Another Successful Day at Disneyland!

Last week my sister Amy and her kids came to visit from Arizona. Of course, we went to Disneyland! It was so much fun as always and the kids were at their cutest! Here are some fun pictures from the day:

Grandma bought Owen a cute Mickey Mouse beanie. He looked adorable!
Here is Owen and Minnie Mouse. During a one hour span, I think we saw every disney character out there. Owen loved meeting them all. He would laugh and laugh!
Here is Payton with Chip, or is it Dale?
Amy, Payton, and Owen with Pluto. What a cute family!!
Owen loved to touch Pluto's nose. He wouldn't stop laughing!
Here is Grandma with Payton and Owen while we were sitting on the train in Disneyland.

Payton and I on the train. She is wearing my dance costume from when I was on the drill team in high school. I can't believe I actually wore that! It looked like it is supposed to be worn by someone Payton's size.

We took Payton and Owen on Pirates of the Carribean. Payton was a little nervous but after it was over, I think she had a great time. We heard her singing "Yo ho Yo ho" in the garage the next day. Owen had no idea what was going on, as you can see in this picture!

What a fun trip! I can't wait til next time!

Lillian Blessing in Arizona!

This past weekend we drove to Arizona so we could be there when Lilian was blessed by her father in church. It was so much fun to be spend some time with Travis' family and also with Shaun's family. Saturday, I got to play Martha Stewart and I attempted to be creative making this awesome fall wreath that Barbara bought the supplies for. I wish I had pictures, because I thought they all turned out really good! Saturday night we went to P.F. Changs which was was much fun because all of the Condies had never been there before. In fact, Whitney (future member of the Condie Clan) had never even eaten Chinese Food! They all loved it!

Sunday was the blessing and it was a very touching experience. Lilian is a little angel and she is very deserving of Heavenly Father's blessings.

Here are some pictures from Sunday:

Here is the whole clan. Starting from the left: Andy (Shaun's sister), Me, Travis, Shaun, Charlotte (she is hiding her cute face!), Lilian, Teagan, Barbara, Morris, Chris (Shaun's brother), Whitney (Chris' fiancee), Linda and Tom (Shaun's parents). What a group we are! Thanks for putting up with us!
What an adorable family! I can't believe that when I met you both, you didn't have any kids! Wow, how time flies!
Teagan is a beautiful mom! Lilian is so lucky to have been born to such wonderful parents.
Here is the little angel, Lillian, sleeping.
We have so much fun everytime we come down to visit with Shaun and Teagan. I wish we lived closer so that we could spend more time with you both!
Thanks Barbara and Morris for letting us stay! We had such a great time and we loved every moment that we spent with you two. We can't wait to come back and see you at Thanksgiving.

Well, all in all, it was a very sucessful blessing weekend! I wonder when we will be doing this again.... :)

Happy Birthday!!

I have to post this a day early because I won't be able to post it tomorrow so forgive me.

November 2nd is both my brother's 17th birthday and my brother-in-law Shaun's birthday! Happy birthday to the both of you!

Here is a look back on the last few years of my brother's life. It was so much fun to look back on all of the pictures I have taken! I can only go back as far as my digital camera, but my brother was 12 in this first picture, so it is amazing to see how much he changed!

Here Tyler is when we went to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in front of a cannon. He was so much fun on these trips because he always thought that things like this were so cool. He always wanted me to take pictures of him in front of them. It was adorable and I loved it!
Just a year went by and suddenly he is all thugged out! Can you believe it?! This is that following summer at Lake Powell, he looks so grown up!
Here is Tyler and I at the Palace of Versailles in France. This was back in the day when he was rooting for BYU. My how things change!
Here is first time uncle Tyler holding Payton just days after she was born in 2004. Payton and Tyler have always had a special bond. Payton loves her Uncle Tyler and Tyler just lights up when she is around.
And here they are together just three years later!

Happy Birthday Tyler! We are so lucky to have you as part of our family and our lives just wouldn't be the same without you! I can't believe how fast 17 years have gone by. Thanks for being so special!

And now, Happy Birthday Shaun! Sorry, I can't show pictures through the years because I just don't seem to have too many of you!! I guess I need to start taking more pictures!

Here is Shaun, Teagan, and Charlotte during Thanksgiving 2006 on our fun boat ride.

Happy Birthday Shaun! Everytime we come to Arizona, it is so much fun to spend time with you and Teagan. Travis and I are just so glad that someone besides us will share in our obsession with Harry Potter! :)

Homecoming Dance

Two weeks ago, my brother went to the Homcoming Dance with a very nice girl named Cheryl. My mom was out of town, so I was lucky enough to take pictures!

Here is Tyler and Cheryl. Don't they look adorable together! I love the way her dress matches his tie. It was perfect!
Here is Tyler the stud. He looked so handsome all dressed up. Definitely the best looking guy out the bunch.
Here is Tyler, Cheryl, Tyler's friend Jerica and her date (sorry, I can't remember his name!) They all match so nicely, don't they?
Here is Tyler and Cheryl with two of their friends that weren't going to the dance. They were wishing they were the lucky ones that got to go with Tyler!
Here is everyone in the group. They took a RV to the dance, had dinner at Ruby's, and they went bowling afterwards. I know that Tyler had an amazing time!

Great Picture

Well, things are starting to settle down all around Southern California, thankfully. The fires are still raging here in Orange County, but the firefighters are doing an amazing job of keeping it away from homes. Hopefully things will keep improving. I wanted to share this awesome picture with everyone. I don't know if everyone that is outside of California have been able to see all of the amazing pictures that we have seen. This is a satellite image of the coast of California and it shows all of the smoke that is coming from all these different fires. It has traveled hundreds of miles out into the ocean! I just think this is an amazing picture and it just shows how serious these fires are and it seems like the entire southland is on fire! Unfortunately, we hear that the winds are changing and all of that smoke is going to travel back to us and onto Arizona! We just can't wait to breathe some fresh air!

Santiago Fires

Wow, so it has been a very interesting weekend! On Sunday, Travis and I went over to my parents house for our usual Sunday dinner, we stayed til about 8:30 and proceeded to drive home. We get on the freeway and we take the bypass that goes to our apartment, look to our right and see an incredible wildfire that is awfully close to homes right on the edge of Irvine, about two miles from where we live. It was the most amazing sight I have ever seen and we had no idea that this was going on. So, what did we do? We drove as close as we could get to the fires, naturally! :) We got down to Irvine Blvd which was the border of where they were letting people go and parked on the side of the road and watched the fire blaze for a little while. It was dark, so we had no idea how close it was to homes and how bad it was, but the ash was overwhelming and we finally had to get out of there. Here are a couple of pictures from our experience:

This was the best my camera could do which, of course, is awful and does it no justice whatsoever.

This is a picture we found on the internet which is the exact spot where we parked on the side of the road to see the fire. Isn't it amazing!?

This is the next morning. Travis and I both had work off so we slept in and then came outside to this. Our apartment building looks like it is on fire but it isn't. I love this picture because it shows the blue sky and the gross clouds of smoke that seemed to consume us!

This is a field that is right near our building. This is the air that we had to breath all day today.

If you haven't heard, Southern California is almost completely on fire. There are more than 12 fires going on at one time and Gov. Shwazzenager declared a state of emergency. We are luckily safe and don't have to worry about losing our homes but some people are not so lucky. In San Diego over 500 homes have been destroyed and even our friend Dan and Liz had to evacuated their home. Our prayers go out to all those who are homeless or who are in danger of losing their homes.

Visiting with Baby Ethan

On Tuesday, my good friend Brandi gave birth to her second son, Ethan and we were lucky enough to go visit her and meet him for the first time. I love holding newborn babies, especially ones as cute as little Ethan. Here are some pictures from that day:

Here is Travis holding Ethan. He was just so adorable, just sleeping like an angel!
Here I am holding Ethan. I wanted to take him home with me! :)
Here is Travis holding Brandi's other son Hunter. Hunter already loves his new little brother!
Here is my other good friend Emily holding Ethan. She just became a first time auntie herself!