Easter

I can't believe this was Ellie's second Easter. While she is still too young to get excited about Easter, she did enjoy hanging out in the backpack while Brian hid eggs for the cousins up at the ranch. She looked so cute on Easter Sunday in her dress that Grandma Deanna made for her. We drove down to temple square on Sunday and enjoyed the gorgeous flowers. Ellie did not want to cooperate for any pictures, but she looked so cute in her flowery little dress with all the blooms around her that I had to try and snap a few. We dropped by and said a quick hello to Grandma Melissa and Grandpa Tim and even stopped by to say hi to Grandma Joycie before heading out to the Porter's for Easter dinner. Ellie's favorite part of the night was eating an ice cream cone. Not the ice cream, just the cone.

California

    
      We had a blast in California last month. Brian and I had decided not to go to Disneyland, even though the rest of the family was going. We figured that Ellie wouldn't really care or ever remember, and we didn't want to pay for ourselves to go, but after some convincing we decided to go for one day so that we could spend time with family. It actually turned out to be great fun. Ellie just loved being outside in her stroller all day. She was happier at Disneyland than she ever is at home. With the help of Deanna, Brian and I got to ride almost every single ride and we even took Ellie on a few rides too. Her favorite part was feeding the duck though.  We stayed with Brian's family at a house within walking distance of Disneyland. It had a pool in the backyard and lots of little toys that were perfect for entertaining Ellie. It was much better than staying at a hotel.

       I was nervous about the drive to California and back. Now that Ellie is mobile, she doesn't enjoy her car seat like she used to. She actually did awesome and slept a lot of the way. We also visited the beach for a total of 20 minutes, and found ourselves an amazing gelato place. It was a quick trip, but nice to get away for a couple of days.

March 2014

          March flew by in a blur and was a pretty busy month for us. Besides Ellie's birthday, we celebrated St. Patrick's day, (ok, not really, but I did dress Ellie in the cute outfit that Brian's aunt got for her last year...I've been waiting a whole year for Ellie to wear it, and she looked cute as a button) took our longest road trip with Ellie and went to Disneyland, (pics and more information coming later) finally settled on a new dog, and dealt with the day to day messes that Ellie likes to make.
         Last November we decided to find Rowdy a new home. He was such a good dog, but he was nervous around young children and snapped at and nearly bit more than one little kid. We just didn't feel comfortable with that, so we found him a family that had older kids and that we thought would give him a good home. Since then we have been looking for another dog. I loved having animals growing up as a kid, and even though now I understand what a HUGE responsibility it is for the mom (thanks Mom for basically taking care of a million animals while we were growing up) and 90% of the time I wonder why the heck I even agreed to get another dog, I still think it is something I want to do for my kids. Bristol is a 5 year old boxer that we found on KSL. Her family was moving to take care of an elderly grandmother, so they could not bring the dog along. She grew up with a little girl and is AMAZING with Ellie. Ellie's favorite (and pretty much only) word to say is "doggie" although it sounds more like "da da dug dug dug" she definitely knows what she is saying. Bristol lets her climb all over her, poke her in the eye, and pretty much do anything to her. While she still has some things that truly annoy me (like barking at the door, growling and being antisocial with new people that come over) seeing how interested Ellie is in the dog and how good the dog is with Ellie makes me feel like it might be worth it. A bonus for me is that I am a little bit more motivated to go out and get some exercise. Bristol is pretty good on a leash and I have been going on a jog each morning with Ellie and the dog. We do a mile and a half and it takes us about 25 minutes. I only jog for about 10 of those minutes, but for me that is pretty big news. Ellie LOVES being outside and cries when I bring her inside, so it is a good way to spend the time between breakfast and her morning nap.

Eleanor's First Birthday

I can't believe that it has been a year since Eleanor Joyce came into our lives. The time has gone by so fast, and it has been an incredible journey so far. I never imagined that motherhood would bring such joy. While Ellie will likely not remember her first birthday, I wanted to celebrate having the opportunity to be her mother for the past year. We celebrated with my family a few days early since we will be leaving on Ellie's birthday, March 19th, to go to California with the Porters.We missed our Texas cousins, but it was so fun to have everyone else up to the house for a barbeque (even though there were some technical difficulties with the grill). Ellie has such cute and fun cousins. Great-Grandma Joyce even made it up for the occasion and I am glad for any opportunity that Ellie will have to be with her only surviving great-grandparent on my side of the family. Ellie got some great gifts from her aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. She also loved her very own cake (well the frosting anyway) and was a happy girl the whole day (except when daddy let her fall down the stairs). Thanks to everyone for coming and celebrating with us!

Ellie is really coming into her personality and is so much fun. She has her dad's energy for sure. She can crawl at lightening speeds and will make a beeline for any open door or set of stairs. She can crawl all the way up the long flight of stairs and now likes to slide down backwards on her belly all the way back down, but she doesn't know how to turn herself around and go backwards if she is at the top of a staircase, which makes keeping her safe a bit of a challenge around the three flights of stairs in our house. She says, "Mama" and waves hello and goodbye. She tries to mimic many of the smaller words I say. She loves looking at books and pulling all the books out of her book basket in her room. Her favorite foods are bread, string cheese, avocados, plain yogurt, and fruit of any kind. She will only eat vegetables if they are pureed into baby food consistency, which is weird because she is great at eating solid foods on her own. She is also starting to not like her oatmeal in the mornings and will often not eat it unless I put a piece of fruit on each spoonful. Ellie shakes her head "no" and definitely knows what it means. She is pretty good at communicating what she wants. She pulls herself up on furniture and on the banisters and will probably be walking pretty soon. She loves walks in her stroller and the swing in the backyard and I think she will be an outside girl. We love her so much and can certainly not imagine life without her!

Sunday Drive to Antelope Island

We've been enjoying the warmer weather around here and took a Sunday drive out to Antelope Island to see if Ellie was still a fan of the backpack. I plan on using it a lot more as the days get warmer, but was a little worried that Ellie might not enjoy it anymore, because she is so anxious to crawl around. She was a happy little girl the whole time, but it was only about 20 minutes. I forget sometimes what interesting and unique outdoor adventures are available just a short drive away. The water of the Great Salt Lake was so still and reflective that I felt like were were driving on a road through the sky itself as we drove down the causeway. It was eerie and beautiful and disorienting all at the same time. At the ranch we saw one of the resident great horned owls, who gave us a piercing stare. We also encountered one of the free-roaming herds of buffalo.