2!!

This sweet girl turned 2 on the 12th. We had a fun-filled weekend celebrating her birthday. We had our friends, the Noorlanders, over on Friday night. We ate some breakfast burritos and had some cookies n' cream shakes. Ellie always gets excited when the blender comes out because it usually leads to something tasty. We let her open a few presents early (because she totally understood that it wasn't her real birthday...haha). She got some coloring books and stickers, a magnetic playhouse (saved us during Sacrament Meeting yesterday), some new books, and a bunch of Minnie Mouse toys.

Ellie's "best friends"

Stickers!

Jaymes and Lauren came down Saturday night and partied with us all day Sunday. After Church, we had some yummy black bean quesadillas (with lots of sour cream for Ellie), then Ellie took a nap and we played some intense games of Uno Fishing and Aggravation. For dinner (and yes, I'm hoping Ellie enjoys food just as much as her mother), we had Ellie's favorite Chicken Stroganoff with Danny's famous french bread and green beans. We did vanilla cupcakes with pink lemonade frosting (sans the pink part) with ice cream for dessert. Ellie finally got to open her "big" present- a Little People Princess Castle and she got a Cinderella wand from Jaymes and Lauren, which she thinks she needs to bang on the floor in order for it to work. Always the entertainer!

She's 2!

So excited!

Whoa! It makes sounds, too!

I think this face is just pure satisfaction.

And Danny was enjoying it, too.

Happy family! Please ignore the beached whale on the right. 4 weeks left!

She blew all her candles out! Yeah! 

Proud girl!


We are so grateful for this precious girl and for the amazing gift we have to be her parents. She brings us so much joy and happiness. It's so fun to watch her grow and learn everyday. She keeps us on our toes and we love every second with her. She makes us laugh and take in the moment. Love you forever, Ellie!

A Sunbeep

With the many changes that will be coming in our family in the next few months, I've been thinking a lot about how I have a small amount of time with Ellie as the only one at home. It makes me kind of sad that she'll have to share time with her brother. Sad in a good way. I know she'll be an amazing sister, but I'm going to miss these one-on-one moments we have every day. I'm so grateful to be her mommy. She teaches me daily about what's really important and I know there are many more lessons in the years ahead. So here's some Ellie-isms that I want to always remember.

-She loves to sing! She sings along with us now and loves to fill in the words when we stop singing. Some of her favorites are Book of Mormon Stories (this is one she does with Danny that turns in to a version of the Haka towards the end), Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (or sunbeep), Rudolph, Miss Mary Mack, Lady with the Alligator Purse, A Cow and a Pig, I Am a Child of God, and lots of others. She loves to grab our hymnbooks and sing. I love it!

-She still loves to read, but is more about arranging her books in cool rows and patterns than actually sitting through a whole book. But Christmas looks like it's shaping up to be a good moment in the book business for her, so maybe that'll change.

-She loves nursery. If we are leaving, she always asks if we're going to nursery. Thankfully we've passed the days where a no to this question brought tears and tantrums! She always gives her teachers big hugs and kisses. Such a sweet girl!

-She's way in to Disney. Princesses, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse crew, and a lot of movies. She can name all her princesses and sometimes quotes movies. Yep, she's all mine!

-She's got her colors down. We've been working on her ABC's (she can point out some) and her numbers (she can count to 10, but it's often something like "3,4,5,6,8,10!"). I love seeing her learn new things.

-She usually devotes a good 20 minutes a day to dancing. Spinning and doing ballet moves with her arms is what this time consists of. But she can get pretty dizzy, which has led to a few run-ins with the wall.

-Unlike either of her parents (sarcasm), she tends to want things a certain way. Examples: before eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner, she always places whatever she's playing with on the couch so it doesn't get dirty while she eats. She makes sure her princesses and books are put away before a nap or bedtime. She has to have at least 4 blankets on top of her plus 3 stuffed animals (Betsy the Giraffe, Bunny the Bunny, and Chico the Turtle) before she can fall asleep properly. 

-She has such a cute sense of humor and I'm loving seeing this side of her come out. We have some fun inside jokes and we love to make fun of Danny when he sings at dinner. Ellie always shrugs her shoulders when he starts. Pretty cute!

Anyway, I hope I can cherish these moments with my precious girl. I hope she knows how much she is loved and adored. What a gift she is to us! And now on to pictures...

She finds random benches, like on top of our plates.

First movie in the theater (that she sat through anyway). Frozen. Loved it. Ate more popcorn than Danny, which is saying something.

My little Black Friday shopper.

Nana sent her a Nemo bookmark.

Most of my dr's appointments are in the morning.
So this is how she looks when we pick up Danny.

Playing in the "snow"...in pajamas.

It was a tight squeeze in the crib that night.

New dress from Nana.

Since we're going to CA for Christmas, Santa
decided to bring Ellie's kitchen early. She loves it!

Enough said.

Ellie's turkey.

Olive Garden Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pretty sure
my face looked like this, too.

Helping with the dishes.

Ode to October

The last few weeks of October have flown by! There are so many fun things to do in Utah in the fall. I love it!

We generally try to discourage Ellie from eating others.

 We hit up Day Farms in Layton. Who can pass up a hay ride and a pumpkin for $5? Ellie loved it. She kept waving to everyone and all the pumpkins. We found some good ones to take home. Danny's weighed in at a whopping 30 pounds. Woohoo! On the way home from the farm, we found out Danny's brother, Carl, is going to serve in the Billings, Montana mission. We are so excited for him and we know he'll be a wonderful missionary!

The 30-pounder pumpkin

On the hay ride with our pumpkins. Hi pumpkins!

Danny decided his knees just weren't up to a half-marathon this year, so he chose the 5.5 mile run instead. He did really well for taking 3-4 weeks off of training. He finished 2nd in his age group and 14th overall, with a 9 minute mile average. He got a nice pumpkin medal to take home, which is now in the abyss of Ellie's toy basket. Way to go, Danny!

Nothing like running through corn.

Thanks for the pictures, Sara!

Danny got 4 tickets to Black Island Farms for running so we went with some friends and had a fun time. I've never liked corn mazes and I think I've past this notion on to Ellie. She was on the edge of her seat (well, stroller) the whole time we were trying to get through. Finally, we just used the stroller to make our own path. 

Hay!

While my family lived in North Logan, we would go to the Pumpkin Walk every year. Danny and I have gone the past 3 years, so we're hoping to keep that tradition alive. This year it was raining and cold, but we still had fun looking at what creative people can do with pumpkins

Singin' in the Rain

The Princess Bride

. 

We were able to carve our pumpkins the day before Halloween. Ellie got a kick out of it. She went around saying, "Oh, gross!" the whole time we were carving. Danny's started out as the Headless Horseman, but morphed into an ugly elephant or something. Ellie's was Mickey Mouse/Winnie the Pooh, and I kept mine pretty traditional.

And finally, the big day of Halloween arrived. Ellie was the cutest bee. She got the Trick-or-Treat business down and said it at every house. Danny's cousin had a party, so Danny and I of course waited until the last minute to get our costumes. Danny was a zombie snowboarder and I was a farm girl (mainly because it's one of the 5 shirts I fit in at the moment). We had lots of fun!

Not so sure about the zombie/daddy thing.

Buzz!

Her cute little stinger.

October was definitely good to us. Now on to November. And here's some pictures of our beautiful girl. We tried to get some nice fall pictures like last year, but there was just so much to explore. At least we tried.

You want me to what?