It's a . . .

BOY! Just like I thought all along. :)

We couldn't be happier.

Valentine's Date

Valentine's Day was a great one this year. After a rough morning, I put Ellie in the car and was pleasantly surprised to find it sparkling clean — something that had been on my to must do list for awhile. Since Clay gets to work at 6 something a.m., I wondered when he managed to sneak the car away from me. Oh don't worry — he got up before 5 a.m. for this little surprise. I've got a good man.

The night after Valentine's Day, we put Ellie to bed early and headed out for a rare treat: Dinner and a movie. At an actually movie theater.

{My little sister and her roommate kindly stayed at our place while Ellie slept. We are lucky to have her!}

We shared some yummy salmon and coconut rice at Spark, although we considered stopping here instead ...

Not! Clay pointed it out as we drove past it and warily said, "Why is it so steamy in there?" Gross. But who knows, maybe it's amazing.

After dinner, we made it just in time to see "The Vow." We thought it would be a classic romantic V-day flick, and it was.

On our way to the movie, Clay noticed what our odometer said. Cool! We made wishes, but Clay still won't tell me his.

And one last shot from a little Valentine's dinner at our church:

There are those times when I take the people in my life (like these two) for granted, and those times, like now, when I am fully aware of how lucky I am to have them.

Hope you had a great Valentine's week.

Tumbling Tots

Before winter started, I knew I needed to figure out something to keep Ellie active throughout the indoor season. We loved the free trial class we did at The Little Gym, but the price tag made us forego that. I was really excited when I found out our local Parks & Rec has a Tumbling Tots program. Since it was only 25 bucks, I expected very little but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be just as good (if not better) than what we experienced at The Little Gym. 


Ellie learned a lot about following instructions, waiting for her turn and basic gymnastics like walking on a balance beam, doing somersaults and hanging on a bar. This class has been a heaven sent for us. 


She just had her last class and awards ceremony, which I was sad I had to miss, but I gave Clay a strict commission to snap lots of photos. He didn't disappoint. Her hair might have been crazy, but he got some great shots. 

Warm-up Exercises

Balance Beam

Rolling on the Mat

The Parachute

Tunnel Time

Waiting for a turn

 

Trampoline

 Snack time

Sharing Valentines

The Medal Ceremony

We signed up for the next session of classes and this time a couple of her friends are joining in, so it will be even better! 

The bear suit & other wardrobe favorites

Last winter, Ellie donned this cute little hand-me-down snow suit from her cousin, Kate.

We got lucky enough to get another one in a bigger size handed down to us for this winter. I was surprised when Ellie wanted to keep it on — hat and all — the entire day. Including for her nap.

Ellie doing a bear roar. So frightening. 

Zonked out in the bear suit

But that's not the only thing she's been insisting on wearing lately. Whenever we do laundry, she finds particular white articles of clothing, puts her arms through the leg holes and says, "Look! I'm an angel!" She often says, "I need to find my angel clothes." Luckily, I have found that a silky slip will do the trick most of the time.

The Y on her cheek was from this fun little shindig. In the first shot of the event, you can see my little half sister helping Ellie over the high jump bar in the background. She loved spending two hours at the event and kept asking to play basketball. That's our little athlete in training! Let's just hope she inherits her dad's skills.

Back to the initial topic of Ellie's wardrobe lately . . . I laid out a shirt and some leggings for her today and was getting ready to put them on her when she said, "I need to wear a dress." I managed to talk her out of one of her fancier sunday dresses and into a more casual one, but that didn't stop her from twirling around and saying, "I'm a ballerina!" So it begins.

Pregnancy cravings fulfilled

When I saw pictures of homemade bagels on one of my favorite cooking blogs, baby and I had to have them stat. When my friend Karlee said her version of them turned out great, I knew it was time to make my craving a reality.

It was somewhat of a long process, but surprisingly easy. The end result was even more delicious than I expected.

I topped mine with cinnamon sugar (the best option, in my opinion), some with freshly grated parmesan, a couple with Annie's "everything" topping and left the rest of them plain. Annie was right — there is no going back to store-bought bagels after trying the homemade version.

I am totally on a homemade-version-of-store-bought-foods kick right now. I'm lovin' the granola bars my friend Jessie made for a freezer meal party we had. The recipes I have tried have always been for hard granola bars, but these are so soft and chewy.

Another pregnancy temptation was fulfilled this afternoon: cinnamon rolls. My baking pro friend offered to teach me how to make them, so I wasn't about to say no. They were the best cinnamon rolls I have ever had. No joke.

I welcome any ideas for things you love to bake or cook homemade style.

Aunt Haley

Clay went out of town last week (a common occurrence in the last year) and my little sister, Haley, volunteered to stay with me while he was gone. She was such a huge help — especially when Ellie got really sick. I don't know what I would have done without someone there to help me when I had to hold her down and give her medicine and clear her nose, then make a store run for Pedialyte in the middle of the night.

Even just having her there so I wouldn't be alone through the nights and during the day so we could have some company was priceless. But on top of that, she helped me cook, clean and do laundry and she babysat Ellie while I went to the gym and spent some time with friends.

I am lucky to have a sister so close who is so willing to help me out.

It also helps that Haley and Clay have a great boss who made it easy for Haley to help me out if I needed it, even if it was during her work hours.

This girl is an amazing one. I told her if I am having twins, she is dropping out of school and work and being my full-time nanny. She said yes. :)

Love ya, Haley!

Goals

I made some resolutions on New Year's Eve, and decided to go public with them this year to make me more accountable and so I can review how I did with them next year. Plus, winning this got me extra motivated! Here goes:

- Eat At least 5 full servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Thank goodness for green smoothies.
(I know the recommendation is 10, but I've gotta start small.)

- Work out 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes (and ideally go to couple of one-hour gym classes per week).

- Go to the temple once a month with Clay.

- Gospel study every day.

-FHE every Monday night (This has been a tough one with our small family. Tips?)

- Make a conscious effort every day to be a more positive person.

I have a lot more goals, but I think I'll start here. Good luck to us all!