Part 2 of one busy day!

After a little nap we were ready for round two.

Eric had jury duty today so he got home a little early. He was a little sad he didn't get picked for a jury, and I was just really glad he didn't end up on the Phil Specter trial.

After dinner we headed out for a quick trip to the farmers market, and the city "Spooktacular" Halloween party. We had a little bit of a rough start, but finally got on the road. Gretta told me that she was scared to go to the Halloween party. We told her we would protect her, and if it was to scary we could come home. She recently has become scared of the dark, and now is scared of a lot of other things too.

However, once we got there she had a great time, and didn't find it scary at all, but she wouldn't put on her Halloween costume. What 2 year old doesn't want to wear her Snow White dress? Oh well. We still had a great time anyway. Showing off all of her treats.

Climbing all the way up the bouncer all by herself with no fear.

An action shot.

What a fun party!

One fun busy day

This morning Gretta went to preschool. She LOVES preschool. I am so glad that she enjoys it, and has such a good time. She always has a pile of art work to bring home, and sandy socks and shoes, so I am sure she is having a great time. Today they went on a pumpkin hunt and then colored the pumpkins. It looked like a fun day. After preschool we went to Kidspace with some of our friends. It was such a wonderful fall day at Kidspace. We haven't been there for months! Last spring I was tired of all school groups and crowds, and then it was just to hard for me to take two kids this summer. Today was wonderful! No crowds, a fun fall hay maze, and friends. It was wonderful! I am ready to head back again soon before our pass expires.

Sarah's friend from school, Sarah Smith, Tyler Shek and Gretta
Gretta and Tyler

Gretta doesn't like the way the hay feels, so I couldn't get her to sit on the hay bale.

"Cheese"

Exploring

Painting. However her favorite activity at this station it to pour out all of the paint in the cups.

Playing with water.

What a great life!

Descanso Garden Parent Ed Field Trip

I was really excited to go to Descanso Garden for Gretta's PCC Parent Ed field trip today. A few years ago we took our Christmas card photo at the pumpkin patch they have set up by the entrance. I was hoping to get some good photo today, so I dress both girls in their denim dresses. However it didn't turn out as expected. First the pumpkin patch wasn't nearly as cool as before, second I couldn't get Gretta to take off her Halloween Costume, and third Eliza was a sleep most of the time, and I just couldn't wake her up because she always gets woken up. Plus I couldn't get Gretta to even sit by the pumpkins. Oh well. I guess we will have to get some cute pictures of them together some other time. We still had a fun time.

Here is Eliza a sleep in the stroller.

Here is Gretta in her Snow White Dress

Gretta and two of her friends Rebecca and Ray in the Secret Garden Maze.

What a beautiful princess!

Overall we had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful gardens and a nice fall day in LA.

Eliza's 6 1/2 month well check

Eliza had her 6 1/2 month well check up today.

Here are her stats
weight 18.5 lbs 80% percentile
height 27 inches 80% percentile
head circumference 23.5 cm 60% percentile

Here are some of her tricks:
Sitting up on her own
moving one object from one hand to another
putting EVERYTHING in her mouth

working hard on getting teeth

rolling both directions

Eliza,

You are such a happy delightful child. We are so happy to have you in our family. We love you!

Love,

Mom

Eliza starts solid foods

"Come on Mom! I am starving, and that looks good."

Eliza enjoyed her first meal of rice cereal and bananas yesterday and LOVED IT!

I have been putting off starting solid foods with Eliza. I just remember it being so much work with Gretta and a lot of mess, so I figured I would wait until Eliza was really ready. Well after a few weeks of acting really interested in our food, and my mom giving her rice cereal while she was baby sitting her last week I finally gave in. Our first few attempts have been very successful.

Tonight she at peas without even thinking twice about it. I hope she will keep liking vegetables. Doesn't she look big in the high chair? Our baby is growing up way to fast!

Our Trip to Utah

We had a fun trip to Utah from October 22-26th.

When the trip was first planned months ago Gretta, Eliza and I were originally going to tag along on Eric's business trip to recruit at BYU, and make a BYU weekend out of it by seeing Darron and Brittany who are currently going to BYU, but the weekend turned into a whole lot more. After the trip was planned we found out that my high school and good family friend, Whitney Klomp, was going to be getting married in Sundance on Oct 25th to Thomas Gourley. So with this new development my mom and dad also decided to come down to Utah for the weekend, and my mom was able to get a good deal at her Marriott time share in Park City. It turned into a really fun filled friends and family weekend.

When we were getting ready to leave I asked Eric if I should bring my big black winter coat. He told me that it was to big, and I should be okay in a sweatshirt. He was WRONG!!! I should have known better and checked the weather myself. When we got off the plane it was only 40 degrees in Utah. Luckily I packed better for the kids than I did for myself, and they stayed pretty warm. Also lucky for me we actually brought Darron up his winter coat, so I borrowed it the first night we were in town until my mom showed up with another coat for me. Other than being cold it was nice to see some fall leaves, and have it actually feel like October. I think this October was the hottest October in LA's history. Utah is also so beautiful! The mountains are so grand and majestic and the air is so clean. It is always fun to go to Utah and remember the good times I spent there. I figured out I lived in Utah for 5 years.
Here is a recap of our fun weekend. I don't have as many pictures as I would like because my camera died on day two of our trip. I just ordered a new battery for the camera so hopefully that will solve the problem.

Wednesday...
Arrival
Dinner with Brittany at Thai Ruby a favorite restaurant of mine while I lived in Provo. Gretta especially enjoyed the egg rolls.
Then we went with Brittany to a new ice cream/cookie place called Smart Cookie for dessert.
After dessert we went back to Brittany's dorm room for a tour, and met her roommate, and some of her dorm mates.
We left Gretta and Eliza with them for a while when Eric and I went to Darron's flag football game. It was just too cold to take them outside. Eric and I tried to stay warm at Darron's game. They lost in the last few seconds which was sad, but Darron did a good job. It was fun to watch him play.
When we returned to pick up the girls we found out what a fun time Gretta had with Aunt Brittany. She told me she wanted to go to college NOW and skip preschool. Brittany and her friends had been so nice to her, and Gretta had a ball running around the dorm. They played games with her, and took her to frost cookies at the dorm activity.
It was a fun first day in Utah.

Aunt Brittany feeding Eliza

Gretta and Aunt Brittany at dinner. Don't they look like twins.

Picture of Brittany taken by Gretta.

Thursday....

In the morning we meet my friend Amanda Lewis from nursing school at her house. Amanda and I graduated from nursing school together twice. Once with our BSN's, and then also with our Masters program. Amanda and I got to be good friends during our Master's program, and spent a lot of hours studying together. I also travelled to Ecuador with Amanda and her husband Chris. They are two of the greatest people you will ever meet. Amanda and Chris have a darling boy named Bryant. Gretta enjoyed playing with him. We took a great walk along the Provo River Trail. I spent many hours roller blading the trail with my roommate Mary while I lived in Provo. It was so beautiful with all of the fall leaves.

Amanda, Bryant, Gretchen, Eliza & Gretta

Thursday afternoon my mom and dad came into town and picked up the kids and took them to Park City. Eric and I enjoyed a nice dinner with Darron, and then some time alone.

Friday....

Gretta and Eliza had a GREAT time with Nana and Pops. Gretta only asked for me once at bedtime, and other than that she LOVED being spoiled by Nana and Pops. They went to Hogel zoo and played at the Condo.

Friday morning I went up on Campus and visited all of my old nursing teachers. It was fun to catch up with them. Then after lunch at Cafe Rio I went up to the Salt Lake Temple with Millicent Carrasco for Whitney and Tom's sealing. It was good to catch up with Millicent.

The Salt Lake Temple is beautiful, and it was a beautiful fall day. The sealing was very lovely.

Friday night Eric and I went to dinner at his cousin's Jerry and Breanne's house. Jerry and Breanne are expecting a baby in April. We are so excited for another Fors cousin. We just wished they lived closer. We had a nice dinner with them.

Then we went to Tom & Whitney's dessert reception. I had a nice chat with Tom's dad and found out he grew up in Arcadia really close to where we live now, and had some great stories about the area, and knew some of the same people we knew. It is such a small world.
Then we drove to Park City. Can you say tired! It was a long day.

Saturday morning Eric, my dad and I went to Heber to see Scott and Jamie Smith. Scott is a college friend of mine and Anna's. It was fun to see their new house and meet their new son Stephen. He is 9 months old and darling. He has so much hair!!! He has already had three hair cuts and Eliza hasn't had one. Oh well. They made us great sour dough pancakes, and we had a good chat. Then Eric, and my dad headed to the BYU vs UNLV game. Go BYU!!!I was just to tired to go. I headed back to Park City and hung out with Gretta at the condo. We went to the fun play place, and made railroad tracks with blocks.

Saturday night we dropped Gretta and Eliza off at Eric's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Spencer's house, and then headed to Whitney's wedding reception. Gretta was excited to see that Debbie had a fun slide in her back yard and to play with O'Dell. O'Dell use to live with Lindsey down here in LA, so Gretta had meet O'Dell before. They had a great time with the VanLeuuweens while we had a great time up at Sundance.

Whitney's wedding was over the top!!! Whitney has always been a great party planner. She is very detailed orientated, and has great style. It was defiantly an affair to remember. She looked beautiful! Her dress was amazing, and every detail was just perfect. It was such a fun evening.

Sunday....

We headed back to LA after a fun filled weekend. I was tired, but we had a great time. The weather was beautiful, we saw lots of fun friends, family and made some good memories. We also have many friends we didn't have time to see. Hopefully we will be back in Utah sometime soon. It is always so much fun!!!

Thanks Mom & Dad for coming and making the trip even more fun. Gretta and Eliza sure had a great time with you.

Gretta and Eliza with Nana

Pops and Gretta

Nana and Gretta

Nana, Eliza, Gretta and Pops

Nana, Eliza, and Gretta

Nana, Eliza, Gretta and Pops

Playing at the MAZE and having a great time!!!

Poor Eliza!

Fall Family Dinner

We went to the Fall Family Dinner at Gretta's preschool.

The preschool director, Sheri, made a point of inviting Linda to come one day when she was dropping off Gretta, so since they invited the whole family we all went there instead of Sunday dinner at the Fors. Gretta had a great showing the whole family her school. I also found out why Gretta's socks came back wet and sandy ever day. They have two big playgrounds for the kids to play on. One of the playgrounds a two big mud/sand water holes. We had a nice time meeting some of the other families of Gretta's school mates.

Making cupcakes with sand.
Eliza enjoying a nap while being held by Papa Dennis.

Eliza with Uncle Rodrigo

Aunt Allison helping Gretta with one of the crafts.

What it would be like to have a backyard???

Our friends the Wardels invited us over of a Halloween pumpkin carving party this weekend. The Wardels use to live in our ward, but have moved to Burbank about 2 years ago. We had a great time and Gretta especially enjoyed their backyard. Oh it would be so nice to have a backyard. I guess one can wish.

Gretta with Ryan on the swings

This is sure fun!!!

Disneyland with Misty

My mission companion Misty Berry came to town to bring her kids to Disneyland, and we went to see them. If you ever come to Disneyland let us know and we will come see you too. We love any excuse to go to Disneyland. It was especially fun to see Misty. Gretta loved playing with Briel. It is to bad they live so far away. Gretta, Gretchen, Misty, Micah and Briel




Briel and Gretta

Misty's mom, Megan (Misty's sister), and Briel on the new Toy Story ride.

Gretta on Toy Story

She is a super star!!!

Karen (Misty's friend from Texas), Misty, Gretchen and our kids.

Gretta with her treat on the way out. Just love the blue lips!

After we said goodbye to Misty and her family we went to the parade. Gretta has never been to the parade before. She LOVED IT. I had her on my shoulders, and she was trying to dance on my shoulders. Her favorite part was the princesses.

We sure had a great day!!! Thanks Misty for coming to town. Come back soon!!!