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!

Ellie-Licious

It's about time for an all-about-Ellie post.

Here is what she's up to at 18 months.

She's old enough to go to the nursery at church, and she loves it, but only when I am with her. 

 She loves to dance and do arabesques. She graced me with one this morning when I got her from her crib.

Now that's some binky love. She knows she's supposed to put them away when she wakes up in the morning, but she holds on to them for as long as she can.

She loves her stuffed animals and sometimes asks for them to sit by her for breakfast so she can feed them.

She loves when we give her soft scratches. As you can see, it kind of paralyzes her.

This girl loves her some dirt. We are hoping to upgrade from the random pile of road dirt in our gutter to an actual sandbox.

She loves books. She would rather read a pile of books with me than play with her toys any day. She follows me around with books, pats her legs and says, "lap!" so she can sit on my lap and I can read to her.

Other Ellie Quirks:

-She gets very posessive when I hug or kiss Clay. She will start yelling or saying "No!" and will be all smiles once I back off.  

-She is quite the talker. She just started stringing words together like, "It's a helicopter!" or "More dance."

-She loves to sing. She will pick out words to just about any song she hears to sing along. Her favorites are "Bad Romance" by Glee Cast, Taylor Swift's "Mine" and "Speak Now," "Animal" by Neon Trees and "Firework" by Katy Perry and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam."

-She loves shopping. I first discovered it when we went to H & M and she wanted me to put her down as soon as we walked in so she could go from rack to rack, picking out clothes and exclaiming, "cute!" You are probably thinking she gets it from me, but I'm not a big fan of shopping myself and if I do go, I rarely take her shopping with me because she is terrified of dressing rooms. (Elevators too.) So, the shopping obsession must come from her Grandma Ann. :)

-When I work on the computer, she comes over to me and says, "Play?" and signs it at the same time. She asks me in the cutest pleading voice and I can rarely resist.

-She loves to watch people kick a ball around. She gets so excited about it. Soccer star, anyone? She also loves to sit on the ground and play "pass" by rolling the ball back and forth with someone. I take her to the BYU soccer practices with Clay sometimes and she can't get enough.

-She asks us to play "boo" all the time. She will hide around a corner and wait for one of us to peek over and yell "boo!"

-She says "mas" for "more" all the time. Don't know where she picked up that little Spanish flair. Dora?

 
Ellie is such a spirited, curious little girl. She loves being with people and learning new things. She is very expressive of her thoughts and emotions. She's so sweet and affectionate. Even though she is so tiny (a whopping 18.6 pounds), she has quite the appetite. She has a special bond with her grandmas and grandpas and our other family members and we love that. You are so fun, Ellie bean!

Heavenly Homemade Pizza

Homemade pizza is my favorite dinner to make right now. I put together this pizza last night and it was to die for. Ellie devoured it too, which is always a plus. My favorite thing about it is the creamy garlic sauce instead of the usual marinara.

{There was only one piece left by the time I decided it was good enough to share the recipe.}

BST & Herb Pizza

Crust: (I adapted this from Annie's Eats)

1 cup warm water (105-115˚ F)

1 T instant yeast

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. olive oil, plus extra for brushing

1¼ tsp. honey

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur's)

¾ tsp. coarse salt

Cornmeal for pizza stone

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Preheat your oven (and pizza stone, if you have one) to 450 degrees.
To make the crust, combine the water, yeast, olive oil, honey, salt and 2 2/3 cups of the flour in a bowl and let it sit and get bubbly for a few minutes. Mix with wooden spoon until dough is tacky, but not sticky. Add more flour a little at a time if needed. Knead for about five minutes.Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. Now, make the sauce!

Sauce:

6 tablespoons butter

2 T flour

Pinch of salt and pepper

3 garlic cloves, peeled and diced (or garlic powder, if you don't have fresh garlic)

2 cups whole milk (I'm sure lower fat would be OK but not as creamy :) )

Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan over med. heat. Remove from heat and blend in the flour, salt & pepper and garlic. Add the milk. Return to heat and cook on medium, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly, about 3 to 5 minutes. Cook for an additional minute. Grate plenty of parmesan cheese on top (1/3 cup or so) and stir until it melts.

Now, roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface into your desire pizza shape and size. I LOVE how easy to work with this crust is! Spread some cornmeal on your preheated pizza stone, place the dough on it, cinching any sides that hang over.

Poke several holes in the crust with a fork, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese then spread all of your sauce on it. Add your cheese, spinach & tomato. I added the bacon and herbs after it came out so they didn't get burned. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes. Add bacon and herbs. Salivate, eat a slice. Repeat. Then repeat a couple more times like I did.

Toppings:

Shredded mozzerella (I used a Sargento blend of mozz and provolone.)

Spinach (1-2 coarsely chopped handfuls)

Bacon (about 6 strips, cooked until crispy and diced into tiny pieces)

1 ripe from-the-vine tomato

Fresh herbs (I used oregano, lemon thyme, basil and cilantro from my garden)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese