Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Denver

We went to Denver this past weekend to visit Michael and to celebrate Xander's first birthday.  Karen, Julie, and Zaidee flew in from Salt Lake and it was fun to be together.  We went to the Natural History Museum, out to eat several times, to the park, on walks, and hung out at their house.

Natural History Museum

My favorite exhibit was figurines made completely of stones and gems.  

Eating out
 We went out twice to Vietnamese Pho restaurants, it's my new favorite food! 
 Delicious basil, jalapeno, sprouts, and lime.



 Eating out is so crazy with kids!  We had three 1 year olds and a 6 year old.  I felt bad for the people sitting by us, we were so loud.


Xander's Party
Xander had a Winnie the Pooh themed party and Lisa made a cute three tier cake.  Uncle Kelly and Teresa came and gave Xander a walker that all the babies loved.  He also got a toy cat that moves around the house and Ellie loved chasing it.

 


Pictures in the park
Julie took some family pictures for Mike and Lisa on Sunday, they turned out cute!





  
On a walk
We took the kids for a walk around this awesome trail by their house.


Just hanging out 






Thursday, November 1, 2012

Pumpkins and Witches

Halloween was a blast this year!  Holidays only get better with kids!  The only bummer was that Matt was in Houston for an interview so Ellie and I just went to a few friends houses trick or treating and then crashed at Chad and Mandi's for the evening (I had no candy to pass out so I didn't want to be home...ha, ha).  The week before Halloween we carved pumpkin's with Chad, Mandi, Brady, and Kale.  I never realized how dangerous pumpkin carving is!  I swear we had to take knives away from each kid a few times...yikes!

 Yes, he is wearing underwear ( :  If you know Brady he is ALWAYS in his underwear LOL!  He is the sweetest thing, he always tells me "I love you Lisa."


 Kale is the same age as Ellie but he's HUGE!



 HALLOWEEN PARTY AT BOTANICAL GARDEN


 Can't you just hear her evil witchy cackle.



The end of the night, all sugared out.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Trip to Minneapolis

This past week Matt had an interview in Minneapolis and we decided to make it a fun family trip.  As soon as we checked into our hotel we headed right for the Mall of America.  It was only 15 minutes from our hotel but little did we know that a football game had just ended and we were right by the stadium so it took a bit longer (an hour) but it was worth it.  I especially loved the American Girl store.  I always wanted one! I remember going through the magazines and dreaming (:  The Lego store was also awesome!  They had huge sculptures made entirely of Lego, which was pretty incredible.  On Sunday we went to the university institute for church which was a little awkward because it was a singles ward.  Then we headed to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  It was a very cool museum!  Then we went to Potbelly sandwiches for lunch.  On Monday Matt had his interview so Ellie and I went back to the mall for the afternoon and we went to Annie's Parlor for dinner.  Before we drove home on Tuesday we stopped off at Minnehaha park.  It was beautiful, even if it was the wrong time of year.

MALL OF AMERICA



Matt thought they were creepy.

 
Amazing Lego sculptures.

Ellie looking up at the giant robot.

The robot in the background is made up of 2.8 million Legos, weighs around 6 tons, and is 2 1/2 stories tall!

Ellie got a piglet from the Disney store.  I'm not sure if it was more for Ellie or for Matt (: He loves Winnie the Pooh everything!


MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS
This is an amazing and huge museum, I highly recommend it.  Just don't do the following things:
1- Put your kid on your shoulders
2 - Have a water bottle
3 - Take pictures
We were spoken to so many times I thought we were going to get kicked out!

Matt liked this painting the best, I wonder why : D I would be insulted by the artist if I was her.  She even has a 5 o'clock shadow!

Ellie passed out after the museum.

Going to Potbelly's for lunch.

After Dinner at Annie's Parlor.

MINNEHAHA PARK
I couldn't stop singing "Minna, minna, ha, ha, minna, minna, ha, ha, we love you." to the tune of Chitty chitty bang bang.  I was driving Matt crazy.....ha, ha.

It was gorgeous!  I can only imagine how pretty it would be in the summer.

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Omaha Zoo and Farmstead in Kansas City

Matt has been super busy this past month with interviewing for Orthodontic residency so when he had a free day I jumped at the chance to hang out with him and go to the zoo by our house.  I love our zoo because the exhibits are so cool and I love how close the animals are, so Ellie can really see them.  We've also been driving down to Kansas City a ton lately because the flights are so much cheaper from there. I'm talking like 100 to 200 dollars less, bizarre right?  Leslie and Jon have been so sweet in letting Ellie and I crash at there place while Matt is away.  We have really enjoyed spending more time with them!  Ellie is totally adored so that makes it fun : D  

Henry Doorly Zoo

Watching the monkey's

Watching the ???? whatever that is.

Watching the penguins. They are SO FAST, like little torpedoes!


Watching the Otters. My favorite, they are like cats but cooler cause they like the water, or am I the only one who thinks that?



The aquarium is AMAZING!



 Deanna Rose Farmstead
I love this place!  It is so fun and has the cutest atmosphere.  If you are ever in the Kansas City area with kids I highly recommend it!  And the best part is.....it's free!  (You can tell we're poor students.)  It was a rainy weekend but we were lucky and it wasn't raining while we were there.  My darling cousin Lauren just moved to KC a few months ago and was able to come with us.   





Feeding the goats is my favorite part. 




Matt has always wanted to grab a bull by it's horns... AKA: a small baby goat

I thought this pony was so pretty with it's blonde hair.

Ellie and Danny making faces at each other.

Playing at Leslie's.

Poor Hobbes.
I thought the following pics were funny because they show how Hobbes has no escape from Ellie.  She seriously loves Hobbes so much.  Her first word besides Mama and Dada was Hobbies if that tells you anything.  She loves to pull his tail and lay her head on his belly and he is so patient with her.  I think he secretly likes the attention (:


She found his hide out under the end table.