Events of October

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted any pictures. I figure I better post the events of October since we are entering the Holiday Season and I am sure there will be plenty of pictures taken. 

I thought I would just share some of the things Elliot says and does:

The other day I was whistling. Elliot asked me what that sound was. I told her I was whistling and then tried to teach her how. After one attempt of blowing through her pursed lips and no whistle came out, Elliot told me her lips were broken. I tried to get her to keep trying but to no avail she insisted that her lips were broken.

One of Elliot's favorite things to do is the dishes. Of course this consists of her playing in the bubbles while dad or I load the dishwasher around her. She asks multiple times throughout the day to do the dishes. If you are at the sink for longer than 2 seconds with the water running, she pushes her little table over that she likes to stand on and says "do dishes". This method has worked out pretty well because it keeps the dishes done. In these pictures Elliot is showing me the bunny the bubbles made. 

This is Elliot's first attempt at eating a whole hamburger by herself. We usually cut up her food into bite size pieces. But seeing as how our Elliot is too big for that, she needs to eat things the way Mom and Dad do. It was pretty fun watching her eat. She did not get too far before she gave up and settled on eating all of the avocado. Avocado is her favorite food right now, she asks for it almost daily. I can't complain at least it is healthy. 

I came downstairs and found these 3 napping on the couch together. One of my favorite photos is of myself as a baby sleeping on my dads chest while he too is napping. I just couldn't resist taking this picture. I love seeing Dad's cuddle their kids. 

Halloween

For Halloween we went to the trunk or treat at our church. Sorry we did not get very good pictures. Above is a picture of Elliot with a random guy who was dressed like a bee keeper and his wife and daughter were dressed as bees. They asked if they could take a picture with Elliot. If you notice Elliot's face she looks a little worried, her eyes are glued to me and I am sure she is wondering why her Mom would hand her over to a stranger, and a male stranger at that. 

I had forgotten to grab a bag for Elliot to collect candy in, so Shana's Mom let Elliot borrow this basket. Elliot did not mind carring it around because people were filling it with candy. Elliot definitly has her Dad's palate. She loves sweets and hot & spicy food.

Pumpkin Patch

The week before Halloween we went to an overpriced pumpkin patch with the Christensens. The girls of course had a great time, so the money spent did not seem like such a big deal. Elliot and Ella had fun on a couple of the rides. And then Elliot helped us pick out some pumpkins to carve.

We could not pass up the photo op with all of the pumpkins. Too bad I picked a spot with the sun shining on our faces. 

I just love these girls. I am so glad Elliot has a friend to play with. 

Afterwards we ordred some pizza and carved pumpkins. This is Landon's pumpkin. 

Ella's Birthday Party!!!

Ella turned 2 on October 20 and Elliot was so excited to go to her birthday party. She talked about going to the party for weeks before the actually event and even talked about the party for weeks after. It was Ella's birthday for the entire month of October (at least to Elliot it was). The kids all wore their Halloween costumes. Elliot of course did not mind wearing a costume, dress up is something she plays at least once a day. She enjoyed decorating a big sugar cookie, helping Ella play with all of her new toys and whacking the Elmo pinata. Which the kids decapitated. To our surprise the little kids weren't too dramatized seeing one of their favorite characters torn to pieces. I guess when you're two and candies flying out who cares. 

Landons birthday campout.

Kristin surprised me with a birthday campout (Cool wife Eh?). She secretly invited my friends who already like lieing to me for the fun of it.  haha. We got to the site and found that after paying for two days in advance the wiener camp host gave away our spot. Two seconds before Kristin was going to rip the host a new one, somebody left their camp spot and we got in anyway.

The evening went great we had some good old fashioned tinfoil dinners, and cobbler made in my birthday dutch oven. mmm. All went well until about midnight when outside our tent it sounded like Noahs flood wasn't quite over yet. We slept fitfully waiting for our tent to start floating away. To our great luck all of our gear was still where we left it in the morning. It was a bit chilly in the morning but it made the hot chocolate all the better. 

Every good, memorable camp trip needs a little disaster to make it really good, so this one rocked.

Everyone relaxing at Mt. Charleston.

Chris + Andrea

Stewart, Ella, and Shana making smores

Elliot and Ella insisted on eating their hot chocolate with a spoon. 

Smooshy Face.

Bear Attack! Wait.....False Alarm.

Camp chairs?

The life of a two year old girl

Playing dress up.
My friend Julie is getting married. One night she came over and tried on my wedding dress. Elliot had fun wearing my veil.


Story time with Dad and Ella.


Naps are the best!


Playing at Mt. Charleston with my friend.

Hawaii

So back in August my wonderful parents took all of their children and spouses and grandchildren to Hawaii. I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad! We had such a good time. This house we stayed at was right across the street from the beach. Our beach had a great cove for snorkling. So many of mornings began with an hour of snorkling in the warm ocean. The fish were beautiful.

Here is the whole crew right before heading home.

We were a little scared of how the kids would handle the 6 1/2 hour plane ride but surprisingly they did great. Those little DVD players are fantastic and it helps to have a lap to pass your kid onto occasionally.

We spent a day looking at waterfalls. Hawaii is so beautiful. While there we were like "why do we live in the desert?"

Some of the waterfalls and beaches required a little off roading to get to. The view was amazing and made the crazy ride worth it.

Look at my cute husband and sleepy girl.

Looking at a dead crab.

Megan and her crazy hair. Megan actually left for PA school in North Carolina just a couple of days after we got home. We miss her so much. Every night when Elliot says her prayers she makes sure that we don't forget Megy.

Landon and I were able to go bogey boarding a couple of days. We had so much fun. There was a couple of times where you rolled in a wave and got ocean water up your nose but the rides in between made it worth it. There was a small beach with great waves but it had a lot of people. So sometimes you would knock people over as you came in and sometimes you would get knocked off your board by another bogey boarder. It just made it even more fun.

Kristin, Landon and Aaron waiting for a wave.

Elliot loved the beach. She liked playing in the sand. She would give the ocean a chance until a little wave would knock her over and then she was done with that. After we got home for weeks, everyday she would ask to go to the beach. I wish we could just step out our front door and walk to the beach.

Our beach house. It had 2 kitchens, 4 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms. It was a great choice for vacationing with 12 people. We never felt crowded.


The view from our balcony. Jealous anyone???



Elliot and Jacob. Monkey see, monkey do. Elliot loves her cousin Jacob. She mimics everything her does.



We saw big sea turtles at almost every beach we went to. They will swim right next to you or even near large groups of people.

We spent a day seeing the volcanoes.



Elliot with Grandma and Papa. Thanks again Mom and Dad. We had a wonderful time!