Her other great love was the deer. Yup, that's right. She was FASCINATED with the deer heads on the wall. The entire trip Ella would point at the deer and try and say "deer" in her own sweet way. She wanted so badly to touch them. Here she is in her happy place with the deer.
Since Ella loves Mark and the deer so much, I wanted to take this picture....I'll show it to her anytime she's unhappy. :) Anyways, here are the three Lacey boys pictures below the beloved deer heads.
Ella also got to meet some horses at Mark and Judy's house. Someday, she is going to want a pony....I can just see it now.
Each time we go back to Kansas Jack makes sure to grill up some steaks for us. That Lacey Farm beef gets seasoned to perfection and grilled to our liking, and mmmm....it's good. This was served along with potatoes, sweet potatoes, some home-grown turnips, and Jason's macaroni and cheese.
And here are some photos of Ella with family. Ella and Aunt Judy loved to play together....
Here she is with cousin Olivia, and you can see cousin Ava off to the left....
Ella with Rachel....I think they are second cousins?? Not sure....
On our way out of town we stopped and saw Nana at her work....Ella got shown off all over the office while Jason and I followed along un-noticed. :) We simply are not the starring attraction anymore, and that's ok....we get it. She's waaay cuter.
After being on the farm for 6 days we went to Manhattan, KS to visit some friends. And to Ella's joy....you won't even believe it....look what they had on their wall!! Deer! It was Ella's paradise. Hilarious. Those Kansans love to hunt. These would not go over well in Portland. Anyways, Ella was thrilled to spend another night with these.
We got to have dinner with the Hiestermans and Trevor and Leah McKeeman, and their little son Fynn. The Hiestermans, on the left, lived with Jason and I for about 6 weeks when we got married. They had 2 kids at the time, and now have 3! It was so fabulous to catch up with them and see how the kiddos have grown, and meet the newest addition. Trevor and Jason knew each other from working at Accenture back in the day, and we adore him and his wife. We wish we got to see all these folks more often.
Ella sleeping in car seat on the way to the airport after a fun night at the Hiestermans.
Ella sleeping on plane ....it's so rare that she sleeps on us anymore, that we both enjoyed these moments. She slept on Amy on the way out and Jason on the way home. Nothing sweeter than watching Ella sleep. Oh, but it was even better when we ordered ourselves gin and tonics once she did fall asleep. Those first few hours of flight with an active baby were tiring!! :)
That's it for now....
