Vacation!!!

I had enough of the heat and decided to journey to my Aunt Katie's house in SLC. We got up unnaturally early and hit the road!! This is Ella at 5ish AM. Not super thrilled to be awake!! She was SOOOOO GOOD the whole trip!! No whining in the car. No fit throwing at my Auntie's house. No melt downs while we shopped... and shopped.... and shopped!!

This is Ella at breakfast. She decided to eat her toast that morning all natural!! I don't know what inspired this nakedness. But my Aunt had 5 sons. 3 of which still live at home!! I'm glad they were sleeping in, because I think they would have been scarred for life!!

This is Mac, the coolest dog ever!! He is a pug. I think while we were there, he slept 22 hours out of every day!! My kind of dog! He was so friendly and so mellow!! Ella chased and petted and basically tortured him for 4 days and he didn't even care!! As you can tell, he loves to cuddle!

We went to Gardeners Village in South Jordan, just a few miles from my Auntie's house. I shopped in their AWESOME home stores. It's an outside mall and was put in an old sugar mill. It's themed to be old world and so cute. They have a petting zoo on the lot. Ella wasn't interested in this goat.

But she LOVED the pony rides!!! She wanted to go over and over and I think we could have spent a whole day there. However, I was in sandals, tromping through the pony corral. Yeah, nothin' like a little manure between your toes!! :)

After her love for the ponies, and her love of Mac, I told Brent we are getting a pet!! He can give into a pony or a puppy!!! He is currently thinking!! :)

We had so much fun!!! My mom came with us and was my co pilot for the drive!! My truck is big so I needed help knowing when to move over in busy SLC traffic. I thought squashing a Honda during our journey might put a damper on things.

We missed Brent but it was hard to leave!! My Aunt's house is GORGEOUS and she has a picture perfect yard. We all spent hours out there, playing and laying on a blanket. Clouds came up and it rained a little and the weather was so nice!! We were a little depressed when we came into the valley and the temperature gage read 105. I know that's cool for this time of year but it was 85 in SLC.

We had so much fun and we have a standing date for next July!!! I'm so grateful my Auntie Katie let us invade her house for 4 days!! Yay for vacation.....booooo for all the laundry I have to do!!

Happy Birthday Ella!!

Getting ready for the party!! She looks scared to death but she actually enjoys the diffuser! Her hair is naturally curly (love this) and I usually just put a little mousse in it to keep it nice. But on special days we froo froo it up!!

I think this was her favorite present! Grandma and Papa got her a SLIDE!! Ella loves slides! And now she has her very own!

They also got her this adorable poodle. She was so excited for "a puppy!" But I whisked it away for her to open another present before she got properly acquainted. Don't worry poodle, you will be properly mauled soon!

Brent and I got her a Little People's Village. She opened it and screamed, "Wow!! A house!!" She loves doll houses and also got one of those today! (She's not spoiled at all.....)

She got tons of other stuff too! 3 cute outfits, a power wheels motorcycle, puzzles, books, and a cute dollie. She was a little over whelmed but there are plenty of days for her to break them all in!

She was so worn out, and had so much fun, this was her 15 minutes after the last person left her party!

Ella's birthday is actually the 12th. But we celebrated today so everyone could come. My whole fam came, plus Brent's sister and her husband and baby, and they brought his mom and sister. They were really sweet and it was fun to meet them! We had a lot of fun! Babies make things SO FUN!!

While I was cuddling Ella after she fell asleep, it hit me: she just isn't a baby anymore!! She walks, talks, argues, gets mad, gets happy and everything in between! She is getting SO big SO fast!! I can't believe she is 2 today! It seems like we just barely celebrated her first birthday!! I love her so much!! I don't know how a little girl can be so sweet, and so deceptively evil at the same time!! She is wonderful and I am so glad she is mine!! Happy birthday to my little girl!! I love you!!

4th Of July

Ella ready for the fireworks to start. She thought it was great she got to stay up AND be outside!

Uncle Hiss getting ready for the show. My Dad was really sick so Hiss and Grandma came alone.

Still very excited!!

NOT excited for a picture!!

The day was so fun!! I went for a run and bike ride in the morning. It was very refreshing, except for the part where a dog mistook me for his morning snack! I narrowly escaped!

We BBQed in the evening. Brent made the BEST ribs! He is getting really good at the grill. We then played at the Bowler's house until sundown.

My family made it a tradition 7 years ago to meet at the elementary school and sit on the lawn to watch the fireworks. It's nice and cool in the grass and we aren't so close that sparks fall on us! Ella was startled at first by the loud booms but she got over it. She kept pointing at the fireworks and saying, "Big, big stars!" Then I taught her to howl like a coyote and that was very cute! She took turns going from me, to Brent, to Grandma, to Uncle Hiss to make sure she had someone to cuddle her at all times.

It was a fun day!!