September and October

September--This was a very fun and busy month. Ella really started walking well about a week before her birthday. We decided to have two birthday parties for her: a family one on her actual birthday, and then a friend one the following weekend. Megan and James came up for the big day, and we all went to the zoo. Dusty even was able to meet us there!

Ella was thrilled to finally be one:

At the Denver Zoo there is this really great exhibit called "Lorikeet Adventure." It is a large caged area that is filled with the most beautiful birds. You can buy a little sacrament cup of nectar to feed to the birds. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever!

That night Jenny and some of the kids were able to come over for cake and ice cream.

Waiting and waiting:

Oh, good! Here it comes:

More waiting?!?
First taste:

A messy one-year-old:
After some clean-up, it was time for presents:

This was the most impressive thing. Grandma Julie and Grandpa Rob got her a doll. She saw that bottle, and knew exactly what to do:By the end of present-time, she pretty much had the hang of it:
And then came bath time. I have to put this one up just so I can embarrass both Ella and James when they get older:

Megan and I spent the rest of the week running errands and preparing for Ella's friend party, which was going to be a BBQ. We baked and baked, cooked, and then baked. And then, on Saturday morning, Ella woke up with a fever and a terrible cold. I did NOT want to cancel because of all the preparations, but Dusty and I decided that was the best thing to do. We rescheduled for the next weekend. I cannot accurately describe how crazy that weekend was. I literally spent ALL NIGHT Friday night decorating Ella's cake because I had Super Saturday all day on Saturday until 4 pm. The BBQ was scheduled to start at 5. I got two hours of sleep and left Dusty with a disaster of a house to clean in preparation for the party. But he did it, and I survived, and we had a great time!

Ella with "two," as our neighbor Emil says. He's referring to her pigtails.

Ella's been eating solid adult foods really well. I thought I'd try giving her pear without removing the peel. At first glance, she appeared to be doing great. Then I took a look at her bib:

Sometimes I think we have the silliest children ever. Abby wants to be a (lazy) cat:



And Ella wants to be a (mischevieous) dog:


Or a soap-eating rodent of some sort:
October--This month FLEW by. Towards the end of the month, we went to a pumpkin patch:


They also have a few animals. Ella LOVED them. She kept trying to pet all of them and she talked the cutest baby talk to them. She would decide which ones she wanted to talk to and she'd walk over to them as fast as she could:


We had our Halloween Party on the 30th. It was a lot of fun. Ella was Snow White, Dusty was a patient (complete with catheter bag), and I was Indian. I thought I got more pictures of our little Snow White, but I didn't. I'll have to take more.


On Halloween day, we went to visit one of my old Crestmoor ward visiting teachees. Ella got her first dog bite (which she dramatized greatly...it was really just a scratch), we went to Boo at the Zoo, which we didn't take pictures of (shoot me now), and then we came home and ate and handed out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters. Ella got her first tast of ranch dressing, and let me say, she's an addict! She kept licking it off, then redipping the celery.

Waiting for more ranch:

Well, that about does it. Two and a half hours later, I'm mostly caught up on blogging. I'll do it again in another four months. : )

We Were Busy...

Does that count? How many times can we use that as an excuse?

These past few months have been a lot of fun. I'll try a month-by-month recap:

July--Dusty had to work during the day on the 4th of July, but we were able to go see fireworks with Paul, Jenny & their kids. Ella and I came up to Cody right after the 4th of July, and she went on her first camping trip. She had a lot of fun, until it was time to sleep. Then she was TERRIBLE. She was so terrible that Abby and I had to "sleep" (sitting up) with her in the Rav so she wouldn't wake up the entire campground. She did eventually go down (at 5:00 am), but I only got about 1.5 hours of sleep that night. To this day, my left knee is still sore from being hyperextended for six hours.

First time on the swings:

Ready to see fireworks:

Apparently, the fireworks were really scary:
Camping in the tent:

Before the night of terror:

Ella and James went swimming at the rec center:

Grandma Julie with her two grandbabies:

August--Mom and Caden came down for a few days to visit, which was a lot of fun. We had been planning on doing a women's-only 5K, but I had not been super-dedicated in my training. Then I found out that I was pregnant (yea! We're due in April), so I couldn't really start an intense training program anyway. We did go and walk the 5K, which ended up being a lot of fun. I did a TON of projects this month (finishing Ella's room with Mom's help, sewing my very first real quilt top, etc).

I also introduced Ella to her first friend boy, Oliver:

Who then wanted to become her first boyfriend:

Don't worry. Ella set him straight and told him she's not that kind of girl!

Ella, Abby, and I went to Laramie for a few days to visit Megan, Josh, and James.

Abby, in usual fashion, found the softest place in the house and curled up:

I had more pictures of our trip to Laramie, but my dumb camera made them all blurry!

I really don't have a cheesy blurb for this one. I just thought it was cute:

I'll do September and October in the next post!