waking up

Whenever Elsie wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she gets so excited to hear our voice when we come in her room. She's usually on her stomach still, so she'll start rolling around and going crazy. It's like she's so excited that she can't contain herself!

I am looking forward to going out of town today. Not only to get away and see family, but because we'll Aaron will not be working for a whole week. Yippee! We love having him home, and he hates having to leave in the mornings. Now, it's just convincing him to get up with Elsie in the morning...hopefully it will work!

can't believe it

I can't believe summer is basically over. We've had a great, fun-filled summer, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. The good thing is that we still get to go down to Utah this next week, and Aaron has the whole week off! Then I get to go to the JT concert in Seattle the weekend after that. I must say I am very much looking forward to that!


I can't believe I have a little baby who is almost 8 months old. That is crazy to me! I still hold her sometimes and think how cool it is that I even have a baby. It's an amazing feeling that I am so grateful for. She is so much fun, yet such a challenge. Yet I am very grateful for all of it.

why?

I just don't understand why getting pregnant, staying pregnant, and giving birth can be so difficult, if not impossible, when it is exactly what we are supposed to do....commanded to do. Last week my good friend had a miscarriage that turned pretty scary. She was losing so much blood that she passed out, and had to go to the ER. They weren't able to get it under control, and doctor was talking about having to do an emergency hysterectomy. Fortunately, he was able to get it to stop, and she is home and fine now. It was a very scary and, of course, sad situation. I know a lot of people have miscarriages and other problems, but this just reminded me again that it just doesn't make sense to me. When I think about it too much, I just get mad!

The great thing, though, is I have Elsie to love all day everyday! She's been cracking me up lately. She grabs at everything all the time, and her grip is getting very strong. Her favorites are the phone, the remote, and my hair. Last week we went to McDonald's before our drive home from Moses Lake. She was sitting on my lap, and I attempted to eat my sandwich. She was grabbing at it and the wrapper. I finally had to hold the sandwich in the air in between bites and tilt my head way up. Aaron was on the phone, so he couldn't help me out. It was very humorous. I'm sure I looked like a big dork! It is interesting how she is more interested in what I have than what she is holding or what I give to her. It's so fun to see how she changes and develops. I love it. (Whatever she can reach from her little chair, she grabs. I was quite impressed that she could handle this cereal box. She must love cereal already!)

relaxing weekend

We haven't done a whole lot this weekend, but it's been kind of nice. We went out to eat both Friday and Saturday night. A big surprise, I know! We did a little shopping for Elsie now that she's getting close to moving up a size. We found some cute stuff. I can't wait until she gets to wear it. I'll take pictures!

I had somewhat of a mental breakdown yesterday and realized that I need a hobby. I used to scrapbook, and I still need to do Elsie's pictures. The only problem is that I'm not really into that anymore. Plus, I need something to get me out of the house and away from being a "mom". I don't know if that makes sense. It all started when Aaron was gone playing football for over 2 hours. I got really irritated with him when he got home because he was gone so long and left me home to take care of Elsie. He got upset because he felt like he spends a lot of time home with us (which he does), and it's not a big deal for him to go out and play for a little bit. As he put it, "He just needs some guy time." So as I tried to explain how I felt, I realized I was jealous. He was right...there was nothing wrong with that. I just want the same for me. I don't know what I need, but I need something. Maybe I should join a flag football team, too!

oops...my bad!!

We went over to my grandma's house one morning last weekend to get some toast and jam. Elsie was sitting in her Bumbo chair (the greatest invention) while we were eating. I decided to break off a little piece of my toast for her to gnaw on to give her something to do. I had done it before with a piece of pizza crust, and she loved it. However, I have also tried it with a piece of toast crust, and pieces kept breaking off making her gag. So when I handed her the piece, Aaron was reluctant to let her have it because he thought it would make her choke. I told him she would be fine. He was not happy with me and kept insisting that it wasn't good for her. I just ignored him. Well, just like he thought, she was kind of gagging on some pieces, so he finally took it away from her. No big deal. A few minutes later he went to pick her up and, OOPS, she threw up all over him. It just kept coming out of her mouth!! Jared and I just start laughing because you should've seen Aaron's face. He was not amused!! He was so mad and didn't say anything. I knew he wanted to kill me. I think that's what made it so funny. We went back over to my mom's house, so Aaron could change his shirt and Elsie's pajamas. I had to take a picture! I swear, right as I called out Elsie's name for her to look at the camera, she turned around with the biggest smile on her face. It was like she was thinking, "This is funny!" Sorry to Aaron for making Elsie puke. Glad it wasn't on me! I'm very proud of you for not throwing up yourself.

everyday life

It's always hard coming back from vacation because Aaron has to go back to work and the fun comes to an end. I always love it when Aaron is home or, even better, when we are on vacation together because then I always have someone to talk to and have fun with. It's a big adjustment after a vacation.

So, yesterday I got my tooth pulled. Everything went really well. In fact, the worst part was the shot to get numb, and that wasn't even too bad. He had pulled the tooth all the way out within no time at all. I felt kind of like a big dork for being so stressed about it. Last night I just relaxed and ate a milkshake. Aaron helped with Elsie during the night, so I could just sleep. I had taken a pain pill and slept so good!

Aaron turned in his roster for city league fantasy football yesterday. This makes me realize how much football takes over our lives in the fall. Aaron is in 3 fantasy football leagues, he's going to play flag football every Saturday for about 6 weeks, plus he's obsessed with BYU football. Our weekends consist of watching college football on Saturdays and flipping between all the NFL games on Sunday, so Aaron can check his players. Oh, and he will slip a little church in there, too. I know he loves it so much, but it really starts to drive me crazy after a few weeks. I guess I can't complain since he did watch SYTYCD with me all summer (although I know he likes it!). Let the games begin!

I wanted to post some of these cute pictures of Carson, Kaiya, and Elsie from this last weekend. Carson and Kaiya were so cute with Elsie and loved playing with her. I did have to bribe Kaiya with candy to smile for the picture.

what a weekend!

This past weekend was wonderful! I loved the reunion! It was so nice to hang out with family that I don't get to visit with very often. We have so much fun together. I feel so blessed to have grown up in this family. Even when we haven't seen each other for a long time, it's like no time has passed...we can still have a great time.

We drove up to Moses Lake on Thursday afternoon. When we got there we ate some dinner with Mom, Angie, Jared & Lindsay, and their kids...it was J's Teriyaki, of course. That night we watched the finale of SYTYCD. We were all so excited that Sabra won! Especially mom...since she did yell out "Oh, there is a God!" Yeah, she didn't hear the end of that one!

Friday morning Aaron and I woke up pretty early. Aaron had to get ready to go golfing, and I had no choice (thanks to Elsie). While Aaron was golfing I went to the grocery store with my mom to get the food we needed to bring for that day. We got to Jeff & Becky's around 11:00 for scones. I must say I didn't really eat as much as I wanted because I was too busy talking to everyone that I hadn't seen for so long. I spend the afternoon visiting with everyone. Some people went swimming and most of the younger kids were out on the boat/jetskis. Elsie was so good all day long. She took a couple naps in their house and enjoyed being outside the rest of the time. It was fun to get to show her to everyone that hadn't met her yet! We had a great dinner with lots of nummy salads. Then once our food settled, we had a little family dance. Angie put together a great mix, and we danced for about an hour. Us girls had so much fun!! We were all quite impressed with ourselves that we remembered "The Grind" and just had to much fun goofing off. Most of us don't get to do that very often. Some of the other cousins and aunts/uncles came out as well...the little kids were so cute, too. Everyone got a kick out of Carson's serious face as he danced the robot. I still laugh when I picture it. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. He is too funny! Plus, we were privileged to see Aaron bust a move. I always tell him it looks like he's having a seizure when he dances. It makes me laugh. After the family dance, Jeff made a few announcements and handed out the family reunion T-Shirts...Cherry Creek Rules. (Basically it means we think we can do what we want and change the rules anytime we want. I think it was very fitting.) Then we watched the family video that Doug had put together. I really enjoyed seeing all the pictures of us growing up. He also had included some really cool pictures of grandpa. There were also a few pictures of Mitch, which really made me miss him and wish he could've been there. Doug had set up a video screen outside to watch a movie. Aaron and I decided to go home, though, because Elsie was tired...and so were we.

Me and my cute baby Elsie!

Aaron playing Settlers of Catan with Aaron Roach, Kelsey, & Jared. Isaac and his fiance Linh were playing a different game next to them.Kendall and McKayla relaxing in the sun. I love these girls, especially since they actually came out and danced with us (unlike some of our other younger girl cousins...haha!)Aaron, Angie, Elsie, Kacey, and I talking when we should've been chowing down on scones!Myca and Jared cuddling. By the way, I did fail to mention earlier than during our race at the park, my pregnant cousin Myca was faster than me. Is that pathetic or what?!Mom and AngLindsay and Daishan playing on the swings with their girls...who are so cute!!

Saturday morning before we did anything else, we went over to grandma's house to get some toast and jam. A trip to ML wouldn't be complete without that. Aaron eats it like candy! Later that morning, us girls went to a bridal shower for Alysha while most of the boys went to the park to begin the games. The shower was nice, and Alysha got a lot of cute presents. Next we got to go to the State Park where we played volleyball, ran races, did an egg toss, took family pictures, and ate pizza. It was a great day. Aaron tied in a threesome in his race with Kyle and Isaac, so they had a tiebreaker run. Aaron says he won, but it looked pretty darn close to me. Most people were quite impressed that such a little guy with short legs could run so fast. I must say that Aaron was quite impressed with himself as well. I rotated in a couple games of volleyball, but they pretty much kicked me off because I was so bad. Not really...but I did suck! That evening we went to Justin's reception and visited some more. We took some adorable pictures of all the babies under the age of 1. They were so cute! It was so interesting to see how different they all are. Most of the babies that are younger than Elsie are bigger than her. After the reception Kacey, Peggy, Alysha, Myca, Gail, and Nena came over to mom's house and we re-watched the SYTYCD finale and analyzed it. What fun!

Grandma joined a game of volleyball with her children. She was so cute and, of course, was trying her hardest because she's just as competitive as the rest of them. One time she took a fall and was laughing so hard. I took this picture a little too late!
My mom playing volleyball...a sight I've never seen. I think that may be where I got my skills from.I had to steal this picture from Ashley's blog because it is so cute. Elsie was obsessed with touching and rolling over the other babies. She was loving Sibel sitting right next to her!
We were supposed to leave on Sunday, but we both felt like we needed a day to relax after such a busy weekend. So, we just hung out at my mom's with my family and watched TV. It was nice. Elsie had a fun time playing with her cousins and being spoiled with attention. She was SO good all weekend long, even though her schedule was all out of whack. I wish I had taken more pictures with my camera, but I got lazy. Plus, there were so many other people taking pictures that I'm hoping I'll be able to see everyone's. Anyway, I just loved it and loved being with all of my family.