FHE

Tonight for family home evening we talked about the temple. I told Ella that because Gustavo and I were married in the temple our family can be together forever. I said, "Don't you want to be together forever?" and she quickly replied, "Yep." After the lesson we were singing I Love to See the Temple and Ella started singing with us (no words of course, just "aahh".) It was so funny I couldn't help, but laugh. I believe we sang the song at least 4 times because we couldn't believe how cute she sounded (and because she kept saying "again.")

5 dollar project

I want an entry table (among a million other things). My little sister, Eleanor, and I have looked online at blogs many times for design ideas. She knew about my plan for the entry and gave me a call one Saturday morning saying that she was at a garage sale and found a table she thought I could make work. She wasn't promising anything, but she said she liked it. When I heard it was only $5 I told her to go ahead and get it without knowing much about it. When she brought it to my house I was a little surprised. First of all it was 6 feet long and couldn't even fit in my entry way. Second, it looked like this:

Gustavo looked at me and said, "You just threw away 5 dollars."

His negative attitude made me determined to prove him wrong. There was no way I could make it work in our entry, but I decided to turn it into a desk while he was off in Las Vegas for work. I sanded, scraped, and sawed the table to make it fit an area in our great room.

I had plenty of sandpaper, primer, and white paint to I didn't have to spend anymore money and now it looks like this:

I think I proved him wrong.

shoes

Ella insisted on changing her shoes all day yesterday. She rotated through these four pairs.

She is such a girl!

or...

maybe she's just like her dad

Family Pictures

Our friend and old neighbor took these pictures for us and we couldn't be happier. She also took the ones on the post below. I uploaded the edited pictures so you should peek at them again too. THANKS ANNETTE!

stay at home mom

Today one of the women I used to teach with called and asked if I can watch her little boy tomorrow. During the conversation she asked if I like how things are going this year, referring to staying home and no longer teaching. It has made me think about how much I love being home with Ella.
I do not miss feeling rushed in the mornings. I do not miss worrying about Ella. I used to worry I might miss something (like her first laugh or her first steps- oh wait, I did). Fortunately once I went part time I didn't feel much guilt. Even though staying home isn't always easy, I don't regret it. I never wish I could drop her off and go to work. I feel really fortunate that I get to be home with her. I had unrealistic ideas about being home. I thought I would have a lot more time to work on projects, but that isn't true. I'm busy taking care of Ella. Some days it is hard to just get a shower and dinner made. I do enjoy the flexibility of my new schedule though. I love that I can choose to just stay home and spend every minute with Ella, or that I can go have lunch or visit with friends and neighbors. I love that I have the time to focus on what matters most- my family. Ella is only 19 months old and it is already hard to remember when she was a little baby. It goes so fast, as cliche as it is to say, it is so true. I'm so glad I get to be with her. She means the world to me.

first things first

Our house is definitely a work in progress. Everywhere I turn I see another space I want to work on, or another thing I want to buy. The first thing we purchased was this entertainment center. I love it. Of course, it isn't perfect and I am constantly changing something on it, but it adds a lot to the space.

Our next big projects have been in the kitchen. This is what it looked like when we first moved in.

Right away we contracted someone to build us an island. While that was being built we added hardware to the cabinets and drawers. Once the island was built we had black granite counter tops installed.

Our next kitchen projects will be painting the cabinets white and putting in dark wood floors. Who knows how long it will be before we can afford to make those changes though because we've got a whole lot of dirt that needs to be cultivated! Our next focus will be on the yard. We need to put it in next summer so every penny will be saved for that HUGE project.

twenty six

We have had a great weekend. Busy, but great. On Thursday Gustavo and I went up to Salt Lake to watch The Lion King at Capitol Theatre. It was just as incredible as we heard it would be.

Saturday we went to my cousin Mallory's wedding and Sunday we went to Gavin's blessing. This meant we got to spend time with both of our families. Ella was exhausted after each of these events. Everyone got to see what a peach she can be (yes, I'm being sarcastic.) She started screaming while my cousin and her husband were exchanging vows on Saturday and then again during Gavin's blessing. Why was she screaming? No good reason. She just wasn't happy. It is a good thing she is adorable...

My birthday was Sunday and Gustavo got me a Dairy Queen ice cream cake to celebrate. A few of our friends came over that evening. Monday my sweet sister in law took me out to lunch and to the movies. That night I had dinner and pie (my favorite) with my parents and some of my sisters. This has been a wonderful birthday. Once again, I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for our amazing family and friends. Thanks for thinking of me on my birthday. I love you all!

18 months

My little Ella is 18 months old. She is one sassy and demanding little girl! When we went to the doctor for her 18 month visit Ella yelled at everyone and insisted on being right by me the entire time. Dr. Spencer told us she is more anxious than most, but that she is doing great. At the end of the visit after the nurse gave Ella her shots she asked if there was anything else she could do. Ella looked right at her and yelled "NO!" I believe that was the only word she said the entire visit! Here were her measurements: Height: 32.5 in. - 75th percentile

Weight: 25.6 lbs. - 75th percentile
Head: 49.1 cm - 97th percentile

Here are some pictures of the things she's been up to.

Ella loves clothes and shoes. She looks in her closet every morning and points to her church dresses and says "pretty." One day I picked out an outfit and she started yelling because she wanted to wear something else. She wore what I picked out though, because that seems way to crazy at this young age. She is obsessed with shoes and randomly starts playing with them and asks me to put them on. In the above picture we were getting ready for bed so she was trying to put her pajamas on.

On Ella's first birthday she fell down a full flight of stairs in our town home. I have been overly cautious about stairs ever since so I didn't give her much opportunity to learn until a little camping trip with my family last month. We were staying in cabins that each had a loft space and porches so Ella finally learned how to go up and down stairs.

Ella would suck on her pacifier all day long if I let her. She is only allowed to use it when she is sleeping. Sometimes she tries to trick people and tells them she is sleepy just so she can have her pacifier. One day I noticed Ella was playing really quietly in her room so I went to check on her. I found her hiding behind the rocking chair sucking her pacifier. She also hides when she needs privacy while going to the bathroom or sneaking a treat she shouldn't have (like gum- wrapper and all).

Ella's hair is so crazy! Even though I try to do it I can't figure it out. The right side has curls that will not straighten. I've tried using a flat iron and blowing it dry with a round brush, but it will still not go straight. The left side is stick straight. On top of that, I'm trying to grow her bangs out so this poor girl looks crazy most of the time. I still think she's adorable though!

For the longest time Ella could not figure out how to use a straw. It was so frustrating to her. She would just bite it or even blow into it, but now she can successfully use one! It is very exciting for her.

Ella is a lazy drinker! If someone holds her sippy cup as she starts drinking, she will refuse to take it from them and stop drinking when they let go. She also tries to find ways to prop it up so she doesn't need to hold it. It cracks me up!

At the beginning of July Ella started to talk. Before she really didn't try very much, she just signed and said Nena (her aunt Yolanda's nickname), Mama, and Dada. I wasn't worried, but we kept trying to encourage her to use her voice. Now that she has started she increases her vocabulary each day. She doesn't phrase anything together, but she gets her point across! Some of her favorite words are: night-night, bye-bye, mommy, daddy, doggy, kitty, ready, go, please, grandpa, abuelo (not grandma or abuela though), Nena, baby, potty, eat, yummy, treat, juice, pretty, cookie, no, ball, and Ella. She loves to watch Baby Signing Time still. That is the only thing she'll watch. She loves to learn new signs and continues to sign regularly.

Although part of me is sad not to be back at school this year, I'm really happy I get to be home with Ella. She is bound to teach me patience (I thought I had gained a lot after teaching elementary school for 5 years, but I have so much more to learn!!!) She loves to cuddle up and read stories and occasionally she shares a kiss with me to brighten my day!