What's Up?

Just a little update on what we are up to these days...

Eric - He is working hard and stressing out. Really, what else would you expect from this guy? He recently opened a new office in a small town about 30 minutes from our house. I think it is going to be a good thing, and he is really enjoying it so far (I think...:)...) He is excited for the collage football season and has been cheering on our beloved Buc

keyes! GO BUCKS! Abbey and Ela are enjoying learning the O-H... I-O chant and Eric is such a proud daddy when they get it right.

Abbey - She started preschool about a month ago and is loving it. She has gotten over the separation anxiety and it has made it much easier on both of us. Her favorite thing to do right now it stay stay up late (REALLY late) and rearrange her bedroom. She makes it in to some sort of "office" - last time it was a dental office and she checked my teeth, so I guess I am good for another 6 months, right? She also enjoys creating "classrooms" where she is the teacher and gives me a lesson or reads me a book. She is a happy and healthy little

girl that is WAY to smart for her age. She cracks me up everyday because she seriousl

y talks like an adult.

Ela - She is two, that's all I have to say... HA! She is talking more and more and mimics everything Abbey does. Her favorite thing right now is Dora and she loves to sing the song "Dowa Dowa de Espowa" at the top of her lungs. She loves to be held and cuddled when she watches cartoons.

Me - I am a mom, that's all!

No, I just completed an online photography class and it was amaz

ing. I learned how much I really didn't know about photography. I joined a gym with a couple of good friends and it has been kicking my butt! I am loving it - such a great way to start the day. I have also been getting my craft on lately and made some pretty cute Halloween decorations:)

We are all looking forward to our upcoming DISNEYLAND vacay with Eric's family - YAY!!! My parents are coming to visit at the end of October - YAY, YAY! A good friend and her sweet boys are coming to visit in November (SO EXCITED!!!) And I just booked our flights to Utah for Christmas! Not a bad way to finish out the end of the year, eh?

And of course, what's a blog post without some pictures of my sweeties? These are both from my recent photog class. Final assignment was to pull it all together and take one great shot. I picked the one of Abbey to share with my class, but the one of Ela is too cute to not share with someone. She is so sick of me taking pictures, can you tell? And I am very proud to say that these are completely unedited pictures:) Well, I cropped the one of Abbey is all.

Wow - they look very orangey on here, huh?

Ela is TWO!!!

Sorry to those of you that would like to have updates from our family, I am SO horrible at blogging! I try and catch the big events from time to time like... ELA TURNING TWO!!! What? My little girl is getting so big:(

Ela is such a funny little girl. She has a very strong personality and is extremely determined. She is the daredevil of our family and is constantly pushing any and every boundary she can. She has started talking more and more since we took her binky away during the days. I have even caught her saying 4-5 word sentences! It amazes me how much she is learning so quickly, but she has a very smart older sister that keep her on her toes. Abbey and Ela can be super sweet to each other, but for the most part, they don't get along. Ela really knows how to push Abbey's buttons to make her cry then quickly run away. I am hoping they will grow out of that soon! I am so thankful for my sweet little girls and the joy the bring to my life!

Boutique Clothing

I had the opportunity to take picture for this online clothing boutique. Her stuff is gorgeous, you have to check it out!!!

March Updates

Because I am so behind on posting I thought I would update by month rather than individual events. Here is MARCH in about 10 pictures...

My mom and dad came to visit us for Abbey's birthday and we had a ton of fun with them. The girls were so excited to have them visit and sleep in our house! We went to Wisconsin Dells for Ab's birthday and had a blast!

The girls at Wisconsin Dells taking a little swim. I didn't get any pictures of the indoor waterpark we went to, but it was huge! Eric and I were able to go on all the slides while my parents watched the girls, we even got to take the girls on some of the big raft/tube ones. They loved it!

We had a pond right outside our back door and there were TONS of ducks. They girls loved going out to feed them... bare feet and all. Oh, did I mention it was freezing cold? Ela doesn't care.

Going out to eat is something we all enjoy way too much! I love not having to cook and clean. Thanks mom and dad for all the fun!! We love you!!!

Our stake had a roadshow this year and my friend talked me into being part of it. We had a very short, no-liner part :) Just what I like. We were Dr. Suess WHO characters, just in case you couldn't tell. It was tons of fun to dress up like a dork and I got a lot of stares while I was driving to the school, so funny!

Cute little Abbey WHO.

Abbey got to celebrate her birthday for about 2 weeks straight. We went to the Dells, ate at about 5-6 different restaurants and had a little party at our house. My good friend, Shara, made this adorable cake. Seriously, it was amazing and it tasted great! Abbey didn't stop talking about it for about a week, she loved it!

Cute little cupcakes to go with the cake.

Happy 3rd Birthday sweetie! Stop growing so fast... we love you!!!

Family Pictures

Okay, I am WAY behind on posting, but I wanted to get these up. I will catch up on the last few months THIS week...or next - haha!! Some good friends of our snapped a few family photos this weekend for us, thanks Shara and Trevor (and J)!! Some of them I took, some of them they took but they all turned out really great! And, we got to play with my new lens which was really fun:)

Thank you! Shara and Trevor for taking our pictures!

Oh and this guy...

I was going to add him to the last post, but I forgot to upload it first and I wanted it last and I just didn't want to deal with it all, SO... he gets his own post! We saw him while we were shooting family pics. The kids loved it! Cool huh?

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Say Cheese!

This is Abbey's new favorite thing to do... take pictures! I have been practicing a lot lately with my camera and really figuring how to use it in full manual mode. We were at the mall the other day and Abbey saw these cute little princess cameras and asked if she could get one so she could take pictures with mommy. I couldn't resist, so I bought her and Ela one (I've learned it is just easier to get two of the same toy rather than fight with two toddlers over one toy :)!

She's almost a pro!

Here's Ela giving sweet bear kisses. I love how just her bottom lip is sticking out. I would say this bear missed out... usually she gives open mouth slobber kisses. Too bad for him!

Utah Trip

Our trip to Utah this Christmas was TONS of fun and super busy. I wasn't able to do a few things I would have liked to do... I guess I'll just have to come back and visit again! Here is a picture run-down of all the fun things we were able to do...

Dallin turned 8 - YAY! We were able to go to his birthday bowling party. I didn't even get a picture of the birthday boy, but you can see him in the above pictures in the Santa hat. My girl's had a great time bowling with their cousins.

SNOW! We love the snow and didn't get to play in it as much as I would have liked, but it was fun when we got the chance.

Eric and I went to his little brother's concert - WOW! It was in a place called "The Basement" and it looked liked one, and smelled like sweaty boys, haha! It was crazy and the music was SO loud. Our ears were ringing until the next afternoon. It was fun to see Ben and his band perform, they did a great job!

Ela was sick pretty much all of our vacation and spent a lot of time relaxin' around my parents house. She was really living it up and getting the most out of her vacation!

Abbey had 6AM tea parties with my mom almost every morning. My mom knows how much I love my sleep and took the girls every morning so I could sleep in. Abbey loved being able to call out for grandma from her room and made sure grandma remembered it was tea party time.

I was able to meet one of my best friend's baby girl, Fern. She was actually born while I was in Utah over the summer, but was in the NICU while I was there. What a sweet and adorable baby girl! Wish I was closer so I could visit them more often.

The Polar Express on the Heber Creeper!! Abbey had the time of her life and was so excited to go, especially since her cousins (Kaden and Dallin) came with us. When Abbey was asked by the elves what she wanted for Christmas, she replied, "hot chocolate and a cookie." Looks like all her wishes came true because that's exactly what they served! I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. It wasn't as interactive as I thought it would be, but it was still fun to watch Abbey enjoy it so much.

She held on to her bell from Santa super tight and was a little sad when it was time to leave. Thanks mom and dad for a great evening!

We spent Christmas Eve at my in-laws house enjoying great food (as always) and visiting with grandparents. This is a wonderful tradition that Eric's parents do every year and we LOVE it! We read a Christmas story after dinner and then read from the scriptures so we can remember the real meaning of Christmas and the spirit of the season.

Christmas morning with Santa's gifts. When Abbey woke up she asked if she could have a tea party. I was shocked she had forgotten it was Christmas morning and that Santa had come during the night, she rarely forgets anything we tell her. Ela was sick, of course, and it took her a while to get up and play with her toys.

Later Christmas morning the rest of my family came over so we could open gifts from my parents and each other. After that we had the best breakfast EVER! Every year my parents put together an amazing breakfast for everyone. There is usually between 20-25 people. I absolutely love this tradition, it's so delicious!

Dallin's baptism! It was so great that we could be in town for this. Abbey and Ela sat up close for the baptism and I think they were a little confused about what was going on, but it was a great teaching opportunity. Isn't Dallin such a handsome little guy? (Kaden too!) We're so proud of you Dallin!

This was our last night... dinner at Rovali's (YUM!) with Eric's and my family - PERFECT! The girls really enjoyed this night and spent most of dinner running circles around the table and giving everyone loves.

We sure had a great vacation and miss every TONS! Thanks everyone for all the fun memories! Love ya!