6 Months

Oh, our little baby girl is growing up! Although she is displaying some stronger lung power when she's upset, she is still just a sweet Ellie Anne through and through, bringing such happiness and tenderness to our family.

She still loves most of all to be held and cuddled and tickled and talked to. She's also liking to follow us around in her walker, play with crinkly toys, try out some new foods (carrots, sweet potatoes, rice cereal...), touch our faces, go outside, touch and hold and teeth new things and wiggle and wiggle and scoot all around.

I am amazed at how quickly this little one has grown from a newborn to this precious baby girl stage of learning and exploring and moving... what a dear one this Ellie is!

( I love this crazy hair-do and her sweet, bright eyes! :)

Super-Dad

Taking care of Landon and Ellie and making dinner! :)

More Omnigraffle Fun :)

I had fun this morning making some b-day invites for Landon w/ Omnigraffle and trying to get a hang of the bezier lines. Landon let me know a couple of months ago that he was going to have an elephant birthday cake at his party, so I made invites to match. Here's a cute little elephant I made to practice. :)

Ward Campout

We had a really fun time at our ward campout this past weekend. It was the first time I had been actual camping since I was a kid (except for girls camp) and we just had a great time. Landon loved playing on the playground and in the sandbox and especially sitting on all of the big rocks --We woke up freezing in the night, so we all squished together and finally got some nice cozy warm sleep. I had to grab Jordan's phone to get some pics of this sweet scene when I woke up.
A fun morning walk/run along the road by the campsite (this was a great campground - basically just a park off the canyon road next to the Spanish Fork river w/ nice, clean bathrooms even and beautiful surroundings.)
And the highlight of the campout - throwing rocks in the river... :)

In the mail this weekend...

Jordan's long-awaited Zubbles -- 'the world's first colored bubbles!'

Jordan read about these a few years ago and has been watching for them to finally come out and on Saturday he got his order, part of the very first batch shipped. Pretty fun to see these blue and purple bubbles floating around. :)

Why Worry?

Landon's just entering the "Why?" phase these days...

Today we were on a rollerblading adventure and Jordan was bracing me to go down the hills on the river trail tunnels. Landon asked why he was doing that and I told him I was a little scared to go down the hills, so Daddy was helping me to be careful. So the next why question was "Why were you scared Mommy? Was there a lion?"

If only I could give up all my worries for those of my little 2-year old. (Of course, knowing what I know now like the likelihood of a lion on the river trail. :)

'Kids and Cones' event

Jordan gave me some time off after work today and took the kids over to the park for a Broadweave's 'Kids and Cones' event. Landon got quite a workout jumping and bouncing in the 'Light n'queen' play place and (as you can see) loved his ice cream. :)

Family Night at the Bean Museum

Last week for Family Home Evening, we went to the Bean Museum where they had a little presentation about different types of reptiles w/ a few live animals for the kids to touch and feel. Pretty fun to look at snakes and lizards with my little boy. :)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a super fun and action-packed weekend celebrating Independence Day. We had a great family BBQ on Friday night w/ my Mom, Dan, Kel, and Nathan complete w/ some yummy food, a game of croquet, and some fireworks in the street (Landon kept his ears covered for the whole show... :)

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and rollerbladed over for the balloon festival launch (where Landon again kept his ears covered for the whole show...),

followed by the Macey's french toast breakfast, a little break at home then another rollerblading trip over to catch the end of the parade.

After some good long naps, we checked out the Freedom Festival booths downtown where we got some delicious Tucano's food and watched a "Scales and Tails" show w/ lots of cool animals. Landon brought a bucket full of toys, and was so content to sit in the stroller and hold on to his treasures that we really even got to look at all of the booths and take our time seeing all the fun things.

A happy time with our little family!

Independence Day Notes and Quotes

I gave a talk last Sunday in church about the Constitution (based on President Benson's 'Our Divine Constitution'). Reading this talk and others he wrote, I've really felt like this is pretty important stuff, more than I've realized in the past. Mostly, that it really is critical to be doing whatever we can to promote those things that are right and to take action in whatever way possible to protect the freedoms we have. Here's some great quotes from his talk that especially stood out to me. (Everything below is quoted from 'Our Divine Constitution' or another talk by President Benson printed in the Ensign a few months prior.)

First and foremost, we must be righteous.

• John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

• We must live the gospel principles—all of them. We have no right to expect a higher degree of morality from those who represent us than what we ourselves exhibit. To live a higher law means:

• we will not seek to receive what we have not earned by our own labor.
• It means we will remember that government owes us nothing.

Second, we must learn the principles of the Constitution in the tradition of the Founding Fathers.

• As Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free … it expects what never was and never will be.
• Have we read the Constitution and pondered it? Are we aware of its principles? Could we defend it? Can we recognize when a law is constitutionally unsound?

Third, we must become involved in civic affairs to see that we are properly represented.

• As citizens of this republic, we cannot do our duty and be idle spectators. It is vital that we follow this counsel from the Lord: “Honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.” (D&C 98:10.) Note the qualities that the Lord demands in those who are to represent us. They must be good, wise, and honest.

Fourth, we must make our influence felt by our vote, our letters, our teaching, and our advice.

• We must become accurately informed and then let others know how we feel. The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound. ‘Tis right, politically, for a man who has influence to use it

We, the blessed beneficiaries, face difficult days in this beloved land, “a land which is choice above all other lands.” (Ether 2:10.) It may also cost us blood before we are through. It is my conviction, however, that when the Lord comes, the Stars and Stripes will be floating on the breeze over this people. May it be so, and may God give us the faith and the courage exhibited by those patriots who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor that we might be free, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen

Amazing!

I got a haircut today with a girl Jordan's been telling me to go see since we got married... and I was amazed. She cut, dried, and straightened my hair in 35 minutes! (I've never dried OR straightened my hair in less than an hour). In Jordan and Landon's words -- "Wowsers!" What a relief -- after 3 months of a ponytail every single day thanks to a crazy haircut, I'm so happy to have normal hair again! (And I'm convinced that I need to start saving for a 'ghd' flat irontoo! :)

"I want a new tummy Mommy!"

A conversation with a hungry Landon on our way home from some errands this evening -->

Landon: I'm not liking my tummy very much right now. I want a new tummy Mommy!

Me: What's wrong with your tummy Landon?

Landon: It's feeling really bad. I want a new tummy.

Wings of Freedom Tour

This was such a fun event. It's a traveling tour of WWII aircraft that came to the Provo airport - on display along w/ several other airplanes, helicopters, etc. Two of Landon's best friends from the ward were there, so Landon had a blast getting to climb in the airplanes and helicopters next to Jackson and Josh, watch the planes take off and land, and enjoy a hot dog picnic too. Very, very fun! :)

Last day of tumbling class

Where's Landon? (Notice all the little girls sitting nicely on their rugs... :)
Super Fantastic Dive Jumper-->

A human pyramid w/ 2 and 3-year-olds...

They had a fun last day of class today w/ an obstacle course (super for Landon who LOVES to run and jump and dive!) and some great races. It's been fun to see Landon so proud to practice and show off his new 'tricks' and activities learned in his class. Today I noticed more than ever how he wanted to show off all his great spins and jumps to his teacher. Jordan and Ellie came to watch today too and at one point Landon went and grabbed his teachers hand and pulled her over to Ellie to say, "Look! That's my baby sister. Her name's Ellie!"