What a May!

Ellia tanning.

What a pose!Taking away the binky - attempt gone wrong.

Ellia is starting to take her dollies everywhere, and helping them do everything! This I caught on tape, but I have been finding dollies in the shower, and on lia's potty chair too!

I put a mirror in Ellia's room because I had read that babies/little kids like to see their own image...boy does that ring true for Ellia!

Ok, so May was off with a bang! We met my family in Mesquite at the beginning of the month to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday! We all chipped in and gave them cash to spend on their Alaskan cruise this summer.

Ellia really enjoyed being around her cousins!

It is always fun to see the similarities and differences between Ellia and Jace (her cousin that is just one week younger)

She tried to give him a little kiss! (Even though right after they saw each other Emily was saying something about Ellia not wanting to get near a stinky boy and then Jace let a ripper!)

It was great pool weather so Ellia got to sport her new tankini!

Always the fashionista!

One of our next big adventures was meeting up with Dane and his family for the Biggest Loser after party. It was so crazy to see all the faces we'd been watching for the past few months...and see how small they had really gotten! Here's Sione - this picture is for you Janell.

Dane and Carli

Kristen and Carli's little sister Kenzi, who was nice enough to take these pictures for me and send them to me because Jeremy had recently landed our camera in a lake.

Tara

Mike

Michelle, last season's winner

Amy from last season

Ahhhhh BOB!!!

We have also been having some great weather for backyard BBQ's. This one is actually at the James family ranch (some of our friends run it) which is about 40 minutes away from us.

We stayed and played all evening...

after dinner we walked to the lake where jer did some fishing, he caught a few little ones and one really big one - when a kid fell in Jeremy jumped in after him! - this is when the camera was in his pocket.

that night ellia got her first taste of smores, and I tried some with chocolate fondue instead of unmelted hershey's pieces....I have now decided fondue is the way to go!!!

New addition to our family.

One night on a walk I kicked what I thought was a rock, but I happenned to look down and it was a turtle! So we brought him home.

We ended the month in Utah celebrating birthday's, graduations and baptisms! (We had to find a sitter for the turtle...thanks Kim!)

Long overdue - March and April.

This is Jeremy's most prized birthday present - a mallard duck chlorinater.

Happy Easter

Coloring eggs

Ellia got her first undies and this is what dad taught her to do with them.

At least she knows where they are supposed to go!

Easter egg hunt in Mesa Arizona for the Clegg reunion

Jeremy catching up with the family's newest celebrity (Dane from biggest loser)

Diamond backs game

the reunion includes a traditional dress-up parade, and this year yours truly got to don the faces of the clegg ancestors!
We also visited a childrens museum while we were there, here is Ellia planting flowers

Doing crafts

cooking

and grocery shopping

she also got to play Marilyn Monroe!

A few weeks before the reunion we picked up Travis and Liz from their cruise and spent the rest of the weekend at Redondo Beach

During the last part of March we met Jeremy's family in St. George to celebrate his birthday

We also played a little in the sand dunes in Snow canyon, but it was pretty windy

What the leprachauns left for us to find on St. Patricks day morning

Early in March we went to a really fun birthday party at a petting zoo. Ellia was brave enough to ride the train alone

She was a little more wary of the animals...

but did get up the guts to ride the pony a few times

then at home we had to practice our cowboy skills

and of course we spent some cool spring hours working in the yard, sometimes ellia is a big help

sometimes she's better at relaxing ...
while we do the work. Here jeremy is rototilling so we can start our back lawn fresh and hopefully get some good grass this year (big yard, huh.)

while digging in our yard we have found some interesting things - this was the most disturbing

In other news, Ellia loves her dolls and takes them everywhere (even to the potty), she is a good 'mommy'

My bad

I have been a bad blogger I know. At least now I am thinking about posting again soon! I am even changing my background from St Patty's day as an indication that I am recommitting myself. Thanks to everyone who keeps checking!

More signs of Spring...swimming even?

Just behind our house there are huge almond orchards, and right now they are in full bloom...it is breathtaking to drive by them, unroll the windows and smell their sweet scent. These pictures don't do justice.

In other updates, we are continuing the pressure washing/refinishing of our outdoor structures. Here is the pressure washing process...getting rid of the gray gunk.Here is the mostly finished product, the fence has been sprayed, and the arbor has been stained
However, these things come at a cost.

Yes, I fell in the pool (I knew it was only a matter of time before it happenned). If you notice, there is not much working space, and Jeremy got me talking -one wrong step and i was in. I had time whilst I was losing my balance to hand Jeremy my brush, say goodbye and see the big grin on his face. Oddly, he didn't have time to grab my arm and keep me from falling in. Fortunately the pool wasn't as cold as I expected!

A shot of our gross, old looking fence.

Same fence with just a little pressure washing!