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.