this is not good

Elsie's hair was getting way too long in the front and needed to be cut so badly. For so many months, the only hair that was growing was her bangs. Fortunately, the rest is starting to catch up, but we had to do something about the bangs. They were always in her eyes and looked messy. I was too nervous to use scissors that close to her face, so Aaron volunteered. This is what happened:He went way too short!!! I am freaking out. It looks funny because with the way her hair is growing in on the sides it totally looks like a bowl-cut. Poor Elsie! Even she is upset about it!!!

Aaron still won't admit that he cut it too short. Oh well, it will grow out. I guess I can't complain since I was too scared to do it myself. She's still a cutie!

(You know the more I look at it, it's not so bad. Maybe I was just too used to the long bangs, so this seems so different. Way to think positive, Kim!)

Happy New Year's!

This last at our house has not been too exciting. Elsie got sick with a bad cold, so we've just been hanging around the house a lot. I took her to the doctor because I was really getting worried about the cough she was having. (It was really bad...I'm not just a paranoid first time mom!) Fortunately, she didn't have anything besides a cold, but she was miserable. There were a couple days where all she wanted was to be held and snuggled. That is not like her at all! She isn't much of a cuddler, so, I must admit, I quite enjoyed that part. She would fall asleep on us, and Aaron and I would be in heaven! The last couple days she has finally started to sound better and act like she's feeling better. However, now I have the cold. At least it's not as bad as hers.

We did have some guests come through town over the weekend. Angie and her friends stopped by Friday night on their way to Utah. Elsie had a very rough night that night, which meant Angie didn't get much sleep. I felt so bad because she had to drive the next day. Then David, Peggy, and 4 of their kids came through Saturday night on their way home from Vegas. It was fun to see them and have a little time to hang out. We visited for a bit and then watched Harry Potter. At least we were able to have a little fun over the weekend.

Needless to say, we didn't really do anything that exciting for New Year's. Although I guess we never really do. I've never been one to want to stay up just to say we did. I know I'm not very exciting! There were some carnie neighbors behind us that decided to do some fireworks for like 20 minutes at midnight. It woke us up, and we were so mad. I was so worried it was going to wake Elsie up. I was able to get back to sleep, but Aaron was all worked up and was awake for the next 3 hours.

New Year's day was nice because Aaron didn't have to work and Elsie was feeling a lot better. We went out shopping a little bit and had a nice lunch at Olive Garden. We love it when Aaron is home with us during the day. We got to relax the rest of the day and Aaron got to watch lots of football. Elsie was loving playing with Wrigley. He's so sweet with her!

(For some reason Elsie was trying to eat her diaper...it was a clean one...it was funny because she was going crazy with it.)

adventures of Elsie

I know it's not the best picture, but I had to include it because it's Elsie playing with the door. She was obsessed with the double doors that lead into the den. She kept swinging them open and closed. It really kept her happy!Elsie with her aunt Gi Gi. Carson is such a sweety to Elsie. He would play with her and help keep her entertained and happy. He kept calling her "my little cousin" in the sweetest voice.

Elsie loved going under the piano bench. I don't know why she liked it so much. It must have felt like a cool fort or something. Now she keeps going under our side tables next to the couch. I'm sure she's going to bonk her head one of these times, but for now she's having fun.

I don't have a picture of it, but Elsie was also LOVING crawling after Murphy (my mom's dog). She would get so happy and laugh when he came around. She'd watch everywhere that he went. She would even slightly torture him just trying to show her love. Murphy was so good with her. It was interesting to see how much better Elsie's crawling got even after the first couple days of following him. She's a speed demon now!

Christmas outfits

We tried to get a picture of Carson, Kaiya, and Elsie in their Christmas outfits after church. Carson was the only really cooperative one. Elsie was sitting nicely on Carson's lap at first, but her patience didn't last too long. Kaiya absolutely would not seat down or pose for the picture. She was being quite the stubborn little thing. Jared was getting so frustrated (it was funny to watch!). Anyway, I could only get a couple pictures of Carson and Elsie and only a walking picture of Kaiya. They all looked so cute! I guess we'll have to try again another year.

Christmas is over...boo hoo

We had a great time up in Moses Lake this year for Christmas. Christmas morning is so much fun with kids! We didn't do a whole lot while we were up there visiting...just ate a lot, hung out and visited, and played some games.

We drove up Friday afternoon and got there early enough to go out to dinner at Inca...Aaron's favorite Mexican restaurant that's not actually in Mexico. Saturday morning Elsie woke up very early (there is a one hour time difference) and so Aaron and I hung out for a while with her. We went over to Grandma's to get some toast and jam...that was nummy! We also played a game of Phase 10 while Elsie played with some of her second cousins. That evening was the BYU game, so we went to J's Teriyaki (Aaron's other favorite ML restaurant) to get some food for the game. While Aaron was glued to the TV, my mom and I wrapped presents. That was quite a task! Good thing Aaron was able to entertain Elsie. Sunday morning we lounged around and then got ready for Church. Jared and Lindsay drove up that morning with their kids just in time for church. I got to see Chloe for the first time. She is so beautiful and tiny. It was fun to compare her to Elsie now. I've forgotten how small and fragile they are at first. My mom made a wonderful ham dinner for us that evening with pomegranate salad...which Elsie loved! We didn't do much on Monday. I went to the store with my mom that morning to do some last minute grocery shopping. We lounged around, played Acquire, and went to Grandma's for Christmas Eve dinner. There was so much food, but, of course, we filled ourselved up on rolls. The kids did the nativity (they were all so cute...I didn't get any pictures of that). Jeff and Brandon came over afterwards to play Settlers and Ticket to Ride. That was lots of fun!

Christmas morning Elsie woke up pretty darn early, so that got the ball rolling. Carson had left a note for Santa with some cookies and milk. He went to check that first and then they scoped out their Santa gifts. We all took turns opening our presents. However, the kids had way more than any of us, so they got to do a few at a time. Elsie wasn't too interested in opening anything or playing with the paper. Once we showed her what she got, she liked looking at it for a second. She was more interested in crawling around.
Elsie got: Little People bus, Little people barn, lots of books, a grab-n-go hippo, some cute outfits, a phone, a laptop (she loves this one), a few little trinkets, and some money to go shopping! Aaron got: The Bourne Ultimatum, Ticket to Ride, The Office (on DVD), a couple books, and a Michael Scott bobblehead. I got: Harry Potter DVD, Bath and Body Works gift card, a sweater, a spicerack, The Office. We also got some new silverware and some money to do some more shopping! Good thing, I need some clothes!

Christmas day we continued our laziness. I didn't even shower until late that afternoon. We watched the Bourne movie that night because Lindsay and my mom hadn't seen it yet. It was good the second time around. We left Wednesday to make sure that we didn't get stuck in any bad weather in the mountains. It wasn't too bad, but I'm sure glad that I wasn't the one driving.

We had a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Well, we're off to Moses Lake this afternoon for Christmas. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us for the drive. I'm sure it will!

I got all my shopping done this week, except I feel like I totally failed with Aaron's gift. We had decided that we would do some presents for each other, but not spend a lot of money. The only reason we even decided to do presents for each other is because a couple years ago we didn't and Aaron hated it. I honestly didn't mind not having much to open, but Aaron was sad. The only problem with getting presents is I know exactly what he's getting me and he knows what I'm getting him. We went shopping together and picked things out. So, really, what's the point of having them to open. Oh well! It makes Aaron happy. However, I couldn't think of what to get him and he couldn't even think of what he wanted...besides a truck. We even went out last night to try to find something for him to have to open Christmas morning. It just too stressful for me. So, I'm the big loser this year that didn't buy much for Aaron. I just had to get it out there. He, on the other hand, had no problems buying for me because I have plenty of things I want. At least I'll have a good Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas to you all! We'll be back next week.

she's on the move

Our world has completely changed now that Elsie is crawling. Everybody kept telling me to grateful that she wasn't on the move yet, but I was still very concerned that she wasn't crawling. Well, I can see their point. Don't get me wrong...I'm so excited that Elsie is crawling because, seriously, it was time and she is loving it. I just need to do some major houseproofing and not try to multi-task as much. (When I say multi-task, I mean I can't watch TV and kind of watch Elsie). Oh darn! It is so fun to see her getting better and better each day. She is able to sit up and lay down and move around all by herself. This morning was the first time that she was sitting up in her crib when I went to get her. It was really cute! Anyway, here's a little video of her crawling...ignore the annoying voice in the background.

Aaron taught Elsie to clap when he cheers for her, so Elsie does it completely on cue now. It is so funny because, even if she's crawling, as soon as she hears us say "Yay!" she'll immediately rollover and start clapping. She was doing this funny face that looked like, "OK, I'm not sure what's going on here, but everyone's clapping so I will, too" and she'd kind of look around like she was super confused. Too bad I couldn't get it on video.