February 20th- February 26th 2011

Ellie rolled over for the first time Sunday morning!! I put her on her play mat on the floor so I could eat breakfast and when I looked back down at her after a few minutes she was on her belly!! I love it when the girls reach new milestones, but at the same time it makes me a little sad because they are growing sooooo fast! Of course when I pulled out the video camera she wouldn't roll anymore, but I am sure we will get it recorded one day. Yahoo! Good job Ellie Belly!

Kailee reached a milestone of sorts on Sunday too... When we dropped her off at nursery at church she didn't seem to mind too much. Then the nursery teacher brought her to me so I could change her diaper and when I went to take her back to nursery she had a smile on her face and waved at me! Yay, she is starting to get used to it.

When we got home from church I put us all in our snow clothes and we went outside to build a snowman! I had been wanting to do it all winter and I finally did it. Kailee enjoyed it for about a minute. She hadn't had a nap all day so she was struggling with being happy! Ellie sat in her bumbo and watched the whole time! The snowman turned out to be a pretty tall guy! The rest of the week we would look out the window and sing "Once There Was a Snowman." It wasn't long till he was small, small, small and then finally gone! Thanks for the memories snowman.

I decided to start feeding Ellie food on Wednesday so I gave her some bananas since we didn't have any rice cereal. Later in the day she broke out with a rash and hives. Oops. I guess her body was trying to tell me she wasn't quite ready for food. I guess I will have to get some cereal and try that first! Sorry kiddo!

Kailee had dance class again on Thursday. I love taking her to this class. It is so much fun to watch her. She loves to sing songs and do the actions to them. She loves to jump on the trampoline and do somersaults on the sloped wedge thing. She is just too cute!!

When Ryan got home from work on Friday we headed to Sears to buy us a Wii! We had been thinking about it for a while and since Ryan bought me a game for Valentines we 'had' to buy the console! We had some gift cards to Sears that we decided to put towards it so it wouldn't cost very much out of pocket. Then Jolie gave us a Smiths Marketplace ad that had the Wii advertised for cheap so we took it with us to Sears to see if they would price match. Lucky for us they did plus they beat the other stores price by 5%. So with the price match and our gift cards we pretty much got the console for free!!! Since we spent hardly anything on the console, we were able to buy more controls and some games!! Yeah, I am so glad we waited as long as we did to buy it because we were able to get so much more for hardly anything!!

All week long I had an itch to clean and organize our basement... but instead we spent the day with the Wii. When we got home Friday night from buying the Wii, Ryan opened it to get it set up and noticed it had been opened before. So early Saturday morning we headed back to Sears to get an actual NEW Wii. We ended up spending a few hours wandering around the mall and then the rest of the day wandering around other stores to find the cheapest controls/remotes. Then we spent the rest of the night playing the Wii. We ended up staying up till 1 or 2am. Fun, fun, fun!!

And, just because I think they are cute..
These pictures make me laugh!!  :)

Kailee at 8 Months Old

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Ellie at 4 months old

February 13th- February 19th 2011

After 3-1/2 years I have been released as the Relief Society Secretary and called as an Activity Days leader! The RS Secretary was a good calling and I was starting to get used to it, but it was definitely time for a change! It felt really good to pass my big fat folder on to someone else!! I am actually excited for this new calling. It will be fun to plan and be a part of activities for girls ages 8-11. I feel like I fit in better with kids! I am usually not a fan of change, but I am way excited for this one!

After church we headed to Logan for Ryan to do some more training for work for the week. We left around 6:30ish so it was dark outside and the girls were both tired which turned out to be great for me because they fell asleep as soon as we got on the freeway. Ryan had his work truck again and I drove our car so that meant I had a long quiet drive all by myself. Instead of sitting in the silence I took the opportunity to call my mom. I talked to her the entire drive so it made the drive waaaay fast!

When we got there we checked into our room and we were not impressed at all. The room was old and had a creepy uncomfortable feeling. I could not picture hanging out in that room all day long, all week long like we did when we went to Richfield. I kept telling Ryan we should go for a drive or get online and look for another hotel. Part of me was kidding, but the other part was dead serious!! However, we ended up staying there.

In the morning the girls and I got up around 9:30am and headed down to breakfast. I still had that same creepy feeling in that place and couldn't get rid of it. I kept trying to find something good about the place so I could relax and enjoy myself but it just wasn't happening. When we got back to the room I sent Ryan a text and told him I thought we should check out and move into the Marriott down the street... again partially kidding, but mostly serious! When Ryan came back to the hotel for lunch he decided I was right so we quickly packed up our stuff and headed to the Marriott. Wahoo! As soon as we walked through the front doors of the Marriott I was in heaven. After getting our stuff in the new room Ryan headed back to work and I put the girls down for their nap. When they woke up around 3:00pm we went for a drive around town. I decided Logan actually looks like a cute little town and would be a nice place to live. I started to wish that we were going to be there a little bit longer so we could explore a little more.

This is the Logan office. Again, A LOT smaller than the SLC office!

And... my new found comfort! I love this hotel!

When Ryan got back from work we opened our Valentines gifts from each other. The girls both got a card and a book, I got some lotion and a Wii game and Ryan got some cologne and candy. We then headed out to find a place to eat. After checking out a few of the local steakhouses and finding that they were overly crowded (imagine that, since it was Valentines day) we ended up at Cafe Rio! Apparently Cafe Rio isn't the restaurant of choice for Valentines day because it was empty!! Just kidding, there were about other families there! It was actually really nice to be able to just sit there and take our time eating without worrying if Kailee was being too loud and distracting. After dinner we drove by the Logan temple and then headed back to the hotel to watch the Bachelor! It was a very low key, calm, family Valentines Day for sure!!

Tuesday was our normal hotel routine. We got up around 9am and headed to breakfast in the lobby. Went back to the room and got ready for the day and then went to lunch with Ryan. All morning I kept wishing that we could stay the whole week, but Ellie had a Dr appt that evening that we needed to go to. So after lunch the kids and I headed home. We made it back home around 2pm and had just enough time to get everything unpacked and put away and get back in the car to get to Ellie's Dr. appt. This was her 4 month old appt and I get so excited for these appts. I love to see how much she has grown. She is now 14lbs, 5oz (60%), 25.75 inches long (95%) and her head is 16.25 inches (50%). The doctor complimented her and told her she is a beautiful little baby! Of course I think so too. She also got her immunizations at this appt. She had one oral and two shots. Ouch! The poor thing wasn't very happy after that! I was a little nervous about taking Kailee to the appt without Ryan there, but she did really well. I was actually really impressed! Thank you Kailee for being soooo good! When we got home Ryan was there and we headed out again to get some dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

Kailee had her dance class again on Thursday. We got there after the class had started so she ended up being so shy the whole time. Plus there were a  couple dads there with their little girls and that didn't help with her being so shy. For some reason she gets so timid around some guys...?! When we got to the tumbling room she just wanted to keep doing somersaults and didn't care as much about the trampoline. Too cute! She is growing up too fast. This week she even started to speak in full sentences. One day out of the blue she said "daddy is coming home" as plain as day. Then she was looking out the window and said "there is snow out there." I couldn't help but giggle and just look out her in amazement at how much she is learning!

And, just because I think they are cute! Kailee LOVES to be where ever Ellie is. We had Ellie in her crib one evening so Kailee wanted in with her! It is a rare occasion to see Kailee this far away from Ellie. She is usually right on top of her! I hope Kailee always loves Ellie like this!

February 6th- February 12th 2011

I just love my little Kailee. She follows us around like it's her job! If I clean, she wants to clean. If I do my hair, she wants to do her hair. If I eat something, she wants to eat it. Of course when I  started to work on some curtains for her bedroom, she wanted to help! I love it. She is sooo very interested in everything right now!

Notice the purple plug in her mouth in this picture? Well, it has become a thing of the past!!

Kailee is now binky free! We never really believed this day would come! At her 15 month Dr. appt, the Dr suggested that we take it from her before Ellie was born. We started to hide it from her, but she would always ask for it so we would give it back. A few months ago we finally decided we needed to start trying to get her off of  it. But when she hurt her collarbone it became even more of a security item for her. We seriously thought we were never going to get her to stop using it. But we finally did it!!

Wednesday morning I left her binky on our dresser. She kept asking for it, but I was being lazy and didn't want to go back upstairs to get it. I told her she could go get it if she wanted it. Of course she didn't go for that. I started to tell her that binkies are for babies and she is a big girl so she didn't need it. Every time she would ask for it I would tell her that or I would just say it was gone and change the subject. Then came nap time. UGH! She cried for 40 MINUTES before she fell asleep. After sitting through that I decided she wasn't going to get that plastic plug back EVER! Ryan came home and went along with the challenge. It ended up being a VEEEEERRRRYYYY long night. After such a painful night we were determined to NEVER give her another binky again. She asked for it a couple times the next day, but after that she didn't mention it. She had a rough week trying to get used to not having it, but considering that I flat out stole something that she has had since birth, she has done really good! Yeah! Even seeing Ellie's binky doesn't remind her to ask for hers!! Thank goodness! Now onto potty training!

A few months ago Kailee colored on the wall with a pencil. Thank goodness she hasn't done it since! I had to get a picture of it before I washed it off. She sure is proud of her picture!

Kailee and I went to her dance class again on Thursday and this time Ryan and Ellie came along to watch! Kailee was sooo cute and had so much fun. She is starting to get comfortable and she participates a little bit more every time we go!

Little Ellie Belly is getting so big. She has found her feet and they have become her favorite toy! She spends a large portion of her day playing with them! She is also starting to grab and hold onto whatever she can. She loves to grab her binky and she can even get it into her mouth all by herself! Cute girl! I sure wish she would slow down with the growing up stuff! She is so very funny in the bath tub too! It makes me laugh just to think about it. As soon as she feels the water she starts kicking and moving her arms. She is so out of control when shes in the water it's hillarious!

Ryan is still loving his job. It is so nice to have him come home at the end of the day happy and ready to hang out with us. He is overloaded with responsibilities, but he is doing really good at keeping up with everything! This job has been a blessing for us and it is an even bigger bonus that he enjoys it and doesn't mind going to work!

January 30th- February 5th 2011

I am sure glad this week ended better than it started!!

Around 3am Sunday morning Kailee woke up crying and sounded absolutely horrible. She had the worst cough ever. It was so weird because she seemed perfectly fine until that moment. We gave her some medicine and we all struggled sleeping the rest of the night.

Then Tuesday it was my turn. Kailee woke up around 7ish and cried and cried and cried. I wasn't ready to get up so I put her in bed with me and she still cried. She didn't have her binky and wouldn't calm down without it and that frustrated me even more. To top if off, she ended up waking Ellie up too. After getting back out of bed to find the stinkin binky and getting a bottle for Ellie I tried to go back to sleep but it wasn't happening. I layed in bed with a head that wouldn't quit pounding. So once the girls fell back asleep I grudgingly got myself out of bed, locked myself in the bathroom and started a hot bath. By the time I got out, and started to feel like an adult again, the girls were awake and ready to get up. While I was getting them dressed I started to feel really sick. I tried to ignore it and went downstairs to get Kailee some breakfast. I just kept getting more sick. I finally called Ryan and he said he would come home to take care the kids. By the time he got home I felt like I had a migraine and I was throwing up. At one point I was laying on the bathroom floor, in tears, and Kailee came in. She saw me crying and said in the sweetest little voice "mommy crying" and laid down next to me. I just love how loving she is! Of course I started to feel really bad for how grumpy I got just because she woke up earlier than I wanted her too and I figured me getting sick was my punishment! I spent the rest of the day either on the couch or in the tub and Ryan did everything else. I am so grateful he has this new job and can come home to help me when I need it without feeling like he's going to get into trouble! I am even more grateful he is willing to come home to help me!

Thankfully, we all woke up feeling much better on Wednesday. That evening I took Kailee to another dance studio to try their Mommy and Me dance class. BIG WASTE OF TIME! I loved the studio and the people working there but the class was so unorganized and Kailee was the ONLY kid there! She had a lot of fun playing and jumping on the trampoline, but I want to do this class so she can get some social interaction. She definitely can't get that when she's the only one there!

Thursday I decided I would sign Kailee up for the Me & My Tot class that we tried a few weeks ago. We went to the class thursday night and absolutely loved it. Kailee had so much fun. She participated in the singing and dancing and of course loved the tumbling room. She was excited to go through the tunnel, walk on the beam and she loved the trampoline! Man, this kid is a jumper! It's her new found glory!

Friday I decided I really didn't want to make dinner so we went to Cafe Rio! We actually WENT to Cafe Rio, ordered our food, sat down and ate! Kailee and Ellie were both really good while we were there too! It's sooo nice to get out and have a pleasant experience! We then spent the rest of the night wandering through mall and Target, checking out the Wii and anything else we could think to look at. We also made it to the popcorn place that night and got it all clean which meant we would have all of Saturday and Sunday to just relax!

Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house and Ryan spent the day watching the kids!! I was actually able to clean the entire house all in one day... that is something I haven't been able to do for a looooong time! I usually just pick a couple things to do each day, but I actually got it all done in one day this time. Saturday night Ryan and I went out for our date night while Sean and Jolie watched Kailee and Ellie. I love that Jolie set this up for us. It's so nice that we actually get an evening for just us, Kailee gets time to play with kids and Ellie has her uncle Sean as her personal snuggle buddy! Kailee absolutely loves her cousins and is always SO happy (and worn out) when we go to pick her up! For our date we ended up going to dinner at Apollo Burger and then to the Jazz game. We haven't been to a game in a couple years and it was fun to do that again.

Saturday was also Ellie bellys 4 month birthday! My baby is already getting so big. She is smiling a ton, giggling, talking, and trying so hard to roll over! When she lays on the floor on her belly she also acts like she wants to scoot! She is still really noisy and she wiggles a ton. I mean it, this kid is a mover! She is sooo good though. She really only fusses when she is hungry or tired. She is holding onto things really well and tries to grab whatever she can. She likes to move her binky from one hand to another and she is starting to figure out how to get it to her mouth! She loves, loves, loves to watch her big sister! If Kailee is in the room, Ellie watches her! Happy Birthday baby girl!

Just because I think she is cute, here's this one:

Ryans mom gave me this hat and Kailee loves to wear it! She will randomly say "hat, hat" and walk me to my room to go get it!