Home Sweet Home

Since about February of this year my brothers and I had been planning a big 80th Surprise Party for my Dad. He's never had a surprise party and we figured his 80th was a good year to give him one. He's had some health scares this year and we've all been afraid a few times as well that this could be the last big year milestone that he could be with us, which is a scary and sad thought indeed. That being said, we wanted to throw him an awesome party. We hired a cowboy band, had cowboy decorations and awesome food (Justin smoked up some awesome pork and beef, the other siblings pitched in with cornbread, cowboy beans, Texas sheetcake, and homemade root beer. Cousins and friends also brought fruit and salad; it was a great spread!) We sent out over 100 invites, and probably had about 70 people show. My Uncle Dale had told me months ago that there was pretty much no way that we were going to be able to pull it off and keep it a surprise. He said, "Your Dad will find out. ...

Disneyland! During fall break Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth treated all of us to a three day trip to Disneyland. Justin and I didn't plan on taking the kids to Disneyland again until our youngest was old enough to  1. not need naps  2. not be in diapers  3. be tall enough to go on most/all of the rides 4. Not need a stroller   Luckily for our kids, they got this bonus trip from their grandparents, woo hoo! Most of us stayed a fairly cheap hotel off site, but we still got to enjoy a full day at Disneyland, a full day at California Adventure, and another half day at Disneyland. What a fun trip! We even had a suite at the hotel so the kids had their own room with bunk beds, which they thought was pretty exciting. Lately Brighton has been getting really scared of anything remotely scary. For example, this is his face on the SNOW WHITE'S SCARY ADVENTURE ride. Seriously? When he heard the name he was like "Mom is it scary?! What's it like Mom, I don't ...