Visiting Family and California!

Since Jake has been out of school and hasn't started work yet, we have been able to play this month! Last week we drove up to Fairfield, CA to visit Josh and Jenni! They are such great hosts. We had a blast hanging out with them! While we were there, the kids played nonstop and we visited some fun places. We went to the park one day, to San Francisco one day, celebrated the boy's birthdays and went to church another day, Jenni and I went to a girls night dinner for baby on the way, and we got away without kids one night to shop at the outlet mall and watch a movie. So fun! Oh!... and we went on a tour of the Jelly Belly factory while there. I had no idea Jelly Bellys were made in Fairfield. Needless to say, I ate WAY too many of them. They are so good! It was interesting to see where and how they are made!
San Francisco is such a fun city. Here we all are!
(Ella is sleeping on my shoulder, and you can't see Austin's cute face, but we're all here! )

Pier 39! Checking out the Sea Lions...

Jake, Ella, and I went on an Alcatraz tour while Luke hung out with Caden and Austin. Here's The Rock...

Pics from the boat...

At Alcatraz!

Cool wildlife and flowers on the island... I thought it would be all ugly and prison-ish...

We had to make a stop at Ghirardelli for ice cream and chocolate! We also ate at Boudin's Bistro. Yum!!

Jelly Belly Factory!

We were there for Austin's birthday! Jenni got he and Luke a cute Cars cake and they both blew out candles since they are just 2 days apart in age.

All the kids before we left.
Thanks guys for a great time!

Disneyland!

After leaving Josh and Jenni's house, we drove down to Anaheim to spend a couple of days at Disneyland! Our little guy turned 3 while we were there, and got to party hard! (And we didn't have to pay for admission for him since it was his birthday! Woo hoo!) Jenni told us about the free passes for military, so we wanted to take advantage of Jake getting in for free too. Can't beat free admission tickets! Here's Mr. Luke the morning of his birthday... so excited to go to Disneyland AND officially 3 years old.
The whole fam!

I was surprised how many rides Luke was old enough to ride! And, how many things I could take Ella on too. The Matterhorn and a couple of the 3D movies spooked Luke, but he really liked the rest.

We liked the bugs life section of California Adventure (Except for the creepy It's Tough To Be a Bug 4D show! Really- way to scary for little kids.)

The Nemo Submarine Voyage was a big hit ...

Pluto snuck up on Luke while we were waiting in line for Playhouse Disney Live, and Luke was NOT a fan of him. I asked him later why he didn't like Pluto and he said "I didn't want him to lick me." I guess some dogs do lick. I don't like that either.

Luke wanted to show Buzz his Mickey ears...
The Pixar Parade!

Ella!
Luke kept getting in trouble for running away from us and messing around in lines. The kid couldn't keep still! Here he is running through the park with Jake.

The Electrical Parade!

Fun trip! We crammed a lot into our two days at Disney, and had a fun time. I want to go back already!

We're Here!

We're alive! Getting used to our new spot, and almost all done unpacking. We pulled up to the house last Tuesday and have been busy getting everything in order since then! Calling utility companies to set stuff up... running errands around town... all the moving chores. Can't wait to be totally done with all the 'moving in' stuff! So, here's the house we're in for the next year. We are liking it so far!

I'm trying to decide if it's worth the time to paint this entry room since we'll just be here for a year. Luke thinks the green should stay. The rest of the house is pretty neutral... why did they have to do this room green? Haha. Makes a good picture background though.

Jake's dream came true this past week. He got a BIG T.V. and LOTS OF CHANNELS. I hope I still see him once in a while between sports games ;)

We went down to the strip to check out a few things. I want the wall of M&Ms from M&M world in my house! The colors are so cute! Oh, and if you do go to M&M World, don't waste your time on the movie. The 3D isn't really working and you will go cross-eyed trying to watch it and make it work!

Fountains at the Bellagio!
Goodbye to all the Tex-Mex... HELLO to In-N-Out... Jamba... and Cafe Rio!

It was my birthday this past weekend! I'm 25 now. Holy crap. Sounds old to me, and I don't like it yet! Anyway, to celebrate, Jake took me to Paris...

Then we flew to New York...

Well, I can dream right? Anyway, we had fun on the strip this weekend. What do you like to do in Vegas?

Oh, and back to my birthday... it was a good weekend, despite being old now. Jake watched the kids while I took a looong nap, I ate lots of ice cream, talked on the phone to family and friends, and we got to go to our new ward. I think it's going to be a fun one!

Water Fight!

We stopped in Mesa for a couple of days before making the rest of the long road trip here, and Luke had a blast getting my mom soaked one morning. She got him back pretty good though with a dunk in the pool! I went outside and they were both laughing their heads off. Too funny!

A Few Things Before We Left...

Jake's parents stayed for a few days after graduation to watch Aaron and Kristen's kiddos, so we went down to the riverwalk for one last downtown hurrah. We also hit up the zoo another day. Luke had fun hanging out with his cousins and grandparents! I love this picture of him and Lily. She is the boss, and he loves to follow her around. They ran around holding hands a lot of the time. Cutie.
A few from the train/zoo!

Riverwalk/Alamo! We had gone downtown quite a bit when we lived in S.A, but never did a riverboat tour until now. I think the city is prettier from the water!

Goodbye San Antonio!

You've been good to us!

We have so many memories here. I don't know where to start.

I will just make it simple by saying that this is the where our family has grown from two to four, and we have all learned a lot from being here. It's been a good 4 years! I wonder what we'll be doing in 4 more!

Here we come Vegas!

Dental School Graduation!

Saturday was Jake's dental school graduation! Woo hoo! He passed the WREB (western regional board exam) and now has an official DDS diploma. I'm so proud of him! He has worked so hard over the past 4 years, and this day always seemed so far away. Yeah for being finished!! :) My mom and dad, and mom and dad Smith came into town for the graduation, and we've been having fun with them all here.
Yay, Jake!

Our little family and my mom and dad...

Jake and Aaron with Rick and Sherry. Now there are 4 dentists (in a few years 5!) in the family! Also, not many people get to go through dental school with their twin brother. How cool is that!?

Aaron and Kristen and their cute family... we are going to miss having family living around the corner from us! Congrats Aaron! They are off to Maryland for his AEGD soon.

More random graduation pics...

After the graduation, we all headed over to ChaCho's for some TEx-Mex!

Great food. Great day.

OuR LaSt PaRtY HeRe.

Our friends came over on Friday night for one last get together before some of us move away! Luke had been wanting a birthday party for as long as I can remember, so since his little buddies were coming over, we had an early birthday bash for him too. We chowed down on pizza (thanks to everyone that helped cook the pizzas, btw!) and had fun chatting. We were outside and the kids had started whacking the pinata when it started raining... so hard! Everyone had to rush into our little house and the kids finished the pinata in the living room. Crazy!! Haha. There were soo many bodies here! The kids ate their cupcakes in the garage since it was pouring rain outside and there were too many of them to keep track of in the house! (bright frosting on the furniture and carpet wouldn't be fun!) We're going to miss our friends when we move!

Luke wanted a bug party, so we had bug cupcakes and an inchworm cake.

Friends!...

Pinata! Oh, and cute little Kate with a pink frosting face :) I bought that lady bug pinata thinking I was going to paint it all black and make it into a beetle or roach (more boyish...) Anyway, I ran out of time and we ended up using just the girly lady bug. The boys liked hitting it anyway :)