It has been nearly a year...

...since our last "blog" post.  Life is going well.  This is a short post.

Johnathan is, well. "Fat."

Don't worry, this isn't Jannene typing. This time it is Johnathan. And if you really know us... you know that the time stamp of this post alone would tell you that Jannene isn't typing it.

With that said, kids are happy, healthy, strong. All is well.

Why this post. Because Johnathan is "Fat." And he is about to do something about it. www.84lbs84days.blogspot.com

Come see... follow. Share. Engage. Support. Time to get "ME" back.

That is all (for now).

Life is wonderful! Time flies as we live our lives... We can hardly believe that Ella just turned one and Connor is coming up on three!

We visited the Wildlife Safari on Ella's First Birthday.

Between the animals, the butterflies and feeding the birds some nectar...

we had a fabulous time!

As you can see...

Ella had a blast!  She is very happy to be... ONE!

A few weeks before Ella's birthday Jannene saw a Hugs and Stitches Theme cake and wanted to try to make it. She wasn't sure if she could do it and considered having the cake made.  After a few minutes (Jannene says; "it was more like an hour.") of talking to the staff at the bakery Jannene was fairly confident that she could make it herself.  After purchasing some fondant frosting, food coloring and getting some other supplies...

 

The cake making had commenced.  From beginning to end, everything was done... by hand, with love of course. Jannene started with dying the fondant frosting each of the colors that she wanted while Johnathan started on the frosting.  The bakery had butter cream frosting that Jannene really wanted.  However, Johnathan really wanted to avoid using frosting with high fructose corn syrup in it so he offered to make it himself.  Jannene was very reluctant at first, as she really liked the taste of the frosting at the bakery.  After talking to one of the staff at the bakery Johnathan acquired a recipe and set out to make the butter cream frosting... from scratch! He had "permission" from Jannene so long as it tasted "the same as the bakery's." The frosting had to be made as soon as they got home as if it flopped, Johnathan would have been driving back to the bakery to get the good stuff.  To all of their surprise (except for Johnathan's of course)... the frosting was excellent! Jannene said the frosting tasted JUST as good or BETTER than what they tasted at the bakery!

Jannene made the main cake while Johnathan made a personal size butterfly for Ella... which is what she was given to dive into on her birthday.

Yummmm.... Ella had a great time!  A lot of friends and family were there to celebrate her special day! Which was a fun filled day for sure! :-)

Some Random photos: Top left: Connor climbed into Ella's crib.  He wanted to sleep next to his sister.

Top Right: Jannene loves putting bows and things in Ella's hair.  This cute picture was taken BEFORE Ella removed it.

Bottom Left: Connor is a happy and little boy and is growing up so fast!

Bottom Right: Connor and Ella ran into Pluto at Disneyland! As you can see... they liked him.

Easter this year was a fun one. We spent time with Grandpas Dave, Dennis, Jan and Grandmas Lois, Lu and Cheryl. All of which had a great time with the kids! Above is just a sample of the photos, as tons were taken.

Top Left and Right: Ella found her first egg. And discovered it well.

Bottom Left: Jannene, Connor and Ella all dove into a Lightening McQueen "egg" that Connor found. 

Bottom Right: Connor discovered chocolate bunnies and chocolate carrots.

It has been weeks since Easter and the funny thing is Connor now frequently asks for carrots.  However, he wants the chocolate carrots, not the real ones.

We'll wrap up this post here and will try to post more frequently.

We've heard it said before that "no news is good news." Our six months between posts is longer than we would have liked, but all is going well.

A Nice Surprise!

My sweet wife gave me an almost equally sweet of a surprise the other day. I left for the Priesthood Session and she, took the kids to get photos.  Ella was a day or so away from being six months old and Connor just passed the twenty-seven month mark.  Jannene had been talking about taking the kids in for a while, however one thing or another always came up.  When I left she said she thought, "What to do? What to do?  I could go to the mall. Oh, pictures!  I can take the kids to get pictures done!" And just like that she decided that it was the time to go.  By the time I got home that evening Jannene had added to the surprise by switching around the pictures in the frame that we had filled with just Connor that hangs in the front room, with photos of both of our children.  She did a wonderful job!  Below are some of the images that were taken.  Enjoy.  :)

Thank you Sweet Wife!  I appreciate this and the effort you took to make this happen. ~Johnathan

Six months already.

It is amazing!  Time flies!  The little one is six months old.  The times with her have been and are wonderful.  She is "sugar and spice" and "all girl."  From her little smiles to her amazing lungs that let you know if she isn't happy, we love everything about her.  The return policy is officially over, there's no returning her now.  Not that we would if we could, but for sure, six months is a bit beyond most stores return policies.

We love our little ones!  Connor is amazing with his sister.  However, at almost 2 1/2, "No! Connor's!" Does come out of his mouth at times.  Usually when someone has something he wants.  At times, this includes when Ella touches his elbow, a toy or something that he has determined is his.  For the most part however, "No! Connor's!" is pretty rare.  He gets excited when he sees Ella move around and wiggle.  It looks like he can hardly wait for her to join him in all the games, trains and fun times.

While at Disneyland last time Johnathan went and got Chinese from the California Adventure side of Disneyland while Jannene took the kids over to the Dumbo ride. These photos were taken as Johnathan happened upon his little family.  He didn't know that Jannene and the kids were actually on the ride when he walked up.

Connor: "Daddy! Daddy!" After Johnathan scooped him up Connor turned to the ride, "DUMBO!"

After watching "Dumbo" a few times at the house, we decided to introduce Connor and Ella to Dumbo in all of Disneyland's glory... after this ride came the train ride! Connor didn't want to get in the animal cage cars, so we rode in the second to last car.  One of these days we might ride in the tiger or monkey car.

Mickey, Minnie and Goofy all Dressed up for Halloween!

We took the kids to Disneyland the other day, where we ran into Mickey, Minnie and Goofy!
Here are some fun pics, as Disneyland is all geared up for Halloween.

Minnie Mouse was delighted to spend time with Ella! She probably spent 5 minutes with Ella.  Instead of the help asking the guests to allow the next visitor to have a turn, the "help" was trying to remind Minnie that there were other guests in line too.  It was very fun to see!  Ella kept attacking and sucking on Minnie's nose (like a huge pacifier)! It was hilarious!

A little family shot.

Watching fireworks with Mommy!

Ella was already asleep by the time we found Mickey... Mickey still took a photo with her (see below).

Mickey and Ella

Connor found Goofy's skeleton costume to be interesting.

And of course... at the end of the day, both kids fall asleep. :-)