It's a small world

Ella and William love this ride. William starts to dance as soon as he hears the music.

MVI 3395 from Laura R on Vimeo.

Home number 9

I like to keep a record of what each place we live looks like. I figured it was about time to post some pics of this one. It is crazy how many times we have moved!



Here are some of our other homes,

Number 8

Number 2

Sweet Pea

This may be my favorite video of the two of them yet.

MVI 3183 from Laura R on Vimeo.

Getting Ready for Vacation

We are going to Mammoth this week! Oh boy, I am so excited to escape to the mountains. Sometimes the city can be a bit suffocating. I made this cute skirt for Ella and her cousin to wear on the Fourth. Ella is so excited we had a little photo shoot.

This little guy is also eager to get out of here. Can a nine month old get colic? No?...Well it must be teething cause he cries all the day long. Though he is happy for a few minutes in this...

MVI 2704 from Laura R on Vimeo.

Now that we are settling in...

life is calming down. (Thank goodness) We are enjoying lazy days at the pool, trips to the park and playing games. Ella recently has been into playing UNO. She is quite good and wins her fair share of games.

William is as adorable as ever. He will be nine months next week. He hasn't started to crawl (yet) but he finds other ways to get around. Ella is learning that nothing is safe from his reaching fingers.

We LOVE our new apartment. I was (extremely) nervous about moving here. We live on the second floor of an enclosed building. We have a long walk to the car. We also do not have a washer and dryer in the apartment. I realize that for my CA friends no washer/dryer is no big deal, most people around here don't have one. But coming from our own house with a garage and backyard (and washer/dryer) I was really worried. The thing is, while we did have all those lovely things we didn't have our health, space (our house was 750 sq ft) or a real kitchen. This apartment is 1200 sq ft. Awesome right?! The kitchen is much more functional and easy to use (read: has a dishwasher and counters) We LOVE having a pool in the complex and swim almost every day. The thing about life is that it is never perfect. There is always some thing not to like. I am trying to embrace all the positive. (Except form the occasional grumble or two when hauling loads of laundry downstairs...no one's perfect right?)

Today we went to the Library and got our library cards. Ella received her very first card ever! She was so excited. The library is beautiful and we loved every minute of it. Lucky for us it is within walking distance so I am sure we will go there often.

Last night during scripture reading Charles asked Ella what "joy" was. She said, "Its when you have lots of kids and they love you!"

It really is.

Renter Beware!

So in case you haven't been following my posts on facebook... we moved. Why? Rats, mold. Unhealthy living situation. The good news is that as soon as we moved out of the house both our kids health dramatically improved. They both had been coughing and having cold like symptoms for months. We couldn't figure it out. While we were cleaning to leave I found pink mold all over. Turns out pink mold is bacterial mold which can cause infection. I had never seen it because it was up high and in cupboards I didn't use. We also found moisture on the screws when we took them out of the wall in the kids room leading me to believe that there is also mold in the wall. Yuck! The rat situation is just out of control. Three out of the six bungalows in the court have rat problems right now. This was our third major infestation, last time we caught three or four rats. This time only one that I know of so I am sure the others are still hanging out. I am starting to wonder if we ever did not have rats. When I found the rat droppings by the kids room that was it. We left and only went back to pack and clean up.


We went by the book and did the whole clean up and move out process because we wanted out deposit back. It was a very stressful time for both Charles and I. He was working 80 plus hours a week and I was trying to move and clean on my own. I couldn't handle it all so we dropped the charges of uninhabitable living conditions and just tried to get our deposit back. The jury is still out on whether or not we got it.


Anyways,I have been curious if they would put it right back on the market or try to fix the problem. Our lease ended a week and a half ago. Today I found this "$1650 / 2br - Charming Pasadena Bungalow! ★ Prime Location***Large Patio! (Pasadena)" They upped the rent by $100 a month. My guess is that there are still a million rat holes and still a lot of mold. Good luck to the next tenants. Sure it is a great location and we love/miss the backyard, but so not worth it. If I were you I would run far far away!

5 Months and Food

This boy loves bananas! Ella really gets a kick out of meal time.

MVI 2558 from Laura R on Vimeo.

This girl is four,

and so proud of it!

Four Years from Laura R on Vimeo.

Surprise!

We found out Charles would not be here n Ella's birthday so we threw her an impromptu surprise party. We sent her out to the coop to collect eggs. Inside the nesting box was an envelope with her name on it. She was so surprised to find it! She thought the chickens had sent her a secret message. She opened it to find a map of "lost things" (from the Tinkerbell movies, which she loves)We went around finding all the lost things and then ended in the dinning room where everyone popped out to surprise her. She had asked for a Tinkerbell cake, mostly because she wanted all the "friends" that came with it. She loved the cake and party. Success!

William's Baby Blessing

We choose to bless William December 30, 2012. It was a beautiful day. We loved that so many family members were able to make it!

New Years

My sister Elizabeth marched in the 2013 Pasadena Rose Parade. ( Go Davis Darts!) My family drove down from Utah to watch it. We conveniently live very near the parade route :) It was a bit packed. By the end 10 people (including us) were staying in our 750 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home. It actually worked out really well. It didn't feel all that crowded. We spent a lot of time outside building a loft bed for Ella. My Dad and brother worked night and day to get it done. It looks awesome and Ella loves it!

Christmas 2012

Just want to record some of our favorite Christmas moments. We enjoyed our first Christmas at home this year. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas morning on our own, then joined Charles family for Christmas dinner. It was really nice to make some new traditions. My favorite part was driving around to see Christmas lights with Ella. She was so excited for each new house! It is magical to see the world through her eyes.

Keepin' it real

Someday's are just good for reading and doing laundry. Seriously, I am never done with laundry. My sister pinned a quote this morning, "I am thankful for piles of laundry... it means that my loved ones are nearby." Good thought. It still takes me forever to fold.

I love that Ella reads to William!