Ellie turns 2

What better way to celebrate Ellie's 2nd birthday than to drive to Salinas and spend the week. We all needed a vacation and an escape from the cold weather. We decided to leave after work on Friday and drive to Elko. I was so prepared, I had a cooler full of snacks, and I had read every pinterest article on "how to go on a road trip with a toddler" Those articles are crap! We drove to Elko, Ellie hadn't slept, it was 10:30, she should be tired and go to sleep right? WRONG. She was up ALL night. I have never seen her so hyper. Well maybe I have, but when I am exhausted it seems so much worse. She would climb up on the bed and get down and up again and down again AHHHHHHH. It was my worst nightmare. Jared and I were dreading driving 8 hours the next day but figured she would have to sleep at some point. Luckily I have a husband who can sleep through a hurricane (curse him). Jared slept and I nodded of here and there and long story short we made it to Salinas and all was well.

P.S. We brought Rosie and we were worried about  her.....she was a saint!

As for Ellie's birthday, we had family and friends over to my parents house. Ellie ran around outside, the boys worked on the tree house being built in the backyard, we ate delicious food and cake, and laughed and talked and had an amazing time. How can Ellie be 2? I can't focus enough to write a post about Ellie and all her amazing qualities. I will soon, just not tonight. We love her so much and so does everyone else. We feel very lucky to be blessed with such a special, spunky, amusing little girl.


This was Jared's project for the week. My dad had assembled most of the tree house and then with the help of Jared and my brothers it was raised and finished. Ellie loved it, and Jared added some awesome features!

Spring was in FULL swing. I had forgotten what the color green looked like, vegetation..what's that?Thank heaven for spring, we were so sick of the winter.

Ellie's Birthday Cake

Rosie the party animal!

and Lisa too!

Can you tell she is a bit tired? The girl went non stop all week!

I love this picture below! Look at all the love for my little Ellie girl. I love them all so much!

She did SO good blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday sweet girl we love you!

A Winter Visit

13 year ago I met Lisa Anderson in summer school. The summer before our Freshman year at Notre Dame. We had to catch up with all the other smarty pants who got into private school. We ended up playing volleyball together freshman year and we were pretty much inseparable ever since. We had our normal high school fights but something always brought us back together. We had numerous sleep overs, where we ate way too much ice cream and Chinese food. We were the cut ups at school bringing whoopee cushions and fart goo to class. We went to Washington DC together and ran track together for 4 years. After high school Lisa went to Fresno state and I moved to Utah. 13 years later Lisa is a special ed teacher and going to grad school. We are still best friends and I love her so much. When your around your best friend they just bring out a certain side of you. By no means do I want to go back to high school ever BUT being silly and reminiscing about being 15 and 16 is so much fun! I think it is rare to have a friendship that last more than 10 years, and I'm so grateful that ours has. Thanks for coming to visit Lisa loo, your the best!