Trick or Treating

We had a pretty fun Halloween this year. After the Zoo we headed back to my parent's house and painted pumpkins (sorry no pictures) and then later on that evening took Elliot to the trunk or treat at the church (sorry no pictures again). And as if Elliot did not have enough candy we went with the Christensens and let Elliot and Ella go trick or treating around Grammy's (Shana's Mom) neighborhood. The girls had so much fun. Ella had on a cute Peter Pan costume. Too bad everyone kept asking her if she was Robin Hood, but Ella just thought it was funny and would correct them.





This gorilla (Shana's brother-in-law) was sitting on Grammy's porch. It was pretty fun to watch trick or treaters avoid the house because of him. The girls were not too sure about sitting on his lap but we got them to do it anyway, at least long enough to take a picture.

Moapa Zoo

I read in the paper about this zoo in Moapa owned by a married couple that are both vets. It is really their collection of exotic animals and they open to the public once or twice a month to help cover the cost of food. They opened it for Halloween and invited the kids to wear their costumes. We were able to convince my parents, Aaron and Amy and Amy's Mom to come along too. We ended up all having a really good time.






What made this zoo so fun was the interaction with the animals. We got to hold a baby kangaroo and pet a monkey and a sloth.


Here is a little deer we were petting. Elliot is fearless with animals. The people that worked at the zoo were amazed at how gentle and calm she was with all of the animals. It was cute to see the chicken petting all of the animals. It was funny some of the animals tried to pet Elliot, they were very curious about her costume. Elliot also got pet by another kid, I guess they thought she was part of the exhibits.


Elliot and Papa.

Springs Preserve

We went with the Christensens to the Spring's Preserve for their halloween event. Elliot and Ella had fun wearing their costumes, collecting candy and playing carnival games.



Landon and Stewart being themselves...what else is there to say.



Elliot was approached by this little girl who was so excited to meet another chicken. It was really cute so we had to take a picture.

For dance class before Halloween the kids were asked to wear their costumes. We decided that Elliot's chicken costume would be too warm to dance in so she got to wear one of her princess dresses. She chose Snow White...it is her favorite right now since Grandma just bought her the DVD. All of the girls had on princess dresses (shocker!) and their teacher was a pirate.

Expanding vocabulary

Elliot has to buckle her own car seat. Landon started backing out of the driveway before Elliot had finished buckling up. She said "Stop driving, you can't drive the car when kids are not buckled up. Dad you frustrate me." I did not even know she knew what frustrated meant.

Later that night she sat next to Landon on the couch and said "Dad, you are cute." Landon said "Thank you, you are cute too. Do I still make you frustrated?" Elliot responded "umm yes".

Elliot is 3!

Elliot spent her 3rd birthday with her friend Ella. The day started out with Elliot waking me up at 5am with an enthusiastic "It's my birthday". Which I told her it was a little early to start celebrating. So thankfully I was able to get her to cuddle for a couple more hours. We spent the afternoon at swim lessons followed by a 3 hour nap. We had to wake Elliot up so she could open her presents and eat dinner before the planned activities (that is why she looks so tired in the pictures). We took the Christensens to skymania and the girls and the adults wore themselves out jumping on the trampolines. Afterward we took two tired girls out for dessert. Elliot had a fun birthday and she enjoys telling everyone that she is 3 years old now.



We celebrated Elliot's birthday with my family on the following Sunday. So if you don't mind listening to the beautiful vocal talents of my family her is a cute video of Elliot.

Swim lessons

For two weeks in June, Elliot and Ella took swim lessons. I was amazed at how well the girls did. Their instructor Rosie (in the black hat) is amazing with kids. Once Elliot had on some goggles we couldn't keep her head out of the water. By the second day she was swimming between Rosie and me. She is a little apprehensive about letting go of my finger when we go swimming now ( I don't know what happened?) but she does good and is our little water baby.

Happy Mother's Day

I thought I would share my mother's day card. Elliot's creative nursery leader helped the kids make these cute cards for their Moms. I just love it. I asked Elliot if I could bring the card with me to work that night and she thought about it for a few seconds and then said "sure".

I had a really nice mother's day even though most of it was spent asleep since I worked that night and the night before. For dinner we had Mother's day breakfast. We had family dinner at our house so my Mom didn't have to cook on Mother's day. Landon is a wonderful cook and we really enjoy having the family over. I have to say Landon has really improved his cooking in the last 6 years since we have been married. Having the food channel has been very nice.

I just want to say Happy Mother's day to all my friends and family that are mothers. ( Sorry it is a week late..oh well). I also wanted to say how thankful I am to be a mother. This is the hardest but most rewarding calling I have ever done and I am so thankful that I do not have to do it alone. I just love those moments when I am cuddling with Landon and Elliot and I take a deep breath in and realize that this is happiness and this is what life is about.

Update

Sorry I haven't post for a while. Elliot doesn't like to let me do things without her and it is hard to write a post with a toddler on your lap and I don't seem to stay up too much later than Elliot these days. So here is a little update into what has been going on the past couple months.

Elliot is finally potty trained. She has been resistant when I would ask her if she wanted to go on the potty and so a couple of weeks ago I decided to stop giving her the choice and just took away her diapers for good. Our panties-only tactic seemed to work and she was peeing in the potty that day without any accidents. Our big problem came with #2. Apparently Elliot thought going poop on the potty was scary and decided to hold it in, after 5 days and no BM and many tummy aches we had to give our stubborn kid a baby laxative. Thankfully she has learned that it isn't scary to go poop on the potty and she is doing pretty good with the whole potty thing with only an occasional accident.

Landon and I are entering our 7th week of P90X workouts. We thought the longer we do it the easier it gets but we were wrong. The longer you do it the better your form gets and so you work out harder. We sweat like crazy. This is the first home video workout that I think actually works. We have been pretty happy with the results so far and guess that has kept us going.

Work has been really busy lately. I guess the recession hasn't stopped people from making babies. Cheap entertainment I guess. I have had a lot of LDS couples as patients lately and I am so thankful for it. I love seeing babies born into loving supportive families. You get pretty sick of your teenage patients (isn't it nice when a kid becomes a parent before they get their driver's license or a job), unmarried couples ( where the father of the baby sits on the couch the whole time or plays video games), or your patients who don't even know who the father of the baby is. It is just nice to know that some of the babies born into this world are actually going to be taught some morals. Don't get me wrong I don't think LDS couples are the only people that teach their kids morals, it is freshing anytime I have a patients that are loving and devoted to each other and will actually care about parenting their child.

Dance class

Elliot started ballet and tap class about 2 months ago. She absolutely loves it and I love watching her. I was surprised at how well she follows her teacher and for most of the classes she pays attention the entire time. It is very entertaining to watch 2 years old dance. Elliot tells me all the time that she wants to go to dance class.
Elliot also likes to have people come watch her dance. She is always inviting people to come. She always asks her dad if he is going to come watch her dance. He has come a couple of times and enjoyed the entertainment. Her aunt Megan came to class while she was visiting during her break. Now Elliot thinks she is going to come every time.

Disneyland

Shana and I often find ourselves in the same situation since our husbands are in the landscape architect program and have almost identical schedules. This week was no exception when our husbands abandoned us for a week to go to a landscape architect conference/workshop in Philadelphia. We decided we were not going to sit around while they were gone and so we took a quick little trip to California for a day at Disneyland.




Elliot and Ella had so much fun. They especially enjoyed meeting the princesses. For those of you who know Elliot pretty well, know that she is pretty shy around strangers, especially adults. Well she obviously felt like she knew these princesses pretty well because she ran up and gave each of them a giant hug. It was so much fun to watch. It made the hour that we stood in line worth it (well almost, Ella had to take a nap after the long line wait and then all the excitement of meeting some of their favorite characters).



Riding the teacups. Elliot really wanted to ride in a pink teacup but they were all taken and we had to settle for a purple one. All week she has been telling me about how the pink cups were all full and so we had to ride in the purple cup. Oh the disappointments of life when you are 2.



As you can tell by Elliot's face she found the carousel to be a little frightening. She cried during the entire ride. I think by this point in the day she was pretty tired and little over stimulated.




Minnie Mouse!!! The girls had so much fun meeting Minnie Mouse and then getting to go inside her house. They played on all her furniture and sat at her kitchen table.



We really had a good time. Landon was sad that he missed Elliot's first trip to Disneyland. It was cute to hear Elliot tell her Dad on the phone all about her day. She had such enthusiasm in her voice. Oh, I love this girl!

Ready for work

The other night while I was getting dressed for work, Elliot came into my room and said that she needed to get ready for work too and proceeded to put on one of my scrub tops. I asked her what she was going to do at work. She told me that she would "hold the babies and feed them milk". Elliot doesn't quite understand what mom does at work yet, but she does know that babies are involved. While I was hugging Landon good bye, Elliot slipped on a pair of my shoes, put my purse over her shoulder and hugged Landon's leg and then said bye Dad I love you. She was determined to go to work with me that night. I am pretty sure after one 12 hour night shift she would be cured of wanting to go to work with mom.

"Best Friend"

On more than one occasion Elliot has told me that Ella is her best friend. I am not sure where she heard the phrase or even if I said it to her but it is pretty cute when she says it.

Cabin Trip

We were thankful to visit the Christensen's Cabin this year as we did last year. Hopefully this is becoming an annual tradition (wink, wink - Stewart and Shana). We had such a good time. It was nice for Shana and I to spend some uninterrupted time with our families since the semester was finally over. Landon and Stewart were gone til 9 or 10 monday thru friday during last semester. Thankfully this semester schedule has them home for dinner.



We stopped for groceries in Cedar City and Elliot was able to play in the snow for a couple minutes. She had such a good time. She did not want to get back in the car. The entire ride up to the cabin she kept asking to get out and play in the snow.

Playing games with Dad.

Getting ready to play in the snow.






Ella was a bigger fan of sledding. Elliot tolerated it. I think Elliot liked the snow better when she didn't have to wear all of her snow gear but the Mom in me has to keep my baby warm.


The boys spent an entire afternoon building a snow cave. They were so excited about it and even wanted to sleep in it. We had to tell the boys no. When I went inside, the boys were like isn't this so cool...doesn't it make you want to sleep in here. An honestly I had no desire to sleep in their snow cave. It was hard enough for me to crawl through the little door and spend five minutes in there.