Traveling and Easter

We had a nice, laid back Easter at the house. Ella enjoyed her first Easter basket although the "grass" annoyed her. She's still very comfortable crawling around with no interest in walking (except on her knees which must be less scary than the 4 inches higher she would be on her feet).



This bracelet was my mom's when she was a baby in Egypt!


Her hair is long enough for pigtails now.


Brad was nice enough to watch Ella and let me go to LA for the weekend before Easter to Claire's Bachelorette party. We had a great time and it was so nice flying all by myself! I missed them though and was happy to be back.

Ella was invited to Sarah's birthday party last month and had a great time on her first slide.


Now that the weather is not freezing (I was going to say warmer, but thought that didn't adequately describe it), we have tried to start doing a little hiking. This was taken on Goldhill.


Finally, my mom, Ella and I spent a week in Chicago for a seminar I had. We were able to see my friend Rachel and her family while we were there which was a lot of fun.






Whew, I think that gets us pretty much caught up. This week we head to LA again for the wedding and then to Phoenix for a week for work.

1 Year Pictures

I fianlly got around to making a trip down town to the cutest shop called Cabin Fever where I've been wanting to take Ella's picture. Cary, who works there is the best and let us have the run of the place. Of course being the amateur photographer that I am, I couldn't get my new flash to work so we had some light issues, but I snapped enough to get a few accidental good ones.








This is what poor Ella felt like by the end of it all

The Rest of February

We had a great weekend trip over President's Day weekend to see the Spruce Goose in McMinnville, Oregon. It was the first museum Brad and I voluntarily spent 10 hours in. We feel like such grown ups. They had lots of stuff for kids to do, an IMAX theater and a whole space museum. They were working on turning an old 747 into a big water slide park with a resort to go with it. Can't wait to go back in a couple years when Ella's a little older.




It was a huge plane! Brad, Hal and Mike paid a little extra to be able to crawl around the inside and take as many pictures as they wanted.


Here's Brad sitting in the same seat Howard Hughes sat in.


Ella had fun riding her first planes.




The next day we headed to Tillimook, Oregon and toured the cheese and ice cream factory. mmmm...


We had great weather this weekend and it was nice to spend some time outside. Ella was invited to her first birthday party for her friend Esther where she received her first slinky as a party favor which has kept her entertained all weekend.

Best Year Yet

I've had a pretty good life, and this last year with Ella and Brad has been the best so far. She turned one February 3rd and we celebrated with Uncle Mike and Uncle Hal. We ate pizza, cut the mullet and watched a movie I made summarizing her first year. Rather than throw a big party I made DVD's of the movie and sent them to family members with an invite to watch on her birthday.

The Cake (thanks to Marissa for the cake pan)


Enjoying the Cake





Here she is asking for more


And the Haircut. It was hard to cut it, I remember playing with it the first night after she was born to get her to go to sleep. She looks much better with it gone though.


Here's the link if the above doesn't work, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradandjen/4335679635/in/set-72157623243324953/

Christmas and the Domincan Republic

I figured this is my last chance to get a post in in January so it doesn't show up with a big fat "0" next to it. We had a fun trip from December 20th-January 15th to Phoenix -> Tucson -> Dominican Republic -> Tucson -> Phoenix.

Ella had fun on Christmas day opening presents.


She got a horse from Brad's parent's that she LOVES



On New Year's Eve we headed to the Dominican Republic to visit my brother and his family. It was such a fun trip! Every day was warm (although a little more humid than Arizona) and Scott and Ann had just moved in to their new mansion.

Ella had a great ride on the plane


My adorable niece and nephew playing in an old courtyard in the Colonial Zone


Ella had fun sightseeing on her dad's shoulders


We went out one night to a restraunt famous for it's women who dance on rum bottles.


We also spent one day at the beach in Santo Domingo


Where we had our own personal mall walking by all day. We ate coconuts, sugar cane, some sort of seafood and salsa, fried pork, Presidente, pina colada's (it 45 minutes to get, but it was worth the wait!) and cubra libra's (rum and coke). Needless to say, we didn't feel too well the rest of the day.

My handsome brother, Scott (eww, did I just say that?)




My dad bargaining for some Cuban cigars


My brother, Ethan about to enjoy his first cigar (the drink was just for looks)


Brad enjoying himself


Adeline showing off her new do


The next day we drove through the countryside to the north coast


We finally got all the cousins together and happy at the same time!



I tried to take some senior portraits of my brother, Ethan and learned some valuable photography lessons. First, I forgot to reset my ISO down from 1600 (so everything is grainy), second it is hard to get the focus just right when the AV is down to 1.8. Third, I need some sort of flash to help in lower light situations. Ohh well, next time...

Lemons

"Uncle Hal" brought us a bagful of lemons from California and Ella spent a good portion of the day playing with them yesterday.