Bear Lake

Patrick and I have been wanting to head over to Bear Lake for a long time....probably 5 years:) We haven't ever made it over, partly because of time, but also because we really didn't know where to go when we got there. We had some friends invite us to go Saturday, and couldn't pass it up. We went to Rendezvous Beach. We were glad to find a place that actually still had beach because of how high the water has been this year. Ellie loved the water, but refused to get in her tube, luckily it didn't go to waste, Ivy had a ball in it!

Here is the set up. Steve and Lacey have a great umbrella that was awesome for a little shade.

Ellie and Ivy playing in the sand. Ellie was in heaven with all of the sand. She kept trying to eat the little rocks, which wasn't so great....but I think she could play in the sand all day, everyday.

I love this picture! We had to do some major cleaning up before we left, and when we got home:)

We brought a picnic, which was great not to have to pack up and leave to go find lunch!I had to put a picture of Violet too...well you can't really see her, but she is adorable and such a great baby. How cool is this beach cradle?!? They got it as a present, and I just think it would be great if you were headed to the beach a lot, or even just outside. So cool!

We of course had to get shake afterwards. Here we all are having raspberry cheesecake shakes! YUMMY!!!

We had a great day! Thanks for inviting us Steve and Lacey!

Crazy Sleeper!

Ellie has always been a crazy sleeper. I give credit for this to Patrick:) Here are a couple new ways I've found her sleeping! July 7, 2011 July 8, 2011

13 Months!

Ellie is 13 months today! It is sooo hard to try to get any kind of picture of her actually holding still....but we got one:) Here are a few things she has been up to.

• We have been trying to teach her how to use a fork...she does awesome! She will try to poke the food, but can't quite do it, but if we put the food on her fork, she puts it right to her mouth.
• She has been blowing more. We tried to get her to learn how to blow before her birthday, so she might blow out her candle....that didn't happen, but she does a little better now. I hope that she can get the concept and maybe blow bubbles in the water at swim class.
• She is walking. I haven't posted a video yet, but will soon. Ellie is walking more and more. She is still pretty wobbly, but has taken 12 steps in a row. She does great with us holding one hand, and is getting more and more confident each day.
• She has started saying, "No, no, no," and shaking her finger. She especially does this when she is about to do something she isn't supposed to, or has just done something she isn't supposed to.
• She is a very loving little girl. We were watching some friends kids the other day and there little girl was crying. As I was holding her, Ellie came over and climbed onto my lap. I thought it was because she was jealous, but she put her arms around Zoe and started patting her back. Then she got down and played some more. So sweet.
• She still only has her two bottom teeth, but is getting a top tooth now. The front right top tooth and maybe the one to the right of it. With the first two teeth, we didn't even notice any difference, but with this one, she is really ornery and cries a lot. Along with a really runny nose. I've had a cold and have wondered if this orneriness is because she is getting a cold....or because of teeth. We will see:)
• Ellie loves dancing. We went to Patrick's cousins wedding and they had a dance afterwards. Ellie wanted to be out there the whole time. She just kept going out and dancing with anyone that would take her out there.

We are loving having her in our family and watching her learn and grow. She is so much fun and cracks me up every day. Love you Ellie!

1 Year Photos

We went and got 1 Year pictures of Ellie at JC Penney on June 24, 2011. This is the 2nd time we've been there and I am really pleased with how they turn out. I will say that I don't think the photographer was quite as good this time and I will probably request the lady I had the first time when we go again, but I still think they turned out great. Plus, JC Penney always has awesome coupons you can find. They have them on there website, in magazines or at the checkout stand in the store. I would recommend them for sure! Here are the cute pictures! This was my favorite. I actually have a picture of me when I was little that reminds me of this. I saw a picture in there studio with these letters and I thought it would be so cute, we couldn't get Ellie to even crack a smile with them! I like to have a monkey picture, and this one turned out great. I really like that it shows her entire outfit with matching shoes as well.I'm not normally one to buy extra things when I get photos done, but I really liked this because it shows her doing things she does....a lot! Also, it was only 5 bucks....so, you can't beat that. The middle one looks like she might be laughing, but she is really screaming. She just likes to scream, it doesn't mean she is upset, most of the time, she is just a noise maker. She is always squatting like the bottom one as well, so I thought it was great.

All Girl

Ellie loves to carry around my purse, or really any bag. She even lifts her diaper bag when it's full and tries to carry it. She is so funny and definitely all girl!

July 6, 2011

We started swim lessons this week and are having lots of fun with that. It will be interesting to see how it goes. They want them to be able to hold on the side and move around so they would be able to get to the ladder if they need to, blow bubbles, so they know to blow out in the water and not suck in, float on there back, bounce off the bottom so they will be able to push up out of the water and bounce to the side, and go under water holding there breath. The last one will be interesting to see how she does with that. She really likes the water now and has a great time at the pool. We got a floaty that she can sit in and actually touch the bottom of the kiddy pool. She loves it because she can walk around and be independent. I hope she still likes swimming after being dunked!

Happy 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend! We went down to Orem on Friday night to stay at my parents. Every year there is a balloon fest in Provo where they fly hot air balloons. You can actually walk around the balloons and get a closer look. I remember watching the balloon from my bedroom window as they flew over our house growing up, but I've never been down to see them close up. I thought it would be really cool and it didn't disappoint. We had to be there by 6:30am, which means, we had to wake up Ellie, but it was worth it. It was awesome! She thought they were pretty cool too. I know hot air balloons are big, but I didn't realize just how huge they are. Here are some fun pictures we got from that morning.

July 2, 2011

Pig

Darth Vader

Smokey the Bear

Coca Cola bottle-they didn't actually fly this one because they said there wasn't anywhere for them to land that was big enough? Not sure why they couldn't just land in the same place they took off from....but I don't know enough about hot air balloons. It was really cool though.

I'm really glad we made it down to watch these. I think we may even make it a yearly tradition.My sister in law and niece came to visit, so they could meet Ellie. Let's just say that Ellie has a new best friend. She loved playing with Katie. So glad we got to see you guys!

Ellie has been really snugly lately and wanting to be held a lot! I think it may be because she is getting another tooth. The top right front tooth. Here she is snuggling with Grandma Brown! Love those snuggles. We actually went home Saturday night, and then went back down to Layton Sunday night. We got up Saturday morning and went to the Layton parade. We were lucky because our brother in law, Mike, and his family saved us great seats right up front. July 4, 2011 Ellie was really tired, but she really enjoyed the animals. Choncho was there, so Ellie, of course, had to give him lots of loves. We had a BBQ later that day and my mom came up. Hanging out on the swing with Uncle Eric and Uncle Derrick. Grandma Judy got a little pool for Ellie and it was lots of fun! There was a little breeze, so she wrapped all up with Grandma, Choncho was a little jealous, but Ellie didn't mind snuggling with him too. Later in the day we had our annual snap war! It is so intense we even change into grungy clothes so they don't get ruined. It was so much fun and we were all very, very sore the next day! We had watched fireworks later that night and Ellie was mesmerized by them. We had a great 4th and love that we live close enough to both families that we are able to see them often.

Ellie's Birthday Party

3 New Posts, scroll down:) Well, lets play catch up tonight while I have a few hours alone:) Patrick is at meetings tonight and Ellie is asleep....well I hope she's asleep right now:) Let start with Ellie's Birthday that we celebrated....a month ago on June 4! It was so much fun and I can't believe she is one already. This has been a super fast year. I had a really great time planning her party and getting everything ready. We decided on Hot Pink, Lime Green and Bright Yellow along with Monkey's! Ellie's room is decorated with Monkey's and we have called her our little monkey since before she was born, so it was perfect. Here are the invites! I think they turned out awesome. We took the pictures at the temple one day and they turned out sooo cute! How could they not with such a cutie as the subject...I had a great time making a birthday banner for her, it turned out so much better than I expected it to. With the help of my mom, we made Monkey Cake Pops. They were so awesome and I have such a great mom to help. She had the cake pops all ready to dip so all we had to do was dip and decorate the night before. I made a monkey cake and I love it! A few years ago my mom got me a cool cake set that you can make the cake turn out checkerboard when it's cut. I decided this was a perfect time to finally use it:) I think it is awesome!Ellie thought they cake was really great too! I made her own little cake so she could smash it all up and we wouldn't have to eat afterwards....I really hoped she would just dig in and get all messy, and she did. It was great! She also did awesome with opening presents! I kind of expected to open most of them and have her only be interested in the paper and bows, but she really got into opening them. She would tear the paper and all. It was great. She would get all excited about the present she opened, and then crawl to get another one! It was so much fun to watch her. She was very spoiled:)I thought this was a great picture. Everyone was singing, If You're Happy and You Know It, to try and get her to clap.... Aunt Kati and Uncle Mike brought there chihuahua, Choncho, up. Ellie LOVES dogs and really loves Choncho! I didn't get any pictures of the food, but we had a yummy lunch at the park. We had chicken salad on croissants. Surprisingly Ellie loved it! Strawberries, of course, since they are her favorite, vegi's and chips. Thanks everybody for coming up to spend the day with us!