Little Mountain

We have to get these kids some altitude while we are in CA.

Little Mountain is right by Papa and Yaya's house...soon to be old house. So its a perfect jaunt

Scot fest 2012

What a lovely day for a Scottish fest. It was at the OC fairgrounds. My parents took us there just for a fun Saturday Activity. We do have a little Scottish, but we aren't all hardcore about it like some of the folks were

 My Mom and Elliot were both in heaven with each other

 Hagas! 

My dad's dream food. 

It was ok. It was very lamby. (I thought it would be worse)

 Trooper Cody

 The kids loved it

 Lil' miss independent

 I found the only black guy at the Scottish festival!

 The bagpipe and drum competitions were pretty amazing. There would be teenagers and old guys in the same troop. It seemed cool. Probably neat to see they weren't the only teenagers doing bagpipes. I secretly wanted someone to tip over so I could yell, "We have a Piper down! I repeat, A piper down!" in a thick Scottish accent

 There was a big cool farm on the fairgrounds. The lamas were nice but somewhere in the course of loving the animals and trying to let Elliot pet them, a cow headbutted Elliot. It freaked her out for a minute. But she snapped out of it and was squealing w delight at all of the animals in no time. She seems to really love them. They even had an Ox. That thing was Huge.

This is a....worm garden

 A nice guy let Rowdy sit in his old mini cooper

 He was so excited. And there were a bunch of ads there for Brave/ the Disney movie that would come out later int he summer, Rowdy was all excited to see that too. We had some lovely Scottish meat pies. and the kids loved some jump houses and sheep dog demonstrations, I missed the log throwing. Everyone had on their family tartans and at the end of summer cousin Missy who had been to Scotland the year before brought back a little key chain with a scrap of our Anderson tartan. That was super cool.

Thanks for the nice day Papa and Yaya. Always an adventure. and it was so lovely we were all able to sit in the same car together!

Our California Adventure, Disneyland style

I think we surprised everyone. I'm back blogging so I don't really remember. all I remember is that is was a joyus reunion. We spent the night mostly at my parents but spread the love around, especially while we were the only Texas family there :) 

 We had Disneyland passes that were soon expiring so we went to D land and California adventure quite a few times. We figured it will be crazy expensive after this summer w Elliot and Ezra as paying customers. It was relaxing and fun. We loved having time to do the little things and see all the attractions we wanted.

Elliot and Ezra were hilarious and a little freaked out about the characters.

 Oh look there are my kids and Winnie the Pooh

 ...well most of them. not a fan of the 100 are wood I guess.

 It was nice he let Mickey give him a high 5 though

 Favorite gaaame!

 I took the boys twice when Cody went back to CA. One time Rowdy rode w a kind stranger, which I had agreed to, but it freaked me out. I didn't enjoy the ride at all.

 So much betteer w Dad. We missed Cars land by a week! (our Passes were blacked out those days) But we could see it from the ferris wheel. It was phenomenal! It was Radiator Springs to a tee. which I think they should have named it, becasue cars land sounds lame.

 Jungle Cruise!

 And here is a Disneyland morning. Elliot just crawled up on Nan's table and scavenged someone's cheerios

Story of my birthday..and my NEw CAR!!!

Cody pulled up Tuesday of my birthday week with a new car!!! wrapped in crepe paper! I felt like I was in a car commercial :) 

It is such a beautiful car. Its a Mazda CX-9. 

Rowdy had spilled the beans earlier in the month. So it wasn't a complete surprise like Cody had hoped. But I got to do 2 test drives at least and have a little input. but the day of it was a real surprise! Its a new/used car just a year old thought w 13,000 miles..."Dolphin gray"

I of course had a moment of silence for the sweet Camry, which had been so good to us for so long. And we received it at a time we were only a one car family and I was starting to get a little depressed and feeling grounded w/ no wheels. So the camry will always hold a special place in my heart. But we are getting bigger. The Mazda had 7 seats and its been so nice to have one or two extra seats for tag- alongs :)

Here is a pretty picture of it in Wyoming.. yes Wyoming

 

So my actual birthday was pretty non-eventful and I was fighting off grumpiness. Then we ate this delicious shortcake for dessert and my attitude instantly changed. Cody whipped the cream himself...mmmm

He got called into work and Livee came with the kids and I to ride our scooters through some awesome wooded trails next to Lake Grapevine. That was nice. And then Megan, Mckay and Livee and the kids and I did 'just dance', which is what I really wanted to do (have a dance party.) I received flowers and chocolate from some friends in the ward and that was lovely.
Soo... Cody kept saying I'm sorry about your birthday, because he had to finish a big school project and then got called into work. But, he said I will make it up to you this weekend. So he tells me to pack a bag for the weekend for us and the kids and then 30 minutes before we go he says we are going to CA so make sure you have the right stuff!! It was fun I like surprises. I had totally forgotten about him having vacation that week. but yes in retrospect? we should have probably addressed the details regarding Sydney's wedding 2 months away in which we would need to be out there again. We had an uber fun summer I just hope we didn't drive my parents bonkers. Well, we probably did but we made some good memories.

We left at 5 or 6 in the afternoon and drove through the night. I stayed up w Coy a lot of the night and then he finally needed a break at 8 am in New Mexico and I was fighting off sleep but I felt bad because He had barely fallen asleep. Then I dozed and hit a big orange round bucket thing for construction! Yikes! Hadn't even had the car for a week. It cracked the bumper and tore off the black wheel protection thing on the car. Could've been a lot worse. I have since been on 3 sucessful road trips, but I don't mess around any more w the dozing. ahh!
 Well later int he month I take the car up to utah idaho and wyoming and on the way back notice a crack in the windshield. ahh man! Then one random day I guess I ran over a shard of metal and got a flat tire. any way I'm not having the best luck. but I do adore the car. I just don't know if it is adoring me.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

 This picture can be your Birthday present Uncle Bobby. This picture cracks me up.
Elliot cracks us up too. We like her little personality. 18 months on Sunday! Nursery here we come!
-She is starting to talk a little more. She says "Mine" and "No" very clearly :) My favorite is, "here go", when she wants to hand us something. and as seen in the picture,"cheese" she also says "shoes" very cute but i don't know if anyone else would understand.
-She likes clothes. but not for the reason you'd think. She will grab any article of clothing near her and snuggle it under her chin for a minute.
-She loves babies and stuffed animals.
-She always opens up sandwiches including sandwich cookies ie: Oreos and eats the middles.
-When she wants to get your attention or she is closely examining something she will tilt her head to the side. It is very cute. and lately if she doesn't want something she will tuck her chin in her shoulder and turn away.
-Sometimes she is a picky eater. She definitely loves sweets and meat. If its anything else we have discovered that she will let Ezra feed her :)
-She loves her brothers. She will get into giggle fests with both of them. She still loves peek-a boo. and cracks up when Rowdy crawls towards her.
-She has a mischievous streak. You can see it in her eyes before she does something tricky. She likes to bug Ezra. She will walk up and take his toy just to see what he does or sometimes she will hug him from behind to tease him, and then she will laugh.
-She is also very tender hearted. If she hurts someone and we call her out on it, she will start crying.  And if she sees Cody or I patting one of the boys she will come over and pat them too.
-She will come in and clap for Ezra as he is learning to potty train. and she likes to sit on the toilet just for a few seconds.
-She still only has her front 8 teeth
-She is hilarious around dogs & other animals. She loves them from afar and then freiks when they get close.
We are just loving this time with her. She is at a fun age. She keeps us giggling. Love you Ellie Belly

A few weeks ago

We planted our Easter peach trees

Elliot was so funny and kept putting big rocks and other goodies back in the hole. Cody was being so patient.

The kids always have a blast when dirt, rocks or holes are involved

 

Rowdy got to take home "Cooper" his pre-school teacher's bear and then write in a journal about his stay. I loved his drawing of them. His shoes were checkered and he made their names, "like signs hanging on a nail."

Every Tuesday Mr. Softee comes down our street. I loved growing up my dad always used to let us get the change from his shoe and chase the ice cream man. I have tried to let the kids do that but man, Mr. Softee is gourmet, and I'm paying for it. I have been trying to let them watch movies with the volume turned up really loud on Tuesday afternoons....rarely works

Aunt Geralee here is what the front of our house looks like

We had a nice visit/ serenade with/from the Canciennes a couple of Sundays ago. They are so great. & sweet Colleen gave the kids these Peep-kabobs. The colors of this pic were much better in person

Elliot looooves the hose.

She is a great helper too

When Rowdy was at school. Cody took us on a little field trip. We roughly followed the railroad. and went through some of the little towns he goes through on the train. We thought we might see Bobby, his brother, on a train but missed him. It was a fun little drive and the true motivation.....(enter Homer Simpson Voice) ...mmm baaarbeque :)

 I finally tried making balsamic green beans... mmmm. & Cody made ingredients for a yummy angel food cake for dessert we decided to take to the Carmacks. Ezra was carrying the strawberries probably spilling juice out the front of the bowl. He tripped landed flat on his back with not a berry left in the bowl. poor little guy. We ran to Super Save to salvage the berry situation. Mmmm. Cody, that was so good. Here is Elliot taking care of the whipped cream...mmm so much tastier than out of the spray can.

 Oh and we made and delivered this shirt for Paige so people would know why she had crutches at school. Note the safety pin