Our trip to the beach

Who would go to the east coast in the summer and not go to the beach!!! Not me because we definitely went to the beach!! We were able to go to the beach with my sister and her son and a few friends too. It was a great day out and the water was surprisingly warm. Elsie liked playing in the sand better then playing in the water though. She seemed a little scared of the waves. I can't wait until next year to try it all over again!!




I think Elsie is crying in this photo but her cousin Nate is happy as can be and actually crawling into the waves!!
The first thing you do after a trip to the beach is strip off all those sandy clothes and jump in the tub!

Our trip to Boston

I guess I have not explained anything about our trip yet. Elsie and I went out in early August to spend time with my family in Vermont. My parents live there as well as two of my sisters and their kids. The pictures in the previous post are from Vermont in early Aug. Then Elsie and I headed down to Boston to spend time with my third sister and her son. We also got to visit with some friends which was so much fun!!

It was great to get to see Mandy and her little ones.
I was so touched by the number of ladies from the ward that came out to visit with Elsie and I at the park. Cherisa planned a lunch and we had a great time playing and talking.

This is a shot of my old beach with the Boston sky line in the background!! I used to live a short five minute drive away from this beach. Will and I would go walking on it almost every night. Now I live in the middle of the country far far away from any beaches. But I do live next to a nice park which we go walk at often. It is crazy how fast life can change. Just look at how fast Elsie has grown. She is already 15 months and can do 10 signs and say 3 or 4 words! I can't believe she can communicate already it seems like she was just a newborn yesterday.

Here we go

Well I have about 30 photos to post so I guess I will just get to it.

Grammy with her long lost grand daughter.
This is our nephew Joe with Elsie. He did such a great job watching her and she loved playing with him so much.
This is most of the cousins minus Joe and Zack.
I was so excited to take Elsie to Center Pond where I used to go swimming when I was a kid. She enjoyed her first adventure in a body of water that had sand on the bottom and not just cement.
Cute isn't she.

My sister in Vermont has these great blueberry bushes. Elsie loves blueberries and she even got to pick them right off the bush herself. We ate a lot of them while we were visiting.
This is Elsie and her cousin Nathan.
Here are the three cousins born within 5 months of each other. Elsie came first (center) then Nathan (right) then Raymond (left).
Here are the moms and the babies. Don't we all look great!

We made it home in one piece

We have been home for 4 days now and we are loving it. Don't get me wrong we had a great time visiting family and friends but there is nothing like going to bed in your own bed at night!!! We actually had a fabulous time so much so that I am tempted to tell Will he needs to get a job in Boston again! But that is not going to happen for quite some time.

This is just a small sample of what is to come as I have tons and tons of photos to share with all of you!!

East Coast Here We Come!!

Just a note to tell you I will not be updating the blog for a while because we will be in New England!! We are very excited to go visit our family. Elsie has been practicing walking and talking to show off to all her relatives. She now walks all over the place. Occasionally she will still crawl places but her feet are getting a good work out now. She can say Hi like a pro and has already dazzled many happy relatives with a "hi" on the phone. She has a few other things that are words to her but Will and I are the only ones that would be able to understand them!

Have a great month! And yes I will be posting like crazy when I get home with all the pictures from our trip!!

Our second trip to Nauvoo

We are happy to report that Nauvoo has not changed much since we saw it last. Except for the season of course! We had such a great trip! We got there on Friday afternoon and went swimming at the hotel...I think it was only the second time Will has ever been swimming with Elsie!! The first being the end of last summer! So after that we jumped in the car and headed over to Nauvoo (we stayed in a near by town). Unfortunately it started to rain so we were not able to see our dear friend Sister Louise Arkell preform in Sunset By the Mississippi. Instead we got to go to her house and spend a marvelous few hours catching up and reminiscing about Higham!

Saturday morning we got up and slowly got ready and then went over to Nauvoo in time for Adah to go to the Temple. Elsie and Will played a bunch at a park and just hung out until mom was done. Then we went to see what we could do. We ended up going to 3 shows that afternoon and night. We saw "High Hopes and River Boats" a musical production put on by young missionaries, then we went to the variety show "Sunset By the Mississippi" with both old and young missionaries. Lastly we saw "The Nauvoo Pageant". All of the shows depicted what life might have been like in Nauvoo in the 1840's.

On Sunday after going to church we went around Old Nauvoo and saw the different restored homes and shops. It was very fun and we even got to see Sister Arkell again and this time in costume!!! The last thing we did was walk down the street the early saints did as they were driven out of Nauvoo in 1846. The name of the street is Parley. All along it are plaques with quotes from journals of the early saints. It was very sad to understand all that they went through. We were able to see the Temple as we walked towards the Mississippi river and away from town. It is amazing the strength and testimonies they had to be able to leave all that behind them.

On Monday we headed out of town and went to Carthage to see the jail where Joseph Smith was killed. It was a very sad place but I am glad I went.

Now that you know all the details of what we did (sorry if I bored you) you can see some great photos that we took!!

This is where Elsie spent most of her time! How do you like the bonnet we bought her?? I just could not resist!


Sister Arkell in the Lion Family Store.


Elsie preaching at the 70's Hall.




"Sunset by the Mississippi"


I thought Will's sisters would like this quote on Parley St.

The Temple is that little white dot just left of center. This is taken from Parley St. where they saints walked away from Nauvoo.

Carthage jail is in the background to the left.

Elsie walking

Well I hope this works because I know you all want to see Elsie walking!! She has been doing this for quite some time now. She took her first steps on May 23rd and soon after could take 2 or 3 steps at a time. She can now get across the room walking but her preferred mode of transportation is still crawling. Last night was the first time she stood up in the middle of the floor and started walking from there. So she is moving forward but slowly.

Memory Post

I saw this on my friends blog and since I left a comment I had to play along! I hope you all have good things to say about me.

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

The Fourth of July

We did not do much for the fourth of July. Will still went to work but he did come home an hour early. We just stayed home all night and watched a movie after Elsie went to bed! We heard plenty of fire works but we did not see any. So we know we are pretty lame but it was not going to be fun keeping Elsie up past her bedtime. The one thing that we did do was put Elsie in a cute fourth of July out fit and I remembered to capture it on film.

A big BBQ cook off

A few weekends ago we went with some friends to a huge BBQ cook off. People come from all around (including Texas) and roast a pig and compete to see who makes the best BBQ. There were over 180 different groups competing. And what did we do you ask? We walked around with mouths watering looking at people prepare meat to be judged. Then at around noon people started putting out trays of BBQ for us to taste. When I say taste I mean have a bite or two. So really this just got us more hungry and so we ended up at Red Robin where we could get all you can eat french fies.

blackberries

We are very luck to have a bunch of blackberry bushes growing in our back yard! They look like they are going to give us a good crop but it has taken for ever for them to ripen! Oddly enough there is this one bush at the front of the lawn that has ripened before all the rest. The only reasonable explanation to me is it gets more sun light. But then again a lot of that bush is hidden by a huge grape vine! So who knows why but they are ripe and a few weeks ago we where able to pick a lot of berries. There are not many left on that bush now but we should have plenty more once the other bushes ripen.

I've been tagged again

ABC's "getting to know you" TAG. Complete the ABC's of you. Then, each player tags 3 people and posts their names, goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

A- Attached or single: Attached at the hip to William and little Elsie.
B- Best Friend: Lehilina, Kharin and Mandy
C-Cake or Pie: Pie the filling is what gets me!!
D-Day: My day is filled with feeding my baby, changing her diapers, feeding her some more, putting her down for a nap, feeding my baby, more nap time and yes changing more diapers.
E- Essential Item: Underwear
F- Favorite Color: I don't have one because I can't commit to one.
G-Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Bears from grandmas house.
H-Home town: Newark Vermont
I- Indulgences: Chocolate Mousse shooter at Applebees
J- January or July: July!! The summer is much much better then the winter. Plus I was married in July so it is a special month.
K-Kids: I have one adorable little girl who I love to death...and I love lots of other kids including my 3 nieces and 4 nephews.
L-Life is incomplete without: My husband and baby girl. Where would I be with out them??
M- Marriage Date: July 19, 2002, 6 years in 22 days!!
N- Number of Siblings: 3 older sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: I love them both...but oranges are more exotic to me since we had 4 apple trees in our back yard growing up!!
P- Phobias or Fears: My biggest fear is something happening to Will or Elsie!
Q- Quote: "Ladies and gentlemen take my advice pull down your pants and slide on the ice"
R- Reason To Smile: When Elsie lays her head on my shoulder and snuggles in for a nice long hug.
S- Season: Fall in New England. I love the smell of fallen leaves and their crunch under your feet.
T- Tag Three: Natalie, Quinci, and Annah
U- Unknown fact about me: I almost died in a cave when I was 15. I went caving with my older sister and her boyfriend and we got lost for 12 hours and barely made it out.
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Ok I think this is a little harsh...oppressor of animals?? Really I just eat them I do not oppress them.
W- Worst Habit: Nagging Will
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds they are so fun when you are pregnant.
Y-Your favorite food: Homemade apple pie.
Z- Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Country in the Woods

Elsie is standing by herself here!!!





We went to a free concert the other night at Corporate Woods Park. It was lots of fun. There were not too many people there and there was plenty of shade to sit in. We got to see 2 country groups. Yes we both like country music. We saw Lonestar and Ashton Shepherd. They both did really good jobs. It was a lot of fun enjoying the nice evening out side and listening to some good music too. The only thing that bothered us was this little two year old behind us who insisted on throwing his ball at us and hit Elsie in the head one time!!! Luckily his mom was right there and she tried to keep him away from us the rest of the night. Enjoy the cute pictures we took!

Swimming Lessons

Getting ready to go...sunblock anyone?

At the pool.


So Elsie and I have been going to mommy baby swim lessons for the last two weeks. It is tuns of fun. Mostly we just play in the water a lot. Elsie loves it. She likes to float on her belly (with mom holding her up) and splash. She also likes the toy rings that she drops in the water and bends down to retrieve. Some times we sing songs with the group and do fun splashing and kicking in the water.

Firends Birthday Party

The cupcake tower of flowers!

Elsie trying to play with the flame...we will have to teach this kid a few lessons about staying away from fire.
And exploring the cupcake...but not really eating it.


I know she really is too young for a friends birthday party but we wanted to have it for us. Since we have no relatives in the area we wanted to have our friends come over and help us celebrate. After all we need to get some credit for raising the best little lady in the world.

The first spaghetti dinner

This is a picture of Elsie's first spaghetti dinner. We had some friends over and had a fun time laughing at the pieces in her hair.

The moring after

Toys every where!!! But she looks happy!

As promised...

Here are a lot more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Elsie had a fun time eating her cake and ice cream. Will started by feeding her it with a fork and spoon. Then we let her dig in herself. Mostly she liked to wipe the icing off the cake and hold her hand out for her Daddy to lick. She did not put much of the cake in her mouth but what she did eat she liked. As for the ice cream she liked it on the spoon...though she made a few faces of disgust but she kept coming back for more. When we gave her some on her plate she just grabbed it and smooshed it and dropped it on the floor. The cold did not bother her at all.

It was also fun to see how much involved she wanted to be in opening her presents. She went right to the table with them on it an started pulling them onto the floor. She is getting very good at ripping the paper too. After each piece she ripped off she would hand it nice and neat to her Daddy.

You ask what I was doing this whole time...I was taking pictures of course.

Elsie turned One yesterday!!!

We are so happy to have Elsie in our lives. She has been the most wonderful little girl anyone could have asked for. She brightens each of our days with all the little things she does. And it is amazing to realize that this little blessing has been with us for one whole year!!! We went to her one year checkup today and she is now 20 lbs 1 oz and 30 inches long!!! She is just getting so BIG!!! More pictures to come soon.