first toothbrush

Ellie got her first toothbrush at our dental appointments the other day. She loves that thing; will suck on it forever. She looks "psycho" about it!

7 years and $10

We had our 7 year anniversary December 5th. It was a Sunday and I worked that night so we "celebrated" on Saturday. Once Ellie went to bed Nate bought us Subway and got a movie from redbox. Nothing too impressive but nice to be home together without having to run around keeping Ellie out of everything. Thanks for seven wonderful years, I love you first!

can't think of a fun title, so there isn't one

well, i'm sitting here with a couple loads of laundry beside me. thinking since i haven't started in on them yet, they'll get to wait until tomorrow. i got sidetracked looking at cute pictures on other blogs/facebook. sure wish i could just get some non-blurry pictures of ellie. she either moves way too fast or i need to figure out how to adjust my camera settings. since i don't think she'll slow down, i better find that instruction manual. nate and i exercised at the same time this afternoon after putting ellie down for a nap. him on the treadmill, me with my long lost friend...the step. i love that step. i was introduced to step aerobics in 10th grade and lost about 30-40 pounds. no more fat alyssa. my step was hibernating at my mom's house and i decided it was time to dust it off and bring it home. i have a vhs (yes it's so old) rebok video that is only a 30 minute workout, but it includes using weights and so when i don't have a ton of time it is a great way to get my heart rate up and do weights. of course, ellie woke up 20 minutes into my 30 minute workout so she got to sit in her little stationary chair thing (whatever it's called) while i finished.

lady in red

food poisoning?

So a couple nights ago I fed Ellie her bottle getting ready to put her to bed. She finished, laid her head on my shoulder, and then all of a sudden made those all too familiar faces of something coming back up. Then she spewed everything back onto me, my nice white bed linens (yes, i know i've learned now that white is not a great color for me to wear, or apparently for my bed to wear, with a small child), and the night stand. I screamed for Nate's help (the one night we were actually both home together, hallelujah) and Ellie gave him a big grin when he arrived. At least she was in good spirits! So, he stripped her down, put new pjs on her and then he put her to bed, empty stomach now. I just didn't know where to start with the cleanup. I stripped down the bed, then jumped in the shower (#2 for the day).
So, fortunately, it must have been some random food poisoning because she never had a fever, nor any other symptoms. Weird.

9 months old and cheap fun

This kept her entertained for quite a while, I just have to make sure she's not eating pieces of plastic. Ellie has learned another tongue trick...purring. She can roll her tongue fast now so that she sounds like a purring cat! She cracks me up. Tonight we had FHE and she was the activity. Nate and I watched her, laughed and played with her for quite a while before the lesson. She loves to climb on top of us as her ladder, giving her access to oh so many fun things, like the laptop. She caught Nate's cold late last week, so we've been having fun sucking out her snot. It seriously is a torture session. I have to pin her whole body between my legs, keeping her head contained, while Nate then sucks out her nose (of course with the bulb syringe, though he says once on the mission he saw a mother suck out her kids nose with her mouth, ugh. I think he said she was either South American or African. Definitely not a Spaniard thing). Well, on that pleasant thought, I'm off to bed.

last minute adventure

I got a tip last week from my sister in law about a child's hiking backpack she saw on craig'slist and we ended up buying it. It can be used as a stroller in addition to the pack. I was driving home from visiting teaching last Friday morning, windows down, wind blowing through my hair and I thought "this would be a great day to try out that new pack and go on a hike." I got inside the house and Ellie was in bed. So, after telling Nate of my plan for the afternoon, we put together a sack lunch (which we ended up eating in the car on the way home), a bag for Ellie's stuff (man, the bigger she gets, the more stuff goes into that bag. Glad that once she hits a certain age she'll be able to carry all her stuff in her very own big girl bag), and then we waited for her to wake up. Once up, we hit the road. We found a quick hike not too far from the PIR. Our last hike was in the Provo Canyon, so this hike was a little anti climatic, being in the barren wasteland we live in. But, as Nate said, if you stop long enough and are still you can find life, and quite a bit of it, out there in that saguaro cemetery. At least there was plenty of quail, if anyone ever wants to go quail hunting, though I don't know if they do that here or not. Anyways, the pack worked great, we enjoyed our short 2 mile hike in the not hot weather, and then raced back home for the rest of our scheduled day. When I got back and had to use my dirty bathroom I remembered all the things on my cleaning list. But, those will always be there; nice weather and a mid morning with nothing "scheduled" rarely happens!










"where's the baby?"

what daddy and ellie do while mommy is sleeping

getting so big

nate calls this her "lord of the dance" look


good at throwing tantrums


still deciding if she likes the dog...she finally warmed up to her.

Ellie's busy morning

playing with the recycling, walking around the table, practicing with her sippy cup, playing with her toy, going for a walk, being pensive, reading a book, helping mom with the dishes, phew!

What Ellie has been up to...

She has found the stairs, the vcr/dvd player, and she loves eating her bananas!