Chris Chelsey Audrey Ezra

Leaving Las Vegas...and other stuff

2011-12-11T15:39:00.064-08:00

Well, most of you that keep in contact with us should very well know that we have moved from Las Vegas to Utah...but those that don't live in Utah or Vegas might not know. Soooo, we have moved to Utah. It's kind of old news and I haven't kept the blog updated, but I'm trying! We enjoyed our stay in Vegas and we miss our friends that we have there.
So it seems like a recurring theme...every few years, rent a 26' moving truck and pack it up.
However moving back to Utah was pretty nice. Our families are there and we've had some great adventures, but there's no place like home. All the little things that you used to overlook or take for granted are appreciated more now. Simple things like the stretch of highway (above). I've driven that stretch of I-15 many times, but after not being there for a few years it was like coming home and tasting some of moms home cookin'.
So before we left we tried to cram in as many activities as we could...
We almost made it tradition to go down to the Bellagio when they update the conservatory decor. This time it was decorated for spring and Audrey was pretty excited about all the (real) flowers. She had a good time smelling the fresh scents of the various flowers.

Ez only seemed moderately amused with all the commotion, but hey, you can only see so much from the stroller.
The next couple of pictures are pretty random...more I guess for documentation purposes. It still cracks me up how he is just quite the cue ball (no hair yet in these pics).
Audrey, ready for sidewalk chalk.
Well, as many of you know that frequent our blog we have been to Disneyland a lot during the last year of our time in Vegas. We made good use of our annual passes (I mean hey, it was only 4 hours from home to the front gates). Sooo, we decided to cram in one last trip before taking off up north to Utah.
Plus, Ez won't remember this trip so we have to have the pictures to prove he was there...

Ez was in constant sensation overload and kept pointing at things saying "ook, ook!" (look) or "der, der!" (there).

Audrey had her chance to ride the Merry-go-round (one of her favorites).

And of course...you have to ride "It's a small World". Ha! I hope that song popped in your head and won't leave for hours!

Then off to Toon Town:
On the tram for day TWO:

For once I put the camera down for most of that day and just enjoyed our time there. But I had to get this shot later that night. The lighting was perfect:
The next day we had some friends join us! Aunt Emily and Grandpa Kent:

We had to get the typical front gate photo:
By naptime Ezra was pooped, smashing his nose on the stroller:
Audrey's face says it all...no narration needed; we were on the ferris wheel with swinging gondolas. Audrey made sure we got on the correct gondolas:
Ez wasn't nearly as enthusiastic:
However, over at the Toy Story ride, Ez was all giggles.
But the glasses seemed a little odd to him.

While we were in southern Cali we decided to hit up a historic site (these seem a bit harder to come by after living in Boston).
The next few pictures are at the San Juan Capistrano Mission which was founded in 1776...the ruins of the church here are know as the "American Acropolis". Of course, Audrey has a map trying to plan out our adventure:

They had hand-held devices that narrated the tour...even Audrey and Ezra seemed to enjoy it:

More pics at the Mission:

Then...some more pics of the last day at Disneyland. Audrey has a blast everytime on the Autopia ride:
And quite frankly, she is a fun one to be with in line. "Cheeser" smiles all day:

Ez and mom on Monsters Inc:
More line waiting: Another line:
And more line waiting:
That night we went to Fantasmic. We actually had great seats thanks to our buddy Drew that is a castmember at Disneyland (there are fireworks and explosions going off in the background of our stroller with Ezra fast asleep in the stroller).
On the teacups (again):

And yes, more Merry-go-round:
And if you ever have the kids with you and the Dumbo line is short...you just get in line:
Well, that sums it up for our crazy year of multiple Disney trips. We hope to get back soon!
Another thing I wanted to do before leaving Vegas was get out to another track day...the small track in Pahrump Nevada is a fun one to drive on. I didn't have any pics of me on the track, so here's one of a Porsche that joined us for the day (below). This picture isn't in order with the rest, but this is the Vegas version of winter...no snow, no crazy freezing winter temps. Just a jacket, maybe a beanie if it's "real cold" and it's off to the park! We miss that weather right now, especially since we're in the middle of building our house in the Utah winter right now...ugh.Winter sidewalk chalk:

Well, this next picture is just awesome randomness...you figure out what's going on here. Nice outfit Audrey!
The next pics should have been included in the previous post from when Chels and I went to California for an anniversary trip. The kids were hoping for souvineers from the trip. Souvineer shopping isn't too tough at Disneyland...of course, Audrey would like anything that deals with princesses...
and Ez seemed pleased with his Mickey Mouse:
One last stroll down the Vegas strip as locals:
Audrey likes pointing out all the fountains:
So we decided to go to Madame Tussauds wax museum before hightailing it...And yeah, Shaq is taller than Ez and I...combined.Well, I think it's appropriate to leave with this last picture in Vegas...Dorothy was right when she said "there's no place like home".
We had a great time in Vegas and fortunately it's not that far away. We hope we can get back down there soon to visit. ...well, I'm getting this blog caught up; slowly but surely. Hopefully more is to come within the next few weeks.

10th Anniversary Disney Trip

2011-09-11T08:48:00.046-07:00

This year we cheated a little and celebrated our anniversary a little early. Our annual passes at Disneyland were expiring soon and we had gotten wind of a possible job opportunity that would take us out of state, and we wanted to have a little getaway for our anniversary. So my mom offered to come to Vegas and watch the kids while we went off to act like kids.For part of our honeymoon we went Catalina Island, San Diego, as well as Disneyland and California Adventure; so Disneyland doesn't only remind us of trips to Cali when we were kids, but it also reminds us of when we first got married...so it made sense to head back and enjoy a trip together. So...yes, this is yet another post of us at Disneyland. This time, we were without a couple other bodies and no stroller!
Chelsey has always wanted to take one of the guided tours, but that can be pretty tough with a big group or kids...so this was the perfect chance. We opted for the "A Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour.

The tour was fun, and gives some insight to Walt Disney's life and plan behind the park. I learned a lot, but Chels probably could have been the tour guide.
Here's a pic of Chels listening to part of the tour on the headphones:
One part of the tour that Chels was excited to go to was Club 33. For those of you that are unaware, this is an exclusive club at the park. You have to pay large annual dues (it makes expensive park entrance fees look like nothing), and there are only a limited number of memberships available (all are spoken for and the waiting list is lengthy).
This picture is inside the lobby at Club 33:

Another picture along the tour...this tour is over 3 hours long; lunch was included. What a deal! (sarcasm)
This bench was on the tour as well. This is the bench that Walt sat on at a park while watching his daughters play. Apparently this is the bench he sat on when he came up with the idea of creating a place that children and adults could enjoy together.
When Chels and I came here on our honeymoon, it was the first year that Disney's California Adventure opened. As some of you may know, that park is currently undergoing a major overhaul (Car's Land, the Little Mermaid, etc). Chels couldn't help but peek through the windows to see the progress of the updates:Here's one of the views of the construction:
And the more plans:
Those of you that know Chelsey very good know that she is a great cook (chef) and she especially loves cooking desserts and is also a hot chocolate aficionado. She had heard all about the Napa Rose Restaurant at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. So we headed over since it was a special occasion.The focus of the Napa Rose experience was the dessert menu.Time for some dessert sampling! Cordillera dark chocolate pave with hazelnut mousse, candied hazelnut sauce and port syrup:The holy grail of hot chocolates, with assorted beignets:Tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee with passion fruit sauce:Yum!Well, we didn't spend the whole trip at Disneyland...we managed to enjoy some other favorite spots in Cali...again, without the kids.
I was starting to feel like a food critic as we spent more time than usual in restaurants because we didn't have to rush the kids out for naps, etc. One of our favorite seafood restaurants in California is the Bluewater Grill (pictured below). They have fresh swordfish with mango salsa that is to die for...reminiscent of our time in Boston.
Then it was back for more at California Adventure.
Mixed with Disneyland...
Take that...she tried to outscore me, but no such luck. She did however have better accuracy.

For those that aren't as fanatical as we are about Disney, here's a little nugget of knowledge; the room above the firestation on Main Street is Walt's old apartment that he would stay at during the construction of the park. They now keep a candlelight in the window in memory of Walt. If you want to see park employees freak out, go into guest relations and tell them that the candlelight burned out...
Back in New Orleans Square by Club 33.
California Adventure:Before:During:After:Get ready for a bazillion pictures of us taken by me while on rides:Couldn't be a Disney trip without trying to make someone barf on the teacups...Chels is keeping her lunch down:
Usually the kids are in this picture...asleep from exhaustion. This time was Chelsey's turn to be exhausted from too much fun. And it's not even dark yet!

Well, we had a blast on the trip. Thanks mom for watching the kids for several days. Thanks Chels for an awesome 10 years. I will try to remember out real anniversary in August...but at least if I forget I can say that we already celebrated it...

January, February 2011

2011-08-07T17:06:00.023-07:00

Well, I haven't updated the blog for over 6 months...and a lot has happened since January; so here comes a lot of updates over the next couple weeks. This post takes us back to January 2011 in Vegas. The winter in Vegas is pretty mild, but we still had a day or two with snow. Mainly it's "jacket weather", but Audrey likes to get bundled up anyways. Here she is on the front porch with Black Mountain in the background. That's the same mountain Audrey and I climbed last fall.Ezra wanted to come out and play too...but his pj's weren't quite warm enough. And by the way, the little white bear he's holding is his little "security blanket". I dread the day that we have to get rid of it, or he loses it. It was a gift from Grandma Jana for Valentines Day, and he fell in love with it.Audrey finally kicked her habit of thumb-sucking, so we took her to Chuck-E-Cheese for her reward. We had tried multiple methods of helping her kick the habit; bandaids, bribes, threats of messed up teeth...nothing seemed to be working. So we laid off on trying to help her and said "when you're ready to quit sucking your thumb, let us know and we will give you a fun reward". A couple weeks later, she came in and said she was done sucking her thumb. I'll admit I was a bit skeptical, but she really did quit...so off to the land of rubbery pizza we went!She had way too many tokens, and played a bunch of games... And more importantly won a lot of tickets. She was nice enough to use some of her tickets to get Ezra a prize too. What a great older sister!
Our next door neighbor is a super nice guy. His name is Dominick, he's retired and he's quite the dessert connoisseur. When he found out that Chelsey was a fan of desserts too, he decided to make some of his specialties for us. Here is Audrey enjoying mandarin orange cheesecake with a cherry on top. Yum!But, half the fun of dessert is making it, right?? Here's Audrey and mom making some treats:Uh...I think she's had enough chocolate...Ezra has been quite the little walker lately. We still had to watch him pretty closely since the tile floor is unforgiving. Notice the tongue hanging out...concentrate!But, before long he was cruising without us having to be helicopter parents. Notice that crazy white bear again...
With the weather still being a little cool, the kids have been playing indoors a lot more. Audrey's doctor set has come in handy and Ez has been a good sport by playing the role of a good patient.
More playing indoors...bring on the trike!
While living in Vegas we've had plenty of chances to eat at several nice restaurants and enjoy getting discounted rates for locals. This one is at Mandalay Bay called "The Cafe". It was nice, but not too nice for the kidlets.
Audrey thought the entertainment was sub-par, so she played with some coins.
Ez was fascinated with all the vibrant colors and really wanted to try a lemon that was in my water...so you better believe I let him have it.
Well, that's all for this post! More to come later today!

December 2010

2011-01-30T09:26:00.103-08:00

Well, I've let another busy month fly by without any updates...so you're in for another crazy long picture posting frenzy. Well, after Thanksgiving we had family stay in town for a few days to visit. Audrey was excited to have cousin Olivia around to play with. So, off Chelsey went with her sisters shopping, and Scotty and I took the kids to the park. Here's Olivia and Audrey in one of the play houses at the park:Then it was off to the tree house with the slides:

Audrey was pretty proud of her ability to climb the wall, the net or the ladder to get to the top of the tree house. Here she is after the net climb:
And then the quick ride to the bottom:
Here comes Olivia:
Off to climb the wall:
This park had several different attractions...here's another one of the playhouses:

And we finished the night off with some Cafe Rio:
Lately Audrey has become more cognisant of what outfit she's wearing...today she decided to wear multiple hair clips:
And she still likes playing in her cardboard boxes...
Ez playing in the bath:

We finally got going on our Christmas tree...Audrey was excited to help out with the decorating:

In the meantime, Ezra watched...intently.
You've gotta have an ornament picture. If you look close enough I'm in the pic too:
And Audrey got to top the tree with the star:
Well, as many of you know; my wife and kidlets are addicted to Disneyland. We were able to get out to see the place all decorated for Halloween, now it's time to go check out the Christmas decorations! We left after work, so we didn't make it there before the evening, but we made it in time to do a few things before it was too late.
One of the things my wife had heard was worth the time was getting beignets at Downtown Disney. And yes, they were scrumptious:
Here's Audrey eating a beignet while looking at the Christmas lights and fireworks in the distance:
We did get a chance to see the new "World of Color" show at Disney's California Adventure. Even though it was late, the show kept both kids entertained...and we thought it was cool too.
A shot during the show:
And after that...the kids were done. Well, rest up my little kidlets because tomorrow is gonna be full of fun.
Well, back into the stroller we go to Disneyland the following day.
As usual, our four year old maps and plans the day:
We're almost to the point that we can walk into this place without a picture at the front of the park...but not quite yet.

Ezra was pretty interested with all the decorations...and then the band came out and played a few songs.
Audrey liked to imitate the conductor of the band:

Mickey in his Christmas sweater:

The first ride we went to was Small World. We knew that it had been redecorated inside (and out) for the holidays...and it's one of Audrey's favorites:
A pic inside with the Christmas decor:
Ezra was entertained:

Last trip to Disneyland for 2010!
Another family favorite is the Pirates of the Caribbean:I had my camera in hand when we got on the ride. Audrey promptly reminded me "Dad, you can take pictures but remember they've asked for no flash photography". I laughed, and said "You're right, I won't use my flash. Thanks for the reminder!" I was pretty proud of getting a couple pics like this though...and no, I didn't use the flash:
So while we were at Disneyland we ran into some friends. This is Audrey's preschool teacher and her family. Miss Alisha and her husband Josh. Josh is my friend that got me tickets to the SEMA car show earlier this year. Here's Miss Alisha with Chels and Ez: Josh and Ezra:

Going on Winnie the Pooh with Miss Alisha's family:

Then it was off to the teacups!

Audrey and mommy:
As some of you may remember from our previous post, the haunted mansion is decorated for Halloween and Christmas...while the line was short, we went for it!
So this carriage (seen while waiting in line for the haunted mansion) has some interesting rumors attached to it. We have heard that it's the exact carriage that was the hearse for Brigham Young. After doing a little research, a fan website had contacted a representative of the church that stated that the carriage is of the correct time period, however Brigham Young was not placed in such a carriage after his death. Myth busted.

Audrey...not a fan of loud noises. She's preparing for the loud "thud" after we get in the haunted mansion:
From haunted mansions to buzz lightyear.
This next picture is for my nephew Noah, here's Zurg for ya!
Audrey was pleased with her score:
And yes, of course Audrey wanted to go on the Merry-go-round:
The castle was dripping in icicles with snow on the roof:
The "Small World" ride was decorated in Christmas lights, and we were lucky we had been on it earlier because the line was absolutely ridiculous at night.

That night we went to Disney's Main Street to wait for the firework show. Audrey likes fireworks...but she says she like the quiet fireworks the best.

After the firework show they magically make it snow on Main Street:
Audrey thought it was way cool when it snowed...and was a bit sad when it stopped:

The next day we headed over to Disney's California Adventure...and a trip to Disneyland isn't complete (in Audrey's eyes) without multiple rides on Merry-go-rounds:

It wasn't busy, so they let us re-ride...yay.
Next, it was off to the ferris wheel. Audrey loves the gondolas that are on the track that let them roll and swing:
Brings smiles everytime:
Ez just staring at the rides while he waits for Audrey and mom:
Audrey and mom on the swings:

One of Audrey's favorite rides at California Adventure is the Monster's Inc ride:

Audrey in the Beauty and the Beast library:
Audrey and I at the train station platform waiting for the Christmas parade:
After the parade in at the front of the park. We had a blast, and we were tired from having too much fun, but both kids were still awake:
We took some time while we were in California to take some (homemade) family photos. So some of you may have seen these with your Christmas card, while others got a different card. Audrey:
Ez:

The family:
Next day...back to Disneyland. This was taken in front of the tree at the main entrance:
Going on rides at California Adventure, Bugs Land:

The Silly Symphony Swings:

We got invited to a party with some people from church to attend a ginger-bread house competition. There were some pretty extravagant homes built...and Audrey was also taking this pretty seriously:

After all was said and done we earned runner up!
Just a pic of Ez eating his oatmeal:
Uncle Matt came down to visit us for a weekend. We went down to the Bellagio to see the Christmas decorations:
Audrey liked the penguins:

Audrey sportin' her Christmas dress before church:
Uncle Matt and little Ez:
Audrey loves reading books with us, and she earned the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and we read it multiple times before Christmas...
During "quiet time" she even like to read. I snapped this picture through the blinds while she was reading. Chels looked at me like "what the heck are you doing?"...I thought it was cute. Our little girl is growing up. We don't have to read everything to her anymore.
Well, after a long ride in the car we finally made it to Gma and Gpa's house in Utah. It was Christmas Eve and time to open the Christmas pj gifts:
Ez was all about tearing the wrapper off:
Audrey was a little more delicate with unwrapping gifts:
Time to wear the Christmas jammies!
Note the pathetically cute slippers. Poor kid.
Audrey was excited to try on hers, and fortunately for us went to bed without much of a struggle...otherwise Santa wouldn't make it!
Audrey was super excited to see Gma Jana and Gpa Rob. It had been a while since we had been up for a visit.
The loot prior to the kidlets:
Audrey waiting upstairs for the ok to come downstairs:
Christmas hugs with grandpa:
Ezra was loving the fact that there was carpet everywhere (as opposed to hard tile). He kept trying to stand on his head, and then he realized he needed to reach everything that was behind him:
Santa brought Audrey a cape, goggles, wristbands, and some princess jewelry...so why not try them all on at once?

Santa also brought a walk-along bike, and some crazy annoying microphone...again, why not all at once?

Getting used to the bike:
Christmas afternoon we went over to gma Wendy's and Gpa Kent's. They had some gifts for us too! Woohoo! Christmas all over again! Here's Audrey with a doll she got; that's aunt Megan trying to hide behind the doll:
Ez was excited about his new truck:
Next it was time to dress the doll!
Aunt Emily was helping Audrey figure out all the toys. It was even a challenge for this college student, as noted by her expression:

Then back to Gma Jana's and Gpa Rob's house for Christmas dinner! Yum!
We were able to round a few of the boys up for lunch while we were up north. Time has left us looking...older. But it was great to get the guys together and catch up.
Well, we came all the way up from Vegas and there wasn't any snow on the ground when we got here; but it ended up dumping quite a bit of snow while we were there. Audrey was pretty excited to be out in the white stuff:
Out in the snow again:
We even got inventive with sledding...on the driveway. Hey, Audrey was having a blast and I didn't have to shovel; so it was a win-win.

After some fun in the snow with mom and gma, it was craft-time:
Well, so much for visiting northern Utah...next it was off to St George to visit with more family. For Chelsey's birthday (early celebration) we went to Anasazi Streak House in St. George. Now I have eaten my fair share of steaks...but this place takes the cake. Their filet is the best, and they bring out the steak (raw) on blazing hot slabs of granite. You then cut small pieces of the steak off, and cook them to your liking. Every bite melts in your mouth...just thinking of it makes me hungry. So basically Chelsey's birthday present was a present for me too.
Here's aunt Emily with her boyfriend Ryan:
We hadn't seen Shera and Scotty's family for Christmas yet, so it was time to celebrate Christmas with them! Shera's turn to open a present:
We all got out and went bowling. At first, Audrey wasn't so keen on the idea (check out her snarl in the next pic), but she ended up having a great time:
Wait for it...wait for it! If you lean it will help!Yeah, steeeeeeriiiiiiiiike!
Here are the cousins (Audrey and Olivia) showing off their new books from Santa:
And some sweet new kicks from our neighbor Dominick:
Uncle Scotty and myself were the paparazzi for the occasions:
Cousin Olivia and Audrey helping each other open presents:
Grandpa Kent suiting up Ezra in Ez's new gift:
Happy Christmas sisters:
So we finally made it back to Las Vegas, and it was time for the kids to bust out the loot. We had so much fun visiting everyone...but it was nice to get back to the sunny weather!
Audrey was happy to start trying on her princess dresses...
So we hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and we hope the new year is going great!

Till next time!

-Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

October-November 2010

2010-12-05T20:09:00.029-08:00

Well, time has been flying lately…and I'm way behind on the blog again. So here we go. To finish off October, we did some pumpkin carving and Audrey decided (after lots of time mulling the ideas over) that she wanted a "Jack Skelington" jack-o-lantern…and I think we successfully did it:For trick-or-treating we went to the neighborhood party where the builder in the area had some decorations and activities around the model homes. Audrey didn't care where it was or who was there…as long as she got some candy and got to wear her costume she was all for it.
Audrey was happy to be dressed up as Cinderella, and Ezra seemed a little confused as to why we had him in a giraffe suit...

As we were trick-or-treating we noticed that they were having a costume contest for the kids. Audrey was excited to enter, and what do ya know…she was one of the winners.

She won a goody bag with some candy, toys and tickets to the wax museum in Las Vegas.
And what could go better with a princess costume than a pair of bulging eye glasses from the goody bag:
Ez…still a bit confused at the whole halloween gig:
And then later it was time for the Trunk-or-treat at the church! Bring on more candy!
There were some other activities in the church as well, such as craft time. Audrey has always enjoyed arts and crafts, and she had fun decorating her haunted house:

Happy Halloween!
So…those of you that know me may know that I'm a bit of a gear-head when it comes to cars. It's something that somehow has always been interesting to me…whether it's racing at the track, or just admiring the craftsmanship of an exotic car…I love it; maybe a bit too much. Anyway, one of my friends (thanks Josh!) happened to mention to me that he could get tickets to SEMA. For those of you that are more normal than me you may have no idea what SEMA stands for…Specialty Equipment Market Association. In short, this is the mecca of car shows. Every vendor of aftermarket (as well as large automaker) participates in this show. It's not open to the public and I have always wanted to go, but I have never had the connections to get in…until now. Josh was able to go with me, and he was probably embarrassed that he had to go with me…I was like a kid in a candy store…a very, very big, expensive candy store. I will try to keep this short, but here's a few pics from the show I snapped. How about a twin turbo'd lambo:
Or a gumpert (the color burns my eyes!):
There was every type of vehicle…hot rods, hi-tech racecars, motorcycles, etc.
The newest trend at the event seemed to be vinyl wrapped cars with matte finishes, like this one:
And I got a chance to ride around in a couple cars for the Top Gear USA promotion…a 650 hp "firebreather" (camaro):
And a 458 Italia Ferrari. Both drivers got the cars into the triple digit range…the ferrari was so refined…and the camaro, uh...wasn't.
A look out the back of the ferrari:

I was excited to see the Lexus LFA; I hadn't seen one in person before.
Well, enough of the car stuff already! Gosh! Audrey has been anxiously awaiting her birthday. And now she is FOUR! She asked if she could have some friends over for a party...so we went for it. My sister did her third birthday party with a Minnie Mouse theme and it was fabulous...so we had our work cut out for us to even hold a candle to her last party. So, when we asked her what theme she wanted, she immediately picked scooby-doo. Yeah, our pink-loving, princess dress wearing girl is a scooby-doo fan. We're not sure how this came about, especially since both Chels and I are pretty annoyed by the scooby-doo cartoons, and the books that we read her are some of the most poorly written childrens books ever...but this wasn't our birthday, it was Audrey's.
One of the operating room nurses I work with has a cake baking business on the side, and she created this Scooby-Doo cake...awesome.Add some decorations and some toddlers and then you've officially got a kids birthday party.
When Audrey's friends came to the party, it was time for them to start decorating their flashlights that they were going to use on their hunt to "find the stolen birthday presents".
Thankfully, the kids kept pretty occupied with the task...
But naturally their attention went from arts and crafts to "let's go" in a matter of moments...off to find the first clue!
They had to follow the mysterious footsteps that led them to the clue:

And follow the clue to another clue...
Which gave them another tool in their detective work...magnifying glasses!
Eventually the clues led them back inside to the pull-string pinata and birthday goodies:

And then it was time for the Happy Birthday singing and cake!
We then had some games including "pin the collar on the Scooby". Our neighbor is quite the artist, and offered his services to paint this custom pink Scooby Doo for the party:

Ezra enjoyed the balloons after the party:

Relatives that live out of state were too nice and sent some birthday gifts in the mail too: Thanks grandma Jana and grandpa Rob for the pj's, princess carriage, dolls and video!Thanks Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Kent for the Snow White shoes and doll!Thanks to everyone for the very kind birthday wishes and gifts for Audrey. She had a great birthday.Fast forward a couple weeks...Happy Thanksgiving! We had Chelsey's family in town for the holiday...but unfortunaly this was my holiday to work. I still had time to visit, but I was on-call all weekend. We had a great time with family in town, and it was nice to reflect on all the things that we are grateful for. We all hit up the movies, some of us got in some golf, and we also just enjoyed hangin out with each other eating the grub.They brought some presents from Ezra's b-day with them, and naturally Ezra had a blast trying to tear off the wrapping paper with grandpa:

And get Chels and her sisters together and I dare you to try to keep them from shopping...time to bundle up the kids and hit the stores!
The cousins (Olivia on the right, Audrey on the left) had fun playing with each other too. They also watched the new princess video from grandma Jana about a hundred times...
Well, that pretty much sums up the last few weeks. We're looking forward to the holidays, and we hope everyone has a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I will be back to the blog next year...

-Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

October!

2010-10-24T20:00:00.157-07:00

Well, October has been a busy month…and it's not over yet. But it's been a "good busy" month. Ezra had his first birthday, we went to visit fam in Utah, and also went to Cali for an anesthesia conference. So this post is amazingly long, but it's not a novel; more like a lengthy picture book.

Well, October isn't October without pumpkin chocolate chip cookies…but as many of you know there somehow has been a shortage of canned pumpkin, so the girls decided to make some sugar cookies instead. Fortunately we have since found some canned pumpkin and I now have a pumpkin cookie in front of me waiting to be devoured.
So Ezra has been growing like a weed, and his personality is really starting to show through as well. He's one determined kid, crawling and cruising furniture like a mad-man. He's starting simple sign language signs such as "more, water, all-done, food, sleep and milk". We did signing with Audrey as well, and we thought it was helpful enough to break out the "signing times" dvd's with Ezra.
Just a couple pics of the kids getting cleaned up after having fun making messes…
So Vegas is home of the Atomic Testing Museum…one of the anesthesiologists I worked with in Boston highly recommended that we check this place out. It was pretty interesting, but they wouldn't allow pictures taken inside…so this is all you're gonna get:
Next stop…California! Yeah, we go there pretty much monthly it seems…but hey, at least we're getting good use of our annual passes to Disneyland. The reason for this trip was for an anesthesia conference, which was good…but I won't bore you with the lectures. But we made sure to have some fun when I wasn't at the conferences.
We hadn't ever been to Disneyland while it was all decorated for Halloween. It actually was pretty cool to see the place with different decor.
Main Street was transformed into orange and yellow madness…here's a pic with the Mickey Jack-0-lantern:

Ezra was even pretty impressed:
Well, this time we were confident that Audrey has finally reached the minimum height requirement for almost all the rides at Disneyland; even with some of the Nazi Disney employees that require strict flat-footed measurements. First up…Thunder Mountain.
Audrey was pretty excited to go on her first "big-kid" ride…here she is (above) waiting to embark, and (below) enjoying the ride!

She not only liked it, she loved it…and that day was a Thursday so there was not a line at all. So she went on it again with mom…and again with me, and then again.
After the success with Thunder Mountain, I decided to push the envelope a little for our three year old…next stop, Splash Mountain.
While I took Audrey on Splash Mountain, mom kept Ezra entertained:
So Splash Mountain was fun…for 90% of the ride. Audrey wasn't fond of the giant drop at the end…and we also happened to have the Samoan Rugby team in our "log" with us…hence the weight was on the higher side which left Audrey getting really we since she was at the front of the log. When I say wet…I mean drenched, soaked…to the bone. This wasn't a stage photo; I just happened to catch some pretty clear body language:But that wasn't anything that Tigger and Pooh couldn't fix!
And don't forget Minnie Mouse, Halloween Witch style.
Ez was a good sport, waiting in the stroller a lot while mom and dad took turns with Audrey on the rides:
We also went and ate at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney (thanks to Chels for finding the wicked coupon):
The next day was a special event at Disneyland; Mickey's Halloween Party!
We were lucky enough to have Chelsey's sister Emily join us for the rest of the trip too! Here's the crew coming to the party:
Again, more excitement from Ezra:
Since it was a Halloween Party, we had to get the costumes on:
Emily struggled with Ezra's giraffe outfit, but finally got him all decked out:
Yeah, another front gate photo; but with costumes this time!

So this next picture isn't anything spectacular, which is what makes it great. Pic a person and add your own caption:
Getting ready for the party to start:
So this picture is in Frontierland, looking across the water in front of Tom Sawyer's Island at Splash Mountain. They had fog machines running, special lighting and designated trick-or-treating locations throughout the park with lots of Halloween decorations throughout.
Audrey was a happy little Cinderella, trick-or-treating to her hearts content:
Sweet! I've got some sweets!
Ezra didn't get candy…but he was fine with just getting the binky:
The ride that was the most transformed for Halloween was the Haunted Mansion, which was decorated in the "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme. It was really cool, and I couldn't help but think how much of a hassle it would have been to switch everything up…
For whatever reason the ride stopped for a few minutes...so I snagged a picture of Chels, Em, and Ez. (side note-I remember going on this ride with my Grandpa Paul as a little kid…he always made this ride more fun somehow...and somewhere we have an awesome pic of him on this ride making a funny face…Disneyland has a nice way of bringing back good memories)
So yeah, here's a picture of us with some skeletons donning sombreros. Yeah, I don't get it either.
The Matterhorn:
Small World:

And you can't forget the Teacups:

Audrey was a nice big-sister making sure Ezra wasn't too scared:
And some special Halloween edition Disney fireworks:
Ezra threw in the towel first…completely zonked out:

Meanwhile Audrey was still going strong pushing for "more rides" all night.
Just a couple more night pics and I will wrap up the Disney trip:

We also went to our favorite seafood restaurant on the west coast…Bluewater Grill. The swordfish is the best ever.

It was kind of wierd that while we were in California during the summer it was a little too cool to enjoy the beach…but in mid October the weather was great!
We went to a great beach in Laguna Beach which was right at the resort where the conference was:
The water was pretty chilly, but the weather was warm enough that it wasn't too bad.

We also took a trip down to Imperial Beach to check out the sandcastle competition. Audrey liked the octopus and the castle best:
Ezra seemed to have fun too:
The next weekend we were in Utah to visit family. My sister Holly and her family came up from Arizona too, so it was like a little family reunion. We had time to visit with my family and Chelsey's family and we had a great trip. We went to Wheeler Farm with Chelsey's family to check out some more Halloween fun. Audrey wasn't very amused with the lines to buy tickets though:
But the lines weren't that bad and before we knew it we were off for a hayride, pumpkin maze, and petting zoo. From left to right: Emily, Chelsey, Shera, & Scotty. Ezra and Olivia are the stroller crew. Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Kent were there too, but somehow managed to escape most of the photos.
Here's uncle Scotty helping Audrey pet the horse:
Audrey thought the horses were way cool:
Audrey and Olivia thought the tractors were fun too. No better toddler toy than an old rusty tractor:
Audrey and cousin Olivia were under attack of the family paparazzi (Uncle Scotty and Grandpa Kent were taking pics too):
More fun with the animals at Wheeler Farm:
They even had a treehouse! It had two levels, this pic is of the "lower" tree house. (Olivia on the left, Audrey on the right)
This next pic is in the "upper tree house".
Just hangin out with cousin Olivia:
And then it was off to the maze…
The old farmhouse became another photo op for the family paparazzi:
Audrey, Olivia & Ezra:

But we finally made it to the maze:
Audrey and Olivia had fun running (literally) through the maze.
Ezra thought the corn was cool…
Next it was off to see Grandpa Rob and Grandma Jana! Ezra seemed pretty excited to see Grandpa:

What would a visit be without a nice game of rook?!?
Again, Ezra was a good sport just eating his munchies.
On Sunday my mom made a nice Sunday dinner…
followed by another mean game of cards.
Audrey had a blast with cousins Noah and Lincoln:

While we were at Grandpa Rob and Grandma Jana's, Aunt Holly and the grandparents had a party for Ezra since he was turning 1 year old in just a few days! Holly made some delicious chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting…and Ezra absolutely loved them! She even took some pics and video and put them on her blog, thanks sis! Here's her blog post: http://hollyandmark.blogspot.com/2010/10/celebrating-ezra.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebookHere's a picture of Ezra opening his first birthday presents. Happy birthday Ez. We love ya!Ezra was excited about all the gifts.Here's a picture of Josh's girlfriend Emily, my sister Holly in the middle, and Chelsey on the right.So we got out and did some more fall weather activities…next stop, Gardner Village. The kids wanted to run around in their costumes, and this was a good chance for them to do that and spend some time together.Grandma Jana and Ez:We took cover in the "Naborhood Bakery" for lunch while some rain came through.But then it was time to head out and get suited up in the costumes.Audrey is all about the Disney princesses, and she's excited to be Cinderella this year for Halloween:We tried to get a few photos of the kids…which is always fun to try to get all the kids looking at one camera, and smiling. Cousin Noah is the tiger, cousin Lincoln is the Zebra, and Ezra is the giraffe:Just a shot of the boys, er, uh…animals.Audrey really likes playing with her cousins and it was nice to have my sisters family in Utah while we were there too.Another attempt at catching a group photo:Ezra had somewhat of a wardrobe malfunction:Just a tiger eating lunch:After a having fun with the cousins, Ezra was done for the day. We headed back to give him a nap before the flight back to Vegas.Fast forward to the next weekend, now back in Vegas. We were lucky enough to have Chelsey's sister Emily come visit with us again thanks to some uber cheap flights from southwest. We headed down to the strip for a little fun. Here we are at the Bellagio conservatory:And we went to the forum shops:But most importantly for Emily and Chels, they continue their quest for the worlds best hot chocolate. Next stop, the chocolate shop. This time around they wanted to go to a place with an awesome name…"Chocolate by the Bald Man: Max Brenner". Hey, I'm along for the ride and the name of the place caught my interest. Here's a pic of the chocoholics checking out the menu; serious stuff here:Meanwhile, Ezra played with his matchbox cars:Audrey made up her mind quick and opted for the peanut butter milkshake…one of my favorites as a kid (which I'm no longer fond of).I went for the hazelnut cream chocolate milkshake with vanilla bourbon ice cream, dark chocolate truffle and whipped cream…yum. And note the metal straws…and the "drink me" which was in reference to Alice in Wonderland...nice touch.What? There's too much dairy in this stuff for me???
Now for the hot chocolate…they bring out a cup of warm milk (which is kept warm by a candle underneath), a cup of cold milk, and a bowl of the desired chocolate. Chels went for the dark chocolate, Emily for the milk chocolate. Then you mix the chocolate with the hot milk, add some cold milk, and viola…you've got one snazzy cup of hot choco. Chelsey said it still doesn't top "Hatch's" hot chocolate in Salt Lake City, but it's a close contender. Chelsey's excited to go back again to try some other items off the menu…this place is the mecca for a chocolate lover. If you're in Vegas and you like chocolate, check out Chocolate by the Bald Man.So now that the business of the prior weeks had passed, we got to celebrate Ezra's birthday at home. Chelsey made a scrumptious (guess the flavor) chocolate cake. The letters and designs on the frosting were all made out of starburst.Ezra got his own little star cupcake that he managed to mostly get in his mouth…but also on his face, shoulders, arms and chest. He was impressed with the candle, and anxiously awaited devouring the cake.
Yum!
Next up, birthday presents. Audrey was really excited for Ezra to get some gifts, and was a good helper with unwrapping them as well.Ezra got some toys…And a giant stuffed giraffe that overlooks him in his crib:Happy birthday little guy. We sure love you. This past year has flown by…In other adventures, Chelsey and Emily took the kidlets to some yardsales and nabbed a "little tykes" playhouse. Audrey was pretty stoked about her new place to play in:
The weather has started to cool off here…down to the low 70's during the day. We consider that "jacket weather" now that we're desert rats. Audrey's had some fun in the backyard now that it's not blistering hot.Well, none of us had ever been to the Hoover Dam before, and it's less than an hour from our house. So last weekend we decided to take the short trek out there. We were also curious to check out the new bypass bridge that had recently opened a week prior.

Here's a picture of the dam on the Lake Mead side:And here's a picture on the other side:And here's a shot of the newly opened bridge:So Audrey apparently isn't scared of heights…she was constantly eager to check out the views below. She kept saying "Dad! Lift me up so I can see better!".Here's a picture I took out of the sunroof of the car of the bridge:The dam is simply massive. The bridge is almost just as amazing. The pictures don't do them justice. In the picture above, look at the little dots on top. Yeah, those are people, not ants. The bridge is called the "Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge". The bridge is 890 feet tall, and 1,900 feet wide, and cost $240 million. In comparison, the dam is 726 feet tall, 1,244 feet in length with a cost of $49 million. After checking out the dam we decided to take the short hike to check out the bridge. In the picture below you can see the white dot (our car) parked across the street. With a couple kids the adventure required a little bit of extra work, but it was well worth it. Ezra was impressed with the view:Audrey wasn't phased at all by the bridge. She walked across like it was her daily walk to school. Here's a shot from the bridge of the dam:And we'll leave you with this cheeser smile:
Well, if you're reading this, congrats. You made it through a long slide show of our activities. We've had a lot of fun with the family this month, and it was great to see everyone that we had time to see. We hope everyone's doing well!

Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

September-St. George, California, Las Vegas

2010-09-20T16:48:00.047-07:00

September has been a busy, yet fun-filled month. Due to our busy-fun, this post is a long one, so watch out! This month we had stake conference, so afterwards we decided to head up to the temple in Vegas and walk around for a little. The weather was nice, and the temple grounds are always so pretty.Here's another picture of Chels and Ezra as we walked around the temple.
Here's just a random picture of Ezra hangin out in the crib:So Audrey earned some "sidewalk paint" as a reward for good behavior and was immediately excited to go try them out.
The stuff is like a thick water paint that dries and then looks like sidewalk chalk; then you can just sweep or spray it off…so hopefully she'll understand the difference between this paint and real paint so we don't have her permanently tagging stuff if she gets ahold of real paint.
Making a mess:
So for Labor Day we went up to St. George to visit family and to celebrate Uncle Scott's B-day. One of the days we decided to go for a little hike up "slot canyon". Here's Audrey with her cousin Olivia on the hike at the beginning of one of the slots:
Middle of the slot:
From foreground to back-Aunt Shera, Megan, Chelsey:
End of the slot canyon:
We had time to do a little more exploring around. Audrey was excited to see all the red rock.
There were several small arches on the hike that we were able to snap some pictures of. Here's cousin Olivia and Audrey just hangin out under one of the arches:
Another picture of the hiking cousins:
Sorry, you'll have to bear with me as I share some of my favorite landscape shots:
The cousins thought this "cave" was pretty cool:
And a couple more shots of the arch:

Above:the hike back down. Below: the birthday boy Scotty with Ezra in the front pack.
This next picture is taken from inside a "cave" that was basically rock walls that were walled off by man-made walls and then used as a jail.
Everyone in jail:
As we finished the hike a couple classic cars came rolling into the parking lot. Here's a shot of one of them:
To finish off the weekend we went bowling with cousin Olivia and Shera and Scotty. Audrey hadn't ever been bowling before, and she had a lot of fun. Here she is picking up a spare:
High-fives with mom:
So Chels wanted a pic of the little bowling shoes…sooo, this is Audrey's feet dangling off the chair while she waits for her turn to bowl:
The bowling crew:
Sooo, the next weekend we had a trip planned…to California! (seems like we make it out there a lot with it being so close to Vegas) We had found some super cheap flights several weeks ago and thought we'd fly out this time…well, the flight is less than an hour; but then you add the time that you have to wait at the airport, plus pay for parking, plus get a rental car and then drive to the hotel…so I think that it was a good experience, but driving from our home is likely cheaper and about the same overall time. I'm sure you all wanted to know that. Anyway, when we got there it was past bedtime for the kidlets, so off to bed they went; kinda. Audrey's nose seemed to immediately run as we landed, so she was up coughing a bit, and Ezra's crib from the hotel was the loudest crib known to man, and initially the AC wasn't working in the hotel room. Every move he made, no matter how small it was…creeeeeek! Nice. But hey, Disneyland was next. What bad could happen there? (uh…wait a minute; last time we went there Audrey barfed with food poisoning)
The next day went pretty well actually. Audrey and I went over early while Chels and Ezra tried to catch up on some sleep. It was a Friday on a non-holiday weekend, so Disneyland was empty (for their standards). We got in lots of rides before noon that didn't even have a line (yay!). One of Audrey's favorite rides is the carousel (above) and Dumbo (below).
On the Dumbo ride:
Both of us on Dumbo:
Kind of a crazy picture of Audrey, but hey, it captured her emotion:
We couldn't pass up Autopia! I mean, who doesn't like driving a car on a metal track while getting 2 stoke engine exhaust blown in their face from the slowpoke person in front of them?!?
Audrey had fun, and I had fun watching her have fun.
We also went out to Treasure Island at Disneyland. Audrey hadn't been there before, and she loved the caves, rope bridges, and the hunt for the treasure.

I had to run to keep up with her!
Yes! We found the treasure!
We are getting a little less formal with our "front of Disneyland" pictures:
The whole fam on Winnie the Pooh:
And the teacups. Audrey ran to her favorite teacup (one of the pink ones). Check out Ezra trying to rip out Audrey's hair:
Audrey had a blast (after Ez stopped the hair pulling)!

Don't forget to hydrate…
And later that night at the front of the park:
The following day, it was off to Legoland!
Even though it was Saturday, this place was empty…Audrey was able to pretty much hit every ride she was tall enough to go on. This one is one of her favorites:
Just a shot of Audrey in one of the short lines:
They have these "fun-house" style slides at Legoland that Audrey had a blast on. I'm not sure how many times we went on it (there wasn't a line so you could just keep going). Audrey would almost get air off each bump because she'd go down so fast.
After the first ride I was hoping she was laughing and not crying from going down so fast…she was laughing.
Mom's turn to race:
Audrey at one of the Legoland attractions. This is one of the nerf guns that she's shooting:

Climbing around:

And going down slides:
Ez was a good sport and just smiled from behind the binky while Audrey got to go on most of the rides.
From Autopia at Disneyland to Legoland cars.

For us folks in Las Vegas, it felt a little cool outside in the evenings…jackets for everyone!
After a couple fun days at amusement parks, it was time to just have a day to chill out and relax at the pool:
We also went for a walk to the beach at Del Mar.

The weather was pretty mild, just a little cloudy.

We found a little restaurant/bakery near Del Mar that was pretty fun. It's called Milton's, and we got to sit next to the giant clock:
Audrey thought the clock was cool, and she liked the kid sized cupcakes even more. We saved the cupcakes for the next day because we were all so stuffed from the massive portions of food.
The next morning left us with enough time to run over to Legoland before our flight home, as well as head out to Balboa Park. Again, Leogland was empty and we got in a whole bunch of rides. Audrey has become quite the little roller coaster fan:
Her face illustrates how much fun she's having:

There was also a ride that is supposed to be a dragons arm, and you get to ride while the dragon whips his arms around. Audrey was pretty excited that she got to go on this one:
Here's a pic of her in front of the dragon ride:
And then promptly running to the next ride:
We then headed over to Balboa Park before the flight. We took our desserts from the bakery and found a nice place at the park to eat em up:
We were a bit surprised by how big Balboa Park is. Theres several museums (we didn't have enough time for them) and lots of places for the kids to just enjoy playing outside.
And some sculptures that were kid friendly:
And some nice landscaping:

So that sums up our vacation to Cali. We had lots of fun, and barely slept.
So, the following weekend we went back down to the Bellagio to see if they had changed the decor in the conservatory. We were lucky because they had. Lots of pumpkins and fall flowers.

Audrey was pretty impressed with the giant pumpkins:
And without us even asking, a nice old man offered to take a family picture of us:
So, I guess that wraps up this blog post (aaahhhhhh). We hope you're all doing great!

-Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

July-August 2010

2010-08-29T13:55:00.033-07:00

Hi Everyone! Well, it's time to update the blog I guess…so here it goes. This last 4th of July we were on vacation and had a blast, but Audrey had mentioned on several occasions how much she liked doing family fireworks last year…so after the vacation we decided to make sure we did some family fireworks for the 24th of July (which is Pioneer Day in Utah for the folks not familiar with Utah tradition). So we drove up to St. George for a weekend and just kinda hung out. Usually we visit with family is in St. George, but this weekend they were all at Lake Powell, so we just had a quiet weekend to ourselves.We got in some swimming:
But more importantly, we got the fireworks!

At first Audrey seemed a little apprehensive about the idea of holding the sparkler, but she quickly warmed up to the idea after watching mom and dad.

We've also tried to incorporate some rewards for good behavior, and recently she earned a trip to Chuck E Cheese. Yeah, lots of fun…sub-par pizza in a room that smells of dirty socks and urine. But hey, why am I complaining, this was her reward and she had a blast…despite the not-so-fresh air.
Whack-a-shark? I guess they've moved from the whack-a-mole era.
Driving trucks:
And we had a lot of fun playing air hockey and several other games. We had a lot of fun and maybe next time she'll choose somewhere with a better..uh, odor. Ez has turned into a human vacuum cleaner. I knew that when Audrey was his age that it was uncommon that she would find stuff on the floor and then bring it to us (usually we would then say "geee, I'm glad she didn't put that in her mouth"). Ezra is more up the "normal" alley because if he can pick it up, it goes in his mouth. If he can't pick it up, his mouth goes to it. For example, a duplo block. Yup, it fits in the mouth.During one of our recent stays in Utah Chelsey took the kids and Aunt Em/Aunt Meg to a local fair. Audrey got a butterfly painted on her face, which she thought was really cool:
Cousin Olivia and Audrey:

Audrey had a lot of fun outside as we enjoyed weather that was less than 100 degrees (in Utah)…and there was grass…so give her a ball and she'll find something fun to do with it. Her game this time was to run it up to the balcony, throw it off and retrieve. She managed to get others involved (Aunt Em and her friend Lauren) so there wasn't as much running required. They all had a lot of fun.
Aunt Em and Audrey (above) and Audrey with the ball (below-note the red cheeks from the running):
Grandma Wendy hangin out with Ez:
We were able to see my family as well, which was a lot of fun. Uncle Matt was back from his summer of work in Illinois…still eating PB&J sandwiches like they're fun size treats (yeah, there's three there) It was real nice to see him again:
My mom put together a really nice dinner and we had the great grandparents over for cards as well.
(L to R) Great G-ma Shirlene, Great G-pa Paul, Chels, Audrey, Chris.
So one of my buddies from church called me up and said he had some extra tickets to the drift series last weekend. He kindly gave them to us and Audrey and I went. (Ez was teething and probably wouldn't have faired too well in the heat)
The original Bigfoot was there, which Audrey thought was cool.
When the drifting started Audrey said "Hey dad! I don't think they know which way they need to go!" (they swing or "drift" the tail of the car back and forth which could appear to a toddler as "not knowing where to go")
Despite the loudness of the cars, Audrey loved it…especially since she got her first snowcone.
Some of you may know that sometimes when Audrey asks for something (and she can't have it) I say something like "Well Audrey, I'd like a Ferrari but we can't have everything we want". So when she saw several of the cars on display she looked at me with a serious face and said "Dad, I know they have several Ferraris here and I think it's time for you to get one". Bwaaahaha! I love it!
This last weekend we decided to venture down to the Vegas Strip to see "City Center" which is a giant complex of hotels/resorts/shopping. The architecture is pretty amazing, and the scale of the project is daunting. It's simply giant. This next picture is in Aria:
In front of Aria:
In one of probably 50 elevators we were in that day:
This next area is in one of the shopping malls called "Crystals". They had these extravagant water attractions inside glass that were illuminated with lights.

Both Audrey and Ezra were entertained for a good 30 mins or so:

Even the lights on the ground had water swirling around in them:

Ez was reaching sensory overload:

Here is one of the pictures outside of several of the buildings. Note the sculpture is made of canoes:
Ez took lead role in the stroller patrol…and loved it.
And another pic of the buildings and the monorail:
Well, I guess that's all for now. Audrey is looking forward to starting preschool in a couple weeks and she's super excited about that (I think mom is too). Other than that it's just more of the same. We hope everyone is doing well!

Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey and Ezra

Summertime!

2010-07-18T22:16:00.046-07:00

Well, we've been enjoying the summer…and enjoying a break from the blog too; so here's another marathon blog attack. Right now the weather is quite brutal in Vegas, getting well above 100 degrees everyday. However, earlier the summer was mild and we enjoyed doing some stuff outside. Below is a picture of Audrey standing in front of the Cleveland Clinic. The architecture is obviously very unique…and it's interesting that the clinic is a neurological institute... It's near the outlet mall, so on our way to the mall one afternoon we decided to grab a couple pictures.
We went to the ward summer party while the weather was tolerable too…kickball (kids vs adults…we WASTED the kids; take that chump!), hotdogs, a bake-auction and plenty of sunshine. Here's Audrey runnin around with one of her friends from the church activity:
Ezra just chillin with the binky:
Recently we've found some yummy corn from the grocery store and Audrey eats corn on the cob like it's candy:

So Ezra has been doing so much better now that his allergies/reflux is controlled. For the first six months he was an unhappy little guy, but now he's quite the giggler and the best part is that he sleeps well at night….although now he's cutting teeth. A grand total of three teeth thus far (all on the bottom, kinda wierd eh?).
Ezra's also quite the little eater too. Don't let this kid see food unless you have something for him to eat.
This next picture is the face that Ezra makes in between bites. He hyperventilates and opens his mouth in anticipation of another spoon full of food being shoved in his face. We're trying to do the sign language stuff with him (like we did with Audrey) in order to help him express what he wants without the major hyperventilation and grunting. Note the little kidlet teeth:
Well, we got to go on vacation! We went to Newport Beach with Chelsey's family for a week. It was a lot of fun and the beach house was really close to the beach. The weather was a little cool at the beach (in the 70's), but hey, when you live in the vegas summer heat, anything is "cool" in comparison. Anyways, Audrey still had a blast at the beach; even though one of the trips we left because her lips were purple…
Yup, Ezra just hangin out again…with a binky. I guess we're still undecided as to whether or not we're pro-binky or pro-thumb sucking for the kidlets. Audrey never took a binky, and at night every now and then the thumb will find its way to her mouth…so I'm thinking I'm more pro-binky…because that thing can get buried in the backyard; the thumb? Not so much.
So while we were in California we got to go to Knott's Berry Farm. Audrey is a fan of virtually any ride at an amusement park, especially if she gets to control any part of it. In these planes she could determine the height, so she was all over this ride.

So…this next picture may be a little bit boring. That's exactly what the picture is attempting to portray. This was one of the first rides that we went on at Knott's Berry. The line length was deceiving because it appeared short, but the time it took to load and unload people was very, very slow…so this line was about an hour long…
But, surprisingly enough, Audrey has been pretty good at understanding that if she's patient in line then she gets to go on a ride…so although the payoff wasn't that great for everyone else, Audrey was on cloud nine:
Just a picture of Audrey when we went on Snoopy's "hot air balloon" ride:
Ezra is at a tough age for amusement parks. He's too little for pretty much everything. But he was a trooper in the stroller for most of the day. Chels bought a clip-on fan that attached to the stroller to keep him cool. I dunno if it kept him cool, but he is easily entertained by watching fans spin…so it was effective.
So this ride was Audrey's favorite at Knott's Berry Farm. It basically lifts up the kids and bounces the kids as it descends. Simple, yet effective at getting kids to laugh. Nothing like a toddler brain scramble for entertainment.

Audrey and Snoopy:
While I was taking Audrey on some of the toddler rides, Chels and her sisters headed over to some of the "big kid" rides. This next pic is of Emily on the Sidewinder. The toddler brain scrambler happened to be right across from the Sidewinder so while I was waiting for Audrey I was able to see Chels and her sisters go on this. I quickly grabbed the camera in attempt to snap some pics:
Chelsey and Megan:
After the ride:
Audrey and I continued off into toddler land. We were able to find several rides with little lines (or nobody in line) and Audrey got to maximize her number of rides per hour.
And I got to join in on a few as well:
We also went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. This place is huge…we didn't have time to see everything, but what we did see was really cool. Audrey really seems interested in sea life, so naturally she had a blast.
Chelsey, Ezra, Emily and Audrey…all in one shark-bite.
Ezra enjoyed the new view…out of the stroller.

Sweet, I got a shot of Ez without the binky:
So here's Emily and Megan taking a break…note what the door says on it. I waited with the camera ready…but no unexpected opening occurred; maybe because I was expecting it? Dunno.
Usually a picture like this should be at the beginning of the aquarium pictures; but for some reason all the pictures stayed in chronological order, and we took this pic on the way out…so whatever. This is where we went:
We also went to the Sawdust Art Festival at Laguna Beach. There was a kiosk for the kidlets to work on some masterpieces, and Audrey is all about arts and crafts.
Concentration:
Here's most of the crew standing on the "sawdust", or woodchips as I would call it. I guess woodchip festival just wouldn't sound as good:
Another day at the beach, braving the cool sea breeze:
One of the nights we were able to go to a Pirate's Dinner. If you've ever been to "Medieval Times", it's kinda like that, except with pirates…not medieval pirates, but I think you know what I mean. It was a lot of fun and Audrey seemed a little concerned for the first five minutes; but after that she warmed up to the idea and was cheering with the rest of us. Go orange pirate!
Here's just a funny picture of Audrey puttin out the vibe in a wet suit that's just a little too big:
Well, last but not least…we went to Legoland! We hadn't ever been there, and since it was the 4th of July weekend we thought that anywhere would be crowded, but nowhere would be as crowded as Disneyland, so we went to see the land of legos.
Chelsey's sister Shera and her fam were able to join up for this part of the trip too, which was really fun to have them there. Audrey had been anxiously waiting all week for cousin Olivia to arrive:
Here's Scotty...with his…partner? Whatever.
Upon arrival at the gate things got serious. Time for Audrey to map things out:
Here's Ezra, Audrey and cousin Olivia…the stroller patrol.
Just Ezra hangin out in the stroller:
So as I stated earlier, Audrey loves rides that she can control or drive. This was her first time going on a car ride that required her to control the throttle and steer. She was seriously concentrating the whole time, and at the end all the parents gave the kids a standing ovation; it was really quite entertaining to watch.
Here's Audrey and Olivia showing off their new drivers licenses:
Here's Audrey and myself on the lego plane:
And Scotty and Oliva:
This picture cracks me up. They had a pirate ship that swung back and forth, and then also rotated around 360 degrees. Audrey simply loved it:
More kids in sharks, this time out of legos:
And what would summertime be without a red popsicle? A nice, cold, potentially staining type. Perfect!
And who knew that at Legoland they had an aquarium? Well, at the Aquarium of the Pacific their "petting zoo" was closed, so we took advantage of the one at Legoland. Audrey was quite hesitant at first:
But Aunt Shera showed her how it was done and Audrey finally went for it:
Audrey on one of the Lego-horses:
So all over Legoland there are some giant, and ornate models of cities, people and events. I snapped this shot of one of my favorites:
Here's another picture of Audrey and Olivia at the aquarium. They're standing inside a tube that allows them a 360 degree view of the fish tank. Audrey thought it was pretty cool.
And who knew that Legoland had Bob the Builder?
So Audrey's favorite thing at Legoland (by far) was the giant playground. It had tons of rope nets, bridges and slides. Audrey has never been a giant slide…but I went down first and Grandpa gave a reassuring nudge down the slide; and she loved it. I made grandpa be the potential bad guy…bwaaahaha.
Grandpa Kent, Audrey and myself back on the pirate ship ride for another go around.
And another boat ride:
So that was our vacation. We had a blast and enjoyed seeing the family. Thanks grandma and grandpa! Now it's back to reality. No more sweet rides, but at least the story-box hasn't lost it's magic:
Ezra was happy to get back into his element too…no more stroller:
Trying to crawl:
So every once in a while we take a trip down to the Vegas Strip to check out the conservatory at the Bellagio. They have pretty extravagant decorations that I think they change about every month. This time around they had a botanical frog, waterfalls, and the largest collection of sculpted olive trees in the world…
Audrey's pointing out the flower frog in the yellow and green:

So we've been lucky enough to keep Audrey away from soda…until now. We decided to make rootbeer floats. Audrey was impressed with "all the bubbles".
She was also impressed with the sound of the soda bottle when it was opened…hey, I guess when you're three, you can be easily entertained.
Here's just a picture of Ezra checking out the Bellagio fountain show. We didn't stay outside long though…triple digit heat makes us grateful for a good air conditioner.
This picture cracks me up. I like how his arm is just on the stroller like he's out cruisin for chicks:
Well, that's it for now. We're doing good and we hope you are too! Thanks for checking out the blog.

-Chris, Chelsey, Audrey and Ezra

April and May…we were busy…but saving time for fun.

2010-05-29T15:30:00.032-07:00

Well, we haven't blogged in quite a while and we have a lot of updating to do with LOTS of pictures...so here it goes. And all the pictures got out of chronological order when I uploaded them (again), and I'm too lazy to fix it; sorry.Every now and then we get enough energy to head down to the strip with the kidlets for something to do. This last weekend we decided to go to M&M World. We've been lucky enough to steer clear of most candy with Audrey unless it's a special occasion, and she has had M&M's a few times for special treats. For whatever reason, when she first figured out what this type of candy is, (I think over a year ago?) she had trouble pronouncing in right...she called them NTM's. And we've kinda let the name stick even though she can say "M&Ms" now.She was pretty impressed with the color selection...she had fun getting a little bit of almost all of them. Now we can use the NTM's to barter with the kid!This next picture is just a pic I grabbed while Ezra was being happy...
Ezra has moved on from just drinking milk...to much yummier things; like rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I think I'd stick with milk till the teeth are in and just move straight to steak.
We also had a chance to head up to St. George to visit family. Audrey and Ezra had a good time with cousin Olivia.
We got to go to Pirate Island Pizza in St George. The kids had fun and enjoyed the atmosphere. Audrey and Olivia almost enjoyed throwing rocks in the little stream out front of the pizza place than they enjoyed the pizza...who'd have known?

In Washington (the city next to St. George, not Washington State or DC) they've built a new sports complex that's actually way nice. We enjoyed some time in the lazy river, swimming, and going on a few of the waterslides.
We snapped a couple pics of Olivia and Audrey:
Well, between graduate school and having two little kids, we've kinda let the date nights disappear. So it's time to get back to it! We found a good deal for local residents on a few of the Vegas shows/restaurants. We decided to go see the Cirque Du Soleil show called "Ka". For those of you that haven't seen the show...it is amazing. The stage itself is in constant motion, with acrobatics flying overhead and sliding across the stage. At several points the stage is completely vertical. Here we are with one of the Ka actors. We also enjoyed dinner at a ritzy little place called Nobhill Tavern, which didn't seem like a tavern at all...but whatever. We weren't there for booze anyways.
We had some visitors come down a couple weeks ago too! My friend Shane, his wife Jaime and their daughter came down. Shane and I went to the Supercross race, while the girls had movie night. Poor Shane got sick with strep on their first day down here...so they didn't get out as much as they had originally planned to, but we still had fun! Here's a pic of the kids just blowin bubbles in the backyard.
So Audrey was due for a haircut...and we were excited to take her to a fancy kids barber shop, that decided to take off a little more than we anticipated; but she is still cute!And...we went to DISNEYLAND! We had planned this trip out for a long time. Chels did all the research, and found out when the best time to go was (as far as not being too busy or too hot), and we scored a good deal via Costco for the whole package. It makes things easy since Disneyland is only a 4 hr drive from our house.Well, Disneyland brings back a lot of memories for me. I loved going there with my family and grandparents. You don't have to twist Chelsey's arm to go there either, she's a borderline disney addict. Even though Audrey still isn't tall enough for several rides (see picture below) and Ezra is too itty bitty for almost everything (but he went on Pirates...twice), we were ready to go conquer Disneyland; and California Adventure. We decided to just trade taking care of Ezra while Audrey went on rides with one of us. As I was walking around with Ezra, one of the disney employees saw me taking a couple pictures. He said "hey, want a great shot of the castle with the disney characters coming out of the castle?"; of course I said yes. He said "Stand on the point of this star in 20 mins". I said thanks and went to see if Audrey & Chels were done with Mr. Toads Wild Ride. We raced back to the tip of the star and what do ya know...out come the characters with the band. Audrey was in heaven, which made my day...week...month. Picture from the point of the star is above.So yeah, as many of you know Disneyland can use up a lot of your energy, especially when you're carrying around one of the kids a lot. Yeah, there are lots of potty stops, and naps. Yeah, we had to pass on some of the "funner" rides since the kids were too small. Yeah we had to have one of us stay with Ezra so the other could go on a ride with Audrey. But, I can say that this was the best trip ever to Disneyland. There's nothing like seeing your kids eyes light up and grins from ear to ear when they're having fun. No, it does't always take a trip to Disneyland to get that reaction...but it sure is effective at creating the reaction. So I apologize in advance for the massive amount of pictures...but it was my way of having fun while the kids were having fun. Just be glad it's not a slide show. If you get bored, just scroll faster.Our hotel was just a few blocks from the entrance, and we had multiday passes which gave us some flexibility to go to the park and leave easily whenever we wanted. Because we were so close, we actually got to the parks a few times before they opened the rides. So basically we got to wait in line to wait in another line. Here we are waiting for them to open the Disney California Adventure park:Here is how are little family entourage traveled thru the park...double stroller, sometimes Audrey walked, and other times she hitched a ride.Even though Ezra was only about 6 months old, he seemed to enjoy all the comotion around him...I thought that he officially went off the edge of sensory overload when we went on "It's a Small World". He kept darting his head, back and forth looking at everthing going on...hilarious.
I guess this next picture is Ezra's attempt to immitate the Abominable Snowman (that's the Matterhorn behind him).
Audrey was quite the patient little line-waiter. I was worried that when we were there on Saturday that the lines would get long, that it would get hot, and that she'd get impatient...but we lucked out with the weather, and the lines were pretty short for a Saturday. Everyday was perfect. Maybe a little too cool to warm up the water at the beach, but perfect for Disneyland.
More line waiting pics:

Seriously...it wasn't busy. How many people do you count other than us in this pic?

Audrey seems to have a few favorite rides. The carousel, the rocking ferris wheel, dumbo, and these rockets...which are basically the same thing as dumbo.And don't forget, the teacups!
Jungle cruise, check.
Treehouse, check.
Autopia, check.
Picture in front of the California rock-bear. Check. Seriously, these pictures make it look like we're the only people there... My turn to wait around with Ez:
Audrey trying to keep Ezra entertained:
Along with our vacation package we received some dining certificates and we got to meet a lot of the characters. Here's Audrey with her favorite character:
Ezra wasn't as impressed with Minnie:
One of the days we got "early entrance" (one hr early) into Toontown. So we pretty much went on all the rides Audrey wanted to go on in Toontown before it was opened up to everyone else. Yay!
Audrey and Ezra at the hotel, ready for bed in their disney jams.
Up and at'em the next day! Ezra's ready for more! Shouldn't snack time be healthy stuff? Not at Disneyland.Life is good when it feels like groundhog day at Disneyland...yeah, similar pic, different day.Hi dad!Chels planned things out so much, that we all had Disney clothing on for one of the days...yes, my shirt featured Grumpy.So just for documentation purposes, I'll tell you what happened on the Saturday night we were there. When we were getting back to the park after naps, Audrey said "Dad, my tummy hurts". So, trying to be the hero dad I said "let me adjust your pants so they're not so tight". That fixes all tummy aches, right? Fast forward a few hours...we're over by Autopia (at the attraction called "innoventions") and Audrey proceeds to projectile vomit. Really? That happens here? I didn't think kids were allowed to get sick at Disneyland. Anyways, she looks up and says "dad, what's happening?". Wow, talk about both ends of the spectrum in one day, happy to sad, real quick. Fortunately we had planned for Sunday (the next day) to be a relaxing day and we weren't going back to the park...but when Audrey woke up the next morning (and after several more pukes that night) said "You guys can go to Disneyland without me today. I'll stay here and rest to get better." We explained that we weren't going without her, and just kinda hung out till she was feeling better.
One of the other things we were looking forward to was going back to the Blue Water Grill. We found the place last time we went to Cali, and loved it...so we went back for more!
Then, back to Disneyland again! I was surprised how many things there were for the kids that I never knew about. Here is one of them. There are several interactive attractions. This one has you go thru some questions to find out what character you are like. Audrey is apparently like Mulan.
We also had a chance to do more "character dining" at Arial's Grotto at California Adventure. Audrey loves all of the princess characters, and this was her chance to meet them...she was super psyched about Ariel...or not? Nice smile there Audrey!
Bring on Princess Aurora! That made her smile. And yes, to all my friends, I think I know all the names of the princesses since Audrey was born.Snow White, check.Cinderella, check.Yummy. Princess lunch. I figured if I keep taking pictures, then I am not responsible for holding the kids...worked out great for me.Complete with dessert.
So, after four full days of the two parks, I believe we conquered every attraction that Audrey was tall enough for. We had a blast, and yeah...the pictures are almost done.
Disneyland...really is one of the happiest places on earth. Even if your kid pukes there.
So, switching gears here (pun intended). I had a chance to race in the Redline Time Attack series at Las Vegas Speedway. There were cars and drivers from all levels of experience, and here is one of the GTR's that were there. This is Cobb Tuning's Time Attack car.
My car wasn't as impressive, so I won't include a picture. But if you're interested in seeing me race my car, then here's a link. I strapped a camera to the bumper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuaJec31Ba8

Here's just a random window into Audrey's life:
She loves playing around in cardboard boxes. She calls it her "storybox". She loves decorating the storyboxes with stickers and other sweet drawings/artwork.We also went to a local parade/community activity. They had craft stations, a small farmers market, and a car show. Here's Audrey's lei she made with me:and a shot of one of the cars:
And a shot of Ezra havin a good time:
...and the parade:
And last but not least...I had to include a picture of Audrey's adventures with mom in the kitchen. More cookies for me!
Well, you made it. And so did I. Hope you enjoyed it. We love you guys!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-11T20:29:00.009-07:00

We sure have been enjoying the weather recently. Upper 70's...yum. I don't have a lot of news to report about, but I do have a few pictures; so here it goes.

This next picture is Just Audrey and Ezra in our sweet limo stroller (two seater) while we were out for a Sunday stroll today. It was a little windy outside, but not cold. This was just a shot of Audrey that I liked...still windy:
More of the Sunday stroll:

Audrey has been really good at trying to "help" out with Ezra. Here she is helping him put on his blanket. You can tell by his expression that he's super enthused.
On Saturday Audrey and I went on a hike up Black Mountain. It's not tall by Utah standards (peak is just a little higher than 5,000 ft) but it was still a good hike and we had fun. It was probably the last hike Audrey will be able to do in our backpack...she's getting too heavy and I guess I'm getting too old. The last half mile is pretty steep, and I'm feelin a little sore today. In the next picture the sign is at the trailhead. Black Mountain is the mountain to the right of the sign. The paved trail is nice for the first quarter mile...then it's a nice dirt trail that leads up to the black rocky portion of the trail that is a little more interesting to climb. It was a little cool since we started at 8 a.m., and the breeze made Audrey a little cold...so she's not smiling much in this pic...
Here's a shot of the trail (looking down the trail) as it turns from dirt to rock.
And here's Audrey at the top!
We had a lot of fun, and she was a really good sport. I thought she was gonna get bored after the first half hour or so, but she seemed to enjoy all of the hike except the parts where the wind picked up and got her cold. She was as talkative as she has ever been though...playing "I spy" with a three year old in the desert can only entertain for so long.
Here's a shot of Ezra getting ready for a bath...he's much more of a binky baby than Audrey ever was. Hopefully we can avoid the thumb sucking this time around.
We all went to the library together the other day. It was much smaller than the one we had in Boston, but it had what we came for. Books. Audrey is quite a little bookworm and gets excited anytime we get new books.
Here's a crazy face that Ezra pulled when Audrey was playing with him:
Big smiles!

Just lounging around...
Here's some pictures from the ward Easter egg hunt. Audrey had a blast and did her best to out-do the other kids by collecting the most eggs...a little of my competitive nature I guess.
Nothing better than an Easter egg hunt in the desert!
The Easter egg hunt was at a park near our house, and the kids enjoyed lunch together too.
Here's some of Audrey's friends, Ellie and London.
Just another shot of Ezra chillin in the bumbo:
So we have been very "laissez-faire" with the whole potty training thing with Audrey. When she expressed interest, we encouraged her to use the potty, but we decided not to do much else other than offer rewards when she uses the toilet and keeps her pull-ups dry. For her, it's actually worked really well and we've gotten positive results. For one of her rewards (for consistent #1's and #2's in the can) she got to go to "build a bear" and make a teddy bear. Here she is using the foot pedal to fill the bear up with "fluff" (the employee is holding the bear as it's stuffed).And here she is with her potty prize. Yay for Audrey!
Just a recent quote from Audrey that I enjoyed: "Dad, if Jesus lives in heaven, then why is his church here on the earth?"

Well...I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well and remember to come down and visit us! We've got an extra room. :)

Ezra's Baby Blessing, & other happenings...

2010-03-10T10:18:00.010-08:00

Last weekend we headed up to Utah to do Ezra's baby blessing. We figured that since all of our families live in Utah, it would be easiest for us to head north than to have people come down here. We were happy to see so many friends and family members, even though we didn't have a lot of time to go hang out with everyone. It was a busy, but enjoyable weekend.The guys...Traveling back in time a little now...Chelsey's sister and her family came down to visit for superbowl weekend. One of the places we went was the conservatory at the Bellagio. It was decorated for the Chinese New Year, and Audrey and Olivia enjoyed the scenery.
Cousin Olivia was super sleepy when we first got there...zonked out in the stroller.
Also, at the Bellagio there is the worlds largest chocolate fountain. I think this was the highlight of the Bellagio for Chelsey...The picture of the chocolate fountain doesn't do it justice. With all the mirrors, it's kinda hard to figure out what's going on...but if you ever are at the Bellagio, it's worth a gander.
As our guests were getting ready to leave, we noticed we had a little water leak in one of the bathrooms; so off to home depot I went, with Audrey. She was excited to help out. As you can see in the next picture, she was my designated flashlight holder. She was so cute...afterwards she said "Dad, when I grow up I want to be a fixer!" Well, I guess there's a lot less schooling involved for that career...last week she wanted to be a doctor.
Then we headed up to St. George for a weekend for family pictures with Chelsey's family. Here's a picture of Olivia & Audrey at the mini golf course. For whatever reason Audrey doesn't look that impressed...maybe it was because we had to wait in line so long to get started.
Here's a few of the family pics, taken by Amy Hummel www.amyhummel.com Back in Vegas now...and off to the dentist we all went. Audrey is still cavity free...unfortunately I wasn't.
We also had my sister Holly's family came down to visit for a week while her husband Mark a job interview and conferences all week. It was a nice opportunity to have the cousins hang out and have some fun...the little fireman hats came in handy.
Such cute kidlets!
Arts and crafts!
This activity seemed like it would be fun...and it was... ...especially after Noah decided to put it all over himself; he looked like a greased up body builder. Bathtime!Lincoln and his big blue eyes.
We went to firehouse subs for Noah; in Utah he had just had a fireman themed birthday party, so naturally he thought this was a great idea.
Noah striking a pose:
Well, not much of that was in chronological order...but so be it. It's been a busy month or so, but I think the dust is starting to settle. Now if we can all just get rid of the cold that's running around. Poor Audrey spiked a fever of 104 and we found out she had pneumonia, now Ezra's coughing so bad he gags himself and self-induces barfing. Oh boy...well, till next time!

Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

January Recap

2010-01-30T09:08:00.006-08:00

So, another month gone by. We really don't have much to report here...other than that things are going pretty good. Our kids are keeping us busy, but I'm pretty sure that's their job, and we love em. We've posted a few more pics of Ezra since he's growing so much. This stage of life (newborn life) is just crazy to me because things are happening so quick. He's doing lots of smiling, and coos a lot as well. He's kicking a lot, figuring out how to use his hands, and starting to enjoy tummy time as opposed to getting upset. With all the smiling though, we're having a tough time catching them on camera. It's like as soon as he sees a camera he becomes more interested with the aparatus than to keep on smiling... Audrey, on the other hand...will pull a big cheeser smile about anytime.
One of the things we went out to do this week was minigolfing. It was at an indoor facility with lots of blacklights. Audrey had a blast, despite the course being...errr, sub-par. Wow, that was a joke that only a 30 year old dad would say...sigh.
Tummy-time for Ezra! We love him!
Yay, we caught a smile on camera!
I had to include this picture of Audrey...her hair is bonkers after nap time...
More pics of little Ez:So recently we got a good deal on a toddler-trailer that I can pull with my bike (bicycle folks, not motorcycle...although that would also be fun). Anyways, she has been having a blast in the trailer. She's actually a great trainer for me, because I ask her "Hey, are you ready to go home? (because I'm tired) and she replies "No! Let's keep going!". However, when it starts to get dark, it's obviously time to be done...and when we got home from a recent ride, I noticed that she was asleep. Looks comforable, eh?
I guess I just don't get it...she doesn't sleep a lot in a car, and never on a plane (not to mention it takes forever to coax her to go to sleep in her bed); but when she's in a trailer five inches off the ground getting bounced around like a ragdoll with a clunky helmet on her head...sure! Why not!? She probably would have slept for a long time if I wouldn't have woken her up to come inside.
Today we went to the Ethel M Chocolate factory. It was heavenly torture for Chels...she's a big chocolate fan, but she's been avoiding milk products since Ezra's had trouble with milk allergies. She was able to snitch some dark chocolate, but no milk chocolate and no chocolate milk...sorry!
And what does any good chocolate factory have?? Well of course, a desert garden. No, not a dessert garden, a desert garden; you know, like cactus garden. Yeah, I was scratching my head too. Whatever. But apparently it's one of the largest desert gardens in America. Check. Been there, done that. Sorry, though. In our amazement that the kids were behaving so well when we left the house to go on our adventure, we forgot the camera. So use your imagination.

Audrey has said a few funny things lately...so here's one:

Yesterday Chels took the kids with her to go to the store. They parked the car next to a stall with the blue handicap sign. Audrey was excited when she saw the sign and said "Look mom! You parked right next to the potty sign! It shows someone going potty!"

I guess that's all for now. We hope you're all doing great!

Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T21:38:00.008-08:00

This year we kind of had multiple Christmas' since we traveled around to visit family, and we had a lot of fun. To start off, we decorated a gingerbread train at our place. Audrey enjoyed creating her masterpiece so much that she got frosting everywhere (including her forehead). You can see the serious concentration in her face...this is a big deal!So since santa couldn't fit everything in his sleigh to travel up to Utah, Santa left some of Audrey's gifts here in Vegas...Audrey first opened this helmet, which she liked even before she opened her next gift...Her first tricycle. She was really cute when she saw it, jumping up and down with her helmet on screaming "Yay, yay!" She immediately wanted to take it for a spin.And picked up the concept pretty quick.Meanwhile, Ezra is growing well, eating well, and sleeping well. He sure is a cutie and we're so happy to have him as our early Christmas present!So we went up to St. George to have Christmas with Chelsey's side of the family. Here is Audrey and her cousin Olivia tearing into their Christmas Eve gift.Christmas morning! This ended up being quite the process to open up all the gifts with three generations-worth of gifts under the tree...At halftime (noon) we had breakfast/lunch and the kids changed PJs and played with their loot.The kids were having fun opening some of the gifts for the families too...And best of all, playing with the boxes that the gifts came in...way cooler than the gifts themselves!Just some pics I took of Ezra: Ezra (and Audrey) were actually really good travelers. We did it all by car this time around, which always seems like a gamble. Road trips with kidlets can always be interesting!
So after Christmas in St. George we were off to Northern Utah to see my family. We had a lot of fun seeing everyone and exchanging gifts. We were able to get in a good card game too (even though I got demolished)! Here's Uncle Mark, cousin Lincoln, Audrey and cousin Noah.Here's Aunt Holly showing Audrey about her new present. It is a Minnie Mouse dress-up kit that Audrey has had a lot of fun with since we've been home.
This next picture is sweet...Ezra's bundled up, Chels is giving Audrey a present to open, and Noah is being a typical older brother and is restaining his little brother. Now that's a new version of the "head lock".
While we were visiting family we went to Boondocks Fun Center in Kaysville. The kids had a great time in the Kiddie Cove area. Try to find Audrey and Noah (top of the slide). Noah was real cute and demonstrated to Audrey that you don't have to go really fast down the giant slide...and then no fear Lincoln came up and went down fast as a bullet. It was actually quite entertaining to watch how fast Lincoln would go down the slide...but Audrey decided it was more fun to keep climbing around.
Well, we were glad we got to see as many friends and family that we did...but since this was a shorter trip we didn't get to see everyone. Hopefully we can see more of everyone next visit! Have a great 2010! Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T17:18:00.002-08:00

We just wanted to post a picture and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
Love Chris Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

It's Christmas time…without the snow this year

2009-12-13T17:37:00.006-08:00

Well, time seems to be flying by...wasn't it just summertime? Even without the snow this year we still got out the good ole Christmas tree. Audrey was excited to be involved in the decorating. When I told her I was going to go pickup the tree she said "But Dad, it's not Christmas time yet; there's no snow!" So after a quick review of geography and meteorology she decided it would be ok for me to go get the tree...Audrey patiently waited while dad untangled all the decorations...
So here's a picture of me...although you may have to look closely.
And Audrey got to put on the star!
So we went to the Henderson Christmas Parade...which was kind of, well; interesting. It seemed a little more like watching a whole bunch of low budget commercials...just kinda wierd. But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. There was also a craft fair, a (very small) festival of trees, and a petting zoo. Unfortunately it started to rain though, so we took off for cover to go eat lunch. At the parade there were several marching bands from local schools which Audrey enjoyed, and Ezra managed to even sleep through all the drums. The Parade was on Water Street: Here's Audrey cheering on the parade:
Our little guy sleeping during the parade:
And at least there was a Santa Claus at the end of the parade!

We also went to the lighting of the nations tallest Christmas tree. One of the local casinos was pretty proud to tote that fact throughout the night. It was pretty tall though...it took them 7 days to put on the lights/ornaments.

I also thought I'd include some more pics of Ezra. He's growing like a weed...over 9 pounds 14 ounces at his six week appointment, up from his birthweight of 6 pounds 12 ounces. Here he is getting ready for a bath:

He looks thrilled...right?Well, I guess that's all for this week. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra

Blog Hijack

2009-12-02T14:56:00.002-08:00

So I'm gonna shamelessly use our blog to get some votes for a picture we have in our photographers photo contest. Take a look at the pictures here:

http://baillyphoto.com/blog/?p=434

Vote for your favorite...and hopefully it's photo #1!

Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey...and Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T10:12:00.017-08:00

Well, little Audrey is getting older...three years old to be exact. Since the recent addition of Ezra to the family, and since we're relatively close to family in Utah, we decided to just do a small party here in Vegas with just our fam, and then my sister Holly volunteered to put together a birthday party for grandparents and cousins. This really helped us out because we didn't have to do anything really, except just make the drive!
Well, we decided to save the real birthday cake for the big party, and Audrey decided she wanted to make cupcakes for her birthday. Everyone knows that Audrey likes to help out mom in the kitchen!
Meanwhile, Ezra is sleeping a lot better. One of the nurse practitioners at our pediatricians office recommended that we have Chelsey avoid dairy and soy products while she's breastfeeding because some of Ezra's symptoms appeared to be a dairy intolerance...and so far it seems to be working. Hooray for sleep! Poor Chels's non-dairy diet isn't very fun for her though...but at this point we're voting for sleep over saveur; easy for me to say.
Mmmm...frosting.
And then the fun part...decorating the cupcakes! We were each given a personalized cupcake that was decorated just for us.
Three little candles for Audrey's cupcake.
And then the presents...
We also ventured out to eat at the Elephant Bar & Grill. We hadn't been there before and we all had fun and Audrey likes all the animal pictures/sculptures that we around. It's kinda wierd when they ask how many seats we need and now we say "four"...really? We're a family of four now? Crazy.
And then off to Utah...the big party was at my sisters house...as you can see, Audrey and Noah were happy to see each other. I guess the kiss on the cheek thing is cute now; let's hope they grow out of it someday though...
Here's Aunt Holly! Yay!
So...here's the awesome birthday cake. As you can see, the party was themed after Minnie Mouse and Audrey was suuuuper excited the whole week leading up to the party.
And Holly put a lot of hard work and effort into this party for Audrey and we are so grateful for her work! As you can see, the party decorations were awesome...
Here's a pic of us watching a little video I put together for Audrey:
More pictures at the party watching the video:
Let's not forget the other people that worked hard for the party...Uncle Mark was the head chef and Grandma Jana was a helper too.

Hangin out at the party...
So the food was delicious, and the pancakes were specially shaped for the theme. Also, the kids got to decorate the pancakes with toppings of their choice...yummy!
Thanks Uncle Mark!
Audrey and Noah enjoying the food:
And last but not least...the piñata! Audrey was totally stoked, and the piñata was awesome...
Audrey got to pull the last string to open the piñata, and as you can see her expression in the picture that she couldn't be any happier.
Grams and Gramps with little Ezra.
Here's a shot of us as a family before devouring the cake.
Audrey and the the party planner, Aunt Holly.
Grams, Gramps, and Audrey.
What would a Minnie Mouse party be without getting Minne Mouse as a gift?!?
More presents!
It's a shame to destroy the awesome cake, but we couldn't look at it forever!
Uncle Matt and the birthday girl.
Cousins on the couch
So we came up to Utah the week before Thanksgiving and we basically celebrated it eary since I had to work the day after turkey day. Thanks to Grandma Jana & Grandpa Rob for hosting the early Thanksgiving!
We were able to have Great Grandparents over too! ...there's some good cheeser faces in this one:
And that was Ezra's first road trip (to Utah) and flight on an airplane (back to Vegas). We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Love Chris, Chelsey, Audrey & Ezra