Happy Birthday Ellie!

My little girl is all grown up!  She turned one on JUNE 8th at 6:47pm!  The next day she climbed onto a chair.  Guess she was waiting to turn one for that :)  She is healthy, tall/lean, and super spunky.  She loves to climb!  You chase her up the stairs and she giggles the whole way in anticipation of you catching her.  She even snorts when she laughs hard, is super ticklish like her mommy, and looks so much like her father!  Her eyes are blue with brown in the middle.  We will see if that sticks.  We love her soooooo much!

Happy Birthday to YOU!  She didn't get to blow out her candle cuz the wind kept doing it for her.  oh well!

For Ellie's birthday we were in Sandy, UT, visiting Grandma Elaine.  We rode with Grandma Kathy and Aunt Stephanie and cousins in a van and made it in 12 hours with one flat tire and one diaper blowout in the mix.  Ellie barely slept a wink.  We were so happy to finally be there and recover.

Michael drove down on Ellie's birthday and so we had a family get-together with cake and presents.  By the time everyone showed up it was past her bedtime so she wasn't smiling much in her pics.  I made the cute banner for her in the car on the way over.  It is so fun to see all her cute facial expressions on it.  It now hangs in our living room with all her birthday cards hanging on it.  So fun.

Ellie's yummy Coconut Pineapple cake!

Cousin in-law Melissa and son Lance

Starting to dig in to her slice of cake ever so slowly

She started out really clean

And then finally got a good handful!

She thought it was strange having so many people watch her eat, like "hey what you lookin at?"

"Hey Daddy, want some too? Ok."

Michael's cousin Stacie and her two girls.  So cute. 

Zoning out after eating all her cake.  Made a good mess.

Fantastic goobers!  At this point I was really happy I got a cake that didn't have staining colors!

Tearing up the paper plate.

Cute little face.

She loved seeing her birthday banner hanging up behind her.  Made faces at her faces :)

Present time.  Thanks to everyone who gave Ellie a present.  I didn't expect it and it caught me off guard as I said we were just getting together for birthday cake.  For some reason, it is a weird thing as a new parent to experience people giving your child stuff.  Anyways, we are grateful to everyone, and Ellie enjoys all her new toys and stuff every day!

Starting to unwrap.

Wearing one of her new hair bows and already reading her new book

Reading a birthday card.

Playing on top of her present.

Glittery toes from glittery paper :)

Come on Grandma Kathy, faster faster.

Checking out her new book.

Lance trying to eat grass.

Callen loved this car the whole time we were there and did not want to share it.  It was comical.

Ellie tried real hard to climb in to no avail.  Such funny faces of determination.  Love it!

A great shot.  Callen is so cute.  Ellie is still trying to climb in.

Ellie got to do a flip on her birthday with Dad.

Just so in love with this car!

Me after the party.  Why, because I'm never in any pictures these days!  Happy Birthday Ellie!

Trip to Littleton

We've traveled quite a bit this summer.  These pics are from our visit down to Littleton at the beginningish of May.  It was mainly Ellie and I on this trip, because Michael had to head back to school for his finals, giving a final, and of course grading them.  He's finished his second year of graduate school.  It seems so much longer.  And we have three more years to go!  Yeah!  Such a fun time in life.  We really are enjoying it.  Michael sometime talks of getting a PHD in Education later so he can reform math education, and maybe education as a whole.  It will be neat to see where he goes with it.  He loves to teach and teach well which I consider to be a great gift :)

Go horsey Go!

Touching her cousin Tyler gently on the noggin.

Splashing around with cousin Callen.

Dad helps Ellie run way fast!

And leap real high into the water too!

Cousin Callen with the hose wand thing.

Blowing water out of Grandpa Kerry's pvc pipes like elephants.

Very entertaining.

Back at home playing in water with her friends.

Ellie!

Here are some cute pictures of Ellie from the past two months.  More recent pics to come soon.  Enjoy.

Sweet potatoes.  Everywhere.  Sporting bulging gums and a new tooth. :)

Ellie loves avocado!  She devoures it as fast as her banana.

Miss big eyes.

THANKS Leila for this awesome onesie!  So cute!

Ellie loves to fly.  Dad of course is the best at this.  She can't get enough of it.  Not the best pictures cuz I had my camera on the wrong setting, but still priceless nonetheless.

 A Tisket a Tasket a Baby in a Basket!  And loving it!

Ellie always has some crazy fun the 30 minutes before bedtime.  She just buzzes about the house doing things  really quickly, like she has to cram it all in before bed.  It's really funny and that is what these pictures are of.

Ellie loves Piggy (my old stuffed animal pig named Wilbur) and loves to give him kisses on his nose.  I find it funny that she loves pigs and snorts like a pig when she laughs or is excited because I loved pigs growing up.