Party girl

Ellie got to go to her friend Jayne's 2nd birthday party in July. Playing in the pool with Jaynie girl would have been enough, but the "Tangled" theme made it the party of all parties for her.

 {Grandma got Ellie ready for the party with french braids.}

{Pool time!}

 {Kate and Pete playing "pass" with Carson}

{Just relaxin' in the penguin}

 {Check out that awesome Tangled cake!}

Thanks for a fun party, Maglebys!

Draper Days

My hometown throws a big party in July, and I have fond memories of going to it every year throughout my childhood.

This year was especially fun because we met up with good friends and it was all about the babies.

{Beck and Ellie loved the train playground. Don't you think they already make a cute couple?}

{How fun do these look?}

{Karlee and I}

Driving the fire truck was Ellie's favorite part of the evening. Her facial expressions say it all.

"A fire?!"

"But what about all the toys?"

"Who am I kidding? I'm no firefighter. Beeeeck?"

"I'm totally on it, sweet cheeks."

{Apparently Beck and Ellie saw something captivating in the distance when we took this pic.}

{Beck and Ellie ended the night with a goodbye kiss. Beck even has his hand on Ellie's cheek. Maybe this is moving a little too fast!}

Thanks for sharing your cute pics, Karlee!

Science nerd.

Last night, Clay had the idea to take Ellie to the Eyring Science Center for lack of anything else to do. We doubted she would find it at all interesting. Before we left, Clay asked her jokingly, "Ellie, do you want to learn about SCIENCE?" She repeated, "Science!" and kept saying it on our way there.

When we got there, we started showing her the little hands-on science experiements and she said on multiple occasions, "More science!" We were cracking up. She was so excited about everything and was just as happy there as she would have been at Disneyland.

{I love this pic. It will be especially priceless if Ellie becomes a scientist.}

The Best Medicine

Nothing makes me forget my troubles more quickly than hearing a baby laugh. I hope this little snippet of my chunk-a-licious nephew brightens your day!

Morning Hike

The other day, Ellie asked to wear her crown and gloves while she ate breakfast.

And she loves putting on her dresses.

But she's not all princess. I took her on her first hike today, and she was in her element. We both were.

I invited a friend, but her daughter had a random but major throw-up episode right as they pulled into the parking lot, so she had to take a raincheck and head home.

I was a little tentative about hiking alone, but the mountainwoman in me couldn't resist.

 Gettin ready for the hike. Cheddar bunnies? Check.

 She was a little unsure of the backpack at first, as you can see if you look closely at her expression. She warmed up to it pretty quickly once I told her it was a ride. She started saying, "whee!" and "backpack!" I think the talking backpack from "Dora" helped with this one.

 When Ellie heard the water from the creek, she yelled, "water!" so we stopped and checked it out.

Me and my little hiking buddy

Once we got on the trail, the scenery was beautiful. I said, "This is awesome, huh Ellie?" and she kept saying, "awesome!" throughout our hike from then on.

When we got pretty far up the trail, I stopped because I heard some larger-than-lizard rustling in the leaves. I looked where I heard the sound come from and saw what I am pretty sure was a bobcat running through the brush (away from us, luckily). Since no one was around and we were in a secluded part of the trail, I thought it would probably be best to turn back.

 We stopped and had a little picnic on the bridge,

 then continued our hike up a main trail that was more populated than the first. Well, not in this picture, obviously. But I could hear them, at least.

 

On our way back to the car, Ellie kept giving me hugs and saying, "Ohhh!" (like you say to a cute baby). It was so funny! I loved the snuggling. There was something really fun about being out in nature with just me and my baby.

I can't believe it took me a year and a half to take this outdoor-lovin' girl on her first hike. She was so happy to be out on the mountain and to see the lizards and chipmunks.

We will definitely be doing this again—with another adult or at least some pepper spray, of course.

Daddy and Daughter

Ellie made up her own game a few weeks ago. She does the sign for "cry" and says, "cry" with a super sad face then quickly changes to "happy!" and throws her hands in the air.

I took this video of her and Clay playing it before Clay went out of town over the weekend. Ellie and I watched it before he got back today and while we were watching it she reached for Clay on the computer screen and said, "Daddy hold you!" I said, "I know, I miss daddy too." Then she got a sad look on her face and said, "Miss daddy." It was so sweet. There is nothing like the bond between a daddy and his daughter!

And there is nothing like getting my husband back after he's gone on a trip. It reminds me not take him for granted.

Happy Fourth.

We kicked off our Fourth of July festivities with the Stadium of Fire.

It was so fun to watch the talented and handsome Mr. Paisley perform.

On Monday, I ran the Freedom Run 10K with some of my best friends. It was a blast.

Then, we watched the parade from a friend's house. Ellie loved the drums, which she calls "boom booms" and danced to the band music with her friends.

After the dancing, Ellie and Max took their relationship to the next level. Last year was merely an awkward hand grab:

But this year . . .

They exchanged kisses. We'll work on aim later.
{I love Max's expression in the first one.}


Since Ellie was already giving out kisses, she thought she'd see if the frog on Rip's shirt might turn into a baby prince for her. No such luck.

We topped off the fun day with a visit to the Freedom Festival booths downtown then a barbecue with our good friends, Keith and Keri.



We did our own little firework show, and Ellie wasn't so sure about it at first.



 But when she got to "help" her dad light them, she was all about it!

Happy Fourth of July!