Our trip to Kansas

As I said below we hitched a ride with some of or best friends to Kansas. It was a fun ride with two toddlers but we made it and with only one car sickness episode! It took us from 6 am to midnight but we did it in one shot. After getting there our friend passed us off to our other best friend and we were good to go for about a week of fun. We hung out a lot and went shopping and to appointments. I had my birthday there so we had cake and went to a movie...it was a blast!!! The best part about it was watching the kids play!! They loved being together again!!! Thanks for a great time. We miss you already.

Elsie the model

We had a beautiful tree in our back yard so I took a few pictures of Elsie in front of it. I think they came out great and I am actually going to use one of them to reproduce for family.

Fun with firends

We were so happy to have a few friends come out to visit. They were actually here to see their family but they made some time for us too. That is the one great thing about living here....lots of people have family here so they come and visit and see us too!!!

Naps

Elsie is going through a tough time when it comes to naps. She does not want to take them!!! I used to be able to put her down with no problem but now she just gets right back up again and gets out of her bed. So I have just been putting up the gate and letting her have quiet time while hoping the whole time that she will lie down and fall asleep. But what happens while I am away is far from sleep. This is how I fond her one of the afternoons after her quiet time

Swimming in the bathtub

Elsie has been doing funny stuff in the bathtub for quite a while but this is the latest. She swims in the bath. Will fills the tub really high then lets her have fun. She goes under the water face first then moves her legs and arms all around as if she was swimming.

Hop On Pop

Elsie has recently been reading more of her Dr.Seuss books and her current favorite is Hop on pop. So one night she started to hop on her pop.

on a little trip

Elsie and I have gone on a little trip to Kansas. One of our best friends from KS was living out west and then needed to go home to KS so we hitched a ride. And here we are happy as can be spending time with some of our very best friends in the world. I will have to post pictures later.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year. The fact that it was a Saturday helped a lot. Will took Elsie to see grandma and grandpa Shumway and then he and grandpa went golfing. At home I was cooking up a storm. I started with my very first batch of Apple Butter. It was also my first time trying to make any kind of jam or jelly. I am proud to say that the end result was perfect!!! All the jars sealed and the apple butter set up and tastes great!!! After that was done I was feeling adventurous so I made a cranberry apple pie. It also turned out great. I also started working on boiling down more apples (making apple sauce) for a second batch of apple butter. It did not end there because we were having two of Will's siblings and a close friend over for some food and games and so I made some pizza. Meanwhile Will had gotten home with Elsie and they started to carve pumpkins. Will did a great job with both of the pumpkins. Elsie on the other hand did not want to help that much. She put her hand in one once and then played with the tops. But we still got some cute pictures. As you can imagine by the end of the night the kitchen was a mess!!! In the middle of all of this fun before it got too dark Elsie and I went to 3 houses to go trick or treating. I had not prepared her for it so I had not taught her to say trick or treat but no one cared.

It was a very busy but great day!!

Cookie making and eating...

...but mostly eating. Elsie helped make them by dumping in the measured ingredients with a little help, stirring, and pushing on each ball of cookie dough on the tray (even though they did not need to be flattened). And I am proud to say I allowed her to eat a little batter...well she might have taken a lot more then I wanted but boy did she love it.


She loved the batter so much that tonight when I was making biscuits she had to try some of that batter even though I told her it was not cookies. She liked it a little too which is crazy!!

Pumpkin hat

Elsie's grandma had this pumpkin hat. So we had to try it on her and get some festive shots.

Mitten Soxs

I am not sure how many of you out there have ever put mittens on your feet but Elsie has now done so. I assume a lot of little people do this. I know I did it when I was a wee one because my sister wrote about it in a book she was making for a school project. Anyways it was cute so I documented it.

What Elsie has been up to

I couldn't think of a title for this post but here are a bunch of photos of Elsie and the cute stuff she has been up to. She absolutely loves riding her bike!!! She wants to do it all the time and says "that really happy" when describing how it will make her feel. The hat and mittens where more for fun then function. She has also been into putting my over sized shirts on for fun.

Bath time in the BIG tub

In our master bathroom we have a small shower and a huge tub. It is not a jacuzzi tub but it is big. Will wanted Elsie to try it out one night for bath time. She liked it ok but ever since then Will asks her if she wants the little tub or the big tub and she always chooses the little one. We think it might have something to do it with all the bubbles!!!

Some House Pictures!!!!

So for all of you who have been waiting here you go. They are not the best photos and I only took them of the rooms that look half way decent right now. None of the rooms are decorated at this point and probably won't be until December!!! We like to take our time aka we are busy and a little lazy. Tell me what you think.

A BIG bed for a little girl

I can't believe my baby is getting so big. But I have to face the facts she wears 3 T clothes (for the most part, she is big for her age) and sleeps in a big bed now!!! We decided to skip the toddler bed since we never got a full crib mattress...we had a mini crib with a thin mattress pad. So here it is. This is how it looked the first night we had her sleep on it. With no rail she fell out of bed at least 2 times maybe 3! But is was not a long fall. But of course I went to the store the nest day to buy a rail.

This is how it looks now. I know it is sort of high but the headboard was made in a way that we needed the box spring to make the mattress tall enough. She loves to climb up on to it and with the rail there she has not fallen out yet!!!

Unpacking

Well we have not done any unpacking lately but when we first moved in this is what I found.


By the way we are not done unpacking yet but what is left is stuff we never use so who needs to unpack that???

Pioneer village

At the end of the summer we went to the pioneer village with grandma. It is located up by the zoo for all of you who might want to check it out. We got to pet goats, play in mini houses, ride a train, and do some crafts. By September the small town is not completely open but we got to see the print shop, a school house and a few others which was plenty for us. We tried to get Elsie on a pony but she would not have anything to do with it.

Sorry

I am sorry for not posting for such a long time!!! I know you are all dieing to see photos of our new house and us and all that. I can't even say that I have been too busy unpacking. I have not unpacked anything for the past week or more. We did a lot of the unpacking before we got to move in for real. So what have I been up to...I have been doing some fun projects. I am making file folder games for Elsie and her cousins , weaving, and making hair bows. Since we put so much into buying this house and the new furniture we got (which is great stuff by the way) I decided that I was going to make a lot of Christmas presents this year for my family so that is what I am doing!!!! I am really excited about it and I am having fun doing it.

My project this week besides all the above is to make apple butter. My sister Maude who died a year ago used to make it for all of us so I am going to try and make it this year. I hope it comes out as good as hers always did.

I will try to write again soon and next time I will have pictures too!!!

We are in!!!

So I don't have pictures but we are in our new house now. We moved in on Wednesday. And we have been loving it. So far we have met 3 neighbors and one of them has a little girl around Elsie's age!! We are so excited to have someone to play with finally. Our new ward/congregation is good too. We went to church for the first time this week and the people where very nice. I will be going to an activity for the women on Saturday and then there is a ward activity for Halloween! So I hope to meet people there too. I am so excited to finally be in the place where I will be staying for a while!!! We are still trying to unpack and stock up on food again but that will all come with time.