August and September

Ellia and I joined a group here for stay at home mommy's and one of the activities was a day of gymnastics. She loved jumping on the tramps and into these big cubes! While we were vacationing in Utah (and welcoming Jeremy's brother home from his mission) we visited Thanksgiving Point...

She got to ride a real horse too, but the pictures didn't turn out! (and yes, I know this is a cow)

Jeremy also had a chance to go camping in the Uintah's with his brothers and sister.

We had some coupons for free doughnuts at Krispy Kreme so I took Ellia to see how the doughnuts were made.

she got to play with the kitties at Grandma Laura's. They CHOSE to sleep in the net, she didn't put them there!

We went to the sheep dog festival and Ellia got her face painted, she chose a frog (again, keep reading)

They also had some crazy animals to see and pet...hence the closeup with this baby camel!

The trip started with a stop at Lake Powell, where we played in the sand, in the water and even in a kayak. Jer even learned the eskimo roll - now the two of us will have to take a trip! (in a few months anyway!)

Ellia reading in her new big girl bed.

Ellia's first day back to school, she was better at waking up early this time!

At the annual Chevron party we got to take advantage of some of the kids entertainment. Ellia enjoyed painting with dad...

and getting her face painted for the very first time. She kept scrunching up her cheek where the frog was to show it to us.

for the next week or so everytime we saw a frog toy or a frog on a book or anything, she'd point to her cheek.

After jer made the table we were feeling pretty confident so we took on a deck box. It is SO nice to have to storage for pool and lawn toys!

Ellia gets pretty desperate for sweets. She pulled down this glass pan which only had a few brownie crumbs left, and tried to eat the leftovers off the knife...luckily I was close by - I just had to get the pictures first! Now she can climb up the drawers onto the counters and into the highest cupboards - we can't keep anything from her!

We went to Mormon night at Dodger stadium and stayed overnight to visit the L.A. zoo and the Manhatten beach. Ellia wasn't quite as animated at the zoo as she was her first visit, but she still enjoyed it.

I really liked the giraffe enclosure at this zoo, you could get so close! We even had lunch at a palce we could just sit and watch them. Once again, it took a few weeks after going to the zoo for Ellia not to be VERY excited every time she saw a picture of a giraffe.

I was really excited to see the hippos since they don't have those at Hogle Zoo anymore, pluys this guy was very active while we were there, climbing in and out of the water and showing us his big teeth!

By the end of the day Ellia wasn't the only pooped one at the zoo!


Before the zoo we stopped at Manhatten beach. It took her a bit of warming up to the sand and the water, but Ellia eventually had a blast running in and out the waves on shore, and chasing the birds!

At the Dodgers game it was a little difficult to keep her entertained, but we've had worse times!

We had a little flashlight keychain and she really liked pointing to the baby with it!

Ah, at least dad is willing to play with the fingerpaints!

Although Ellia is progressing in some aspects, like getting the 'idea' of potty training, (she is rushing her animals to the potty)

she is regressing in others, like wanting to use a sippy cup again and playing in the baby gear!

Finally - a few pictures from the birthday party we had for Ellia once we got back to California (after the July trip!)

and that about does it for the last two months, hopefully I'll get in another post of two before the baby comes!