Ella's Art

Ella's drawing skills have improved quite a bit recently. Here is one of her recent creations. This would be a family portrait. As you can tell, quite clearly, Daniel is on the left, I'm on the bottom, Jacob is on the far right, and Ella is in the middle. And apparently, we're not very happy. It's still one of my favorite drawings by my sweet Ella. Silly girl.

Rockstars

Rangers Games

A few weeks back, Daniel got tickets from his company for the Texas Rangers game. We actually ended up with two sets of tickets, one for Sept 9th (which we got that day. Very last minute), and another for Sept 11th (which was the day we already planned for). We couldn't decide what to do with the Sept 9th tickets we were given. So, why not go to both games right? Actually, we had a ton of fun at both games and surprisingly, the kids enjoyed themselves. We even stayed for the entire game on the 11th. Amazing, and tons of fun too!

Sept 9th game:

Watching the pitchers for the other team practice. I think we played the Oakland Athletics...Nolan Ryan's statue...Me and the monkeys...Getting Rangers tattoos...
Looks good...We ate dinner there...Family picture...Eating ice cream...
Ella decided the seats were dirty so she cleaned them...Random pics...
Jacob was on TV!! He got a free soccer ball for his debut...

Sept 11th game:

Some pregame pictures of their 9-11 tribute...
We caught Ian Kinsler's foul ball!Ella wanted to try on the gloves we brought...

Kisses for daddy...
Daniel took some action shots...



What a fun weekend of baseball! We will definitely be going to more games in the future.

Little Gym for Ella

A few weeks ago, Ella started her first Little Gym class. I enrolled her in the Jazzy Bugs group because it includes some dancing skills too. They start out with tap and ballet and then they move to the gym for the gymnastics portion of their class.

The beginning part of her class is held in a back room, with no seating for the parents. So we get to watch them practice their dance moves on a TV in the kitchen area (kind of a bummer, and Daniel thinks it's just creepy). Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in some pics of her dancing.

Listening to instructions from her teacher...
Working on her beam skills...she's still a little cautious...
Walking over the "obstacles", working on her balance...
Forward roll...
A little work on the bars...she's a little cautious on these too...
For her second class (and for the rest of the season), we got her some dance outfits, tap shoes, and ballet shoes. Can you tell she's excited...

4Runner

The kids LOVE to play in Daniel's 4Runner...

They climb around...They pretend to drive...They swing...They're so silly...Guess this car is a keeper...

Trevor's Birthday

For one of Trevor's birthday celebrations, we took the kids to Hawaiian Falls with my dad and my brother.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures. I didn't want to mess up the new camera we bought ourselves for our anniversary. I love that camera!

Kids eating ice cream, and my dad making silly faces in the background...

Sweet Izzie...
She sure does love ice cream...My handsome...

And of course I didn't take any pictures of the birthday boy. Yep, I need to learn to be a better photographer.

Destin, Florida

Driving to Florida from Louisiana...
We made it to the border...And we stopped at every single rest area in Florida so Ella could go pee (we learned our lesson on our drive back home and limited her drink intake). One of the rest stops had this neat plane sculpture...Getting closer...I see water!!
AND palm trees...
After another 7 hours in the car, finally THE BEACH!!!Our view from one of the condo balconies...
So pretty!View from inside the condo...
Our first day at the beach. Can you tell I'm excited...Trying to convince Ella to go in the water...Did I mention how much I love the beach? Can you tell from my silly grin??This was our set up for the week. And right behind us are the condos where we were staying...Too cool for school...Day one complete...relax time...Goldfish mouth...
Ready for day two...
Kids playing in the sand...
Family photo...Waiting for the fireworks to start...
Making silly faces at each other...

I feel ya buddy...The kids, Daniel, and I didn't quite make it to watch all of the fireworks, but we did see a few.


This is where the pictures start to get mixed up. Not sure which day we did this, but we went to the piers to see the deep sea fishing boats bring in their catches for the day...

We stopped for ice cream, of course...Back to the beach...

Sandy feet!
Best buds...
Looking for seashells...Ella showing Daniel the shells she found...
The kids and their cute booties...
Mermen, Jacob and Maddox...
Mermaid Ella and her beach friend...Relaxing in the condo...

Stylin' with some hair gel...

Goodbye sunny Florida...We were very blessed to have been given the opportunity to take the kids to the beach with a free place to stay. We had the best time and I really hope we get to do it again. Such great memories!