Anyone good with cars?

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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.