Weston and Missy

Jabba the Hut syndrome- 7 1/2 months

2012-01-06T13:21:00.003-07:00

We totally missed scheduling Cooper's 6 month doctor's visit and when I tried to get it scheduled they put me out an additional three weeks because of Christmas. We finally got him in this morning and our doctor mentioned Cooper's fake disease in the title. ;) These are his stats:

weight- 22 lbs. 9 oz. 91%
height- 28 in. 69%
head- 46 3/4 cm. 94%

Here's what's up with Cooper:

He officially turned 7 months on December 18th.
He's only about a pound away from 18 month clothes and that's what he got for Christmas!
He likes to crawl backwards, roll, stretch out his arms, and do anything he can to get into what he wants. He has been pulling himself up to his knees in his crib and on the entertainment center. Still no forward motion.
Coop has eaten almost every veggie and fruit now. The only one he really cringed about was sweet potatoes- I hear ya Coop.
He is very ticklish and has a very contagious laugh.
Cooper LOVES watching our doggie. He likes to pet him and when the dog is nearby he flails his arms and legs and smiles huge.
He has perfected his "high fives" so that it actually makes a sound and will give double fives (a high ten?) He is also waving at people and loves to clap his hands.
He is still drooling like crazy. The doctor said that there are four teeth on the way. I just hope they all don't come at once. Aye!
Two days ago, Cooper learned how to put himself into a sit while crawling backward. He does it so often now he's a pro.
He really loves to eat cereal puffs and other baby snacks. He's been drinking water from a sippy for about a month.
He is such a happy boy! We just love him!

6 Months

2011-11-21T03:49:00.006-07:00

I'm such a horrible momma these days. I think the camera has sat in the same place since the last post I did about Cooper. I also haven't called to get him in for his well-child check for 6 months. I'll post official stats after that (hopefully).

Cooper. . .

officially turned 6 months on the 18th.
is still a chunk. He weighs at least 22 pounds (I weighed him a few weeks ago). He needs a onesie that says 'I can eat your baby'.
is still in 12 month clothes for a little while.
likes to roll around, but hasn't started crawling yet- thank heavens.
loves bananas-ate a whole jar the first time he tried them. He's also had apples, and squash so far.
adores his big sister. He follows her with his eyes and smiles no matter what else is going on.
has laughing fits, especially when Grandma Dollhouse acts crazy.
learned how to push the button to make the doggy bark on Grandma's book.
gives real soft "high fives".
is drooling like crazy.
loves to splash in the tub. He also loves to pee in the tub. :)
can sit unassisted now, but still won't fit in his Bumbo chair.
still loves his jumper.
loves his new little cousin 'Baby Dax' and tried to hold his hands when they were first introduced. It was seriously so cute.

"Oh My Posh!"

2011-10-20T22:22:00.003-06:00

No, that is not a typo in my title. I've become an independent consultant for a new company called Perfectly Posh. Weston's cousin, Andrew McBride, is one of the four founders of this company.

My fabulous computer-skilled hubbie has set up a link to my website for sales, parties, and signing up to be a consultant. He also included a link to my new blog on the right side of this blog. What would I do without him? Please visit my new blog to see any new offers or info about Posh so that we can keep this our family blog.

I'm planning a party for next week where anyone can come see the products, use them, and fall in love with them. Tell anyone and everyone you know. These products are brand new. Their company launched October 1 of this year.

"Perfectly Posh" Open House Party

Thursday, October 27th

6:30-8:30 p.m.

Enter a drawing for free products

*If you are interested in attending and don't know where I live, please leave a comment so I can contact you.*

My 5 month/ 12 month baby boy

2011-10-18T11:56:00.012-06:00

Today Cooper is officially 5 months old! I can't believe it. I feel like it was just yesterday that he was born and yet I don't remember him ever being a tiny little baby. Maybe that's because he never really was a tiny baby. In comparison, Ellie weighed 20 pounds even at her 12 month check up and was 30.5 inches tall.

I know I've been a real slacker at charting his milestones on the blog, but my plan is to update with the months in-between later. For now, here is what Cooper is up to:

**I will warn you that this will seem like a brag session and it probably is, but I'm trying to write everything down here so I remember later. You don't have to read it all. I love to look back and remember what Ellie was like as a baby and I don't want to forget about Cooper too.**

Height: 27.25 in.
Weight: 20.5 lbs
Eating: He has been eating rice cereal and oatmeal once a day for about a month. Our pediatrician says he can start on fruits and veggies this month. He has milk about 5-6 times a day and when we feed him in bottle form it is 5 ounces each time. Coop gets really angry when you eat in front of him and can't share. He's had some very small pieces of bread, sucks of otter pop and some of Ellie's sucker once. We try not to feed him what we eat, but he just gets so mad and attempts to get your food in his mouth any way he knows how.

Sleeping: Cooper has been sleeping through the night (this week). He goes to bed around 9:00 and for the last few days, except last night, doesn't wake up until 6:30/7:30 a.m. or so. He has been an all around better sleeper than Ellie so far. I am especially grateful for that when I get home from work in the wee hours of the morning. He likes to have noise going when he falls asleep. Right now he is sleeping in his crib in our bedroom. I think he is comforted by Weston's snoring. There have been many times when he's over-tired that he falls asleep to the vacuum. He also likes to have a burp rag by his face or one of my shirts. I must smell amazing to him. He generally stays awake for two hours at a time and then goes down for a nap. We haven't been able to swaddle him with his arms tucked in for about a month.

Clothes/Diaper Size: Our big man is in size 3 diapers and even those can feel snug at times. He has just gotten into size 12 month clothes! The funny thing is that if he were to wear just a onesie, he could probably fit in 9 month, but his thighs are just too huge to fit in the pants. Some of his 12 month jammies are snug when zipping up his leg. We've spent a small fortune buying clothes for him because I bought things on clearance that I thought would fit him during the winter months. Yeah right! I had bought a bunch of summer stuff for 12 months so we've been to Carter's a lot in the past 5 months.

Toys: He really loves his jumper. We also just got him an Exersaucer because he likes to be standing to play, but our backs, shoulders, and arms just can't take it. We also got it because we can't keep him from rolling and spitting up all over the place. He starting rolling over from stomach to back at the beginning of August (just about 3 months) and then all the way around four months. He likes to roll from his back to stomach the very most so he stays on his tummy and cries. I think he sometimes forgets he can get back to his back. He really loves to play with his feet and I love watching him grab both of his feet and start into a roll. There's no way he can get his toes into his mouth without assistance though- too much tummy in the way. I think if he were a little slimmer, he would be rolling around the room. He sits assisted and can stay up for a second or two until he falls over. We would put him in the Bumbo more often if his thighs would fit. I'm not kidding. He's too fat for the Bumbo sitter, but Ellie can fit in it.

Cooper's language skills are advanced- :) just kidding. When he complains it sounds like he's saying 'ma ma' but I'm pretty sure he's not doing it on purpose. He knows who Ellie, Daddy, and Mommy are and will look at each person when you ask where they are. He especially loves his big sister. When he's fussing, she will sing to him and he quiets right up. He smiles at her every time he sees her. She loves to hold him on the couch and watch Mickey Mouse with him.

Cooper is a very happy boy. It is so fun to see him learn and grow. We love that he and Ellie get along so well so far and hope they will be best friends forever.

4th of July

2011-07-04T03:33:00.000-06:00

We did the fourth of July at our house again. We had pulled pork sandwiches plus two staples of the fourth, hamburgers and hotdogs. Marc invited some friends over to help us eat all the food. After dinner we had a firework warm up act including sparklers and a few fountains in the street. Then we watched Magna's fireworks from our front yard. It was as good as ever. Now the pictures.

The Carnival

2011-06-23T15:19:00.022-06:00

Ellie and Cooper went to visit Great Grandma Jones at the carnival done by Legacy. Ellie got to ride on a pony.

Take a few shots at the dunking booth and the range.

Cooper got to meet one of his Great Grandmas

Ellie and Great Grandma playing dress-up and Cooper even got in on the action.

My Chunky Monkey

2011-06-20T14:03:00.009-06:00

One Month Old!

Cooper was officially one month old Saturday! I can't believe it has already been that long. It seems like yesterday that we were in the hospital and yet it feels like we can't remember life without him. Here are some things about Cooper at one month:

Height: 23 inches
Weight: 12.2 pounds
Clothes size: He still barely fits in 0-3 months
Eating: He eats every 3-3 1/2 hours during the day sometimes 4-5 hours during the night
Sleeping: He's really only awake for about 6 hours a day maybe? but it's getting to be more.
Nicknames: Buddy, Brother, Coopy, Coop-the-poop, Son
What he is up to:

Cooper LOVES to eat (as you can tell).
He has horrible baby acne and very sensitive skin. He likes his baths but only if I turn on the faucet so he can hear the running water. If not, he screams during the whole thing.

Right after Cooper's First Bath at home
We go through a LOT of diapers! He likes to make us think he's finished and then let another few fly. It is pretty rare that we change a diaper that is just "wet".
He hates his car seat and cries quite often in the car even while we are driving.
Cooper loves his swing and he really likes to hear noises around him. One morning, Ellie had slept over at my parents' house and Cooper couldn't go to sleep because there wasn't any background noise. I had to turn on the TV so he could drift off.
He loves his binky, but still spits it out a lot.
His big sister makes him happy. She was sitting on his blanket talking to him one day and when she got up to go to her room, he started to cry.
He likes to be swaddled and he likes to be really warm.
Right now he sleeps in our bed because he hates the Pack 'n' Play bassinet. He likes to have my pillow or arm against the top of his head. When he's hungry he'll grunt and scoot right up next to me in his "baby burrito wrap". There have been a few nights I thought I was going to end up on the floor.
He is really a laid back kid. He doesn't cry nearly as much as Ellie did.
He loves being on his tummy and he can lift his head pretty well already. He lifts his bum and pushes with his legs.

Cooper's Birthday
Upon leaving the hospital Friday, Cooper had lost some weight and was down to 7 pounds 13 ounces. The doctor had us go in when he was 5 days old (Monday) to do a weight check. He was 8 pounds 1 ounce. Then at his two week visit, he was 9 pounds 6 ounces. The doctor made us re-weigh him on a different scale because he didn't think he would've gained so much. Normal weight gain is about an ounce per day and he gained 21 ounces in nine days. It was the same and the doctor told me I was just producing cream.
We love our little buddy and are so glad he came to our family.

"The Talk"

2011-06-17T15:50:00.000-06:00

It is never too early to have "the talk" with your kids.

Thanks Kristan!

Swimmin with Windu

2011-06-17T13:34:00.004-06:00

*All those who don't own dogs may think it's disgusting to share a pool between kids and dogs. Windu doesn't really sit in the pool for long though, so it's not like there is hair everywhere in the water. Ellie doesn't stay in the pool for long either! Can't wait until Cooper is big enough to play in there with her.

Little Brother. . . Big Sister

2011-06-15T16:04:00.004-06:00

Dear Pajama Pants Pocket,

2011-06-14T17:26:00.002-06:00

Why did you have to be so shallow? My phone did nothing to you and you threw it right into the toilet! Then I had to use a substitute phone that dropped calls after one minute while my phone tried to dry off in rice for five days. You cost me contacts that weren't saved to my SIM, pictures, and my Chuck ringtone. The phone I wanted to get to replace your supposed enemy was on AT&T's website as a free phone, but it didn't work out to be once we tried to check out. So, you also cost us the time to go in to the AT&T store to pick another and $9.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. Please keep a better grip on this one. Or better yet, don't even think about me trusting you with my phone again!
Regretfully yours,
Missy

I would like to apologize to anyone I may not have answered or haven't contacted recently.

Please forgive me. I may not even have your number anymore. My number is the same though and feel free to call or text anytime now. :)

My new phone- Samsung Evergreen (or hippie phone as Weston refers to it)

Ellie said what?

2011-06-14T16:46:00.005-06:00

My parents gave Ellie some new Princess and the Frog underwear for her birthday. They are a girls' size 4 so they are a little big. I washed them so they might shrink a little bit. When they were clean, Ellie tried them on and said, "Look I can wear these now cause my butt's big!"

A sister in the ward came over to bring us a gift and see the new baby. We were talking about how plump Cooper is and she said he was chunky or something. Ellie piped up and yelled, "He's not chunky, he's Cooper Thomas!"

My cousin was changing her little boy's diaper and Ellie was watching curiously. She then said, "He has the same butt as Logan!" I think those were the only two "boy bums" Ellie had seen until Cooper.

Every night when we tuck Ellie in, we tell her goodnight and that we love her. Usually we start the saying "Goodnight, sleep tight." Ellie finishes by saying "Don't let the bugs getcha."

She constantly goes around acting like she's in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and when she needs something or runs into a problem she calls out, "OH TOODLES!" Then she points somewhere in the room and says, "Here he comes!"

On Sunday, my mom and dad had their little swimming pool out for her to play in when we had finished dinner. It is a constant battle to get that girl to eat, so Grandpa went to get his suit on and go play outside hoping to motivate her to finish. After Grandpa had his suit on and Ellie had finally finished and had her suit on, she turned to Grandma and told her to get her swimsuit on. My mom told her she didn't have one that fit right now and that she wouldn't be joining her in the pool this time. Ellie said, "Come on Grandma. You have to go get naked and do it." I'm 100% sure she meant go get naked and get her swimsuit on, but it just sounded really wrong.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2011-05-29T10:39:00.010-06:00

I can't believe our little girl is 3! She seemed like a giant when we brought Cooper home from the hospital. I wonder if it's possible for her to have doubled in size over those three days. She weighs 31 pounds (53rd percentile) and is 38 inches tall (64th percentile).
I copied my cousin and would like to list some questions I asked Ellie and her answers. What I would add is written in pink.

•Who are your best friends? Annalise, and I like babies too. "Louie" (Lilly) and Mommy
•What's your favorite movie? any Mickey Mouse movie Tangled
•Favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and any of Daddy's shows
•Favorite food? all Cereal, popsicles as well as Chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and french fries
•Favorite song? Tangled Song- Let your power shine (The Healing Incantation) "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga
•Favorite toy? Cooper Doggy Chalk, bubbles, and playdough- all the messy things
•Favorite thing to do? Spin around Smother Cooper
•Favorite snack? Fruit snacks Cheetos, peanuts, popcorn, and cashews
•Favorite Candy? Skittles
•Favorite thing to drink? Milk and "Lemolade"
•Favorite place to eat? Wendy's or "Donalds"
•Favorite Book? Mickey Mouse Board Books
•Favorite thing to wear? White shirt like mommy's (a white lace-bottom Downeast tank)
•Favorite place to Go? playground and Grandma's houses
•Favorite thing to do at school/daycare? play on the playground
•Favorite animal? elephant
•Favorite color? Blue and pink
•What do you want to be when you grow up? big :) She also wants to be a mommy
•What makes you happy? "Do as i'm doing" when she helps
•What makes you sad? Time outs

Ellie had a great party with our families. Both of her grandmas and grandpas were there as well as Grandpa Great Zaugg. Uncle Cameron, Aunt Leila, and Uncle Marc were too. Ellie got lots of presents. Our front room looks like it should on Christmas morning. She is just a little bit spoiled.
Ellie has become a real "big girl" now. She saw that I was upset I didn't get her cake finished how I wanted. I had promised her a Little Mermaid cake and with a newborn around it just didn't get done. She was in the bath and I walked in to straighten the bathroom. I had tears streaming down my face and was very upset I couldn't be "Super Mom" and get everything I wanted to done. She said, "Don't cry Mommy." Then she asked why I was crying. I told her it was because I didn't have time to put a mermaid on her cake. She sweetly looked up at me from the bath with her huge brown eyes and said, "It's ok Mommy." Of course I bawled even more. She is such a good little girl. I was so grateful she didn't throw a fit and demand a mermaid.
With the family's help, we were able to get a mermaid on her cake. It wasn't anything like the big plans I had for her cake, but it was a mermaid. The house was still "messy" to me and we didn't start when we had planned, but our families are awesome and they didn't care.

Happy Birthday Miss Ellie!

It's Been One Week. . .

2011-05-25T14:13:00.007-06:00

Since our family grew from three to four.
Of comfortably sleeping in any position I want to.
Staring at our little guy in amazement.
Of Ellie being the best little helper and loving being a Big Sister.

That will be the short version of this post. Some have asked for the details of Cooper's birthday and so here we go:

Tuesday (17th) night, Riverton Hospital called and told me my induction was tentatively scheduled for 8:30 a.m. I was still hoping to have gone into labor spontaneously because having an induction scheduled is still not a guarantee. I was able to call as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday morning to find out if they could still fit me in that day. When I called at 6:30, I was told to call back at 8 and talk to the charge nurse. I called at 7:45 because we still would've had to drop off Ellie somewhere. They told me to be there at 9:00. We were excited, but promptly had to get everything in the car and drop Ellie off at Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds' (Grandpa Cheeto's) house. We made it to the hospital about ten minutes late because we live in outer Mongolia.

After we cleared up some paperwork, we were shown to the birthing suite and I had Weston take one last belly shot so I could remember how big I really was.

My nurse asked me a million questions and hooked up my IV and monitors. I think by the time she was able to start the pitocin it was pretty close to 10:30 or later. I don't remember exact times on anything, but I do remember things going rather slow for awhile and then really quick. I was checked when I came in and was a "Good 3" still. Nothing had changed from two weeks ago despite all the "labor pains" I had been through.
I think around noon, Paula (my midwife) came and broke my water. At that point, I was a 4 and that helped the contractions get more intense for sure. Paula told me not to wait too long to get my epidural, so about half an hour after they broke my water I decided it was time. I was having the contractions about two minutes apart and they were pretty painful with not much time to rest.
The anesthesiologist was a pretty funny guy and did a really great job. I was able to feel just the right amount so I could still tell what was going on, but couldn't feel any pain. My only complaint was how he made me sit while he put my epidural in. With Ellie, I was able to lay on my left side and scrunch into fetal position. He made me sit with my butt on the right edge of the bed, sit up tall, then bend over and hold my feet. I was also to have my head and chin tucked down. I'm not sure how many people reading this remember what it's like to be 9 months pregnant and scrunched over like that, but it was pretty uncomfortable. I had some regularly painful contractions at first and then the last two I had while sitting there waiting for him to be finished were downright horrible. I really thought I might die during the last one. The nurse could tell I was having a rough time and said, "Just breathe through it." I was grateful for modern medicine about twenty minutes later when I couldn't feel the pain anymore. With Ellie, I was completely numb and couldn't even feel when I was having a contraction or move my legs at all. This was really nice because I could still tell what was going on.
I was checked about a half hour after having my epidural and was still a 4. I was ok with that and was content to relax and enjoy laboring for awhile. We were attempting to watch the first season of "Chuck" on DVD, but I didn't hear or see much with all that was going on. My mom got to the hospital then, and Weston's mom (with Ellie) came soon after. Ellie was zonked out and laid on the bench in the room slumbering until right before Cooper came into the world. A little after 2:00, they came to check me again and said I was an 8+. Wow! I thought with Ellie my labor was fast. This time was crazy fast. My nurse reminded me what the pressure would feel like when I was complete and ready to push. She had left the room for maybe ten minutes when I called her back in and told her I was feeling that pressure. Sure enough, she checked me again and I was complete and ready to push! The only problems were that my midwife wasn't there yet and the room wasn't prepped for the baby yet.
With every contraction, I could feel his head wanting to come out. I was crossing my legs and holding him in for about twenty to thirty minutes before my midwife got there. She was at her office a few blocks away and we later found out she was in the middle of a pre-marital office visit that was asking a million questions. He wasn't crowning or anything yet, but it was an effort to keep him from getting any further. Finally, Paula was there and the nurses were prepped for the baby. He was out after nine minutes of pushing! I was so relieved that it was fast and then I didn't even have to push the placenta out. My beautiful baby boy was here-finally! His face was pretty bruised and my midwife was really surprised I didn't tear at all. He was bigger than any of us expected. Right after I finished pushing him out, I started bawling. We were so excited, relieved, and a few hundred other emotions all at once.

Paula- my midwife

After Weston and I had our moment with Cooper, he went to get Ellie so she could meet her new baby brother. She was so excited!

Then Ellie got to go get her Grandmas to see her baby brother.

We got cleaned up and wheeled into our other room where Cooper had his first bath. He loved it! He was so calm and everything. Today we gave him a bath at home and he didn't fuss at all! He sure has been a great baby so far. We love him a lot and things are going great around the house.

Cooper's Hospital Photo Shoot

2011-05-24T12:39:00.003-06:00

Cooper

2011-05-19T11:48:00.000-06:00

Cooper was born May 18th at 3:05 pm. He was 8 lbs. 7 oz and 20 inches long. Mom and baby did great. Now what people really want to see...the pictures!

Due Date & Nothin'

2011-05-17T12:38:00.002-06:00

My due date is here, but the little man is not. I'm not sure what makes him so stubborn. I don't know many people that have their first baby early (even by one day) and their second comes late! Since last post, I've had two or three more "false alarms" One time I was having contractions for an hour and a half in equally spaced intervals. Another time, I thought my water broke. We've had quite the journey in the last week.

Yesterday, I went to see my midwife for my 40 week visit. She has my due date as the 16th on her charts, but I've always figured the 17th. It doesn't make much difference I guess. Anyway, She told me I'm still dilated to a 3+ and I didn't catch what percent effacement I'm at. Last monday I was 75%. I told her how frustrated I was with all the false alarms and how many things I've tried to help him come out. She sympathized and when she did my check, she lightly swept my membranes. I went walking with my mom and Ellie and had real contractions for two hours. Just as the other times, they stopped.

The light at the end of this tunnel is that I have an induction scheduled for tomorrow. I'm fourth on the list at Riverton Hospital so it might be awhile, but at least I know he has an appearance date. We seriously can't wait!

False Alarms Are No Fun

2011-05-10T09:18:00.002-06:00

I have been so stinkin' anxious to get this little man out of my tummy since he was considered to be "fully developed". So of course I've been trying all sorts of things that are supposed to help my body contract (I won't go into any details). Twice, when I've gone walking I've had super painful contractions and then yesterday at school had a few while just sitting.
Last night at 3 a.m. (not too far off the time I actually went into labor with Ellie) I had an extremely painful one (thinking in my head "This is it") followed by about four more sporadic harsh ones throughout the rest of the night. This morning I was so sore it took me forever to get out of bed and shuffle my feet to the bathroom. It was disappointing to see the clock said 6:45 and I was still not "in labor". It could still be another week or more and that's the frustrating part.
With Ellie, I didn't really even feel Braxton-Hicks contractions and my midwife told me at one of my visits that I was contracting while she checked me. I didn't have any pain except when it was the real thing. I think what's the most frustrating part is that I somewhat remember what real labor felt like and these contractions feel like what I remember. But they are not regular and just keep getting me excited for nothing. I don't mean to complain, I just wanted to share an update. It should/could be any day now, but I feel dumb thinking every painful contraction could be it. Until then, I'll continue TRYING to be patient.

My Smart Little Hero

2011-04-15T15:12:00.005-06:00

I know I just did a post about my big brother being the "hero of the day" in Las Vegas, but Ellie won that title yesterday.

After school got out, I ran over to her daycare to grab her and head back to my school. I had to attend an IEP meeting for a student in my class and then cleaned up my classroom before heading for home. I opened up Ellie's door while she wandered on the sidewalk, threw in my laptop, purse, and keys, and then got her into her car seat. After shutting her door, I walked around to my door and was ready to head home. As I pulled the handle, a feeling of complete stupidity and embarrassment filled me. I guess when I tossed my keys onto the driver's seat, I accidentally pushed the lock button! I tried every door thinking maybe I had only pushed it once and the hatch might still be unlocked. No luck, I was locked out and my two year old was locked in. No windows were cracked, she was belted in tight, and Weston was at least an hour away. I called him anyway, asking if he had any suggestions and to tell him to come save us. While talking to him, I decided I would try to get Ellie to get out of her seat and reach the keys to unlock the doors. She loves getting into the driver's seat, so it was certainly a great motivator that the keys were up there.

Ellie has a bad habit of undoing her top buckle (across her chest) while we are driving. She can do it quite easily and in a few seconds we were working on the next step. Calling through the window, I told her to try to get her bottom buckle undone. She has never been strong enough and yesterday was no exception. I am grateful for that because otherwise she'd be running around the back seat each day. After many attempts, she finally reached over and tried to open her door. LIGHT BULB! I didn't even think about having her unlock her door so I could get in. It's a good thing we sit her next to a door and not in the very middle. After explaining to her over and over that there was a 'button' on top of the handle that she needed to pull to unlock it, she finally got it! I opened the door and kissed her, got the keys from the drivers seat, buckled her back up, and called Daddy so he wouldn't have to come way out to my school.

The whole way home I told her she was the hero of the day. She looked all shy and told me "Thanks" and also said she was a hero like Spiderman. I then told her she was such a smart girl and did a good job listening and doing what mommy said. Again, she said "Thanks". I feel like a complete dork, but I'm glad our little girl was smart enough to save me from my stupidity.

*Hero photos provided by "Uncle Cramin"

A What?

2011-04-05T19:00:00.002-06:00

I can't remember exactly when, but I started to grow a lovely red bump on my face about a month ago. At first I thought it was just a very large pimple. Of course I tried to pop it and it was rather disgusting. Blood was running down my face like tears would. After about a month, it started to resemble a very tiny raspberry sitting ever so annoyingly on my cheek bone. Always in the very corner of my vision, I couldn't take it anymore.
So, today I went to a dermatologist and he asked if I'd like him to remove it. "That would be great!" I said. I was afraid he would say something about waiting until the baby came or set up another appointment, but he did it today. I totally intended to take a before and after picture, but many of you have already seen the hideousness so here's an example picture from somewhere else on the internet:

Pyogenic Granuloma
Mine was 5 millimeters. The dermatologist said they are very common in pregnancy because of all the hormones surging through a woman's body. He said it is commonly referred to as a "pregnancy tumor". Many times I marvel at what a woman's body has to go through to bring our sweet children to the earth. I'm just really glad it's gone for now. Ellie kept wanting to touch it and scratch at it. Now I have a bandaid on my face and a blister on my left pointer finger (I also had him remove a wart- which hurt worse than him scraping and cauterising the lesion on my face).

A Pregnancy Update

2011-03-30T17:10:00.007-06:00

I know it's been forever and I haven't even posted a belly pic yet. Sorry. Life is a lot crazier with one kid to take care of outside of you as well as one on the inside. Thankfully the one on the inside doesn't need much from me right now.

Things have been going rather smoothly. I am much more tired and sore than I ever was with Ellie. But then, I would nap practically every day when I was pregnant with Ellie. I'm not sure what naps are anymore. I also never had sciatica problems with Ellie and this little dude keeps putting my right leg to sleep. My glucose test turned out ok, but my midwife told me to watch what I eat and how I prepare it because my numbers were a little higher than she expected. I've gained 25 pounds so far and have less than seven weeks to go. I think I gained exactly 30 with Ellie and had started at exactly the same weight. He is a wiggly one. It seems like Ellie stayed put with her head down and kicked and hit me from that position the entire time. Our little boy, on the other hand, likes to move his body in every way possible. He's twisting and turning more than I knew was possible. I can actually see my stomach rolling and Ellie has had a lot of fun "playing" with him.
These aren't the most flattering pictures (please ignore my hair, face, and weird expressions) but here they are:

September 19th, Almost 6 weeks (more for a comparison shot, I guess)

October 17th, Almost 10 weeks (Sure feeling fat, but no one else knew yet)

February 27th, Almost 29 weeks (Quite a gap between belly shots)

Today, 33 weeks 1 day (feeling like I can't possibly get any bigger)

P.s. I don't always wear the kiwi colored undershirt it just so happened that the first three shots were coincidentally taken with that shirt on and when I put it on today I thought "I guess I need to take another belly shot" :)

My Brother, the Hero

2011-03-30T14:54:00.006-06:00

We have yet to blog about our entire experience at the Nascar Races in Vegas this year, but I wanted to share that the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me happened there.

Friday, we went to see the cars practicing and they did the qualifying event for Sunday's race. There were few people at the raceway and we spread ourselves further down the bleachers than where our usual seats are located. Ellie had lots of room to goof around and explore. She was doing really well listening and staying close and would come back when you said she was too far. Then she started testing her limits. Several times Grandma, me, or someone else would track her down and bring her back to where we were sitting. She began to think this was hilarious and was not listening as well as before. I decided to tell my mom not to chase her, but to use "threats" like time out or spanking because Ellie thought it was funny to have someone come after her.

About two minutes later, Ellie was testing the boundaries again and my mom and I both got up after her. We maintained a close enough distance but called out to her to stop, etc. She went all the way up the stairs and out the "portal" to the concourse area where the concessions and other shops are. We were seriously only five seconds after her and there were a bunch of people standing around right in the portal. She squeezed through them and when we got out the door, she was no where in sight. I looked in every direction and seriously could see no sign of her. Of course I panicked. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off calling her name and asking anyone if they'd seen her. I talked to one of the ushers and she radio-ed to security. I ran up to the upper seating and called out to her some more. Then I realized maybe she had ran back to our seats somehow. No luck, but I was then able to get the rest of my family looking for her too. My mom and I kept searching further and further from where we lost sight of her. I just kept thinking "I know she's fast, but could she really have gone this far without waiting for us to catch up?" At this point, I was bawling my eyes out. Practically hyperventilating. I had lost my little girl. Some bad person probably took her. She will go to anyone practically and it had always been a benefit until now. A million other thoughts passed through my mind.

I stopped near the end of the concourse area and realized I needed to say a prayer. I was still panicked and wondered if I even shut my eyes for a minute if I would miss her running past. I just stood there with my back against a concrete pillar and silently pleaded with my Father in Heaven that we would find Ellie and that she would be ok. My mom had run all the way down toward the main gates and was still running. I decided I needed to stay closer and look for her. No more than a minute after I had finished my prayer, I turned around to head back toward where she left us and saw my brother holding Ellie in his arms! Of course I bawled even harder as he handed her to me. She looked at me and I think she knew she had done something very wrong. Between sobs I told her never to run away again and from the look on her face, I think she understood.

Jimmy found her near a different portal very near the one we lost her at. She was happily playing and crouching down underneath stairs that went up to the second level. We have no idea what really happened, but my thoughts are that she hid behind a concrete pillar when she knew we would be coming after her. Then, when she realized we didn't find her, she just kept on playing. Later, my mom said one of the guys she talked to said he could hear a little voice saying "Mommy" when we were calling out to her, but he didn't know where it was coming from.

I'm so glad that my prayer was answered that day and that I still have my beautiful little Ellie. There are a hundred horrible things that could've happened, but instead I was blessed. I'm so glad that during the very worst minutes of my life I had the prompting to turn to my Heavenly Father. He truly loves me and wants me to be happy. I'm also grateful for my brother being in the right place at the right time. He must have been in tune with the spirit to know where to look for her. Hooray for Uncle Jimmy, the hero of the day.

Happy Birthday Weston!

2011-03-28T07:33:00.001-06:00

*First thing I would like to mention is that I am a horrible wife and didn't take any pictures this year.
This is actually one from last year because what is a post without a picture. ?

We celebrated Weston's birthday on his actual day of birth this year (March 26th). Saturday, we had our families over for lunch prepared by the birthday boy. He made excellent pork roast and beef brisket out on the barbeque. He also treated us to fresh doughnuts for dessert. Both sets of parents, Cam, Leila, Marc, and even Jimmy and Rylee were able to be there.

I am so blessed to be married to such a great "old" man. I tease him only because he's only ever older than me for two weeks of the year. I'm copying others when I share in this post the many reasons I love Weston. I sort of have a cheat book because as cheesy as it sounds, I listed the many reasons I love him when we were engaged and still have the little notebook. Since then, we have grown so very much and many have been added to that list. Here are only 28 of the reasons I love my Weston:

1. We have fun doing almost anything together.
2. He is a very smart man. I can't understand a lot of his "computer stuff" jargon, but he dumbs
it down for me in the most polite way.
3. He thinks and says the same things as me. Many times he finishes my sentences by mouthing
the words I'm going to say while I say them. It drives me nuts, but I love it.
4. He sings well, just don't tell anyone. He doesn't like to sing in front of anyone.
5. He makes me want to be a better person.
6. He thinks I'm beautiful no matter what I look like. i.e. 7 months pregnant even.
7. He is a wonderful father and Ellie loves him very much.
8. He is worthy to go to the temple.
9. He has learned a lot of things about cooking and can cook better meals than me. Food
Network is one of his favorite channels.
10. He respects his parents, my parents, and all other elder family members.
11. I can be myself around him.
12. He supports me and is proud of me.
13. I've known him since day 1 of high school.
14. I can tell him anything.
15. He takes care of me and our little family.
16. We hardly ever fight and when there is a problem, we work things out really well together.
17. He likes to learn new skills and is always anxious to start a new project.
18. We both love roller coasters a lot.
19. He is a hard worker and an excellent problem solver. He doesn't let get in his way of fixing problems.
20. His whiskers.
21. I'm the only girl he has ever dated. It made me giggle to watch him learn the importance of holding hands and opening doors for me.
22. He is very good at picking out gifts for people. I always feel like he gets the shaft at Christmas and birthdays. I'm just not as observant and thoughtful as he is I guess.
23. He is a good dancer. Some day we'll take some classes together.
24. He is a return missionary and knows the scriptures.
25. He is like an M&M most times. He wouldn't let anybody know it on the outside (hard shell), but he's got a soft inside.
26. His snoring. I never thought I would actually enjoy it, but I've tried to sleep without his sleep noises and it's actually quite difficult.
27. He makes me feel secure.
28. He is my very best friend.

Just Call Me Betty

2011-02-21T14:24:00.004-07:00

Now, before you read this, you should know that I love to cook and bake. The only thing is I never have time to actually do it. Today being a holiday, I thought I would try something I've never done before.

I have never made homemade cinnamon rolls before. Pillsbury is a frequent thing at our house, but we've never had the real thing. My awesome mom got me the Betty Crocker cookbook that's the same as hers (from the seventies or something) for Christmas. I wanted it because all the things she has made would be the same recipes. Anyway, I'd been craving cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing for a couple of months now so I gave it a try today. They definitely weren't ready to eat for breakfast- I don't wake up that early for anything. I certainly didn't know that making cinnamon rolls from scratch required 3+ hours.

Anyway, I just pulled them out of the oven and Ellie has already devoured one and is asking for another. She came and gave me a high five even! Weston said they taste like the Pillsbury ones. :) I know I'm an ok cook, but I was excited everything turned out just right!

My Graduate

2011-02-19T10:57:00.004-07:00

Weston received his empty diploma cover on February 12, 2011! We're so proud of him and thankful he's officially done with school.
He actually "graduated" back in August, but his semester ended a few weeks later than the ceremony in July. I made him walk in February even though it was months ago that he actually finished. I wanted Ellie to see her Daddy walk and wanted pictures and memories. We only really invited our parents (and Marc) and my mom and dad had to leave about fifteen minutes before Weston finally made it across the stage. We'll have to fake some pictures with them later because Weston got to keep his cap and gown. We went to Moochie's for lunch afterward. It was such a warm and wonderful day for it being February. Congratulations sweetie!

Goodbye Credit Cards!

2011-01-24T17:35:00.002-07:00

I am happy to report that after working my tush off at the Remote Encoding Center for the Post Office since April I made the very last payment on credit cards this morning. I won't tell you how much we paid off, but I will tell you how happy I am to be rid of those debts. Now we just have to be able to pay off Weston's student loans and try to save to finish the basement. Here's to many more years at the REC. I wish there was an "easy button" when it came to money and debt.

Mommy, Daddy, Sister, BROTHER

2011-01-07T10:53:00.006-07:00

Yeah, I know that I've waited forever to blog about this, but we waited until 13 weeks to tell anyone and then the Christmas craziness came. So, most of you might already know, but we are expecting Ellie's sibling to arrive around May 17th. Right now that makes me 21 weeks or in my fifth month.
Things have been pretty smooth, but I noticed early on that this pregnancy was a little bit different than the first. With Ellie, I never laid down on the couch and felt like if I got up I might die. It seems dramatic, but really I felt horrible. With Ellie, I felt tired and nauseous all day, but this one hit me hard for a few days and then not much since. I still felt nauseous many days all day and gagged an awful lot, but I never have thrown up very much (maybe once or twice). Two days before Halloween I started having awful sharp stabbing pains along the bottom of my stomach when I was doing anything but sitting and after a few weeks of it, my doctor and I figured it must just be "growing pains". In the beginning I was doubled over when they hit, but they gradually got to be less and less painful. I also got a horrible head-to-toe rash that scared me quite a bit. We still have no idea what it was, but I could only take Claritin to clear it up. My face is very dry and itchy and my forehead and hair part are constantly peeling and flaking.
Anyway, sorry for the information overload, but what I was getting at was that I felt like maybe we were having a boy because I feel so different this time.
Well, we decided after long and hard thought that we needed to find out the gender of our little one when it was time. Financially (and other reasons) it made the most sense because we could be prepared with clothes (if a boy) bought on clearance sales instead of having to buy them during the seasons we need them. If the baby is a girl, the seasons for clothing would be perfect because Ellie was born May 29th.We had already had one ultrasound at 11 weeks because my doctor thought I was measuring big for my dates. Weston couldn't come so Ellie and I got to see the baby for the first time. So fun! She is super excited and whenever you ask her if the baby is a boy or girl, she says boy. We weren't sure if she was right or not, but I felt the same way.
December 28th, we headed to our routine-20 week ultrasound.

Sure enough, the ultrasound tech noticed his "boy parts" and we were told "It's a boy!"

Ellie and I were right (Weston never really guessed) and we are all so excited!

I would've also loved a sister for Ellie and it would've been perfect to use all those girly clothes again we have in the basement, but I'm so excited we're having a little guy. I wasn't allowed to know much else from the ultrasound like how big he is and if everything is the right size until I talk to my doctor. The tech did say he has chubby little cheeks already. I did notice that Ellie's face in her pics was a lot thinner. :)

I apologize to anyone who may be upset they didn't personally get the word or got it super late, but I'll blog later about what December was like and I'm sure you'll understand. Thank goodness for being off track after Christmas or I would never catch our blog up.

November in Review

2011-01-05T17:48:00.002-07:00

I honestly don't remember much about the last two months of the year, but at least I had pictures from the month of December. So, for journaling purposes I thought I would tell a little of what I can remember from the things written on my calendar from November- with no pictures sorry.

The first week of November, Ellie had her first sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson's house. She slept at Weston's family's house for our anniversary this year. My mom came to get her after school because I had parent teacher conferences and I didn't see her until the following evening after parent conferences were over. It was really weird in the morning to not have her running around the house. I was completely alone in my house for the first time since she was born. While with my mom, they watched movies, made Mickey Mouse shaped sugar cookies, and tore apart Grandma's house. She cried for about half of the trip home when we had to leave.

The next week, I was in charge of the Relief Society activity for the month. This is because it was the Visiting Teaching Conference and I am the Visiting Teaching Coordinator. The RS president and I decided it was best not to tell anyone it was about visiting teaching or we would only have ten women show up. Our theme was "Finding Your Happily Ever After" and we had a princess/fairy tale theme. I found this really cute play on-line called "The Sisters Grimm." We had the sisters in our ward act out the parts and it was really comical. It turned out really great and the play was a bit hit.
That same week, I was called as the primary pianist- my dream calling. It was only one week before the primary program, but it turned out perfect. The kids did a great job singing especially.

Of course we had Thanksgiving when everyone else did. We spent this year with the Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson but it was just us and them. We still made the same amount of food so needless to say we ate it several times that week for leftovers.

The next day, Ellie had her 2 year well check-up with Dr. Harris. I realize she was two and a half, but he said to wait until flu season so she could get her flu shot at the same time. Anyway her stats were as follows:
Length/Height- 36 inches/ 3 feet (57% for her age-2 1/2)
Head Circumference- 19 inches (59%)
Weight-27 pounds (37%)
Everyone that meets Ellie says she is SOOOO tall. I think so too, but we also think she may look more dramatically tall because she is so stinkin' skinny. She loves to sing songs like "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", "I am a Child of God", "10 Little Indians", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "Once There Was a Snowman", "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", "Hello-Goodbye" by the Beatles, and I know there are more I can't think of right now. Sometimes Weston and I will be talking in the front of the car and she'll start up a song in the back because she's bored. She can count to twelve and tries to count to fifteen. She can recognize her numbers to ten most of the time. She knows all of her colors and tries to sing the ABCs. She loves finding the letters: H, M, O, A, and she can recognize probably half of the alphabet when asked to find them. She is always on the go and slowly getting better about cleaning up after herself.

We helped Grandma Reynolds decorate for Christmas and put up our own Christmas tree and outside lights the Saturday following Thanksgiving. From then on, it was chaos. December was the busiest I think we have ever been.

Discovery Gateway- October 2010

2011-01-05T17:25:00.003-07:00

We had been wanting to take Ellie to Discovery Gateway downtown for quite some time and we decided to use a coupon and go as a family. So, on Columbus Day when Weston had the day off we packed up cameras and headed to a building packed with little kids. All I can say is we must have picked the wrong day. It was crazy there!
First off, we were a little appalled that adults as well as children have to pay an entrance fee and it's the same price for everyone! It was not cheap. Secondly, Ellie couldn't do much without having to wait for other kids to be done. We had to wait so she could use a shopping cart, wait so she could send balls up the tubes, and we waited to longest for some kid to get out of the pilot's seat on the helicopter. I guess I was just annoyed with the moms that didn't tell their kids, "Ok, now let's give someone else a turn." Thirdly, I think Ellie would've enjoyed it more (and probably us too) if we took her next year. It's not that she couldn't do anything, but she didn't understand much and many of the things were for older kids.

I think Ellie enjoyed herself, but we were definitely worn out by the end of our time there. Making Cartoons with Daddy

Pilot Ellie

Grocery Shopping

Splish-Splashing

Rodeo Princess

Gardner Village- October 2010

2011-01-05T17:15:00.003-07:00

I have wanted to make a family tradition of going to see the witches at Gardner Village. When we've gone in the past, it's in the evening when Weston is done with work so this year it was fun to snap pictures in the sun. Ellie probably had the most fun riding the horse.
We got a check list to find all of the witches and Ellie would get a cookie from the bakery for a quarter.
We didn't look around in shops this year. Maybe next year.

Almost Caught Up!

2010-10-12T13:03:00.004-06:00

I'm almost caught up with blogging and need a tiny break. I still have to blog about this last weekend when we went to see the witches at Gardner Village and then to Discovery Gateway yesterday. I just thought I would post some silly pictures of Ellie before I'm finally caught up. More posts to come in a few days.

I have my preparation day to go back on track Wednesday and then the kids come back Monday. It went way too fast! I was also fortunate enough to have my *"Five Day Break" from the post office while I've been off track. My first night back at work is tonight, so back to the daily grind.

*A "Five Day Break" means that you are fired for five days during the year so the post office can continue to keep you as a "transitional employee" and won't be required to pay you benefits and other stuff that a full time/contract employee would be granted. Most of the time, you are rehired at the end of those five days as long as you are a good employee.

I'm not sure what in the world Ellie was doing this day! Flipflops over a sock?

Yay for Grandma!

2010-10-12T12:51:00.005-06:00

Ellie waiting for Grandma

Over General Conference weekend, we were able to stay at Jimmy and Rylee's house again so we could watch my mom finish her umpteenth marathon. I seriously don't remember how many she has done but, I think it's somewhere around fifteen? We did lots of shopping and eating. Saturday afternoon, we waited along the race route for my mom to run past. My cousin Jillayne was also running her first marathon this year in St. George so we cheered her on as well. Ellie was so excited to run with Grandma that she was "practicing" by running in front of us back and forth. I was afraid she was going to run into another runner and they would both be bloody on the ground. From past experience, I know at that point in the race your control over your legs is non-existent. When she finally saw Grandma, she was thrilled and wanted to jump into her arms. She ran with Grandma for a few blocks and then we packed up in the car to meet her at the finish line. Yay for Grandma and Jillayne!

Kansas City

2010-10-12T12:10:00.003-06:00

We were fortunate enough (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds, Todd, and Brooke) to be in the St. Louis temple when Todd and Brooke were sealed to their sweet baby Savannah. The weekend was a crazy one, but the temple was so peaceful and spiritual. Of course I cried because I was so happy they finally got their baby and she was theirs for eternity.

Friday we left our house for the airport around 4:45 am. and arrived in Kansas City sometime that afternoon. It was all a little fuzzy to me after working late the night before and spending many hours on two different planes. Brooke and Savannah met us at the airport and Ellie was ecstatic to see her new cousin. She had been talking about flying on an airplane to see "Sa-banna" for about a month before we left. Every ride in the car went like this: ELLIE: "Where going? MOM/DAD: "To the store, school, etc." ELLIE: "No, see Sabanna, airplane." She told everyone where she was going and you can tell in the pictures how proud she was to have a new baby cousin. For lunch, I had my first taste of Culvers and Friday night we had some delicious BBQ at Oklahoma Joe's.

Saturday was a lot of driving. Let's just say I was more and more grateful to have so many temples near us in the Salt Lake Valley with each mile we drove. The temple was very special. I have never been to a sealing for the living that wasn't a marriage. It was really neat to know that now Todd and Brooke are sealed to Savannah and the promises are just the same as if she were born to them under the covenant. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch and then drove back to Kansas City.

Sunday, Savannah was blessed in their ward and we got to meet their ward friends that are practically their family. Their ward was so nice. We also got to meet Savannah's birth mother. She is a very beautiful woman and I got to sit next to her in Relief Society and watch her hold and love Savannah. We visited some more with Todd and Brooke at their house and they made us yummy pulled pork and salads.

Monday, we did a little sight-seeing at church history sites before we had to get on the plane again. Ellie was a nightmare on our returning flight! The flight attendant even came and took her to stop her from crying. She was so tired, but she wouldn't give up. She finally crashed as we were beginning our final descent in to Salt Lake. We were only gone for a few days, but Ellie was so glad to be home and played with her toys non-stop for a few days. We were glad we got to be there and are very happy for Todd and Brooke! Thanks for sharing these days with us.

Salt Lake County Fair

2010-10-12T11:47:00.002-06:00

Last year we thought going to the fair each year would be a fun tradition to start. We didn't want to ruin it after only one year, so we returned to the fair again this year. Ellie's favorite part was petting the animals and going through the "Little Hands on the Farm" area. Most of our pictures are from that exhibit. She got to plant vegetables, gather eggs, harvest her plants, milk a cow, brush a sheep, drive a tractor, and many other fun things. It was really fun for her and she couldn't wait to run to the next thing. At the very end, the kids got to spend their money they earned in a little store. Ellie bought a milk and then after tasting it she threw it away. It was vanilla milk and she said "I don't like it." I think my favorite thing we saw was the photography entries. There were some pretty cool ones. I was a sucker and bought something in one of the booths. It actually works really well though, so I don't regret it. It's a cleaner called "Quick and Brite" and it took stains out of my carpet pretty well. I've used it on other things and the only thing it won't get rid of (and it says so on the instructions) is red food stains. All in all, we had a great time at the fair. The only downside was that Ellie "lost her dinner" in bed that night. She was then sick on and off for a few days following. I hate having a sick kid and I'm really glad it was all over before we took her to see her new cousin in Kansas City.

Hogle Zoo- August 27th

2010-10-12T11:10:00.003-06:00

We wanted to be able to take our friends to the zoo with us because we have a pass that will get me plus two adults in free, so we took Shannon and Logan with us on August 27th. We had a lot of fun and can't wait to take some more friends with us another day. Anyone who wants to go to the zoo, let us know and we'll figure out a day!

These monkeys were hilarious! They were totally asleep posed like this.

Cute little Baby Zuri

One of the rhinos turned its ginormous back end at us and relieved himself right in front of us into what looked like the watering hole. It was seriously so close, I worried about being splashed. Pretty gross, and you can bet we giggled quite a bit. Then to make matters worse, this rhino came over to get a drink and started lapping up "water" from the same area the other rhino just finished relieving himself in. Yuck!

Ellie chose to ride the turkey on the carousel ?Crazy girl?

Ellie and Logan on the carousel. Logan wasn't so sure until the ride started.

Playing on the big water ball near the entrance/exit

We had a lot of fun at the zoo that day. Thanks for going with us Shannon and Logan!

Lagoon August 20th

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-06:00

This summer I was itching to go to Lagoon. I don't think we've been since before Ellie was in existence. If you know my opinion about roller coasters, you know that it was killing me to not be on them for so long. For our honeymoon, Weston took me to Six Flags Magic Mountain and we had a blast!
Well, the post office was having an employee discount day and so I decided to ask my parents if they would come as well to help watch Ellie so we could go on some "big kid" rides. It was also 2 for 1 "Date night" for one of the news stations so we paid half for my mom, dad, Weston, and I and then used the postal discount for Ellie. Little did we know that everyone would be at Lagoon that day.
We didn't go until after Weston was done with work, but that still left plenty of time, or so we thought.
In a nutshell, Weston and I went on the Colossus one time and he and my parents went on Wicked one time. Other than that, we waited in line for Ellie to go on rides. The lines were way to insane and we would rather have watched Ellie having fun than wait for an hour + to ride one ride. We were there until the park closed and that was all we did. It seriously was insane! I don't think I've ever seen that many people at Lagoon!

Sorenson Family Reunion 2010

2010-10-12T10:27:00.005-06:00

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon-Sorenson Family Reunion 2010, August 5th-8th

My dad's brother Hal was in charge this year and he did an awesome job! It rained a lot, but other than that, we had a lot of fun. There were lots of small hikes and drives to go on and lots of picture opportunities. The canyon is beautiful and it's the first time I'd been there.

Our little family and Kristan decided to break up the drive a bit, and Wednesday night we drove to St. George to stay the night with Jimmy and Rylee. Thursday when we were driving the rest of the way to the campsites, there was a HUGE rainstorm that flooded the roads in Colorado City. It was pretty scary. That was not the last rainstorm we would see this weekend. As soon as we got there and started setting up the tent, it poured on us so we put the "Easy Up" over the tent and finished setting it up. We decided to keep the Easy Up over our tent the entire time and I think it saved our tent from being drenched and flooding as so many other tents did that weekend.

I don't remember exactly when we did everything, but I do remember there was a horrible rain storm Friday night that lasted all night and half of the day Saturday. Ellie and I ended up staying the in the tent most of the morning so we wouldn't freeze and get soaking wet. We did a lot of visiting, walking, singing, eating, and just enjoying one another. We really think Hal did an awesome job preparing everything for us and I'm not sure I could ever have pulled that off. Thanks Hal! We had a really great time.

Tickle fight with Uncle Jimmy

One of the many friends that Ellie nicknamed "Chippy"

BBQ Here July 10th

2010-10-07T13:02:00.003-06:00

We wanted to get our families (including some cousins and adopted family members) together on the third to have a BBQ, but everyone had traditions so it made it difficult to round everyone up on the same night. We just decided to have everyone over the following weekend. It was a lot of fun and there was WAY too much food- my fault for over planning. I guess I still think people eat like teenage boys. It worked out quite conveniently that Todd and Brooke were in town and they had brought Brooke's brother along too. We really missed Shannon, but I know how her job is, I work there too. :) The kids had fun playing in the kiddie pool (I'm still kicking myself for not getting pictures). We got some squirt toys out and Ellie soaked all of the adults with it. Logan sat in the pool while everyone dumped water on him. I think he was the only kid to stay in the pool. Everybody else was splashing and squirting each other. When it got a teensy bit dark outside, Weston set up the Wii so that it projected onto the fence. We had a ton of fun and wish we could do it more often.

Hogle Zoo- July 8th

2010-10-07T12:47:00.004-06:00

Hogle Zoo had one of it's "member's only" stay late a the zoo nights. We decided to use this opportunity to bring daddy to the zoo. The only downfall was that all of the animals were dead tired because of the heat all day. Most animals were sleeping or just laying around. It is definitely not the same as when Ellie and I went at 10 am. The animals were much more fun to watch and we even got to see a cheetah eat it's breakfast. Anyway, we were done pretty quickly. It only took us about a half hour to see everything we wanted to. That's one of the nice things about being a member because you don't have to worry about wasting your money by not staying long.

5th of July @ the Reynolds' House

2010-10-07T12:23:00.003-06:00

Although I can't remember much about the night, I know Ellie had a fun time playing in the sprinkler with her uncle Marc, throwing the frisbee with Daddy, and probably had the most fun with her sparklers. She would not sit still on the blanket while Cam, Leila, Marc, and Weston lit the fireworks in the street; therefore, my attention (as well as Grandma's) was on making sure Ellie did not get into the street. The "big kids" had way too much fun lighting the fireworks and built up the remaining ones into a tower for the finale- helping each one to light off of the others. We had a lot of fun that night. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds!

Blogging Overload-I hope!

2010-10-07T11:35:00.006-06:00

I thought I would start clear back in July and catch us up a bit. Ellie's Second Cousin, Logan, came over on the 8th to play and they had tons of fun! Neither one of them wanted their own bikes so they swapped. They drew with chalk on the sidewalk, enjoyed Popsicles, watched a movie, and other fun stuff. I can't tell you how much easier Ellie was when she had someone to play with!

My Big Girl

2010-09-04T14:18:00.003-06:00

We neglected our blog yet again. Don't worry. We'll get caught up soon, but I really wanted to blog about my big girl.

As many of you probably know, Ellie hung on to her binky for much longer than we ever should have let her. I am happy to report that Ellie has been completely binky-free now for two weeks. My cousin's wife, Shannon, was a huge part of helping us get rid of it. She was watching Ellie while I went to work (school) until the daycare opened at the end of August. There were a few times they were unable to find a binky in her bag and others when I just plain forgot to bring one. She was able to convince Ellie that she didn't need it most of the time. She was also able to convince me of the same thing. We started hiding the plugs in the cupboards and only using it at nap time and bed time. When at home, Ellie would whine for her binky quite a bit. She would find other binkies hidden in her room. She only had a few fits, but Weston and I didn't give in. Eventually, I "accidentally" cut the tip off her "last" binky. She would put it in her mouth and take it out to examine it. She asked me what I did and I told her I accidentally cut it. When Weston saw she didn't want it anymore, he said "Then why don't you just throw it in the garbage Ellie?" So she did. Then every time she asked for it, we would remind her she threw it away. There were a couple of times she went to the garbage to look for it, but we told her it was already in the big garbage can. One of those times, she went to the garage entry and cried to go get it. Then another time, she said we should buy more at the store. It was a little tough, but not as bad as I thought. Thanks Shannon! I guess the hardest part is figuring out how to keep her quiet during Sacrament Meeting- the kid does not know how to whisper!

Another reason we have to be proud of Ellie is that she is potty-trained! She has been wearing "Big Girl Panties" for a week and a few days. She has had very few accidents with us. I still send her to daycare in a pull-up because they aren't really working with her on that. I will probably send her in underwear when we come back from being off-track in the middle of October. At first, we were frustrated because Ellie would only go when we sat her on the potty and we had to be on top of it every hour. After a few days, Ellie learned to tell us when she needed to go and she would run to the bathroom. The accidents are frustrating, but we are so relieved she can use the potty! Yay!

And finally, the last evidence that our baby girl is a big girl is that Ellie has transitioned from her crib to a day bed. It's still her crib, but we've taken the front rail off and put up a safety rail. She climbs up into her bed and loves to play in there. It took a few nights to learn she had to stay in her bed, but she's doing awesome!

As I think about how much she grew in a matter of three weeks, I really can't believe it! She is such a good helper and we love her very much. Hooray for my BIG GIRL!

Coolest Coke Machine Ever!

2010-07-14T07:33:00.005-06:00

So, last night Weston and I went to see Bare Naked Ladies perform at the Red Butte Gardens Amphitheater. It was a blast! I haven't been to many concerts, but they are the most entertaining I've ever experienced. My awesome little sister got us tickets about four years? ago to see them at the E Center. I was a little hesitant because it was Weston's early Christmas present and I didn't care too much for them at that point. I had so much fun at their concert that night and now I love their music! Anyway, they are hilarious.

Before we got to the concert so late (my fault) we had to sit in the very back of a side section behind two gross people who had too much to drink and were very much "in love", we went to Cafe Rio (on 400 S.) to pick up dinner. While we were waiting for them to bring our called in order, I turned around and watched a man getting his drink from one of these:

I had to watch him and another person to really make sure that was what I really saw. This is the coolest coke machine ever! According to an article I read on-line, it dispenses 106 different drinks from one machine! The new microdosing technology depends on cartridges and not syrup bags anymore. I really loved the concert, but I think I was more excited about this machine than anything! If you want to check it out yourselves, there are also machines at:
Larry H. Miller Theatre
9335 S. State Street
Noodles & Company
1152 East 2100 South

Fourth of July on the Third of July

2010-07-13T11:17:00.001-06:00

(I was still in "probation" at work on Saturday, July 3rd, the day we celebrated the 4th,

so I will try to tell about the night the best I can.)

We decided to eat an early dinner because I had to leave for work at 5:10. Weston barbecued his delicious Kraft Foods steak with a spicy rub and baja citrus marinated shrimp. We also had corn on the cob and some other usual barbecue items.

While we were waiting for the food to cook, Eliza and Ellie blew bubbles in the backyard. Windu loved chasing them and would jump as high as he could to get them. The girls also ran through the sprinkler after dinner was over, but we didn't get any pictures of that.

Ellie got to hold Eliza's baby sister. She is in love with babies and always wants to hold every one that she sees, even if the baby is bigger than she is!

After dinner, I left for work. I tried to call in before hand and get out of work, but they were only offering that to eight people and I was the ninth to call! Frustrating! Then I tried to "early out" so that I could see the fireworks, but no luck.

Weston, our parents, and Ellie watched Sherlock Holmes while they were waiting for it to get dark. Ellie ate lots of popcorn! Magna was having their 100th celebration of the 4th. Their fireworks looked like they were pretty decent (from pictures Weston took). They have always been pretty good in past years as well. Ellie had a lot of fun spending time with both sets of her grandparents and I'm sure Weston was glad he wasn't alone for the festivities.

Happy Birthday America!

Ellie's First REAL Haircut

2010-07-12T09:30:00.004-06:00

The Finished product!

About a year ago, I cut Ellie's bangs for the first time. I saved them, but it really wasn't much. I've trimmed her bangs every time they get in her eyes and it looks funny for a week or so after I do. This morning, Ellie had her first real hair cut. Being the "cheapie" that I am, I decided to do it on my own and if I really messed it up then I would take her to a real salon. I'm not ready to open my own salon, but I think I did a pretty decent job!

The Shaggy Mullet
The Wet Shaggy Mullet
I did it!
After a little styling

Ellie did awesome! She was watching Toy Story 2 and we pulled out the high chair from storage for this special occasion. She sat very still and hardly flinched when I pulled out the blow dryer. I think I can manage cutting Weston's and Ellie's hair for awhile. Now I just need to control my own. By the way, that reminds me that when I was looking on-line for tips to cut Ellie's hair, I saw this product. It looks pretty interesting. Who would've ever thought to put a leveler in a hair cutting tool?

June 2010

2010-07-11T15:45:00.000-06:00

June was such a crazy month that I didn't get around to posting anything about it. So here is a month in review (very long, sorry):

June 1st was Ellie's last day of daycare until next school year starts (usually very beginning of September). She loves it there and so do I. The fact that she goes to daycare at a high school where they observe traditional school calendars posed a problem because I still had two weeks of school left until the end of my school year on A Track. Thankfully, my awesome cousin Lisel, my mom, and my teaching partner's daughter, Maddi, were there to fill in. I couldn't have done it without them! Thanks!

June 3rd was Ellie's very first sleepover! Can you believe I hadn't been a single night away from my two-year old? She got to stay over at her Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds' house. I'm pretty sure she had a blast! I don't think she missed us a bit.

We also celebrated our FIFTH wedding anniversary! We had a gift card to eat at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. It was delicious! I highly recommend their Brazilian Lemonade. I got passion fruit flavored and Weston got strawberry. We were even so bold as to say this place is better than Rodizio. We then stayed at the Armstrong Mansion (same place we stayed the night we got hitched).

June 4th is our actual anniversary. We had a yummy breakfast at the Armstrong Mansion and then walked around the Gateway. Weston kept getting phone calls from work so I told him he better just go in and get it fixed. We spent about two hours in his bosses office, who had an abscessed tooth and was flying high on Lortab. We finally left with the problem still partially unsolved so that we could see Iron Man 2 at Jordan Landing. After lunch at Cafe Rio, we finally picked up our daughter. I have to admit it was pretty weird not to have her around, but quite enjoyable.

The traditional gift for a fifth wedding anniversary is wood, so I decided to get Weston a bonsai tree for his office. I got him this teeny little boxwood that he could plant, shape, and care for. It really is no bigger than a baseball. He liked the first one so much that he bought a mini cypress to make into a bonsai tree as well. It's been really fun to see Weston "branch out" into a new interest that has nothing to do with video or computer games.Weston's Bonsai #2

June 8th the third grade A-track classes went to Timpanogos Caves for our field trip. It was a little bit stressful making sure none of our students fell off the trail or peed in their pants, but we all made it through tired, but happy. The scariest part of the whole trip was when we were leaving, the bus driver tried to turn the bus around on the two-lane canyon road. When she backed up, the back of the bus felt like it was hanging over the roaring river and the back of the bus was screaming "We're going to die!" I just white-knuckle gripped the seat in front of me, winced, and started to laugh. I know that doesn't seem like the right thing to do, but what else could I do? There was a bus full of eight and nine year old kids screaming we were going to die and if I panicked it wouldn't have done good to anyone, so I laughed. My teaching partner, Marci, thought I was crazy. :)

June 9th Weston left us to go to Moab for Youth Conference. He had been on the same river rafting trip with the young men a few years back. He wasn't actually in the Young Men's program anymore, but when the bishop gave him a new calling, he asked if Weston would still go (Weston is now the new Elders' Quorum Secretary). He had a lot of fun and told us all about it when he got home on the 12th.

June 10th was my last day of school! Well, of this school year anyway. We start a new year with a new class on July 26th. We had a really good class this year, but it was definitely time to say goodbye!

June 18th the wedding festivities began! Weston's little brother, Cameron, and his bride-to-be, Leila, had their wedding dinner at Westridge Golf Course. It was really good food and we had a lot of fun spending time with Todd and Brooke and the whole family. Ellie was "prettied up" for the evening and even let me curl her hair with a curling iron! Her Grandma Reynolds tatted some pink lace to go around the bottom of the dress she bought for her.

Ellie's curly hair

Cam & Leila

Ellie's Dessert Plate!
Ellie & Grandpa

June 19th The Wedding. I didn't bring my camera with me to the temple, but I got lots at the reception. Ellie was a flower girl that didn't want anything to do with being a flower girl. She didn't want to hold the flowers. She didn't want to walk "down the aisle" at the ring ceremony with the other flower girls. She was quite the pill for the first hour or so of the reception. She did want to sneak food before everyone ate, play in the puddle that was under the drinking fountain, and dance the night away.

Ellie and the other Flower Girls
Sneaking Food
Ellie & Aunt Brookie

Ellie & Uncle Marc (who was also called her Daddy at least once that day)
The Happy Couple
A BUG!
Dancing the night away
Playing in Grandpa's Car

June 20th Father's Day. We went to the Reynolds' house for "linner" as my family used to call it (dinner that was so early it's a lunch/dinner). I had to work (as usual) so I had to leave right after dinner. Before I left, Todd, Brooke, and Marc had brought out dessert that was so stinkin' cute! They made little hamburgers out of a cupcake and brownie and french fries out of sugar cookies. It was adorable. They got the idea from bakerella.

June 24th Ellie and I went to see Toy Story 3 with both of her grandma's. I was laughing so much during that show! I especially loved the first scenes when Andy is playing with his toys in the Wild West. Even though it was funny, I did cry. Silly? Definitely. I felt like a fool crying about kids toys, but what can I say? I'm just a bawl baby. Anyway, two thumbs way up for Toy Story 3.

June 26th Weston and I both had to work this night, but Ellie had her first night out on the town without us. Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds took her to Taylorsville Dayzz. She rode on all of the rides and Grandma said she was fearless and loved every bit of it. Then they watched fireworks and all I heard about for the next week was "Boom, Boom" while she threw her arms out like a firework exploding.

We had a lot of adventures this last month and will have many more in the next month. I will try to post a few times so you don't have to read a big long one like this again!

The Pizza Stop

2010-06-21T14:31:00.001-06:00

Missy and I noticed that a new Pizza place had opened on Magna's Main Street (2700 South) named the Pizza Stop. One thing that kind of bugs me about where we live is the fact that we have to drive to 5600 West to go to a sit down restaurant. A pizza parlor might not be the first thing that comes to mind when I mention a sit down restaurant, but it is all I've got. Anyway, the pizza was very good. I wish that we had also ordered some garlic bread, so that we could try more than just our pizza. We like a lot of toppings on our pizza so we went with their combination pizza and we got a lot of toppings, both in variety of toppings and the amount of toppings. They build their pizza with the following method: crust(duh), sauce, toppings, and then cheese. Starting with the crust, it was very good and the sauce was good too. They don't use a sauce that overpowers the ingredients of the pizza, a la Little Caesars before the $5.00 hot and ready pizza. The toppings were great! I swear that the toppings came in between 1/2 and 1 inch thick. (Now I understand that probably had a lot to do with the type of pizza that we ordered, so you "cheese pizza people" are out of luck.) We were very happy to see that they serve not just any sausage on their pizza, but Colosimo's sausage. Which still has a store just down the street from them. It is not as cheap as 5 Buck Pizza, but I liked it a lot better. Does 5 Buck Pizza sell a pizza that is actually $5.00 anymore?

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2010-05-29T16:08:00.010-06:00

It's so hard to believe that Ellie is TWO today!

It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and yet we also can't remember life without her. We finished Ellie's birthday party about an hour ago. She certainly got spoiled this year with presents- and attention!

Eating Hamburgers for lunch

Opening Presents

Ellie wishes that she got Grandma Sorenson's camera for her birthday. Cheese :)

The Cake & Eating it Too

Talking to Aunt Kristan while wearing the apron Grandma Reynolds made her and riding the "bike" Grandma & Grandpa Sorenson gave her.

It was fun to have everyone over to celebrate Ellie. She has changed our lives in so many ways. We are so glad she is a part of our family and we love laughing and growing with her. I'll post some stats and other things about Ellie later on this week hopefully, but here is how Ellie has grown in two years.

Ellie's very first "Birth" day

Ellie's First Birthday

Ellie's Second Birthday- Our Big Girl

We Love You Ellie! Happy Birthday!

Ellie's Day at the Salon

2010-05-01T14:03:00.003-06:00

Tuesday, I took Ellie to get her "2 Year-Old" pictures taken at JCPenney. I know it's a month early, but they were having some kinda celebration that day with discounts, etc. She did really well at the studio as compared to the last two times of me (and my mom last time) chasing her through the entire store. The photo shoot was fun, but I think getting her ready was more fun. I almost left her in her curlers to have her picture taken. Turns out her hair really did look better before I took them out. :) I gave her a bath, smothered her in lotion, slathered gel in her hair, then put the curlers in. She sat in the sink during the whole process. While we waited for them to dry, I trimmed her finger and toe nails and painted her toes. It was like a mini-salon!

This last picture is Ellie's first successful "poo-poo" in the potty taken April 13th. She's gone before, but it's always after she's done some in her diaper. Not this time though! Yay Ellie! Oh, and the cookies on the towel rack in the other picture are potty rewards. That is not where we store the cookies on a regular basis. :)

Going Postal Pays Off

2010-05-01T10:10:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was my first payday! I started back with the post office at the Remote Encoding Center on the 10th of April. I am working four nights a week for six hours a night on top of teaching half time. Most of you may think that really stinks, but I'm trying not to complain. I had tried to figure what my first paycheck would be roughly and last night I was pleasantly surprised to find it was more! Yes, I have had to miss many things like birthday parties and the playoffs. It is hard, but I keep telling myself it's only temporary. We are saving money to finish the basement and pay off our debts. I am really hoping to only be there for about a year, but time will tell.

In other craziness, Ellie was sick all day yesterday. Thursday night, or rather very very early Friday morning, she woke up crying. I figured she would just go back to sleep so I let her cry and turned off the monitor. Normally, if it's bad, she would keep crying and get loud enough to wake us up all the way from her room. The kid has a great set of lungs. She ended up going back to sleep. In the morning, as I went to wake her up, I could smell the cause of her distress before even entering her room. I'll spare you some of the details, but basically she had "lost her cookies" all over in her crib. The bumper, two layers of sheets, pillow and case, two blankets, and two stuffed animals were all covered. She was sound asleep on her giant teddy bear. I gave her a bath and got her ready for daycare. She seemed happy as could be and had no fever or other symptoms so we thought it would be best to just bring her. She chugged a whole sippy of milk and I brought some cereal for her to munch on when she got to daycare.

I was already going to be late to school so I called and asked if someone could cover the crosswalk duty I had to do. I would still be there before the kids got into the classroom though. When we got to daycare, I was hanging up her things and she spewed up all of her milk on their carpet. She also drenched every bit of clothing she had on plus her winter coat that I hadn't hung up yet. So there we were in West Jordan with school starting in five minutes and nowhere to take Ellie. I did the only thing I could think of doing- took her to school with me. On the way, I called Weston and he ended up getting Grandma to watch her for the day. She stayed with me in my classroom for about an hour drawing on the white board and playing in the sink. I would've taken the day off and arranged for a sub, but it just so happens that it was Pet Show & Tell that afternoon in my classroom. I didn't dare leave that up to a sub and I couldn't have them call and tell their parents it was canceled. We are so thankful Mary Kaye could come pick her up and take her all day. Later that night, Ellie hurled again so today we are taking it easy. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour bug of sorts. So far so good.

Easter

2010-04-18T14:30:00.001-06:00

Easter was spread over two days for us. The Easter Bunny came a day early to Grandma Reynolds' house. Ellie had her first Easter egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's basement Saturday after General Conference. She was so excited! No one really had to explain what to do either. Ellie was pointing, running, ooh-ing and aah-ing, shaking, and spilling. The Easter Bunny at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds' house left her lots of treats, hair accessories, little gardening tools, a Minnie Mouse T-shirt, and some polka-dotted tights. We didn't get any pictures, but hopefully Grandma will share hers with us later.

Easter morning, the Easter Bunny left Ellie a set of bowling pins next to her basket. She also got a new Mickey Mouse coloring book, new board books, more hair clips, some bunny marshmallows, and lots more candy. He left Weston a new hair clipper set, and a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives book. I got Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD, an i-tunes gift card, and a yoga mat.

Later that day, we went to Easter dinner at the Weston's (Rylee's family) house. We had the best salmon I've ever eaten as well as steak. It was so delicious! It was also very nice of their family to have us all over for Easter dinner. While there, Grandma Sorenson brought Ellie a little golf set the Easter bunny left at their house for her. She sure got spoiled by the Easter bunny this year.

Next year, we hope to actually color eggs at our house and have an Easter egg hunt of our own. We had just come back from vacation and were so busy we just couldn't do it this year. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

What I Did Last Friday

2010-04-18T14:28:00.000-06:00

I wish I would've taken before pictures, but then again it was really bad. I decided to surprise Weston by organizing the garage. We put the shelves up together about a year ago, but then just threw stuff up on the shelves from the basement. We didn't really ever get around to "using" the shelves appropriately. We still need to find something to organize the tools that are on the bottom shelf, but this is a great improvement! Total cost for Rubbermaid tubs: about $80. Being able to find things in the garage: priceless.

The long awaited: ARIZONA

2010-04-15T09:15:00.001-06:00

I have had many requests to post about Arizona. Sorry it took so long. We got back a day and a half before Easter Sunday, but life has been crazy ever since. I have found myself saying "I wish we were still in Arizona" several times in the past week and a half. We are readjusting to normal life, but it sure was nice to have that wonderfully warm vacation.

Ellie is holding her Great-Grandma Reynolds' cane and wearing her hat.

We arrived in Arizona on a Sunday evening. Sorting out the rental car mess, finding our hotel, and eating dinner were about the only things we did that night.

The only other "for sure" thing I wanted to do while we were there was to go to the zoo. I've only ever been to Hogle Zoo so I thought it would be fun to see another zoo. Ellie also loves animals and their noises so it was the perfect place to spend many hours tiring her out. The brochure we had said to plan at least two hours. They really mean "at least" because that zoo is HUGE! We were there for probably three to four hours and still didn't see it all.

One of the coolest things Ellie did was pet the goats in their petting zoo.
I also got to pet a cow and it licked my hand like a salt lick. It felt like coarse sandpaper.

During our stay, we attended four of Marc's (Taylorsville's) baseball games. We went to Old Town Scottsdale, a MLB Spring Training game, the Easter pageant on the Mesa Temple grounds, and the movie theater to see "How to Train Your Dragon". Todd and Brooke paid for Weston and I to eat dinner at Fox Sports Grill for our birthdays. Then they took us out to ice cream at "Cherry on Top". That was the most awesome frozen yogurt shop I've ever been to and I think it would be fun to open one in Salt Lake. We ended up returning almost every night of the trip to taste a new flavor and topping combination. Mmmm! We went swimming at the hotel a few times when it wasn't too windy. We also attended the team's barbeque where Ellie got to play on the playground.
Our last day in Scottsdale, we went shopping at the mall and spent most of our time in the Disney store. I really miss having one in Fashion Place Mall. We bought far too many things for Ellie in there and then rushed to the food court for lunch before we had to catch our flight.

Ellie with Uncle Todd at the Royals game

We had so much fun spending time with our whole family. Thanks to Mom and Dad Reynolds because it wouldn't have happened without them! We really appreciate all they did for us.

My Dear Grandma Zaugg

2010-04-12T07:50:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Grandma Zaugg left our world of pain and illness to see our Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation and to know that she is not suffering anymore. I love her dearly and will remember what a fun grandma she has always been.

I still remember her coming for LDS General Conference every six months. We would watch out the window until their car pulled up. As soon as it did, we ran out to meet them. Being small children, one of the first things we wanted was the Berenstein Bears book they would bring. Then we would usually ask for gum. Grandma always had gum and it was usually a good kind like Trident.

Grandma is one of the best mothers I know. She knew how to do everything! She cooked delicious food, sewed beautiful things, crafted like crazy, kept a beautifully clean house, and loves her children dearly. I love to hear about their time serving two missions and serving in the temple. She was a beautiful bride and an even more beautiful grandmother.

Grandma Zaugg is a fun grandma. She loved to do things with her grandchildren and was always interested to know how we were doing. Even if they weren't her grandchildren, Grandma loved all children. I still remember hearing about the neighbor boys that would come over every day to get an ice cream bar from grandma.

I am so grateful we were able to visit my grandma and grandpa this year for Christmas. For months before Christmas, she could talk of nothing else. Our whole extended family was there. Even though Parkinson's had changed Grandma a bit, I still loved spending time with her. I can't wait to spend time with her again.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that he died for us and was resurrected. He lives and I know my grandma will live again. Until we meet again, bye Grandma. I love you.

Where did Spring go?

2010-04-06T13:14:00.004-06:00

This is what we were wondering after baking our pork chops instead of using the grill. It is also what we pondered after we readied our shopping list, drove in horrendous snow through many darkened streets, wondered why firetrucks were blocking the road by Cyprus Credit Union, and finally arrived at the Smith's parking lot only to find they were functioning on back-up power. While we were writing the list, we heard a very large "bang" outside and we seem to think a transformer blew or something. Many, many blocks in Magna were without power. We didn't even try to go into Smith's. There was an employee manually opening the sliding doors to let customers out, but probably not in. We ventured down the street to Ream's instead. They had power and many more customers who had come from Smith's to do their shopping.

After we had settled snug in our beds with our power still working, we were awakened two hours later to a beeping sound. I'm not talking about a quiet beeping like when your cell phone is dying. I'm talking about an obnoxiously loud chirping sort of beep. You know, like the kind when you are testing your fire alarm. Indeed, Weston walked into the hallway to find our fire alarm/carbon dioxide detector on the ceiling beeping. We would silence it temporarily only to find it beeping thirty seconds later. Being worried it might actually be carbon monoxide setting it off (the blue light was flashing instead of the red for fire), we went downstairs to get the CO monitor Weston's parents had given us for Christmas one year. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. The door leading into the garage had been left open and we read in the owners manual condensation due to cold temperatures can cause false alarms. We had to reset the dang thing by turning off the power, unplugging the monitor, taking out the battery, pushing the reset button, then getting it put back together again. It was crazy! And it took us an hour and twenty minutes from the first beep to the time we got back in bed. Thankfully, Ellie slept through all of this. We settled back in bed hoping the worst was over and crossing our fingers it wouldn't beep again.

At 7:20 a.m. Weston woke up abruptly. He had slept in. Why? Because our power went out in the middle of the night and his alarm did not go off. The house was freezing, Ellie wanted to watch Mickey Mouse, and I wasn't sure how long we would be without power. Thankfully, the power was restored within the hour, but seriously, where did spring go?

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2010-03-26T10:59:00.003-06:00

Love, Ellie

Date Nights

2010-03-24T20:21:00.006-06:00

It seems like the last few weeks have been non-stop for us. I've decided that unless there is something especially exciting like birthdays and such, I will try to blog each Wednesday while Weston is at Young Men's. We'll see.
Last Tuesday, Weston and I went to Hale Center Theater's production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was really good. We thought the actors and actresses did an excellent job portraying their characters and the accents. They did an especially good job on "Tevye's Dream". They had what looked like giant stick puppets with huge heads running around the stage. They used a black light and had fluorescent paints on the costumes. They also had the butcher's wife floating down in a harness. Creepy, but really fun!
The next night, St. Patrick's Day, Weston's work gave us tickets in the lower bowl for the Jazz game. It was a really fun and laid back game. The Jazz played the Timberwolves and were ahead most of the game which lead to lots of fun dunks and stuff. At times I wondered if we were watching the Globetrotters. We got two date nights in a row! Pretty awesome huh?

Saturday, I had "the ladies" over to paint dangles for the months of April and May. It's always a crazy day, but I feel like I accomplish so much when it's all over. I'm sure Weston is ready for our last set of dangles to be finished so our house won't be full of women chatting and painting once a month!
And now, some random pictures of Ellie playing at Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson's house:

Ellie put her "underwears" from her dress on over her pants. Crazy girl!

Cinder-Ellie

2010-03-15T10:33:00.003-06:00

Lately, Ellie has been so helpful (when she wants to be). She helps me clean up her toys, puts away her clothes in her drawers after I fold them, helps unload the dishwasher, feeds the dog, puts the clothes in the washer and then later in the dryer, dusts, sweeps, and loves the vacuum. We even bought her her own pink hand broom and dustpan at IKEA.
We snapped this picture of Ellie dusting at the end of January. She took her pants off and put her rain boots on all by herself. :) She's getting to be so independent.

NASCAR

2010-03-12T20:14:00.003-07:00

Nascar weekend 2010 was such a blast! We weren't sure if bringing Ellie would make the trip more fun or more of a pain. She was well-behaved most of the time and we had a good time watching her react to the race cars going past. We didn't regret bringing her along one bit. The only thing we thought was a little bit ridiculous is that for both races, Ellie was required to have a paid ticket. We ended up buying her the cheapest tickets we could find just so she could get in and she sat on someone's lap the whole time.

Qualifying for the Shelby 400 was on Friday, February 26th. Basically, each car gets two laps to get the fastest time and determine their pole position for Sunday's race. Ellie was hilarious watching the cars go by. As they came around turn four, Ellie would keep her eyes on the car and follow it with her whole head as it passed. She would then follow with something like "whoa" or "ooh" I wish we had gotten video of this. It was so funny. We also walked around outside of the grandstands through all of the trailers to find new Nascar gear.

We had to choose a car for Ellie. Weston and I chose our cars five years ago the very first (and only other) time we went to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Weston's driver is Kevin Harvick-chosen at first because he drove the Reese's car five years ago. Now he drives the Shell/Penzoil car most of the time. My driver is Kyle Busch- chosen at first because I liked the Tony the Tiger Kellogg's car five years ago. Now he drives the M&M's car most of the time. Kyle Busch is also my mom's driver but only because she cheers for anyone who drives the M&M's car. Dad's driver has always been Jeff Gordon. Jimmy and Rylee needed drivers too. Jimmy decided on the "GoDaddy.com" car driven by Mark Martin. Rylee chose Jimmy Johnson who drives the Lowe's car. We decided Ellie needed to cheer for the Clint Bowyer in the Cheerios car.

Rain threatened to postpone Saturday's race- the Sam's Towns 300. As long as they were able to complete half of the race, the winner would be whoever was out front when they called the race. It was pretty ugly and cold that day, but we were able to watch the entire race without the rain ruining our day. My dad rented a race scanner with a little tv screen for the weekend. Ellie wanted to hold the little tv and push all the buttons. We were cold, but we had a lot of fun. On the way back to St. George, about eighteen miles away from Mesquite the entire freeway was stopped for miles. After sitting for a half hour, we finally starting moving very very slowly and eight miles later found that the problem was a pickup had lost its trailer or something. Saturday was also my dad's birthday. The lasagna we had planned to make at the condo was not going to happen, so my dad ordered pizza and then we had his favorite cake- German Chocolate. Happy Birthday Dad!

Sunday's weather was more like what Las Vegas should feel like. Rylee's driver won the race, but at one point, all of our drivers were in the top ten positions for quite a few laps. My driver (and mom's) was penalized for driving to fast on pit road and ended up fifteenth. Weston's driver took second, Dad's driver third, Jimmy's fourth, Ellie's eighth.

We stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Monday we got to do a little shopping while the men played golf and Tuesday we got to see Jimmy's office. It was quite a vacation for me. Ellie didn't want to see her mommy much. She wanted Rylee (Eye-lee) and Grandma a lot. I felt a little guilty, but it was a true vacation. We loved spending so much time with our family, especially Jimmy and Rylee. We only get to see them every month or two. We really missed Kristan. Maybe she'll come next time. Happy Birthday to my little sis too!

Nursery Success!

2010-01-09T11:44:00.004-07:00

We took this picture on Sunday, but I thought I would give everyone a few more days to enjoy our other posts before we posted again. Besides, if I post too often, people will expect posts much more frequently than I can handle.

Ellie (and I) survived her first day of nursery without mommy or daddy! Her first official week alone was supposed to be on November 29th (her exact 18 month birthday), but the Elders Quorum took over the nursery so the women could go to a special lesson. I wasn't so sure about having Ellie's first week in nursery be so different so she came with me to Relief Society. She was sick the entire month of December and so we went to Sacrament Meeting and then home.

So even though she should've been in over a month ago, it was her first week in nursery. I only had to stay there for about five minutes. She was having fun and playing nice. I don't think she even cried. I checked on her twice through the window. The first time, she was patting the seat beside her and talking to all the kids trying to get someone to sit by her. The second time a little girl was crying and screaming on the floor and Ellie went to comfort her. She said "uh-oh" and then bent over and pretended to kiss her. We are so proud of her!

Our Christmas Adventures!

2010-01-02T12:18:00.006-07:00

Merry Christmas!
We spent Christmas Eve with the Reynolds. Dinner was the traditional delicious prime rib with holiday fixins. Our family opened our Christmas jammies and other gifts from their family. Ellie wanted nothing to do with opening gifts which was a complete surprise to us. We thought this Christmas would be so much fun for her. She was seriously throwing fits when we made her open her presents.

We then made our way over to the Sorenson house. Jimmy and Rylee wanted to open presents Christmas Eve. We got Ellie to open her presents from them and she couldn't put them down. She got a new pair of Vans and a baby doll set with a stroller, bassinet, and high chair. It also came with a new baby, bottle, bowl, and spoon. She wasn't interested in anything else. We had to hide her baby stuff Christmas morning, but she still found it. With the Christmas Crown in the oven rising, we all settled down for our long winter's naps.

Christmas morning was crazy. We never wake up early at the Sorensons to open presents, but this year we had a plane to catch. That's right, we all flew to Spokane, Washington departing Salt Lake at 11:17 a.m. Christmas Day. We opened as many presents as we could before it was time to leave, but Ellie still had half of her presents left when we got back.

We spent four days in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with Missy's grandparents. Aunt Valerie and her family as well as Uncle Jeff and his family were there too. While we were there, we did lots of visiting, eating, and playing. We went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie, searched for bald eagles at Coeur d'Alene Lake, walked along the boardwalk to see Christmas lights, and went bowling. We had a lot of fun!

We flew home Tuesday morning and then spent more time at the Reynolds' that evening opening presents with Cameron who was also out of town for Christmas. He got engaged one week before Christmas to Leila and went to visit her family for Christmas. We spent New Year's Eve with the Reynolds' enjoying food from Pagoda and watching Star Trek the movie.

We had a busy, but enjoyable Christmastime. We are thankful for family and those we love. We hope everyone else had a great holiday too! Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T09:29:00.005-07:00

Happy New Year!
Here are some things we remember about 2009:

1. We framed our basement in February. Missy is still waiting to hear from the post office so she can work there part time to continue finishing the basement.
2. Missy used her sewing machine to sew Ellie's Easter dress. It was her first project that wasn't pillow cases, Halloween costumes, fleece hats, or burp cloths.
3. In April, we traveled with Weston's family to Las Vegas to watch Marc's baseball tournament. Ellie took her first real steps while we were there.
4. We were robbed :(
5. Our little sister Kristan graduated from USU with her Bachelor's (and Master's once she defends her thesis) in Biological Engineering. She then took off to Africa for three weeks. A few months later, she went through the temple and then she moved to Iowa. She is now working on her Doctorate at the University of Iowa which is way too far away.
6. Our baby turned ONE! That was in the middle of the year, but it feels like a century ago.
7.Our big brother Jimmy got married to his perfect match, Rylee. They are living in St. George right now and we miss them a lot.
8. Missy's family had their turn hosting the Sorenson Family Reunion. We held it in Swan Valley, Idaho and although it was a lot of stress, it was much more fun!
9. We (minus Ellie) were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication. We also had the opportunity to serve during the open house.
10. Missy ran her seventh marathon in St. George.
11. Weston finished his proposal for his capstone project. He now has to finish his project and write his paper to go with it. He is expected to finish school at the end of August!

We are looking forward to many other memories and happy occasions in the coming year!

18 months!

2009-11-29T09:46:00.007-07:00

Wow! I realize the last time I posted about Ellie's age and what she can do was at least eight months ago; therefore, this post will probably be pretty long. I have to get my bragging in from that long ago to now. We go to the doctor Thursday, so I'll post her stats later. Here is what Ellie can do:

Sign language she knows- milk, please, thank you, cookie, drink, baby, fish, more, and down.
Words she can say- mamma, dadda, dog dog, juice, thank you, hi, bye bye, grandma (sounds like maa mah), grandpa (also similar to grandma), shoe, toe, eyes, ears, NO (definitely hear it a lot), uh oh, tickle tickle, boo, baby, and today she said "sheesh" after I said it.
Things that melt our hearts- kisses and hugs, blowing kisses, and snuggling.
Things that make us laugh- when she sneaks up on someone she tip toes and crouches at the same time, when she smells her baby's bum then crinkles up her nose and wants a diaper and wipes to change her, she takes off her socks to check her toes for toe jam (she actually sweeps her finger in between each of her toes), she also takes off other peoples' socks to check them for toe jam, she pretends like she is leaving by getting her purse and keys then giving us hugs and kisses before saying "bye-bye" and walking to the back door, when she lifts up her arms so we will tickle her, she organizes things in our "shoe cubbies" by the front door.
Things that frustrate us- she loves to climb on everything, she takes her shoes and sometimes socks off in the car every time we go somewhere, she says "no" like it's the only thing she can say, she wants to do everything herself, she makes huge messes wherever she goes,
Things that amaze us- One day, Ellie saw a can of olives. She brought it to us and we told her it wasn't opened and she couldn't have any yet. She then brought us a can opener from the drawer and the can. We don't even use that can opener. We use a different colored one that is up on the counter.
She understands everything we say. When we ask her to she can put her bottles in the sink, throw things away, turn off the TV, put toys away in her toy box, get an article of clothing from her dresser, get matching shoes, close doors, put her clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, turn off/on lights that she can climb to, and much more. When we are talking to each other in the car, she will repeat words we have said. Just a reminder to us that she is always listening. A couple of days ago, she slid off the bed to get down and it sounded like she hit her leg. I said, "I bet she hit her shin," and she said "No." Then she touched her chin.
She can cover her mouth when she coughs and sneezes. My third grade class doesn't even do that! She also practices when you ask her to by fake coughing or sneezing into her arm.
Body parts she knows-head, hair, ears, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, teeth, tongue, lips, mouth, cheeks, chin, neck, elbow, armpit, arm, hands, fingernails, fingers, tummy, legs, knees, toes, bum, and feet.
Things she loves to do- wrestle with daddy, listen to stories (sometimes she has fits when it's time for bed and we can't read any more books), watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse, do the "hot dog" dance, play hide and seek, go on walks, pretend to talk on the phone, twirl around, play with other kids (mostly because they have better/different toys than us), carry the dog's dish full of food out to feed him, zip her zippers and dress herself (on top of her existing clothes sometimes).
Potty training- At the end of September, Ellie kept grabbing her diaper and wanting to use the "big girl potty." She was afraid of the toilet because it was so big and she thought she might fall in. We decided to get a little potty and she used it successfully. I couldn't believe she was only 16 months old and wanted to potty train. Well, since then Ellie still asks to go on her potty, but it's pretty rare. Most of the time she grabs her diaper after she's already gone. I guess it's the first step that she recognizes she needs to go and she needs a diaper change. We're still working on it, but I'm not going to push her.

There are so many other things Ellie does that we can't think of right now. She continues to amaze us every day. I can't believe how much their vocabulary explodes and their minds grow from 12 to 18 months. Today will be the first official day she can go to nursery. I brought her a couple of weeks ago for half of the time and sat with her. If she does well today, I may leave her. Sort of nervous, but excited at the same time.

Helicopter Parents Beware! Change is Coming

2009-11-28T10:41:00.003-07:00

My brother and sister-in-law posted this article on their blog and I think that it is spot on. Check it out.

The Case Against Over-Parenting

Back to Blogging-Finally!

2009-11-23T17:35:00.013-07:00

This will be my first post since the unfortunate events in April. Which means that my "blogging tool" has finally been replaced. It only took 7 months!

In August, my baby sister moved away to Iowa, we were able to attend the temple dedication at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and Ellie started going to a new day care at the high school near my school.

Ellie helped plant the bushes in the garden

In September, we went to the Utah State Fair. Weston had his first funnel cake and Ellie had a lot of fun looking at the animals. We went on the night Peter Breinholt was there and it had been raining all day so it was more like a private concert for about 50 people. We also broke down and got DirecTV. I never thought I would agree to it, but I love our new DVR. Ellie and I also enjoy watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse each morning.

October was pretty crazy! I finished (which means please don't ask about my time) my seventh marathon in St. George. My big brother and his wife moved down to St. George where they are renting a house for a few years. Cameron, Weston's brother, took our family pictures in memory grove. They turned out really cute. After Windu's only litter of puppies with Jellybean, he was "snipped". Ellie participated in her first Halloween parade outside of my school. She also Trunk-or-Treat-ed for the first time and helped carve her Elmo pumpkin.

November has been the month for showers. There has been a shower every Saturday so far. We also had Weston's family over to watch the Utah vs. TCU game two saturdays ago. I had Parent Teacher Conferences the first week of November and Weston's dad broke his foot that week too. Since the school year started in the end of July, Weston and I have been watching what we eat. I haven't weighed so little since the first year we were married! I still have about 15 pounds to go before I get to my wedding day weight, but it feels good. Pictures will come later after it is all gone.

Ellie loves to climb in her rocking chair to "read" stories.

We are looking forward to a busy week. Kristan is home for the week and Thanksgiving Dinner is at Grandma Reynolds' house this year. We'll have to post again later this week. Aren't you glad we're back?

Family Reunion 09

2009-08-13T14:08:00.005-06:00

August means another Sorenson Family Reunion. Except this year Missy's parents were in charge. We spend 4 days and 3 nights in Swan Valley, ID. We stayed at the Sleepy J Cabins, complete with Dish Network for each of the 10 cabins, wifi and a big screen TV in the lodge. That is my kind of camping! Missy's parents kept the planned activities to bare minimum so that people could go and do whatever they wanted. We arrived Thursday and unpacked the Trailblazer and made our way up to Jackson Hole, WY for dinner. We ate at the Mountain High Pizza Pie and were very satisfied with their pizza. Friday the only thing besides meals and the sing-a-long that was scheduled was the adult craft. Missy and Kristan were in charge of the craft and I think they picked a good one. Saturday 12 of us went golfing at Pinecrest Golf Course in Idaho Falls while the kids did their craft. For dessert that night we made s'mores and followed that up with another sing-a-long. Sunday morning we had breakfast, packed our bags, cleaned up, and headed home. It was a great family reunion, but I was golfing during the kids craft.

Missy and I at Jackson Hole

Mountain High Pizza Pie in Jackson Hole

A small water fall in Swan Valley

Meal time at the family Reunion

Ellie really likes corn on the cob

Ellie driving Uncle Jimmy's Razor

July 2009 Can You Say BBQ?

2009-08-11T15:05:00.005-06:00

July was also a busy month, but I don't think that it was quite as busy as June. We started off July with a bang. How does 4 BBQ's in 4 days sound? My brother Todd and his wife Brooke were in town for a WGU conference from July 2nd until the 11th. On the 2nd we had BBQ #1 with the Jones side of my family because some cousins that live out of state were visiting for various reasons. Todd and Brooke live in Kansas City and I must say that they have picked up some mad BBQ skills. We went over to my parents house for a real KC BBQ on the 3rd (BBQ #2). Todd and Brooke made everything including a peanut butter chocolate cake (they said that it didn't turn out right, but it was still good.) On the 4th Missy and I had both of our families over for a BBQ(#3) and to watch Magna's fireworks from our front yard. I finished one set of Wa-shoe boards and found the 3 1/2 inch OD washers. We made way too much food, but we had a great time and the fireworks that Magna put on were actually quite a bit better than I had expected. On the 5th we went my Grandma Reynolds house for BBQ #4. I think that everyone must have been tired of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, etc. so the menu was kind of a fajita bar followed by drumstick ice cream cones and creamies.

Tuesday the 7th I took Missy, Ellie, Todd, Brooke, Marc, and Marc's date to the Bees Game. They lost, but the at least made it a game in the bottom of the ninth inning. We watched my little brother Marc in a few of his baseball games that week and had to say goodbye to Todd and Brooke at breakfast on Saturday morning at the Original Pancake House.

The next week Jimmy had a weekend at the Wolf Creek Resort near Eden, Utah. Jimmy and Rylee had both sides of their family up for the weekend. Ellie got to show off her new swimming suit, Missy went horseback riding with the girls, and I went golfing with the boys.

We went over to my parents' house for the 24th for dinner and fireworks and Windu became the pround parent of 11.

So maybe July was more busy than June.

June 2009

2009-07-27T08:31:00.005-06:00

June was so busy that I am just now getting around to blogging about it. Ellie had her one year appointment with the all inclusive five vaccines! She is still below average on her weight and above average on her height. We were happy that she weighed enough to get her a forward facing car seat. Ellie liked having her birthday party so she though she would decorate the bathroom.

We celebrated our 4th anniversary and three weddings during the month. One of those weddings was Jimmy and Rylee. And of course, we got pictures of Ellie.

For our anniversary Missy gave me tickets to the Revenge of the Fallen and Dinner at Iggy's. I thought they could have made that movie into two seperate movies and explained/expand on things a little more. If you like action, Transformers 2 is 2 1/2 hours of pure alien robot action.

I will try and get July posted in the next few days.

Ellie's B-day

2009-06-03T14:47:00.006-06:00

For Ellie's first birthday we had our families over for pizza, cake and ice cream. Ellie had a great time opening presents and getting all of that attention. Here are some pictures from her party.

May so far

2009-05-28T08:54:00.005-06:00

Kristan's Graduation
Missy grandma and grandpa Zaugg visited for Kristan's graduation and yes we finally captured a picture of Ellie with her only Great Grandpa. (She has 4 great grandmas and 1 great great grandma) We had a great time visiting with them while they were down here.

Mother's Day
We spent Mother's day at my parents house. Ellie loved the bubbles with grandpa Reynolds.

Ellie with Grandma Reynolds

Later we changed her into her M&M outfit so that we could get a picture with her and uncle Marc both wearing their M&M stuff.

Memorial Weekend
Saturday started pretty much just like any other Saturday with Ellie waking us up early. Missy went on her 7 mile run before it got too hot. When she got back from her run Ellie was napping, so we went outside to work in the yard. That lasted 15 minutes. So I pulled out the lawn mower and weed eater and got the lawn taken care of. We had to go shopping for Ellie's birthday (May 29th), Jimmy's birthday(May 23rd), and two brides-to-be. Later that day Rylee's parents invited us to a BBQ in Jimmy's honor. And we played Washoes
with Rylee's family and neighbors. (If you need an explanation about what it is click on the link.) Sunday we celebrated Jimmy's birthday at the Sorenson's house with Jimmy's favorite sour cream chicken enchiladas.

I think Ellie was a little confused with the iPod. She saw an apple and tried to eat it.

Monday was spent running errands, from grocery shopping, to more birthday shopping, to some shopping for us. We celebrated my Dad's birthday(May 25) with a BBQ at my parents house and enjoyed the time in the shade of their backyard. Ellie chased her uncle Marc around on the grass. She is starting to ignore the grass and enjoy being outside.

Ellie was also chased by the tickle monster(aka Mommy)

That is May so far. We still have two birthdays. Ellie's is friday and my mom's is Sunday and then we have a busy June ahead.

Las Vegas Photos

2009-05-12T09:16:00.004-06:00

Here are the pictures taken in Las Vegas by Aspyn Grace Photography

Interruption

2009-05-11T15:45:00.001-06:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog and bring you this explanation/cause of the recent lack of posts. April 25th we were at my parents house celebrating my brother's birthday. We had dinner, dessert, and opened presents. Ellie was getting tired so we started packing up our things and loading up the trailblazer. On our way home everything was normal. We pulled into the garage and Missy grabbed the diaper bag and headed into the house as I took Ellie out of the car. Then Missy screamed something like, "We have been robbed!" No, she was not kidding. When I walked in, I saw the less valuable content of our entertainment center on the floor. They even pulled out the spoon we use to keep Ellie out of the cabinets below the TV. Apparently they didn't like anything there. They left the TV, DVD player, VCR (I know, I know, what is that?), PS2, Stereo, DVDs, PS2 games, dance mats, buzzers, and anything else that we usually keep there. From that room they did take Missy's laptop from school that has all of our pictures on it and her iPod. Next I looked in our bedroom. They must not have found what they were looking for, or they thought that we must hide the really valuable stuff. They emptied out our dresser drawers. Threw the bedding off of the bed. Lifted the mattress, stole a pillow case and also took both of our cameras and the case we kept them in, my PSP with 5 or 6 games, my power adapter for my laptop (which was in the front room feet from Missy's, but it was in it's case), Missy's $300 breast pump and her scriptures from when she was baptized. I think that is everything that they took. They got in through the back door, which they broke. Yes, the door was dead-bolted. You might be wondering where Windu was while this was happening. Locked in his kennel in the backyard. The tore our baby gate down, I guess they weren't smart enough to figure out how to just open the door on the thing. They tracked mud down our stairs. I guess that they thought they would go after the really valuable stuff downstairs. I bet they were surprised when they found an unfinished basement! They left out the front door, by simply unlocking it. The neighbors told the officer that Windu was barking a lot around 8 pm, but because he always barks they didn't think anything of it. In Windu's defense, he only barks when someone is out front. It just so happens that there is almost always some neighborhood kids in the street out in front of our house.

So we spent our Sabbath ripping out our old door and putting in a new one. Now Windu has free reign of our backyard, so watch out. That is the reason for not posting in a while and hopefully we will be returning to our regularly scheduled blogs even if Easter was a month ago.

Viva Las Vegas!

2009-04-17T00:59:00.000-06:00

As Weston previously mentioned, we went with Marc's high school baseball team to Las Vegas. This was Ellie's second round trip journey on an airplane. We were a lot less nervous to fly again because we knew what to expect and also because Weston's parents were there to help with her. When we arrived at the airport, we took a shuttle to the new rental car center and Weston waited in Dollar Rent-a-Car's line for an HOUR to get our car. Our pickins were slim so we drove a black PT Cruiser for the week. What a weird car! Tuesday (our day of arrival) was pretty much wasted after that, but we toured the casino, went grocery shopping and ran some other errands. It was our only day without baseball games so we had to try to keep busy.

Wednesday Marc played at 8:00 a.m. and it was a good game. Marc was playing first base for the varsity team. He's only a sophomore so we weren't sure where he'd be playing, but he played varsity the whole tournament. Ellie was a little antsy and I was horrified she would get sunburned so what I saw of the game was great. After the game, we went swimming at the most windy pool I've ever experienced. The hotel we stayed at was a giant tower and the pool was right to the side. The lifeguard explained that all of the wind that hits the hotel tower blows right down to the swimming pool. It was freezing! The pool temperature was fine, but as soon as you got out the wind froze your skin. We didn't swim for very long, but it was fun to see Ellie crawl around.

Thursday Marc played at 3:00 so we decided to tour the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory and cactus gardens. They weren't doing anything that exciting, but we got to sample chocolates. Mmmmm. We then headed to the strip to walk through M&M world and the Coca-Cola Store. Grandma and Grandpa bought Ellie an M&M outfit so she can look like Yellow. We bought her a pink baseball hat in the Coke store. We got back to the hotel with just enough time to get ready. Marc had his game and we had family pictures scheduled with a friend that lives in Vegas. We thought we'd be done in time to catch the end of Marc's game. We missed it all, but they did win again.

Friday Marc played at noon at the College of Southern Nevada. They had the coolest stands to sit in. They were made of great big red rocks and there were no seats. You could either sit in a camp chair or sit on the rocks. It was great for Ellie because she actually got to crawl around a play a little. Marc's team stayed "in the game" until the fourth inning. They lost to a tough California team. We were upset, but seemed to forget about a lot of the disappointment with orange cream slushes from Sonic on the way home. We continued our therapy session by going to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus. Ellie rode the carousel for the first time and some nice man gave her a stuffed tiger. She pretty much stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Mommy, Daddy, and Uncle Marc went on the rides. We finished our long night at Fazoli's to celebrate my birthday.

Saturday's game was to determine third place in the tournament. Marc pitched for four innings in the middle of the game. They lost to a local high school team and took fourth in the tournament out of 16 teams. Ellie enjoyed her first tastes of lime snow cone from Grandpa. She wasn't quite sure what to think of it. After the game we shopped at the outlet stores nearest the airport. I found my dress for Jimmy's wedding and bought Ellie a dress also. It was then time to return the car and head to the airport. At the airport, Weston found a shirt that said "Potty like a Rockstar- Las Vegas." Of course we had to get it for Ellie. The flight home was later and Ellie was a little fussy, but we made it home alive and tired.

Bit by Bit. . . starting with the small bits

2009-04-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

We have been horrible at keeping up with this thing lately. Sorry about that. I made a list of everything that has happened since last time we really blogged and it was a lot. So we are going to do this bit by bit. I decided to split it into 3 or 4 separate entries to make it more tolerable to read. Following the small bits will be Vegas, Easter, and an Ellie update.

By no means is this bit of information small in importance. My favorite (and only) brother is getting married in June! He proposed to Rylee when they went to watch Spring Training in Arizona during the second week of March. Their official wedding date is June 20 and we are so excited for them. They bought the cutest little skirt and sweater for Ellie to wear. My family got to meet her family a couple of weeks ago. They seem so fun and they love baseball just as much as Jimmy does. We can't wait!

Weston and I both celebrated our 26th birthdays! We feel really old because we're now nearing thirty. We had family over on March 28th and had barbecue chicken and bratwursts. I got to celebrate my birthday twice: once in Vegas with his family and once at my parents' house on Sunday. We both had great birthdays! (sorry no pictures)

Weston is going to start playing softball with a rec league Thursday nights. His first game is next week. My cousin Eric organized the team and Jimmy, my cousin Scott, and Jimmy's friend Sam are playing on the team as well. For his birthday, Weston's parents got him a softball bat and he still has yet to finish getting what he needs.

I have been off track for almost three weeks now. The crummy thing is I have to go back Friday morning so I will try to get my posts done before then. Sometimes is goes way too fast!

The Best Burger Update

2009-04-15T14:28:00.000-06:00

I am sure that nobody cares about what burger I like the best, but you are going to get it anyway. Last week, we went to Las Vegas with my little brother's high school baseball team for a spring break tournament. It used to be that the closest In-N-Out was in Las Vegas and any time that we were down there we would stop by for what was my favorite hamburger. This trip was no different, except they are not my favorite any more. In fact, they have become number three. While eating there I realized that their food tastes the same as Chadder's (which was sued by In-N-Out) except for one small difference. Here is where I rip on their fries. Both places' french fries give me the impression of eating deep fried packing peanuts. Chadder's has taken second place away from In-N-Out in my book because of this one small thing. Maybe it is because I am from Utah, but Chadder's has fry sauce and it is good. However, Five Guys Burgers and Fries is still the reigning Champ. I don't know how their quarter pound patties* are sooooo much bigger than In-N-Out and Chadder's. It must be less fatty than the other guys. Five Guys Burger and Fries is still #1.

* Pre-cooked weight

Revenge

2009-04-03T09:32:00.001-06:00

For a list of the Autobots and Decepticons in the Movie visit
Yahoo Movies

It's Baseball Time

2009-03-21T14:14:00.001-06:00

Here's a picture of Ellie at her Uncle Marc's game.

You Can't Pinch Me!

2009-03-17T10:24:00.000-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Even if she wasn't plastered in green, who would pinch a girl so adorable?

Our Newest Tradition!

2009-02-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I should just cut and paste last year's Valentine post here because this year is no different. The only things that are missing are sinus infections. Oh, and this year we added Ellie being sick too.

My mom and dad asked if they could babysit Ellie tonight while we went out to do something. I was thinking about having them watch her just so we can sleep and get rid of our colds. We probably won't end up doing anything eventful. We do need to find some kind of tradition, but I don't think being sick should be it.

On a happy note, Weston got me (us) tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera at Hale Center Theatre for Valentine's Day. Our tickets aren't until April 18th, but I'm really excited to go.

3-D Superbowl Glasses

2009-02-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

We watched the Superbowl at Mom and Dad Sorenson's house without them this year. They were returning from a Caribbean cruise, but we wanted to use their new TV. We also raided their goodie stash. Kristan made the awesome 7-layer bean dip and we brought French Dip sandwiches. I used my timer on the camera to get this shot. I'm awesome, huh? I only wish Ellie would've let us put glasses on her.

Ellie's Balloon

2009-02-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Ellie's balloon was finally popped yesterday. She has had it since Great Grandma Reynolds' 80th birthday party the first week in NOVEMBER! It stayed afloat for three months. It had been drifting across the floor for about a week when I finally popped it because I had stamp club at my house yesterday. She had many fun times with that balloon. We tied it to her high chair and almost every time she sat there, she played with it. I don't think she'll miss it or even remember, but we thought we would pay tribute to the longest lasting balloon we've ever seen. Farewell to her squeaky, bouncy, tasty purple friend.

Eight Month Old Sickie

2009-01-30T17:12:00.001-07:00

Ellie woke up this morning with the most disgusting green boogers running from her nose. She was so yucky! There is nothing I hate worse than seeing a kid with boogers everywhere. I always think those kids aren't well kept and this time it was my kid. I decided not to post a picture of what she looked like. You're welcome.
Well, I think this is Ellie's first official time of being sick. Her nose was running like crazy and was so full that even after wiping it one hundred times, she still couldn't eat well because she couldn't breathe. I wish babies knew how to blow into the tissue. It was my first friday back on-track and I had to work the full day. The new babysitter said she was more fussy than the other days. She's been really clingy to me and doesn't really want her daddy to hold her if I'm around. When she cries it sounds like she's losing (spelled it right-you're welcome Todd) her voice.

Ellie hasn't done many new things since our "7 month" post. She is 27 and a half inches long and weighs 16 and a half pounds. Whenever I try to get her to say "Da Da" or "Daddy" she says "Buh". Last night, I was trying to get her to say "Da da" and Weston would try to get her to say "Ma Ma". The end result was that I would say "Da da da" and Ellie would say "Ma ma ma". I think she's a little confused about the concept of repeating. She did that about 20 times and laughed after a few of them. What a clever little stinker.

Ellie's New "Do"

2009-01-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Even though the packaging says not for kids under three years old, I couldn't resist. These are the cutest little clips I've ever seen. So tiny. She looks like such a big girl. I can't wait until she has a little more hair so I can do something with it.
On a side note, Ellie had her first "meat" today-beef with beef gravy. It certainly doesn't have the texture I expected. She wasn't quite sure she liked it either. So now Ellie is an official omnivore!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-01-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

My mom is the greatest! We love her and hope she had a great birthday!

We went to dinner at Red Robin to celebrate.

The stairs, a tooth, and we missed 7 months

2009-01-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

I was waiting to post about the stairs because I wanted to get it on video, but we kept forgetting our video camera so you'll just have to believe me. My mom and Weston can vouch for Ellie too. Well, anyway on January 2nd we went to my parents' house to watch the Utah game on their new TV. Ellie of course couldn't sit still and was crawling all over their basement. She headed down the hallway and right up the stairs. I'm not kidding. I had to scrape my jaw off the floor. She has never been around our stairs because they are leading to the unfinished basement and we don't normally go down there. My parents have a split level home and while I followed her to make sure she didn't fall she trekked the 8-10 stairs to the front door on her own! I wish I had my camera there because we tried to make her do it again and she wasn't interested.

That same day, Ellie's first tooth "erupted". We were so shocked, but it made sense after how fussy she had been. It has come out quite a bit more since then.
You can't really see it, but it's on her left (your right)

Well, all of these pictures except the last one were taken after Ellie turned 7 months old, but we were so busy in December that we didn't get many random pictures of her. Our last progress post for Ellie was the middle of December (about two weeks late, but her 6 month post).

Since then, Ellie has perfected her wave. She can wave on her own to people she knows and she knows when I say "hi" she is supposed to wave. We put her in the cart at Walmart one night and as we pushed her down the aisle, she waved at everyone like she was in a parade.
She has been playing Peek-a-boo in her play pen. She crouches down and when I say "Where's Ellie?" she pops up and I say "Peek-a-boo". This is followed by lots of giggling.
She loves to walk when you hold her hands.
She can use her pincer grasp to feed herself pieces of bread, cereal puffs, and the occasional marshmallow.
She puts herself into a sit when she is crawling and she is getting very fast. She is also still pulling herself up on everything and trying to walk along. She's getting daring and we find ourselves wincing quite a bit.

Ellie's first zwieback toast strip

We didn't teach her this naughty hand signal

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:45:00.001-07:00

What a busy time of year! I really need to be better about blogging. Maybe I'll make that a resolution for this new year.
I have officially been off track since the 22nd of December. It seems like that week was crazy as all get out. I taught a half day that Monday and then rushed to Inkley's in West Valley to have Reynolds family pictures. It was pajama day and the day to move all my furniture out of the room at school so I was a mess. The pictures look really nice though.
Tuesday I spent a lot of the day wrapping presents when Ellie wasn't climbing all over them. On Christmas Eve during the day I tried wrapping more presents while Weston was at work half of the day. Ellie had the fussiest day I can remember since she was about two months old. I haven't wanted to give her back for a long time and she certainly tested my patience that day. We went to Weston's parents' house to open the Christmas Eve pajama gift. Mary Kaye had made green pajama pants for everyone and the girls (Brooke and I) got light blue snowflake shirts also. She had made Ellie a onesie out of one of the shirts. We then headed to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. Dad wasn't home from work for awhile. My brother couldn't stay very long because he had to be at his girlfriend's house for dinner, but we had the whole family there for about 20 minutes. We ate pizza and opened up the gifts to each other because we wouldn't see them on Christmas. We talked and laughed the rest of the evening until my mom started falling asleep. She had worked all day long and couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Normally, we would spend the night at the family's house that we spend Christmas morning with. We decided with the doggie and the baby this year, we should just sleep at home.
So, Christmas morning there was no sleeping in. We opened presents and ate Christmas Crown at Weston's family's house. Then we got ready to go to Grandma Jones' house for breakfast and $2 gifts. Back at the Reynolds' house, we played World Tour and Apples to Apples. We ate Christmas dinner and waited for the snow to stop so we could drive home. It never did, but we made it home at about midnight after driving on unplowed side streets the whole way. The day after Christmas we went to Grandma Reynolds' house to have pizza with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Lisa, Mike, Jaime, and Hunter left early, but everyone was there! Weston's aunts found a whole bunch of quilts and quilt squares in his great aunt's apartment that his great grandma made. After spending many long hours repairing, sewing, cleaning, and who knows what else, they presented each of the grandkids with a beautiful quilt. They even had enough to give the great-grandkids (Ellie included) a quilt. It was so neat and now Ellie has something her great-great grandmother made.
Saturday I spent most of the day getting the new primary manuals ready for next year. Monday we went to lunch with Todd and Brooke and the rest of Weston's family minus Cameron. They flew home later that night. It was really fun to have them here and spend time with them. We spent New Year's Eve at Weston's parents house and ate Pagoda chinese food and watched Iron Man. Ellie almost made it to ring in the new year, but she fell asleep in my lap at 10:45. Wow, I tried to be brief. Happy New Year!

It's been WAY too long!

2008-12-12T08:35:00.001-07:00

Sorry it took us so long to post again. We both have been very busy.

Thanksgiving was at the Sorenson house this year. We all ate way too much. Ellie got to have some pieces of roll and I think my dad fed her some cool whip or something. Her Thanksgiving dinner was sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and milk. My mom bought Ellie the cute outfit featured in these pictures. The feet were the cutest part. One foot said "Little" and the other said "Turkey." Jimmy brought his girlfriend Riley and I wished I had taken more pictures of everyone.

Ellie turned 6 months old on the 29th of November. I can't believe it has been that long. Some of the milestones Ellie hit between five and six months are:

sitting unassisted if you place her that way first

jumping- in her jumping chair, on your lap, pretty much anywhere

army crawling since mid-November

eating fruits and vegetables (so far no allergies)

drinking from a cup (with a huge mess)

Her favorite things to play with are plastic bags (with supervision of course), any kind of cord, cell phones, computers, remote controls, tupperware lids and big serving spoons, Weston's playstation controllers, anything paper-this makes it especially hard to grade papers for school, markers, Windu's crate, tags, and the list goes on and on.

Ellie's first attempt to feed herself banana.

What a mess! Yes, that is banana above her eyebrow as well as up her nose.

Even though you can't see it, it is even in her armpit. I don't think she actually ate any of it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One week ago, I laid Ellie down for the night and expected her to be asleep shortly. The first noises I heard, I walked in her bedroom and her hand was on her crib rail. I put her back down, put her binky back in, comforted her and then left. The next time I checked on her this is what I saw:

She had managed to pull herself up and was standing there with a huge grin on her face. A few weeks prior to this, we had lowered the crib because she was grabbing her mobile and pulling it down to suck on. I think the crib is as low as it goes, but we're not sure. There's another hole way down at the bottom. She insists on climbing up every time she is in her crib. This is making nap time difficult and I have had to let her cry in the middle of the night. She thinks it's really fun to let go and fall in her crib. She laughs every time.

Since that day (in one week), Ellie has mastered pulling herself up on just about everything. She has even realized she doesn't have to fall backward to get down. She pulls herself up and walks along the edges of Grandma Reynolds' couch. She has also explored Grandma Sorenson's coffee table, the entertainment center, our bed, Windu's crate, the diaper bag, the vacuum, etc. Pretty much anything she can get to, she will climb up. During the same last week, Ellie has been using her knees a lot more to crawl. She no longer looks like a little an inch worm. I just can't believe how fast she is learning this stuff. No doubt she'll be walking before we know it!

VB BV VC V (A post from Ellie)

2008-12-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

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As I was trying to finally post about what has happened in the last month, Ellie insisted on helping. She's going to be just like her daddy!

Another Good Burger

2008-11-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard about an American Fork company that was sued by Inn N Out a while back. I don't know the results of the case, but that is not why I'm writing about them. A Chadder's opened up near our house and Missy and I decided to give them a try. Chadder's has a small menu hamburgers, fries, and shakes. I have their double cheeseburger and Missy had the single. Their french fries are fresh and their hamburger are also. I can see why Inn N Out was so mad when they found out about them. They even served their burgers in one side of a brown cardboard box. But there is one improvement on the Inn N Out experience. Fry Sauce! The new burger joint has not swayed me from the best burger in town but I thought that they we still good.

Tagged-Eights

2008-11-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Lisel tagged me a long time ago. Sorry it's late, but I did do it.

EIGHT THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL GOOD: listening to Ellie laugh, watching the little light bulb turn on when I teach something, receiving compliments, finishing my "projects", spending time with Weston, when the house is clean- it's rare, when I have a good idea, spending time with my family.

EIGHT THINGS I DID YESTERDAY: woke up at 1:30 a.m. to comfort my gassy baby for an hour until she fell asleep again, took a shower, fed Ellie applesauce for the first time, taught school, made baked potatoes, soaked Ellie's clothes in OxyClean, had rootbeer floats with Weston, cleaned up the kitchen.

EIGHT FAVORITE EATS/DRINKS: chicken parmesan, orange chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, Dr. Pepper, chicken salad sandwiches, cheesecake, spaghetti, Cafe Rio chicken salad.

EIGHT THINGS ON MY WISH LIST: time to scrapbook and make cards, I would also like a finished basement, new clothes and shoes, Ellie to sleep through the night every night, being able to travel more to places like Hawaii or go on a cruise, a Six Flags in Utah, students were more serious about learning and were more respectful, a maid that would come clean once a week.

EIGHT THINGS I LOVE ABOUT FALL: cooler temperatures, Halloween, bright colored leaves, decorating for holidays, wearing warm pajamas, things sort of slow down from the summer bustle- at least for a little while, eating cold weather comfort foods, new episodes of my favorite TV shows.

EIGHT FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Chuck, Gilmore Girls, Cyberchase, Word World, House, So You Think You Can Dance, CSI, and Law & Order.

EIGHT THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: Thanksgiving, Christmas Break, Weston done with school, Ellie crawling, pedicure party on Friday, gas prices going down even more, seeing my sister, making cards with Mom on Friday.

EIGHT FRIENDS TO TAG: Kristan, Shelly, Melanie, Andrea, Carrie, Kathie, Melissa, Hayley (so I had to put 8, but I won't feel bad if you don't do it)

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:25:00.000-06:00

Ellie had a fun-filled Halloween. We started our day at my school. The parade started at 9:00. Ellie was such a cute little chick. The parents and students all ooh-ed and aah-ed over her. My teaching partner even said I should put her in modeling. She was trying to take everything in so she didn't smile much. She had a blank stare. I don't really blame her. There are close to 1,100 students that go to my school. Some were off track, but that is still a lot of kids.

Then we went to see Weston at his work. Again, more admiration. She smiled a lot at the people he works with. She really enjoyed Roger. As soon as he brought out the candy her eyes lit up and she grinned from ear to ear. She then dug her hand in the Smarties and pulled out a few. She sucked on the wrappers and thought she had a pretty neat toy for awhile.

We ended our day at my parents' neighborhood "Trunk or Treat". Ellie was pretty much done by then. She didn't keep her hat on for long. All-in-all I thought she did well for such a crazy day. We hope everyone had a great Halloween and that you loaded up on candy. As Garfield says it's all about the "Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy."

5 Months Old

2008-10-29T10:38:00.001-06:00

Ellie is still growing like a weed. We can't seem to find a good weed spray to slow her down. Actually, she's getting more fun the older she gets. Sometimes I miss having a little bundle to cuddle with, but it's so fun to watch her do new things.

This month we've had a lot of fun with cereal. She has had rice cereal for the last few weeks and yesterday she tried oatmeal. I think she liked the oatmeal better, but she could've just been ravenous that day.

Ellie can get around by rolling now. She looks for something across the room and twists and rolls until she gets it. She especially loves to go after newspapers.

She is learning that she has body parts. This month she found her knees, toes, and last week she found her ear.

Since Ellie can almost sit unassisted, we decided to try out her door-frame jumper. She doesn't really jump in it yet. She mostly attacks the toys and throws them. She also spins around on her toes.

She's been paying a lot of attention to the dog and reaches out to grab him. She pets him and has even pulled on his ears.

If you put your hands out for Ellie to come to you, she will lean toward you and reach out her hands. I was really excited when she started doing this because it makes me feel like she might actually want to be held by me.

Here is evidence of how adorable she really is:

Weston's business trip and the stowaways

2008-10-20T22:33:00.000-06:00

Ellie and I couldn't stand the thought of having the house all to ourselves last weekend so we hopped the plane with Daddy and headed off to Portland, Oregon. Beehive sent Weston to Corvallis, Oregon (we had to drive two hours from Portland) from the 12th-15th to work with Summit on computer backups. Ellie and I pretty much hung out in the hotel, but it was a nice break from reality. We didn't get any pictures (kicking myself), but Sunday Ellie took her first swimming lessons. She seemed pretty solemn the whole time and the pool was rather chilly for it being heated. We swam another time too and she looked like she had a little more fun.

Monday I strapped Ellie in the Baby Bjorn and we walked the Oregon State University Campus for an hour and a half. My knees were really sore the next day. Weston got done a little early that day so we took a drive to Newport on the coast. We found the Historic Yaquina Bayfront and took a bunch of pictures. We also HAD to get salt water taffy while we were there. Right before we left we fed Ellie while sitting on a bench along the boardwalk watching the boats at the docks. It was pretty neat even if we were only there about two hours.

Ellie was super on both flights and I was definitely amazed. One of the flight attendants on the way to Portland gave Ellie a certificate for her first flight. She also gave her a little treat bag with some luggage tags, a deck of cards, and snacks for Ellie to share.
My favorite part of the trip was that I finally got to read for pleasure! When I'm at home there is always something that needs to be cleaned, papers to be corrected, or something else I have to do. In a hotel, there's only so much you can do so I finally got to finish reading Harry Potter #6. I know, I know. I'm really behind, but now I'm closer. I'll probably have to read #7 during Christmas Break. Who knows.

Ellie finally found out how to get her foot in her mouth

On the beach in Newport

On the bayfront

Seriously?

St. George Marathon Weekend

2008-10-14T11:50:00.001-06:00

We had a great time in St. George the weekend before last. It's a yearly tradition for my family to head south General Conference weekend for the St. George Marathon. My crazy mom has run it for 13 years now. My semi-crazy sister has run 5 times now. I have run 6, but I didn't get to run this year. The last time I ran was the first year I was married (2005) when I ruined both of my knees because I didn't train very well. We still go down there every year to cheer on my family and enjoy a vacation. My mom and sister both did great!

Ellie with Grandpa

Ellie with Grandma

Kristan at mile 24

Mom and her friend Monica at mile 24

Shopping the outlet malls

At the 10 year banquet

One of Ellie's new favorite toys

Ellie's First Rice Bath

2008-10-02T18:06:00.000-06:00

So we went to the grocery store and almost forgot to get rice cereal. We were checking out when Weston remembered. Whew! We had a ton of fun watching Ellie bathe herself with her food today. It didn't start out so well. She turned her lips up quite a few times and couldn't figure out how to eat it. She got the hang of it though and one soaking bib, drenched shirt, and messy face later she finished her first "solids". It looked like milk with a few floaties to me. She liked it so much that Weston couldn't shovel it in her face fast enough!

There was two ounces in the little cup (about to the line) and this is how much was left!

Four Months Old!

2008-09-29T22:22:00.001-06:00

Some of the really fun things Ellie has been up to this last month:

playing with her toes
grunting
rolling from her stomach to her back (occasionally)
still rolling from her back to her stomach-she's getting so fast.
being extremely ticklish everywhere
catching and throwing her ball- it's more like slow grabbing and dropping
lifting her head in an attempt to get out of her car seat
sitting in her Bumbo seat
army crawling
grabbing our faces- she really likes my nose and of course hair- ouch!
blowing out diapers left and right
falling asleep on her own in her crib
watching the dog roam around
grabbing things and putting everything in her mouth
splashing in the bathtub

She went in for her four month appointment today and got more shots. On the way to the office, she had a major blow out and got it all over her car seat. The nurse said it makes it okay because she's so cute. Ellie now weighs 14 pounds and 1 ounce and she's 24 and 3/4 inches long. She is growing so quickly and she is so much fun! The doctor said she should start eating rice cereal, so we'll be starting that once we get to the grocery store. Right now I'm off track so today was my first official day of not having to bring Ellie to the babysitter. It's going to be a fun three weeks!

Restaurant.com

2008-09-20T08:02:00.000-06:00

One day that I had off from work (I can't remember if I was sick or if it was a holiday) I saw one of the morning news shows talk about restaurant.com. It is alot like the Deal Pickle (yes it is Deal not Dill) before they got bought out or taken over by City Deals. The Deal Pickle had gift certificates to local businesses for 50% off and when City Deals took over the offer gift certificates for 10% off and up. The only thing that I ever used the Deal Pickle was for the food and when they went away I started looking for new websites to get my 50% off fix. Restaurant.com doesn't do the 50% off thing it's 60%. That is a $25 gift certificate for $10! And they have gift certificates for restaurants all over the country. The Deal Pickle would send your gift certificates in the mail, but with restaurant.com you print off your gift certificate from your computer and take it with you to the restaurant. The certificate has an authorization number and the restaurant calls to authorize it. So no you can't use the same gift certificate twice. I would also recomend signing up for their email list because they send you coupons for an additional 60% off. ($25 for $4) Each restaurant has different rules for using your gift certificates so make sure that you read them. For example, your bill must be $35 in order to use your $25 gift certificate, so you might still have to pay some money. Take a look at the restaurants that are in your area. http://www.restaurant.com/

Chrome

2008-09-05T09:43:00.000-06:00

Google released their new web browser. I love it. The adopted the look of IE 7, but they use the address bar for more than just entering your website's address, you can search right from the address bar and they also added an auto-complete feature when you type in the address bar, you will see the address and the page title. Every time you open a new tab, Chrome shows you a thumbnail image of the websites that you visit most. Supposedly Chrome does not support as many plug-ins, but I haven't noticed anything missing in the sites that I visit. Check out more about Chrome go to www.google.com/chrome. Sorry Apple users, Chrome only works on Windows for now.

Ellie is 3 Months Old

2008-08-30T08:03:00.000-06:00

We can't believe it's been three months already. Recently it seems like she learns something new every day. She has started to look more intently and sometimes play with her toys. She can roll to her stomach from her back. Spitting up while on her stomach is so much fun especially when she snorts it up her nose before I can clean it up. She babbles a lot and can carry on a long conversation. I think the most fun things to manifest themselves have been her giggle and her great big smile. She laughs when I tickle her armpits and also when you bring her feet up to her mouth. There have been other things to make her laugh, but not all the time. The Olympics made her turn into a regular old TV junkie. Every time it's on she stares at it. She especially liked watching Michael Phelps. She has been doing well at the babysitter's house and I'm getting stronger about going back to school. It seems it's the most difficult on Mondays after I've been with her all weekend. It is also hard when she is really happy and fun and I have to put her in her car seat to drive for 25 minutes. We are having so much fun with her and can't wait to see what else she'll do soon.

Rolling Over

2008-08-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

On Sunday evening my mom was having fun helping Ellie roll from her back to her stomach. Ellie thought she was pretty cool and continued practicing all week long without help. She would almost get to her stomach, but her arm was in the way. Wednesday night after the ward barbecue, she finally got it. After a few more days of practice getting her arm out, she's really getting fast. Now she just needs to learn to get from her stomach to her back. I can't believe how fast she's growing!