Our day trip and MY morning trip

We just got back Wednesday night from a fun family trip. Joseph had to work in Kingman, AZ but being later in the day he knew he'd have to get a hotel room and to finish up the next day. So Ella and I came along to keep him company. We got a hotel right on the bank of the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV (right on the border of AZ).We had an awesome view from our room. As it turned out Joseph really didn't have that much work to do and he got done early so we went down to the river bank and played in the sand, built sand castels, played in the water and just had a lot of fun. It was Ella's first time ever seeing sand or a body of natural water so it was really fun for her. We went to the dollar store and got a sand bucket and shovel. I think that was the best investment we'd ever made. She sat there for an hour shoveling sand and puting it in the pail and then shoveling it out and putting water in it. She loved it! We did have a little scary incedent.... there were lots of speed boats and jet skiis on the water which made for a lot of waves. Ella decided she wanted to start walking into the water so I started to carefully follow her so she could see for herself what it was like to walk into it. I was only like 2 feet behind her but she got hit with a little wave which sent her face forward in the water! I tried to get to her as fast as I could but the rocks were so sharp at the bottom and the water had so many little waves in it that it was inhibiting me from going fast enough. I could just see my little girl floating face down in the water. It seemed like forever before I got my hands on her and brought her back up. (even though she was only there for like 3 seconds) I brought her back to the shore and helped her cough all the water up. She was totally fine but I wasn't. I couldn't stop shaking. I'm one of those nuerotic moms that starts thinking, "what if I wasn't right behind her", "what if she got carried away to fast"..... But I calmed down long after Ella Bella and she was fine and kept playing like nothing happend. She's gonna be quite the fearless leader.

I'm so sad b/c I didn't think we'd have much to do in the hotel room so I didn't bring the camera and we ended up having a blast so I don't have any pictures, just my memory. But it was fun. We ate out a lot and went swimming a lot and just being together for 2 days straight was a lot of fun.

We came home late Wednesday night and the next morning, instead of my routine dart to the bathroom at 6 am, I shot up out of bed at 6 am feeling like I was going to vomit right then and there (which is really weird b/c I haven't felt like that for 2 months now). But here was my dilemma... every morning when I wake up I have to run to the bathroom before I pee my pants. So when I shot out of bed feeling like I was going to puke I thought to myself, "hmmmm, bathroom? food? bathroom? food?....". So I took a gamble and thought I could make it to the fridge, grab something and be able to make it back to the toilet in time. So I dart out of bed run to the fridge but don't make it in time b/c I start gaging and dry heaving in the hallway on the way to the kitchen. I'm holding one hand over my mouth and the other over my crotch as to not let anything out of either end. I get to the kitchen sink just in time to dry heave so violently I pulled a muscle in my chest. But not only am I dry heaving but with every heave I feel somthing warm running down my leg. Then it stops as I grab a breath of fresh air, I heave and it starts again. When I realize that I'm peeing on the floor, I start running back to the room to get to the bathroom in time and am yelling (through gaging noises) JOSEPH!... HELP!!!... He darts out of the bed and is like, "what?? what's going on???" All I could do was yell, "FOOD!" B/c I was heaving so much. So he (so sweet) runs to the kitchen, grabs some grapes (b/c that's the litterally the only thing in there, that and eggs) and gives them to me. The second I bite into a grape the heaving stops! So Weird! So there I am, eyes all puffy, snot and spit running down my face, sitting on the toilet eating grapes off the floor. Afterward, I had to change my clothes and clean up the pee off the kitchen floor. I swear this baby is a boy, I never felt anything like this with Ella. And speaking of it being a boy or girl....We may just find out sooner than later the sex b/c I STILL haven't even seen a doctor and won't till probably about 15 - 16 weeks and they do ultrasounds on your first visit here.

.....Dirty Knees, Look at These!

Today was Ella's first day of nursery! It was actually supposed to be a few weeks ago but she was sick one week and at Nonie and Grandpa's the next so today was the day. I took a picture of her in her new dress by the door and told her to say "cheese" and to smile and right as I clicked the picture she does this. She wouldn't keep her dress down and I couldn't stop laughing so then she started to think it was funny (which it was) and kept doing it. So Joseph had to intervene.






So this is what I think of the nursery here....
First of all Ella has never had a problem going to other people or stranger anxiety or anything like that. She would go to the gym kids care just fine every day and play with all kinds of kids. She plays with the same kids at play group that are in nursery and has had brand new baby sitters that she's never seen before and has done just fine with them. She is the kind of kid that loves to leave mom and go explore. So I wasn't surprised when we dropped her off that she ran and played with all the toys and started to explore.
I first brought her in to the room and I tried to introduce Ella to the teacher but she (the teacher) was kind of annoyed by that and just interupted me and said, "is she even 18 months?". I was a little stunned at her rudeness but nicely told her, "yes". Then to my amazement, she wouldn't let it go and looked at me very skeptically and said, "are you sure?". WHAT??? Hmmm, well, let me think about it, I am her mom and I do know how to count so....well, maybe she isn't 18 months. Did she seriously just ask me that? Holy! I just looked at her and nicely said, "um, yes... I'm sure." Then she just looks at me and says in disbelief, "well, ooooo kaaaay". She didn't welcome us at all or make us feel welcome. This was our first time with a child going to nursery too so I didn't even know what to do! I just sat Ella down, told her what was happening and that this is nursery and she gets to play here while momma and daddy go to class. She seemed fine and excited when I left her so you could probably understand my sense of shock when they brought her to me in Relief Society and said that she needed a diaper change but when I picked her up she was shaking and held me around the neck so tight and she was still catching her breath from crying so hard. I asked why she was crying and the lady said, "Oh, she's been crying the whole time". What?? So I changed her and just took her to Joseph who was teaching a class. (they had popsicles) After church I went back to nursery to talk to the teacher and asked why she was crying and she got all defensive and said, "well she was crying the whole time. I don't know why". I'm sorry but I just don't understand that... my little girl doesn't just cry to cry. She never has been like that. We decided that Joseph and I would take turns sitting with her in nursery for the next couple of weeks. I think that if I had that teacher, I'd cry too. Gees.

Happy Father's Day!

We went away for the weekend unexpectedly. All but one of Joseph's sisters and his parents went to SLC for the weekend. Joseph got off work a little early and at about 2 in the afternoon we decided to take the six hour drive to Utah to surprise his dad for Father's day. We haven't seen his family in about 6 months and we don't know the next time we'll see them. We didn't get to see them very long but it was fun while it lasted. I'm so sad though, I ment to pack the camera but left it sitting on the bed so we didn't get any pictures. Bummer. We did get to visit with Scott and Crystal, our friends from college that set Joseph and me up on our first date. On Sunday we left for home but stopped in Cedar City to surprise MY dad. It was so fun. We got to their house right before they got home from church. So I checked their doors and low and behold, one was unlocked! So Joseph hid the car in the neighbor's driveway. Ella and I went in the house and I let her play around while I hid behind the wall. They came home right as I hid and Ella ran out into the kitchen to greet them. They were pretty shocked to walk in and see a baby in their house, also b/c they invited us over a week in advance and we said that we couldn't come. So it was fun to surprise them and we had kabobs over at their place with two of my brothers. Monday we made this card for Joseph and put it out on the front door to greet him when he came home from work. Ella had a great time making it and Joseph was pretty surprised to have such a nice greeting. He got the driver he's been wanting and then we went out for pizza. All in all it was a very fun and eventful weekend.

Some pictures

My brother Adam contracted the Russian Diabetis so he got sent home a year early from his mission so that he can get his health regulated. They say he'll be home about 3 months. So it was kind of a bitter sweet reunion. This was an early Father's Day dinner Joseph and I made for my dad.


Here's Ella helping make brownies for family night.






This girl keeps cracking me up. She got into my underwear drawer and put them on around her neck and walks around the house with them for as long as I will let her. Here she is helping me put the dishes away and sweeping the floor.

SUCCESS!!!

So now I know the answer to the question in my last post... Today we went to Walmart to get a birthday presant for one of Ella's little firends. To keep Ella occupied Joseph handed her this baby doll who had a BINK strapped to her clothes. She had a lot of fun putting the bink in her mouth and taking it out and she kept giving her a "high five" with the doll's opened hand. It was hilarious. Anyway, although I thought that Ella wouldn't understand I thought that since she liked the baby so much that we could maybe try to let her "buy" the baby with her binks. So we bought the baby behind her back and then when we got home we gathered all her binks up and she got to take them to daddy and we told her that if she wanted to the baby she would have to buy it with the binks. So she gave daddy the binks and she got the baby. I did everything in her bedtime routine normal. It was so dang cute. When we say night prayers Joseph and I hold hand so Ella wants to hold our hands. But tonight...Joseph and I held hands and Ella held her baby's hand. Then during story time she would point to things and show her new baby the pictures in the book. Then she held her baby so tight while we sang a song. I asked for a kiss and she gave me one and then her baby. I layed Ella down wide awake with her baby and she just layed there and waved at me and said, "ni ni". I'm guessing she's asleep b/c I haven't heard one peep and she's been in there for 3 hours! HALLELUJAH!! I guess she really did understand. It was so cute too b/c she just mothered the baby and would put the bink in and take it out and just looked at her so lovingly.

Something funny also...Today I took Ella to play group. We were swimming and I was wearing my maternity swim suite. I was in a group of moms and dads just chatting it up when Ella comes up to me like she was on a mission. She pulled my swim top away from my body, looked down my top and pointed to my boob and said, "Bawwwl, Bawl!" in the most excited voice. Like she was so excited and proud of herself that she found the balls I was hiding from her. Everyone (including the dads) were laughing at me. Although it was really funny, it was pretty embarassing.

Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

Has anyone's babies been really attached to a bink? Ella has been a MAJOR binky super sucker since the day she was born. I only let her have it at night and she sleeps really well with it. I can just lay her down awake and she'll just hang out till she falls asleep. A mother's dream! Well, lately I've been thinking that she's almost 18 mo. old and it's about time for her not to have it any more. So this week, since she's been sick with a bad cold and a cold sore for a lip she hasn't been sucking on her bink b/c it hurts too much. So she just holds it in her hand to sleep. I thought that it might be a good time to get rid of it since she's not sucking on it anyway. (nothing worse than a 2 year old that sucks on a bink while they're talking) I heard from a friend that it's easier to fase it out if you snip part of the nipple end off little by little (one small snip and it becomes unsuckable). So I tried it 2 nights ago and it was ok... she wined for about 2 minutes and fell asleep and I thought, "wow, this is way easier than I thought". That was until she woke up freaking out at 3 am till 5:45 am b/c she couldn't find her real bink! It was so sad b/c she kept pointing to her mouth and in the sadest little voice she would say, "Maaaaa...beee. Peas? peas? Bee? Beee." I put her down last night and she was really freaking out on me. I mean screaming like she's gonna die. Normally I just tune it out but I haven't had to hear her cry like that since she was 3 months old when we were trying to get her to sleep through the night with out eating! I'm wondering if I made a good choice I mean she is really sick and she's never slept a night with out her bink. But, now that I've started, there's no turning back. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of something they're that their baby has been attatched to? Hopefully tonight will be a little better.

Who said when you're married you have to settle down?

This weekend was supposed to be going up to a wedding in SLC but we decided we didn't want to spend the money to drive so far. So we thought it would just be a quiet weekend at home. Then we thought to give Ella to her Nonie and Grandpa for the weekend b/c June is going to be a very busy month and it would be the best time for them to have her. They usually take her 1 weekend a month so that they get time with her all to themselves and we get to have a whole week as just a married couple. Since they live in Cedar City and we live in Vegas we meet in Mesquite. So Joseph and I drive out to Mesquite and drop her off and went home. Once we were home I got to talking to a friend of ours in St. George and they told us to come out b/c a lot of people from our old ward were going to be getting together. So we jumped back in the car and drove to St. George. It's so fun to be able to do that, just go where we want and travel at the last minute. That's one of my favorite things about being married to Joseph is that we're always just jumping in the car and going somewhere fun. I sometimes feel like we're in college again. I don't think we have much more time to be so spontaneous so I think we're trying to get it all out of our systems. :)
Ella got to play with her little friend Gavin while we were out there and had so much fun. I think it was a pleasent change for her to not to have to play with older mean girls that always push her around. These two kids play so well together and it's so cute to watch. They were born a day apart and we used to always get them together when we still lived in St. George. But now they are at the age where they are just starting to play WITH each other as aposed to next to each other. So Gavin would hide behind a chair or something and Ella would go and peak at him behind the chair and then giggle and run away and he would chase her. They played like this for like 1/2 an hour. It was so dang cute. I wish so bad we could still live in St. George b/c we have such good friends there... not just for me or for Joseph but Ella has a lot of friends there too that were all born with in a month or two of each other. But at least it gives us a fun place to visit. :)
Not much else is going on. Joseph is coming home b/c he's sick and Ella is sick. I'm just pregnant lol. We're getting back in the swing of things from being gone since Thursday.