"Paint Your..."

WAGON! Yes, folks, we have a wagon. Here up in I-da-ho with our pitch forks and buggies, that might not seem a remarkable thing, but to all the rest of yous civilized people (no, I'm not trying to make fun; just being silly), it's downright COOL. And coolest of all is that it is homemade by my Honey himself. Yes, Eric made this fine piece of work. He let me co-design it with him and then he put his own sweat and blood (real blood) into it. And if any of you need to walk across the prairie in the near future, you oughta just hitch up with us because this wagon will do the job. It is STUR-DY. Way to go, Eric! I'm doubly impressed because I'm pretty sure it can hold Ellie and I at the same time (Eric says he's absolutely sure). Doesn't that look fun? So here's to Ellie's birthday wagon of fun, finally done (and rhyming), and for many "wagonderful" rides in the future. =)

Ellie Meets Grass

Woohoo! Two posts in one month! I'm on a roll! (That's for you, Grandma and Grandpa=). Here are our random happenings:

First, we had a stake 50's night. Everyone got to dress up in their poodle skirts and leather jackets and come enjoy a diner type dinner (really good hamburgers) plus some dancing. I had to sing in a little doo-wop musical number, and so I made Ellie and I matching skirts. She looked like a sweet little swinger =). And then Eric and I tore up the dance floor! YAY! I must say, dancing with my husband is definitely one of my most favorite things.

Here's our cute little 50's family. They had some fun music from back then. I think I would have liked to eye Eric from across the "soda shop."

And here is Eric modeling his beautiful "Chinese Cut Pineapple." Apparently, this is the common style for displaying pineapple in China. It actually looks really cool. I feel bad cutting into it. But I guess the best remedy for that is...BUY ANOTHER PINEAPPLE! Yum! So good!

And here again is my handsome man. He surprised me one evening home from work with a truly Idaho Falls-ian April rose: an ice sculpture! (Isn't Eric sweet?) Yes, we've had snow on several occasions. It just keeps going and coming, and going and coming. Every time I want to pull out the short sleeves I remind myself of where I live, and by the end of the day when the sunshine has turned to cold I am grateful. Do people really get used to this? Oh well. If that is the price to pay to live in such a great little city/neighborhood, then I will pay it.

And finally...
Ha ha! I can't help but smile when I think about Ellie and our first excursion to the back yard this year. I'm sure she's been carried out there before, but this was the first time she was left to sit in the grass. Those of you with older children probably already know what is coming...SHE HATED IT! And it just made me laugh. Poor girl. She has been looking longingly out the windows the past couple months. Perhaps the grass looks softer from inside the house. Once she felt it for herself however, she was instantly repulsed by so many pokies. (Unfortunately here in our lovely eastern Idaho, the grass is NOT green in April...it's just starting to wake up.) Eventually Ellie started to venture out and Mommy was able to do a little weeding (and wow, did it feel good! I never thought as a little kid that I would grow up to love pulling weeds). It felt SO NICE to be outside! I loved it. Hopefully a green spring is on its way.

1 Year of Ellie-Delight!

Happy birthday, Ellie!!! I know you've heard it time and time again, but seriously, "Where did the time go!?" That was a quick first year, and so full of fun memories. And no doubt, they'll just keep getting better and better.

For Ellie's birthday, we had no major party plans (since this birthday is more exciting for us as parents and she won't remember it anyway, AND because Eric would be in work/school all day) but we did decorate over the weekend and prepare a cake. Unfortunately, she came down with a fever just in time (on Sunday she was super cuddly and mellow and I kept thinking, "Wow, she's being so good! What's wrong?"). We tried to make it as exciting as possible under the circumstances, but she was just not in the mood. After a few days when she was feeling better, I anxiously waited with the video camera for her to cream her face with cake, but once she got the sticky on her fingers...she wasn't too happy. It must be a girl thing. In any case, she at least enjoyed the taste of the cake, and we enjoy the laughter and smiles she brings us every day. She fills our lives with light; I can't imagine how life would be without her! Every day I thank my Heavenly Father for sending us this beautiful little girl and for how she is teaching me to be a better person.

Photos from the wonderful year gone by.

Newborn!

Recently home from the hospital.

Her first ride on a swing.

Being silly.

Ellie in her blessing dress.

Peas! Her favorite.

Our hoppy little bunny for Halloween.

Her silly sniff face in the tub. I LOVE THIS GIRL!

Christmas!

Fell asleep again in the jumper...

This is her practicing "winking."

My little monkey! To her, I think the whole world is a jungle gym. She's so CUTE, and sneaky. She gets in some crazy places...

Daddy and Ellie while listening to Conference. I enjoyed the sweet view =).

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Bird, for coming to visit (and fixing EVERYTHING in our house while you were here!). And thanks Grandma and Grandpa Jones for the birthday gifts. =)

The Month of Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, I am horrible at updating our blog; I'm resigned to the fact. But life goes on, so here we go.

This is a fruit pizza we made for our holiday festivities (which actually didn't consist of too much more than that.) I found the recipe for the custard on The Sisters Cafe blog and it was SO YUMMY!!! We had leftovers that we also enjoyed on our french toast the next day. I would like to make it again one day, though next time I will remember that it makes well more than two adults can eat by themselves. Anyway, yumness.

And here is Princess Ellie, showing off her runny nose. (It seems like it takes forever for those to cure in little ones.) And I don't think it is possible for moms to NOT catch their children's sicknesses because despite all my attempts to keep the germs from spreading, she somehow wipes her nose EVERYWHERE, including me, in many places. Ew! Oh well. I thought this picture was funny because the Cheerio is stuck in the runny nose guck, and then we move to the next picture...
And the Cheerio has moved down her face!!! Ha! I couldn't help but crack up as the Cheerio traded places but still wouldn't fall off. Kind of gross, but funny too at the same time. (Simple minds are easily amused...=)

And finally, this little clip is Eric and I trying to teach Ellie to play the game of "run away." She is slowly catching on to the fact that she must move AWAY from the person trying to get her, but you'll see in the video that she's not very accurate yet in her direction.

We love this little girl. She keeps us laughing and smiling every day, and makes us feel so grateful to be her parents. What a HUGE BLESSING CHILDREN ARE!!!

Christmas Catch-Up

Merry Christmas! And joy to the world, I love this holiday. To get folks up to speed on our holiday happenings, here is a quick post:

First, early in December we visited a woman's house who lives not far from us here in Idaho Falls. (This is something we love to do every year, and each time it is even more AMAZING than the previous year.) This woman spends hours and hours decorating beautiful thematic trees to display in her home, and lets visitors pass through on special days throughout the month to enjoy them. This year she had OVER 200 TREES of all shapes and sizes, some on the ceiling, some in the bathrooms, and all decorated with incredible skill. WAY BETTER THAN FESTIVAL OF TREES. They don't live in a mansion, they just fit the trees into every possible nook and cranny, and the results are a real Winter Wonderland. Ellie had so much fun looking at all the lights and colors, and we had so much fun watching her!

I can't imagine how this lady and her husband must be familiar with fuses. And after our own fun experiences with them in the few strands outside our house, I have a greater appreciation for that.

We spent a fun-filled Christmas in Boise with all of my family (and no, I don't have that many pictures because I was too busy PLAYING to take them!). Here are Braelyn and Corinn. We don't see this little chica too often because she lives in Colorado (Celeste and Stephen's daughter) but she sure was fun to see over the holidays, and she has an adorable laugh.

Here's all the gang Christmas morning. We might not be as energetic as we were growing up, but we still get up early! (And it would have been earlier too if my dad got off work earlier.) "Tradition!" My dad handed out presents to open one by one. Lots of paper, and Ellie was in to everything. Corny jokes. Silly faces. Crazy hair. It was great! Heather and Andrew joined us from Utah for more excitement later that day.

Here's Ellie and I in the HUGE stocking Eric made me two Christmases ago. Yes, I said IN the stocking. It's so big, it's more accurately described as a red sleeping bag.

So, it was a super fun week, making tons of candy and eating it all (breaking every health rule imaginable), being crazy on the Wii playing "Just Dance," several rounds of the game "Ticket to Ride," movies, feasting, and all-around laziness. So good, but I'm sure my scale is grateful it only comes once a year. And last of all, as a slightly belated Christmas and 9-month present, Ellie got her second bottom tooth! Yay! Sort of. Don't get me wrong, she looks adorable. But she was up in the middle of the night SCREAMING and I couldn't figure out why (until the next morning). She also has bitten me on the shoulder...and don't be fooled by the lack of numbers and one side of gums into thinking she can't do much damage. OW!!! We will be monitoring to make sure she bites nowhere else... But she sure has a beautiful grin!

It was a great year, a good holiday, and more than ever I am grateful for the closeness that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to our families. WE ARE SO BLESSED!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

You may think we are jumping the gun, but yes, we've put up our Christmas tree. And it was GREAT! Last year we were a little slow at getting it up, and before we knew it Christmas had passed. This year I was determined to get an early start so I could enjoy it fully. Plus, I just love Christmas and was happy to have an excuse to draw it out longer. No, I don't feel like I'm overlooking Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, to me, is like a prelude to the wonderful feelings and family memories of Christmas, not just a

pig-out session. It reminds us to be thankful for all of the wonderful blessings we have, especially our families, and most importantly, our Savior, whose sacrifice allows for our sweet family relationships to continue past the grave, and whose birth we soon celebrate after.

It's a season of happy!!! And let it begin!

Ellie was fascinated with the lights and of course tried to eat them. We let her feel the branches of the tree and touch the little light bulbs and she LOVED it. Now it seems whenever we pass the living room she is making noises to have us carry her over to the tree for another view. Christmas has always been magical for me, but it is even more so watching the magic begin with our daughter. =)

Halloween Happenings and More

Don't mind me and my two-month posting span...that's just how I roll.

So that means I get to catch up. Hmmm... Well,

Halloween was a quick blur. We made it back from a Boise/Oregon trip just in time to drive in to trunk-or-treat. We HAD to go because that was Ellie's big chance to display her costume (since door-to-door isn't quite in our bag of tricks yet). She looked so cute as a little bunny, and with how bouncy she is it fit her personality perfectly. We got a pretty fair amount of trick-or-treaters the next day, and I think Eric learned NOT to tell the kids it's okay to take a handful of candy, especially when they are boys... I think it will be fun when we get to take Ellie out, but we had fun at home doing our own Halloween stuff. Eric carved his "pumpkin" (one of the poor little sprouts from our garden that didn't get a chance to grow much since frost killed the plant early) just in the nick of time and had it frothing dry ice on the front porch. Woo. That's about the extent of my Halloween-ness.

Even better is this video of Ellie giggling over my silly weirdness. Please, PLEASE, ignore that annoying black cat lady in the video. I post this only for the adorable sweetness of the babe. In fact, it is so cute, it had me laughing and crying because I love it so much! I just wish I could get her to laugh like this more often. It tickles my heart! Am I biased? Nah. Take a peek for yourself.

While in Boise enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's company (my parents) we took the time to visit one of my favorite parks: Kathryn Albertson Park. I love how picturesque this park is. It was perfect for a fall family stroll with so many beautiful colors. Ellie seemed quite content and occupied with the view, even with the chill in the air (is it really time for COLD again already?). We loved it. I think Eric became a fan as well.

As for further September events, Ellie was finally blessed and Eric did a beautiful job giving the blessing. Plus Grandma bought her the prettiest dress and she really did look like a "princess." We especially loved having so many family members attend from various places. All of my sisters were there, even Celeste who flew in by surprise with my recently delivered niece: Braelyn. We are so grateful to have a family who supports us so much. You guys are the BEST!

And here is a picture I LOVE: Ellie's first bad hair day. Actually, it looks far more "cute" than "bad," and with those big eyes of hers I crack up every time I see this picture. How did I get so lucky to have such a cute Bed-Head?

In September Ellie also began eating...BABY FOOD...wooh! That has been a fun experience (except in the diaper). This is a picture of one of her favorite vegetables: peas! "More peas, peas!" Love this grin. Man that girl keeps us smiling!

And to top off September's events, Daddy (Eric) celebrated his 30th birthday! Yay!!! He was so excited to finally hit the big three-oh. Super thrilled. Yep. We kept it pretty low key at home with cake and games, and then on Sunday (the actual day of his birthday) Ellie helped him open presents. She liked helping so much, we are considering just getting her a box with a lot of wrapping paper for Christmas...

Iron Bog Lake

Welcome to Camp Iron Bog! What? Never heard of it??? Well, let us show you around.

This little known campsite is a beautiful gem hidden away in the middle of Idaho (if you're familiar with Idaho, the main road to get there is past Arco somewhere around Moore). We had never heard of it before, but it was recommended to us by one of Eric's coworkers. Now, let me just do a recap of last year's camping experience. We went once up to Heise where we'd heard wonderful things. Eric and I love to camp; we're just not too familiar with Eastern Idaho and so decided to venture out and take our chances. Well, to bring a rough story to its point, we ended up in a spot with NO camp host and our camp neighbors were HORRIBLE! Loud music and laughing late into the night, fighting that woke us up and scared me half to death, and lots of cussing...VERY inconsiderate. We packed up as soon as we could, spent the day along the river trying to catch a fish, and came home empty-handed. Not my favorite. Nor Eric's. I could have handled the no-fish thing if the camping part had been more favorable. But as it was, I was happy to go home.

So, back to camp Iron Bog. It was a bit of a drive, but came so highly recommended that we took a leap of faith. And it was well worth it.

There was no one else there when we arrived, even though it was Labor Day weekend. We picked a spot nestled near the trees with a little stream providing the background music. The view away from the trees was wide open to the sky with some rolling hills not far away. We pitched our tent and kept the fly off so we could look up to the stars.

I should mention that this was our first true down-and-dirty camping trip with just us and Ellie. Throwing a baby into the mix really makes things interesting. All went well setting up camp, starting a fire (way to go, Eric!), eating our foil dinners and smores, and enjoying the night sounds. The difficulty came in the middle of the night when temperatures had dropped drastically. Ellie kept waking up, probably from the cold, and I kept waking up to feel her hands and feet and make sure she was okay. Eric had to get out of the tent to put the rain guard on and try to stop the flow of cold air. By morning I finally crammed Ellie into my mummy bag and she seemed to settle into a good sleep. I was too uncomfortable to sleep anymore and the morning was getting lighter and so just got up.
It was very peaceful. There were a few other trailers that had arrived last night but still, not many. We had a good breakfast, enjoyed the stream, and packed up. Despite our lack of rest, we were anxious to start on the 1 1/2 mile hike up to Iron Bog Lake and do some fishing.
Here we are at the trail head. Originally, we had thought it would be fun to camp up at the lake so we could fish early in the morning. The first 20 minutes of the hike made us everlastingly grateful we hadn't because it was SO STEEP! We already had enough to carry as it was and needed to stop for breaks.
Ellie loved the free ride though. And the scenery was beautiful.
The lake was up in the mountains at the top of our hike, not much by way of hiking down. But after all our efforts we were well rewarded: it was BEAUTIFUL!!! The lake wasn't very large, but sweet and picturesque (I took some reference pictures to perhaps paint a picture one day). We spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon fishing at the lake, reading, and enjoying the quiet. I am amazed every time we go to the mountains at how much life slows down. It is another reason perhaps why mountains and temples are so similar: each causes us to reflect on what things are really important in life and take a break from life's chaos. It is a perfect opportunity to converse with Heavenly Father and enjoy His creations.
After all day at the lake, we still did not catch a fish. I have yet to catch my first; maybe it is my curse for being a "Bird." Even so, this camping experience was much better and one we would gladly do again. The next day at church a kind, older gentleman told us what our fishing problem was: he said you have to keep the worms warm and then made a motion as if pulling a worm from his mouth and putting it on a hook. ;) Hmmm...maybe Eric would be willing to lend his mouth for the job. But then again, not if he's expecting a kiss.
Woohoo! Who doesn't love a good campout? Anyone want to come with us next time?