dan stocked up on the desserts. It is a buffet after all. 

Eli LOVES Chip and Dale. Loves loves loves. He was dying when this one came by. 

Sammy was more interested in the jello. He ate a lot of it. 

Eli and Minnie. 

While we were checking into the hotel, Sammy did a dive over a little chair in the lobby and cut his head. It was not a good week for heads. 

DISNEYLAND! Oh we had so much fun. 

Eli was not happy I made him stop and take a picture. 

Eeek. 

Another one of Sleeping Sammy. 

Jedi Eli. 

Gate fam!

Eli meets Vader!

Love love love this place. It's my favorite place I've ever been. 

California trip part 1: Ojai

As was to be expected, we had a marvelous time with Brad, Crystal, and our favorite Ojai people. The weather is always perfect, the food is always delectable and the company is second to none. 

Our first outing was Soule Park, a place I frequented often as a kid when we lived in Ojai. Pretty much nothing had changed. 

Picnic people enjoying a delicious Ruben's burrito

A studious Brad

Crystal broke out the tempura paints and we had a little art party on the deck. The kids loved it and I brought home a few masterpieces that might just need to be framed. 

 

Eli smashed his nose into a picnic table at the park. He looked so so sad. Things are looking better, but he went through most of our trip looking like he'd been in a fight. 

The beach! It was slightly cooler but that didn't stop Eli from throwing off his pants and jumping in. 

 Beachy fam!

 No Pants Eli. It should make for a nice Christmas card. 

 About 5 seconds later Sammy decided he wanted to go no-pants as well. I was too busy laughing at them to snap any pics.