A Day at Disneyland!

Family photo. Jace fully believes that this was the "real" Mickey Mouse.
He thought it was hilarious how Pluto crouched down with us.
Jace has no clue who Pinoochio is. But hey, it's a disney character and that's cool enough for him!
Okay, this picture looks strange, I know. Jace is actually behind goofy, not beneath his hand. Someone else got a better shot, but not with my camera. Oh well.

So, I've posted a lot of pictures of our fun day at Disneyland. The story behind this trip is that Jace has had a habit that we particularly wanted to help him break. So after trying a few other things that didn't work, we presented him to opportunity to go to Disneyland after he earned 100 tickets, one for each successful time. Jace has been working hard for 3 months and earned every ticket. Good job Jace! Nick was able to take the day off to come with us, of course. We also had some extended family who were going the same week. So it worked out well for all of us to go together. We don't have any plans to go back to Disneyland for a while, but are looking forward to the next possible trip, maybe when Ella is a little older!

A Day at Disneyland... more

On the 1st ride, the kids had to help Buzz Light Year shoot the bad guys. I had to chuckle, as I wondered what they were thinking about this.
Do I want to be on this ride?
In the end, Jace loved it, and was so excited to tell Grandma all about it.

I like "It's a Small World!"

A Day at Disneyland... more

Woot, Mama! (Look, grandma!)
Look Daddy!

A Day at Disneyland... more

Jace and Nick on "It's a Small World"
Jace and Nick being "goofy."
Now, which one of us is going to drive Mickey's car first?
Having fun playing in Goofy's yard.
Ella loves any slide.

A Day at Disneyland! more...

stopping for a refreshing pineapple drink

The whole crew... My Dad's cousin Jay, his wife Linda, their kids, my Mom, brother Tom, & us.

Getting a little crazy and sick on the spinning lady bugs at California adventure.

JoJo's Circus and Skeebo, for any Playhouse Disney lovers- (my kids...)

Right before they were both asleep...

A Day at Disneyland... Ella dancing

At California Adventure, we went to the Playhouse Disney, Live show. Ella was dancing almost the whole time. She really got into it!

In addition to our day at disneyland, a few other random pics...

Yes, I post lots of pitures of Ella riding her bike. She LOVES her bike.
That's right. You go girl! We're lovin' your bedtime hair!
Jace hiding because I wanted to take a pic of his reaction to Ella's crazy hair.
No longer hiding. Funny, Jace

Happy Thanksgiving

So, it's been a few weeks since we've posted. I'm finally catching up! Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving! Here's the explanation for my list of pictures...

1) Jace and Ella watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Playhouse Disney each morning. Aren't they cute sitting next to each other sharing the blanket? 2) When we went to a dinner hosted at Nick's boss' house, they had a gingerbread house to make in case we brought the kids with us. We didn't, of course. It's way too much fun getting out without the kids. So we had a a lot of fun making this at our house the next day. 3) This is Grandma O'Bryant holding Ella at their house on Thanksgiving Day. 4) The next picture shows Ella hungry, and ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner. After that, Ella wondering if anyone knows she's still at the table. 5) Our yummy food! Isn't it great to be near parents for Thanksgiving! Sorry Rachelle. Ignore that last sentence. :) 6) Our walk Thanksgiving evening. Yes, it gets "chilly" as Alyssa calls it in Southern California. Don't use the word "chilly," Jace. 7) Our tree! Having kids help is so much more festive. 8) Finally, our cute stockings! Yeah, I gotta get making Ella's.

So that's our latest! Sure love seeing all of your blogs too!

Happy Halloween!

VIDEO: How am I gonna get all these little nerds into my mouth?

PHOTOS: Back in Santa Clarita again, we attended the ward's Trunk or Treat activity. Our super-buff Superman and our teeny tiny Angel granted their presence here at the event. Fun was an understatement as the kids (and us) enjoyed award-winning chili, pranced around in our costumes, won prizes from playing games, and how could we forget? scored well with lots of candy from the parking lot trick or treating. There were plenty of people there- about twice as many as we see come to church on sundays. I'd say we all barely fit into the cultural hall. We think we'll make sure to be there for the 2008 spectacular as well. Happy Halloween to all!

Update

So, Alyssa and her friend had to drive on i-15 and it was closed. They had to take an alternative route. In total they drove about 300 miles last night and ended up getting to her parent's house at 6 am this morning.

It seems that the fire nearest us is under control and the roads are open again. We should be heading back to our home sometime today.

Evacuated

Not the type of blog that we would like to be sending, but in case you were wondering, we have been evacuated due to fires. I'll spare the details for now, but we are at Alyssa's parent's house. Well the kids and I and another dad and his kids are at the O'Bryant's. Alyssa and her friend (the Mom of the other family) were together and got caught on the other side of the 14 freeway and couldn't get back. They had to take an alternative route to her parents and I-15 is closed so they have had some trouble getting here, but they are on their way.

If you want info on the closest fire that finally pushed us out please go to: http://cbs2.com/firewatch/local_story_296015810.html.

Soledad Canyon road is about 4 blocks from our place. However there is a very dry large river bed that separates us from Soledad Canyon Road. It is the main street in Santa Clarita. Sand Canyon road is one exit up from our exit and we take this exit to go to church.

I commute on the 14 freeway and it is closed north and south bound. There are 4 other fires in the Santa Clarita area. With all the fires in LA and San Diego, 240,000 people had been evacuated as of 6 pm tonight.

We will keep you posted.

First Boyfriend?

Ella has a friend Ryan, here where we live who she loves to follow around and giggle when she says his name. She calls him "Ry" and a large grin always follows. He's actually almost four years old. The video tells it all! I guess she goes for the older guys!

At the end of the video, Ryan must have put her lost in thought, because she ignored me suddenly. The video would be better with the end part cut out. But my battery just died on my camera, so maybe I'll edit it in the future. For the meantime, the video was too cute to leave out!

Pictures and Videos of Jace and Ella playing in CA

Jace likes to do any task different from the norm.

Oh, just look at my face! Someone take pity on me. I am truly a victim!

Every day Jace leads us on a scooter ride down the street to the playground. Ella also enjoys sitting in her stroller for this short walk. At the playground, Ella never fails to make her Mommy gasp in fear as she shows off her latest tricks and stunts. She is more daring and dangerous than Jace ever was. (Don't tell him that.) She's quite our little hazard.

A video of Ella jabbering as she walks up the steps.

Where we live in Santa Clarita, CA

For those of you who feel that we have gone who knows where without seeing where we live in Santa Clarita (LA) California, here are some pictures of the neighborhood we moved into. It may look confusing. The builidings consist of 8 townhomes within. So here's some pictures of the front and back of our building, and the street we live on. The last picture is our col-de-sac where our garage is. It's nice to have a place for Jace and Ella to ride their their bikes without any traffic. It is here where I enjoy sitting in my comfy lawn chair. Great relaxation for me!

Undecided

So, what should I be? Superman, Spiderman, a witch, or (heaven-forbid) a fairy??

Yes, We Are Alive Still!

Yes, we are still alive! :) This has been a busy 6 months and we have lost ourselves from the blog world for a while. This is a quick recap of the last 6 months (we haven't blogged since May until now), but hopefully this will give a clue as to what we've been up to. Two weeks ago we moved to the Los Angeles area and shortly we will be updating again to show you where we live. For now, these final pictures show, 1) how excited I was to finally be able to do Ella's hair in french braids, and 2) Jace and Ella at the first fall football game of this year. Watch for more to come...