Camping in Washington

Last week Ellie and I drove all the way to Washington to go camping with my family. Unfortunately, Greg didn't go because he had to work, which we were really sad about. He and Lindsay were the only ones not there. :( The drive took 14 hours to get to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Monroe, WA, which is about 30 minutes from Seattle. Ellie did amazingly well, but she only slept a total of about an hour and a half out of the 14 hours! I don't know why she does not sleep in cars. Once again, thank you Baby Einstein for keeping my baby entertained!

The next morning we drove another 2 hours up to the gorgeous Cascades to go camping there. Our campsite was so beautiful. The forests there are so thick and green. We camped Monday - Thursday and had so much spending time with my family. Ellie slept like a champ the entire time, but was sad because all she wanted to do was crawl around. Luckily, I went to DI before we left to get her some clothes that I really didn't care if she got dirty. I let her crawl around a couple of times and she was in heaven, but this was the result...

I laid down that blue tarp for her to crawl on, but all she would do was head straight for the dirt. I eventually gave up and let her roam all over the campsite.

On Tuesday we decided to go for what I thought was a nice leisure hike. Keep in mind that we had 7 little kids ages 6 and under. Well I must have forgot that my brother, Wes, is a major mountain climber (he just climbed Mt. Ranier!) and his idea of a leisure hike is completely different than my idea. He wanted to do a 6 miler, but the road was closed so that 6 miler would have turned into 8 miles. We all decided against that for obvious reasons and went on a different hike instead. Here is Ellie and I right before we began.

Before we started we noticed A LOT of flies everywhere. I thought they would go away once we started hiking, but I was wrong. The hike was really pretty, but the flies ruined it. Seriously everyone started going crazy. I'm pretty sure that the only child that didn't cry was my nephew, Jacob. There were biting flies too which bit a couple of people including my poor little niece. She freaked out and wanted to turn around. I wanted to too, but nobody else did for some crazy reason so we kept on going. Finally everyone had enough of the constant cloud of flies flying around each of us, so we turned around. It was so nice to get back in the car with AC and NO flies!!

Anyway, we had tons of fun up there! I love being in the outdoors because it reminds me of camping with my mom and dad when we were little. We drove back to Utah on Friday. Ellie took one 30 minute nap and then slept from 9 -10 p.m. We didn't get in until 3 a.m. which means she was up from 10 until 3 a.m.! I put her right to bed and she didn't wake up the next day until 12:15. We are back to normal life now and done with vacations for a while. Thanks family for going and making the trip fun! Now I know that I can camp with a baby and without my husband, but I would much rather do it with him!

Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon

This morning Marie and I ran the Bryce Canyon Half-Marathon!! I have been training for it for a couple of months now and am so glad it is over! The race was beautiful and the first 6 miles went by so fast because it was pretty much all down hill. The last 7 were killer and I wanted to quit so many times, but I didn't and finished in my goal time which I was happy about. Thanks Marie for training with me and encouraging me when I wanted to quit which was pretty much every day. :)

The day before we went on a hike to this cool little waterfall. It was fun and beautiful but REALLY hot!

Another AZ Trip!

Last week Ellie and I went to Arizona with my Aunt Shirl, cousin Austin, and my sister Marie and her two girls. It was fun to spend time with my family again. Marie took Ellie swimming and she still is not a fan of it. I don't know why because she LOVES bath time. I think maybe there is too much water and she doesn't know what to do with it.

Ellie is obsessed with Marie's girls. She gets really excited every time she sees them. Kalie came up to Ellie while she was in the high chair and made Ellie crack up.

The reason why we went down to AZ was to go see the musical WICKED!!!! I have been dying to see it and it did not disappoint me. I loved every second of it and almost started crying when it was over because I was so sad for it to end. I brought my camera, but didn't take any pictures. Oops! I can't wait to see it again and hopefully that won't be too far away.

Poor Ellie started cutting 3 more teeth while we were down there, which brings her total to 10! She is getting her second molar right now and all I have to say is bless Motrin! Hopefully the teeth will come in all the way soon so I can get our happy little Ellie back.

Peek-A-Boo

Ellie finally started to play peek-a-boo with me today. She was so excited about it that she even did it for the camera! (You might want to turn down the volume a little so my shrieking voice doesn't hurt your ears.)

Happy Birthday!!

My baby turned ONE on June 11th! I cannot believe that a whole year has already gone by since we brought her home from the hospital. I remember thinking after the first week of having her home that we made it a week and we were all still alive. I'm glad that we've made it one year with our little drama queen! Ellie is "crawling" all over the place these days, but still not bearing any weight. I called Kids on the Move (physical therapy for kids), but I'm still waiting to hear back from them. They are going to come to our house to assess her and then hopefully will have some good ideas to help her use her legs. The doctor did not have an explanation for why she is not bearing weight because usually babies that can't bear weight can't crawl, sit up, etc. She can do all of those so we know it is not a muscle tone problem. I think it is an attitude problem and the doctor said that is probably what the case is. Oh Ellie...

Anyway, we had a little birthday party for her at the park with some of her friends.

Here are the babies chillin on the blanket.

Gracie and Ellie playing with some of her new fun toys!

My Little Beauty

A fabulous girl in my ward, Shannon Hadden, took some adorable pictures of Ellie last week for me. They are her 12 month pictures and I'm in love with them. Here are a couple of my favorites.

I loved Shannon and would recommend her to anyone! She has a blog with some of her work if you want to check it out. http://shannonhaddenphotography.blogspot.com/

I'm taking her to her 12 month check-up tomorrow so I'll update again with her stats and what the doctor says about her non-bearing weight legs.

Look Who Is Moving

Ellie FINALLY starting moving forward on Friday! (Yes she is 11 months old just in case you were wondering.) She has been good at the backward thing and going in circles, but never could really get the forward thing down. :) On Friday the crawl was really awkward and looked like it took a lot of effort. It looks a little less awkward today, but she still is kind of slow at it. I'm so excited that she has learned how to move because she seems to be a lot happier now that she is a little bit more independent. Now if she can only get the bearing weight thing down...

(Sorry the video is a little long and you have to hear my voice.)