Weekend in Eugene

We traveled to Eugene, Oregon to celebrate the upcoming wedding of David and Emily.  Emily's sister, Amy, and I planned a co-ed wedding shower remotely (her from the Philippines, me from Seattle) and we had a great time celebrating with David and Emily's friends and family in Eugene.  It was great to meet Emily's family and we can't wait to see them again in September for the wedding.  Ella was a trooper and did great during the long car rides there and back.  I'm pretty sure the hotel we stayed in was her Disneyland - what could be better than having Grandma and Grandpa Howell staying in the next room over, getting to ride in the elevators (and making a beeline for the buttons every time we got in the elevator resulting in her pressing the "emergency call" button once...oops), calling the front desk on the room phone over and over (oops again!), and swimming in the pool?  :)

 Our first stop on the trip down after an early morning start...Great Wolf Lodge.  Perfect place to give her breakfast and let her run around!

 Invites for the co-ed shower

 Desserts and drink table

 

 My favorite cupcakes made my Emma's Sweet Cakes!

 The cute couple...love you guys!

 Ella had to be in on all the gift opening action

 The Collins and Howells/Lamens

 The party planners :)

 We went out to see the gorgeous wedding venue and hiked to the top of Mt. Pisgah

 Beautiful view from the top!

Ella loves her Uncle "Ay-bid" and Auntie "Em-a-ee"

 Nakey dialing in the hotel...haha

 Ready for swimming!

 David gave us a tour of the U of O training facilities - loved getting to see where he's been spending so much time the past few years.

Sesame Street Live!

Even though Ella has only seen one or two Sesame Street shows on TV in her whole life, she is somewhat obsessed with the characters as she sees them in her books, coloring books, stickers, and stuffed animals.  She absolutely loves Elmo and Abby Cadabby.  While we knew she would be a little young for it, we took Ella to see Sesame Street Live when it came to the Comcast Arena.  I think she had a love/hate relationship with the show.  She LOVED playing in the "Play Zone" before the show and of course interacting with lots of other kids.  We had really close seats to the show, and although she was a little scared when the characters first came on the stage, she soon realized they were going to sing and dance and loved clapping along, pointing, waving at them and yelling loudly, "Hiiiii Abby! Hiiiii Elmo!"   However, she was NOT happy when her favorite characters left the stage (even for a few moments), and let everyone know about it with her tears :).  She also couldn't understand why she had to sit on our laps and wasn't able to run up to the stage to get a closer view of the characters.  Oh Ella, whether you are happy or sad, you certainly wear your emotions on your sleeve and let everyone know about it ;). 

Ella loves flipping through her little notepad of Sesame Street characters that I've drawn for her. I love how she pronounces some of their names :).

Mother's Day Weekend

We started out  Mother's Day weekend on Saturday with the "Free Them" 5k - a run/walk put on by World Concern (my mom's organization) to stop human trafficking.  It was a beautiful day for the race, the turnout was great, and it was fun to do the race with my family.

Mother's Day was wonderful.  Loved getting to sleep in.  Loved getting woken up by my sweet husband and daughter with gifts.  Loved getting to spend a relaxing morning with them having breakfast and going to the park.  Loved the sunshine.  Loved having dinner with my family at my parent's house.  I couldn't have asked for anything more!

I am so in love with this precious girl who made me a mama...best day of my life when she was born!

 So thankful for my wonderful mom and the close relationship we have.  And so thankful for the special relationship she has with Ella.

E hanging with daddy and Uncle Tom

 Very special to celebrate the day with three mamas - my mom, me, and my grandma

 What a beautiful evening it was!