playing with her cousin

This is Elliana playing with her cousin (well my cousin, actually) Sammy! Sammy got a new car, and Elliana thought it was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

New Addition - Elli's New Room

We have a new addition! Well, not one, 4! Don't jump too far ahead there, it's Elli's new fish! She loves them!

We have big news, Elliana is no longer in a crib, she has a big girl bed! Her room looks SO empty now! She is loving having all her toys in her room, and so is Mommy! She does much better cleaning up back there for some reason too! Enjoy the pictures!

Napping Video

The quality is not great; but someone is supposed to be napping....little turkey! Instead, I find her in her bathroom, sitting on the potty, reading books!

Proud Mommy Moment

Today as a Mommy was a good day! Elli got new clothes and shoes this weekend (some little "UGGS"; and was adorable today). Today she wore some leggings and uggs and pretty much looked adorable! We had to go shopping and I got SO many compliments on how cute she looked and how perfect her outfit was, and did I have her in modeling, because she was so darling. I will post pics tomorrow!

I was talking to Tom earlier today, and I had just laid down with Elli to nap, after I got her sleeping (because she refuses to sleep in her crib)....I said, it's so interesting, I let her roll around to try and go to sleep on her own, but the instant I tell her it's time to close her eyes and go nigh night, she comes and lays by me. I put my forehead to hers and she is asleep almost instantly. The reason I say this, is because I feel like I have some AWESOME mommy power, because when I laid her down tonight, the same thing happened! SO cool!

Today, I am proud to be a Mom, and even more proud to be a wife to my amazing husband Tom! He is my EVERYTHING! I love my little family, and wouldn't change my life for anything today!

Sick

Unfortunately we have all been a bit sick. :( Elli got it by far the worst and she was SO sick! She was throwing up all night on Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon she was getting worse and Tom suggested we take her to the doctor. Her office was closed, so I took her to Urgent Care. The doctor there said she was pretty dehydrated and wanted to give her IV fluids, because she was not getting enough. They tried to put in her IV, and were unsuccessful. We were then sent to Parker Adventist Children's Hospital. They took GREAT care of Elli and after fluids and some tests, she is doing LOTS better. In fact, back to her good old self today! She was SO upset because of her IV. I got a picture so you can all see what happened. She was not in prime picture mode though....

Unfortunately, we passed our yuckyness onto the McAllister family. Sorry Zhar! Feel better soon!

Fall with Bri and Peyttie

Elli has some great friends named Bri and Peyttie! She LOVES playing with these girls. They get along so well and we had a play date the other day and got to go on a walk and find leaves! The girls thought it was a blast! Thanks for the pictures Linds!

Halloween

Elliana didn't really enjoy Halloween much...she didn't know what was going, and did not want to say hello to people. She was a Lady Bug and was the cutest one I saw! Here are some fun pictures! She even got to play with her friend Zhar.

New Words

Elliana is starting to talk NON stop! She is getting to be such a fun age; and sassier by the minute! She no longer makes LOUD noisy kisses, since watching Tom and I, she kisses quietly!

blocks
elephant
Elli
cookie
nummy num
candy
snack
fishes
grammy
i miss you
see ya
buzz ball (bu ee)
buzz
max (her new favorite show is Max and Ruby)
outside
Bri Bri (her best girl friend, who lives really close)
sippy cup cup cup
cheese
where did it go
why
book
car
plane
Peyttie (her friend)
hummy (hungry)
arthur
woody
diaper
potty
poop poo
wipes
clean up
bow (always wants a bow in)
teeth
brush
pretty
chalk
mmm hum
scary
jump
basket ball
pumpkin
stinky (she thinks pumpkins are stinky)
Duncan
Elli
now will say how old she is
step
home
keys
pocket
moneys
pig (where she puts her monies)
water
ice cream
sticker

A lot of posts....

A few things I will blog about today....
*new words
*sick
*fall fun
*Halloween
*New Calling
*Mission Call
*Thanksgiving

So this first post I will talk about the last three items just listed, because these things I don't have pictures for!

Tom and I have a calling in our new ward and we LOVE it! We are Sunbeam leaders. We have 6 little kids and we have never been in Primary before. The kids are great and we love teaching them! Ever tried teaching 3 year olds a lesson....? Good luck! We take lots of little breaks, and play lots of duck duck goose! Last week we even played a little version of pictionary! The kids thought that was a blast!

My little brother Andrew got his Mission Call! I am so proud of him and he will be serving in the Guatemala City North Mission; I do believe! Funny little tid bit, my aunts step son Colton got his mission call the same day as Andrew and it turns out they are both going to the same mission, entering the MTC the same day! If that is not crazy!!!

Because Andrew got his call; he is going to be taking out his Endowment during the Thanksgiving break. I am SO excited that my parents are going to be helping us get home for this wonderful occasion! Two weeks and counting to go home!

Visitors

We had visitors! It was so great for Mom and Dad Duncan to come out and see us for a very fun filled weekend! We did lots of fun things! They came in town on a Thursday evening and we just went to dinner. Friday Tom had class and I had a Dr appointment so they came with me then we met up with Tom at Chuck E Cheese for lunch where Elli had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think it's her new love. Friday night we went to the Nuggets game which was also SO much fun! Then Saturday we headed out to Boulder to eat at The Buff and walk around at the Pearl Street Mall! It was too short of a stay as always, but it was so great to have them! Here are a few pics to outline our fun time!

Zumba

Thanks to my friend Megan Jorgensen for introducing me to the WONDERFUL world of Zumba!

Now, I will be honest here. I signed up for the class thinking I would be having a couple friends there to go with me. I am not in shape and didn't want to show up all alone and be the idiot there (not that my friends are idiots, but at least I can laugh with them when everyone is making fun of me). My friends ended up not being able to do the class. So I called the Rec center where I was going to take the class to see if they could refund the class since I didn't want to go alone. The lady I needed to talk to wasn't there and wouldn't be til the next day, after the first class I was supposed to be in. As I was getting ready to leave the message I thought to myself, how lame am I; that I can't go to the Rec Center and have a blast doing a fitness class and get in shape at the same time! I ended up not leaving the message and going out of my comfort zone to attend the class and........it was THE BEST THING I have done in a long time! I had so much fun and it was a great workout. In fact there is a Friday afternoon class I think I am going to go attend, because it was so awesome! I also checked out a DVD from the library! Thanks Megan!

Test

This is a test to see if I have figured out my computer glitch of not being able to upload pictures!

Tagged

1- watch show do you secretly love to watch but wouldn't want anyone to know? :)

Desperate Housewives; oh my gosh did I just say that, seriously???

2- Which of the five senses would you get rid of if you had to choose one?

Smell....as a mom there are always yucky smells floating around!

3-get into the third folder and go to the tenth picture and post it and tell us the story behind it. if you don't have ten pictures in that folder go to the next and count to the number you had left from counting the last one... does that make sense?



4-who is your favorite family member in law style!!! :) haha good luck

My sister-in-law Heather! :D

5-what are you most excited for this christmas?

Giving Elliana her Kitchen that we just bought! I am SO excited!

6-if you had to choose between having 12+ kids or only being able to have one which would you choose?

Probably just one...twelve is a lot.

7- To get ready for halloween, name one of your biggest fears?

I am terrified of moths.

8- if you only had a few words to describe me what would they be? :) hehe had to throw one in about me of course :) hehe

amazing vocals; His Hands.

I tag

Ilez
Stephanie L
Jen Duncan
Kari
Rebecca G
Lindsey B
Jessica M
Mara C

1 - What is your favorite food?
2- Least favorite household chore?
3- Favorite movie of all time?
4- How do you sleep? (Stomach, Side, Back)
5- Favorite season and why?
6- TV show you don't want people to know you watch?
7- Favorite date activity?
8- Ice cream or cheesecake?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

I need serious HELP! I don't know what to do friends and family! Elliana is getting up no later than 5:15 every morning! It doesn't matter what time I put her to bed, she still wakes up that early! I don't know what to do; please help me! I can't handle this lack of sleep any more!

Love,

Losing It Mommy!

Info

Hello all!

It has been a long time, we are finally getting all settled in the new place and are LOVING it! Our new ward is amazing and we love it! I have yet to find my camera, so this will just be a post without pics. Hope to find it tomorrow!

Elli is getting so much bigger and is talking SO much! She is so funny, if we drive by Tom's school, she knows....and says Dad where are you? Also, when we drive by her friend Zhar's house, Zhar, where are you?

As everyone who has moved knows, it is SO expensive. There are so many little things you have to get, but all those little things just keep adding up. I don't even want to think about how much money we have spent moving here. Because of the hard wood floors, we had to get an area rug. Our table broke right before we moved, so we had to get a table and chairs. Tom got a grill for his B-day, so we had to get a propane tank. Elli's crib is still not super functioning, so we are moving her to a big girl bed....so we moved our queen to her room, (for when guests come; our air mattress broke) and got us a king size bed, which is SO much better for us. We had to buy another book case, our books don't fit on the 3 we already own. With a second bathroom, come seconds of cleaning supplies, towels, rugs, etc. Anyways, the list could go on and on. I will stop there though!

Tom has had to spend a lot of time at the school; so I have been home with Elli. She just craves attention from her daddy! We met him for dinner tonight and she loves to push buttons (ie...the handicap buttons to open doors), she did that tonight, and wasn't paying much attention and walked right into the glass right next to the door. She fell flat on her hinney, it was SO funny! Tom and I just laughed and laughed!

This weekend we are going to the Airforce vs BYU football game in Colorado Springs! We can't wait and are SO excited!!! Pictures to come soon!

I feel like I just keep rambling, so I will post again soon, hopefully with pics!

Last Post

This will be the last post for a while. We move tomorrow and we won't have internet for a few days. :(

We ran into some MAJOR problems or run ins today and I thought I was going to lose it. Sorry Tom, you got the brunt of my lash out. We called the apartment to see if we could go and measure a few things before we got there tomorrow with all our stuff. After being put on hold for 15 minutes, they asked if they could call us back. Knowing this was not a good sign, we started freaking out! Ok, I started freaking out! They called us back and said, our apartment wasn't ready...and wouldn't be for awhile, so could we stay in our apartment for a few more days. Uh, NO, we have to be out by Thursday at 5 p.m. After some issues being worked out...and talked about, we have discovered they had yet to clean the carpets, paint or do the cleaning. Holy cow! Freaking out, I have a baby, where are we going to stay???? What are we going to do? After talking some more, we realized we are in a GREAT apartment, quite newly renovated; the floors anyways. We have hardwoods throughout, and carpet only in the bedrooms! For the inconvenience they are giving us a gift card to Target for $100. It could have been anywhere, but we LOVE Target.

Thanks to all my friends who are giving me a hand in helping with Elliana tomorrow! Can't wait to post pictures of the new place!

Words, Packing

As you might have caught from recent posts, we are moving. We move in less than 2 weeks, and I am just starting to pack! Needless to say, I am a little stressed! It shouldn't be too bad, since we are just moving across town, about 5.5 miles!

We just had a fun family date at the zoo on Monday! Tom finished his test and we decided to head out and get a one year zoo pass! Elli LOVED the zoo, and I am excited to be able to go back anytime I want! The pass was 70 dollars, and it would have cost us $26 to get in that day...so I feel like we got a great deal! Also, a bunch of my friends have zoo passes so it will make it so we can go for our playdates there!

Now, a list of Elli's words:

help
please
thank you
welcome
swimming
zhar (friend)
jessica (friend)
car/vroom
ball
baby
pray
papa (grandpa)
gigi (great grandma)
nana (great grandma and banana)
no
don't
stop
potty
butt (belly button)
plane
pretties (necklace and earrings)
nack (snack)
down
up
walk
shoes
mimi (grandma Janet)
grandma

She is getting smarter everyday and KILLS me with the things she says! Sorry this was kind of a long post, and with no pictures, but I lost my camera in the mess of my packing.

Movie Night!

Tom didn't have to study too much tonight, so we decided to have a movie night! We just finished watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! If you have not seen this movie, it is seriously a MUST! It is SO SO SO funny! Another post tomorrow...did lots of fun things over the weekend!

Single Mommy

Tonight was my first real night back as a single Mommy! It wasn't easy that's for sure! In fact as I sit here, I am crying. I don't know how mom's do this all the time, because it is so hard! By 7 I was just ready to be done for the day. Elli was driving me nuts, I had run all day long...and I was/am very tired! Tom has been studying all week this week, but tonight is the first night that he stayed late at the school; we met him for dinner and grabbed a subway sandwich. It is going to be a hard adjustment, not only for me, but for Elli. She stands at the stairs and just cries for her daddy.

We enjoyed having Tom home for the summer, but are glad he is back at school, doing what he loves! Can't wait till this part of school is over so he can do the hands on stuff! More of an 8-5 type deal...not a 7-midnight. ;)

On a side note...
We are dealing with HORRIBLE problems with Health and Welfare at the Castlerock office. Yesterday I went to pick up some medications, only to find out I don't have insurance...hello what? If that isn't bad enough, it gets worse. Because we are full time students, and I unable to work...we get Food Stamps. They never sent in or did our recertification paperwork that I turned in, in MAY!!!!!!!! It's now August people! So we haven't been able to buy food (without using our money) since June. It's SO stressful, and I know I was not a great Mommy to Elli today because I was just stressed and not so nice. So, my Love Bug, Mommy is very sorry! Please forgive and know that tomorrow will be a better day!

Because of what we are dealing with there...and their lack of not accomplishing anything, I asked to talk to someone higher up. They said to call the Governor's Office, so I did, hopefully we can get some help for someone before we have to use too much of our money. We live on such a tight budget!

Tomorrow is going to be a better day...I need to start packing, we move in less than 3 weeks and I have not packed a SINGLE box!

Potty

Elli got a new potty today! She LOVES it! She keeps telling me she needs a new diapey and brings it to me. Tells me when she goes poop and goes to the bathroom to squat. I had contemplated waiting til we moved, and might wish I had by the end of this....but our carpets are NASTY already so we might as well get it going here! I am so glad my girlfriend Jessica was here when this happened, she got some great photos! Thanks Jess! Also, on a quick side note, Elli loves Jessica and even said her name tonight! Not just once, but 3 times, and it was a definite Jessica!
Getting ready to go...(don't know why my font won't stay the same)...sorry!
Mommy and Elli after the momentous occasion!

We are learning to wipe...the purple holder is for her own roll of toilet paper! She had the potty sing her a song when she went pee-pee and was SO excited!
Flushing her potty! Good job Elli bug! Mommy and Daddy love you so much! You're a big girl now!

New old table

We just got a great deal on a kitchen table! We got it from a girl that goes to Tom's Medical School. Our table served us VERY well from our friends the Kington's. But it had seen better days and was on it's last leg. Almost literally! So we got this table, and 4 chairs for $85 dollars!

Long Hair

This is a cute little video, Elli has discovered her long hair, and how it will swish around her head. She loves to feel it flip from side to side!

Lots of pictures

This was our first little bit home, we stopped in Salt Lake to visit my Grandparents...Elli's Nana and Great Papa.
Elli loved playing the piano with Nana, and wanted to watch her play. How cute is that?

Looking over at her Uncle Andrew! She was listening to him play music

Eating watermelon with Auntie Lexi
Daddy and Elli making cookies for friends when we got home to Denver. I think Elli may have shared a few germs.

This was a little bridge in Boulder called the "Little Bug Bridge"....how appropriate!
Good enough now Mom, I'm smiling! Little ham.
Eating breakfast at The Buff, in Boulder yesterday! We had such a great day! Walked around the Pearl Street mall, and had breakfast together! Now we just need to get packing, we move in 3 1/2 weeks! Yikes...I have not done anything yet!

C, M, S

As Tom and I were just talking about the blog post I just wrote, he said we should change a few letters....

C- Climbing, my crazy child has figured out how to climb onto the sofa and our ottoman! OH NO! Watch out....I was hoping this day would never come!

C- Clock, my Grandmother (Elli's GIGI) has a grandfather clock that sings music on the hour and has dancing numbers, Elli loves it! Every hour Elli would squeal with excitement and RUN to the clock to dance. You know the "stake dance" turn in a circle....Elli at 16 month has it MASTERED! :D

M- Music, Elli LOVES music of any kind. She dances to any music that starts by booty dancing, or side stepping!

S- Singing/Songs- another thing Elli loves. She loves to sing songs, and woofs during How Much Is That Doggy and makes eating noises for the Dinosaur song (Tom's family song), and snaps with the Monkey Crocodile song. I will try to get this on video soon.

A-Z again....

Since I have been out of the "tech" world for about two months now on vacation, the easiest way to give a quick update is an A-Z.

A- All is well! We arrived back home on Monday at about 7 a.m. after driving all night...we had fun but it's always nice to be back home!
B- Bass, we have a new neighbor upstairs, I think he will drive me NUTS before we move in a month!
C- Charity! We received so much from Tom's brother Jared and his family!
D- Duncan Family Reunion, we had one...with Tom's family in Utah, it's our annual SLC trip. We had a lot of fun, going to Lagoon, the Children's Museum, The Mayan etc.
E- Eat, we ate way too much, and gained a few unwanted pounds, but we are working them off....
F- Friends, it was SO great to get together with friends while we were home, especially Gus and Mara. It's so funny how when you live close, you don't realize how nice it is, till you're gone.
G- Girls...Elliana is definitely a girl...she loves to wear my high heels (I will post a pic soon), and drag around my purse. Always pointing out her pretties (necklace) and her bows.
H- Hello, one of Elli's new favorite words, she grabs the phone and says, "ello".
I - Ice cold in Idaho! Holy cow, we had to borrow clothes from Gus and Mara for Elli because it was SO cold!!!
J- Joke, what a joke to be gone for two months....never again friends, never again!
K- Kind, though we were gone two months, we were blessed with family to take care of us!
L- Laughs, we had so many fun times and gut busting experiences!
M- Movies, we LOVED being able to go to the movies, with no sitter fee!
N- No....one of Elli's other favorite words, NO Mom! Yes, she's sassy, and my mom says I deserve it!
O- Oh...the fireworks were GREAT in IF this year, and OH is all Elli could say! They are said to be the #2 fireworks in the Nation, Philly being number1
P- Potty, we are going to start potty training soon, after Tom goes back to school and we get settled in our new home.
Q- Question; am I crazy to be moving across town? I hope not! We are moving to almost 1300 square feet for 30 dollars more a month!
R- Relaxation, is what we will be doing here for the next month til Tom starts school!
S- Swimming, is something we do often here! Elli loves it, and the pool is SO close! I will get pictures and post them soon.
T- Tom...I love you babe! So glad to spend our summer together!
U- Umbrella, we need one here in Denver, it rains almost nightly! Apparently it's....normal?
V- Very sad...Elli was very sad to leave her new friend Nathan (NA NA)...she balled when we made her leave the house!
W- Watch out world, we have a spoiled toddler in the house!
X- Xnay on nap time....NOT, well, Elli thinks it is time for no more naps, but Mommy, she still needs her nap. Hopefully it's just a "short" phase....
Y-You, hopefully you enjoyed reading this!
Z- Zoo...is a place Elli loves to be. She loves animals, especially Cows, and Dogs.

Pictures to come soon! Back to my weekly updates now that I'm back home! Love you all!

Home, Family, Sick

We have arrived home as most of you probably know...it's been SO great to see family. Elli really took to her Nana (my Grandmother Jeannie) and that was so nice to see! She really loved being held and cuddled by her. She got to play with horses, Charro and Jax (post pictures soon). We stayed in Salt Lake for just over a day and saw lots of people!

We have made it to Idaho Falls as of Friday afternoon...and Elli was so excited to see her Gigi (my Grandmother Carolyn). She leaped right in her arms and snuggled her! Elli had a good evening on Friday, though she didn't get to bed till very late and slept pretty well. Poor baby doesn't know where she is; too many location changes and she is CONFUSED! Saturday, she was quite fussy and I couldn't figure it out...noticed a little rash on her, but didn't think anything of it.

Sunday Elli woke up and was running a high fever, she had that ear infection though, so I just figured the antibiotic wasn't working and we would just have the doc call in something else. Called the Doctor and they said I need to take her in to the ER, just to be sure. We ended up taking her in last night, and he said her ears were looking better, not worse. :S Know, I am peeved, confused and sad because my baby is sick and I can't help her. He said to keep pushing the Tylenol and Motrin, which we were and are doing. This morning Elli woke up early, and had a rough night sleeping, changed her diaper and she had 4 poopie diapers in a two hour stretch...this is quite abnormal for my child. I again noticed the rash, that was now little red spots, kept looking and there were more. I called my Mom and said I think we have the case solved...she came home from work, and sure enough, Elli has the Chicken Pox! She had the vaccine, and will likely just have a small case...but seriously, Chicken Pox? Aren't we on vacation?!?!

Pray for my poor baby...who is just miserable! Love you all! Pics to come soon! This picture above is not Elli, she is not in prime picture mode! :D

Really???

So yesterday Elli was having a VERY rough day, and just not acting herself. She also had a bad night and didn't sleep well and only napped for less than an hour! SO not like my Elliana. So I decided to call the doctor; they of course had no appointments till this afternoon at noon. I thought she and I might both pull our hair out before then so I decided to take her to Urgent Care, almost positive the poor baby had an ear infection! We got to Urgent Care they looked and the doctor says, oh she definitely has an ear infection, it looks awful. I'm thinking, k awesome, let's get some antibiotics so we can get better before we come home. He looks at her again, and says, but I'm not going to write her a prescription, and walks out. I sit there dumbfounded for a few moments and leave...no nurses in the front area, because I probably would have said, I want a prescription. So I left.

Ended up having to stop at Target for a few things and talked to the Pharmacy there, because they know us very well! They said they have heard lots of complaints about the doc I saw. And they suggested I call the on call Doc. I did and she called in an antibiotic but wanted to see Elliana this morning. We went in and she thought the Doc was crazy to not write her a prescription and said, keep going on it, that's is one VERY bad infection! Luckily Elliana had a better night last night, still not great, and hopefully she'll keep getting better! Sometimes Doctors just kill me! No offense Tom and Dad! :D Feel better baby doll!

Playdate and Books

Did you know that at the museum in the murals there are leprechauns hidden....can you find him?
Our playdate group...Aiden (sp?) who's Mom is my new friend Destri (sp?), Zhar (Jessica), Elli and Easton (sp?) who's Mom is my friend Niki. We had SO much fun and the kids were really good!
They have a kids zone where there are lots of toys for the kids to play with, Elli LOVED getting dirty, and was right in the middle of everything, here she is talking to Zhar.
Elli and Aiden
And Elli's new love of books! She must get it from her Mommy and Daddy! She loves to pull the books off her shelf and just sit in her room and read!

New Love

Elliana has a new love for hamburgers! She loves them...no more chicken nuggets for this baby, only hamburgers. She wants to be a big girl like mommy and daddy. One week and counting till I see my Mom! I can't wait!!!!!!!

Wrong...

Something is wrong my friends! Anyone who might know, please help!

I have been doing SO good; going to exercise with Tom every night, the last few nights though, when I am walking/running on the treadmill, my feet go numb and hurt. What's wrong with me? Please help! This is not fun, I'm just getting in my groove, and now my body is deciding to freak out on me.

A Mom

It's days like today that I'm glad to be a mom. I don't know why, I didn't have the greatest of days, felt yucky all day, but I have had the best time with my little Elliana! She just makes me smile! She is in this new "book" stage and loves to come up to me with her book and tug on my pants til I pick her up and we read the book, cover to cover at least twice!

I love our bonding time when it's just the two of us....no interruptions, especially during our nap time that we have each afternoon! Yes, I do in fact love my baby girl with all my heart! You're the love of my life miss Elli Mae!

Love, Mommy

Easter

This year for Easter we were here in Denver. We had a great time! We had lunch with a bunch of friends from the Med school and the kids had an Easter Egg Hunt. We didn't think Elli would really care much, but she LOVED it. The excitement on her face was classic, wish I would have taken the video camera it was so cute. She had a great time playing with her eggs with her friend Zhar. We got a few cute pictures thanks to Jessica! I will post them now!

Visitors, and sick...

I can't believe that Spring Break is already almost over, it went by WAY too fast, probably because we spent most of it very very sick. :(

Tom's parents arrived Friday night and we just hung out. We went sight seeing on Saturday, however Saturday night, Tom's mom got sick. Tom ended up getting it on Monday (the night my sister got to Denver)...and he passed it on to me. It was not a friendly illness, but is any? No, not really, but it was BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily Elliana did not get it, which is a blessing, because I am sure she would have ended up in the hospital.

I feel totally awful, because Alexis was here, and I didn't even really get to see her or hang out, because I was so ill. She was just here, and well, babysitting! I hope she'll come back!

As of now, we're just getting ready for Gigi and Papa to come visit and are SO excited to have them come and join us!

Elli got a great and exciting toy for Easter, she got a little outdoor sand/water toy; she LOVES to play outside, and I think this will be perfect! I will post pictures by Monday for sure!

Elli is going to go through withdrawls, when Tom goes back to school...she loves her daddy and will be sad to have him gone all day, and then to not have family here, after having so many people around for weeks, I think she may have a rough time; but we'll take it as it comes!

Till the pictures....

Tomorrow

In less than 24 hours, a great thing will happen! I will finally have a husband back at home for more than a week! I can hardly stand to wait, it has been so long since I last saw Tom...I mean, yes I see him every day, for a few minutes here and there, but I don't really see him. And Sundays are always so busy with church, callings and naps of course!

I think tomorrow is going to be a long day waiting for Tom to finish with his tests...so everyone please pray for him!

Snow Day

This is not from today, but this is what I wish we were doing...instead Tom is studying! :(

Today is a snow day....today the roads are closed. Today, I will be stuck inside all day, when I really needed to go to the store to get some groceries for dinner. Instead we will have to have something else. Today, I will be taking a nap (well, I do that most days)...Today, I need to find a babysitter.

My thoughts today, turn to my Mother. I love my Mom with all my heart! I wish I was in Idaho Falls, to give her my support today...all days really, but especially today! I am feeling kind of homesick, wanting to see my family, and play games...not cook dinner, but call my Mom and ask whats for dinner and tell her I'll be over in 5. Luckily we will have family here for the next two weeks so that will be nice. We're going to do lots of fun things....

*Going to the Olympic Training Center

*Hopefully going to the Colorado Springs Zoo

*Going to Casa Bonita (supposedly a great restaraunt here)

*Going to the US Mint

*Going to Old Chicago
*Playing LOTS and LOTS of games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Friday, the day after tomorrow, Tom's parents will be here til Tuesday. Then on Monday night my little sister Alexis flies in to spend almost a week. We will have a 4 day break and then my Grandparents will be here for just over a week! I'm so excited!

I am addicted to the show Desperate Housewives....it's ridiculous really. I saw a friend on FaceBook say how good it was, and I decided I had LOTS of alone time, with Tom always studying that I would try it out. I have finished almost 4 seasons in less than a month! It's really crazy, but it's so good, and it gives me something to do. Which is good....

Anyways, I feel like I've gone on forever, so now I will go. Miss everyone tons! Hope to see everyone soon!

Mary Poppins

This past week, I went and saw Mary Poppins. I had a blast with these ladies! We went to dinner, the show and then got cheesecake afterwards! Thanks for a great time girls!

Peanut Butter

Yesterday, I was busy making dinner and Elli was getting in the way, we have a VERY small kitchen, so I decided to give her some celery and peanut butter. She finished it all, and LOVED it, but was a bit messy! At least she enjoyed it!

1 Year Photos

Best of Elli's 1 Year Photos are posted on my girlfriends blog.

www.flourishgallery.blogspot.com

Check them out!

A great friend...

Once in a while a great friend comes along in life. I have a great friend, a best friend, a once in a lifetime friend in my friend Mara! Today I got to have a lovely chat with this great friend, and even though we are a long ways apart, it's like no time has passed since we last talked, and we can share our innermost thoughts, and there are no judgements passed, just respect for the other person and what they are going through. So, a blog post, to my once in a lifetime friend Mara! You're the best!