Counting and Dress

Ellie can count to 10! She only goes to 9 in the video, I think she was teasing us.



Here is the dress Grandma Barlow made Ellie. She loves wearing it. Thanks mom!

Poor Sicky

Poor Ellie was just sick too long and got dehydrated so she had to spend the night in the hospital. These pics are in the ER before we were moved to a room. I have never seen her hold so still! She is much better now though.

Below is faithful Ryan, trying to study and take care of a sick baby at the same time. Luckily his school is very understanding and let him reschedule his test.

Snow Snow Snow

I kept hearing about snow in Utah, and I was thankful I wasn't there. But then one morning not so long ago, I woke up to 5 inches or so. It was the perfect packing snow so I couldn't complain! The snow was a little heavy though so an upright snowman wasn't working well. Ellie helped by eating my snow and then deserting me to the cold while she watched from the warm window.

I love seeing Ellie learn new things. We have been working on counting for awhile. She would do up to 3 in order but that was it. Today as I was reading, she was talking and it took me a second to realize what she was saying. ...5...6...7...8..9..10. I cheered her which she thought was great so she did it two more times for me, the whole 10!

Grandparents/parents/fun

Guess who came to visit?
Papa introduced Ellie to Curious George. She then kept asking him for "monkey".

We went and saw several Des Moines attractions. The Bodyworld exhibit. The Capital Building. And a few malls. I felt like I was on vacation myself getting to be a tourist! We loved it!

My two loves, with Ellie's only true love...the lion. Papa bought it for her and she carries it everywhere.

Thank you for your visit! We sure had fun!

Orange

Ellie found an orange shirt that was in the "get rid of" pile. She LOVES it. She has worn it every day since she found it, until today since it was Sunday. But as you can see, she tried to persuade me.

So, what is going on in my life:
I have been getting into nutrition and being healthy. I am reading a book called "The Ultramind Solution". I really recommend it. Especially if you have depression, or anxiety. It is really hard to get into exercise though. I still only give half efforts. Any suggestions on how to pump up my efforts?

Ellie and action songs

Ellie has really gotten good at action songs. Here are a couple of her favorites.

Balloon Festival

Each year here there is a Balloon Festival where you get close to lots of hot air balloons and watch them fill up and take off. It was really neat! We went with several friends which always makes things fun.





Several balloons were not just round. There was a bald eagle, a beaver, and a panda bear.

Catch-up and mustard

Well folks, I have finally gotten the motivation to post again. Actually, a lot of these pictures are pretty old, but I still wanted to post them. We will begin at our summer vacation in Utah.
This is Ellie's first sprinkler experience, which she loved. I tried to join her but it was so cold I didn't even last 3 seconds.
The two bruises on her cheek is from a fight with Atticus. He bit her cheek. Luckily it missed her eye. We don't know what caused the fight except that she had him backed in a corner when we found them. It didn't ruin their friendship however. Minutes later and they were back at play.


Back in Iowa:
This is a common look for Ellie. She is a collector of things, mainly weeds and rocks. Each hand will have at least one thing, but usually it is 3 each hand or however many she can manage to hold without having to put down the others.
Who knew a glove could double as a sock?

This tiny thing is our frog friend Ryan and I found on our walk. Isn't he tiny? That is marshmellow mateys next to it to compare.

Disneyland and beyond

Exodus 20: 12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Mom said update. So I am obeying.
Here is the classic Disneyland picture. Thank you Mom and Dad for such a fun trip! We all loved it!

Ellie's highlight of the whole trip was this balloon. She held on to it for dear life and just licked it. Why? I don't know.
We got to spend time at both grandparents house which Ellie LOVED (and we did too).
The Allen family came back to Iowa with us and we made a trip to Nauvoo. Here is most of the clan. We ended up at Carthage Jail on the anniversary of Joseph's martyrdom and got to attend a little program for it. It was so great to play with family! Thanks everyone for making it a fantastic vacation.

Family Pics

My very talented uncle Alan Honey took these pics for us. See his website here.


These others however, were by me.I introduced Ellie to graham crackers dipped in chocolate pudding.

What to say?

Nothing new is happening, but I figured it was time to post again. So here are just a couple of pics I liked. On a good note though, it is warming up! We have gone out almost every day for a week or more and it has been lovely. Actually, we go out 2 or 3 times a day, to make up for being indoors all winter.

Spring Break

These pics are from my phone, thus low quality. I forgot the camera.
Ryan and I went to Kansas for our spring break. We got to visit Lauren's family in Kansas City, and Alan's family in Manhattan. On the way to Lauren's was Adam-Ondi-Ahman (we pass through Missouri).



While at Lauren's, we got to see the Kansas temple that is being built. We were able to be there when they put Angel Moroni on top! That was fun to see! We also went to Liberty Jail which was only a few miles from the temple. We enjoyed Lauren and her family, and Ellie loved all the new toys to play with, plus other kids!
Ellie loved this chair at Alan's. We had a great visit with Alan's family. It has been a long time since I have seen Peggy, and Ryan had only met Alan before.
On the way home, we stopped at the Mormon Trail Center, and Ellie got to experience being a pioneer first hand by pulling her very own handcart! She gave up really quickly. Such hard work for delicate hands.
And this was a random pic on my phone that I thought was funny so I threw it in with this post.We really enjoyed getting to see family, and see some sites.

Flowers and Sunsets

Ryan got me beautiful flowers for Valentines Day. I am not a romantic, except when it comes to flowers.

Ellie loves having various items put on her. She is always bringing me something to put on her head, foot, or hand. My friend just gave us a baby fanny pack, and Ellie brings it to me every day to put on.

Gotta have a spaghetti face picture. Requirement for baby book.


We had a gorgeous sunset the other night. Of course, pictures never do it justice. But it was deep vibrant colors. This is our backyard.

One!

Can you believe it? My baby is 1. Time flew so quickly! We had a combined birthday party with a friend last week. It was funny to watch them eat the cupcakes. Ellie didn't seem to care much about it. She enjoyed watching the other baby more.

One of our good friends made the girls these awesome tutus with matching bows. I love them!

These three babies all turned one within 10 days of each other. They were all over each other all night, fighting for the toys and space around them. Quite entertaining.

The fight against depression

It seems like depression is an increasing problem in our world. I know I have struggled with it many times, as have many of you. The problem stems from many things. One main reason I believe our society struggles, is because of the focus we have on "having fun", vacations, doing what we want to, being lazy, etc. It is so ironic how our search for ease and enjoyment brings unhappiness, and doing things we should be doing bring us happiness. And yet, knowing this, I seem to never really learn it. I still try and do things my way, or the easy way, fall in depression, finally come out of it as I try to do what I should, only to get lazy again and follow the same pattern. I have once again broken out of my funk, with a slightly different understanding. You see, we are told if we follow the gospel, we will have peace and happiness. I thought I was following it, and I was still unhappy. But there is more than the commandments. I reviewed the Word of Wisdom, and part of section 88. The counsel there is for our physical bodies. I always put all my focus on trying to increase spiritually, but everything is connected and needs to be balanced. If we take care of our bodies, we will be able to have the strength to do what we need. We will have a clear mind to focus on increasing our spirituality. The counsel to go to bed early and rise early is something I know is vital for me if I want to be happy. When Ryan and I started doing this, I no longer was exhausted all day. I had a clearer mind, and it was easier to be happy about my situation. When we started eating more healthy, I felt better about myself. After a few months, I no longer even desired junk. And exercise. I hate exercise. But when I do it, I love myself. And funny thing, even though I hate it, my body craves it, and the more I do it, the more it wants me to keep doing it. Hmmm, maybe I should listen to my body sometimes.
Then there is the mind. We have to take care of it. In President Uchtdorf's talk "Happiness, Your Heritage" he says we need to create. Do we not feel so much happier and better about ourselves when we create? When we use our talents, use our brains?
If only I can keep this motivation, and knowledge, and stop fighting against myself. This week is my experiment week. I am going to balance all three things: Mind Body and Spirit, and see how it goes. So far today, I am feeling really great.