Labor Day Fun!

As I mentioned earlier, we headed out to Roosevelt for Labor Day weekend!

In my family, we have this tradition of going "up the mountain" (as we call it) to Pole Creek (pronounced "crick") Cave on the Monday of LDay weekend. It has been a lot of fun every time I've gone & this year was NO exception.

Two of my brothers, Jason & Jared, my sister Tyra & their families were all there, in addition to my little family & parents. We were also joined by my Grandma Holman, Uncle Logan and his two kids Laurel & Drake. It was a nice big crowd, which makes things like this even MORE fun :D

We packed our vehicles & headed to Pole Creek with the hopeful idea that we'd be able to get inside the cave & that it WOULDN'T be full of water. We knew that since it was such a wet year, our chances were very slim.

Once we hiked down to the cave entrance, we quickly discovered that our plans were indeed thwarted by mother nature and the cave was full of water! Random fact about this cave, nobody has found an end to it, because you can only hike into it until you reach water...it would be interesting to send some kind of under water night vision camera to see if you could ever find the end...

Ready to hike down to the cave

Aunt Tyra playing with Ellie

Because we were in the most beautiful mountains in the world, we were able to still have a lot of fun! We hopped back into the vehicles & drove up to the Sinks. The Sinks are awesome. BEAUTIFUL waterfall & a pool of water that swirls around and disappears. Nobody knows where the water goes...it's been a mystery for who knows how long. Super cool!

Perhaps the BEST part of the Sinks are the wild Raspberry plants. They were loaded this year and SOOOO tasty!

Ellie really enjoyed the sinks because David took her by the waterfall & let her splash her hands in the water. It was super cute, & I believe my sister in-law has some pictures.

After we had our fill of picking Raspberries, we hiked back up to where all the cars were parked & had a picnic. We made a fire, roasted hot dogs & ate LOTS and LOTS of tasty food. The children played & the adults visited & told stories. It was a lot of fun and I love spending time in the beautiful outdoors! I especially loved this outing because it could be my last labor day spent with my family at Pole Creek & the Sinks, since we're not sure where we'll be moving in May!

Tyra & Ellie playing

The only bad part was that my mom was stuck on crutches & couldn't get up and walk around. But, that's another story...

More pictures to come when I get them from other people!

731 days of wedded bliss...

On Sunday, we had officially been married for 2 years! I asked David & he said it was a better 2 years than his mission (thank goodness :D :D)

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary first, by attending the Temple. What a great way to celebrate being married! We hadn't had the opportunity to go to the Temple since February, so it was GREAT to go.

The Friday before our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner without Ellie (Thanks again, Hillary!!!) to P.F. Chang's. I'm not HUGE into Chinese, but this was spectacular. Lettuce wraps. MMM I think I could eat those every day. After dinner, we ran home to grab a blanket & to leave our car at our apartment so we could walk to the Roof Top Concert Series. It was a blast & a nice low-key evening out with my sweet husband.

The only picture from that night. ha ha

I made David a gift basket full of fun things & he got me a couple cami's that I've been dying to buy for the last few months!

We headed to Roosevelt the next day for Labor Day weekend, & we had a fun time there. Post about that to come soon!

Some days it feels like we've been married for years and years, but at the same time it feels like we were just married yesterday! Marriage is my favorite thing ever & marrying David was the best decision I've ever made. The 2nd best decision was having Ellie :)

8 months

Ellie turned 8 months old a week ago, and she is getting to be such a big girl! Since we were in NY when she turned 6 months old, we had her 6 month appointment when we got back, & she's super healthy & growing well! Her head has finally decided to grow & catch up to the rest of her body. ha ha!

She weighed 17 lbs 9 oz and was in the 46th percentile for weight, she's 26 1/2 inches tall (I think?? I misplaced the paper with her measurements on them!) & is 64th for height and her head is in the 42nd percentile!

She had to get 3 shots when we went in, and she was NOT happy about them! She cried a lot, but calmed down not too long after. Because she's such a healthy little girl and because she was almost 8 months when we went in, the doctor doesn't need to see us back until she's 1! That's some good news for us :)

Ellie's really funny lately & her little personality is shining through more and more each day. She's starting to stand on her own for small periods of time (AHH ALREADY!?!?!?) and I'm sure she'll be walking before we know it! She eats pretty well during the day, but sometimes is just too distracted for nursing & I've contemplated quitting, but then I just don't want to give up quite yet.

Here are more things about Ellie at 8 months old:

• She loves to eat finger foods & thinks it's lots of fun to drink from our Camelbak water bottles.
• She loves her oatmeal in the morning & pretty much all baby food we still give her. She's eating more table food now though & she likes it a lot.
  
• She's wearing size 3 diapers & some 3-6 month & 6-9 month clothes. There are only a few outfits in the 3-6 month range that still fit her so we're just about ready to put them away.
• She is starting to walk along the furniture & she can get around pretty fast.
• She knows how to say dada & is just learning how to say "uh oh" but it usually comes out as "uh uh".
• She gets super excited about her 3 little duck bath toys & takes them with her all over.
• She likes to dance to music & likes to watch Fantasia.
• Outside is her favorite place to be.
• She LOVES animals. She was obsessed with my sister in law's little dog, Annie & chased it all over while we were visiting my parents last weekend.
• She doesn't have any teeth yet, and it doesn't seem like she's going to have any in the near future.
• She takes 2-3 naps during the day & goes to bed around 8 & wakes up at 7 a.m.
• She's still waking up 1-2 times a night, but we're working on that one...
• She loves to crawl into the bathroom and stand next to the bathtub & hit her hands on the sides of it to make noise.
• When she gets tired, she gets super silly & likes to ram her head into your chest & cuddle.
• She loves to play with other little kids & thinks they're hilarious.
• She likes to pretend she's a big girl & would rather sit in a booster seat than a high chair to eat!
• She loves to sit and listen to us read books with her & sing to her.

She's growing up so fast & I can't believe that she'll be one in just 4 months! Ah! That's crazy! We love her to death & she makes life fun and interesting every day!