Tucson.

I visited my big sister Jeni in Tucson over the weekend with my little sis, Haley. Jeni's husband was out of town and she was worried that her baby would come early, since hers always have. Luckily, he stayed in the oven to bake a little longer and we enjoyed a weekend of fun.

The 87-degree weather was fabulous.

I sent this phone pic to Clay to make him jealous of the warmth.

Haley soakin up the sun

Katers with a mini mohawk

My first shopping experience at H&M was all I could have hoped for.  

We went to Cheesecake Factory after and chowed down.

Jen and I perusing the gigantic menu

Fed & Happy  

We cruised the streets in Jeni's new swagger wagon (also known as a mini van). She's pretty excited about it, and she is almost convincing Haley and I that minivans aren't so bad after all.

Speaking of mini vans, you should definitely watch this:

On the way home, we passed by this place. A town just for Ellie!

We enjoyed some delicious homemade goods like Haley's famous cookies in skookie mode . . .

. . . And my favorite pizza to make. 

Haley and Tanner (my cute 4-year-old nephew)

Baby Kate.

 

I love sisters. So much. Sorry if you don't have any. We will adopt you.

 Thanks for the fun trip, Jeni! We miss you because you don't live by us, but we love that we escape to your sunny town every now and then.

On the plane back to Utah

I thought I'd end with this gem, which is so typical of how I act with my sisters. And a lot of people, for that matter. Well, enjoy.

Ellie Lately



{Ellie saying "cheese!"}


Our 15-month-old baby is developing quite the personality.



She will stand up alone for an ovation any day. But try and get her to walk? No way.

She insists on wearing my shirts from time to time.

She also likes to put my socks on her arms . . .  

And her legs.

She likes trying on my shoes,

And my hats. This one was part of my high school uniform. I know.

Sometimes, one hat just isn't enough.

She LOVES balls right now. She spends a lot of time practicing her dunks, like so:

Some other tidbits at this stage so we can remember—

• She's got some sweet dance moves.
• She loves watching me cook, but as far as actually eating; cheese, noodles, bread, smoothies and Plum Organics pouches are at the top of her list.
• We counted the other day out of curiosity and she says around 50 words and signs around 30.
• The only show she will watch is "Baby Signing Time," but she is warming up to "Barney." 
• She tries to sing the Barney song and "I'm a Bug" from "Baby Signing Time."  
• She loves her doll, Lucy. 
• She is obsessed with balloons, bubbles, and balls. Every time she sees one, she repeats the word excitedly until we repeat it back to her to confirm she is, in fact, seeing a ball {or whatever it is.}
• She is not a big fan of playing alone. She always wants someone {me} to pass the ball with her, read her books and play with her toys with her.   
• She loves looking through photo albums and yelling out "daddy!" and "mommy!" and "grandpa!" when she spots us.
• She asks us to chase her and she loves it when we attack her with tickles.

These days, since staying at home isn't doing it for her anymore, I love taking her to Petsmart to see all the animals {she flips out over the dogs} and to story time at the library. If Once the weather warms up, we will luckily have some more options!

Birthday, Chickens and Letters to Myself

On the eve of my birthday, Rachel and Micah took us to the BYU Basketball game against New Mexico. It was fun to catch some of the Jimmer obsession, but not so fun to see us get hammered. Clay is really excited that I have gotten into American sports this year. {A first for me. I blame my time in Australia where I got into AFL, cricket and rugby.}

On my birthday, Clay took me to breakfast at Communal. I got the baked eggs and they were delicious! I love how the chefs use local produce and meat in their meals. Our waiter told us about her backyard chickens, and now I want some of my own. We are doing some research on that.

For lunch, my sister Haley surprised me with Kneaders and we watched a couple of Gilmore Girls episodes.

After Ellie was in bed, we enjoyed homemade cake batter ice cream with brownies. Yum is an understatement. Then, we watched "Life As We Know It." Very fun movie.

Clay, pre-indulgence

I was touched by all of the people calling, texting and visiting to wish me a happy birthday. There's nothing better than feeling loved.

Oh, and I read this e-mail to myself that I had written a year ago:

Dear FutureMe,



This is me (you), one year ago, the night before you turned 26. Baby Ellie is just 3 months old and a smiley, happy baby who likes to kick her legs and is on the verge of laughing. Her brown hair sticks straight up and everyone gets a kick out of it.


You conquered your goal of a natural childbirth, overcame the baby blues after the first few weeks of motherhood, and have even considered having another baby :) are you pregnant again?! no rush.


You are dang lucky to have Clay as a husband. He gets more selfess every day.


Some goals as of now: foster deep relationships with family and friends. Be more confident as a wife, mom, writer and actor. Do more to uplift others. More specific goals: make some mulah off of BellyMamas. Get some acting jobs (films, commercials and voiceover). Run a 10k and a half marathon after that. Get your abs back. Eat more whole foods. How ya doin with that stuff?


Have a great year! You are still in your 20s, party animal. no need to feel old.

I laughed. Then I wrote another one to come to me next year. I use futureme.org.

Happy March! I love March. Other than the birthday festivities, Spring is right around the corner. It's about time, Utah!

Get your Fashion on.

We just released our Spring issue of Latter Day Woman Magazine, and I am really excited about how it turned out. I had so much fun putting this one together (with the help of a great team!) Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.latterdaywoman.com/