Our Trip

It's taken long enough, but here's a glimpse of what we did on our trip last month.  Uncle Eric joined us for a trip down south and we all had a great time.  The kids (MIRACULOUSLY) were wonderful in the car, Norah LOVED the beach and Disneyland, and we all had a wonderful visit with family and friends.  

Norah glued to Grandma Mary's portable DVD player.  The ride was actually a treat for her with the help of this little device.  She turns into a zombie when she watches TV, and zombie behavior is very convenient for long car rides.  Seriously, check out that zombie stare.

Our first stop was visiting some of my Dad's family that we hadn't seen in years and years.  It was such a wonderful reunion!  They are the sweetest, most loving people and made us feel so welcomed.  It was such a treat to all get caught up and share some funny stories about Dad. Norah fell in love with Chips (the dog).   

Us with some of the gang.  Ellis is such a chunk!

We had dinner with Bob, an old friend of my Dad's that was roommates with him back in his college years.  Back in December Bob had been wanting to get back in touch with Dad and googled him for his information, but the first thing that came up was his obituary from three weeks prior.  To make a long story short, we got in contact with him and were able to meet him for dinner while we were down in the area.  He is an amazing, kind, sincere person who gave us some great advice and some hilarious memories of Dad.  We're excited to keep in touch with him and are really glad we caught up with him while we were down there.

Lots of fun at the beach...

and in the sand.

Ellis didn't love the beach so much, but it was hot and he was tired, so who can blame him.

We also got to  see our good friends Scott and Karisa while we were down there.  They are SO cute with the kids and hilarious as always.  We wish we lived closer!

Ellis finally asleep.

How could we resist a trip to Disneyland when we were already all the way down there??  It was really fun, although much more crowded than we were hoping, and way hotter than we would have liked.  Funny tid-bit about Goofy.  I'll often say to Norah, "You're so goofy,"  to which she replies with a tell-it-how-it-is look on her face, "No, I'm not Goofy, I'm Norah!"  I guess you can't blame her for the confusion.  

Uncle Eric was a good sport and joined us at Disneyland for one of the days.  Although he did only last until about 4:00.  But for a single, kid-less, 21 year old guy, Disneyland is far from the "happiest place on earth."  

Ellis' first trip to Disneyland!

Cute Scott and Karisa.  They joined us one night at Disneyland.

She LOVED meeting all the characters, but the best of all was Cinderella (separate post to come).  Overall, we had a wonderful trip and a great time visiting with everyone.  Great end to the summer!!!

Jamison's Going Away Party

Kyle, Dayna, and little Kylie are off on their new adventure of dental school in Vegas. Even though it's a good excuse for leaving, it's been a hard pill to swallow. The night before they left we had a send off party for them and wished them well. It was a bittersweet night, but we'll see them at Christmas! (Right, Kyle??!!)


The future dentist and soon to be mommy of 2.


Jason reading the quiz results (we made a quiz to test everyone on how well they know the Jamisons). Excluding the parents....Becky Fellows won!


"Grammy," Dayna, and Kylie. Cute girls!


The guys mapping out the trip to Vegas in the morning. Too funny.


Norah misses her friend....


And I miss mine!

It was a fun night and I'm glad we could send them off with smiles instead of tears. We all miss you! Hope you're settling in and getting ready for baby Treagan. We hope you like Vegas enough to enjoy the years of dental school, but not enough to stay forever. :) Who's going to plan all of our fun activities now??

Summer Stuff

We've had an eventful and fun summer and it's bitter sweet to see that it will be coming to a close soon. We've had lots of fun but part of me is ready to get into a more normal schedule....and to have the weather cool off. Playing in the backyard isn't fun when it's 97 outside, or even higher. Here's a quick catch up on some of our other summer activities.


Celebrating Norah's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Brown's house (She's a lucky girl- 3 parties for 1 birthday). What's a birthday cake without a little bit of birthday-girl spit on it?

Stealing a lick of frosting.


We had a party with her and some of her friends at the house. She had a blast! This is the most accurate depiction of her. She was either running, bouncing, swimming, sliding, or eating and wasn't willing to pause for a photo.


Babies and bubbles are a winning combination.


On her actual birthday we had my family over to celebrate. Grandma Mary scored some major points by getting her the gift she wanted most....the classic Little Tykes car. Uncle Eric scored even more points by painstakingly putting it together. Wasn't as easy as you would think, especially with an anxious 2 year old who couldn't wait to take a spin. She was SO excited.


Such a big girl. And a very happy one. She had a GREAT birthday. (Pay no mind to the ladybug cake. I wanted to do something cute, but ended up having to do it in 10 minutes to feed the hungry uncles. She seemed to like it though. More for the sugar than the decoration no doubt...)



Norah's had TONS of fun swimming this year. Once we converted her to a human floatation device she could "swim like a big girl" all by herself. We discovered later that all she needed were the floaties (minus the inflatable swimsuit) to be able to get around on her own but the marshmallow look provided a lot of laughs.


The Edmond's (Jason's sister and her family) came out for their annual summer visit. We love them! Their 5 boys are so sweet with Norah-- she's constantly asking to play with Colby and doesn't quite grasp that they live 13 hours away. They got to meet Ellis and we all went to Six Flags/Marine World (am I the only one who still calls it Marine World?) one day. Can't wait to see them again at Christmas.


Norah got her face painted for the first time at our stake Pioneer Day Celebration. It was momentous occasion for her. She's STILL talking about it.


Spent lots of the summer oodling over our not-so-little baby Ellis whose already 4 months old. Here he's working his charm on Grandma Mary. It's hard to get anything done with his cute little face staring at you like that.


A business associate of Jason's owns a horse ranch and invited us to bring Norah out for a pony ride. We gladly accepted of course.


No cowgirl is complete without pink boots. (Thank you Target- $5!)



She was a pro. Jason didn't even really have to hold her. She especially appreciated the horses name: "Princess Princess."


More to come from our trip to Southern California...