What We Have Been Up To

Here are some fun things we have been up to lately.

 

Patrick took a shot at doing Ellie's hair the other day.  I keep telling him that he needs to be able to do something in case I am out of town so he should practice now.  He actually did a much better job than I expected!  May 7, 2012

We took Ellie to her first movie in the theater on May 28, 2012.  We went and saw the Lorax.  We made sure to get popcorn and a drink.  I didn't think she would make it, but she loved it!  She didn't like the flash of the camera though:)

 Sunglasses are a must around here.  Ellie will put them on and say cool dude glasses.  She even tells Patrick he is a cool dude when he puts his regular glasses on.  May 29, 2012

Patrick's little brother, Eric, graduated from high school.  He did an awesome job at his guitar solo.  June 1, 2012

We have been to the splash pad a couple of times.  It is funny because Ellie doesn't want to actually get the water and will play at the park for the first little while.  But once she finally tries it, she loves to play in the water.  June 12, 2012

June 30, 2012

My mom got Ellie some window clings for Easter.  They were such a big hit that I had to get some 4th of July ones.  Ellie will spend lots of time playing with these.  June 12, 2012

We went to story time at Willow Park zoo.  I think it's pretty cool because they get to see/touch an animal at the end.  This time, they brought a snake!  Ellie really likes snakes, but I was glad that she was a little apprehensive to touch it.  June 14, 2012

Ellie is a social butterfly and has lots of little friends.  She gets so excited when we get to play with someone and loves to talk to everyone.  One of her little friends, Peter Ahlstrom, moved to Texas a while back and it has been a sad transition.  She will ask to go to his house or have him come over and I have to try to explain that he isn't there anymore.  Luckily we have had other friends to distract her.  We had Cache and Season Swenson over and her and Cache watched Mickey Mouse on the chair.  It was so cute.  June 19, 2012

We played in our new little pool from Aunt Kati and Uncle Mike.  June 27, 2012

She thought it was fun to have the towel wrapping her up completely.

Lots of bike rides around the block.  June 27, 2012

Then we had a fire in the canyon with the Booth's and Ellie and Dutton had a great time playing on the fence, sharing a chair, and throwing rocks in the water.  June 29, 2012

 Ellie also enjoyed her first s'more

They found a perfect spot to sit on in a tree

I've been trying some new hairstyles with Ellie.  Her hair is so long, that it is so fun to do, but it falls out so easily because of how fine it is.  Here are a couple.

Ellie loves to help get herself dressed.  She can actually do pants/skirts now and does a really good job.  She still gets pretty frustrated with shirts, but she will get it soon.

Happy 4th of July, 2012

We had a great 4th of July this year!  We were able to head down to Orem on July 3, and spend the night with my parents.  We were up bright and early the next morning to head over to Provo to watch the hot air balloons.  By the time we got there, they were all up in the air, so we pulled over and watched for a few minutes.  Ellie loved the Pig hot air balloon.  

I was a little disappointed because I think Ellie would have really enjoyed seeing all of the balloons as they were blowing up.  On our way home, we noticed they were landing in the University mall parking lot so we made sure to stop and watch them as the were on the ground.  It really is so cool and I am always amazed at how big they are!  

Ellie had croup last Saturday and still wasn't quite up to a lot of stuff, so we decided to veto the parade and just hang out until heading up to Layton for a BBQ.  

 Lots of yummy food and family.  Ellie played in her little pool.

Then she played music with Uncle Derrick and Eric-I love this picture.  They are so good and always take the time to play with her.  She loves them so much!

Daddy taught her all about rolling down hills

We did the annual family snap war...seriously crazy fun!  We even change shirts because of how the snaps burn them!  Ellie was not a fan at all and we had to go inside for a lot of it.  She did decide it was okay to step on the snaps...

Later that night we headed to the Layton city fireworks.  Ellie had a little bit of a hard time with these when they were loud, but overall she loved them.  

Grandma Judy got her a fun glow wand and glow bracelets!

Grandpa got to be the lucky one she snuggled with.

She fell asleep just before the finale:) 

  We had a great day and are lucky to have family close enough that we can see them for the holidays!

Belly Pics

I am like every other pregnant woman who does not really like to see pictures of themselves when pregnant....However, I took belly pics when I was pregnant with Ellie weekly, and I haven't been near as good with this little guy.  I do want to remember and have him see pictures from this time, so I am posting a few from the past few months:)  Enjoy!

June 30, 2012-31 Weeks

June 3, 2012-27 Weeks, 1 Day

 April 28, 2012-22 Weeks

April 22, 2012-21 Weeks, 1 Day

This pregnancy has been so much different than Ellie's.  I started our pretty sick, but so happy to be pregnant and having another baby. I am showing more than I was with Ellie also, which is normal for a second baby:)  This little guy is super active.  He is kicking or moving all the time and I love being able to know he is still doing okay in there.  He does however hurt more.  He stretches out so big that both sides of me by my hips just hurts.  He also will push and stay that way so you can see a foot or whatever sticking out my side or by my ribs.  It is very uncomfortable sometimes.  Ellie was also a big mover, but I don't remember it ever really hurting.  I have been getting tons of braxton hicks also this time.  None with Ellie.  The Dr says it is much more normal to be able to feel them a lot with second babies.  My sciatic nerve on my right side has been hurting like crazy too.  It hasn't made me crumple to the floor or anything, so we are good.  With Ellie I had nerve pain on my left side, but it stayed for only a week.  This one has lasted several weeks.  I am sure it is from hauling a 2 year old around:)  Even with being uncomfortable, I love being pregnant and the opportunity that I will get to have this little guy join our family.  We are getting so excited to meet him and all the changes that will come:)

St George Trip

This last weekend(June 22, 2012) we took a trip to St George with our friends, the Allen's (Dustin, Cassidy, Rylee and Miles).  Ellie loves to help pack.

And she found this great sombrero to occupy her while we packed:)

We headed out Friday afternoon.  It was great because we were able to fit all of us in the Allen's car.  It made it nice to be able to all be together and probably a much better trip for the kids to be able to ride by each other:)  When we got there we grabbed some dinner and headed to a park to get some energy out.  I was shocked because I really thought that Ellie would sleep most of the ride down, but she only slept maybe half an hour!  Cassidy has an Aunt with a place down there that we were able to stay at and it was perfect.  After getting the kids down for bed we just relaxed and watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie.

The next day, Cassidy, Rylee, Ellie and I headed over to the pool.  

I had quite the scare when Ellie decided to jump(walk down the steps and fall face first) into the pool.  It really scared me.  She is so independent and I am always keeping a close eye on her.  It freaked me out to see her like that.  She was fine and didn't even seem to be phased by it, but it really scared me!  We stayed and played for a while after and had a great time.  Ellie was a little more clingy to me, which was really good, and she even started really jumping off the edge into my arms after seeing Rylee do it.  

We picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza for lunch afterwards and the kids played around for a few minutes.  There was a room with bunk beds that Rylee and Ellie thought were great!  

 

 Then we headed out to Snow Canyon State Park for a little hike.  

We chose to hike Jenny's canyon, an easy trail, mostly for me...and the kids:)  It was beautiful and really a lot of fun.  The kids really enjoyed all of the dirt and fun little 'caves' they could play in.

King of the mountain!

The hike in and out of the canyon was sand...and it was HOT!  So the kids all got rides.  I am pretty sure I needed a ride too, but there just weren't enough arms:)

Then we headed over to the splash pad.  I had been hearing about how cool this splash pad was from a lot of people and was pretty excited to check it out.  It didn't disappoint!  It was the perfect set up for Ellie's age too.  She was able to explore and climb on everything.

They do have an actual splash pad part too and Ellie played a little in this.  It always takes her a while to warm up to the spraying water.  It was really fun to see her walk towards the middle and then when it was all spray out see her run as fast as she could away!

With a little convincing from Patrick she finally braved the waterfall.  I think she liked this the most.  She played for a long time in this area.  

We stopped and got a yummy snow cone after and then headed home to get the kids all cleaned up before dinner.  We had some Mexican food for dinner and then back to get the kiddos to bed before the musical.  Cassidy's brother was awesome to watch the kids for us and it worked out great because Ellie and Miles were both asleep by the time he came, so he only had to really worry about getting Rylee down.  

We went and saw the musical, Hairspray at the Tuacahn theater.  I really like this musical and was excited to see it at Tuacahn.  They did a great job and we had a really great time!  I would love to go and see more of the shows down there each year.

It was really convenient to have Cassidy's family from St George.  We were able to go to church with them and Ellie did great in nursery because Rylee was there.  Then they were kind enough to have us over for lunch/dinner before we headed home.  We had a really great time and it was nice to get away for a weekend and have some fun!