Deck the Halls

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we have the tradition of decorating our Christmas Tree. We have a very large fake tree, but since we have a little girl that likes to get into everything, we decided to just put up our little 3 ft tree. Much easier than the bigger one, and I hope Kevin doesn't think we are going to do this every year! He hates putting together the big tree.

We were so excited to see what Eleanor's reaction would be. She loved it! Whenever I ask her where the Christmas tree is she looks around until she sees it, smiles and points to it. She is so smart! I took a quick video of her putting on her first ornament and I thought it was a great memory to share.

When I asked her where Minnie Mouse was she was pointing to her giant stuffed Minnie Mouse doll. Lol.

Many Thanks

Last week we spent a lot of time with family. We had a blast with my parents, my sister Heidi and her family, my sister Katy, brother Ben and my Aunt Judy and Uncle Kevin. My parents had a hotel for a night so I took Ellie swimming in the indoor pool. It was freezing but that didn't bother one bit. She loves the water. I also saw Breaking Dawn Pt 2, went to the shooting range and shot a gun for the very first time, spent many hours at Walmart for Black Friday shopping, had an amazing Thanksgiving Feast with 60 members of my Dad's side of the family (we made 80 lbs. of potatoes), went to the Jazz game against the Sacramento Kings (Go Jimmer!) which the Jazz won in the last few seconds, played games and just plain had fun with the family.

Ellie is walking a little bit more now. She mostly just takes a few steps before she falls, but she has gotten up to 8 steps.

I am so grateful for my amazing family and wish we could spend time with them more often!

Playing with Grandma Leonard and Cousin Isabel

Thanksgiving!

Just hanging out after our Thanksgiving Feast

The cutest little deer that you ever did see!

Four Generations

While my parents were in town we visited my Grandma Stewart who is in a care center. We hadn't visited her in several months and wanted to get a Four Generation picture. Ellie is in her "Afraid of Strangers" phase and didn't want to go near my grandma. Grandma is not doing that great and we aren't sure she even realized we were there, but it was still nice to see her. I wish we could have gotten a better picture, but this one will have to do.

10 Months

Seriously, where does the time go? Our little girl is growing too fast. Before we know it she will be a toddler. She has become much more mobile and is all over the place. She took two steps all by herself today, and I hope she decides to repeat it. You can tell she stands there thinking about taking a step, but then decides to just get down and crawl.

At 10 months Ellie:

- Walks around all the furniture and crawls everywhere.

- Is really into biting. Whenever she is mad at us she bites us. And when she sees our toes she has to try to bite them. No idea where she got this from.

- Had a cold all last week, which means she was a little extra cuddly.

- Waves "Hi" and "Bye" pretty we'll now.

- Watched Cinderella for the first time and managed to watch about 30 minutes of it.

- Eats a lot of table foods and we discovered that she loves mashed potatoes, can eat an entire banana, eats Gogurt like it's going out of style, and will eat most chicken.

- Got to see her first real snow storm and absolutely loved the snow!

- Loves Little Einsteins and claps and dances along.

- Enjoys books and especially ones that have different textures.

- Likes when Mommy blows bubbles, though she blinks like crazy when they get near her, just like her Daddy.

- Is a very happy baby and always smiles for the many strangers that stop and say hi when we are out and about.

- Loves seeing all of her Grandparents on FaceTime.

- Celebrated her First Halloween as Little Red Riding Hood.

- Still loves to play with Minnie Mouse.

First Snow

Today we had the first real snow fall of the season. We have several inches and it is still coming down. Eleanor absolutely loves it! I won't let her play in it since she doesn't have a proper coat and boots yet, but she loves to try to catch the snowflakes.

Election Day

I don't like to talk politics. I'm not as informed as I should be and it gets uncomfortable. I do however love that I live in a country where I can vote for the candidate that I feel will best benefit the people and the country. Kevin and I sent in our absentee ballots last week so we wouldn't have to worry about making it to the polls today. What an honor and a privilege.

I know a lot of people may not agree with who I voted for, but I am proud to support Mitt Romney for President. Not because I am a Mormon, but because I strongly believe he is an honest man who has a better chance of turning this economy around. I was laid off TWICE under the administration of Obama and it is time for someone else to give it a try. I don't doubt that Obama had high hopes for improving the economy, but obviously his approach is not working.

I hope everyone takes the time to exercise their vote today. It truly is an honor and a privilege.

First Ponytail

I don't know why I haven't done it before, but I finally put Ellie's hair in a ponytail today. It lasted about 5 mins before she yanked it out, but cute nonetheless.

Getting Dressed

Last week Eleanor decided she wanted to put her dress back on herself. She played like this for a good 20 minutes or so. She cracks me up.