Utah vs BYU and the dance off

Luckily for Jake and I (not so much for my dad who manages a furniture outlet store so always has to work the week after Thanksgiving), we were able to use my dad's tickets to the Utah versus BYU game. He has really nice seats too. My sister Stef volunteered to watch Ellie and spent the game over at Annie's house with her and her kids.

We had a great time at the game.  We have been the past few years when the game has been at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Although it wasn't snowing, the air was chilly. The minute I got out the car, I regretted not wearing my yoga pants under my Levi's. Yes, Jake mocks me because I hate being frozen so I wore my snow boots with 2 pairs of socks, one of them being a wool pair, 2 shirts, a sweatshirt, my snow coat, ear warmers, snow gloves, and a scarf. (Annie stayed home because she hates being cold more than I do.)

It was an intense game and that's all I'm going to say about it.  The rivalry has gotten a little out of hand in my opinion in the past few years.  I enjoy a good game but once so called "fans" become belligerent and accusatory, I don't enjoy things as much.

Luckily for us, the team we cheer for won.

 Jake wanted to go down to the field. So we did. First time we have ever done this.

THANKS DAD FOR THE TICKETS!!!!

 After we had plans to go hang out with everyone at Brian and Annie's place.

 Here is my brother Jeff helping keep Ellie entertained.

 Ellie, Braden, and Kelsey playing around while the adults ate dinner and talked.

 Stef does sneak-attack pictures. This was one of herself. (My family was infamous for doing this on old film cameras as well.  I had several random pictures upon developing film.)

Kelsey saw her take that picture and wanted one herself. What silly kids!

After eating dinner, we played a little Just Dance 2 and OH MY HECK, I love it. We had so much fun.  Macy got into it as well.  The boys were a little annoyed because they wanted to play Hand and Foot instead but us girls were having too much fun dancing. If I have a lapse in judgment or find a video of myself that I like, I may post it. As it stands, its not going to happen. If I post of anyone else, I'm sure they would have their revenge.

But just so you get some video of dancing, my dad took Ellie and I to a Utes basketball game. Ellie loves dancing. Here's a video of her dancing at the game. She loved watching the game and walking around seeing Grandma Wendy and Grandma Bonnie.

THANKS POPPY DEVON FOR TAKING US TO THE GAME!

Black Friday (Duh, duh, dun)

As some of you know, I don't go out shopping the morning after Thanksgiving (so affectionately known as Black Friday).  I don't care how much potential money you can save. That is because for 5 years of my life, I worked the morning shift of every day after Thanksgiving. Three of those times, I was a manager. Because of some of my experiences, I have a great hatred for that day and the things people do in order to buy gifts I am positive they really don't need or their kids don't need. (I won't get on my soapbox about Holiday shopping and how it really seems to take away my Christmas spirit or how crappy customer service seems to be lately.)

In the past year or 2, I have started going out in the afternoon to do shopping on Black Friday.  Some places still have decent deals going on.  After Ellie's morning nap, we took off for the valley again to meet up with Annie, Stef and Jeff.  Luckily my favorite kids clothing store was having an additional 25% off sale that day. After shopping for 2-3 hours, Ellie was becoming a little bored.

Jeff was watching her while I was looking around the store.  He blocked her in the display window and let her enjoy herself.  This is what I saw.

This is Ellie trying to do ballet.

After a while she was just plum tired. We left shortly after this. I stopped and bought her chicken nuggets from Chic-a-fila (which she loves). She ate 5 of the nuggets, half a kids french fry, and drank half the lemonade. I guess she was hungry too.

When we got home, she did one of her favorite things; chased the family pet around.  Unfortunately she found Tippy (yes, the male cat's name is Tippy Coconut) in the bath tub. She pinned him there for a few minutes trying to pet him.

Thanks for being such a good cat Tippy.

Thanksgiving Activities

I guess I just figured since I had posted so much in the past little bit that I would give everyone a break.  Actually, we have been in Utah visiting family for the holidays. We left Colorado just before the big storms. For the week of Thanksgiving, we stayed at Jake's parent's house.  Marc, Cassie, and Becca live in the basement so Ellie had a cousin to play with at the house.

After a spaghetti dinner, the girls needed to be cleaned. (Isn't this classic? Who doesn't have a picture like this?)

 Ellie kept splashing Becca, which she didn't like very much.

 One night we went and played at Kristine's house while Daddy and Rob were working in Idaho.  Ellie loved hanging with her cousins.

Later that week, we were back playing at Rob and Kristine's. They have hard wood floors and Ellie figured out that she could slide every where on her stomach. So Uncle Rob tried something else.

We went to Grandma Wendy and Poppy DeVon's for dinner and Ellie enjoyed some ice cream for dessert.

 Braden is learning to use utensils while feeding himself. He really liked dessert too.

Thanksgiving was a fun, but busy day. Our first stop was the Watterson Dinner.  Luckily Mother Nature allowed the snow to stay off for a bit so the drive down the canyon and down to Alpine wasn't bad. Ellie enjoyed some delicious turkey dinner and then wanted to run around with the rest of the kids. Unfortunately the house we were at wasn't Ellie proof so she helped Grandma Connie clean the beaters after making whipped cream.

 She wasn't sure about it at first, but as you can see she really enjoyed them after giving the cream a sample.

Can I have some more?

Next we drove up to the Jensen dinner at my Uncle Russ's house. There weren't as many people there as in the past. Although this was a little odd, it was nice in one way.  The house was about 70% quieter.

After stuffing ourselves again (including Ellie which I found out later that she had eaten another meal at Uncle Russ's place), we took off back to Wanship. I feel that it was a very successful Thanksgiving.

This one was especially nice since we weren't sure at first if we would be making it back from Denver since Jake's finals weren't until after Thanksgiving. I am extremely thankful for larger families who are close and have a good time together. I always feel like I can eat extra at Thanksgiving because we always spend so much time laughing when we all get together. We have such a good time and hear such great stories from family we don't get to see that often.

This year we gave thanks for snow (sometimes anything wet in Utah is a good thing). I have also been grateful for all the blessings Jake and I have received in our move and while living in Denver.

Colorado Springs and Air Force Academy

Ellie and I had to drive back down to Air Force Academy as Jake took his I-pod touch into the football game but didn't make sure he had it when we left. We realized it wasn't with us until we were being filtered out of the parking lot. Luckily someone was honest and turned it in.  So Ellie and I made the trip back to Air Force Academy to pick it up and decided to do a little sight seeing while we were there.

 We started with the visitors center at the academy. Ellie loved walking around this.

 It is a short hike over the hill to the Cadet Chapel. Talk about WOW! Inside the building, on the top floor, is the Protestant chapel and on the bottom level are the Catholic, Buddhists, Jewish, and All-faiths room. It was amazing to walk around inside and see what each looked like.  The Jewish chapel had stones from Jerusalem that were given as a gift. The whole chapel is quite a sight.

 Inside the Protestant Chapel is where the magic really shown. These pictures were taken with no flash and have not been altered in any way. Also, it was cloudy when I was there and there were no inside lights on at the time.  Imagine what it looks like in full sun.

 Each one of the points has many varied panes of stained glass that creates the colors seen. This is looking up to the points from the inside.

 Here is the huge organ they have there.  These pictures don't do it justice. If you ever have the chance to visit, even if only for a few minutes, don't pass up this opportunity.


We then drove around to scout out future sight seeing destinations. There is a waterfall called Seven Falls, the Caves of Wind, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Pikes Peak, and this little town called Manitou Springs that has some great little street shops.  I can't wait to go back and explore.

This is Miramont Castle, a mansion in Manitou Springs that you can pay for tours around. It looked amazing from outside. We didn't take the tour just yet but I will one day and I will tell you all about it.

Crafty days and keeping busy

Since I have a little more time on my hands than when I was working, I have been trying to find stuff to keep me busy.

This is the wreath I made.  It doubles as a Halloween wreath; the Give Thanks in the middle turns around and says Happy Haunting and I have a bat, cat, ghost, spider, etc that can be added. Sorry its a little squished looking. The space between the 2 doors isn't very big.

This is what I have done for Ellie's room. The small flowers and butterflies are wall stickers. I stained the brown wood and painted the hook flowers. She loves having it in her room.

 These are the close ups.

 I didn't paint these letters. I found them at a cute little store in Gardner Village.

This is the reason I bought the hanger flowers. These are Ellie's bows, flowers and handbands.

On her other wall, I hung a picture frame with family pictures.  She really loves having this stuff around her.  The day we hung them she would point and giggle or point and "aaahh" at them. She was even excited to show Jake.

I also made some new magnets for our fridge. I also finally read a book. I know, I know I can read.  It was one from my sister Annie called "These Is My Words" by Nancy E. Turner. I thought this book was a great historical fiction novel. Set in the late 1800s, the author wrote the book as though it were the diary entries by Sarah Agnes Prine and it tells her experiences; all which have a few historical truths but also the authors artistic impressions of how she that Sarah would react. I highly recommend it.

It's truly amazing what you can accomplish with the TV off. 

End of the Trip

Friday we spent just another day hanging out at the beach house. I thought it was too cold to be in the water but some of the manly men went and did some boogie boarding.  Ellie and I did sit in the pool and spa for a bit. Just as I was bringing her down for lunch and then a nap, my parents got out the birthday stuff. I already posted the pictures of that. She was a little surprised about the cupcake and the presents. I showed her to pull the paper out of the bags. Once she realized there were things inside, she got excited.  She was so tired by the time we gave her a cupcake, she only picked at the frosting.

After naps were over and after dinner at In and Out, we traveled back to Disneyland but this time to visit Downtown Disney. There is a lot going on down there.  Two to three bands were playing in the plaza. Most of the stores are high end stuff. Of course the main purpose of the visit was to shop the Disney store to buy souvenirs.

Enjoying dinner at In and Out

We just wandered around enjoying the night air and the music.

Saturday was spent packing and preparing to come home. Ellie and I were dropped off at the airport.  This time Ellie slept for almost the entire flight, waking just in time for me to realize that she had fallen asleep with a poopie diaper and that I needed to change her right then or wait until we had landed (which would have been another 30-40 minutes). The kind flight attendant showed me the changing table in the miniature plane bathroom and allowed me to change her. Unfortunately she still had diaper rash from sleeping in it.

Daddy was waiting by the baggage claim for us. We ended up waiting quite a long time for luggage as someone forgot to bring the cart in to be unloaded and then we didn't realize that the car seat would come in a different location. Finally we got everything packed in the car and back home. 

It was a great trip. I wish it had been a little warmer to enjoy the beach and water a little more but any time on the beach is just great with me. I love my family and are glad we can have such good times together.

California Day 6; California Adventure, DisneyLand and Ellie's birthday

Back to our California Trip (now that it has been almost a month since we were there). Of course we had to go back to Disneyland, especially because we didn't go to California Adventure the first day.  Here's the entire group before we went into the park. 

 We ended up a little more split up this time as there are so many of us and we were trying to hit as many rides as possible. We went straight to Soaring California and were there just as it opened.  We wanted to see the new show "World of Color" but the line for a fast pass (why would you have a fast pass for a show anyway) was WAY TOO long.  With the switching of the kids, Annie, Brian, my dad and I rode after everyone else while they made their way to the Tower of Terror. (By the way, Annie had a book about the Hidden Mickeys in Disneyland which Jeff carried with him but we found one on the Tower of Terror without him.) I was a little sad because they ran off with Ellie and rode some rides in A Bugs Life that I didn't see or take pictures of but that's how it goes.

 Here's a picture of 2 stick bugs. They can look so life like sometimes.

 Here's Ellie and Grandma Wendy. That button on Ellie's shirt is a birthday button. Everyone who saw it wished her a happy birthday. I am sure it would have been more fun if she really understood what a birthday was.

We went over to ride the roller coast (I think its called screamer or something). Macy loved that ride and wanted to ride it twice.  After we rode the Toys Story 3D ride. It is a shooting one like the Buss lightyear ride but this is in 3D and they are carnival games. Ellie seemed to enjoy even though they didn't have 3D glasses that would stay on her face.

Here's Calee and Ellie waiting to board the ride.  After this ride and some lunch Ellie and Braden were a little tired (imagine that). So Jeff and I walked them around the bridges and such trying to help them fall asleep while everyone else decided to get wet on the river rafts.

 There's half the group: you can see Macy, Grandma Bonnie, Grandma Wendy, Stef, and Kelsey. I think my dad has his back to us.

 This one has Calee, her husband Devin, Annie and Brian. I always love the people that wear ponchos because I have never really thought of these rides as something to do just for fun. I only tend to ride them if I want to get wet.

 Here's a better picture of Ellie's button while she grabs at the camera.

 Here's us on Thunder Mountain. I like this ride. We were using the switch rider passes so 2 people for each pass/per kid were supposed to use the fast pass line.

Somehow the employees were afraid to say something or just didn't care but 5 got on the ride.  Kelsey who doesn't quite enjoy roller coasters that much rode this one twice.  

Like I said, we kinda of split up. Calee and Devin weren't there the first day so they went with my mom, grandma, and Jeff to ride some of those rides again while Annie, Brian, my dad and Stef took the smaller kids to ride stuff for them.  I think they waited an hour and a half to ride Space Mountain.



We stopped for jackets and so Kelsey could get some mouse ears. While we were waiting to have the hat embroidered, Mickey walked past all dressed up in his halloween costume and by the time I realized he was coming out not going away, I was too late. The line to see him had grown to 30 plus people and we were crunched for time (trying not to become stuck because of a parade). I was sad. I didn't have a picture for Ellie to remember her first visit to Disneyland.

We rode Storybook land and It's a Small World (which I haven't ridden in years and both of which have had updates) and a few other rides. Then off to Toon Town.  Somewhere in the middle of it all, I received a few phone calls from family and friends to sing happy birthday to Ellie. She would just giggle as she loves talking on the phone. 

It was getting late so I changed Ellie's diaper and put her in pajama's hoping she would fall asleep soon. Half of Toon Town was shut down for maintenance or whatever but we were able to go into Goofy's house, Minnie's house and a few others.

The front gate had said that Mickey's house was closed and there was fencing all around but the door was open. So we went in and through his house. At the end was, for me that day, a blessing and grand surprise. With no line, we were escorted in to see Mickey.

 Ellie was so excited. I was a little worried about how she would react but to her he was a giant animal and she loves animals. As we approached Mickey, she just giggled. I told him it was her 1st birthday today.  He acted so excited for her and the girl taking the official pictures actually snapped 4-5 for us. As it was our turn to leave, Mickey waved and I told Ellie to blow him a kiss. Well she was close enough that she just leaned over and kissed his nose. (Sorry no picture). It was so cute and Mickey acted all shy about it.  Everyone in the room oohed and aahed at it.

We stayed at in the park until close and it was about then most of us realized with the exception of Ellie and Braden, we rode so hard we didn't really eat dinner and just snacked.  It was a great time and I can't wait to go back when Ellie is older and when Jake can come with us.