Welcome back!

It's been a long while since I last blogged. I'm hoping to do better this next year. I'll slowly catch up with all that's been going on. :)

Home Sweet Home

The beginning of July we started our next big adventure as a family. We bought and moved into a home! Owning a home definitely is a blessing that we love, but there are some down sides to it.

Cons:
No tools because we've always lived in an apartment = more money spending.
Not enough furniture to fill the whole place, because once again we've always lived in an apartment = more money spending.
Lack of money to properly decorate. I'm sure this one takes some time for everyone though.

Pros:
We don't have noisy neighbors upstairs or next door!
We have a lot of space for baby to run around!
We have a pool! A garden! A backyard! A garage!
We have storage space!
We have a park just down the street - baby and I go here pretty much every single day.
We have enough room in our home to put everything! (We have a pantry!)

We're very blessed and fortunate to be able to have this opportunity right now. We love our first home and are grateful for it. Oh, and the ward we've moved into has been an added blessing. I was worried about settling down somewhere and not making friends in the new ward where we would be at least 5 years. But people have been very friendly and receptive. Ellie has had some play dates and I'm grateful she can meet kids. She loves kids.

 Remember how I said it takes money to decorate a house? Ya, these next pictures are when the family before us still lived there... :)

 And that is our new home!

Ellie has a Birthday!

Shout hooray! I can't believe my baby is 1 (and I can't believe I've procrastinated this post almost 2 months...). Ellie turned one on June 25th. It was fun for me reminiscing about her birth. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She does drive us a little crazy at times because she has so much energy and wants to be everywhere and into everything, but we love her and wouldn't have it any other way!

At her one year check up she weighed 22lbs (75th percentile) and was 31 inches tall (90-95th percentile). The doctor visit was not fun. She wanted out of the room by the time the doctor finally showed up. I can't imagine what the 15 month appointment will be like because she has only gotten even more stubborn and strong-willed.

8:42 am 6/25/12

8:42 am 6/25/11. She's come a long way.

Our birthday girl!

With her daddy

 

 I think that last series of pictures summed up how she felt about birthday cake. She cried - maybe because of all the attention? Bit Matt's finger when he tried to give her frosting. And just could've cared less about the cake. I never thought we would get that reaction! Normally she has a sweet tooth like her parents and loves what we offer her, but not for her birthday.

My Feelings on Being a Parent to Ellie:
It's the best thing ever! It's trying and I've learned a lot, and still have much more to learn, but I love almost every moment I get to spend with this sweet little girl. Ellie is sweet and loving. She's also stubborn and impatient. She's also very smart. I'm amazed at how much she learns or notices things we do. She makes me laugh every day. She's taught me how to be even more patient than what I thought I was before. She's the greatest thing that could've happened to me and her dad. I'm grateful she's in our family and we have the chance to see her grow and develop. Many times I'm overwhelmed with the thought of teaching her all she needs to know, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Our little Ellie is the very best! We love her so much!

Ellie Goes to the Museum

The Children's Museum of Phoenix is where this family of three went. I'm so behind and slow with my updating, but Ellie's FIRST birthday was already THREE weeks over a MONTH ago. (Slow down time.) For Ellie's birthday I wanted to make it something special, even if she wouldn't remember. She's my baby and I wanted her to have a good time for her special day, because she is a very special little girl. So, we had a birthday weekend celebration. The Saturday before her birthday (her birthday was on a Monday) we took her to eat some Italian pizza and to play at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. Mom and Dad loved the Italian place (Bianco's Pizzeria), and definitely recommend it. Unfortunately this was the most difficult time we've ever had with Ellie while eating out. She did not want to sit still and eat; she just wanted to be outside playing. So we got it boxed up and left and ate outside. Then we headed over to the museum. I think she was a bit over overwhelmed with all that was going on there, but she ended up loving it; especially when we took her to the "Under 3" area.

The museum was fantastic! I can't wait to take her back in the future. We just might have to buy a membership so we can go often.

Utah Visit

Pictures will sum up this trip well: {WARNING: Picture Overload. I did my best to narrow it down, but we just had so much fun!}

Going to the park!

One of many park trips!

These girls love the swings

Jumping contest

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Walser's

Pioneer cousins

Adorable baby Jacob! He's so sweet, he's my favorite.

Play area at City Creek mall

Ellie playing with Uncle Kody and Grandma Walser

AJ and Lauren

Nate and Steph

Grandma and Grandpa Morris

Jensen family!

Adorable brother and sister :)

Ellie with her cousins, Katelyn and Jacob

Matt was unable to make this trip, and the plane rides were a little rough for a very mobile almost 1 year old, but we had a blast with both sets of family! A big Thank You to both sets of grandparents for chauffeuring us, feeding us, playing with us, and putting up with us! :)

Visitors and Mother's Day

I must say, I got spoiled for Mother's day. Not necessarily in the gift arena, but in the fact I really didn't do much that weekend. And that is because my 3 awesome sisters-in-law came to visit! I LOVE having visitors. I actually feel bad because this time around I wasn't the best hostess. They made me breakfast 2 of the 3 full days they were there. Helped Matt make me Mother's Day dinner. They did dishes. They watched Ellie and played with her. (Ellie was super excited to have attention from new people.) They were the ones taking a vacation, and I pretty much sat back and did nothing. Sorry about that Kari, Katrina, and Brittany! I promise next time to be better. :) But we loved having them here!

Hanging out at the pool

Mother's day morning

Cooking my Mother's day dinner :)

He really can cook! He just pretends he can't.

So blessed to be a mother of this little girl.

Pure joy.

Aunt Brittany and Ellie

Aunt Katrina and Ellie

She has such fun aunts!

I didn't get any close ups of Kari and Ellie, but have some from their most recent trip that I will post!