Pumpkins 2007

Ok - I have decided that Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays....Between the gore, the scary costumes, the begging/greedy children, millions of calories worth of candy - and now the goopy pumpkin guts - it's just kind of a gross holiday. I'm trying to focus on the FUN parts of it though, since I'm pretty sure with these 2 little boys I'll never get away with not celebrating the holiday.

One thing we did was go to the "Pumpkin Park" to pick out pumpkins. When we got there I realized I didn't have my camera - and Gabe remembered taking pictures last year, so he was disappointed. Oops....So this morning we carved our 2 pumpkins. We haven't done this before - it was tough! I didn't have a great knife to use - and it was just harder than I thought it would be. I had some templates picked out online (you can find some fun ones here) - but then decided to just wing it. It went better if we had straight cuts - so here's what we came up with.

Gabe - a budding photographer

Today when we (and by we I mean ME) were carving our pumkins for tonight Gabe grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. He was so funny - kept saying, "Cheese!" and telling me everything that he was taking pictures of. He was really quite proud of getting pictures of me and of Hunter. He did take quite a few with his hand over the lense - but here are a few that show the world according to Gabe. (as well as the icky mess we made with the pumpkin goo)

I'm pretty sure we're going to have to get this kid a camera soon - or at least give up mine....he grabbed it back as soon as I took it from him. Oh good - I was hoping we could have a power-struggle over one more thing. :)

Perfect!

This morning I was working on some stuff for The Blind Guy (our business) and I was running around the basement trying to get finished. Gabe was playing with some cars and yelled out, "PERFECT!" and then went on playing. A few minutes later I heard him say, "PERFECT!" again as I walked past him. I said, "What's perfect Gabe? Your cars?" He looked up at me with the sweetest face and said, "No Mommy - you're perfect!"

So sweet!

Digital Recipes

I got invited to be a part of a digital recipe swap. Here are the recipes I created. These are 2 of my very favorite recipes - YUM!

We're back!

So I have been waiting to blog until I could sit down and post some pictures from our trips - but since that is going to take a lot longer than I have right now - I thought I'd just get on and say we're here, and alive.

We have just spent the last 10 days traveling. First trip was to Cancun, Mexico with our friends Kelly & Andy Springer. We took Hunter with us, and they brought their 6 week old baby too. Gabe stayed home and got to spend time with the Mullen's (see their blog for pictures) and his Ellis Grandparents. We met up with everyone last Sunday to send Gabe back with the Springers (Gramma Rhien was waiting for him in Cedar City) and then we headed off to Hawaii on Monday. We went to the big island of Hawaii with our awesome friends Trent & Melissa Cheney, and got home on Saturday. I promise I will post some pictures and tell about our trips later.

Hunter liked Hawaii much better than Mexico and was AMAZINGLY good on the flights to and from Hawaii, as well as most of the trip. He did NOT however enjoy Mexico. The weather in Cancun was HOT HOT HOT as well as HUMID HUMID HUMID and WINDY WINDY WINDY. Throw that all together and he really wasn't very happy - expcept for the second we'd get into our hotel room - and he was happy as a clam. It was frustrating, but to be expected. In Hawaii he had a much better attitude and really we started to "get" each other. I'm starting to understand his schedule a bit better, and he's getting better about letting me know what he needs. By the end of the trip Melissa even said, "That's you're tired cry - I'm even starting to hear it!" And he really only cried out once the whole plane ride from Hawaii to Salt Lake! GO HUNTER!

Speaking of Hunter - he has grown a TON! Seriously I need to put him on the scale, but he has really filled out, and is even getting a bit chunky (something we've never experienced with Gabe!) And this morning he rolled over for the first time from his back to his stomach - YAY! He did it so effortlessly - but wouldn't attempt it again after his first success. I'm not in anyway anxious for him to be mobile - but it is fun to reach milestones like that. He has also started to discover his hands - holding onto things better, sucking on his hands - it's been fun to watch. He still loves bathtime (and even started swimming from one end of the tub to the other in Hawaii), he LOVED swimming in the pools on our trip, and he has fun in his swing. I'm grateful we've survived the first 3 months and that things seem to be going better. It is definetly harder with 2 kids - dividing time betwee the 2 - but we're making it work.

And Gabe - what a funny little kid! I felt horrible leaving him home from our trips, but with all the traveling - we kept looking at each other and saying how it would have been SO hard with him there. But we'd also do things and think of how fun it would be to share those experiences with him - like the beach and the pools. Next time we'll all do it together (in fact, we're planning a trip to California in January and I might go with my parents and sister with the boys to Disneyland in March). We are so grateful for family who helped out while we were gone. Gabe had so much fun with cousins and grandparents and we felt so lucky to have people who love Gabe (almost) as much as we do here to take care of him. Thanks everyone!!!

I'll post pictures soon. Have a great week!

A better week

Well it's been a much better week than last week. Hunter is still a pretty fussy little guy - but we've discovered he enjoys the swing - and that's helped out a lot! Gabe on the other hand....is still 2 years old....

Hunter and Gabe even got to enjoy a couple of baths together. It was all fun & games until Gabe wanted to show Hunter how to "really" splash - and that was a little much for Hunter (and mom!) But I think they'll continue to have fun in the tub. I'm glad my little boys both enjoy the water - makes bathtime a lot easier on all of us.

Cory's dad has been here this week to help Cory get caught up on some big work projects. Gabe sure has enjoyed having him around. "Grampa! Grampa! Grampa!" is all I've heard all week. He's going to be quite upset when Kim leaves tomorrow!

Well I have a crying baby - better run. Have a great weekend.

Can it get any better than this?

Seriously - can it get any better than Christmas music and Josh Groban!?!?!?

Yeah it can! A Josh Groban Christmas cd full of CLASSIC Christmas, and including a song with Faith Hill (another one of my favorites) and one with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I just barely downloaded this from itunes, but so far so good.

Darn Josh Groban made me break my rule of "No Christmas music before Thanksgiving". Oh well....(and secretly I've been listening to this song by the group SHeDaisy & Rascal Flatts - The Twist of the Magi. Shhh - don't tell.)

Yeah - it was that bad...

So it hasn't been the easiest week at the Ellis house. Hunter has been particularly fussy, Gabe's reached a new level of fit-throwing, Cory's been swamped with work stuff, and I've been totally grumpy - add it all together and our house hasn't been the funnest place to be. I have barely had time to catch my breath - much less sit down to blog (or go to the bathroom...)

Add to that the wind - man it's been nuts! The wind has blown non-stop for like 4 days - MAJOR wind! Wind has always made me grumpy, and today when I was talking to my mom she said that is actually a phenomenom. Did you know wind blows around negatively charged ions and a lot of people have problems when there is wind? After talking to her I'm totally going to read up on that. So I'm going to blame it all on the darn weather :).

So here's to having a better weekend. I'm looking forward to General Conference!

Cutest pictures ever!

It's been "one of those days" already for us at the Ellis house. So I wanted to look at these pictures and remind myself that it can be happy here :)

This is Hunter - oddly a little after he had 3 big shots for his 2 month dr appointment....I had him on his changing table and he was just happy as a clam. It's funny because he really loves laying on his changing table - that's where I get the best smiles and coos from him...

Anyway - I hope your days are going better than ours is here, and if not - maybe these adoreable pictures will help cheer you up too!