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.)