Year End Wrap Up!

It's that time again...When the year comes to the end and we sum it up with a list of our favorites.

Movies (in no Particular Order)
Toy Story 3
Eclipse
Inception
Salt
Grown ups
Social Network
Easy A
When in Rome
Robin Hood

Music (no Particular order)
Tik tok- Ke$ha
Hey soul sister- train
Californai Girls- Katy Perry
Bad Romance - Lady GaGa
Dynamite- Taio Cruz
Break Your Heart- Taio Cruz
In my head- Jason Derulo
Imma Be- Black Eyed Peas
Alejandro- Lady GaGa
Like a G6- Timbaland
Whataya want from me- Adam Lambert
Eenie Meenie- Sean Kingsten & Justin Beiber
Funeral- Band of Horses
We no speak Americano- Yolanda be cool and Dcup
All the right moves- One republic
Just a dream- Nelly

TV (no particular order)
Modern Family
Office
Outsourced

The big moments! (In a very particular order)
1. Liam's Birth!
2. Our New House
3. Fun trips with the Ash family

Another Fun Snow Trip!

Our Young Men's leader called Jacob this week to see if they could use the cabin. My Dad said it was ok so we needed to make plans to go too. We were excited because the whole week before we had a major rain/snow storm so we heard things were pretty fun up north. We called up Cory and Kristyn Mclaws to see if they could come and they could. We loaded up the car Friday afternoon and headed up.

We ended up leaving later than planned so the young men beat us up there. When we finally got to the cabin the boys were trying to shovel parking spaces for us. We finished helping them turning on the water, heat and things like that then we headed off to Creekside for dinner. I guess we were all feeling adventuress because Jacob ordered Frog Legs and we all tried them. I was surprised I thought they would taste like chicken or something, but they tasted kind of fishy so I didn't like them. Eli grabbed it out of my hand and went to town on one frog leg. Kristyn resisted for a while but finally gave in and tried it. Cory and Jacob seemed to like it and finished everything off. After dinner we headed back to the cabin Jacob and Cory played cards with the young men and Kristyn and I talked. Then we all went to bed.

This is just where Jacob and I started our night. As soon as Jacob came in the room Eli woke up and I was worried he was cold so I pulled him into bed with us. After a while I was freezing so much I got up moved the heater and held it over each of us. Finally I felt warm enough to fall asleep. A few hours later I woke up and saw Jacob was very uncomfortable. Eli basically had taken over most of the bed because he was laying horizontally. Basically our family was sleeping in the shape of the letter H. I told Jacob he could lay on the ground next to the heater. He thought that was a good idea. However I realized there were not blankets and Jacob was just wearing a sweatshirt and his shorts. Jacob later told me that he kept switching sides because his other side would be freezing! I kept giggling thinking about how silly this was. Suddenly I heard Jacob knock over the heater which actually made it stop WORKING!! I started to freak out a little and then we heard Cory snoring through our walls and we both just started laughing so hard. At this point Eli woke up and wanted to play. We got the heater to start working moved everyone around in bed and Eli was still hyper. He was jumping on our head, smacking our faces, tickling us trying to get us to get up. Finally he went to sleep and we all slept for about 2 more hours.

I guess Cory and Kristyn were hot in there room with their TWO heating blankets, but for some reason their door was open so out side of the blankets it was ice cold. We all got up and headed to Creekside for breakfast then off sledding. We really didn't know where to go so we went off on the road heading to Young and pulled over. Then HIKED no joke to this hill to sled. It was so hard to just get there we were upset when we saw that the hill was huge and we would probably die if we went down it. Also if we went down it and survived we were not really sure how we would get back up. Needless to say we did not stay long and figured sledding was a bust. We headed back to the car. When we got to the car we ran into another church group from Highland area and they showed us their great sledding spot they made. We decided to try it out and ended up having a blast. We all said we had a lot of fun, and wanted to go up again soon!

Things I want to remember...

• Kristyn kept getting stuck in the snow. It was so funny. I guess she seemed to find any and every hole and would get stuck up to her waste.
• At one point I tried to sled instead of carrying Eli. We just sank in the snow so when I got up to push the sled took off with Eli. I started sprinting and screaming then I just jumped and dove trying to grab the sled. (remember I am 5 1/2 months pregnant) Thank goodness I caught the sled and Eli was safe, but I jumped straight out on my stomach picture me face down sprawled out desperately holding on to the sled!
• At the end we all made a train and went down the sled track made by the other group. I was in the back and yelled for Jacob to let go of Eli and I, he did but Kristyn wouldn't let go of him. Needless to say the crash that followed was classic.
• Eli loved Sledding again he did fuss a lot when we were on the really hard part...who am I kidding we all were fussing. Anyway Eli loved the scary one and even kept talking (ok yodeling) telling me where the sleds were and that we need to go down. This involved a lot of point and yodeling on Eli's part.

ps our camera died so we do not have pictures of the cool part, but it was awesome!!

Funny & Cute Eli

Eli has been feeling like a caged rat for a few days now because of the ran so I thought if Buddy stayed the night that might help Eli have more fun. We put a dish down for Buddy to drink from, and Eli saw this and thought it was wonderful. So he tried it too. It was hilarious!

These pictures are from later that next day. I went to get my hair cut so I got a babysitter. Eli feel a sleep on the couch so I took a few pictures. Eli also kept laying on me and Buddy trust me the picture isn't, but the action was so funny!

18 Months

Eli turned 18 months on Monday which means several things; first my baby boy is officially a year a half, second he can officially go to nursery (even though he has been going for a month now) and last time for another well visit and stats. I took Eli in for his well visit yesterday and everything went great. He was fine with everything except for the one shot at the end. It seemed to have hurt his feelings more then the actual physical pain. We did get a Barney sticker on the way out which he did enjoy looking at, but not letting it be on his shirt.

Eli's current stats are:

Weight: 27 lbs 12 oz ~ 75th%tile

Head: 18. 5 ~ 25th%tile

Height: 32 1/4 ~ 50th%tile

***Notice*** Eli's height is actually shorter then it was at his 15 month check up. No my son is not shrinking. The doctor said at 18 months it is very hard to get an accurate reading since they are moving around so much. I could tell when the girl did it she wasn't even close so I guess I just have to let it go...even though it is driving me nuts. Maybe I will try and get my own height info later when Jacob is home ***

Things I want to remember...

• Eli is such a funny boy. He has always been a great eater, however his eating habits recently have gotten a bit weird. He basically will eat anything, and by anything I really do mean it. Some of his favorite things to sneak are toilet paper or paper towels. He chews his blankets when trying to get to sleep, and my chewing I mean ripping bites off like he is eating a slim jim! Ever since we have been catching him do this we joke our son is a goat, and sometimes I even catch myself calling him goat boy!
• He loves trucks, cars, animals, and making noises for all of them. He can pretty much tell you what most animals say however sometimes he gets some animals mixed up when they start with the same letter.
• Eli has recently gotten on a wonderful schedule. We read our Book of Mormon (the one with pictures for kids) say our prayers, and then I give him his night night (his blankets he chews on) finish with a kiss and I love you and he goes to bed. He was killing me there for a few weeks waking up at 5, but lately he has been waking up at 7:30 WONDERFUL!! He is also taking a two or three hour nap every afternoon...YES LIFE IS GOOD!
• He copies a lot of what we say. A good example of this is recently Jacob and I bought the new Mario Brother's game and have been playing it a lot lately (that is for another post) Whenever Luigi dies and you give him more lives he says, "I'm back!" Which you hear Eli say a lot now.
• He does say a few sentences. Mostly, "No no Daddy!" or "Walk door!" (meaning lets go out the door for a walk) Any way it is fun to see him picking up on words, and other things.
• When he wants Buddy or his truck to follow him he turns around and calls their name bends down a little and smacks his knees...I guess I must do that when I call Buddy!
• He loves to be outside. He now is in this phase where he grabs your hand and tries to walk you where ever he wants to go....which is usually out the front door. It is really cute. The other day Eli went with my dad to Austin's pinewood derby and my dad said he kept grabbing all the ladies hands so they would take him the places my dad said he wouldn't go...oh that cute boy!
• His favorite show is still Sesame Street...which he calls Elmo and then dances. However he recently found Barney and likes that a lot too. He is only allowed an hour and half to two hours of TV so I try to space it out to when I need to get something done...so I have to admit I love those shows too. Oh yeah and he still loves the movie the cat in the hat which Jacob just hates.
• He loves music and dancing and whenever he hears it singing he tries to sing now too.
• He has been going to nursery for a month and has truly loved it. We have loved it too! One day after church I went to pick him up when he saw me it was total delight on his face...on of my favorite memories of all time! In nursery he loves being around the other children and singing!
• He enjoys drinking a lot. I always say I would drink my calories, and I guess Eli is the same. Allison would joke that Eli was diabetic so she had me worried. I asked my doctor and he said no way he is growing so much. I guess I will just have to take Allison's teasing.
• He loves picking up the mail and going to the park so we basically do both those everyday. When we go to the park he likes the slides the best, then he likes running up and down the hill and then making me do it with him.

I am sure there are many, many more things to remember, but that is all I can think of for now. All I can say is I sure do love being a mom to this little boy!

Sunday Naps

This Sunday I was sick so Jacob and Eli stayed home to take care of me. At one point Eli crawled up on my lap to relax. He does this a lot so I just cuddled up to him and thought nothing more of it. A few minutes later I looked down and saw this...

It's Raining, It's POURING!!!

To say it is raining here is an understatement! For almost a week now it has been raining here pretty hard. Which NEVER really happens in good old AZ. The roads, people. and everything here can't take this much rain. Neither can my little boy. He keeps asking me to go outside, and I keep telling him we can't and try to explain to him about the rain. After a while I opened the door to show him the rain. He looked at it and then changed his mind and closed the door. I thought that was the end of that, but a few minutes later he asked again. So I decided to get him all geared up for rain and let him go out in it. He seemed to like it, but the adventure was short lived and he only stayed out for a few minutes! Here are some pictures of Eli's rain adventure yesterday.

Daddy Loves the Cardinals

Jacob has been obsessed with football this season. He has always been a Cardinals fan, but this year he took it to the top. Ok no really but I still like to tease him and say that. One thing he did do was buy himself and Eli jersey's. It is so cute because as soon as we get home from church Jacob will change Eli and put on his jersey. These pictures were actually taken back in October, but I figured I needed to share this.

21 Weeks

I am 21 weeks right now and I have not really wrote much about this pregnancy. I figured it was time for some pictures and some memories.

Things I want to remember...

• This little baby has been so still and chill however the last week he has really started to move and I am sure I am in store for some really good kicks here in the future.
• Eli loves babies right now and he pulls up my shirt and grabs my tummy and says," Baby!" Sometime he squeezes too hard and sometimes he pokes me, but it is cute.
• I have felt great. Ever since the few weeks I wanted to die (around my surgery and after) I have felt great, and otherwise wouldn't know I was pregnant if it was for my ever growing middle.
• I am nervous and excited at the same time to have two babies. I am worried how I will balance it all and if I can be a wonderful mother to two boys. I am excited to have another sweet angel to add to our home and continue to make it a loving happy place.
• I wonder a lot if this baby will look or even act like Eli. I know he will be his own little personality when he does come out however I do wonder what will be similar and what will be different.

Everyone was getting their picture taken so Eli wanted his taken too.

IT'S A BOY!!

It official with out a doubt that we are having another baby boy. I have to admit there for a while I thought it was a little girl. I have to be honest that there was no reasoning just mainly feeling and then I followed some old wives tales. The main reasons I thought it was a girl was because Eli I felt kicking all the time, and this little guy I hardly feel kick. Second I have not felt pregnant other then my few weeks of hell when I got my appendix out. Other then that I thought I was having a boy because I just know Jacob and I are going to have a slew of boys! Anyway here is how the appointment went....

Jacob showed up before me this time and was very concerned when he saw me walking in so slowly and funny, because I had to go to the bathroom so much. We waited about 20 minutes and I looked at Jacob and told him there was no way I could hold it longer. About 3 seconds later the lady opened the door and called me back. She was so kind because she did a few tests really fast and then let me go to the bathroom. She pretty much checked out the whole baby before we got the the big question of is it a boy or girl. We both quickly saw it was a boy and there was no questions asked. It was fun watching this little boy Eli looked like he was all sprawled out, where this baby is in a little ball and sleeps all curled up. He didn't move too much when we watched him, but he was moving around I think more annoyed with the movements we were doing. She told us we weight about 10 oz and is measuring perfect for 19 weeks. The heart rate was 150 (oh yeah another reason I thought it was a girl because Eli's NEVER got below 170)

After the appointment we went home to tell Eli. Eli just pointed at the picture and said Baby. Honestly I am sure he thinks it is like one of his books and his world will be rocked in a few months, however if there was ever a child meant to have tons of brothers and sisters around him it is Eli. He will be so happy when this new little brother gets here....WE CAN'T WAIT!

Things I want to remember...

• Just before I got there I was convinced for this might be a girl. Once I found out it was a boy the news was wonderful. Although I do want a girl someday I am so excited that it's a boy so Eli and this little one can be such close friends just like Jacob and Daniel were.
• Jacob was so kind a caring the whole time. You always wonder what these men are thinking since they don't connect to new borns so well however you could just see and feel Jacob's excitement.
• When we saw Eli the first time he was moving around everywhere and looked like was spread out. This little man was curled up in a little ball and just did tiny movements. Probably why his heart rate is lower then Eli's was...he is too comfy in there!
• I also want to remember the next time I need one of these ultra sounds I don't need to drink an hour before, and not so much. The nurse said I hydrate good and I should not be in pain...and I never want to have to go that bad again.

First Snow

I am the Mia Maid Advisor and they planed a trip up to the snow. Since I missed my families trip a few weeks ago I really wanted to go and take Eli to play in it. We went up Friday night, and stayed at my parents cabin. The next morning we got up and went sledding on the rim. Eli did not like the snow at first however, he warmed up to it really quickly. He loved going down in the sled and even said "weee weee" every time he went down. He LOVED IT. I had a hard time carry him, the sled, and my pregnant self up the hill every time, but it was truly worth it to see how much he loved it. He even liked to pick up the snow and throw it, as well as let the girls throw snow at him...he thought it was hilarious!

Eli also loved his new snow gear. I could not find him snow boots so I bought him a pair of rain boots which he loves. Eli has always loved looking at the boots when we go to the store or when I put my boots on so he loves his little frog boots. He likes to put them on every time he sees them.

I accidentally tipped Eli over. After that he was mad at my and only wanted Ale Ray to take him down the hill. Oh yeah I thought of just pulling him around near the end man I wish I would have thought of that sooner. It was so much easier and he loved that too!