Hello Mr. Governor

Saturday afternoon in Austin last weekend we had a few minutes free time in between the rehearsal and the wedding. The Murrells and us decided to take our babies to the capitol. Even though we got some of the most adorable pictures ever, it was accompanied by some guilt. Kristin had told all of us we should go to the capitol and take pictures of the babies Saturday morning after the babies wake up, but before their morning naps. A few of us in our group weren't real excited about running to the capitol at 8 in the morning and prefered to relax in their hotel room that morning because of all the crazy running around. So it didn't happen. When we did decide to go later that afternoon, our few minute break that we had landed right at Laney's nap time and they weren't able to go with us. Basically, I benefited from an excellent idea Kristin had and they weren't even able to join us. Why the guilt? I was one of those "few" that didn't want to go that early. So imagine cute little Laney in all of these cute pictures.

Blue and White Polka Dots

To Laura's rehearsal dinner, Ella wore this fabulous blue and white polka dot dress from Target! The dinner was at this amazing mexican restaurant called Serranos that the groom's family owns! It was excellent. I highly recommend this restaurant. It's kind of like Joe T's with the outside dining, but has a river running by it like the River Walk. They also did the food for the wedding. We ate very well last weekend.
































This is one of my favorite memories of the trip. Peter, Melissa and Joshua stayed right across the hall from us at our hotel. Saturday morning when we got up we opened the door to our hotel room and Peter opened the door to their hotel room. Joshua and Ella saw each other from the floor of their rooms, squealed with delight, crawled as fast as they could to each other and met in the hallway for some major play time. It is so fun to me that our babies, after a year full of playdates, are finally starting to remember each other and develop friendships.

AI Results

Blake is safe! Yay!
Lakisha is safe! Yay!
Phil is in the bottom 3. No!
Melinda is safe! Yay!
Chris R. is safe! Yay!
Sanjaya is in the bot...WHAT..is safe! WHAT?!!! Not again!! This is out of control!
Haley is in the bottom 3. Fine with me!
Jordin is safe! Yay!
Gina is safe! Yay!
Chris S. is in the bottom 3. Okay and I knew it.

So Chris S. is eliminated tonight all because he couldn't stay on beat. It's amazing how one bad performance can kick a person out, but many bad performances keeps a person in. Spinning out of control! The wheels have fallen off!

AI Top 10

We had some internet problems so I am just now getting to my review of last night's American Idol. It has been driving me crazy not to be able to talk about it until now.

I must start by saying I am now a Gwen fan! Love her! She is so cute. I thought everything she said last night was honest and to the point. She didn't sugar coat her thoughts!

Lakisha - She finally did an upbeat song and I loved it. The judges loved it. My only problem was that Ryan Star, season one, sang this same song and it was awful. I can't ever hear an AI contestant without cringing regardless of how good it is.

Chris S. - Definitely off beat like the judges said. It was a little painful listening while the whole time trying to coax him back on the right beat. He could be going home tonight.

Gina - LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! My favorite of the night. Her voice was so smooth and flawless, it reminded me of Kelly Clarkson who is my favorite American Idol of all time. I'm so happy for her.

Sanjaya - I just can't handle it. I can not handle it. The pony tail mohawk put me over the edge. I sat on my couch, mouth gaped, stunned! Like the judges said, there just isn't anything left to say. And he FORGOT his words. America voted off Brandon, who is far better, because he forgot his words. So this is our chance.

Haley - It was okay but "forgetable" as Simon said. I really think she is going to be in the bottom two tonight.

Phil - Another one I LOVED! He was great last night! I thought it was his best performance and he keeps getting better and better. The judges agree, they liked it as well.

Melinda - I was so excited she did an upbeat song! Flawless as usually. She looked great, oh, there's Sabrina in the audience. "I LOVE YOU SABRINA! YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE THE TOP 12!" Janelle yelled at her t.v.

Blake - Great job. It was a very unique arrangement and I loved it. The judges loved it. I've heard a rumor that there is a male diva this year who thinks he has this competition in the bag but nobody has said who it is.

Jordin - The judges loved this song, but I did not. Was it only me? I felt like there was some notes that were totally off and it definitely did not show off her voice. But she did say that she wanted to do something different and fun, so I guess she did what she wanted to do.

Chris R. - I love his style. Sure last night wasn't great, but he is such a cutey pie. The judges liked it and I hope he stays around for a few more weeks. I enjoy his performances.

Who needs to go? Duh.

Best of the night: It's a toss up between Gina and Melinda. I loved them equally.



DWTS

Paulina was eliminated last night off of Dancing With The Stars. I was in total agreeance of that. I would have prefered Shandy to leave this week, but Paulina wasn't that great. Totally and completely gorgeous and such a fun personality, but not that great of a dancer.

Wedding in Austin

We had such an amazing time in Austin! This was one of the coolest weddings I have ever been too. It was actually in Kyle, TX about 15 miles south of Austin at this place called Texas Old Town. It's kind of the old rustic ranch like look. The ceremony was outside and the weather could not have been more perfect! I soaked in every minute of this vacation with my husband and daughter. We had so much fun together. Heath and Ella got LOTS of daddy daughter time while I was off doing wedding stuff with the bride. There is something so sweet about seeing your baby love being with her daddy. The night of the wedding daddy was dressed in his suit and Ella was dressed in the cutest, most adorable frilly dress ever and they looked so cute together dancing and eating, I couldn't get enough of it.

Because we did so much, this is going to be one of those trips that I have to break into parts because I seriously took a hundred pictures of the weekend.

I have to start with the best, the wedding pictures, because I can't stand to keep them from you for another second.

DWTS

That is what my title will be for the Dancing With The Stars recaps. Creative huh? haha

Just a little recap..
Shandi, Clyde, Leeza, Paulina, and John are definitely the ones that are the most ackward and stiff. Somehow they need to loosen up. They definitely aren't horrible, but they are in the bottom according to, well, my opinion and the judges scores.

Apolo, Ian, Billy Ray, Heather, Laila and Joey are all almost tied as my favorite (of course Apolo is really my favorite)! They are all so good! And they are so entertaining! Each of them are funny and sweet. Billy Ray's pre-dance video was hilarious! However, they are last place with the judges scores. I need to get online and vote for them right now. I am not ready for them to be gone.

Vacation Craving Solved

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how badly I needed a vacation. Well, I got a very short one this week but a very fun one! A good friend of mine named Laura, who I met through Kristin years ago, got married this weekend and I was in her house party. The wedding was in Austin and it was amazing! It was definitely one of the most fun weddings I've ever been a part of. And the best part was that Kristin and Melissa were in the wedding also, so we all were there with our families and stayed in the same hotel. So I just wanted to write really quickly that definitely my craving for a vacation was quenched for a little bit this weekend. Even though we were crazy busy with wedding stuff Friday and Saturday we still were able to have some fun and we got to stay in a hotel which is the #1 requirement to be met for it to be a vacation. I will write more tomorrow and start posting my many pictures, but being so exhausted from it all I must now go to bed now.

AI Results

Really? What is happening here? I guess we all know what is happening and that is America is conspiring to keep Sanjaya in until the end. And apparentely the number of votes for him is growing because he wasn't even in the bottom two this week. I wasn't that broken up about Stephanie leaving. She certainly is better than a few of the ones still left that's for sure, but she probably wasn't going to be in the final few anyway. I will miss her! She's incredibly talented and gorgeous!

AI - Top 11

Haley - Shirt? What? Okay, she did better this week and she is beautiful, but really, is less clothes the answer?

Chris R. - He sang a slow song this week to show off his voice instead of his dance moves. The judges loved it. I thought it was good, but a little boring.

Stephanie - Simon thinks this could be the week she goes home. The judges thought she over sang her song again like last week. That might be true, but she's still amazing and should NOT be the ONE to go home!

Blake - Loved it! He is just so entertaining! Love the dancing, love the singing. And just as I predicted last week, he really brought it this week coming off from his not so good performance from last week.

Lakisha - Simon and Randy thought it was boring and I have to say I agree with them. I'm ready to hear her do something fun and upbeat. These ballads are getting more and more sleep inducing for me and with a 1 year old that since the time change thinks her morning starts at 6:00 a.m. it doesn't take much for me to fall asleep. But still she is incredible and nothing will ever change that.

Phil - He had an amazing range last night! It was fun to listen too. I disagreed with Simon, which is unusual, I liked Phil's song.

Jordin - Possibly the best of the night. Total goose bumps all over.

Sanjaya - Last night's performance was so bad. Really it kind of seemed like a joke. When he started screaming some of the lyrics I giggled a little. Howard Stern is promoting on his radio show votefortheworst.com. This has got to stop. And the girl that was bawling...we all thought it was because she was scared of his yelling, but come to find out it was because she loves him so much.

Gina - The judges did not love this song and I had to agree. She is still one of my favorites, she just had a really bad night. I hope she doesn't go home because of it.

Chris S. - He did a good job.

Melinda - Two nights in a row where my favorite was saved for the last. She did a phenomonal job as always.

Sanjaya obviously needs to go.
Melinda was still the best!
Lakisha had the best response to the judges. Simon said she looked and sang like she was 45 years older than she is and she said "Well, I hope I look this good in 45 years!" Loved it!

Save the Best for Last

Yesterday was a packed day, part of it was not so fun. It included for an hour and a half trying to find a couple of my friends who asked me to pick them up from the airport! Then a trip to Babies R Us to find an Easter dress for Ella which proved unsuccessful, then onto Bunco at my friend Angela's house in Dallas. I was exhausted at the end of the day but I had a driving force to keep me going. That driving force was Apolo Anton Ohno! I have had a smidge of a crush on Apolo going on 6 years now since I saw him skate in the 2002 Olympics. I never thought I would be into speed skating but it quickly became mine and my husband's favorite Olympic event. 6 years ago we sat on our couch, well not sitting because we were jumping up and down, as Apolo skated his all in the very nail biting, edge of your seat, photo finish races beating out the Koreans! There is always huge controversy and drama between Apolo and the #1 Korean and last year it was exactly the same. We sat on our couch the exact way, jumping up and down except with a lot less energy because we had a one week old baby.

Now knowing this, you can imagine my excitement 2 months ago when they announcement the "stars" for the new season of Dancing With the Stars and Apolo was on the list. I immediately emailed my girlfriends in my excitement and told Heath in a high pitched voice that night, who really could not have cared less.
I got home from Bunco, made myself a little snack, pressed play on my Tivo and waited in ancticipation as Dancing With The Stars put Apolo last to dance, with his red bandana and all his dancing skills! I was not let down!

The whole show was great. This is a really good group. The guys were all excellent. The girls however needed to loosen up. All their dances were very boring, but I guess that's not their fault the choreography was blah. They were all very stiff. My favorite girl was Laila Ali. The boys were all very funny and entertaining! It was hilarious that the dancer Kym kept calling Joey Fatone the "Fat One". Not that he is fat but he wants to use this show as a means for loosing weight.

I've been thinking about starting a seperate reality show blog because The Bachelor starts in 2 weeks and there is always MUCH to talk about with that show. Plus, Heath told me that I am "tainting Ella's blog with drivel" and "those who are looking at my blog who want to look at pictures of Ella do not want to read about reality shows." But I don't agree with him. However, I am seriously considering the separate blog.

Ella's One Year Pictures

We went a little overboard with pictures, oh wait that's everytime. This time it was really bad. The grandmas took Ella not only to JC Penney, where we usually go for her pictures, but also to Babies R Us which is an amazing place to take pictures! They are so great! They were able to capture the full cuteness of Ella Grace!

Happy Birthday Ava Wava

Today is Ava's very 1st Birthday!!! This is such an exciting day for Sunni and Xavier but definitely mixed with some precious reminiscing. Ava is having the best birthday ever because she is getting to spend it in LONDON! Not to many other 1 year olds get to say that's what they did.

Ava was born exactly one month after Ella, so I have been able to watch her grow up since her 2nd day of life when Heath, Ella and I went to the hospital to see them. Amanda, Sunni and I made some of the most precious memories those first few months of our babies' lives. We had each other to lean on through pregnancy puking and birthing classes through the hard moments of the first few months of motherhood and trying to figure it all out. Without them, it would have been a million times harder for me. I am so thankful for the Lazo family! I am so thankful that the Lord put us in each other's lives at the perfect time! Happy Birthday Ava!! I love you and I am excited to be a part of your 2nd year of life!

At the hospital. Ella couldn't do much at one month old but she could sure raise her hand in praise for her new friend.













We got to celebrate her birthday last Saturday. Sunni through a brilliant party, she had a baby petting zoo come to her house. It was one of the most fun days I have had with Ella. There were baby chicks, ducks, bunnies, goats, pigs, a turtle and a pony. So cute and so fun!


Sunni and Ava












































Ella tried so hard to catch those bunnies but they were just a little to quick.































Ella loved the turtle until she picked it up and saw its ugly head and then dropped it quickly.
















Laney really wanted Ella to try some of the delicious dirt.















Ella and the birthday girl!




I'm hearing the theme song for Snow White.

Ava, Laney and Ella. Ava had on the cutest birthday dress. Her name is embroidered on it under the birthday hat but it's hard to see in this picture.