California Pt 2

Jeff's parents work 3 days a week at the family history library at the Los Angeles Temple. So we decided to go down one day and say hi and show Jane around. Can I just tell you how much I love her face in this first picture. 

They have a bunch of interactive features at the visitors center. Stuff for kids to do. Jane really liked it.

Needless to say Jane was wiped out each day. We would find her in funny positions on the bed. She did fall off the bed one night and so I think that she was paranoid about falling off.

On recommendation from Jeff's sister, we went to aquarium of the pacific in Long Beach.  They had some of the craziest fish. It was pretty cool.

We also got to touch some fish. There were some sharks and manta rays in this pool and you could reach him and feel them. We also touched some jelly fish and anenames (not sure how to spell that).

Grant was obviously having a good time too.

Of course, they put all of these fish in one tank together. Jane kept talking about seeing the nemo fish. "look there's Dory"

We also went on a harbor cruise as part of the aquarium tour. Jane wasn't too sure how she felt about it but we saw some interesting things.

Everyone was tuckered out after the aquarium. We took a minute to rest before we went to dinner.

We left the next morning. It was a really good trip. I am so glad that we were able to go. Jeff's parents are the best hosts and Jane just loved being there and having time with them to play. Plus, Jeff's mom let us go on a date of sorts one day while she watched Jane. Thanks it great.

California Pt1

I just have so many pictures of california that I decided to break it up. So here we go.

We didn't get in until late and so the next day we just lazed around. There was a lot reading and playing with Grandma. So fun. We also went swimming at a friends pool. It was really nice of them to let us come at a moments notice.

We decided to go to a baseball game since Ellis is a huge Dodgers fan. It was pretty hot but it cooled some as the sun set. Grant wasn't very fussy and seemed to enjoy everything that was going on around us.

On Saturday we hit the beach. We went to a beach up north of where they live. It wasn't too crowded. I forgot how beaches are kind of hard with a little one. Sand is just everywhere. Everywhere. So that was fun to manage. Jane really loved being in the ocean in Texas but wasn't too keen on it this time. He just loved playing in the sand with Grandma.

Jeff and I debated for a long time about wether to go to Disneyland or not. Is Jane too young to appreciate it? Will she have a good time? Will it just be too much work for us? Ultimately, we gave into going. One of the factors is that Grandma could come with us because they have season passes. She was so nice to come and help us out. It was a good day because it really wasn't very crowded. It was kind of hot, though.

Jane really loved the tea cups and kept asking to go back and ride them again. We did ride them a couple of different times.

Jane is all about castles and princesses. Cinderella is probably her favorite movie. So the castle was so fun for her to see. Then when we ran into the fairy godmother, it was just the greatest. She loved it.

So Jeff's mom was such a trooper. She let Jeff and I go on a couple of rides and she watched the kids. Once she took both of them on a ride, twice, while we went on a ride. I seriously love this picture when we were strapping the baby carrier on her. Seriously she was such a trooper.

I was a little worried that Jane wouldn't like the rides. Especially since she freaks out about the horse at the grocery store. She really liked them, though. She even really like the little rollercoaster that is in toon town. She was barely tall enough to ride it. When we got off she said she wanted to go again. And of course, small one was a hit.

One of the great things about going is that my friend Sharla joined us later in the afternoon. She lives really close and had season passes. So she brought her 2 boys. I haven't seen her in almost 7 years. We worked together in Idaho Falls. She is so fun and it was great to catch up. Plus her boys are so dang cute.

 We stayed to watch the parade. Jane was all about it. Especially when the float came by with all of the princesses.

So even though it cost an arm and a leg to get it, we are glad we did it. Grant, again, was such a trooper. She only had two small naps and didn't cry until we were about to leave. He cried for only a minute and then fell asleep. Jane overall did good too with only one meltdown. She still talks about going. She was just saying today that she had fun at disneyland. 

So there is much more to come on our California trip. That is all for now. 

cooking class

      As some of you know, I try to eat healthy. I don't eat a lot of meat or dairy. So I have a lot of people ask me what I eat. I always say 'well I have some good recipes I can share'.  But I don't ever end up sharing them for one reason or another. I had an idea a while ago, from seeing other people do it, that I would do a cooking class. Not in that I show people how to cook but that we cook together and share the recipes that I have. I really do love to cook but I don't want to spend a ton of time doing it. So easy, fairly quick and healthy recipes. Why not share? So I had the first one. It was a small showing but will grow in time. I do plan to have another in a couple of weeks. We cooked the black bean soup and the mango chicken at the class. The other is just a bonus recipe that is really easy and good. I will continue to share the recipes that we do in the classes and maybe more. 

PS you should be able to save the image and then print it on our own. 

She's 3

So I am really far behind in my blog posts. I decided that I am going to work backwards. For some reason that seems easier to me. So the most recent thing to happen is Jane's birthday. I can't believe she is 3. So crazy. It is really funny how fast time goes, especially when you are wrangling two little ones. When we were at Disneyland (more on that later) she told the fairy god mother than she was going to have a chocolate birthday. So we tried to accommodate that. Although we didn't get celebrate with cake until Friday (her birthday was on Wednesday) we did go out for ice cream on Wednesday night.

She had fun being able to choose her flavor and topping. It is hilarious to watch her eat ice cream because she takes the tiniest bites. She doesn't like to get brain freeze.

This is when we told her that she could have chocolate cake.

Much to Jeff's chagrin, I made a 'healthier' cake for her. I don't bake much so when I do I try to make it a little better for us. This is a gluten and sugar free cake. I know that sounds bad but it was actually pretty good. Don't worry though because that is chocolate butter cream frosting. It literally has like a pound of butter in it. It was delicious. Even Jeff really liked it. Oh and to clarify it did have maple syrup to sweeten the cake.

Amongst a few other presents, she scored a bike (thanks craigslist). She is still getting used to it but was pretty excited.

She also got fairy wings, a rapunzel necklace and this sweet glowing wand. 

 

Jane is such a fun girl. She is really outgoing and chatty all of the time. She loves to sing and dance. She recently loves to play with Grant a lot and is so sad when I put him down for naps. She recently started Joy School and really loves it so far. She loves to wear dresses and constantly has her new rapunzel dress on (if you can't tell from the photos and such). She makes life so interesting every day. We sure love her.

Just as an added bonus. Here is a video of her singing with Jeff. She loves when he sings and she started singing along with him a couple of months ago.