Time goes too fast... and seriously, how did I take 1281 photos in October?! This years family photo album is going to be a novel! If I'd just stop shooting photos of my darn cute kids then my over abundance of photos would no longer be a problem. Too bad I can't help getting shots of all our little happenings... Oh well.
Tristen's best friend in the Branch is Lucas. His bud is a little older than he is, but much smaller, like a lot smaller. Tristen is border line overweight and this other kiddo is like in the 5th% for weight and height. For what Lucas lacks in height and weight, he makes up for in friendliness and cuteness. He and Tristen have so much fun together and get along very well. The day before we flew to AZ, Lucas came to play for a bit. Here they are singing to "Hey Soul Sister". Lucas is singing and Tristen dancing.
William is a climber! At 9 months he's doing this:
Off to Arizona! I very seldom have the chance to have Duane with me on flights across the country with our kiddos and this was one time I was lucky to have him for the trip to AND from AZ (that has NEVER happened)! I was so happy to have him there! I sent this picture to my mom with a message like, "I can go to the bathroom by myself at the airport when Duane's around!". It was such a relaxing trip out to Arizona. The flights were not too full so we were able to sit without too many people crowding us and the older boys enjoyed movies and small presents that Tristen had wrapped the day before while Kalvin was at school.
I love that David and Marisa are still living at the Ellsworth's! It makes it so nice to have playmates for our kids right there. I was sad when we left to come back to Albany, thinking that the next time we come back to Arizona, David and Marisa will probably be gone or we will be moving back to AZ so we'll probably already have a rental lined up elsewhere.
I love the Ellsworth's because they are always up for a good laugh and the feelings in their home are most often light hearted. When things don't go as planned, you can always laugh it off without anyone being too serious about a situation, to forget to find a joke out of it. Dad Ellsworth had put about 5 stakes on the grill and when David came out to check on them, this is what he found.
I still laugh thinking about that moment when David opened the grill to find the stakes cooking (or on fire). And this is after the flames had died down some after I had time to come over and get my phone out.
I have so many pictures of the cousins on the ATV's when we come to visit, but to me, it never gets old seeing them together and it's fun to see how they grow each time they get together.
Savers had a good deal on a police man costume for Kalvin for Halloween and when we got back to the Ellsworth's, Stratton put his uniform on as well. What great buds!
A few days before leaving for AZ, I emailed each of the married children to have them send me a picture of their child holding a letter. My and Duane's dad both had birthdays while we were in AZ so we made these pictures for both grandpa's. I think they enjoyed them.
We were so happy that Duane was able have an interview with a Anesthesia group while we were out there. We had tried for weeks ahead of time, to try to get any interview and finally Duane got a call one day and they wanted him to come in that very afternoon so we got together some of the toffee that we had made the night before and he was offered a salary position with Gold Canyon Anesthesia. We were so happy to hear this because we felt like having this offer, would give us some leverage with Chandler Anesthesia (the group we are most interested in) in letting them know that we have an offer already, but we'd really like to interview with them. In the end, Chandler has still be very difficult to convince that we should be interviewed. We are still praying for guidance with our future in a anesthesia group.
Daddy gave William one lick of a sucker... then it turned into a screaming battle if Duane took it away... so at 9 months, William had his first sucker and finished eating it in the bathtub because it was so messy. There's been no looking back since.
On my dad's birthday, my mom and dad were out for the night, so Duane and I decided to have a party at my mom and dads. Tristen and William had gone to sleep super early so we decided to take Kalvin to the Mesa High Homecoming Football game. Duane could hardly believe how bad our team was, but I had fun being there with ONE child (who could sit still) and give him our undivided attention. Rachel and Dallin were in the parade at half time. Rach was Jessie from Toy Story and I'm not sure what Dallin was doing. I think he was some kind of helper with a float.
Ruth has a boyfriend! She and David are great together and they did a great job entertaining the grandkids at Little David's birthday dinner.
Kalvin smashed his fingers in the door. It was really bad looking... my mom immediately came over and we were all helping him then she helped Kalvin do a process to take the pain away. It really helped him a lot and I think it helped it to heal quicker as well. Here are his fingers the next day.
Disneyland! The Ellsworth's love vacationing together (one more reason I love my in-laws) and this time we decided to bring the grandkids along. It made it harder to really have adult time, but with some great planning on Justin's part, the trip to Disneyland went very smoothly (a lot more smooth than Legoland, I feel). The cousin's had so much fun together and I was surprised at the good time I had as well even with all the walking and carrying kids. The weather was great, there was a lot to do and with Justin's great agenda, the lines were never too long. Also, I felt like we stayed together more on this trip than Legoland and I liked that as well. Most of us were together most of the the time because there was a schedule. Don's family and DJ kinda did their own thing for the most part, but we were able to see them some as well.
One of the first stops was Finding Nemo's Submarine. I was surprised at how entertaining and long this ride was. It took about 10 minutes to get through and had a lot of neat effects. The kids seemed to really like it too.
Even the babies.
Forget which ride this was.
But I think Tristen was a little nervous.
It's a small world!
So cool, I saw my Aunt Brandi and Uncle Daryl while we were here!
Tight fit for Daddy to get in there too...
But he made it.
I think the last time I came here with my family in high school, we got a picture here. I wanted to get another one with our family too. This is as we were leaving on day one.
It was Dad's birthday on Monday, the first day at Disneyland so we celebrated by eating out together at some stake house.
The whole clan. This was our only group shot for the whole trip.
The kids took over the camera after they finished eating. They got some fun photos!
Day two at The Happiest Place on Earth!
Woody!
Walking somewhere and stumbled upon a cute show. This happened fairly often. This is at California Adventures.
And another show.
A Bugs Life.
This was also from A Bug's life. They looked like giant sized Chinese food boxes that we sat in and it took us up in the air and around in a circle. Ride lasts like 28 seconds. Tristen liked it once it got going.
Cali Adventures at night. They have an awesome laser, water show at night at the Pier. Here we are before it started.
And a couple shots during. We had to get fast passes as soon as the park opened that morning and then we stood waiting for I think 55 minutes before it started to have a good spot to see. The show was 30 minutes and showed clips in the water from many of the famous disney movies. It was a amazing.
There was one time when they had huge flames as well.
Kalvin had missed being able to dance with Phineas and Ferb on the first day and was very disappointed, so we visited so we made sure to get him out there on the third and final day.
Maybe took it a little too seriously with trying to do the exact moves the coaches were doing, but had a good time, I think.
I thought about finding a second stroller to bring for Tristen at Disney, but ended up forgetting so this is how Tristen got around when he was tired.
Tarzan's Treehouse.
Splash Mountain. As nervous as Tristen looks here, he loved the ride! It's so funny because he looked like this in each of the big rides that had pictures, but then he'd beg to go on it again.
Here is Marisa with Stratton. I crack up laughing every time I see it. She was trying to keep him dry obviously, but ended up stretching it a little tight.
One last photo before leaving!
We had a great time!
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