disney bliss

in october, my parents took brandon and me on a pixar-themed disney cruise. after some debate, b and i made the decision to leave esme at home. she stayed with my sister’s family and we knew she would be in good hands. i think we had forgotten how wonderful travel can be without a child. don’t get me wrong, i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my baby girl, but a week without her was AMAZING.

we drove with my parents to california on saturday and boarded the disney wonder on sunday. it was 7 days of no worries. no toddler to run after, clean, and pacify. no meals to prepare, no dishes to do, no laundry to fold, no diapers to change, no groceries to buy, no 13-hour work days for brandon, (oh my gosh, i could go on and on).

our first day was at sea. we had breakfast with the disney characters, went to a movie (i think Brave), explored the ship, and of course stuffed our faces.

our first port was san francisco for 2 days. our first day we were able to visit the pixar studios and get a tour from my cousin, emma’s, husband. amazing! we of course stopped by china town and bought a week’s supply chinese candy. mmm. that evening we explored the island of alcatraz. creepy.

the next day, we were still in san francisco and were able to meet up with my cousin, joe, and his wife, liz. it was great to see them and their two adorable boys. we toured the __________. fascinating. it was a cargo ship that was on the shores of normandy just days after d-day. on our way back to the ship we stumbled across a shop that was jam-packed with old, antique carnival games. most of the games were in working condition and were hysterical to play, albeit a bit creepy.

the ship's engine room was insane. it seemed to go down forever. and a cool piece of info - it was used in the filming of the titanic. it has the same engine that the titanic did.

we played "i spy"... can you find us???

seriously creepy

that night, as our ship sailed out of the bay we wrapped up in blankets and braved the wind to watch the golden gate bridge pass over us and the city light fade into the distance.

the next morning we were in san diego where we spent the day at sea world.

the next day was another day at sea. so nice. brandon and i slept in. my favorite. we had brunch at the palo (the boat's "fancy" french restaurant) where we endulged, and discovered a new favorite... goat cheese and grape pizza. so good! who would have known. we also layed out by the pool, read, and watched another movie or two. that night was pirate night which included fireworks, a pool-side dance party and of course, more food.

our last port was ensanada, mexico. the armpit of mexico... actually worse than the armpit. not my favorite place to travel... and i love mexico and it's craziness.

The trip was amazing and much needed. Thanks to my parents for a fantastic week!

summer remembered... and recorded

i’m trying to get all caught up and so have spent the past week looking over our summer pictures, and oh, how i miss the warmth of the sun. don’t get me wrong, i love the holidays and even the snow… if only it could be warm. 

our summer was perfectly relaxing. we soaked in the sun at the pool. esme is scared of any water that reaches above her knees (shocker) but she LOVES splash pads and sprinklers, so that's where we spent most of our time. we celebrated the 4^th by running in the provo freedom run and stuffing our faces with some delicious bbq. the week of the 24^th, we went to the expo center and were awed with the glitter and confetti covered parade floats. we visited the zoo… twice. brandon and i played at lagoon and were reminded just how old and boring we are getting. for example, we didn't take a single picture. how lame are we? 

like all good things, our summer had to come to an end. in august, brandon started a new job at northstar alarms working in their i.t. department. he continues to work at costco at nights and on weekends. he stays very busy. ez and i are grateful that he’s willing to work so hard for our family, but hate how lonely our dinners have become. 

{water fun}

{days of 47}

{owls baseball game}

{garage sale}

side note: my family had a garage sale where we put out the old highchair. it didn't sell. {shocker} when it was time to pack it to d.i., my dad just couldn't part. being the sentimental man that he is he stated, "All of you girls sat in that chair!" my solution: take a picture and throw it out. so that's exactly what we did. 

{cousin twins}

{4th of july}

{this girly loves a good swing}

{...and a good book}

{movie night with cousins}

{demo-derby)

{31st birthday}

halloween

i am on a roll! my goal is to be caught up before december. it's possible.

halloween was bitter sweet this year. it was sweet in that esme caught on to dressing up and trick-or-treating (kind of). unfortunately brandon had to work so much that he didn't get to see her dress up once. and we dressed up 3 different nights. such is life, i guess. at least he is able to work and support our family. right?

ward trunk-or-treat

annual family halloween/grandpa's-birthday party.

our numbers were a little small this year. :(

yes, i was a big yellow banana.

 halloween night.

trick-or-treating with the cousins.

ezzy was terrified of EVERYTHING. 

this is as close as she would venture without me. sigh. 

what did i expect, she is my daughter after all.

so cautious!

going through her candy was by far her favorite part of halloween.i don't think she has ever scarfed down so much sugar. she was literally bouncing off the walls!

gangnam style

late again.

HOLY MOSES i haven't posted anything since july. and now it's november. ugh. i've been wanting to catch up but the thought is overwhelming. instead i've been avoiding this site as much as possible. but esme is growing and changing so much and i know i will regret not recording it. so here we go.

sunday mornings are always a little stressful for me. always have been, probably always will be. it seems like no matter how much time i give myself, or how much i prepare the night before, i'm always 5-10 minutes late. and it's not like we have 8:00 church, it doesn't start until 11:00! it drives brandon NUTS... (one of the many things he must put up with, i guess) 

well yesterday morning (sunday) i vowed we would make it to church on time. i prepared my sunbeam lesson the night before, esme's dress was laid out and her snacks and diapers were packed. we woke up early and even had time to scramble some eggs for breakfast. (usually i cram down a granola bar in the car WHILE applying mascara... talent) so 10:45 rolled around and we were just about ready; brandon was putting on his tie, i was finishing my make-up, ezzy was dressed and playing quietly in our closet. i was so proud of myself and told brandon "oh my gosh! we're totally going to be on time!" 

i spoke too soon. 

just then brandon looked over to see esme sitting on the ground with something red all over her hands. he rushed over and in her lap found a bottle of dark red nail polish... broken. brandon scooped up the pieces and asked me to check her hands for cuts. the polish looked just like blood but luckily her hands were fine. her dress and our carpet were not so lucky. it was a brand new SUPER cute dress too. ugh. 

brandon spent the next 15 minutes scrubbing his hands clean (they stayed a pretty shade of pink) and i cleaned up ezzy and attempted to clean the carpet. thankfully she didn't get it anywhere else. it would have been so easy for her to rub her red little fingers across our clothes and that would have been a disaster! 

ya, we were late for church... again.

dirty-thirty wipe-out

Brandon turned thirty last week. to celebrate we had a wipe-out themed party. each person had to run through a timed course and collect 4 flags. 

the course

first you had to go above...

or below... 

the monkey bars to retrieve the 1st flag while water-soaked balls were hurled from the side.
next, down the slide through wet, flying sponges.

then crab-walk through a pool of jello to pick up the 2nd flag. 

continue the crab-walk under the tramp and grab the 3rd flag while being sprayed with a hose.

next came the pudding covered slip-n-slide and swinging swim noodles.

through a couple of hoola-hoops... grab the 4th flag...

and finally a ring toss to try and deduct seconds off your final time.

and the winners were...
brandon for the men
millie for the women
ellery for the children

before....

and after...

we finished the day with some strawberry and strawberry rhubarb pie.  mmm. happy 30th old man!