Giving of Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving! It was much more low key than we are used to, which was kind of nice but was also a little weird or sad not being away 20+ relatives like we are used to.

We had a delicious dinner at my parents house with my grandparents and 2 of my cousins.

I am so thankful for...

Yummy food...

The most AMAZING Grandparents...


2 very sweet cousins...


My incredible parents (which I can't believe I didn't get a picture of)...

And of course, my sweet, SWEET family...




Heath said this day could have possibly been the best day of his life. He literally played with Ella non stop! They did lots of wrestling ALL DAY! I am so thankful for a husband that is willing to get down on the floor and play wrestle with his daugther for many hours!





Ella had so much fun that she has asked her Dada to wrestle with her about 20 times per day since Thursday.


Ella & Dada Wrestling on Thanksgiving 11-27-08 from Janelle on Vimeo.

My Grandparents were in town all week, so Ella got to spend a little bit of everyday with them. She LOVES her "Great, Great grandparents" which is what she calls them.

Ella with my Grandma Angel. Ella loves sitting and listening to my grandma tell her stories.

Ella & Jackson

A few weeks ago, Curtis, Amanda and Jackson came in town for Ileeta's funeral. While we were at the funeral, Jackson and Ella got to spend the day together at my mom's and they had SO MUCH fun.

It makes me so happy everytime Jackson and Ella are reunited and they get equally excited as the time before. It gives me hope that they will never forget each other.

My mom took some great shots of them throughout the day. These are mine and Amanda's favorites!





















My parent's bought Ella this fabulous tent last year for Christmas and I think her and Jackson spent more than half the day chasing each other inside these tunnels. In fact, everytime I bring up Jackson to Ella, the first thing she says is, "we played in the tunnels."









Ella & Jackson chasing each other through the tunnels 10-27-08 from Janelle on Vimeo.

I think they are ready to start their own band, "Jella"!

Ella & Jackson Playing Their Instruments! 10-27-08 from Janelle on Vimeo.

San Antonio

This past weekend, my parents, Heath, Ella and I drove down to San Antonio to visit my sister and her husband who just moved there a few weeks ago. If my sister has to live far away from me, I'm glad she lives in a city that I LOVE to visit!

We had a great time. Actually, the real point of our visit was to return my sister's 3 cats that my parents have been cat watching for the last couple months while she was selling her house and house hunting in San Antonio.

So the drive down, we had 5 people, 3 cats and a dog. Surprisingly and thankfully, the drive was uneventful.

Saturday morning we found this really fun train to ride around downtown. It's connected to the zoo and will drop you off, if you would like, at the Chinese Tea Gardens.









I'm so glad we got off at this hidden gem because it was gorgeous!
















Next stop was the River Walk, but we had to make a quick stop to mark Ella's first visit to the Alamo!






This is the Hotel Valencia where Heath and I stayed last year on our anniversary trip! I was reminded of what a fun place this was to stay.


Our next stop was to the Market Square. We always go here so we can eat at La Margarita and do a little shopping! Aunt Michelle and Ella were doing some dancing to the mariachi music while we waited for our table.


Ella loved the trolley ride.




My mom thought it would be hilarious to sneak into mine and Heath's pictures all weekend! You can see her doing it again on the first picture of me, Heath and Ella! hahaha. She's so funny!


Ella & her grandad!


Ella and Dada were practicing their Kung Fu Panda while waiting for the trolley.




My sister's new house is awesome! They have a huge pool and the best part of all is their amazing hot tub! We spent A LOT of time in it. Sunday morning we made it not quite so hot so Ella could go swimming. It was the perfect Ella size pool.