Melissa and Justin

Silly misunderstanding

2011-02-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

We had a ward conference the other day at church and Ellie was being kind of loud; we had stake people all around us so I had her sit on my lap and decided to teach her a little about the sacrament so she would stop talking. I told her that Jesus has a body and pointed to her belly and told her that was her body. She responded not very quietly by saying "that not my body, that my belly. These are my shoulders, my arms, my head, my toes, my legs" I told her all those things make her body then said that we eat the bread to remember that Jesus has a body. Elliette looked at me very concerned and again very loudly said "we eat Jesus' body?" I just laughed and shook my head no. When the bread came around she picked up a piece and looked at it weirdly saying "Jesus' body?" then she ate it. When it was time for the water I just told her it was to remember Jesus. Silly kid.

Brooks shout out!!!

2011-02-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

So a HUGE shout out to our friend Adam who just got an internship in California working for the animation department of DISNEY!!! Apparently there is a good chance of hire at the end which is so cool and we wish him all the luck (not that he needs it, he is talented). When you guys move out there you better get a place big enough for us to come visit, thats all I'm saying. Have fun.

Pre Valentines Princess Party

2011-01-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of new posts so be sure to check them out.

It has been a while since Ellie has had a chance to play with her cute little friends so we invited the girls over for a little princess party. She had so much fun helping me get ready for her party making cupcakes, filling gift bags, and making name tags for the bags. The older girls got to make party hats, cereal necklaces, decorate cupcakes, and play outside with their bubbles they got in their party bags while the little kids played with some toys in the living room. It was a blast! She is already asking me about having more parties.

Temple Square Lights

2011-01-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Justin's parents were in town after Christmas so we were able to meet up with them and Toph and Blaire in SLC (my sis-in-law Kim made their hats, cute huh!)

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning

2011-01-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve my family gets together with the Mairs and have a little get together where Santa comes. This year while waiting for Santa we played minute to win it games and had a lot of fun. That night the girls also got a gift from Santa left at the door with their PJ's and a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie, they wrote their letters to Santa, read the night before Christmas and Ellie had a sleep over with Beanie so that they wouldn't see anything Santa brought in the morning until we were all ready.

Christmas morning was AWESOME and the girls were so cute with their excitement. They wanted balloons so we got them each a bundle of 5 and I think that was what they were most excited for out of everything (side note, it is now been a full month since Christmas and 5 balloons are still flying high).

Christmas crafts and snow fun

2011-01-29T15:07:00.000-08:00

We made Santa hats out of red cardstock and the girls glued cotton balls on.

We also made sugar cookies where Cami fit herself into a cake pan while Ellie and I baked the cookies (she loves to squish herself into small things like pans and shoe boxes for some weird reason) and then she frosted my cheek while Ellie actually frosted the cookies, it was fun.

We also make gingerbread houses which is impossible not to love when you are a young kid and are gluing candy onto cookies with frosting, it was a mess and they were hyped up on sugar but overall it was worth it.
Ellie also loves playing in the snow, Cami, well it depends on the day.

Dear Santa ...

2011-01-29T14:53:00.000-08:00

"I want presents, Cami likes toys" That is what Ellie told Santa when she was able to sit on his lap this year. She was very excited to see Santa and tell him what she wanted, I guess she just wanted it all since she was so vague.
Ellie really wanted to hold the soldiers hand after sitting on Santa's lap, then we made it over to Blickenstaffs toy store which was a huge hit.

Camryns 1st Birthday and Happy Halloween

2010-11-28T18:03:00.001-08:00

So Camryn turned 1 in October and I am VERY slow to get this up but here it is.

weight: 18.5 lbs (13th %)
length: 28.5 in (32 %)
head: 17 %

We are so thankful to have Cami in our lives, she is so full of personality and love. We absolutely love her smile which we get a lot except for when the camera is out. She actually cut her first tooth on October 4th and then 2 weeks later she had 2 more and then 2 more, and it looks like a few more are trying to come through so it has been a bit of a rough couple of months for her. She has the cutest little giggle, she LOVES to squeal, she definitely knows how to hold her own against Ellie, LOVES Ellie so much and just always wants to play with her, she loves to bug people - especially Ellie, she loves to climb and is just amazingly coordinated, she loves to eat chicken and cheese and peas and carrots, she has so much energy she just never stops moving, she loves to tease, she gives the best hugs and kisses, she is just amazing! Love you Cami!!!

Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Mickey Tutu Time

2010-11-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

End of summer fun

2010-10-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

More splash park with friends, pudding painting, cousins, and just hanging out. Elliette has also started helping us cook. Fun, fun, fun times.

Ellie's happy visit at the dentist with aunt Mandy, Being a farmer for a day at the state fair, and Cornbelly fun.

2 little monkeys ...

2010-10-25T15:03:00.000-07:00

2 years old

2010-09-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our little Ellie Belly turned 2 this past month and I can't believe it. She is such a great little girl who is definitely to smart for her own good sometimes. She is so funny and most of the time really nice to her sister playing with and looking out for her (although we do hear "Cami NO" way more than we would like), she loves to smile and be a weirdo, she has such an infectious giggle that I just love, she is growing like crazy and has a TON of energy.

Weight: 26.5 lbs (49%)
Height: 34" (56%)
Head: 18.75" (54%)

I don't know why her cake pictures are so dark but the one where she is standing behind it and smiling is when we were singing Happy Birthday to her and she stood there with the biggest grin on her face the whole time loving every minute. I took her out for a ride on her trike the other day which I had to push her the whole way (still haven't quite gripped the concept of peddling) but she looked up at me and said "ride bike mom, I yike it".

Mandy and I took Elliette out for 2 year pictures up at the amphitheater and she was such a little model posing at every place. She did so well taking pictures till the end when we started bribing her with a sucker and she finished great.

Picture overload

2010-08-02T15:11:00.000-07:00

Randoms of the girls and pudding painting...

Water fun...

July activities...

Camryn also had her 9 month check up in July; she is weighing in at 18.1 lbs and 27.5 inches long (weight: 32 %, height: 46%, head: 41%) This little girl is just amazing and is growing up so fast. She is so close to walking already but doesn't want to do it until she knows she can. She is a determined little thing and can be rather aggressive at times as well. She definitely loves her sister and wants to play with her always even if Elliette doesn't want her there. She is starting to be more cuddly also which has been really nice to get so many hugs and kisses. She is such a beautiful little girl who loves to smile and giggle and be a part of everything; we feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

I have also been busy with some cakes and cookie bouquets that I have posted on the other blog.

Busy busy busy

2010-07-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ok so this wont have pictures since I don't have my camera hooked up but I will try to get some up of all our fun soon. We have been busy just playing mostly, out in the yard, at the parks, feeding ducks, pudding painting, and anywhere in between. Most of the summer has been pretty fun so far, the first of July I was able to go back to Nashville to help run the track and field and badminton events for the DAAA (Dwarf Athletic Association of America) in association with the Little People of America (LPA) convention. It was a lot of work but a ton of fun, and as a plus, I think it went rather well. I have a few cakes coming up that I am trying to get things figured out for so that should be fun. Camryn turned 9 months already, I still can't believe she is that old; and Elliette turns 2 next month - Holy Cow! On the sad side of things Elliette was running and playing outside today when she tripped and chipped one of her front teeth pretty bad on the cement steps, the poor thing.
Well I thought I would give a brief synopsis of what we have been up to. I will try to get some pictures up of all our fun and Ellie's tooth soon.

past while

2010-05-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

So it has been a few weeks since I have posted and A LOT has happened. On May 4th the girls and I packed up and drove with my dad back to Utah; Justin stayed behind and packed the stuff up and joined us in UT on Sunday. For the couple of weeks we had from when we found out and when we moved we tried to enjoy the area with Justin more since he actually had a little time off. It was a TON of fun eating at Bubba Gumps (thanks Hsu) and other good seafood places, aquarium trips, walking the wharfs, seeing the birds, family pictures on the beach (thanks Kim), hanging out with friends, carmel, and visiting the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which was AWESOME! We had a lot of fun playing in the arcade and other carnival games (which we won cause we are awesome) at the Boardwalk and enjoying corndogs and funnel cake.

On May 6th my sister had a beautiful little girl and named her Clover. She is so tiny and cute and I love being able to see her in person and not just through pictures. I stole the announcement off their blog, hope you don't mind but you never sent me one.

(smith pix photography)

For mothers day Justin took Elliette out and she bought me some purple petunias that she picked out and paid for herself and then helped me plant. She also helped my mom plant her flowers the other day. While she was "helping" plant the flowers we had Cami out in a Bumbo since I was also outside staining a dresser and she started trying to eat a flower called a bleeding heart when I looked up said it was toxic so I had to call poison control. Thankfully she didn't swallow any and she was fine, they said it was more of a skin irritant. Later my dad was getting ready to take the girls on a walk and Ellie was so excited she started down the sidewalk without anyone, thankfully she stayed on the sidewalk. After that she decided she was thirsty so she grabbed the plant water which had plant stimulator and started to sip it, thankfully Justin got to her really fast and she only swallowed a little tiny bit but I told him he had to call Poison Control that time since I had already had to call once that day. Thankfully she didn't get much and just had to drink a little water so we finally made it through that day, phew. That has been most of the exciting stuff I guess, oh, we made a cake that is posted on my treaty treats blog.

Elliette has also loved being her aunt Beanie's little shadow. She misses her little friend Isa and asks for her at times but thankfully she has found herself a friend with Beanie and her friend Justin (can't wait till you guys move back). Camryn has also decided that she wanted to move and in the past couple weeks has gone from rocking back and forth to all out crawling, LOVE these girls! Oh, and Justin turned the big 3-0 this month, Happy happy birthday!

Breaking Monterey

2010-05-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, check this out. My wife and daughters went to Utah on Tuesday so I am here all alone(Justin is writing this) packing up our stuff which I am really not used to, it has been a really long time since I was alone for more than a few minutes. Anyway, at about 10 pm I went to change the laundry while talking to Melissa on the phone and I guess I was distracted just enough that I didn't realize I didn't have my keys, and the door was locked until I heard the click of the door latching. "Oh No!" I said, "I just locked myself out with nothing except a dollar in quarters, phone and my pajamas...I immediately started using my phone to find a locksmith, call like 3 with no luck and my battery was getting very close to dying. I called Melissa to ask her to see what she could do since my phone was about to give out. While she was doing that I called a friend that I thought may know how to pick a lock...he didn't. As we all know I live on the second floor and I don't have a balcony, so pushing open a window seemed out of the question...or was it? I used my superior intellect to devise a plan to break into my apartment without causing a seen. My amazing pan was to roll one of our big trash cans under the window of the back bedroom, balance on it, pry off the screen, push open the window and climb in. since the building is built into the hill my window was probably 10 feet up instead of the normal 16. The funniest thing is the trash can was empty and I weigh 200lbs so I was caving in the lid and balancing on this wobbly trash can poking at my window with a car key. I pushed up the screen put the car key under it and pried it out. "Ok" I thought, "Now if the windows latch is low enough I may be able to cling to the botttom of the window with one hand and push with the other where it latches and open it." I tried and tried and just as I was about to give up IT OPENED!! Thank goodness I've been working on my lats cuz I was able to pull myself up into the window into my apartment and write this post.

I am lonely without my family, but at least I have fun stuff like this happen to keep things interesting.

Camryn 6 months

2010-04-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

Well she is almost 7 months now so it is about time I get around to this. At her 6 month check up Camryn weighed in at 15 lbs 14 oz and was 25.5 inches long both falling right around the 50%ile for her age.
We are just so in love with this little girl; she is just such a cutie who LOVES to smile and jabber and giggle. She absolutely LOVES her sister and gets frustrated at times when she wants to play with her but just can't keep up, she does put up with a lot from Elliette though just so that she can be included in play time. She loves to be held but doesn't really cuddle a lot, just wants to be doing what you are doing. She has been sitting up for a while now and is pretty good at it but still takes the full nose dive if something she wants is just out of reach. She is SO close to crawling, up on hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Lately she is so funny, she lays on her belly holding herself up on her arms and rocks her head back and forth like a bobble head; cracks me up but have yet been able to get her to do it on camera. Of course she is beautiful and just has the most peaceful sleeping face I have ever seen. She is incredibly stubborn, no surprise there, but very sweet also. She is little miss grabby hands and the other day grabbed the formula can and sliced her little fingers (only cried for a few seconds) so I had to cut up some small band aids to wrap around her tiny finger to stop the bleeding, she was really good and even though everything else automatically goes into her mouth she left the band aide alone the entire time.

Easter

2010-04-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

We have been a little busy having fun, enjoying the weather and the holidays, and making cakes so there are quite a few posts, sorry. Enjoy...
We had a great Easter this year. Elliette was invited to attend an egg dying party which was fun and we also dyed eggs here, she was also invited to attend a flashlight easter egg hunt held by a family in our ward who did an amazing job and all the kids came out with their baskets FULL including Ellie who is an egg hunting pro, they also had a blow up Easter bunny to take the kids pics by but Ellie thought it was pretty scary and ended the night with a great lesson of the resurrection of Christ. When we got home Justin and I put her candy into a baggy, I looked over once to see her grabbing as much as her little fist could hold and shoving it into her mouth just as happy as could be. I sewed their Easter baskets the night before barely getting them done in time but very pleased with the results considering they are fully machine sewed, no hand stitching at all and my fingers are full of pin pricks. They got super cute clothes from their grandparents including their Easter dresses and headbands they look so adorable in. We also enjoyed the little amount of conference that we were able to actually hear.

Good Friends, more Parks, beach, and Aquariums

2010-04-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

We have had some beautiful weather amidst the rain and have tried to take advantage of it. Ellie and her cute friend Isa have a fun time running, climbing, and sliding all over at the parks and seeing all the fun new animals at the aquarium. They are so cute together and whenever we tell them to hold our hands so we can go somewhere they run over and hold each others hands. Elliette actually wouldn't move the other day at the aquarium if Isa let go of her hand. They also like to make sure the other is ok. I took Elliette out for a moment at the aquarium since she was being a bit of a stinker for a moment and Isa noticed so she had to come make sure Ellie was ok. That happens quite often at church also if they notice one or the other going out and being sad they have to go see what is wrong.
(warning lots of pictures in this slide)

A Late Happy St Patricks Day!

2010-04-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Wildflowers

2010-04-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

Elliette loves picking the wildflowers. She spent about a half an hour in this little patch waiting for Justin to finish PT.

My little surgery patient

2010-04-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

On March 22nd Elliette had a bilateral nasolacrimal duct probing (probed her tear ducts) to fix her constant goobery and watery eyes. She was really brave and didn't cry nearly as much as the other kids that were there, poor little thing. She was pretty wary of the nurses until one of them gave her stickers to play with and then that nurse was ok. Her left eye is definitely fixed and I am not so sure that her right eye was completely unclogged so we may be talking to the Dr again soon but it is better than it was. We also had to give her eye drops 4 times a day for a week which was a joke trying to hold her down and put drops in her eyes together let alone by myself but I always got a hug and kiss after I was done which could be attributed to the smarties she got each time also but I will take what I can get.

18 months

2010-03-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

At Elliette's 18 month check up she weighed in at 24 lbs 7 oz, height was initially measured at 31.75 inches meaning she only grew like a quarter to half an inch which I knew was wrong but she was wiggling and doesn't let the Dr's or nurses do anything to her if she can help it so after the nurse left I measured her again and she was about 33.5 inches which is much more likely considering she can reach everything. Both of those fall around the 50%ile and her head was around the 90th, haha. She was wiggling and fighting but I dont think they were super far off on that one.
We just love this little girl she is just so beautiful, sweet, loving, helpful, happy, funny, easy-going, kind, smart,etc, etc, etc. She is the best big sister and Camryn just loves her and thinks she is hilarious. She helps me out with everything, holding Cami's bottles, unloading the dishwasher, making cami (and all of us) laugh, getting me what I need while I am feeding Camryn, etc. She is such a goofball who LOVES having fun, jumping on us, playing with toys, running outside, picking wildflowers, trying new things, climbing, nursery, showers, blowing kisses, figuring things out, her daddy, and her learning videos along with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Her imagination is growing and growing and it is so fun to see her play using her imagination and what she has come up with, but the scary dreams that cause her not to sleep or want to sleep is not a fun part to having an imagination. She also thinks it is funny to do things we think are gross. She is speaking more and more but still doesn't speak a ton but she knows a lot of words. I wanted to keep a list of the words she uses but I don't even know all of the ones she know cause she knows so many and only uses most of them when she needs to even in sentences which throws me a bit at times. I could go on forever but I will just say that she is amazing and we don't know how we got so lucky to have her in our lives. (Yes she normally wears clothes but for some reason all these pics are without).
Camryn is growing like a weed also, her check-up is next month. She is learning so many new things, is really good with her hands, LOVES laughing at Ellie, LOVES talking and squealing and gets so excited when she sees Elliette or her daddy that she starts flailing all her limbs and breathing really hard with the HUGEST grin on her face hardly able to control her excitement. She is just a great baby that we love so much and are so blessed to have her also.
Justin is super busy studying, cuddling Cami, and letting Elliette jump all over him. I was able to do some cakes on Tuesday so that kept me super busy for the past week (pics on my treatytreats blog), other than that just trying to combat some mold, change diapers, and constantly wipe noses since it is allergy season and apparently both my girls are affected. Loving life.

what we've been up to...

2010-02-22T22:36:00.001-08:00

Camryn turned 4 months, she is getting so big.

Stats: 13 lbs 7.5 oz and 25 inches long

She is about .5 lbs above what Ellie was at that age and the same height. She is just the cutest little thing giggling and talking and having no interest in learning to become mobile until Feb 22nd when she finally rolled over. It is actually a rare occurrence to see her frown.
Other than that we have been playing at the beach, parks (Ellie picked me a pile of wild flowers while at the park, so cute), aquarium, taking walks, decorating cookies, playing at the play place in the mall, shopping, and just hanging out having fun. *Sorry about the enormous amount of pics but when you have cute kids you just have to keep snapping the pictures*

Quick fun story: We have started doing timeouts with Elliette just these past few days. Yesterday Camryn was playing with the stacking cups and Ellie kept trying to steal them from her so I told her that she needed to share or she would have to sit in timeout. Ellie pulled her chair over to the timeout area looked at me and sat down, I almost busted up laughing, I told her to sit there until she could share so she sat there for about 15 seconds got up and ran off to play with other things.

forgotten

2010-02-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

Annette mentioned that the poopy issues always happen to her at church which reminded me of another story that I had wanted to write about in the last post involving Camryn. This was a few weeks ago and Justin and Elliette were sick so just Camryn and I went to church. We made it through sacrament meeting just fine and maybe 15 minutes into sunday school Cami decided to completely fill her pants. I held her up and quickly checked, I was so happy that I didn't see anything on her clothes and mentioned that to my friend that I was sitting by. Just at that moment Lisa looked down and saw that there was a yellow spot that was slowly growing all along her back and sides. I ran out and thankfully had a diaper with me since I rushed out of the house without checking the bag that morning. Her dress was to covered to just clean off and put back on and because I apparently am never fully prepared (and because they normally don't blow out that often) I did not have an extra set of clothes. I did get some sympathetic smiles and giggles as we went through the rest of church with her just in a bib and diaper and wrapped in a blanket. Thankfully, my dress made it through unscathed cause I never have a change of clothes for myself either. I do have to say that her little rolly polly-ness was pretty cute in just her little bib.

fun stuff

2010-02-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

So these last few days have been crazy trying to get things in their places at the new apartment. The place is a lot smaller than the last but a lot cleaner so I am happy. Anyways, on Thursday night Justin had stepped out to run some errands and we had eaten spaghetti that night so I had stripped Ellie down to her diaper. When she was done eating I was getting ready to feed Cami so I just hurried and cleaned Ellie up and let her run around without clothes. After a few minutes of talking to Camryn and feeding her I see a streak of nakedness in the corner of my eye so I look up to see a bare bottom Elliette running across the room. I laughed a little and hurried to put Camryn down so I could get Ellie before she peed on the floor. When I grabbed her and looked over at the old diaper I realized that she had been poopy but thankfully I got to her and cleaned her up before she sat on anything. When I put on the clean diaper she kept undoing the straps and asking "pease, pease" so today I got her a potty seat to get her used to the idea and see if she is interested since she doesn't want to wear her diapers anymore. It did make me laugh to watch her cute little naked bum run across the room having a good ol' time playing.
Friday morning I was exhausted because neither of the girls slept through the night so I didn't sleep well. Elliette decided that she was done with bed at 6:30 that morning so since I was kind of ornery because of being so tired we went out to the living room and I laid on the couch and let her play. I thought I was awake the whole time but apparently I fell asleep for who knows how long giving Ellie enough time to climb up on the table and get the crayons. I awoke to her smiling at me with brown all around her mouth which peaked my interest as to what she had gotten into. After looking around I found 4 crayons, the box came with 8 and I couldn't find the other 4 so I was pretty dang sure she ate them. I looked everywhere and after about 45 min found the other four so thankfully she hadn't eaten 4 whole crayons but she did gnaw on a few of them and only colored on one thing that was easy to wash off thank heavens. Definitely glad I was smart enough to get the washable ones and that crayons are nontoxic.
Today I was just chilling with Camryn playing around and holding her when she decided to let loose in her diaper. I waited a minute to make sure she was done before I changed her so I sat her on my lap. Next thing I know my legs feel very warm so I lifted her up and somehow she peed and pooped all out the back top of her diaper which then spread to my legs quickly and with enough that I not only had to change her but had to change my pants and underwear as well. That stinker has not learned that her bum works just fine and that she doesn't have to push so hard that it shoots out with enough force to shoot it out every direction. Hopefully she learns that soon.

Fun times, I LOVE being a mom!

2010-01-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

So it isn't super late but I am tired and the only one left awake but I didn't want to go to sleep as annoyed as I am so I thought I would write it out and try to change how I feel right now.
My girls really are the best little things ever and literally the most consistently happy kids I know but even the best of them have their bad days. For the past few days Elliette has refused to go to sleep for naps or for bedtime which is completely unlike her; She usually welcomes nap time with a smile and grabs her blanket and drink and lets you know she is ready to go. She has been teething some more and had a bout of sickness that included throwing up a lot recently but all that had been good for about 4-5 days before her sleep refusal started so I don't know if it is still connected to all that or not. She hardly ever really breaks down into a full blown fit and every time I put her in bed she screams for at least 30-45 min and sometimes longer before she is to exhuasted to continue and then only sleeps for a little while and seems to be waking up 2-3 times/night. What is up?
I know I have been spoiled being able to sleep most nights at least 6-7 hours and I am definitely not complaining about that. But, even with those hours of sleep I don't get good sleep so I seem to be extra tired pretty often (not the girls fault, I just don't sleep well) but still can't get myself to be able to fall asleep which gets very frustrating the later it gets at night. So when you combine my own sleep issues to waking up an extra 3-4 times a night (yeah Camryn started waking up at least once also or at least just cries out in her sleep enough to wake me) eventually I am going to loose it. I think tonight was that moment because I had no patience at all with not picking up toys and ignoring me and crying and wanting to be held at all times. Don't worry I did not freak out on the girls to much other than force Elliette to help me pick up her toys but I was just ornery. Now that every one is finally sleeping I am starting to get into a better mood so I am hoping that will help me sleep well so I will get my patience and smile back tomorrow
I promise this only happens once in a blue moon cause there is normally a smile plastered to both of these cute little girls faces but like I said before...even the good ones have bad days. I am attaching a few pictures that make me smile so that I can finish getting my good mood back and can go to sleep without wanting to push Justin off the bed and punch him in the nose cause he is sleeping soundly and snoring in my ear (apparently I like to put all my tired orneriness on him when I can't sleep. note: I have never resorted to pushing Justin off the bed or punching him in the nose, if it gets bad enough I sleep on the couch. I am really not a mean abusive person I swear).

Elliette loves:
Giving kisses to everyone and everything,
Animals-and is always very soft,
Being a goof and cheesing it,

fruit,

Playing the piano,

Laughing,
shopping-even if it is in Grandma's pantry,
reading,
getting her lips done

Camryn loves:
being held and getting attention,

smiling and giggling,

staring into the distance and people watching,

pulling faces and spitting,
sleeping and her binky,

watching and playing with Elliette,

exploring her artistic side

2010-01-19T10:07:00.001-08:00

and, one just isn't enough...

Ocean 1, Justin 0

2010-01-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

(from my point of view): Justin was invited to go surfing this morning and since the equipment rental is pretty cheap at the ORC on base he decided to go. I wanted to get out of the house and Elliette loves playing in the sand so we decided to just go hang out on the beach and watch Justin attempt surfing for the first time with his buddy Dan. When we got to the beach we noticed that the waves seemed pretty intense (probably 12-15ft waves, definitely more advanced waters than what they should have been in but Justin is a good swimmer so I trusted him) and there were no other people out on the water, but since they had paid for their rentals the two of them decided to go for it anyways. As Justin was getting his wetsuit on I realized that I forgot the diaper bag so I had to run home and get that as well as fill up the car so I took off with the girls for probably 20-25 minutes. On the way back to the beach I get passed by about 3 cop cars heading that direction, I found a place to park and look out into the water and the two of them are nowhere to be seen but the cop cars have parked just a little ways up the road from where I am and now 2 fire engines are coming and everyone is staring out at the rocks. I knew that they had to be there for Justin and Dan but was really hoping it was something else. I hurried and grabbed the girls out of the car and walked up to the beach access and asked a guy what was going on. He told me that there was a guy out in the water by the rocks who had been swept out by the rip tide. I told him my husband was out there and he asked if he had a yellow board, I wasn't sure which one had the yellow board but I knew one of them did and since he said no one else was out in the water I figured it was them; he did only mention one guy though so I was hoping that at least one of them was safe on the beach. I hurried down onto the sand to get a better view and saw one of them get tossed up onto the rocks near the other one but both were standing and moving around so that was a good sign. I talked to another lady to see if she noticed if either one was hurt and from what she had seen she thought they were both ok. Eventually they were both able to get in safely (thank goodness) and that ended their fun day of surfing. Justin ended up with a broken surf board and a hole in his wetsuit and I am pretty sure that they both ended up pretty sore after that. I told them that if they wanted to try this again they have to go to a different beach and they have to drive down and check out the waves before they rent their gear to make sure it is more beginner friendly. (Sorry I didn't get a pic of the boards or them out on the water/rocks).
(Justins point of view):
Before looking at the waves be and a friend decided to try surfing today. Dan had been one time before and I hadn't been at all, so we knew it would be pretty rough but it still sounded like fun. We rented out equipment in the morning and went right out. Melissa decided to come watch, but when we got to the beach she had to go back to the house for something and fill up the car as well. While she was gone we decided to get started even though Dan looked pretty worried and the waves were huge. I kinda persuaded him to go out anyway and just stay close to the beach. Even though the plan was to stay close to the beach once we got out a little bit, that was it. Dan was trying to teach be some stuff, but I was just paying attention to the enormous waves smashing us. Before I knew it I was way out and drifting towards a bunch of rocks. At about that time a huge wave came up and I decided to try and ride this one as far as I could. I hadn't had much success before now so I thought I would put the point of the board in a little more to force some resistance and get pushed farther, if that had worked I may have been able to ride that one wave all the way to shore, but it didn't. At the same time the wave was pushing the front of the board down I was trying to force it up to stay on top of the wave, then all of the sudden I was in the air then in the water. I know enough to know the best thing to do is go limp since you don't know which way is up and your less likely to get hurt, I stayed under the water for what seemed like a long time which turned out to be a good thing because another large wave followed before I surfaced. I found the surface because the board was attached to my foot, so I just went the direction of the tether. When I reached the surface I noticed my board was broken, I straightened it out and hoped I could keep trying to ride a wave, but after getting thrown around a couple more times I was too exhausted to do anything more. I held onto by board and tried to kick my way to shore, but I kept getting pulled towards the rocks. Thankfully the waves were more mild among the rocks so at least I didn't feel like I would drown anymore, I just had to really pay attention to where I was. I wasn't making any progress and just at the mercy of the ocean when my buddy finally reached some rocks large enough to give shelter. I was still quite a ways away just hoping to make it there somehow without getting smashed. Oh, yea, by this time there was a fire truck, ambulance and a few cop cars waiting for me to..... None of them really had a way to help me though, so I really had to get to those rocks. Just then 2 very large waves managed to make it through the rocks and still be pretty big came up from behind me and pushed me towards the rocks where my friend was and gently set me down with enough time to climb up to safety. Even while I was on those last 2 waves hurling towards the rocks I felt like I would be alright and that the hand of God was saving me. The firefighters that were there agreed that I was very very lucky, I said that I was very very stupid and if God had saved me it was for the sake of my wife and kids because that was my own stupid fault for going out when the waves were so huge none of the locals even dared to go out. Live and learn has new meaning.

Ellie and Isa

2010-01-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

Chirstmas vacation

2010-01-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

Well our Christmas vacation started with a LONG day at the airport flying first from Monterey to LA then to Dallas and then finally landing in Wichita. Now that wouldn't have been so horrible if we didn't have 2 kids with us who 1. hate being held down to one spot 2. are still in diapers 3. doesn't nap well anywhere other than her crib, and 4. really HATE the landing part of flying because it hurts her ears. Oh and also we couldn't sit by each other because there are not enough oxygen masks in each row for two lap children, that also wouldn't have been as bad if we could have at least been put across the isle from each other but for the longest flight of the 3 we were actually 4 or 5 rows apart which was pretty annoying. On that flight I had one of the stewardesses tell me that she smells poopy diaper so I needed to change my child; Now don't you think that I would know if my child had pooped considering she was on my lap the whole time. Anyways, I got up and went to change Ellie (who was not poopy and the problem was that the bathroom (or an adult sitting near by, who know) was what stunk). I had to go up by Justin who had the diaper bag and as we were heading up the rows Elliette started blowing kisses to everyone cause she thought we were leaving. She wasn't exactly excited when we ended up going back to our seats. They both did really well considering though and Elliette only really cried while landing so that wasn't to bad.

While we were in KS we had a whole lot of fun with Justins family watching movies at the WORLD'S COOLEST theater, playing games, and just hanging out. Thanks to everyone there Justin and I were actually able to spend some time together without the girls which was so muc fun since it has been quite a while since we have seen a movie together. On Christmas Eve the Sis. Missionaries came over for dinner and we had a German meal of brats, potato pancakes, and schmokle (don't know how to spell it but it is a sweet/tart red cabbage dish). After dinner we sang Christmas Carols and reenacted the nativity, Justin, Camryn, and I were Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus and Elliette got to be a sheep complete with the baa sound. That night the grandkids got some cute new Christmas pajamas from Grandma and Granpa (thanks again). Christmas morning we did our stockings and ornament exchange which was fun and even though we had our family Christmas before we left we were still spoiled out there (thank you everyone). On the morning of the 26th we were also able to bless Camryn and ALL of Justin's family was able to be there and participate (thanks for staying Brit and Dan) which was really an awesome moment. During the blessing I had Ellie sitting on my lap but as mentioned previously she HATES being held in one spot so in order to keep her quiet so I could hear I let her get down towards the end, she ran right over and snuck her self right into the center of the circle and watched from there. Camryn was also having the time of her life thinking that she was being played with and cooed, talked, and smiled through the whole thing
We did end up cutting the trip short because in the hustle bustle of the season Justin and I managed to go out just looking around and ended up buying a Hyundai Sonata since it was cheaper to buy in KS than in CA and it was just such a good deal we couldn't pass it up. The morning that we left we all ate at a small diner in Wichita that was on Diners Drive-ins and Dives which was fun and pretty dang yummy. After breakfast we took off and drove to Denver for the night. The next day we jumped back in the car and drove all the way to my parents house in UT. On the way there we found out that Elliette gets carsick and threw up twice on that trip (3rd time since we had bought the car - oxyclean is AMAZING by the way).

When we got to my parents no one other than my mom and dad knew we were coming and we were excited to run in and surprise everyone but since Ellie puked just a few minutes from their house we ran in and straight to the bathroom to clean her up but it was still fun and a BIG surprise. We didn't have a whole lot of time in UT since that wasn't exactly in the plans at the beginning but we were able to spend a few days with the fam. My dad got an SLR camera for Christmas so we did play a lot with that and we were able to dress Ellie up in her snow clothes and make a snowman. Ryan took some pics of the girls for me in their Christmas dresses and then touched them up a bit for me (thanks again).

On New Years Day we went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and told them my moms birthday was coming up so they made her get on the saddle, she was SUPER embarrassed and refused at first till they had everyone chanting "saddle, saddle" so that was HILARIOUS (side note: I was not specifically banned from putting those pics on the blog, sorry mom but I just couldn't pass it up)!

We ended up packing the kids up that night and driving all through the night in hopes that they would sleep and Ellie wouldn't be so sick and it worked, thank heavens. Justin drove the whole way and I got to sleep a little bit but we were all worn out for about 3 days after we got back. All in all it was a long mostly relaxing break where we had a TON of fun hanging out with family and learned that we can clean up throw-up without adding to it. Oh and we were able to continue our anniversary tradition of eating dinner at Wingers with one of my siblings and their spouse and watching a movie and then talking about going to the Heinz Mansion for the night but deciding that maybe we will make it next year. FUN STUFF! (I have a million more cute pics from the trip but they are on a cd and I don't have a cd drive for this computer yet, sorry family).

About Time

2009-12-17T08:05:00.001-08:00

So I finally pulled out the sewing machine to do a few projects that have been on my mind. I am definitely not a great sewer and find it fun for a few minutes until I mess something up and spend the majority of my time unpicking what I did. Things did not change for this project, I definitely spent a lot of time unpicking but I am very happy with the final results.
First, I have been working on these dang bean bags since August (they were technically for Elliette's birthday) but I finally got them filled enough and had the motivation to finally finish. I got the idea from the craftblog website but decided to hand stitch the letters on instead of painting them and I like them much better.Second, I want to have somewhat matching stockings so I decided to make them myself. I know there are only 3 done but that is because I couldn't find another style of fabric I really liked so I will do another one next year. Eventually I want to have our names embroidered across the top as well.
Well, we leave for Kansas tomorrow so hope everyone has a merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-12T15:16:00.000-08:00

When we were walking along Cannery Row the other day I made the girls sit on Santa's lap so I could get pics. Camryn didn't care and Elliette wasn't sure what to think but didn't cry so I was happy. We also decided to have our family Christmas today and just do stockings while we are in Kansas so we wouldn't have to try and get the big gifts out there and back. I think I was the most excited I have been in a while and that says a lot since I am always excited about Christmas. After Elliette woke up Justin and I ran down the stairs first so that we could get the cameras ready and get pics and videos of her reactions and she did not disappoint. It was a very very fun Christmas and now we can't wait until we head off to Kansas, I love this time of year!

2009-12-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

These last couple weeks have been kinda busy so I thought that I would just post some slide shows and pics so you can see what we have been up to,sorry about the overload but I really love my new camera.
I have been busy making a cake for the young womens personal progress night. More pics and details can be found on my treaty treats blog.
Here is Camryn, 2 Month stats: 10 lbs 10 oz 23.5 inches long both fall right around the 50%ile. She is just a little sweetheart and smiles all the time. It is so fun to watch her grow and she is getting so big, she loves to play with her little toy that she lays under and hits the hanging items.

Elliette 15 month stats:21 lbs 15 oz 31 inches long both of those I believe were about the 50%ile also. She is just such a goofball and is constantly making me laugh. We took her to toys r us one day and she was in heaven running around all the toys. She is actually a good little shopper and loves to walk around and touch items as she looks around and if she picks something up she will walk around with it for a moment and then go back and put it away before picking up another item.

Justin was promoted a little while ago and we were able to be there to put on his new rank. Also there are pics of the beautiful area.

BEST HUSBAND EVER

2009-12-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

Justin braved the early morning shoppers on Black Friday and ran to Radio Shack at 5 am to get me a new camera that is actually a nicer camera than the one that was lost and it came with a free portable mini printer so take that camera thief! I did promise him that I would guard this one with my life and so far I have not lost it and have been playing around with the different settings which is a whole lot of fun and taking a lot of cute pictures of the girls. But, I am having problems reading the card and getting the pictures off the camera tonight and I am to tired to figure it out so there will be some new pics here soon. YAY! He also went out and got us some delicious sushi for my birthday dinner, it was fantastic!

Pictures, finally!

2009-11-20T13:17:00.001-08:00

So thanks to Lisa I was able to get some pictures of Elliette on Halloween and on the beach with her little friend Isa and a bonus of some one day she watched Ellie while I was at a Dr's appt. Thank you so much Lisa! I have a few more of Elliette in her zebra costume coming from another friend soon which are just Ellie so you can see her a bit more so hopefully I will have a few more to post in the next few days. Oh, and I threw a cute one of Camryn sleeping in at the end.

1 month

2009-11-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

Camryn went in for her one month checkup the other day and was 8 lbs 9 oz (50 %ile) and 22 inches long (90 %ile). She really is a joy to have around and smiles quite often which is great. She does have gas pains every once in a while that make her cry out but that normally doesn't last more than maybe 10 minutes at the most and then she goes back to her happy self just looking around and trying to hold her head up. Like Elliette she does not like to be swaddled and likes having free movement of her arms and legs and seems to be starting to get the hang of having them and moving them around a bit. Sorry the picture isn't the best it was taken with my phone while I was holding her and trying not to jostle it to much but doesn't she just have a beautiful smile.

I SUCK

2009-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well I was hoping the title of this post was going to be "what did you do on your early November day ..." and then follow it up with pictures of Elliette in her cute bathing suit playing in the sand at the beach. Well I took those photos put the camera back in its case picked up the kids took them back to the car and noticed that the camera was no longer with me, somehow it fell out of its case and was taken before I could get back to look for it or it was just taken out of its case. I was so upset about loosing the camera because I was to tired the other night that I was posting that I hadn't finished and I hadn't copied the pictures onto my computer so I lost everything, pictures, videos, EVERYTHING! When I came home Justin was happy it was the camera and not something that happened to the girls since I was so upset. He double checked the bag and the car and then went back and double checked the beach for me finding nothing. We posted the camera under lost and found on craigslist and a guy offered to check the beach with a metal detector for me in case the sand ate it and ... nothing. I called the police station to see if someone turned it in and ... nothing. I had that camera for a week and a half and had nearly 100 photos and videos on it and I lost it. The old camera we had I don't think I could have lost if I tried, I get a brand new one that was a lot of fun and I lost it. So much for my early birthday, christmas, and anniversary present. I SUCK! and I am incredibly mad that someone would take a camera from a lady with one baby strapped to her chest and another in her arms. It wasn't a big beach and anyone who was there would have known who just walked in that area and where I would have been.
So, sorry for the lack of pictures to the previous posts but now you know why.
On a positive note, I did find 20 cents on the beach when the guy with the metal detector was there so only a whole lot of money minus 20 cents to go for another new camera.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-10T20:10:00.001-08:00

I was so excited for Elliette's first trick or treating adventure. On the 30th the Aquarium had a Halloween party for members so we dressed Elliette up in her cute costume (she was a zebra, cutest one ever) and went down for the party and the fish. While we were there we saw stilt walkers, got a little candy, got our hands painted (she was to young for her face), saw a magician, danced a little, and looked at the exhibits. Elliette also had a really great time walking through the gift shop and looking at all the toys and books. She is pretty funny when she is shopping; she was looking around at everything and eventually picked one toy that she carried around with her for a little and then would put it away and find a new one until she was done. Camryn wore her cute little pumpkin hat and slept the whole time.
On the 31st we dressed the girls up again and went to the mall where we ate dinner and saw a guy carve a HUGE pumpkin to look like an old mans face, it was amazing. The kids could also trick or treat but we left to go to the ward trunk or treat and didn't think Elliette needed that much candy.
Elliette was so cute at the trunk or treat, I took her around to each of the cars while Justin and Camryn sat in the trunk handing out candy to all the cute little kids. The first trunk we came to where she was haned candy she looked at what got tossed in her bucket and then took off towards the grass so she could go eat it, I had to chase after her and bring her to the next car to show her that it was ok and I wasn't going to take things from her. She was probably the cutest Zebra there could ever be and very polite and would wait her turn at each trunk, people would even let her choose her own candy and she would look the bowl over reach in and pick out the one piece that she wanted. I had to keep reminding her to put the candy in her bucket so she would have free hands and not loose her candy. After each trunk she would turn around and run to the trunk we had just come from because she knew they were giving out candy so I spent a lot of time chasing after her and showing her which direction to go. She sure did have a giant smile on her face the whole time and at the end I had told her to say thanks to everyone so she signed thank you the whole walk back to the car. And in case you were wondering, no we did not eat all of her candy - we may not be the best parents in the world but we did learn that we can bribe a 14 month old to pick up her toys with smarties.
Again, we had the CUTEST pictures and videos of her and I lost them so I will try and see if I can get a few of her in her costume from some people in the ward and post them later.

Ellie and Isa

2009-11-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Ellie has a cute little friend here named Isa that we hang out with. It is so fun to watch them together talking and playing and then becoming selfish and not wanting to share and then feeding each other their treats. They seem to act a lot alike and even have some of the same tendencies which makes them even more fun to watch.
The other day Lisa and I walked the kids down to the beach to watch the boys run (Justin and Shaun are in the same unit here) because some of the unit was dressing up and we thought it would be fun. While we were down there we snapped a few pics of the girls on the beach but because I SUCK I lost them all when I lost my camera. I will try and get some pics from Lisa and post them later.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

So about a week ago we took Elliette to a Pumpkin patch and let her pick out her own little pumpkin. She was so cute walking around and picking through the little pumpkins to find the one she wanted. Camryn was also very cute wearing her little pumpkin hat that is to big for her little head. They had some really cute wagons that I wanted to load up with pumpkins and get pictures of the two of them in with the pumpkins but Camryn was sleeping and my camera was having MAJOR issues and eventually died so I am lucky I got the pictures that I did. Elliette and I also turned her pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern with the use of a crayon (I was being a party pooper and didn't want the mess or have to buy an itsy bitsy knife). I did the face and she did a great job coloring and adding the little marks around the face.

This is what happens when ...

2009-11-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

Your 14 month old finds a box of packing peanuts.

Happy early birthday, christmas, and anniversary to us

2009-11-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

So for our Christmas, Birthday, and Anniversary we decided to get something big and combine them all. Well this was actually Justins plan but it was great. My laptop has been dying for quite some time and so Justin got me a new little netbook and I LOVE IT! I have also been wanting a new camera for a while since ours is about 5 yrs old and HUGE compared to what they have now and takes poor quality pictures and I had to keep the batteries out of the camera until I wanted to use it or the batteries would always be dead when I wanted it. That made it very hard to capture the quick cute moments when I had to hurry and find the batteries, put them in the camera and hope Elliette didn't notice or I would miss the moment. But since it still worked we just dealt with it. Well the other day it decided to poop out on me and I had to push the power button at least 10 times to get it to stay on long enough to take one picture and then it just completely died so we got me a new camera to go with my netbook, isn't Justin great.
Justin has wanted a new TV since his was a bit older and it had a lot of burn in causing it to have shadows everywhere so we found a good deal and got him a nice new tv. Now we are both set and content on presents until next year.

Pictures

2009-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been over a week since I said I would post pictures but it has been a busy week so sorry (I don't have one of all of us yet but hopefully I can get a little family pic soon). My parents were able to come out for this past week and help out with the kids and with meals and cleaning and I will have to say that is something I could get used to. It was so great to be able to split my time between my two girls and still have a little time for myself and not have to worry about dinner and dishes, thanks mom and dad. Chelsea and Chris are coming out for part of this week and then Justin's mom is coming out for a week and I am very excited.
Elliette is adapting well to having a little sister around, maybe even to well. She LOVES to help out and takes the binkie out of Camryn's mouth so that she can put it back in there. The problem is that she doesn't seem to be able to find her mouth and tries to shove it in her eye instead. She also loves to bounce her in the bouncer when she cries but she either pushes on Cami's tummy or starts bouncing it really hard. It is really cute to watch her try to be such a great big sister. She will bring me the changing pad and a diaper and then want to help pull the wipes out when we are changing Cami's diaper and she is GREAT at giving her kisses. My parents brought her a baby and a bottle and she is so cute with it and carries it around patting its back and feeding it. The first few days Ellie was a bit whiny but turns out she has had some bad allergies and hasn't been feeling great. One of her eyes actually swelled up so much one night it looked like she had been in a fight (I forgot to get a pic and it wasn't as bad the next day) but now we have some allergy meds and she is feeling better and has become less whiny. We have found that Elliette loves watching her Babies can read video and going through the flashcards which is great to know she will sit still for about 20 minutes if I put that on (Thank you so much Great Grandma and Grandpa N.)Camryn has been a great little baby. The first few days she had absolutely NO patience and as soon as she decided it was time to eat she acted like she was going to starve to death; she has slowed down on the freak outs now which is nice. It also seems as if we have figured out our nights already, she gets up around 3 or 4 to eat and then sleeps until at least 6 if not 8 in the morning and as long as Elliette sleeps well that night it isn't to bad for me. Like Ellie was she doesn't like to be swaddled and loves having her hands up by her face especially while sleeping. Other than that she sleeps, poops A LOT, eats, stares, and smiles (sometimes there are even little giggles). I think we are pretty lucky with these two.

The Camryn Eliza Story

2009-10-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

So the little girl has finally made it and here is what happened: At my last Dr appointment I was 4-5cm already and we were just waiting for Camryn to decide she wanted to come. Anyways, my Dr found out her dad needed surgery so she was going to be leaving town so she called me and offered to start me the next day if I wanted or let me know that she had someone to cover her if I just wanted to wait it out. Well since I was already dilated so far and was told that when I do go into labor not to wait long because it could go really fast I decided to get started so that I would already be in the hospital and be able to get an epidural since it was my fear that I would barely make it and have to deliver naturally; plus it was nice to have something set up for sure with Elliette.
So the next morning we went into the hospital and they set me up on pitocin around 9-ish that morning. I had small contractions but nothing really bad so I was waiting to get my epidural because I have to have a reason to get a needle stuck into my spine. Well nothing really kicked in and I wasn't making any progress so around 1:00 - 1:30 my Dr came in and broke my water. Literally 2 seconds later the contractions actually kicked in and they were horrible so right away I asked for the anesthesiologist. Well I guess right after the nurse called for the epidural someone else needed an emergency C-section so the guy had to go do that instead and he called around to get someone else to come and do my epidural. Well as luck would have it, all other anesthesiologists were stuck in surgery and he wouldn't be able to get back for at least an hour. Yeah, I went from 4-5cm to fully dilated in less than an hour and ended up having her naturally. Poor Justin had to deal with the fact that I wanted to cry, throw-up, pass out, and felt like I had to poop all at the same time (none of which I did, I don't think :) ) He was great at rubbing my back and then not rubbing my back and fanning me and holding me up and opening and shutting windows and anything else that I couldn't decide if I wanted or not. I was having a lot of back labor so I was kneeling up against the bed which helped a little but all of a sudden I told the nurse that I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom so she hurried and checked me and said I was ready to go so they called my Dr and the Dr on call to be ready just in case. Luckily I didn't really feel like I had to push at the moment so I was able to hold off for a few minutes but then I almost threw-up which pushed her down a little and that was the end of holding off. My Dr walked in right at that moment threw on a gown and delivered the baby about 3-4 pushes later.
So in my efforts to avoid my big fear of having a super fast natural birth by starting in the hospital it happened anyways. Thank heavens it was fast I guess. Anyways, the baby is great and weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long (pictures to come). It was nice to have use of my legs right away and since I only tore just a tiny bit and not enough to even need stitches my recovery is coming along nicely and I feel great and am way less swollen than I was the last time. Well that is the beginning of the Camryn Eliza story.

catch-up and updates

2009-09-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a little while since we have posted so I thought I would do a quick catch-up. Justin had his class break a few weeks ago which was fantastic because we got a whole week with him home. Elliette and I both loved being able to go out and spend time with him and doing a little sight seeing. We went to the aquarium, of course, walked around Carmel, drove 17 mile drive and saw Pebble Beach and Spy Glass, got Ellie a new car seat, walked the bay, and just hung out at home relaxing. It was tons of FUN!Elliette is just growing and growing and growing, she surprises us all the time with what she knows and with her funny personality. A few of the things I can get her to do (when she wants to) is tell me what a snake says, make a pig nose (she can't say oink so she just holds her nose instead), makes her hand quack like the beak of a duck (yeah we don't quite have the quacking part down yet either), point to her ears, nose, mouth, and eyes, and show me where her baby sister is by patting my tummy. Those are just a few of her new little things. She also likes to wear her towel as a cape to run around in.We did find out on Saturday that she FINALLY knows how to climb down the stairs, WOOHOO! She also loves being tickled and laughing. I actually caught her tickling her own toes the other morning when I went to get her out of bed.
funny story: We had her in a dress for church a few weeks ago and she decided that she wanted to try and take it off so she pulled one of her arms through and couldn't get the other one so she played one armed for probably an hour and a half because she wouldn't let us help he either take the dress off or pull her arm back out, she just kept smiling at us as we would laugh at her. She also likes to pull out the mop and bucket and broom and pretend to clean, cute, but doesn't exactly get anything clean.Killer Buy: So I went to right aid the other day and they had their summer stuff on sale for 90% off so I picked up 2 bathing suits with the built in floaties, 2 sets of arm floaties, a baby tube with a sun screen, and 2 sun covers for less than $10 - OH YEAH! Had to brag about that for a second.Ok, as for me and pregnancy - I am 38.5 weeks and can go any day (hopping for sooner than later). Justin had to fight with his superior officers to stay in town this past Sat incase I went into labor (yes, he finally won that battle) since he wouldn't leave me alone and him with no way of getting back where I am so close. We were hoping to have the baby that day just to prove a point to the guy that was causing a stinker but no luck. I was doing laundry yesterday though and stepped over the baby gate and my foot slipped as I was trying to get my other leg over the gate and I fell down the stairs somehow managing to not hit my tummy but ended up face first down at the bottom of the stairs and my legs going up them (I am sure it was quite the site to see - sorry no pic). I was fine but it sure scared Justin pretty good and Elliette cried for me wanting to make sure I was ok. I told Justin though that if falling down the stairs doesn't put me into labor I just don't know that there is much else I can do but wait. I do have another Dr. appointment today and I am excited to see if I have progressed.
Sorry about the long post, I have been busy trying to clean my house and waiting for the little one. Hopefully she is the next post that comes.

Aunt Mandy

2009-08-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

So the week after Elliette's birthday and having grandparents and Beanie out here Mandy was able to fly out and stay for a bit. It was a lot of fun and we showed her a lot of the same places but we did add the shopping areas of Carmel to her list of tourist activities. Aunt Mandy also brought Ellie some new Red Sox clothes and PJ's and a baseball bow for her birthday, she looked so cute in them, Thanks! A few things we did learn was that Ellie LOVES to chase the pigeons, we let her chase a few at the wharf and she was having a grand ol' time and had quite a crowd of people stopping to watch her, she is just so funny. She also LOVES cotton candy and dippin' dots - Thanks Mandy.

Sorry there are so many pics again, I get them off of everyone elses cameras because they are nicer and they just take so many cute fun ones.

1st Birthday and visitors

2009-08-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a lot of fun. First thing is first, my little baby is no longer my baby - she has turned 1. I don't know what happened but she sure did decide that as soon as she was one she was a big girl and can do things all by herself. But on the plus side she has also become a little more cuddly so we'll take it. My parents and Beanie were able to come out for her birthday which was a lot of fun and with the amount of gifts they brought it looked like Christmas for her. We didn't do a whole lot on her birthday other than open presents and eat cake which Ellie just kind of picked at instead of really digging in (there are more pics of the cake on my treaty treats blog). She really loved her new toys, books, and clothes - Thank you so much everyone. Side note, the blocks were hand made by my brother and his wife and have her name on them and everything, how cute!

The next few days consisted of showing grandma, grandpa, and Beanie around Monterey. HBere is a quick recap of what we did... The first day we went down to Fisherman's wharf and walked around the souvenir shops. Don't judge, the double stroller is all that would fit in the trunk that day so we look kinda odd in the pics. While down there we took the time to walk along the harbor and look at the boats and the ocean and got a close up look at some jellyfish, crabs, and seals. The next day we went to the aquarium and hung out there all day long so Ellie could show them around and show them her play spots. She was so funny and caught the attention of everyone around when she was playing, dancing, and posing for the camera. When we were out on the observation deck Beanie and I looked out and saw a group of dolphins swimming by, that was really sweet. It was also the county fair and carshow this past week so we saw a LOT of really really really nice expensive cars driving around. That night my parents treated Justin and I to dinner at a place on the Wharf while Beanie babysat, it was so yummy and nice to get out and we were lucky enough to get one of the window seats so we also had a really great view. On Sat. we drove through Carmel so my mom could see it and then went to the mall where the boys saw GI Joe and the girls (including Elliette) just broused. After the mall we made our way to the beach and just relaxed on the sand watching the waves and Elliette play in the sand and water. It was a really fun week and since there was a lot of walking involved we were all pretty tired and worn out but it was worth it. On a side note, I am 33 weeks pregnant now which you can see in some of the pics - I feel huge but it is a baby not just me being super chunky.

Beat up

2009-08-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ellie had her first run in with another baby today and she lost, in her defense she didn't actually fight back so technically she just turned the other cheek. On the first Tues of every month a bunch of us ladies who stay home during the day make treats or food or whatever and get together and have a little lunch and let the kiddos play. During this little get together poor Ellie had another little baby smack her in the head multiple times with a marker drawing all over her head - the pic doesn't really do the artwork justice. Then a little later the same little girl pushed her down and held Ellie there by her shorts and diaper and whacked her a few times. It was actually kind of funny because the marker thing didn't even phase Elliette she just kept playing and having a good time. I did take her and make her eat some lunch so she didn't end up completely covered in markers and then the second time she was fine with being pushed down but when I went in to grab her she had a sad look cause she kept trying to crawl away but couldn't cause she was being held there. I did have to ask the other little girl to try and be soft cause Elliette is just little still and she just looked at me with the cutest little innocent look, it was funny.

Our little Sweetheart

2009-07-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

I had to take Ellie in to the Dr the 28th for our first ever sick child visit. She has had a rash on her arm for over a week that I was watching and it never got worse or better or grew or bugged her or anything but I figured after about 10 days I should get it looked at. Of course the day of the apt I looked at it and it had started to get a bit better like it always does when you go to the Dr. Anyways, they are thinking she just came in contact with something that irritated her skin and since it had started to heal finally we just needed to continue to wait it out. They did weigh and measure her though and at 11.5 months she weighs in at 20 lbs 12 oz and is 29.5 inches long - with her neck scrunched up cause she was nervous.
So Ellie is normally WAY to busy to have time for little things like giving hugs and kisses, the closest we normally get to these things is a pat on the back when we get her out of bed. There have been a few days that we get kinda lucky though, about a month ago I was having a stressed out day and when I got Ellie up from her nap I think she could just tell because for the next ten minutes she just sat on my lap and gave me big hugs and would turn and give me kisses both the real kind and nose kisses (butterfly kisses, she prefers to give that kind). Isn't she such a sweetie, it really made my day and was exactly what I needed.
We normally just throw Elliette in the shower with us because it is just easier and faster so the other day Ellie and I were taking a shower and I had just washed the towels and forgot to put the washcloth back in the shower so I was just using my fingers to rub the soap around and clean out her ears. She was kind of fighting me because she wanted to be playing instead of getting clean so I was holding her while I did it so she couldn't get away as easy. While I was cleaning her ears she used her little hands and pushed my head to the side a bit and before I knew it there were little fingers in my ear scratching around; it made me laugh quite a bit but was a little weird cause those little fingers can go deeper into your ears than you think. She also likes to help you scratch. If you have an itch and she sees you scratching it she will hurry over and start scratching you and then look at you and smile for approval.

Etsy band wagon

2009-07-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

I have posted a few things (4 to be exact) today so keep looking.
So Mandy and I have jumped on the etsy band wagon lately. We just started our little shops so don't judge that they don't look all pretty like the others but Mandy is selling her jewelry and baby headbands and flowers that she makes, they are way cute. My shop is going to be a little bit of whatever but for right now I have started with the washcloth baby bibs that my mom taught me how to make, seriously the best bibs ever - I will have a few more bibs up by the end of the week! Anyways, if you want, check them out littlemotivations.etsy.com (mine) and soprettyz.etsy.com (Mandy's)

Ta-da, sand box, mittons, and babysitters

2009-07-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

I know I post a lot about Elliette but she is just growing so much so fast! I would have more pics of me but I am the one behind the camera and well Ellie loves the camera and looking at pictures but she just hasn't learned how to take photos yet so till then they will mostly be of her. Oh, and sorry this is a long one but I didn't want to post 10 times today and I already posted a few so I thought I would throw a few in together.
Elliette cracks me up on a daily basis, she really is just the happiest thing with such a good sense of humor. Lately she throws her arms out to the side to express a few things. She uses it for a ta-da moment (and every once in a whil we get a little "ah-da" that goes with it), she uses it to tell me she is all done with something, she uses it when it takes me a minute to go get her after nap time with a face that looks like she is wondering where I have been, and my favorite lately was the other day when we were trying to teach her how to go down the stairs and Justin was showing her she threw her arms out and had her mouth in a big O shape and wide eyes looking at him like "what?" it made me laugh so hard.
I took her to the playground the other night to give Justin some quiet time to study and give Ellie and I some fresh air. While we were there we used the swings (always a good time) and then just played in the sand. I started to cover her legs in sand and then tickle her little toes that were poking out which was fun for a while and then she decided that she wanted all of her legs covered and started pulling sand all over her legs and helping me cover her all the way up to her diaper. Thankfully not much of the sand went in the diaper and we had a good time.
So, I am not sure what was going on the other day but Elliette's hands were chilly so I grabbed these little play mittons and put them on her. After about 10 minutes I figured her fingers had warmed up so I tried to take the mittons off and she just started whining until I put the mittons back on. She crawled around with these mittons on (it was pretty funny to watch on the tile) all day long, thats my little wierdo.
There is a girl in Justin's class that wanted to come and play with Ellie and said she would babysit for us so we took her up on that a few weeks ago. I don't know if Ellie just knew that we were leaving her or what but she absolutely freaked out and was completely panicked, it was hilarious. I have never seen her so scared ever and she was just crying and shaking and slawing her way up into Justin's arms. We sat with her for about 15 minutes and slowly she would come around and playa little with Tiffany until she felt a little more comfortable and then we snuck out. The next Sat. Justin went and got Tiffany again and I had Ellie sitting in her little seat eating a sandwich; when Justin walked in she was so excited and jumped up and down smiling, as soon as Justin moved to the side and she saw Tiffany she sunk down in her chair and just glared at her. As soon as Justin got close she grabbed him and basically crawled up his arms until he held on and she started crying and shaking again. This time though it only took about 5 minutes for her to warm up enough for us to sneak out. She did start crying again when we got home but was good while we were gone. I don't know when this extreme shyness took over but wow.

Walking, already!

2009-07-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

So Ellie has been trying to walk around for about 3-4 weeks now and has been doing really well. She wouldn't walk between Justin and I very well because she had to keep stopping and making sure that we were both clapping and that would throw off her balance. She did the best when she was just off doing her thing and not really paying attention to the fact she wasn't holding onto anything anymore. It was funny though cause she walked the farthest with a bottle in her mouth, Justin called it her liquid courage. Anyways, on the 24th we went from dabbling around with the walking to deciding that was her main means of getting around. I can't believe how quickly she picked it up and how much more quickly the house gets torn apart, and how fast she surprisingly is even though she just started. The video is of her about a week and a half before she decided to walk everywhere, she does still walk with her arms up and waddles like in the video, she is still working on making more smooth movements.

New to us Stroller

2009-07-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

There is an awesome website here found at http://blog.cacoastpartentsgiveback.com where people and business donate new and used items to be given to others who need them and we won a new to us double stroller. Elliette wanted to try it out when we got it.

Anyone good with cars?

2009-07-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

So we have been getting absolutely horrible gas mileage lately and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to improve it since gas prices are outrageously high. We have changed the oil, the air filter, the pcv valve and I am thinking about trying a fuel cleaner and replacing the fuel filter. We do live in an extremely hilly area so I know that is going to knock the mpg down but I would like to get over 10mpg if possible. So, any cheap ideas on how to fix that?

Our ok 4th of July

2009-07-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

So the 4th of July out here is normally pretty sweet, or so we hear. The city decided to cancel the fireworks over the bay due to lack of funds, I totally understand that reason but my question is why didn't they get private donors or businesses - that would have been great marketing even to do a little show. Not only did they cancel the show they banned you from being able to do your own fireworks and claimed it was for public safety concerns and if you were caught you would be fined $1,000. How lame is that, a 4th of July with absolutely NO fireworks. Anyways, I could vent on that for a while so I will just let it go - we did go downtown for the parade that morning and I was SO excited because I really love parades (almost as much as fireworks) so I made sure we left about 1 hr before the parade started so we could get a good viewing spot. Turns out we didn't have to leave that early, but who knew. The parade started out well with some military men and women and police officers -the usual - and then it seemed like we had to wait about 3-5 minutes between each group/float/band or whatever that came through and so by the end even I had lost interest and I am one easy person to please when it comes to things like that so we left early and looked at a seal out in the water instead. - by the way the bow and bracelet are complements of Mandy, thanks!
Since we didn't have fireworks that night, aarrggghhh, we went to the park and just looked out into the bay for a little and then ran to the store for some milk. While there we noticed that they were having a really good sale on their soda so we thought we would stock up so Justin wouldn't have to keep buying them out of the machines (so expensive). We were picking out his sodas and this slightly overweight guy came up and told us that everything we could buy in that isle was totally bad for you and that we really should not be teaching our child to drink sodas because it is really bad for them as well and then he sighed really heavy and ran off. I had to giggle though because we were like the only people in the store who didn't have alcohol in their cart and I don't even drink soda. It was pretty funny and there were no witty comebacks because it was really unexpected and he ran off really quick. So that was our ok 4th of July.

More of our little Elliette

2009-06-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

So I know all of our pictures basically are of our little one, but with a face like hers can you blame me - plus the g-parents really like it?
Anyways, Ellie has a few favorite places in our apartment lately that I will randomly catch her in. One of her places is by the stairs where if she crawls up the bottom 2 stairs there is a little landing area that she sits on and looks out the window, I call it her thinking spot. She will either sit there or go up one more stair and sit there with one leg hanging down just kicking it back and forth staring out the window - it is super cute. The other place I find her is underneath the end tables, I don't know what it is but she loves it under there so we call it her fort. The funny thing is when she first started crawling she went under there and pulled herself up to standing and couldn't figure out how to get out. The top of the tables are a glass top so she was smooshing her face and hands against it and whimpering trying to get out from under the table, I wasn't able to get her out because she wouldn't bend her body so Justin came and bent her over and in the process she bumped her head and hated going under there; now she loves it under there and knows that she has to crawl back out. I have a few pictures of her in her thinking spot and fort.
Ellie LOVES to play with my purse and tries to pull the gum or chapstick or anything she can from it. The other day I caught her crawling around with it stuck over her shoulder so I had to take a pic since it made me laugh, she is already such a girl.
Today we took a family day and went for a walk along the bay stopping at Fishermans Wharf, the Aquarium, and ending with a small picnic on the sand. It was a great day and Ellie even snuck a rock in her mouth while we werent looking during our picnic, the little stink. While we were at Fishermans Wharf there was a guy with a bunch of birds that he puts on peoples arms and stuff for pictures. There was a little green parrot walking around when we first got there and he spotted Ellie looking at it and smiling so he told me to grab my camera, which I happily did, and he took the bird and put it on Ellies arm. He did it kind of sneakily not knowing how she would react but she did VERY well and just looked at the bird but stayed there long enough for me to get a few pictures with our camera (which is old so it doesn't snap pics real quick so she sat there a while). She did jump a little when the bird would squawk but then she would just give it a confused look.
Also, real quick if you want to look, I decided to put all the pics of my cakes and cookies and whatever else I decide to make on a new blog so I have them all together. There is a link on the side bar and you can check it out at treatytreats.blogspot.com if you would like.

The Last Couple of Weeks

2009-06-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got the big things unpacked and now just need to organize so that the spare room is actually usable. I kept telling myself that we couldn't go to the AQUARIUM again until I was unpacked and so that is where we have spent a few of our days. Elliette really has a good time there watching all the fish and trying to touch them through the glass sometimes even bonking her head cause she is reaching so far to get them. She also really LOVES the little play area that they have for babies. It is a lot of fun to watch her try to play and try to grab the fish through the glass and giggle as she seems something she likes. It is also fun to be the mom of the cutest baby around; she gets lots of attention and people end up watching her instead of the fish quite often just smiling and laughing and telling me how adorable and cute she is.

We had a ward PARTY a few weeks back right before our ward split and since we like to get out of the house and are trying to be more active within the ward we decided to go. The party was at a ranch that a family in the ward owns and is a way sweet place in a beautiful area. They have all sorts of things there, Elliette and I had been there for playgroup back in April, including playground, wagons, tractors, one of those plastic horses kids ride like you see outside of stores, and then they also have real PONY'S & HORSES there as well. Last time we were there Ellie seemed a bit scared of the horses but for some reason this time she loved them. We started out at the pony's, I think she liked how tiny and soft they were. Another little girl a little older than Ellie came over and started crying when her mom told her to pet them, it was funny because Elliette actually giggled at her and then Justin put her down and she held on to the fence till one came over and he helped her pet him. After that we went over to the big horses which she did shy away from at first but warmed up quickly. They had carrots and apples and things for the kids to feed the horses so we picked up a carrot and she held on to the bottom part of it and helped me feed one of the horses (sorry no pics I didn't think she would actually do it since she was scared at first). The horses were staying at the fence and huffing a lot for food and then they would nudge your arm with their noses, Elliette thought that was pretty funny when they did that to her. I was really proud of her and how brave she was around the animals that night, although now when I tell her that horses say "neigh" she shakes her head no at me - they never neighed while we were there.
We also had LANGUAGE DAY at Justin's school which was fun. We just walked around and looked at some of the booths the different languages presented, had ate some good food and then played on the playground where Ellie tried to kick me every time she would come close on the swings, little stinker.
The other day Justin came home from class telling me that THE WORLD was in the bay. If you aren't sure: The World is a cruise ship/yacht type boat that the rooms are sold to people and they travel the world stopping at awesome places and just chilling, they are definitely people who are well off in life to be able to afford that - that should tell you how cool this place is and you should all plan your trips to come visit us. Anyways, I watched a show about The World on the travel channel so we had to go down and see it. I also got some good pics of the seals that are on the rocks in the bay.Lastly, Justin FINALLY got his birthday CAKE the other day (again no pics, sorry). I had to wait until there were other people to help eat it cause it was a chocolate cake. Anyways, it is apparently tasty and really easy to make so I thought I would share real quick. I made a double layer chocolate cake - double layer only so I didn't have to cute the one layer in half to fill it - I covered and filled it in a caramel buttercream - reagular buttercream with about a jar of the caramel ice cream topping whipped into it until the flavor is good - and then chop up a couple of snickers bars and toss them inbetween the layers as well as on the top of the cake. I also drizzled chocolate and some of the left over caramel over the top of the cake just to make it look nicer.

News and Elliette milestones

2009-05-28T22:32:00.000-07:00

So today I went in for my Dr's appointment and when she was checking the babies heart rate it wasn't coming as fast as she would like so she decided to do an ultrasound to double check the rate. Everything was fine with the babies heart so that was nice and since I am farther along this time and the baby was being cooperative I had her tell me the gender - GIRL! - Yup we are having another girl; hopefully they will just be good friends and not be super competitive against each other. We are very excited and now can start trying to figure out a name.
This past week Ellie has not been feeling well and has been very sad with a bit of an earache (she loves her Tylenol though so that helps) and her gums have hurt; today a tooth has finally broke through. It is one of her upper front teeth and she won't let us feel it so I am sure the gums are still sore but it is there, 9.5 mo old and we finally have a tooth, hooray! I will have pictures soon when it comes in far enough to fully see it.
Well Elliette is growing and learning more and more each day and just continues to make me laugh and amaze me with what she can do. We found out the other day that she can climb up the stairs - isn't she a little young for that?, she is standing on her own and sits down very controlled when she realizes that she isn't holding onto anything but a toy, she loves playing with my purse and getting out the pack of gum so I have to keep reminding her that gum is for bigger kids and take it away and then she gets annoyed with me, she loves to look outside at the scenery, she loves books and being read to, she LOVES looking at pictures and will giggle as she sees them like she remembers it happening, she loves talking/listening to people on the phone or on skype for a few minutes and then has to move on to the next thing - she NEVER stops moving, she thinks she is to big for naps and should only go to bed when mom and dad do, she loves listening to the music on her walker when she eats (we slide the toys off to the side and use it as her chair) and as soon as one song ends she throws her food down so she can hit the button again, she LOVES food especially if it is the same thing that I am eating, she loves to giggle a very high pitched giggle, she loves to talk, she loves to be clapped at, she LOVES looking in the mirror, she loves to pick out her clothes, she loves to get tickled if she is in the mood, she loves testing her parents and trying to get her way, she has started grunting and flexing when she throws a half fit or will find the old milk/juice cartons before I get them into the recycling bin and hold them over her head with both arms and grunt really loud (we laugh hard at these ones), oh and she loves to be anywhere and everywhere her mom is and try climing all over her, those are just a few of the things that she does lately that I can think of off the top of my head.

Justin's Birthday

2009-05-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

Justin turned 29 the other day, for weeks I had been racking my brain about what to get this guy and thought I had something he might like. Well because I don't have a car and I wasn't quite sure if Justin would like what I was thinking I took him to the store and surprised him there (I know lame but at least he got something) or tried to anyways. Turns out the little recorder for his classes that he used to want he didn't need anymore because they had already given him one, who knew. Our neighbor had also given us a grill when she moved so I thought maybe we could get him a grill accessory kit - you know, the brush, tongs, flipper, etc - well he was thinking that it came with one so pretty much I had nothing (see, good thing I took him with me) so we walked around and picked out a couple of movies. Later that day Justin went over to get the grill and it was really nasty and SUPER heavy so we didn't want it and instead went to Home Depot and picked up a new charcoal grill for his birthday, oh and we did end up getting the accessory kit so at least one of the things that I thought of worked. I know that Justin shouldn't be cooking dinner on his birthday but he is much better at steaks than I am and he wanted to use his grill so he did the grilling and I made the potatoes and texas roadhouse type rolls and cinnamon butter, yum!

"Oh yeah, you are a mother"

2009-05-12T22:43:00.001-07:00

This made me laugh so I thought I would share it. So this past Sunday was Mothers Day and so I got up and got ready to go to church. Justin wasn't feeling well that day so I took Elliette with me and we went to all 3 meetings (I was pretty proud of myself because it is easy to skip out after sacrament if there is any reason at all, I know bad - I'm working on it). After church I came home to a napping hubby so I put Elliette down for her nap and just watched some TV. It came time for dinner so I did the dishes and made dinner and then cleaned that up as well. After dinner we skyped our families so we could tell our moms happy mothers day (we got them our web cam for mothers day so they can see Ellie whenever they want). After talking to them it was time for bed so we got ready and said our prayers. As we were laying there I finally asked Justin if there was anything he forgot to tell me that day so he went through the list of I love you, You're beautiful, etc. I finally had to say "Um, Happy Mothers Day maybe" so he responded with "Oh yeah, you are a mother, Happy Mothers Day". He makes me laugh to hard sometimes. He told me he is used to just thinking about his mom on Mothers Day but he will learn. I thought it was so funny. In his defense he was sick and had a 17 hour day the day before doing military stuff and is studying and working like crazy lately so his mind is shot when it comes to anything other than school stuff. I do feel bad because I am big into holidays and celebrating and he never really was but he really is learning.
Side note. We just took Elliette in for her 9 mo check up and she is weighing in at 18 lbs 2oz and is 27 inches long. They did an Iron test at this apt. and had to prick her finger, when they actually pricked it she looked at me weird and wasn't to pleased but not sad and then they had to squeeze the finger. I looked at her and she had her big frown come on and just started crying until they put the colorful band aide on and then it was happy times again as she looked at the colors and tried to suck the band aide off her finger. She is such a goof. She is also doing to funniest laugh lately and I am trying to get it recorded but as soon as the camera comes out she turns into a little model and just poses and grins and won't do anything else. Cute but kind of annoying when you want to capture the other moments.

SURPRISE, those that don't know anyways

2009-04-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, Elliette is telling our little secret. We are due on October 7th which puts the 2 almost 14 months apart.

Update

2009-04-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well I am doing a little better at this blogging thing, at least its been less than a month. Well first happy news ... The crazy lady is gone!!! WOOHOO!!! For those of you that don't know my neighbor is a bit crazy and is moving out today so my life is going to be better just because of that, we are very excited.
Ok now that is out of the way we can get to the update. We had some really nice warm weather out here a week or so ago so on Saturday instead of unpacking we went down to the bay and walked around watching the seals on the rocks, the kyakers and boaters, and just soaking up some good rays. While we were out we made it to the Aquarium which we were able to become year long members to so that Elliette and I have a place to go during the weeks we have nothing to do. It was super fun.
Elliette is eating more and more real food and being less and less or my little baby, she is just growing up so fast.But with that growing up comes more sophisticated fit throwing. It makes me laugh actually and I just watch her and wait it out until she realizes that it is getting her nowhere so she stops and just pouts. If that doesn't happen than I pull out the camera so I can get a pic of her cute sad face and wham it becomes a smile so fast I can't even get the pic I was hoping for but it does stop the tantrum. Although she does throw tantrums they are not often and are typically when she is tired so we throw her in bed when she is done and she sleeps it off and is back to her normal smiling giggling self. She is just cracking me up so much lately. The other day I was trying to take a nap with her and we were laying together on the couch as she ate her bottle and just out of the blue she starts giggling like crazy which in turn makes me laugh and needless to say neither of us got a nap at the moment. She also makes the funniest sounds, sticks her tongue out constantly, and is learning to spit a little which I probably shouldn't laugh at but it is pretty funny how she does it. We are also learning how to drink from a cup which she does really well if I am helping but as soon as I let her do it she dumps the water out and then tries to take a drink. Other than that she is army crawling around everywhere and is getting VERY fast. When I call her name she used to look at me innocently and then proceed to go where she is not supposed to. Now when I call her name she looks at me really quick and then just hauls to where she is going before I can get there to pull her away. She is starting to pull herself up on things to so we are having lots of fun and then falling over which does make for some tears as well.
Us: Well we are just chilling and enjoying the California life. Justin is doing well in his classes and I am trying to get involved in the ward so that I can meet people. Ellie and I went to a play group the other day which was a lot of fun for both of us to interact with other people. When we got back Justin had come home from lunch and locked us out so we were able to hang out with one of the ladies and her daughter for the afternoon which was fun as well. We did end up getting another set of keys the following day so that I can get in the apartment as well.
So that has been our life lately. Not to eventful but full of funny and beautiful scenery.

Happy Easter

2009-04-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Moving and Vacations

2009-04-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well we have made it to our destination in California. It is gorgeous out here and we are really liking it so far. We were finally able to get an apartment that actually fits our family and our stuff so that we have usable rooms instead of a usable room and a junk room (at least they will be usable when I am done unpacking). When we first got here we traveled around the city to see what was available and just to see the sights and were able to take Elliette to the beach for the first time. We didn't stay long but it was a lot of fun.
On our way to California we stopped in St George to see grandma and grandpa Nelson and then we were able to take a mini vacation in Vegas. It was great and was Justin's first time in Vegas. Mostly we just walked around to see what Vegas had to offer and to see the different hotels. We did get to see the variety show in Planet Hollywood, it was pretty good and the host was hilarious. We stayed at the planet Hollywood hotel and it took us a little while to find it since our GPS took us to the restaurant which is not in the hotel so we hauled all our luggage for about a mile round trip from the car and back to find out we were in the wrong place. Once we finally made it to the hotel it was sweet, we had valet parking and our room was upgraded to some kind of suit just because they had one open (we went in the middle of the week). It was absolutely amazing, we had a seperate living room which had a pool table, bathroom, tv/sitting area, and a little bar area. When we were looking for our room number we were walking down the hall looking at all the normal doors and then come across these big nice double doors which had our room number on it, we had to double check the numbers before going in cause we couldn't believe that was our room. We were also able to meet up with Nic and Krista and their little cutie Adelaide while we were there for a little bit. It was fun to be able to see them, thanks guys for coming out to the strip.

More weddings

2009-04-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well Justin's sister Brit just got married a few weeks ago in the Bountiful temple and it was beautiful. It was a lot of fun to have his family out here again since we are not able to see them as often as we would like. Anyways, like I said the wedding was beautiful and so was the reception and Dan is a great guy that we are all very excited about having in the family. We also got to meet Derek who is Nan's fiance and is also a great guy, it was so much fun.
Before the wedding Justin and I got to see Brit and Dan when they were out in Utah trying to figure out all the plans before the big day. During this we found out how much she was being charged for invitations and so we decided that we would do them because it would be a lot cheaper that way. Well, I have never created an invitation before so it was all new and I had to find a place that I could get abnormal paper sizes for this type of invitation. It took about 2 weeks longer than I was planning and I have never had so many problems printing things but we were finally able to get them done and they worked out pretty well. After the invitations were out I started working on a design for the cake. All Brit had told me she wanted was all white with calla lilies and she liked the cakes that were different shapes together. It was fun coming up with my own thing but surprisingly harder than just following orders because I was so nervous that she wouldn't like it.

Elliette, zoo trips, and swim parties

2009-04-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well as always it has been a while since I have blogged so here is what has been going on. Our little Elliette is now almost 8 months old and at her last appointment (6 mo) she weighed in at 15.2 pounds and was 26 inches long.

I can't believe how big she is getting, it blows me away every day. She still grins and giggles constantly and knows what to do to get you to tickle her if she is in the mood to be tickled. She is such a little mover, she doesn't crawl yet but she rolls all over and if she is holding on to you she will walk all over the place. She is pulling herself up to standing all the time because that is what we do and she likes to act like us.

Elliette also loves animals, we took her to the Hogle Zoo a few times (once with my family and once with Justins) and she loved it both times. We actually had to pry her little hands off the bars around the giraffes so we could move on and see the other animals. After the first trip to the zoo we bought her a pair of sunglasses so that we could go outside a little easier and she LOVES them. I put them on her the day I bought them and she wore them all day long indoors and out. It is funny though because everyone that sees her has to comment on the baby in sunglasses.

She was hating baths for a while and wouldn't put any part of her body in the water that didn't have to be at the moment so we started having swim parties where we would all get into bathing suits and play in the big jetted tub. It seems to have helped because she really likes her baths now and even really enjoys the shower.

Quick Catch-up

2009-01-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

So since our last post a bunch has happened, the most exciting being that we have moved from Idaho - woohoo!!! My last day of work was Dec 16th and we were packed and out of there on the 19th. It is true that it takes longer to pack with a baby but she was such a trooper and slept a lot on the day that we needed her to. We are kind of slackers and didn't really start packing until the 18th so that was some pretty quick moving from us. Justin drove the Uhaul down to my parents that night while Elliette and I stayed with Annette and Theo so we could go to her Dr.'s apt the next morning. Her 4 months stats are 13lbs 3 oz (35%) and 25 inches (73%). The dr thinks they measured her wrong last time since she only grew 1 inch in 2 months. After that we went and got shots, she really hated her shots but as soon as I picked Ellie up she turned around and smiled at the nurse who pricked her so she made that ladies day knowing not all babies are mad at her all the time. We were supposed to finish coming down that night but because of those nasty snow storms we stayed one more night. We finally made it down and got ourselves ready for Christmas. On Christmas Eve my aunt and uncle and their kids came down and it is tradition that Santa shows up with one gift for everyone. We have all taken our turn to be Santa and no one really wanted to dress up this year so my mom and I found this cute little outfit and Elliette was Santa and I was her elf, she was so cute and Santa got to sit on everyone's lap this year for a change . Christmas was so much fun and Elliette had quite a haul. Thanks everyone for all her cute little gifts we love dressing her up in her cute clothes and bows and reading her those cute stories. After Christmas we ended up getting her a walker so that she could sit up and play with toys as well and she is LOVING that.
After Christmas Brit came down to visit so we got to see her a few times which was fun and we went and looked at reception centers. I am going to keep myself busy by making her invitations and her cake which I am very excited about.
Justin and I just chilled until Jan 9th when he had to start his school. I am loving being a stay at home mom and spending time with Elliette because she is just the cutest happiest little thing ever. She is also sleeping anywhere between 9 and 12 hours a night which is fabulous.
Also, my aunt just got married last weekend and I was able to make her cake which was a lot of work (only because I have issues and had a thought in my head and had to make it that way - she even left it up to me to how it looked so it was totally my fault) but turned out very pretty. I made the fondant look like it was pleated and hand made all of the flowers out of fondant with a little gum paste added, it was pretty sweet I will have to admit.

Also, my dad fell off the roof after Thanksgiving when he was putting up Christmas lights. He shattered his hip and had to have a partial hip replacement, broke another part of his femur, and dislocated his shoulder but is healing really quick so now he is up and moving on his own which is great.

happy holidays... finally.

2009-01-27T09:07:00.001-08:00

Sorry about the late posts here is the happy holidays card that was made and supposed to go out first of January (at least it isn't quite Feb yet I guess)

Elliette laugh...more proof

2008-12-24T19:06:00.000-08:00

I though I would post another video of Elliette laughing since I've heard she sounds like she is crying in the last one.

Find more videos like this on Nelson Family

Santa Claus and giggles

2008-12-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

Well Elliette had her first visit with Santa Clause today. We went to our ward Christmas party and had her sit on Santa's lap. She didn't really seem to care much but I really wanted to get a picture with her on his lap.

Santa was also handing out candy canes and we learned two things, 1) candy canes make the best toys for 4 month olds because they are thin enough they can actually grip around them.

and 2) I think our baby has a HUGE sweet tooth because she just went to town on that thing - the wrapper is actually still on but she is teething and it is small enough to fit into her mouth and bite hard on so she was really biting and slobbering all over it.

After we got home from the Christmas party Justin was playing with Elliette biting her belly and she just thought it was hillarious. So for family and others who may like that here is a short clip of the giggles.

4 months, Thanksgiving, and good friends

2008-12-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that our little Elliette is four months old already. She has grown so much lately and shows her little personality more and more. One thing I have to tell you because it cracks me up and is so cute; we have learned that Elliette loves to smile and be happy. We really are incredibly lucky because she hardly ever cries and even though she hasn't really been feeling good (lately she has had a cold, is congested, growing, and teething) she still is such a happy baby. Anyways, one day a little while ago she was having a hard night and had been crying for like 15 minutes straight which is very out of the ordinary for her, it was one of those unconsolable cries. The thing that made us laugh though was every time she stopped crying to catch her breath between cries she would smile as much as she could with tears in her eyes and everything and she just looked like she wasn't feeling well but was trying so hard to be happy and then when she would catch her breath the frown would come back and she would cry. She did finally stop once the Tylenol kicked in (we are pretty sure her teeth were hurting) and as soon as she stopped crying she was back to smiling. It was so cute and funny that we had quite a good laugh. She is starting to move around a lot more which is fun to watch, she won't fully roll over yet but she will roll to her side, she loves lying on her side, or she will kick around enough that it will turn her in a circle while she is laying on the ground playing with her toy. Her favorite things to do are stand, bite on her fist, suck on her blankets and burp rags, and giggle. She is also quite the little chatterbox, especially while she is eating. I took her to JC Penny's for pictures over Thanksgiving and the photographer was trying to coo at her to get her to smile, instead of just smiling Ellie thought the girl was talking to her so she started making all the sounds back just chatting away. Man this little girl just makes me laugh! Well, thought I would fill you in on our little one. (We don't have a dog, we were just dog-sitting little Bella - her and Elliette had a good time staring and trying to figure each other out)

Thanksgiving was way fun this year. We drove out to Kansas stopping for the night in Denver which is about half way and went to Casa Bonitas (love that place). Elliette did really well in the car but our nights were a little craxy for a while since she did sleep a lot of the day. Once we got there we were able to chill with the family which was a blast since I hadn't been there when everyone else was since probably Thanksgiving two years ago. We went to the Wichita Zoo, Warren Old Town Theater (best theater ever, you get to order dinner while you are in the movie), have a fantastic thanksgiving meal, and just have a fun time with family. It was hard leaving and coming home.

Also, right before Thanksgiving Adam and Robin, our good friends, came up from Texas so we got to hang out with them for a day as well. It was so much fun to see them and their little boy and her parents and Matteo all again. (Sorry, I don't know why this picture came out so small but I am tired and don't really want to mess with it and fix it).

On a side note, I only have two more days of work left, HOORAY!

Pink Purse Cake

2008-11-20T21:01:00.000-08:00

So here are a few pics of my latest cake I was able to make. I was talking to a lady in my ward one Sunday and she was telling me that her daughter wanted a pink cake and she didn't know what to do with that and since I was doodling cakes I came up with a pink purse so she let me make it. I looked online for the basic shape and saw the idea for the shoe and thought it was pretty cute so I made one of those out of fondant to go with the pink purse cake. There are definitely flaws so don't look to closely but I am pretty proud of it being my first time ever making a 3d sculpted type cake.

Happy Veterans Day

2008-11-11T16:09:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to give a shout out to all the veterans out there (especially my hubby) and tell them Happy Veterans Day!

HALLOWEEN

2008-11-02T18:02:00.000-08:00

Well Happy Halloween all and thank heavens it is over cause it was a very busy day. When I found out that they held a Trunk or Treat here in Soda and it was something that I did through Recreation I wasn't very excited about it for a few reasons. One is that I loved Trick or Treating door to door and when you live in an area that is like 20 years behind everywhere else and people still trust people and it is relatively safe why not go door to door. Secondly I don't think that it should be a city function. They are normally put on by different church groups or schools which is very nice because there are less kids and more people are able to afford to give out candy. As it was we had about 800 kids show up for the Trunk or Treat and only 20 trunks which are mainly done by businesses because families can't afford to buy candy for that many kids so less and less people do trunks and because Halloween was on a Friday lots of people that normally do trunks (yes it is always the same people year after year) were going out of town. Even though there were very few trunks and I wasn't super excited to do it, it turned out rather well and we were very lucky with the weather to have it be relatively warm which was nice. Halloween was a very long day for me because not only did I do the Trunk or Treat I just mentioned I also put on a little carnival for the young kids which was a lot of fun. Not as many kids as I had hoped showed up but it was still fun other than the working 12 hours that day part. But I wanted to keep myself as busy as possible all month so I didn't just sit and dwell on why I didn't want to do Trunk or Treat. I was also able to put on a pumpkin carving contest which was way sweet; we had 15 pumpkins turned in and the ones in this post were a few of my favorites. Also here is a cute little picture of Elliette in her Halloween outfit being held by Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

2008-10-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

I had to post this. Read this article and make up your own minds about who caused the mortgage crisis that cause the situation we're in now.

2 Months

2008-10-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Well our little Elliette turned 2 months old on the 12th, I can't believe how fast that has gone. My sis-in-law Kim took a bunch of pictures of her for me that day. I picked a bunch of my favorites (I loved them all, thank you so much Kim - oh and a shout out to Ryan for the cake detail pictures he took for me and I forgot to mention-Thanks!) and put them in a slide show. Sorry there are so many but I loved them all and I tried to get different faces so there are a ton.
Also, we went to the doctor last Friday for her 2 month check up. Her stats are: she is now 24 1/2 inches long putting her in the 98 percentile for height and she is weighing in at 10 pounds 3 ounces putting her in the 16 percentile for her age in weight. She is definitely built like the Nelson's. Tall, skinny, and a small bum.

October and Work

2008-10-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well this month started off fantastically with me being the cause of an accident. Here is what happened: I was hauling a trailer back to the shops that had to big cookers on it that the minor soccer league had used the night before for a party, after I had just gotten the propane tanks filled. I decided to take a slightly longer way back because there are less giant dips and I hate pulling heavy trailers in general let alone over all the dips. On my way back I check my rear view mirror and notice that my trailer looks like it is off to the left a touch so I continue to watch it a bit. I started to freak out as I notice my trailer way off to the left and realized that somehow it has come loose from my truck. The trailer must have been perfectly balanced because it stayed on its two wheels for the rest of this. Next thing I know my trailer has made its way into the turning lane, waits for a car to pass hangs a left into a bank parking lot one wheel running into the curb, takes out the entrance sign, almost hits a guy in his car who thankfully saw it coming and had just thrown the car in drive and peeled out of the way, throws the cookers (which are to big for me to lift) clear off to the side of the parking lot, finally the nose of the trailer goes down but it continues down the parking lot until it ends up under another yellow truck. All this happened while I was trying to hurry and flip around to somehow try and stop my heavy run-away trailer. I know what you are thinking, were there no safety chains? Well there were but they were too short to hook to any vehicle and for some reason that had not been fixed. Needless to say all city trailers are now getting fixed for optimal safety. There actually wasn't much damage to the truck either since the trailer just acted like a ramp and lifted it right up. We definitely got lucky that no one got hurt and that the damage wasn't that bad. Oh and just so you know I wasn't speeding and was actually going 5 under the limit cause I really don't like pulling trailers and understandably I hate it even more. Oh the kicker is that they hooked the trailer back up to my truck, what were they thinking! I absolutely refused to finish driving it and made my boss do it instead.
On a good note though I told them I was leaving in December for California, I am so excited!

Chelsea and Chris

2008-10-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were able to go down to American Fork for my little sisters wedding. We were able to go to the temple with them as she went through which is always a great experience. These past few weeks have been great with that because I have also had 2 cousins go through for their missions and we were able to make it down for those temple trips as well. Anyways, Chelsea was nice enough to let me make her cake and I have been so excited to make it for like a month since she decided on the cake she wanted and it was a non traditional cake, it was a challenge for me to get the colors correct so I did a few small practice runs during that month. It pretty much took me all day Friday to get the thing made but it was fun and I think it turned out great. I also had to try and find a dress that day since I live in Soda and there is no place to shop for clothes up here. We finally made it to the mall at 8 pm, yeah it closes at 9 so I didn't have much time and I am never lucky enough to find the outfit I want in a day let alone an hour but low and behold Urban wear (or trends - whatever one is in the Orem mall, I can't remember) had a skirt and 2 shirts. It was a great day. Sat was the day of her wedding and let me just say that my family should start a wedding business cause with the amount of weddings we have had recently we have become pros at decorating. The service and the reception was nice and Chelsea looked great. All in all it was a great weekend. We also got to stay down till Monday morning cause I thought I had a Dr's appointment that day, turns out it was on the 20th but the person that was supposed to be there was a no show so I got to go in. Also, Elliette turned 2 months old on Sunday I have some really good pics of her where she is smiling but I will post those later, it is getting late.

Here is the detail that was on the 2nd layer of the cake

Hats

2008-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

It is getting colder up here in Soda and I had to take Elliette to work with me so Justin could do apartment manager and military things so I put her in some hats and warm clothes for the office. I thought she was such a cutie in her hats I had to take a picture. Sorry Ryan the Boston baseball cap is still to big (I tried). If you look at her hands in the blue hoodie picture she is showing you one of the many talents she has. The day she was born the nurses brought her into our room laughing and said she had been flipping them all off in the nursery. I didn't even notice she was flipping me off till after I took the pic but I thought it was hilarious and the face she has just goes so perfectly with it. Enjoy!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-12T17:09:00.001-07:00

OK, I finally got the pics off of the camera so there will be a lot more pictures of Elliette in this post. Now I know Labor Day weekend was a little while ago but lay off I am really slow at this blogging thing. Anyways, it was a great weekend, we decided to bless Ellie then because I had the time off work and the holiday made it so that Justin's family only had to take one day off of work. We blessed her on Sat. the 30th at my parents house. Justin's parents, sis Jill and son Eli whom we hardly ever see all drove in for the occasion. Chris and Blaire came down from Logan, Grandma and Grandpa Bennett, and all my siblings and parents were there as well. I looked into buying a cute little dress for her but I was in major cheapskate mode and refused to pay $45 for a dress that gets worn once even if it is stinking cute. So instead we used the dress that I was blessed in which was kind of cool - thanks mom. After the blessing we had sandwiches and cookies (I couldn't decide what kind of cookies I wanted to make so I ended up with 5 different kinds and about 8 doz large cookies for 18 people.
Since the Nelson's were in town we spent the rest of the weekend in Salt Lake hanging out with everyone. It was a blast. Saturday we went out to Joes Crab Shack and had a fantastic meal and then just hung out till bed time. Sunday we met up in Salt Lake and went to the Tabernacle Choir thing. The part that I could hear was good but because I had a baby with me they sent me into the cry room and that is pretty much what all the other kids were doing (but not mine, she didn't even wake up) so I couldn't hear much. Jill was in there with Eli as well and since it was loud and cold in the room we decided to walk around the grounds till everyone else got out. It was really pretty and it was fun to watch Eli cheese it in front of the fountains every time he got his pic taken. That night we went to a BBQ at Aunt Jana's house. Ryan and Christy brought their baby, Kate (one week younger than Elliette), over so we were finally able to meet her and get some pictures of both girls together. It was such a fun weekend! I had to put this picture in seperate from the slide show because it is my favorite. It looks like Elliette is freaking out and trying to kick Kate off of her blanket; really she was just hungry and annoyed that I was making her lay and get her picture taken before she ate.

A Few of the Many Faces of Elliette

2008-09-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

These pictures aren't the best quality since they were taken with our cell phones but I wanted to post a few more pics since Elliette is a month old now (I can't believe it). They change so much so quickly. She is so funny and pulls such funny faces but as soon as a camera is pulled out she puts on her duh face and won't do much more so it has taken a while to get a few different faces, especially the smile. She is so stinking cute, or at least we thing so, and cracks us up daily as we just sit and watch her discover new things. Since she doesn't like to be bound up she has pretty good control of her arms and hands and is getting pretty good at holding her head up as well - especially when she wants something. So far this month has been great and she has stayed a good baby only crying when she wants something or if she has gas pains so it is pretty easy to console her. We have more pictures on the actual camera that I will get around to posting soon (I hope) including ones of her blessing day.

Well I am back to work tomorrow and it makes me sad already to have to leave her for a good portion of the day, even though she mostly sleeps throughout that time. But good news is that I only have to work until Christmas and then we get to move! Woohoo! we can hardly wait. Justin has successfully switched to Military Intelligence so American Fork and California here we come!

Elliette is Born

2008-08-13T19:06:00.002-07:00

Little Elliette was born on August 12th at 12:37 am and weighed 8lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long. Speaking of long, you'll see on the slide show that we tried to highlight Elliette's most outstanding feature...her very long fingers. I think she is going to be a basketball player because with those mitts she is probably going to be tall and easily palm a basketball.
Until Melissa got her epidural she was having some pretty intense contractions, but after the happy juice kicked in she was taking naps and watching tv with me. At the end she did get a little sick, but nothing out of the ordinary from what were told. Elliette was actually born when the US was receiving their bronze metal in men's gymnastics, which we were all watching including the doctor and Melissa.
We are starting to notice features that she has from us which worries us a little, but I am sure she will grow up to be a beautiful girl and if for sure a cute baby.
On a side note, we will be posting some videos as well as soon as I edit them...we haven't exactly mastered the use of the video camera yet.

Justin wrote this one.

2008-08-13T19:06:00.001-07:00

Wedding Cake, Stretch Marks, and Disc Golf

2008-07-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

So here is my recap of the last month. On July 4th and the 24th (I know I am in Idaho but for some reason SE Idaho celebrates the Utah holiday) I was so lucky to have to work. Yup, they are actually two of the holidays I am supposed to get off and be paid for but lucky me got to work. It does work in my favor for the fact that all those hours become comp time and so now I will have almost an entire month of paid leave once my baby arrives. So as far as fun holiday festivities, I didn't really do anything but run tournaments and finish working on the Disc Golf course. Sorry that is boring but it is my life.
On July 12th my friend Sheila got married and I was able to do her wedding cake. It was so much fun and I haven't done a cake since last year when Mandy got married so I was a little nervous. It turned out really cute, especially after they put the flowers on (nope, I forgot to get that pic) and was so much fun.

After we dropped the cake off we ran up to Bear Lake since my mom's family was having a reunion. We stayed there Saturday night and through Sunday just chillin which was great. It was nice to be able to see family I am lucky if I see once a year. I also got to see my cousin Heidi and her new baby Gavin whom I haven't seen since her wedding a few years ago. Sunday before Mandy and Ryan left we ran to a snow shack in BL and got the biggest snow cones ever, they were soooo tasty. For some reason I can't get the picture any bigger but I swear they were huge snow cones, volcano size even.

So in other news I was not able to escape the horrid stretch marks for the entire pregnancy but I did make it pretty darn close. I just hope they fade away real good afterwards.
The 18 hole Disc Golf Course is FINALLY up and running. We had our official open house tournament just yesterday on the 26th. I don't know that I have been so happy to be over with something. It really is a cool course but by the end I was ready to beat the designer and others to death with their own discs. But, on the bright side, no more hauling crap, cement work, moving sand, etc. There is still a lot to do but I think that will all turn in to Eagle scout projects cause for the most part I am done, woohoo!
Well I think that covers this past month for the most part. Oh, I forgot the best news. I may be getting out of this wretched place, finally. Justin is switching to the Military Intelligence Unit and as long as his clearance form gets approved we will move to AF for 10 weeks in January and then are off to sunny California for 1.5 years. Just thinking that day is coming somewhat soon makes me so happy.

Baby Shower Photos

2008-07-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the baby shower. Thanks so much to everyone it was so much fun. Our baby girl got lots of really cute clothes and blankets, a place to sleep, swing, and a car seat so I think she is already super spoiled. I believe I was at 32 weeks in the photo that shows my belly. I am at 34 weeks now (I know I am really slow at posting) and I still feel huge so not much has changed there. Justin is home now, his job was going good and it would have done real well if we just had a little more time to try it out but with the pregnancy so close and my job and taking care of the apartments wearing me out daily we decided that it was just not the right time, hopefully soon though. My job still kicks my butt and I am exhausted a lot. Justin comes and watches out for me when he knows we are doing something physical and makes sure that I don't do anything but stand there and supervise. I don't mind cause I typically feel better at the end of the days that he does that but I feel bad making everyone else do things like picking up the brush and pouring and finishing the cement forms for the disc golf course. I sneak a little in here and there but I pay for it later. It also wouldn't be that bad if I could come home to an apartment that had A/C (note to anyone pregnant in the summer - have close access to an a/c unit). That same weekend that we had the baby shower Justin bought us a washer and dryer off craigslist and that has been wonderful already, we are very excited about actually being able to wash her clothes (and ours) when we need to.

It's a Baby Shower

2008-06-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

Ok so it isn't a baby shower quite yet but I had to show off the cute shower invites that Mandy made (I am sure she is for hire if anyone needs anything cute and crafty like that - she makes way cute jewelry too, man she is talented). I don't know where everyone lives and so some of you got these in the mail but if you didn't and happen to be in AF on the 21st you should stop in to my parents house and say hi cause it has been a while since I have seen many people and would love to see you all - plus I am sure there will be something to snack on. Back to the original point though, I just thought these were the cutest so I thought I would brag about my talented sis.

28 weeks and an update

2008-05-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

So I have hit the 28 week mark and like normal I just keep getting bigger and bigger or at least that is how I feel. Since the snow has melted my job has become more and more demanding and there are some days that I probably do more physical work than I should - by the way, digging holes, setting up fields, preparing the disc golf course, etc are so much more difficult when you are pregnant and can't bend over very well - after a hard day I won't feel her move for a while so I have come to love feeling her move and kick me so I know that I haven't done to much and that she is ok. Although I do love to feel her move she has found the "jungle gym" aka my ribs and loves to shove something up there making it hard for me to breathe or sit or anything. She does make me giggle though when I can see my tummy move when she does, that is weird. Only 12 more weeks to go.
In other news I am up here in Soda Springs all by my lonesome at the moment because Justin got a job in Salt Lake (there is nothing up here for him to do) and is down training for the time being. He started this past Monday, it is a sales job so I am keeping my job until we know that it is going to work out and pay enough to support us. When that happens I will be able to move down and be with him again, woohoo! The good thing about this is not only does it have potential but it is in the field Justin wants to be in after school and it is close to a school so that it is actually possible that he could finish, another big woohoo!

Hogle Zoo

2008-05-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

So I haven't played around with learning how to do the slide shows yet, someday I will, so you just get to see a few choice pictures. A few weeks ago I was kinda bummed because I didn't get a job that I had wanted so I decided that I wanted to go to the zoo to cheer myself up, plus I love the zoo and I just keep getting bigger and it just keeps getting hotter so I figured this would be my most comfortable time. I called my mom and brother (sorry Mandy - they weren't down that weekend) and we made a whole day out of it. It was so much fun and so warm but very crowded. I don't know if you can see my tummy super well but that is me at about 25 weeks. I would highly recommend going to the zoo this spring, there are a few new baby animals which are always fun to see and they do still have the albino alligator there as well. While we were there the zebras were fighting and were up on their back legs and everything, or so I was told, I missed it cause I was to busy watching the penguins pretend they might jump into the water but it was still a fun time.

For those big Jazz fans out there

2008-04-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, I like to watch sports but I wouldn't say that I am an avid fan or a fanatic or anything but a good game is always worth going to. Basically I just wanted to brag about the perks of my job that come around here and there. Last Monday I was invited to a Jr. Jazz recognotion dinner at the Energy Solutions Arena. Justin and I went down, got our tickets in the will-call line so we didn't have to fight the crowds and then were sent through the building to the upper suites area where we were treated to a buffet of roast, potaotes, salad, drinks, desserts, etc. Once the game started (oh yeah did I mention it was the last home game of the season and we played against Houston and won) we went out to our seats in the nosebleed section - if you had a large program you were treated to a sky box, sadly I was not but it was still cool - and were able to watch the game. At half time we were treated to popcorn, drinks, and nachos back up in the suite. It was a really fun time and the best part about it all was that I spent a total of $5.oo (parking of course) because all the food and tickets were free and as an added bonus since it was "representing the city" I was able to take the work truck down so the gas was free also. It was a fun night other than the long late night drive home.

It's A Girl!

2008-04-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

So here are the ultrasound pictures that we got on the fourth (sorry there is a lot but my mom likes to look and see the baby so I thought I would post them all). It was a really fun experience but lying on my back that long doesn't sit with me well and I held it in as long as possible but at the very end I had to sit up real quick or I was going to loose it. Thankfully he had just checked the last thing so I made it till the end.

Every time the doctor tried to show us a picture of her face she had her hand up there kind of covering it. He printed off the clearest ones for us, Josh calls this one The Thinker.

22 weeks down, only 18 more to go!

I've been Tagged and gave in

2008-03-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Robin a month ago and finally decided to give in and do it since I promised her that I would. The rules are that each player has to list 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post, the player has to tag 6 people and then go to their blog and post a comment telling them they've been tagged and to look at your blog for instructions.

1. I am horrible at keeping blogs or writing in journals. As you can all see by the fact that it has been over a month since our last entry we are not very good at this keeping updated stuff. I try and think about it all the time but it is always when I am not at a computer I can use and forget by the time I get to one. I do want to get better at it though so we will see.

2. I love to travel. I wish I didn't have to work and could just go anywhere at anytime that I wanted to. This past year of living in places like Raleigh, Wilmington, DC, and Wichita was amazing because it was like a giant vacation. I would go anywhere and be happy as long as I am on vacation.

3. I get super excited about little things. Justin always tells me I am like a little kid around the holidays because I get so happy and excited to do the little things like decorate eggs and gingerbread houses. I also get so excited for Christmas morning that I can hardly sleep all night. On our honeymoon we went to the Disney World parks and I think that was the first time Justin got to see my childish excitement in full. It was so fun and exciting the entire week we were there.

4. I am a very stubborn person. I do not like being told what to do. I like to do things my way when I want to do them. I am trying to work on it but it is a hard habit to break. I remember once as a kid that I was going to take the garbage out just to help out. I had the bag in hand and was walking out the door when my mom yelled and told me to take out the garbage so I turned around put it back and sat on the couch and watched tv just because she told me to take out the garbage.

5. I am to ambitious (or undecisive-you decide). If school didn't cost so stinking much I would be happy just continuing on and on. There are so many things that I want to do and in so many areas. To give you an example I want to be an orthopaedic surgeon, a teacher/coach, a chemist so I can make fireworks, an auto mechanic, a physical therapist, and a biomedical engineer to name a few. It seems like every day I think of something new that I want to learn and do.

6. I love to decorate cakes and cookies and would someday like to do it out of my home as a business. I am sort of a perfectionist with this stuff so it takes me a while to do it but for some reason it is fun and relaxing for me and I like to think that I am pretty decent at it.

There, I did it. I don't know who to tag so if you feel like doing it so I can read some facts/habits about you feel free.

Congratulations, It's an.....ALIEN!

2008-02-04T20:18:00.001-08:00

Melissa was worried that she wasn't really pregnant and that when we went to the doctor He would just say "Ummm...your not actually pregnant, you just have gas". It's not just gas, it's just an alien.