Videos of Leah

I know I promised these videos a lot sooner, so forgive me for the delay. Here they are. The first one is of Leah eating yogurt by yourself. She doesn't make a total mess, but she does put her spoon upside down so she can eat it off and sometimes the yogurt falls down. But we're trying to work with her to hold her spoon right side up. You can also hear her say Ma, Ma and Da, Da at the very first.




While Leah was brushing her teeth the other day, I managed to get her hair into pigtails for the first time. She didn't keep them in after the video was shot, but I at least I have proof the first time her hair was put into pig tails. I hope it continues to grow so I can do more hairstyle in the future. Also, her hair looks a little red in the videos, but I think it's just the lighting. Her hair color is a light brown with maybe some hints of red in it.

Leah's first hairstyle

Today while Leah was playing at the sink and brushing her teeth, I put her hair in pig tails for the first time. Usually she doesn't like me playing with her hair. Sometimes I can distract her long enough to get a clip in her hair, but she will take it out soon after. So I was pretty proud when I got those rubber bands in her hair, and they stayed in her hair for about 30 minutes until she tried putting something on her head. I need to get smaller rubber bands for her so it doesn't take so long to wrap around her little strands of hair.

Logan and I both agreed that this hairstyle made her look much older. I have a video of her brushing her teeth, and I have finally posted it and along with the yogurt one.

More snow pictures

We got another winter storm last weekend, and it came with piles of snow. We also had some more today before Logan came home from work. It was really fun to wake up and see snow last Saturday covering everything and then see snow start to fall and fall and fall. It didn't stop all day. Our ward had a Christmas breakfast on Saturday, and Leah kept only eating the grapes at the party. She also wanted to run around and watch all the kids run around. Our primary kids put on a lovely program of the Nativity story, and it was fun to watch them all dressed up in their costumes.

Later that day we drove up Salt Lake to spend some time with Logan's parents. We got to visit my Grandpa while we were in Salt Lake, who is my only grandparent still living. He was very delighted that we came to visit him and insisted that he show us lots of pictures of family. It was fun to spend time with him and hear the stories of he and my grandma when they were first married.

We also attended Logan's parents' ward Christmas party and afterwards, we watched a barbershop choir concert until we had to leave to get Leah home to bed.

I had fun taking pictures of the snow and here are two of the ones I took. Even though I don't like the snow to stay all winter, I do love to see it covering all the trees and the ground. It makes everything seem so fresh and clean.

Let it Snow!

Sorry I'm a little slow about posting our pictures of the snow we got last weekend. It was quite exciting to wake up in the morning and see the ground, trees, and everything outside covered in snow. And it's been warmer this season than I expected so getting snow was fun and has made it feel more like Christmas.

I got up early with Leah that morning and didn't even notice there was snow until about an hour after I woke up. I was so excited I had to go wake up Logan immediately (even though I usually let him sleep in on weekends) so he could see it too.

Leah went outside to experience the snow for her first time, and she didn't really like standing in it because she couldn't really walk unless we helped. So we carried her around for the most part. And we didn't really have a lot of snow gear to put her in so she just wore lots of layers.

It didn't only snow overnight, but it continued to snow throughout the whole day until late in the afternoon. We had plans to drive up to Sandy for the Festival of Trees that day, but we didn't feel like driving through the snow and dragging Leah along. So we stayed home and made Christmas sugar cookies with red and green frosting. We also picked up Logan's sister Kelcy to hang out for the day, watched the spectacular game BYU played against San Diego State and ordered pizza for dinner.

I think we're supposed to have snow again this weekend so I hope our plans of going up to Salt Lake woke be canceled again. We''ll just have to brave and very careful while traveling.

Celebrating our anniversary and Thanksgiving

Once again, I have gotten behind in my blogging. I guess my desire to blog has gone down now that I've been finding really great books to read. I must get you all caught up on what's been going on with us. I forgot to mention earlier that Logan and I spent the first weekend in November in Park City for a early anniversary celebration. We knew that the holidays would be busy and going somewhere for our anniversary in December would be hard.

So we dropped Leah off at Logan's parents in Salt Lake and headed over to Park City. It was quiet this time of year so we enjoyed shopping at the Outlet mall, going to the movies, and going out to eat. We didn't have to worry about Leah's nap schedule or how to keep her entertained. It was so great to relax and sleep in (even though the bed wasn't as comfortable as our bed at home, but we did have another T.V. in our bedroom). We stayed in a nice condo with a big screen T.V. and a newly furnished kitchen.

Although I missed Leah terribly by the second day we were gone, I knew she was in good hands and sleeping well at her grandparents' house. On our way back home, we stopped at the Provo Temple and did a session since it had been several weeks since our last temple visit. Then Logan's parents brought Leah back in time for us all to watch the BYU football game. It was a great weekend.

Our Thanksgiving was also relaxing even though Logan only got one day off. We stuffed ourselves at his parents' house and let Leah follow around their three cats until they ran away from her. His parents once again stepped up for us and kept Leah that Friday and part of Saturday. Logan had to work some on Friday, but we were able to go out for lunch and see a movie (The Bourne Ultimatum, sooo good) that night. I was also able to get our Christmas tree up without Leah getting into everything. Haley and I watched the What Not to Wear marathon while I put up the tree. It was great to be child free for a day.

So far Leah has been careful with the tree. She did try to rip open some presents I set underneath it, but we had a talk and she hasn't bothered them since. I'm so glad I don't have to be worried all the time about it. And in honor of the Christmas season, I put Santa hats on Leah and myself and attempted to get a good picture but she never sits still long enough for the camera to take. So here's the best one I got. Maybe I'll try again later.

I put some pictures of Leah on our Flickr page so please check them out.

From Drab to FAB

Before:







After:

As you can see, I just got my hair cut again. I was really needing something new since my hair was getting long and hard to style. I'm liking the new hair do, and it's a lot easier to wash and dry. It's just what I needed before the holidays.

Who is this guy?

I forgot to post this

Here is a video of Leah eating her first birthday cake. As you will see, she didn't really like it even though it had bananas. To this day, she still doesn't like anything cakey (like cookies, pancakes, muffins, or cupcakes). I guess we don't have to worry that she loves junk food. Enjoy!

Leah cruising and her new pajamas

Here is Leah running around the house today. I tried to back up fast enough but she kept running towards me. The bottom video is Leah with her new pajamas on. The feet are really big so they get turned around and look like clown feet.

I'm a slacker

Was Halloween really the last time I blogged? Forgive me, folks. The days go by so fast, especially when you're reading the Twilight books (so good by the way). I just barely finished the last one, Eclipse, last week which is a big accomplishment considering each one is over 500 pages. I just couldn't put them down. Another reason I haven't blogged is because every time I sit down to the computer, Leah wants to jump up on my lap. Just recently she was introduced to funny homemade videos on YouTube with dogs and cats doing funny things. She was obsessed with watching them. So after she threw multiple fits when we told her no, we banned the videos and are now limiting our computer time to when she's asleep. We can't believe she's a YouTube junkie, and she's only just one. (Excuse the major pile of mess in our office area. It needs some serious cleanup.)

I also haven't blogged lately because every time I think about doing it, I feel like there's so much to catch up on that it would take forever. I know - too many excuses and I realize I don't need to fill you in on every little detail of our lives.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving, even though Logan only has that day off and has to go back to work on Friday. I guess there's hardly any time off when you're a working man on salary. But we have lots of fun Christmas events planned every weekend between now and when we fly to Texas in December. 'Tis the Season!

Halloween: Ladybug edition

Leah made an adorable ladybug this year for Halloween. My mom even sent her the ladybug dress she's wearing in the pictures, and Logan's mom gave her the costume to wear for Halloween. She looked cute in both.




Last night we went to a church Halloween party where Leah and I were matching ladybugs. She didn't want to wear her headband, so I put them on instead.

Then today we went to Logan's work and trick-or-treated to the different desks at the Daily Herald. Everyone commented how cute she was, and I would have to agree. She was nervous at first when strangers approached her with candy (she still has stranger danger). But when she saw all the colorful wrappers in the bowls, she just couldn't resist. We got to enjoy the candy since she'll too small to chew them.

Tonight she also enjoyed opening the door to the kids treat-or-treating at our house. She would wave bye-bye when they were leaving, usually after we closed the door. And after she got out of the bath tub our door bell rang, and she wanted to come see who it was. Logan had to rein her in since she was still naked and wet. Overall, our little ladybug had a fun Halloween.

Happy Halloween: Pumpkin Edition

(Disclaimer: no one was harmed in the carving of pumpkins. The people in the pictures are professional actors. Okay, so not professional but they were acting.)

Since you've already seen Leah's costume, I will let you know what else we've been doing to celebrate Halloween. Last Saturday, we had a knife party, I mean a carving pumpkin party with Logan's brother and his wife along with another couple from church. Logan made pumpkin pie and also helped me make my favorite fall beverage besides hot chocolate, hot apple wassail. This recipe comes straight from my mom's kitchen where she made it every fall and winter while I was growing up (even if it didn't get all that cold in Texas). Our friends from church brought some dirt and worms from their house for dessert as well (it was actually Oreo cookies and ice cream mixed together with some gummy worms).

Here's the recipe for wassail if any of you are interested in trying it out:

Ingredients: 2 quarts of apple juice or cider, 2 Tablespoons whole cloves, 7-8 whole cinnamon sticks, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 3 oranges or orange juice.

Instructions: Mix sugar and water in a small sauce pan. Dissolve the sugar and boil. Add the cloves and cinnamon sticks. Boil for 7 or 8 mins with lid on. Strain out the cloves and cinnamon sticks (set out to dry and reuse). Put this liquid in a large pan, and add the 2 quarts of apple juice. Add fresh juice from 2 squeezed oranges or add orange juice. Cut the third orange in slices without the peel and add for garnish. Cook until hot and ready.

After we all figured out what we wanted to carve, we set out to work on our pumpkins. The hardest part I had forgotten about was scraping out the insides and trying to get all that spaghetti-like stuff to detach from the pumpkin. My arm got a workout during the process.

And as you can see Logan's pumpkin is a skull with some flames coming off of it, which he thoroughly enjoyed carving. And mine displays a cat with a waning moon. Logan added that he thinks everyone should get Halloween off of work. And I have to show both of Braden and Haley's pumpkins because they were so funny and creative. Braden's is the face (sketched of his own face) and Haley's is the spider of the lower left hand corner. If you can't already tell, we had a blast.

Halloween costume and snow

A couple of weeks ago Leah got dressed up in her Halloween costume for a birthday party, and I just have to post the picture even though it's not Halloween yet. Logan's cousin Natalie had a birthday party for her son whose birthday is just a month and a half after Leah's, and it's on my brother Drew's birthday so I can remember from now on. At the party, I tried to get her to wear her headband but she kept taking it off. Oh well, she's still a little young to know what it's for. She didn't mind wearing the rest of the outfit and looked pretty cute, I might add. Logan and I both agreed that she looks so grown up in her costume.

I also wanted to show pictures of the snow we received just this past weekend. We were watching BYU give a beating to Eastern Washington, and the snow started coming down in a flurry. By the time we woke up the next morning, it had stuck to the ground and covered the tops of most of everything outside. The sad part was the sun came out that afternoon and melted almost all of it. But at least we could enjoy it that morning and it didn't stay and freeze on the ground.

Crazy Hair

Leah likes to rub her hands in her hair after she has eaten bananas or strawberries or any other fingers foods. And on this particular day she was getting her hair really sticky and gooey so I took a warm washcloth and tried to get it out. And it made her hair poke out in all directions. (Her hair didn't look much different when she was rubbing food in it).

This next picture was taken this morning when she woke up with a bad case of bed head. And once she'll sleep on her hair funny, it's hard to get it to stay down. She usually wakes up with some form of bed head in the morning, but you can usually get it to lay down if it's not too bad. I can't wait until she's old enough with long enough hair so I can fix it everyday. I'm sure it won't always be exciting if she refuses to let me do it. But I'm hoping we'll both enjoy it.

The last picture is one I took last Sunday when her hair was cooperating. I dressed her for church and had a few minutes to spare so we took some photos outside. We were out in the front yard where she likes to smell the flowers and pick them off the stem. It was a pretty bright day so I couldn't get a good smile. Her Grandma M gave her this dress for her birthday. It's really cute.

Celebrating Fall

I know it's been awhile since my last post so I'll try and catch you all up on what we've been doing. I can't believe it's already October, and the leaves have been turning colors all around us. We finally had a chance to enjoy them during Conference weekend (Oct. 5-6). Logan's parents rented a condo in Eden, UT for his family to gather to watch Conference. Eden is in a beautiful little valley tucked away in the mountains. We woke up Saturday to huge flakes falling outside, but it didn't snow enough to stay too long on the ground. There is a ski resort called Powder Mountain just a few minutes away, so Logan and I took a drive to see the falls leaves and the snow covered pine trees. It was fun to leave Leah with her grandparents while we drove up the canyon. We even stopped along the road to take pictures.

Another activity we have enjoyed this fall was this past Friday where we picked pumpkins at the Big Red Barn, just 30 minutes south in Santaquin, UT. Logan had an article in the Herald a couple of weeks ago about all the Halloween activities happening in Utah County. So I have been wanting to go pick pumpkins since then. After Logan got done with work, we drove down there and were amazed at how big the barn really was. They have a store inside where they sell all kinds of fruit preserves, candy, fudge, ice cream, apples, apple cider and so on. Outside we waited for the tractor to pull up for the hay ride. You jump into the trailer and the tractor takes you on a hay ride over to the pumpkin patch. We weren't actually sitting on bails of hay, but it was still fun to imagine. Here's us on the tractor ride.

Even more fun was taking Leah to see all the pumpkins. She couldn't walk around too much because the ground was a little uneven and tangled with branches. But she loved patting the pumpkins and enjoyed being outside. After looking over a large part of field, we found two big pumpkins nice enough to carve, and one smaller pumpkin for Leah. You can see two of the three pumpkins we found to the right of Leah. Overall, we had a wonderful time and want to make this a tradition for years to come.

Our future fashion star

Leah's new favorite thing is bringing clothes and her bear to us to put the clothes on. When you start putting the clothes on she gets really excited that we understood her and are doing what she asked. Then she'll carry the bear everywhere with its new outfit.

I think she's going to be the next Stacy London from What Not to Wear (for all of you who watch TLC know what I'm talking about), though she'll be cuter and a little nicer when others are making fashion mistakes. She's on her way to the top!

Here's Leah enjoying her new design. She knows she's made a masterpiece.

P.S. She's a lot happier than yesterday. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

She had a bad day

Leah woke up happy and her normal self this morning, and I thought "Today is going to be a good day." She didn't wake up too early like she normally does (which is around 6 or 6:30 a.m.) and allowed us to sleep in. We had a rough day yesterday, and I thought nothing could get worse.

That was until she woke up unexpectedly after only 30 minutes of napping. I was finishing up in the shower and had to hurry and dry off before I went in there. I found her crying in her crib over a pile of throw up.

We fed her some eggs this morning for breakfast, and it was the first time she ever had eggs. So we thought that was probably what set her off. She also has had diarrhea lately so her stomach probably not feeling the best. I changed about three full messy diapers this afternoon and one leaked out on to her pants.

This picture was taken after she tripped on the carpet and bonked her face on our office chair. I'm probably a bad mom for taking this picture while she was crying, but I wanted to have a picture to show you all how my day went today. Luckily she has been very happy the rest of the day when she's not throwing up, tripping and falling, or messing her diapers.

We're hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Which Jane Austen heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Let's face it, you're easily persuaded, especially when faced with choices that are or aren't 'the Elliot way.' But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly.

Playing with mommy's make-up

Leah's new favorite activity is playing in my make-up bag. She'll spot it on the shelf in our bathroom and point to it like she wants it. Then she'll pull out the blush and eye shadow one by one to examine it. She usually likes the blush brush (try to say that three times quickly) and sticks it up to her nose to smell it like a flower. She will try to sneak it in her mouth if I'm not looking.

She's seen me do it enough that she knows that it goes on your face, but I'm just afraid that she'll get it all over the place so we usually play together so I can closely monitor.One day I wasn't paying attention and she got blush all over her face and the brush was all slobbery after she had it in her mouth.

When Logan came home from work yesterday, she saw it and wanted to play with it so I had to grab the camera. She is trying to apply eye shadow to Logan's eye in the first picture. I know she's a long way off from wearing make-up but it's scary to think that one day she'll want to wear make up to look cute and impress boys. I try not to think about it.

Bust out the warm clothes

Happy Fall, ya'll (says my mom's sign that she puts out in her yard every fall). We are now experiencing a drop in temperatures, especially at night. I had to dig down into our other closet to find our coats and then find a place to hang them with our limited closet space. We also pulled out our warm comforter to put on our bed since it's been getting so cold at night, and turn on our furnace now every morning.

I guess I experienced such warm temperatures this summer that the cold air has brought a mix of feelings. I'm happy that it's not 90+ degrees anymore, but at the same time I'm not really ready for the coldness that we experience every morning. Maybe I'm just too far removed from Chicago now, and I've forgotten what it means to be cold. I probably shouldn't complain too much because during the day the temperature is perfect (it's supposed to be a high of 70 degrees today), and it makes me excited for the all the upcoming fall activities and a change in a season.

I finally updated our blog

I have to apologize for not blogging in a while. Last week I was working on the First Year video that I just posted on our blog (so check it out). And I guess that's the only reason I haven't blogged. I don't know where the time has gone. It feels like she just had her birthday, but it's been two weeks since then. So now I'm trying to make up for the last two weeks with some fun pictures.

Some of Leah's favorite things:

1. Books - She will pull them off her book shelf in her room and drop them throughout the house. She'll also bring them over to me to read them. She really just likes to turn the pages and stop at the pages with an animal on it.







2. Her white teddy bear - My dad gave her this teddy bear right after she was born and she started carrying it around as soon as she started crawling and walking. She now sleeps with it and hugs it all the time.







3. Mrs. Potato Head - she got this toy from Logan's cousin Hollie for her birthday, and she loves playing with the accessories. Here are the little glasses that go on Mrs. Potato Head, and she tries to put them on her face, though she can't understand why they don't fit.










4. Her car seat forward facing - I know you can't tell from this picture but she really does like being turned around in her car seat. And I love it too! I can look back (only when I'm stopped at a light or stop sign) and see what she needs or what she's doing. Though she sometimes gets frustrated when we're right there and won't take her out.


Other favorite things include: bananas, grapes, walking outside our house and looking for flowers, taking walks around the neighborhood and looking for dogs, walking all around our house holding a piece of clothing or a book, bath time, and brushing her teeth.

I hope I've been able to catch you up on what Leah has been doing lately. Last week for a restaurant review, Logan and I went to a Brazilian restaurant with his old mission companion and his wife. Logan and his friend Dave were both in heaven trying all the dishes and reminiscing about their missions. We all loved the enormous Brazilian fruit drinks we ordered, but didn't realize that we could have all split just one drink. They were that big. I'll try to remember to link to Logan's review once it's published. I'm still trying to read several books a month, but I've slowed down a little bit since I finished the last Harry Potter book. Now I think I might go back and read it again.

Leah turned ONE!

Here are some pictures during and after her bath last Saturday night. As you can see she loves to put things in her mouth. We were cracking up at her putting the Easter egg almost entirely in her mouth. I think her wide mouth comes from Logan.



Sorry I'm a day late on posting about Leah's birthday. This tardiness has nothing to do with my excitement for her turning one. You can just ask Logan. I spent all of last week planning her birthday parties (that's right, she had two parties). Yeah, she's pretty spoiled. I went crazy at the party store buying plates, napkins, birthday hats, birthday blowers, balloons, a banner, and candy for the kids' party favors. And I plan to take back some of the stuff because I realized I didn't need all of it. Logan wondered why I went to all that trouble when she wouldn't even remember it. I said that I would remember it and tell Leah about it one day when she sees the video of herself on her first birthday.

Even if she won't remember it, her birthday celebrations were loads of fun. For her first party, Logan's parents and siblings all came over last Saturday to watch and celebrate the BYU Football team's win over Arizona. After the game was over, we sang Happy Birthday to Leah and to Haley, my sis-in-law. I made a banana cake for Leah hoping that she would be excited to eat it because she LOVES bananas.

Much to our disappointment she grabbed the piece of cake we put on her tray and threw it off without a moment's thought. Then I thought I would try to trick her by giving her a real piece of banana and just a little bit of cake. She noticed right away and started spitting out the cake as fast as she could. As one of Logan's cousins said when we retold this story to her, "you should be glad she doesn't like cake". I guess I am glad. She doesn't have a big sweet tooth like her dear ol' mom, YET.

For her second party, I invited friends and a few of Logan's relatives over for a party on Labor Day. Logan was worried the couple days before when I told him how many people were coming. "How are we going to fit them in our house? There's not enough room for half of Utah Valley to come over," he said. (The number of people coming over doubled each time Logan talked about it) And we took care of that problem by having everyone sit out on our front lawn. And not everyone came at the same time so it worked out perfect. We had a great time chatting and watching the kids interact.

Thanks to everyone that came and brought Leah presents. We really appreciate it. She now has plenty of winter clothes to wear and grow into and keep her warm. We are so thankful to live by so many close friends and family members. Thanks for making Leah's birthday so memorable. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEAH!
(I plan on posting a couple of videos from these events. Stay tuned.)