Easter Sunday

I wanted to post in PINK/PURPLE for this post because I am writing about Easter. Ellis' first Easter was a lot of fun for her. We started out the morning by going to breakfast at my brother, James', house. We usually will hold our annual Easter breakfast at my parents house but they are going through some extensive rennovations and it was too much of a mess to host breakfast there. So we had a great breakfast (thanks, Mom!) of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon fresh fruits...the whole nine yards. After breakfast Ellis opened her very first easter basket and got a bunch of goodies from Grandma. Her favorite gifts are: a book that looks like a purse and some blocks. After that we all went to the Fairwood Ward (my childhood ward) with my parents. It was nice to see a bunch of people who we normally don't see. After church we went home, Ellis took a nap and we rested. Once Ellis woke up we headed over to the Weaver's house for a delicious lamb dinner, with wonderful salads, potatoes and rolls. For dessert there was Easter Candy and wonderful brownies made by Adrian's family. There was also an easter egg hunt, but Ellis didn't understand the concept and found an empty egg and thought she struck gold. She was walking all over the house waving this empty egg around and grunting. It was pretty funny. She is getting to be such a little girl. During church all she wanted to do was explore the chapel and the people in it. Then she would get to a point and just squat. She would sit in the squatting position for a bit before finally laying down and rolling all over the ground or getting up and exploring some more. All in all it was a fun day, though we were all exhausted by the end. I hope all of you had a great Easter.

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Loni and Ellis. She is so freakin' cute!

Finally Some Friends Visit!

This weekend was very busy because for the first time in FOREVER we had some friends come back to Seattle to visit. Dan, Kyla and thier two little girls (Ashton and Adrienne), Marcus and his new girlfriend and Ben, Lauren and thier twins (Avery and Macy) all came to Seattle to visit us! No, they really all came to visit thier respective families, but Loni and I like to think it was for us. :) Anyway, on Friday night Marcus and his lady stopped by so we could meet her and we ended up playing a viscious round of Grandma Fortneys Gin Rummy, which I, of course, won. No, I think Marcus won, but I never win so I like to fool people into thinking I am good :). Anyway, we ended staying up til past midnight (which us parents had not done in a while) but it was great to see him again. Saturday started early with meeting Kylas' family and Lauren's family at the hotel they stayed at. We would have met up with Dan and Kyla on Friday but they missed thier exit and ended up coming through Portland (dorks). We decided to go to IHOP for breakfast and miraculously there was only a 10 min wait at the Seattle IHOP. We got in, ate a ton and then decided to go burn off some calories by going to the Seattle Childrens Museum. By the time we got to the museum, Avery and Macy had fallen asleep so we nixed the SCM idea and ended up hanging out in front of the museum trying to come up with another plan. We all wanted to go to a park, but no one could think of a park in the middle of the city, so I, being the genius that I am, asked some random guy on the street with kids where a park was. He pointed us in the direction of a brand new park and it ended up being pretty cool. It was the craziest thing to find this kids park with swings, sand boxes and jungle gyms in the middle of the city. We spent about and hour and a half (if not longer) at the park. After that we decided to go back to home base (which is the Weaver's house) and figure out our next steps. We ended up hanging around the Weavers for 2-3 hours just catching up and letting our kids play together. We finally decided to go out to eat at Califonia Pizza Kitchen down at Southcenter. It was very nice. All the ladies were on one end and the guys were on the other so it worked out nicely. After dinner, Dan and Kyla headed to Dan's family in Port Orchard and Ben and Lauren headed home. It was very sad to see everyone go - it has been a LONG time since we were all together. I am posting a slide show of the day. It was one of the funnest (?) weekends Loni and I have had in a LONG time. Most of the pics are of Ellis (as usual) but there are some of everyone. Any yes, I know I need to go on a diet. It is starting next Monday - :). Enjoy!

At the Park with Grandpa O!

The other night Loni had a work event so I invited my parents over to go to the park with Ellis and I. When I invited them it was a gorgeous, sunny 50 degree weather day so it sounded like a great idea. But by the time they got there, the clouds had rolled in, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and it really felt like Winter - but we still went to the park anyway. My mom sat in the car with my Grandma but my dad, Ellis and I braved the elements and still played. Ellis doesn't really care about the park - she mainly wants to walk around and run away from whoever is trying to get her. So i just let her do her own thing. We tried to put her in the bouncy horses and cars that are there, but she doesn't like the instability of them - she really just wants to get down and walk. She is growing up so quickly. Anyway - here is a slideshow of the day.

At the Aquarium!

Last weekend we decided to go to the aquarium and let Ellis experience the sea life of Washington. We invited Sefa (Loni's brother in law) and his two kids along as well. It was a lot of fun. It was super busy (rainy Saturday in Seattle - we should have known). I think Feki (Sefa's youngest)enjoyed it the most out of everyone that was there - he especially enjoyed face painting and wanted to get his face painted the entire time so finally we caved in and stood in line until he was finally able to get it done (he got a shark). I decided to try and get Ellis' face painted as well and she did good - for about 2 seconds. I think the brush tickled her face so she kept moving it. There are pictures in the slide show of it - it is supposed to be a star, but it was smudged from the beginning. We were lucky enough to be there at the same time they were feeding the seals so that was pretty cool. Joe (Feki's older brother) was bored the entire time but I think it was good for all of us to go. I think Ellis enjoyed the aquarium but she is still too little to understand it. It is nice, though, as she has gotten older because there are more and more things we can do with her. I want her to experience everything she can - there is so much to see and do here in Seattle that I am excited for her to grow up.

Lets Go OutBack Tonight!

Last Saturday we drove all the way to BFE - no just kidding, it was just Tacoma - to go visit Loni's sister Amber and her husband, Adam and daughter, Jaida. We helped Amber move in last September but since then have not been down there. It was a lot of fun. We got there, got the tour of the house, had some Sweet Tea and then decided to go to dinner. We had originally planned on going to this Japanese Steakhouse down there but had a little trouble finding it and when we finally did we found out they were booked for the night. So we had noticed an Outback right near the Japanese Steakhouse and decided to go there since they told us the wait was only 20-25 mins. Now, with and 11 month old and a 13 month old, 20-25 mins is pushing it with trying to entertain them when they are already hungry. So the wait time they told us rolls around and we still have not moved up the list b/c the way Outback does it is they have three lists going on: a reservation list, a call ahead list and a drop in list. Well, we did not make reservations or call ahead so that put us on the last and bottom list and if you are on that list it is almost impossible to get a table. After and hour and a half of waiting and lame excuses from the hostess, we finally got sat and ended up having a great dinner. So it turned out nice, just the hour and a half of waiting was a downer. So the rule of thumb with the Outback is to either call ahead or get a reservation. But all in all, it was great to see them and to let Ellis and Jaida spend more time together. I really hope they grow up good friends b/c they are only the girl cousins so close in age. Here is the slideshow from that night. Enjoy!

Ready for School!

When Ellis was first born I (like the sucker I am) joined one of those book clubs for kids where you get kids books for like $0.99 but have to buy two at the regular price of like $29.99 or something absurd like that. Anyways, as part of one of my buys, they sent us a little kiddie back pack. Loni and I decided to spring clean this last week and I found it in her closet so I decided to try it on her. She was OK with for about 2 mins - she walked around with it and everything, but then she wanted nothing to do with it. I guess that is good b/c I am not ready for her to want to be in school yet. She is already growing up so fast! Anyway, here are some pictures of her and her backpack:

I Am Ready For My Close Up!

We went to Party City the other week to get supplies for Ellis' 1st Birthday Party - it is going to be on April 12, 2008 and all my readers are invited so if you are going to be in the area on April 12 you should come! While we were there we saw a rack of sunglasses - not just normal sunglasses but crazy ones. So we decided to let Ellis do a fashion show for us, which you all will be privy to below:

Princess for a Day! (actually I think it is a Kings Crown, but she will never know!)

Look at my bone structure - I am SO HOT!

Starting to get a little irritated...

Happy Friday!

So a guy at my work forwarded me this clip and I thought it was so HILARIOUS that I wanted to post it for all my fans to see! It is titled "A Typical Traffic Stop in Texas".

The Promise Lives Another Year

It has been incredibly sunny and warm the last couple weeks of February here in the Pacific Northwest. But just this last weekend the rain started back up again. But with rain does come beauty. Yesterday as I was sitting in my living room, I looked out the window and saw a rainbow. I love seeing rainbows because it reminds me to become a better person because we have been given another year here. I think there was a prophecy that as long as we see rainbows in the year then the Second Coming will not be that year. I thought it was a beautiful rainbow, so I hope you all can enjoy the pictures.

ith