We love our Nate!

The title of this post says it all! We sure miss him. For the longest time Elli has referred to Nate as, "Nate" instead of dad or some other form of that. I guess I can't blame her since I refer to him as Nate, but it cracks me up. I thought it was just a little phase she was going through, but it has been probably a year now that she has done it. So, we do sure love our Nate! Nate has a job now working for the government and has been gone for a month doing some training. He will be gone for another 4 months and boy do we miss him. When he will call, which he does everyday, Elli will say to him, "You here?" She doesn't quite understand why she has to talk to him on the phone and why he won't just come home. We tell her he is at work and school, which in her little mind must just be some horrible thing she hopes to never have to do. That little Elli just wants to play, play, play. She will call him her prince and say, "Nate is my bestest buddy". It will be so great when we get to see each other next week. I am living with my parents so I can get help with the girls and it has been SO great! I have been completely spoiled with LOTS of babysitting, delicious food and a great place to stay. My mom cleans the house, only letting me do my bathroom! It is going to be a rude awakening once we move out in August!


We decided that the day before Nate had to leave for the training, we would spend the whole day doing fun things together. We took the girls to the park and enjoyed the nice weather, went out for lunch and visited family. Brinlyn loves to swing!

Nate and his girls! Elli looks a little goofy but she is a challenge to catch smiling with my point and shoot camera. This is when I wish I was a photographer or I had one of those big dog cameras to catch the moment. :)

What a fun week!

For Christmas my oldest sister got a plane ticket to come to Arizona to visit from her husband. Thanks Jay for letting us borrow your wife so we could have the fun week we had! Seriously, it was so much fun to spend a week with Hilary who I get to see only once a year or so. She came with her youngest, Jayne and we had fun all week long. We shopped, talked, ate yummy food, talked some more, went garage sale shopping, and then ate even more. I should have one on a serious diet after she left! Since I am staying at my parents right now, we could pretty much have a slumber party every night.

We decided to buy matching outfits and bows for the girl cousins so close in age. What a treat it was to have them all together! Jade (9 months), Jayne (7 months), Brinlyn (6 1/2 months).

The day we had planned to get pictures of the babies, Brinlyn scratched the cornea of her eye. Early in the morning Elli got sick and in the hussle of it I put Brinlyn on the floor where she was just playing. When I went to pick her up, her eye was blood shot and she wouldn't really open it. You could tell she was in pain. Great! I called the doctor and they told me to bring her in, which I did and that is where we learned our 6 months old scratched her eye! It sure makes you feel like a bad mom. We had to put ointment in them that day and within 24 hours you wouldn't even have known she had a problem. This picture shows her squinty eye pretty good.

My sisters would probably kill me for putting this picture up, but it was the only one I took the WHOLE week she was her. Heather, my younger sister, is awesome at dying hair so, Hilary, my older sister took advantage while she was here.

Rice Cereal...Yum!

I posted these in backwards order...opps! Brinlyn loved her first attempt at solid food. She was like a little bird opening up nice and wide for worms. She did good the first few times and then changed her mind a little about the whole eating solid foods thing. I love the little pointy tongue sticking out.

Opening nice and wide for us!

Doing the taste test to make sure she wants to go for it. :)

As a side note...we can't get Brinlyn to eat any fruits. I thought babies were suppose to like the sweet things but for some reason this little one only likes the veggies. Her favorites right now are peas, corn, sweet potatoes and corn and any of the mixed veggies. She loves the puffs in any flavor and the rice crackers too. We need to get those teeth in her mouth so she can eat even more! Any suggestions on more food to try I am open for.

I am posting this now, but we gave her this rice cereal on March 5. That is how behind I am on this blog of mine. :)

An expensive day!

Uncle Andrew joined us on the second day in disneyland for just a few hours. We are SO glad we were able to spend some time with him. Elli is crying because she just woke up from a nap. She loves Andrew! It's funny to see Elli with a pacifier because we took it away once we got back from our trip. It was about time, right?!?

Disneyland again...

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the most magical place on earth again before Nate headed out of town for work training. Someone in my ward was offering some tickets at a great price so we decided to go for it. Heather and Kyle were in on the deal so it made for an awesome trip with all the family. Elli loved having Landon and Hunter around for all the fun. We had an amazing time! Elli's most favorite part of disneyland is the characters. She just loves hugging them and posing for pictures. So many kids are afraid of these wierdly dressed things but Elli embraces them! Gotta love Tigger!

We went to Huntington Beach and met up with one of my best friends from high school. It was so fun to chat and catch up. I wish we got to see each other more often.

I love this picture of Hunter, Kyle, Landon and Heather. They are so goofy! We went to dinner at a Ruby's resturant out on the pier. The food wasn't the best but it was fun to be out on the water.

It was SO stinkin' cold out there. We were definitely not prepared for the cold weather but we had a blast. We bundled up the best we could and went for it. There were still tons of surfers out which blows my mind. I can't imagine getting in the water, even if you are wearing a wet suit. No thanks!

At least Brinlyn is excited to be out in the cold. :)

My two most favorite baldies. This is when we were waiting for the Pixar parade, which if you haven't been to is awesome.

The classic disney picture in front of the castle that I had to post. I love Elli's face in this picture with her classes. Thanks Aunt Hilary for the glasses!

It wouldn't be a disneyland trip without a picture of Mickey Mouse.

We LOVE the princesses because they are for sure her most favorite thing right now. We play princess all the time. We have princess books we read all the time. We have princess plates, spoons, bowls, etc. We have princess toothbrushes. We have princess dress up. We pretty much have everything you can possibly have princess. She is delighted when she gets to see the princesses in person so that is definitely the highlight for us. I love how the princesses take their job so seriously and make it so special for the little girls.

Just a picture of our little family at the entrance of Disneyland.

This is Brinlyn at 5 months. I am so behind on my blogging that I haven't posted in awhile and I needed to include this little princess. :)