Dan and Holly

Long Time No See...Carpe Kairos!

2012-01-18T22:48:00.001-07:00

So, sadly it has been like a year and a half since the last time I blogged. Kind of a bummer that I have missed so many moments to write about. Maybe I'll go back and fill them in later, but right now I am going to just start with the present and record things that are happening now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html
I read this article today and I was thinking about some kairos moments in my life today that I want to share before I forgot them.
Ella randomly will lOok up at me and say in her sweet angel voice "Mommy, I love you." Oh man!! It melts my heart and makes me forget all the struggles and frustrations of the day. She says it so sweetly with all the innocence of a child. Ella, I love you too!!!
Tonight I was sitting in the living room watching tv. Ella was in bed, Dan was at the hospital and Rosalie was in her rocker next to me. Rosalie was so sweet, every time I would look at her, her face would light up. She would get a grin that would spread slowly across her face until she couldn't smile any bigger. She kept doing these smiles over and over, every time I looked at her over the course of about half an hour. It's really amazing how a bright little smile can bring so much joy to my life.
I love my girls so much, they are the greatest source of joy in my life. I want to remember these moments. My intent is to quickly jot here some of these sweet kairos things that happen so that I can remember and enjoy motherhood now.

Minneapolis

2010-10-28T07:42:00.008-06:00

Back in the middle of August, Dan had to go on a work conference in Minneapolis. We decided to drive to it so that Ella and I could tag along. Since Dan was going to be in meetings most of the days Dan's mom flew up to join Ella and me. On the way to Minn, we drove up through Milwaukee. We stopped and had breakfast (which was really at lunch time) with the Rabies at one of our favorite Mke eats-The Pancake House. It was so fun to see our friends and drive around the city. It almost made me cry. We had so many good memories there and it was both happy and sad to see them again. We didn't have very long to stay and reminisce because we had to get to Madison, WI and pick up Gayle at the airport there. (A few days before the trip, she was going to use a free ticket to fly direct to Minn, but when she went to redeem it, it wouldn't work that short of notice. So we ended up trying all kinds of plans and the cheapest one was to have her fly into Madison then drive back with us home and have her fly back out of Grand Rapids). Dan and I didn't leave as early in the morning as we had hoped and ended up being really late to pick Gayle up. We both felt terrible. But she was very nice about it and we eventually made it to our hotel late that night.

I was SOOO glad that Gayle came on the trip with us because Dan literally spent all day in his conferences. He left early in the morning and didn't get done until about 7 at night. Gayle, Ella and I spent lazy mornings sleeping in and getting ready then we headed down to the Mall of America for the rest of the day.

The Mall of America

WOW that is a big mall. It took us 3 days to see and shop it all. It was perfect! Basically that was our trip, Dan at meetings, and the 3 girls shopping. Dan was able to come join us for dinner in the evenings, which was nice.

We took Ella to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner one night. That was fun!

Ella, after we first sat down at our table. I love how she's looking at Gayle like "What are we doing?"

Dan and Holly

Back behind us is one of those rock walls where it rains-so we got a few rain splashes on us. :)

These two were the fun-Ella was being cheesy and making faces at us.

They have thunder storms in the restaurant while you're eating. When the "thunder" storms would come through the restaurant Ella got a little scared. Basically "lightening" (the lights) flash, thunder booms and along the rock walls rain falls down. Ella would get really big eyes and look around, and kind of panic a little. She did enjoy watching the animated monkeys and elephants make noise and move around. Plus, she was amazed by all the fish.

She was amazed as long as she didn't get too close-then she would freak out.

In the store they had more animated figures which we checked out:

She did not like this tree.

It talks to you and that freaked her out, she was determined to crawl out of your arms and get away.

At the entrance there was an alligator that swam forward and opened it's mouth like it was going to bite. Ella was not amused by it either.

More freaking and trying to get away.

We did make it up to her though-we took her to the amusement park in the middle of the mall (yes, full out amusement park-roller coasters, the whole deal -in the mall) and let her ride the carousel. She loved it!

This is her before the ride began, she's checking out all the lights above her.

Here she is on the ride-you can't tell but she has the biggest smile on her face!

Ella after the ride is over. She had so much fun she didn't want to get off.

A little side story about this day-While Gayle and I were shopping that day, Ella had a stinky diaper that leaked out on to her shorts and part of her shirt. So being 20 min from the hotel and with an impending dinner reservation, we decided to just go buy her something. We went into the Carter's store and picked out a bunch of fall outfits for her to wear. We figured we could just put her in one of those. Well the one we picked for her to wear that day was a corduroy skirt with a long sleeve shirt to match. We were just finished checking out and rushing because it was time for us to be at the Rainforest cafe when I realized she couldn't wear the long sleeved shirt! She had her cast on and the shirt wouldn't fit over it. Haha! So I ended up going back and finding something that would fit over her cast, and would match her skirt.

This is Ella in our hotel room. Gayle bought her this monkey at the Rainforest Cafe and Ella liked to wear it as a necklace. Notice the bag-she carried it around the room and put stuff in it. The next day she carried one out into the car as her "purse." Gayle and I converted her into a little shopping diva :)

Ella checking out the fountain out in front of our hotel.

We had such a fun trip, Ella was really good for it being a 10 hour car ride-each way. She struggled a bit with the whole change of environment and long days of shopping, but what do you expect of a 1 1/2 year old? I'm super glad that Gayle came, Ella and I really enjoyed her company. I probably would've stayed home and this was a much more fun way to spend the weekend. I wish Dan would've had more free time, but it was fun to tag along with him!

Ella's broken arm

2010-10-28T07:06:00.005-06:00

She wore the splint for a week. Then we went back into the clinic and she got a cast. They let her pick what color she wanted to wear. (I narrowed down the choices to pink and purple:) She grabbed both samples. We kept asking her which one she wanted. Finally, she decided on the purple color. So they went about putting it on. She did not like this at all. She kept trying to undo what they were doing to do. Dan was actually working in the clinic, so in between patients he would pop in and see how Ella was doing. She was MUCH worse when he came in the room. She cried harder and thrashed more. Finally they finished. My poor little girl! She was so tiny and she had this tiny little cast! At first she tried to pick at it and pull at it, but eventually she just resigned to the fact that it was there.

She wore the cast for a week, then we went back into the Dr.'s office to have them check it. They decided to take the cast off so that they could get and x ray and see how it was doing. Plus, the night before we gave Ella a bath. As I was waiting for Dan to grab a plastic bag to put around her cast, I filled up the tub with water. Ella was trying to touch the running water with her right hand, and quick as a wink she fell in the tub head first. Cast and all. She was fine, just a little surprised, but her cast was pretty wet at the hand. We blow dried it as best we could then had to call it good. So I was okay with them cutting it off the next day.

Cutting off the cast was "fun". Ella screamed and cried as I held onto her. When the cast was cut through, they broke it in half and pulled the cast part off. She still had the fabric wrapped around it and she went about helping the cast tech pull that off. It was really cute to see her picking at it. She was excited to have that heavy thing off! Of course the amusement wore off fast when we took her back in to get an x-ray. She hates that thing! She screams and cries and tries to get away. It was a struggle between me and a nurse holding her down, but they got the pics they needed. To my surprise, when the Dr. came in after looking at the x-rays, he said she was healed. Her bone was callused over enough that she was able to be cast and splint free. He said that the bones in kids her age heal so fast. If she had been like 7 he said it would have taken at least a month.

Wow! One week in a splint and one week in a cast! She's a lucky girl! We were all happy to be rid of that cast. It was so hard to keep it clean-you know how one year olds eat, imagine that with a cast. ewe. Anyway, we kept the cast. And a few weeks later we pulled it out and set it back on her arm. She must have forgotten all about the experience, because she thought it was funny. She was giggling and acting like it was so cool. I was glad to see that the whole broken arm experience didn't scar her. As for climbing on chairs, that lesson didn't stick. She still climbs up to stand on them. I keep trying to remind her about her broken arm and how she can fall. Oh, I've got to keep my eyes on her, she's a busy girl :)

Broken Bone

2010-08-05T05:22:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was going to be a really busy day; Ella and I had the play group to go to in the morning, then there was a ladies luncheon, then I had an eye appointment in the afternoon. Well, it didn't all happen like I had planned. I got up early and got myself ready; then Ella woke up around 9. After breakfast, I quickly grabbed the computer to get an address for the luncheon. While I was doing that I noticed Ella trying to get up on one of the kitchen chairs but she was struggling and couldn't pull herself up onto it, so I hurried to get the address so we could go. Quick as a wink Ella pulled herself up onto the chair and almost immediately fell off the opposite side of the chair. It was almost like one swift movement-up and the right back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this movement and when I looked over I saw Ella come crashing down on to the floor. She kind of landed on her left and it bend back behind as the force of the fall made her roll over. My immediate horror and first thought was "Oh my gosh, she just broke her arm." She was wearing a long sleeved shirt that was kind of wide around her arms, so I wasn't completely sure if the arm was bent funny or if the fabric from the shirt just made it appear this way. Ella cried and cried. I kept asking her where it hurt and she would grab her left wrist. Normally, she is pretty easy to console when she's hurt, but this time she wasn't. I kept holding and comforting her and she still cried, I started tearing up with her but knew that wouldn't help her so I held it back. I called Dan and left a message and he soon called me back. He was post call and would be coming home in like 2 hours so he asked if I could wait and have him look at it. He then hung up and went into surgery. I called my mom to ask her what she thought and as I talked to her, Ella stopped crying, but one tiny movement would make he cry again. She finally started wailing again and I decided I couldn't wait for Dan. I called Ella's doctor and they worked it out so I could come right in.

I felt horrible as I drove to the Dr.'s office. My hubby is an ortho resident-aka bone doc. I felt really bad for not waiting for him. But Ella was hurt and it was definitely not a normal hurt. As I pulled into the parking lot, Dan called. I told him I was sorry for not waiting for him. He was so good he told me he understands and that it was not a big deal at all for me to take her to her dr. If Ella was hurt I needed to do what I thought was best. He was really sweet; really concerned about his little girl. I felt a lot better about going to the dr.

We went in and Dr. Dyk checked her out. He saw in the chart that Dan was a ortho resident, as we talked about that he said he totally understood me taking her to someone else. He said he can't do any work on his own kids, it's just too hard, too personal. That also made me feel even better about taking her in. As he felt along her arm he felt a swelling area around her elbow. He had me even feel the non hurt arm and then the hurt one. Definitely a difference. So he sent us the get an x-ray. That was the saddest process. Ella screamed when I layed her down on the table. I had to hold her down and a nurse had too also. Ella was crying and screaming "down" "down." Aweful, I wanted to cry with her. After the x-rays we went back to the exam room where Ella calmed down, and waiting for the results. We were only in there a minute when the Dr. came right in and said "Do you want to see a broken elbow?" I felt my heart break. My poor little girl! He showed me the fracture. Then told me the plan. He'd either have her go see an ortho elbow dr. or send her to the ER where the resident on call would splint her. He told me I could go home since I lived close, and he'd call when he knew where we needed to go. So I took Ella home. Dan came home shortly after we go there, and we talked about what to do. The Dr. called us back and told us the elbow doc was out of town so he'd called ahead to let the ER know we were coming. We headed to the hospital and Dan made a bunch of calls to the residents at the hospital. Anyway, long story short we ended up not going to the hospital but to the clinic where the on call Trama dr. was and he x-rayed her again (the first ones weren't the best views), poor girl wasn't happy about this again, then they put a splint on her. I was out doing insurance stuff and so I missed the xrays and the beginning of the splinting, but I could hear her screaming. Heart breaking! When I got in there, they were finishing up the splint, Dan was holding her and the cast tech was putting on the tape stuff to hold the ace type bandage stuff (Dan would know what it really is). Ella was screaming and tear soaked, she was so confused. She kept pulling on the bandage and tape and saying "sttuuckk" "sttuuckk" It didn't take long and soon she was done. She still wasn't happy and I took her to comfort her. That seemed to help a little. She was more the glad when we left the clinic.

That night she was better. (As you can see by the pic up top) She was in less pain and therefore was mostly pleasant and happy. She still doesn't like the splint, she's trying her best to pull it off.

Hopefully it lasts till a real cast. She struggled a lot last night with doing things. She kept trying to get up when she was sitting on the floor but couldn't figure out how to push herself up with only one arm. She would cry and say "stuck" (now one of her favorite words). They're pretty sure the fracture missed the joint and growth plates so she should be just fine. She goes back next week and they will put a hard cast on her and she'll have that for about a month. So early end of summer for her :( No swimming or water. Bummer. But she's okay, which is great. We appreciate the love and concern we have received from so many people. Ella has so many wonderful people who care for her.

Ella New Clothes

2010-08-03T09:44:00.006-06:00

This post is for my mom. Last week we got a package in the mail from her. She sent Ella some clothes that she got for an awesome deal. Ella looked so cute in her little outfit! I said I would post a pic of her, but I couldn't pick just one so here are 2!

I couldn't find the camera so I took these on my phone. I'm glad I didn't wait around to do it; it was super hot and humid that day and after like 2 minutes outside Ella's cute curls fell flat and wet against her head. Gotta love the summer! :)

My Messy Kiddo

2010-05-21T18:41:00.000-06:00

March 16th was a sunny, warm day so we took Ella outside and played for a bit. While we were out there, I grabbed the rake and shovel and went to town on a very messy little flower garden in our yard. While Dan and I were pulling all the dead stuff and weeds, Ella decided to help us out. She was quietly playing in the dirt. Next thing we know, we look up and she has a mouthful of dirt! My first though was, "Ewe!" my next was "Go get the camera!" So that's what we did.

I love how she's trying to pull the dirt out of her mouth!

Of course this is not her last attempt to eat dirt. A few weeks later I was weeding that same little flower garden, with Ella of course. She mostly just crawled around and played in the yard, but she did like my little shovel so she came to "help" me dig out the weeds. I was trying to keep my eyes out so she didn't repeat eating the dirt; but geez louise, that girl is quick as lightening. In a matter of seconds she had a handful of dirt and into the mouth it went. Bummer was, dead camera battery so no pics. Well, last Saturday the 15 (May) we were out weeding the disaster behind our garage. Ella was crawling around, playing with the weeds, just having a grand old time. Dan and I were talking about how you would think she would learn her lesson, that dirt doesn't taste good. She sat right by us helping to pull the weeds (really she was just flipping dirt everywhere, but that was fine). She was playing so good, we both thought, "Well, maybe she did decide it was yucky." Nope. A moment later there she is with a HUGE handful of dirt into the mouth, and I mean huge! She couldn't get it out of her mouth it was so much. And of course it instantly turned into mud so it stuck every where. We ended up opening her sippy cup and pouring water out of the side of her mouth to wash it out. It was hilarious. Maybe she learned her lesson now? I doubt it. :)

I thought I would include some other pictures taken in March of my messy little kiddo. She's a cutie!

Cake with a pudding mousse frosting-She left most of the cake and went for the frosting

That little tongue, haha

More Various Pictures

2010-05-19T20:17:00.001-06:00

Feb. 20th:

So while we were in Utah in February, Ella had her haircut by a real professional. Her sweet aunt Jodi cut her hair since it was getting long and straggly. She was a pretty good client, she didn't fight Jodi like she does me when I try to cut her hair. Oh well, I guess that's the struggle of a daughter ;)

Feb. 27th:

I feel bad that it has taken me 3 months to get these pictures on here, but better late than never. This is Ella riding the horse that she got from my family for her birthday. She couldn't play with it when we were in Utah because we had to leave it in the box so we could fit it in our luggage on the flight home. She really likes it, she puts her feet in the basket up front so that they don't drag and we can push her around. She LOVES the cheek of the horse because if you press it, it plays music. She'll sit and push it over and over and over and over, well you get the idea :)

This is one of the other toys she got from my family for her bday. She really likes to dunk those balls, because the crowd cheers when she does it. Dan was really psyched about this gift. I felt bad though, right after I put it together she pulled down on the basket really hard and it tipped over and smacked her in the lips. She cried and I felt so bad. I was worried that she wouldn't like the toy because of this incident. But this picture was taken later that day so apparently there were no hard feelings.

Happy 1st Birthday pt 2

2010-04-30T15:07:00.000-06:00

After presents it was cake time!!!

This is her big cake that I got from Sam's. Ella LOVES animals so it was perfect for her. Plus it matched the color theme I had going-lavender and pink. (This pic makes the writing look blue but it really is a light purple)

Okay, this is where the picture in my head turned out WAY different than real life. I wanted to make Ella a little 'smash cake' all her own that matched her big cake. So I bought these mini cake pans to make her own 3 layer cake. The cake itself turned out great! It was just a polka dot cake mix, but it looked all yummy and moist.

The look of the cake, on the other hand, didn't turn out quite how I imagined it. But, my sister Kari was able to turn it into a decent looking cake. (No offense to Kari, because this was not her fault at all! She did great for what she had to work with, if it'd have been me I'd have thrown it at the wall in frustration) She is really good at decorating cakes, I wish I had pics of the masterpieces she has made for her kids. The problem was mine-my frosting was terrible! It kept melting everywhere! We tried cooling it in the fridge to no avail. We stacked the layers of cake on each other and got the coat around the cake smooth, but slowly the frosting between the layers started seeping out and making the cake sag and tip. The hearts that she had put on the sides started sliding down the cake and the borders that she piped around the top and bottom spread and kind of melted together. I was imagining a pure white base-with pastel pink hearts and lavender edging. Well it's not quite what I ended up with. I still put the purple Elephant on top(fitting right?!) which was cute. Looking at it makes me laugh; I wish you could see the idea in my head and compare it to the real thing, if you could you'd laugh too.

Anyway here it is :)

Then I thought I would make the cute swirly cupcakes that you see everywhere. Well because of time and bad frosting that didn't happen at all. My sister Jana was able to quickly spread some frosting over them and give them a quick decorating. Not what I imagined but it works right :0)

Despite these issues the cake part was still great!

Here is Ella checking out her cake. I love her scrunchy nose face in this pic!

Everyone singing "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candle, well Mom trying to show her how to anyway :)

Mmm, sticking her finger in the frosting at tasting it! Yummy!

Presenting her her very own cake!

She goes for the toy first!

A little taste of the frosting

She didn't really like it. But I don't blame her. It was REALLY sweet frosting, too sweet.

Basically she just kept grabbing chunks of cake and frosting, then shaking her hand to get it off.

Blurry hands="get it off me"

She did that until she had destroyed the cake. It looks like she ate a lot of the cake but she really didn't. She ate like 3 bites, 3 little bites. The cake is spread all over the floor, in her seat, basically everywhere but in her mouth. (Hey as a Mom though, I don't mind that too much. It would've been A LoT of sugar to eat which would've been tummy ache and a LOnG night, so I'm glad ;)

After destruction, she was cool with chewing on the elephant

After a quick bath, she hung out with her cousin Kaytlyn. That pretty much rounds out her party. It was so much fun. It was great to watch her open presents, flip the cake around, ya know the whole thing! I'm glad that everything didn't turn out as planned because it makes it more fun that way. The most important thing is Ella; my sweet baby girl is one! I love her so much and I am so thankful for her!

After everyone had gone home, we were hanging out a little longer and Ella found these little cups my mom had.

We put them on her hands and she looked so confused like "Hey, where are my hands?!"

"Eh, no biggie, this works, I can still eat it this way!"

Happy 1st Birthday!

2010-04-30T13:48:00.000-06:00

February 16- One ~1~!

I can't believe the last year went by so fast! My little baby isn't a baby anymore! As sad as that is for me, it's really exciting too, because each day she gets cuter and smarter and does things that just melt my heart! Ella's birthday was quite the celebration! We went to Utah to celebrate her birthday with all the fam. I had all of these big dreams and plans of how I wanted her party to be, just ask Dan, I was dreaming this event up for weeks! But, because we weren't going to do it at our home, I couldn't do a lot of the organizing until we got to Utah. So the party turned into a mad rush to get everything completed, which resulted in many things not turning out how I had planned them in my head. But as mad as it was to get last minute details and how awful some of my ideas turned out, it was still a blast! Ella looked like she really enjoyed herself! So here goes the birthday:

Ella spent most of the day with her Daddy, they went to lunch with Grandma T., then they went to Aunt Tricia's to play. Once, they were back at Grandma V's it was hurry and get ready for the party!

I love all the tutu's that I've seen around, so back when I was pregnant and found out it was a girl, I started planning putting her in a tutu for her 1st birthday. So I scoured the internet for ideas and made her this sweet little tutu. I love it!! Ribbons, purple, pink & girlie, of course! She has been my little princess from the beginning so I made her princess shirt to match. I really wanted a special little party hat for her, so I made her little clippy party hat to match. One of my favorite things that you can't really see in the pictures is her piggy tails! I lOvE pig tails on little girls! Although, at the start of her party she seemed a little grumpy. We finally figured out that those sweet piggy tails were pulling her hair, so sadly then had to come out :( Oh well, she was still adorable and it made her personality match. Once they were out, she was a bright, cheery little girl again!

The Princess and Grandpa Vaughn

Ella and Aunt Jana-I don't know if she's giving hugs or trying to escape from the flashes of the camera, hehe!

When the girls found out Ella had a tutu, they all decided to wear theirs too! (I think there might have been some demanding their Moms go home and bring them!!! ;)

I think they are all sooo cute!

(By the way, don't you love the retro party hats Ella's cousins are wearing?! I found them in my Mom's basement, I think they are from a party when Jana was like 7, cool huh!)

Ella Bella (with Princess bib, of course) and Grandma Vaughn

Ella and Abby giving each other the stare down, while Payton and Parker play

I saw these really cute pull string pinatas and decided to make my own. This is partly where I got off track; it took a lot longer than I thought it would. But it was so worth it.

Ella was so cute pulling on those strings. (Sorry about my monster eyes in this photo, there isn't a yellow eye remover in my photo editor, so I couldn't figure out how to make them go away)

It turned out everyone got a turn to pull a on a string. The right string was the very last one to be pulled, but even then I didn't get it reinforced enough so the string broke and no candy came out! I ended up pulling the trap door open by hand.

After the Pinata it was present time!!! Wowee, Ella sure has lot of family who love her tonz, because she had a lot of presents!

See check out all of those gifts-and this is BEFORE some family had even arrived!

She was really funny opening presents, she would reach in the bag pull out the item and if it was clothes it immediately got tossed to the side; she didn't even bother to give it a second look. There were a few outfits that I had to pick up off the floor to see because she tossed them aside so quickly.

She had the drill down pat, see look how intent she is on getting that paper off to see what is inside. (sorry these pics are a little blurry, my camera had some issues)

Santa

2010-04-21T20:29:00.001-06:00

I was just found this pic from back at Christmas time and though I had to share. We took Ella to the mall so she could get her picture taken with Santa. Needless to say, I don't think she is very fond of him, wouldn't you agree? :)

Random Fun

2010-04-14T14:35:00.000-06:00

Feb 5th

...She licked the platter clean...

Feb 6th

From sweet blue eyes

to Bedhead

Feb 7th

If ya don't know Ella she does this thing where she balls up her fists, scrunches her face, and goes "Ugghhh!!" Then she laughs at herself because she knows she being funny. Well this is what it looks like:

She also likes to stick her finger up her nose for the same reason-for a laugh. She has the best manners :)

Feb 8th

Popsicles-"Oh boy that's cold!"

"Here Dad you have some too!"

"This is so fun!"

January

2010-04-14T14:09:00.000-06:00

Jan. 8, 2010

Here is Ella with all of her Christmas Treasures and our tree back at home. I think it was a pretty good Christmas for her ;)

Jan. 15, 2010

This is Ella with her first band aid. She kept trying to pull it off. She was kind of confused about what this sticky thing on her finger was.

Jan 21, 2010

Piggytails!!!

January 23, 2010

Happy Big 30 Dan!!

The party crowd

The cake- He's too old for individual candles, it's onto decade candles now! :)

The Presents-Before

Presents-After

Happy Birthday Dan! I love you!

January 24, 2010

Bathing Beauty, don't ya love the hair!

January 30, 2010

Ella falls asleep in the strangest positions

1st Jeans

2010-03-26T13:54:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, my sister Kari and her family got Ella some jeans and a cute shirt. They are her first pair of jeans! They are so stinking cute, with little flowers on the pockets! I love them! They make her look so big, which makes me sad, but I think they are super cute!

(I love her face in the 2nd pic, she is scolding me because I'm not holding onto her and she's scared to stand up on her own, even though the couch is holding her up)

Christmas and Utah Trip 2009

2010-03-26T13:24:00.000-06:00

Okay so here I am again posting things like 4 months late. Sorry! Here are some pics of Ella's first Christmas.

It was such a fun day! She caught on really quick to tearing the paper off the presents,

but she got a little annoyed with us taking the toys away (so she could open another one) when she finally got the paper off. She didn't really understand why she had to tear off all of this paper over and over. The first few times it was fun, but it got old really quick. She was such a cutie!

Later we went to Dan's parents house for a late breakfast.

Dan's cousin Chris was there with his wife Karen and their son, Ben. Ben is just a couple weeks older than Ella and it was cute to watch them play.

I think we're going to have to work with Ella on playing nice because she was kind of a bully. She kept taking the toy and camera case away from Ben. Then when he would take it back she would freak out.

Ben was so sweet because when she would get upset, he would hand the case back over to her. It was really funny to watch.

A little while later it was back to my parents house for presents with my sisters and brother. Ella fell asleep on the drive over there so she missed out on most of the action.

(I love how she's still holding onto the ball she got from Santa)

We all opened presents in a torrent of flying paper:

Look at Kolton's sad face, poor kids had to wait til everyone had a present

Finally the noise woke Ella up and so she too got to open more presents , as you can see she still looked a little sleepy.

At this point she was really sick of all the paper. She would tear open the package then toss it aside.

While Ella was opening presents Dan was having fun playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos. The story behind the picture: for Christmas we drew Kolton's name and so I bought this game for him. As I packed up the presents to come to Utah, Dan saw the game. He was so bummed when I told him it wasn't for us, it was for Kolton! So I'm glad Kolton let Dan play, maybe someday he can have his own Hungry Hippos game. :)

Shortly after all of this fun, my aunts and uncles and cousins and Grandma came over. We had dinner and opened another present. By this time Ella had some energy in her and was being really cute playing around. She loved the little book she got from my Grandma.

To end off the day we went Dan's Grandparents' house.

We snacked a little bit and just enjoyed their company. Although I think they were enjoying the entertainment from Ella. She definitely knows how to put on a show!

While we were on that trip, Stacie brought over the rocking cow (like a rocking horse but a cow) from when her kids were little and Ella thought it was the funnest thing. Kaycie plopped on behind her so she didn't fall off, and away they went.

All in all it was a great Christmas! It was so much fun to watch Ella open presents and play with her new toys. Christmas has taken on that magic that it used to have when I was a kid. I can't wait until next year when she really knows what's going on and gets really excited about things. I was really glad that we were able to share her first Christmas with both of our families. I feel like we lucked out to even be able to go to Utah for Christmas at all. Residency it pretty busy, but it just so happened that Dan was on an easy month and was able to get some time off for us to go.

So Sleepy

2010-02-04T14:54:00.000-07:00

December 14th:

Oh, around 5:00 that night, while waiting for Dan to come home from work; Ella and I hung out in the living room. I was sitting doing a puzzle and she was happily playing with her toys on the floor. Now, in case you don't know Ella hated to be on her stomach for the longest time. So to get her to play on her stomach was a long time in the making. So you can imagine my shock when I looked up at this:

I almost thought she had choked or stopped breathing or something! I went over to her and turned out she was just fine; merely sleeping. I thought it was so funny that here she was just quietly playing with her toys and the next second, sound asleep, let alone sound asleep on her stomach!

Dan came home and I showed him our little sweetie sleeping under the Christmas tree. He was as surprised as I was-he asked me "Did you make sure she was breathing?!" Of course I did! She slept like that for like an hour and when she woke up this is what she looked like:

I think those pictures are so funny. Her poor face. Even though her first stomach sleeping left her like this, it didn't hurt anything, the stomach is now her preferred sleeping position. Some nights we barely lay her in bed and she flips right over to her stomach before you can get the blanket over her! She is such a cute girl!

Holly's Birthday!

2010-02-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

Happy Quarter of a Century!

My 25th was back on December 13th. Dan and Ella made it a fun day for me! Ella gave me "Moose Munch;" she knows what I like! Dan gave me cute winter boots. GREAT gift!! I have lived in the midwest for what will be my 5th winter and have had no boots; it was probably time for me to get some, don't ya think?! Dan is so wonderful!

Mama's helper :)

Later that night, Dan invited a bunch of people over for cake and ice cream. We had lots of fun people join us!

Mmm, yummy cake!

Jennie & Adam; Brandon & Angie-Fellow Residents

Robyn and Kasey

Julianne, Bobbi, Seth, Jonathan in back (it kind of looks like shaving cream on his face, but it's not! (hehe) the camera had some weird spots on it)

Jonathan& Rollie, Rhece-Adam & Jennie's baby (See no shaving cream;)

I am super glad we have this basement! It was really nice to just let all of the kids go downstairs and play!

(On a side note, I think this is the first shot of our basement. It's a little sparse now, but that's alright. See Dan's TV-he's been waiting 5 years for that thing. He has so many other plans in this room to go along with it-he's thinking theatre room, but it was so nice to send kids to play down there, we'll have to see what it becomes :)

Thanks for a great birthday!

Ella's Coat

2010-02-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

December 12, 2009:

We put Ella in her coat and then we put her in her car seat:

poor girl couldn't even move; her arms were just stuck like that. I bet she couldn't breathe either. Poor girl :( Notice the binkie, she was trying so hard to get it in her mouth, but it just wouldn't work. We felt so bad that for the rest of the month we didn't put her coat on her, we just wrapped her up really good in blankets and stuck her in the car seat. We had a new car seat that was bigger, but we didn't want the airline to destroy it when we went to Utah for Christmas, so we waited to open it. When we got home from our Christmas trip, we moved her to the new car seat so now is is warm and can breathe. I was really sad to give up her little carrier car seat. I felt like we could go more places and she still would get a nap; It was so nice just to leave her in there if she was asleep. Oh well, I guess my baby isn't a baby anymore.

Snow!

2010-02-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

I know I am like 2 months behind on posting my pictures-so I'm going to try and catch up!

These pictures are from a snow storm that hit us back on December 10th. The weatherman was calling it a blizzard. I don't remember being in a blizzard before, so it was kind of fun!

Ha ha..

2010-01-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

I know I shouldn't be letting Ella play with a medicine bottle, but this one was empty (I know that is not a good excuse). I thought it was so funny that she was trying to suck on the cap like she does her binky. So I snapped some pics then I took the "toy" away. Thought I'd share...

Is it just me or is that picture hilarious?

Oh geez, that girl cracks me up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-01-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for:

my sweet little girl

My loving hubby

A happily ever after family

And a perfect pie crust!

(Pie crusts and I have struggled over the past few years, but this year it came out BeaUtifuL!!!!)

Also, (not pictured) the Wyatts, Greens, and Gibsons for sharing this holiday with us! Thanks guys! :)

9 months

2010-01-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little late, but better late then never, right?! These pictures are from when Ella turned 9 months old. She sure is a cutie!

Ella's new things

2009-11-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

(this is an old post I forgot to publish)

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Dan was on call at the hospital and had to stay over night. So, since Dan couldn't come to us, Ella and I went to him. We went to the hospital and met him for lunch. When we were done, Dan walked us back out to the car. As I Dan getting ready to walk away from the car he peeked in the back window and gave Ella a wave goodbye. The sweet little girl looked up, smiled and waved back! Dan was shocked! He can back up to my door and told me that she just waved bye to him. So he did it again, and so did she. I turned around and looked over the seat at her as he did it one more time. Sure enough she waved right back! Cute little girl. I didn't even realize we had waved to her that often but apparently it was enough for her to learn how to do it! She'd such a smartie!

While Dan's parents were here visiting Nov. 4-11, Dan's mom taught our little Ella Bella how to give kisses. It's so cute. A couple days later I was playing with her, doing different faces. Well, I did a fishy face with my lips out; Ella must've thought I wanted a kiss so she pushed her little face up to mine and gave me a kiss right on my lips! I wasn't even expecting it. She's so sweet.

Mommy's Helper

2009-11-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was working on the computer and Ella was quietly playing on the floor beside me. My sweet little girl decided I needed some "help" with my crafts. Earlier I had gone looking for a scrap of fabric in my fabric box and when I was finished I left it sitting out on the floor. My lil cutie couldn't resist helping me find my fabric while I was busy with other things. When I looked down at her this is what I saw:

Too cute. She spread that fabric clear around the room. So I took a picture, instead of cleaning up the mess. Well the next day, I was looking up something on the computer so I set Ella back down on the floor to play. (with the fabric from the previous day, of course :) She decided the fabric wasn't the only crafting supply I needed, so she proceeded to empty my shoe box of other crafting odds, such as wire, thread, curling ribbon etc. (notice the last one wrapped around her waist :0)

I love my little helper!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Ella's First Halloween:

For Halloween we dressed up Ella as a chick. On Friday the 30th, Ella and Holly went to the ward Trunk or Treat. We dressed her up in her little fluff and Holly dressed up as a cowgirl. (Sorry no pics) Dan met us there later after he got off work. A lot of people from the ward gave him a lot of slack for being "so original" with his costume. He didn't have time to change after work so he came to the church in his work scrubs. So the doc dressed up as a doc ;) Anyway, Ella looked so cute and was so interested in all of the people in their costumes.

On Halloween, in preparation for the Trick or Treaters, I opened all the candy and put it in a bowl. I set the bowl on the floor in the living room so it would be handy when the kids started coming. Ella was sitting in the living room playing with her toys; I walked out of the room and when I came back this is what I saw:

She wanted that candy so bad. She ended up working herself forward enough so that she could grab it and go to town.

Got it!

Which one should I eat?

I think I'll eat the Starburst

Good Choice

A couple weeks ago we went to a place called "Gene the Pumpkin Man" for a playgroup and got a bunch of pumpkins. Gene's farm was pretty awesome. He had big barns that were painted bright orange, he had a big orange cadillac and Gene himself was dressed from head to toe in hunter's orange. He was the coolest old guy. On Halloween morning, we got up early and carved our pumpkins. (we had a pretty busy week and with Dan's schedule that was the only time we could get it done) We carved a little pumpkin family. Aren't they cute?

We ended up having a ton of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. I thought we'd have some extra candy for us to eat. But we ended up running out. Good thing we had some caramels in the cabinet for a recipe I was going to make. I guess maybe we should have taken Ella trick or treating so we would've had some treats :)

Here's my little Chickie and Dan, in his classic Halloween tee

She looks sleepy

We finished our Halloween adventures by going to Dominic's party. Mike told Dan "Your daughter is the cutest chick at this party!" Boy was he right!

Home Sweet Home

2009-11-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

I know you've been waiting to see it, so here it is.

This is our house! We LOVE it!

Here it is 3 weeks later as the leaves changed to their pretty fall colors. I love how bright the fall colors are out here! (Can you see my burning bush in the back corner of the house, I was so excited to find out that we had one!) I wish I had taken some pictures of the road leading into our subdivision because it is all foresty and it was the prettiest yellowy golds. Fall is definitely gorgeous out here!

Happy 8 Month Birthday Ella Bella!

2009-10-16T21:11:00.000-06:00

[I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit, but I'll come back later and post what I missed. Today is her 8 month birthday so I want to post about my girl (plus my fam keeps asking for current pics, these are as current as it gets. These were taken this evening.)]

My little baby is 8 months old today!

I thought I would quick share two little things that have happened, Oh- She's so fun!

Today I had one of those “oops!” moments. It was just before bedtime, I was feeding Ella her nightly cereal. We had started a new kind this week and it thickens up a little more than the others; so she was gulping and struggling to swallow. There was a sippy cup right there and so opened it up I poured a little water in the cereal to thin it down. Worked like a charm; she seemed better able to swallow. There were only a couple bites left and she looked kind of thirsty so I said “Do you want a drink?” and picked up the cup and put it up to her face. The whole cup of water spilled out right into her lap! Poor girl sucked in a breath really quick and looked up at me with big, shocked eyes. “Mom! What did you do?!” Okay. so she didn’t really say that, but I know that’s what she was thinking. I felt so bad! Apparently when I finished pouring water into her cereal I only set the lid on top of the cup, not screwed it back on. Ooops!

(Don't ya just love those little teeth!)

Last night, I went to a knitting/crochet night at a Ward member’s house and Ella got to join me since Dan was working the night shift. The home where we went has a little dog, Tonks, who is just the cutest. Anyway, Ella was so funny with her. When we first got over there, Ella wasn’t so sure about Tonks; she would watch her and had this little quizzical look on her face. Every time the dog would come in the room Ella would follow her around with her eyes. I would ask her “What’s that? Is that a doggy?” “Dog.” Soon Ella started saying “Da” when Tonks would walk around. And eventually it turned into yelling at the dog to come to her “Da, Da, Da, Da.” Over and over. She got so frustrated that she couldn’t get the dog that she would ball up her fists, her body would go stiff all over, her face would go all red, and she’d go “Ughhh!” It was a riot. She had the whole room laughing. She wanted that dog so bad. I put her on the ground next to the dog and she would’ve pulled it’s fur off then tackled it if I had let her. At home, she’ll take her stuffed animals and squeeze them really tight and rub her face into them. I think this is what she wanted to do with Tonks. I moved her away so that she couldn’t reach the dog and she proceeded to call to it, then stiffen up in frustration. She even went about doing a fake laugh because she was excited the dog was so close. She is so funny. Everyday it’s something new that makes me smile.

My First Haircut!

2009-10-16T20:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday, September 12, 2009:

We decided it was time to give Ella her first haircut. She literally had hair on the sides of her head that was like 3 to 4 inches long. The top had pieces that stuck way out and others that were barely there; and the back was super short from rubbing it all off. She was starting to look like a little orphan. So we gave her a little trim. What a challenge! Dan tried to entertain her while I trimmed the hair. She wiggled and grabbed at the scissors and tried to look to see what I was doing. It took us forever! She got really bored with the whole ordeal and eventually we just had to call it quits even though there were a few more pieces we could have evened out. It ended up a little shorter than I wanted, I was worried that it was a boy haircut. But I got over that pretty quick, she doesn't look like a boy! It looks really nice, especially now that it's been a month(I'm working on posting those pics); it allowed some of her really short hairs to catch up with the others. Her hair is starting to get thick now, but it's super fine and platinum blonde so it almost disappears with her skin. Everywhere we go we hear "Look how blonde her hair is, she's so cute!"

Before:

After:

"Yahh! I can play now!"

♫ “This is the way we wash our clothes…”♫

2009-10-16T20:39:00.000-06:00

♫ “This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes. This is the way we wash our clothes so early friday morning!”♫

Friday, Sept. 11

Beach Baby!

2009-10-16T20:24:00.000-06:00

We got this really cute swimming suit for Ella and she was starting to outgrow it so we had to get some pics before it got too small. When we took the pictures she showed off some of her different personalities.

Cutie:

Glamorous:

"Don't I look beautiful, Darling?"

Silly:

Missed a few

2009-10-16T19:33:00.000-06:00

I was looking back at some pictures I saw that I missed a few. So, I thought I’d post ‘em!

Here are some cute pics of Ella, these are back from August 29^th. We were sitting in the living room, and Ella noticed her shadow on the couch. She was so cute trying to grab hold of it. I know you can’t see her shadow in the picture because of the flash, but it was so funny to watch her try to grab it,

then be confused because she couldn’t get it.

Next, are some picture I took on September 2^nd. Dan just barely started his first Ortho month of the year and was on call that night. Ella and I had had a pretty rough day. She didn’t like that it was only the two of us I guess. I was feeding her cereal and we were both struggling. She was pretty grumpy and I was exhausted. Finally, she grabbed the bowl of cereal and started to play. Normally, I would’ve taken the bowl away. But her mood changed and she was instantly this happy little girl, so I let her play. Whatever works, right? She made a big mess and looked really cute so I snapped a couple shots.

The Great Transformation

2009-09-24T14:26:00.001-06:00

When we bought our house our deck looked bad, and not the good bad, the bad bad. Dan was worried that it was a total loss, but I had hope. I knew somewhere in that mildewy, neglected wood was the potential for beauty. We slaved for 2 full days on this puppy and yes I was right, now it looks SWEET!! I guess we could possibly be okay at this homeownership thing. We have a little bit of handyness in us :)

Before:

This is what we saw when we first looked at the house back in April. Everything else about the house was great. The deck was the only real drawback. Can you tell why? Mildew, Algae, sinking corner... to name a few. Thankfully the listing realtor fixed the sinking corner we just had to do the rest.

During:

Working in that cleaner to get off the gunk, this part took FOREVER.

This is what is looked like after the cleaning. WOW, look how great it looks already!

After:

Ta Duh!!! What a transformation!! We are awesome, I am so proud of us. Although I never want to have to do that again. HOLY COW, I've never worked so hard!

To sum it all up...

2009-09-13T19:28:00.000-06:00

Okay so its official. I am a terrible blogger. I love to read other people's blogs, but I have a hard time sitting down and posting on my own. It's not that I have nothing to write about, because Ella gives me plenty of good material. I even take pictures and think, "Hmm I should put this on the blog." But then I always say, "Oh, I'll do it later." Which never happens. So now I am still WAY behind. I haven't even written about our move to Michigan. So basically here is a quick run down of the last 3 months. After graduation we had to say goodbye to many of our good friends and our "Wisconsin Family." That was one of the hardest things I have had to do. I had a hard time not crying every moment. But we did have a few more good moments before we all left. Like here where we went for one more girls day out at Stir Crazy (mmm they have the BEST food, oh I really miss this place)

One more BBQ with the Jagers and the Austins (I miss you guys!!!)

One more round of Guitar Hero-this was an especially fun night, this is the night Ella laughed for the first time.

But all good things must come to an end so we had to pack up our stuff and go. Ella was a little confused the night before we left so here she is gripping her doll for dear life. She looks a little scared, but she was so cute.

The next day we loaded up our stuff and said goodbye.

It looks so lonely.

Closing the door one last time :(

One last picture-so many good memories here.

Welcome home Michigan!

This isn't the best picture but it'll do. You can't tell but this is the Michigan welcome center.

We were super excited (and pretty lucky) to get to move into our house right away and rent it from the sellers until we closed. This is us eating our first meal in our new house! mmm frozen lasagna and steamer bag broccoli and cauliflower (sure beats fast food).

I must say I LOVE our house!!! We have SOO much space. I almost don't know what to do with myself. I have been having fun trying to figure out where things go and decorating. Also big on my list is little improvements we can make to the house. First off was the yard. We have spent a big chunk of our time tackling that one. The previous owners took good care of the house, but when it came to the yard they were minimalists. We have had lots of bushes to cut and clear, and TONS of weeds to clean out. In fact back behind our garage there was some kind of a two level garden that was growing wild flowers(?) It was really weird because one tier was one type of plant the other tier was another. But they looked like weeds to us. Anyway it was a mess. I wish I had a before picture but I got my camera out too late.

The weeds were seriously like 6 feet tall.

We fed the missionaries then roped them into helping us clean up the weeds. HUGE mess. Thank you missionaries. I would have died. I have never seen so many spiders in my life. It was awful. yuck. We have a pretty cool yard though, there are lots of trees and it's really big. (I am sure there will be times when that seems like a bad thing-lots of lawn to mow) We've put in lots of hours and its starting to show. I hated yard work as a kid but it's actually really rewarding to see what you've done, I get excited now, I'm like "Hey should we do yard work today!?!". Our current project is the deck. I'll post before and afters-it is amazing.

Anyway, since we've been here we've done a few things-Dan started working (finally a paycheck!!!); we went with another resident to a lake house for the 4th of July. Dan was super excited to do a little sky skiing. Then we all went out on the pontoon to see the fireworks (Ella too, even though she slept through almost the whole firework show. I wish she would sleep that soundly at home.) But the bummer was we forgot the camera. So no pics of her first boat ride and fireworks. And the big one-we closed on the house, YAAHHH we are officially homeowners. I feel like a real grown up now.

Also during this time Ella learned how to roll over. We gave her food for the first time, and we bought her a high chair. When we put her in it for the first time she looked so tiny.

Since then she has grown a ton. She also learned she has toes

and has discovered that they taste really good-as does her thumb.

She's so darn cute though. We just love her so much. She's such a happy, smiley child.

Also, over this time we went to dinner at Dr. Elluru's home; he's a Plastic Surgeon that Dan was working with in July. He and his family were super nice. They have a lake house so they took us out on their boat for a little spin. This is how much fun we had:

Just kidding, Ella didn't fall asleep right away, it was after she threw a fit because she wanted to drive the boat.

It was really fun, we ended up towing a stranded boat back to shore so our cruise around the lake was extended, which was great.

Shortly thereafter, Ella and I took a little trek (okay flight) to Utah for a couple weeks. We had so much fun. Ella got to see all of her cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents. She was thrilled with all of the attention. We went to Park City with Dan's family for a few days. Went to my grandma's family reunion. Ella celebrated her 6 month birthday!! Where does time go, I can't believe she is already 6 months!!!

We had a grand old time. We were so sad to leave everyone behind, but I know Dan was really excited to have us back. Since then we've been getting back in the groove of things, Dan finally started Ortho this month so he's really excited. They have some great programs for the families here so Ella and I have been doing the play group and the ortho wives have a monthly girls night out. So it's been really fun. I love the city. It is perfect. Small city, but not lacking anything. It's so cool if you leave our subdivision there are corn fields and forests. It is so pretty. It's like we live out in the country but like 5 minutes away is the grocery store, Target, Kohl's, restaurants, etc. It is so neat! Also our ward is really great. I have done a few play dates and this week we are going to the farm with some of the girls. We are slowly getting adjusted. It's still hard though, I reaalllly miss our "family" and our real family. I think it will always be like that.

So there you have it, I know it's overwhelming but I knew I just needed to get caught up. Hopefully now the task won't seem so overwhelming and I can keep up on it!

Ella and Grandpa T.

2009-08-03T13:29:00.000-06:00

I thought I would quick share these adorable pics of Ella and Grandpa. Ella was being kind of fussy while we were all getting ready the morning after graduation so grandpa decided to take her for a little walk. It was pretty cold outside for the middle of May so we put on her coat. It was really sunny outside so we decided she should sport the cute new shades Grandma had just bought her! Isn't she just so cute?!

My Grad

2009-08-03T12:40:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I know I am a little slow at getting pictures and posting, but I have a baby, so you'll have to bear with me. I have a spare moment so I thought I would quick post about Dan's graduation. He graduated on Friday May 15th. Yay!! I am so proud of him. Medical school was really hard. I can't believe how much information they had to learn and how hard they had to work! Dan did so good though! That day was so bittersweet. So great because it was finally time to graduate-commencement. Finishing such a big goal in our lives! But sad because another chapter was coming to an end. That day we rushed to get ready so we could meet the Jagers and the Austins at the Medical College so we could take pictures of our husbands together. It was so sad to walk around the school and think this was probably the last time we'll be in there :( That school was really neat. As you can tell the day was pretty cloudy and windy there were a few pictures that I couldn't even see Dan's face because his tassle was blown in front of it (sorry I didn't post those ones, I figured he'd like the better ones in the post) But the trees were beautiful, full of blooms! It was really neat that his mom and dad were able to come out and share this special day with us. They have really done a lot to help us get to that point. Also, I don't want to forget Tricia and Jodi were able to come out too! It was so fun sharing Milwaukee! We had such a blast! We went to Cedarburg with them and they babysat Ella for us for Dan's senior dinner. So thanks gals! Back to graduation. After pictures we went and had lunch one last time at the City Market. Mmm they have the best chocolate chip cookies. I was so nervous for Dan. I kept telling him he needed to eat faster, move faster. I was so worried he was going to be late for his graduation! When we were all done we headed down to the Milwaukee Theatre for the graduation ceremony. I thought the graduation was really cool. I know there were a few people in our group (uhum, Tricia and Jodi ;) who were pretty bored, but that's okay it was a pretty long event. It was fun for me because I knew a lot of the people. It was so exciting to see Dan walk across that stage and recieve his diploma!! What a big moment!!! Afterwards, we all went to eat at the yummy- Claim Jumper for dinner. It was so good! To finish off the night we went to our favorite place for custard-Murfs. Oh I miss all that wonderful food! What an awesome day!! Dan I am so proud of you and I love you so much!!!

Dan and Hippcrates

The Foyer of the Medical College-can you see Dan?

Zach, Dan, Mike

The Medical College

Our Wisconsin Family

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad!

Yay Daddy!

8701 Watertown Plank Road-one last time

We're so glad Tricia and Jodi could come!!

The big moment-Dan getting his diploma!!!

Here he is Dr. Dan

Ella having fun with Grandma and her new MCW Elephant!

Tricia, Dan and Holly waiting for our yummy food!

Jodi, Gayle, Dave, Ella(who looks a little distracted)Say cheese!

Dan's Soccer Team... Uh I mean class

2009-07-18T19:19:00.000-06:00

Back on May 12th before the graduation and moving whirlwind took us all away, we joined Dan's fellow students on a Senior Med Picnic. These were a bunch of families that were in Dan's class and that were in our ward. We got to know these families really well and shared some great times with them. There were a few families that were not able to make it that night and we missed them. But even with a few gone you can see that we still were quite the crowd! Thanks for the memories!

Back row-Kerry, Preston, Dan, Mike, Marc, Zach, Andy, Jason

Front row-Scott, Dan, Jeff, Josh, Clint, Jared

Count 'em-28 children between the group! (plus a couple on the way)

Cul de sac-oh how I'll miss you!

2009-07-18T18:09:00.000-06:00

Just in case you didn't know, at our apartment in Milwaukee we had the coolest neighbors ever. There were 4 buildings in our cul de sac with a total of 18 apartments. Over the 4 years the numbers fluxed depending on who moved in and out, but the definite majority of the tenants were young, LDS families just like us. We had residents, med students, law students, nursing students, anyway you get the point. We LOVED our cul de sac!!! We made so many great friends there! Everyone would congregate out on the front yards and just hang out and talk. We had BBQ's and game nights, girls nights, and birthdays. We were a regular party zone! One of our traditions that formed was Sunday night dessert night! We would all meet out front and eat some yummy treats and play some crochet or ladder golf. Here are some pictures from our last :''( tears) dessert night back on May 10th. Notice how is should be spring time and warm outside, but it wasn't everyone was all bundled up because it was pretty chilly!Here are the girls! (and one boy, sorry Luke) Kelsey, Jill and Luke, Jill, Holly and Ella

Katie, Anna, Jenny, Marshall (Cougar), Nolan, Tim, Lynn, Nikki, Amy, Shandra, Zehren

Dave, Jenny, and Amanda getting some of those yummy treats!

Dave, Tim, Amy, Guy, Jenny, Kate, Amanda, Tim, Lynn, Nikki, Shandra, Zehren

Katie with her little cuties Grace and Duncan

Nolan!

Tim and Lynn, Nikki, Amy, Kate, Shandra, Zehren

Holly and her Teddy Bear, oh wait that's Ella, Anna and Jenny

Mike, Jake, and Jake enjoying a game of crochet

Adam and Nolan are crochet buffs too!

Look at that hit!

Ricky and Duncan, Grace and Katie, Dave, Shandra and Zehren, Anna and Jenny

This is Ella's little boyfriend Tyler. She misses him so much!

Ricky, Richard (behind Ricky) Jake and Adam, Mike and Jake

Cul de sac and friends...Thank You so much for all the good times!!! We will miss you all very much!!!

Brewers!!!

2009-07-07T13:29:00.000-06:00

Continuing on with the senior festivities...Brewers Game! May 8th we took Ella to her first baseball game. We watched the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs in a nail biting game! We were right up next to the speaker and it was SOOO loud! I was very worried that it was going to harm Ella's hearing. Everytime they spoke or played music I put my hands over Ella's ears. She got pretty annoyed with that pretty quick. But despite all the noise, and the med students around us cooing over her, she quickly snoozed off. As I mentioned the Brewers beat the Cubs 3 to 2. Since Chicago is so close to Milwaukee there were tons of Cubs fans at the game. It ended up being quite the scene after the game was over. As we were leaving the seats toward the back hallway, there was a fight between a bunch of Brewers and Cubs fans. Kinda scary to be taking your almost 3 month old into that environment. Afterwards, Dan and I thought maybe next time we'll get a babysitter instead of taking her. Although in the med student group there were a few other babies besides her. All in all we enjoyed ourselves as did Ella. We just barely got there and she was already showing signs of sleepyness. I'm so excited!!! Alright, had enough fun. The famous racing Sausages. And the winner is...the one in blue-Sorry, I don't remember his name. Ella woke up to enjoy the Brewers win!

Diamonds are a girls best friend...

2009-07-07T13:24:00.000-06:00

We took these pictures of Ella back on May 6th, she was absolutely mesmerized by my ring. Don't you just love her chub!

Senior Dinner Dance

2009-07-07T13:07:00.000-06:00

On March 5th, the med school had a dinner dance for the 4th year students. We got all dressed up and they served us an awesome steak dinner, then they had a dance afterwards. Thanks to our friends the Majors for babysitting Ella so we could have a little night out!!

Here we are all fancied up! Look how sharp those boys look! Dan, Mike, and Zach
Such pretty girls! Holly, Amy, and Jill
Here we are at our fancy table! This is where the shindig was held. It's called the Wisconsin Club. It is this really cool old mansion. It is gorgeous!

A Day at the Zoo

2009-05-22T22:29:00.000-06:00

I know I've been a little bit of a slacker when it comes to posting on our blog. But hey, it's been really busy here. We've had a lot of changes. I thought I would go back and post some pictures of what we have been up to the last little while. I thought I would start with the zoo. Back on May 2nd the medical college had a special Zoo day for the 4th year med students. The 3 of us went with our friends the Austins and the Jagers to the zoo. We all had a blast. It was fun to watch Bryton and Tyler get so excited over the animals. Ella slept through most of the zoo, but woke up long enough to enjoy a few of the animals. The Milwaukee County Zoo is awesome!! I wish we could have visited more often.

Here's our little family after we enjoyed a yummy picnic!! (see what I mean she was snoozing most of the time)

Us with Zach, Amy, Bryton, Mike, Jill, and Tyler

Here is Ella sleeping peacefully even though just feet away from her was a huge lioness. Look at the jaws on that cat!

I spy a snow leopard, do you? Here she is with the Elephant. A few moments after this picture she turned and was fascinated by it. (do you notice she has different clothes on then the first 2 pics, we had her all decked out in a cute matching outfit with a little bow, but she blew through that :) Here she is with the giraffes. She didn't really care much for them.
And here she is back asleep. I wish I had a carseat that was so cozy!

Our next 5 years

2009-03-24T18:08:00.001-06:00

We've matched in an Orthopaedic Residency program and the winner is:

Kalamazoo, Michigan

(Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo!)

We'll be at Michigan State University's Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.

We were hoping to move closer to our families in Utah, but Kalamazoo is a great program and we are really excited!!!

The cutest thing ever!!

2009-03-16T10:02:00.000-06:00

On wednesday the 11th, Ella woke up around 6 to eat-nothing new there. But as she ate, she blew out her clothes. So Dan was a nice daddy and changed her before he went to work. To our excitement she was a happy baby! As he changed her she gave him 2 real smiles, not just those gassy ones. I decided to go get the camera in hopes that she would continue those cute little grins. Not only did she continue to smile but they were huge ones! She was so cute that Dan had a hard time leaving for the hospital, I think he ended up being late because of this beautiful little girl!Her smile is the cutest thing I have ever seen. She is still giving us those grins but she is selective. Daddy gets lots of smiles over and over. Anyone else is lucky to get 1 maybe 2 out of her at a time. But we will take any we can get because they are adorable!!

My Baby at 3 weeks old!

2009-03-16T09:56:00.000-06:00

Here she is hangin' in the hood (literally-she is wearing a hood and our house is sort of in the hood)

"I don't like bows!"

"Bow is gone-I'm fine now"
I can't believe how fast she is growing!!! Time is flying by!

"I love my mobile"

2009-03-16T09:38:00.000-06:00

Ella recently discovered that her crib has a mobile on it and needless to say she LOVES it! On Saturday the 8th I caught her with what I thought was a smile- but I wasn't quite sure. Either way it is cute picture.

The next day I caught her again checking out her crown. Here she is later that day looking very girly

Kewpie or Cupie

2009-03-16T09:09:00.000-06:00

I took these pictures of Ella when her hair was kind of wet so it is kind of plastered to her head except for the little curl at the top. When I loaded them on the computer, they reminded me of the little Kewpie or Cupie (depending on what website you look at) dolls. What a little cutie!

Ella

2009-03-08T17:54:00.001-06:00

Here is my cute little girl at one week old. So precious She does not like tummy time. Gotta love that smirk.

Sweet sleeper

February 25th

Happy 4th Anniversary

I love you Dan!

I think we make a cute little family! She's thinking hard about how to move those hands

This is Dan's favorite position for Ella to be in-sleeping on your shoulder with her little mouth hanging open :)

I love to see her little eyes

Here's those wide eyes again!Kissy lips!

This is one of her favorite things to do- sit and stare at the wall above the couch. There is a big picture up on the wall with a dark frame; we think she likes the dark frame against the white wall. What ever it is she'll stare at it forever.

Little Cowgirl!! Don't you just love her little cowgirl boots?

Ella loves to cuddle with Daddy
You can see how fast Ella is growing- the first 2 pics are of her at 1 week this last pic of her in red is from thursday the 5th. Her little cheeks are really starting to fill out and she is getting a double chin. Also it is really fun-she is starting to look around more and see where she is. She is so much fun-we just can't get enough!

Pretty Baby

2009-02-27T13:17:00.001-07:00

We thought we would share some more photos of our little angel:

Here she is all bundled up the day she came home from the hospital

Proud mama and papa

Look at her pretty little eyes!Here is her first bath-she was not so fond of it.
The binki calmed her down for a moment.

I love this picture-of all the fingers to suck on she chose the ring finger. She ended up later with the pinky but decided she didn't like it so she went back to this finger.
Here she is on her one week birthday!!!She is just so adorable!!!!
I have some other cute pics I will post soon, but they are still on the camera. I am going to have to wait till Dan comes home so I can find the cord to load them on!

The Stork Has Landed!

2009-02-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

On February 16, 2009 at 7:49 pm, our little angel finally arrived. Her name is Ella Sophia Tensmeyer and was a whopping 8 lbs (actually 7 lbs 15.5 oz to be exact). She was 21.5 inches in length and has the most beautiful blonde hair I've ever seen. Holly is doing great and Ella is passing all the exams with flying colors. I think she's trying to go for extra credit with the poopy diaper thing. They said the goal would be to see at least one on the first day, but she's giving us plenty of practice. Holly made things look easy (as easy as giving birth can actually be), but has to give some credit to her epidural. We didn't sleep much last night but it was the best night of my life. Here's some of my favorite pics:

The labor process begins...mmm, jell-o!

7 lbs 15.5 oz!

Poor thing...she look's so scared.

Look at that cute little tongue!

Don't you just love that blonde hair?!
This is one of my personal favorites!

We have taken a lot of video footage as well, so I might try and post some of that later. We can't wait to bring her home!! Thanks everybody, for all your love and support!

Still waiting!

2009-02-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hello blogger world! This is Dan, and this is my first official blog. I feel so old fashioned that I haven't participated in this yet, but I've got to learn eventually. As many of you know, Holly's due date was Friday (2/13/09), but that day came and went. So then Holly was supposed to be induced yesterday (2/15/09), but here we are at home on the 16th still waiting. Let me explain: Yesterday morning we woke up bright and early to be able to get to the hospital by 6 am. But we got a call from the hospital around 5 saying they didn't have any room! No room in the inn?! So I wondered if we should start looking for a manger or barn or something, but Holly didn't really like that idea. Apparently, the hospital has a lot of patients with complications so they aren't taking anything elective at the moment. If Holly were to go into labor, they would have room for us but it looks like our baby is taking after her parents by procrastinating. She probably just figures why rush her delivery if she's nice and cozy right now. Anyway, we got a call this morning saying we can finally go in. Finally! We can't wait!

Count down...

2009-02-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when we got home from church Dan decided to pull out the camera and take some pictures of our pregnant selves.

Not too big, right?

WOA! Look at that baby!!

I'm not the only one who has a baby bump!

Our little one should be here any moment-I know the blog says I have like 2 days left but those counters are slightly off. When I set those up, I wasn't sure of my exact due date because the doctors office gave me like 3 different days. Officially the doc decided to go with Febuary 13th-(oooooh it's a friday). Any way so I have a couple more days then the counter says. She will definitely be here by Sunday though because if she doesn't come on her own before then I'll be induced that morning!! We'll keep you posted!!

Where will we go????

2009-01-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well its finally done!! Dan is officially done with interviewing for Residency. YEAH!!! It has been a long, rather annoying process. In order of interview date (this is not the way our rank list will be submitted, we'll keep you wondering about that one!) these are the places in the running for us to grace our presence for the next 5 years:

Milwaukee, WI (Medical College of Wisconsin)
Rochester, NY (U of Rochester)
Fort Worth, TX (JPS Hospital)
Danville, PA (Geisinger Hospital)
Lexington, KY (U of Kentucky)
Indianapolis, IN (Indiana U)
Toledo, OH (U of Toledo)
Omaha, NB (U of Nebraska)
Kalamazoo, MI (Michigan State/Kalamazoo Center)
Temple, TX (Scott & White/TX A&M)
Columbus, OH (Ohio State)
Albuquerque, NM (U of New Mexico)
Phoenix, AZ (Banner Good Samaritan)
Portland, OR (Oregon Health and Science U)

You may be wondering why so many places? Well, some programs only accept 2 residents, others as many as 6. Orthopaedic Surgery is very competitive so we are giving ourselves a good spread. (we don't want to have to do this all again next year because he didn't match).
This is a pretty exciting, but very scary process. We pretty much are just playing the waiting game now. We'll find out of March 19th!!! Can't wait! Good thing we will soon have a new little baby to distract us!

BRRR

2009-01-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

It has been COLD in Wisconsin!!! The highes over the last few days were well below 0, like -10 was the high temp. With the wind chills it was like -25 to -40. It is awful!!! I haven't even wanted to leave the house! It's a good thing that Dan is on a break from interviews this week and that I don't have to work (that's a whole other story) so we have been able to just hang out at home. It got so cold that the window in our office collected condensation then froze. The whole window was covered with ice. I was sitting at the computer yesterday and could hear this weird drippy sound. I finally checked out the window and to my surprise it was a frozen, watery mess. We ended up defrosting it with a blowdryer and then we covered the whole window in plastic. But the plastic piece was not quite wide enough so we ended up taping like 5 pieces of plastic together. It looks pretty sweet! So far it seems to be working, no ice on the window this morning! We actually covered all of the other windows in our apartment with plastic, some we did before we went home for christmas, and then we did our bedroom when we got home. We originally weren't going to do the office because we didn't have a piece of plastic big enough but things change. Our windows are pretty krappy so they let the air come through. All of our neighbors cover their windows with plastic in the winter to keep the cold out. But we've been lazy the last 3 years and haven't done it. Leave it to having a kid to get it done. I don't want our new baby to freeze! Dan prepping the window(after we finally got the water & ice cleared off)

Check out that sweet tape job down the right side!

This is the living room and kitchen windows we covered back before the holidays. (you can't even tell!)
Dan getting our bedroom window all covered (plus we deep cleaned for the baby!! :)
It doesn't look menacing, but it is REALLY COLD!!!Bundle up!!!

Fall in Wisconsin

2008-10-18T19:14:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Dan and I took a little drive up to Holy Hill. It is the highest point in southeastern Wisconsin! But for us Rocky Mountaineers, Holy Hill is more like a mole hill. It's pretty tiny.See what I mean-it's not very high-But that doesn't take away the beauty! Fall is in full swing here and it is beyond gorgeous! My camera could not capture how pretty it is! Anyway, there is this old church built on the top of Holy Hill and you can climb the towers and see around for miles. So we thought it would be a perfect day to climb up the towers and look out over the colors of fall! Well, that kinda fell flat. They are doing preservation work on the towers and so they were closed. Bummer!! So the highest shots we could get were from the outdoor balaconies on the 2nd level of the church-still pretty but our view was a little blocked by some trees. (see my growing belly?)

Anyway, we still drove around, visited a country farmers market, took in the colors and enjoyed ourselves!!

Anyone want to go skiing-this is bonfide Wisconsin ski resort! Black diamond?

Sweet Angel

2008-10-15T17:36:00.000-06:00

Alright, so we have known what our baby is for a couple weeks but I am slow at posting to our blog. I've been working too much and Dan has a really easy rotation this month and last so I have been spending all my free time with him. So here is the big news:

We are having a GIRL!!!

A sweet, beautiful little angel!! She is super cute-just look at her pics:

I love this profile shot!! Her little nose and lips! PRECIOUS!!

Did I mention that she is also very talented! She can fold herself right in half!!

We are very excited by the news of our little girl and can't wait for her to come!!! (although we've got a lot to get ready before then)

It's a...

2008-09-09T08:15:00.001-06:00

Our baby is... still an it for now. I was hoping that by 18 weeks we would finally know, but the ultrasound people wouldn't let me come until I am 20 weeks. So we have another 2 weeks of waiting. I guess they like to see me getting antsy. Anyway, we are cool with it being either a boy or a girl. I was a little scared of the whole boy thing because we didn't have any names in the running for a boy. (not even one we thought was remotely possible) But I think we have come up with a few possibilities so now it can be either sex.
We went shopping for baby stuff last night for the first time!! That was fun, Dan is as bad as shopping with a 2 year old. I guess I have had the last 3 1/2 years of being married to him to prepare me for kids :) Anyway, we'll keep you posted, hopefully the baby cooperates and we know on the 22nd!!

Announcing...

2008-08-01T20:55:00.000-06:00

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting a baby!!! I am just over 12 weeks along and we are super excited!!! We got to do an ultrasound with Dan's Dad (and mom and my mom) just before we left Utah, the baby was SOOO cute!! While we were doing the ultrasound the baby had the hiccups so it kept bobbing up and down. Also, the baby was movin' around kicking it's legs and moving it's arms around. It was really fun to see. Then the next day we got to go to my doctor's office in Wisconsin and have another ultrasound. The baby was cute to see, but it must have been sleeping or something because it was pretty still. We did get a really good look at the heart beating, which was really neat to see. Dan kept calling it a "he," which I am against, what if it is a girl? That's mean to call her a boy. I guess we'll have to wait until September to find out! Oh yeah, originally the doctor told me my due date was the 15th of February, but when I went to the appointment yesterday, they said my baby was measuring for a due date of the 11th! So my dates moved up!!! We are really excited!!!! I was a little weirded out at first, I mean there is a person inside of me, but after seeing our little baby, it is impossible to not think it is supercute and exciting!!!

Here are the pics of our little cutie!!! The first two are the ones we did in Utah, the others are from our Wisconsin ultrasound. The first one is a good picture of the baby's head and body, you can see the little eyes, nose, and lips. The next one you can see the legs and the arms really good. The last pic is just a good outline of the whole baby. Aren't they adorable?

Our first post

2008-05-30T15:33:00.000-06:00

Okay so I have had this blog created for quite a while, but completely blank, so here it goes:

Well our first post is going to be about: Nauvoo!!! We went on a real trip memorial day weekend! This was a real bonafide vacation- Dan and I haven't gone on a trip just the two of us since our honeymoon. It is kind of funny that it worked out that way because originally we were going to go with the Jagers. But those little viruses are on the prowl and caught Amy and Bryton, so they weren't feeling up to seeing the sights. Dan and I almost decided not to go, I think we made up our minds to stay home, then changed our minds to go probably 10 times. Eventually Dan won me over and told me that we NEEDED to go! Boy was he right. I guess a husband does know best(most of the time). :) It's been a crazy few months and they're only going to get worse. So it was great to go spend some peaceful time together.
Here are a few little stories about our trip: First, on the way to Navoo we got lost 3 TIMES. Once we ended up in Iowa before we even knew we were off track! The first time we got lost was in Rockford, Il we were driving along and all of the sudden the freeway ended and we were in the middle of the city. We drove around for a little bit trying to find our way and we ended up at a stop light. We were in the middle lane(which was going straight) stopped at the red light, there was a car in front of us and a police officer behind us. All of the sudden Dan decides he wants to turn left, so he flips into the left lane and proceeds into the intersection where the left turning light had been green, but is now red. Dan continues through and turns left, completly running a red light. The police officer turns on his lights and siren and pulls out behind us. The whole time I was telling him NOT to go. I thought we were had for sure. Thankfully, the cop was called off to some other problem in the city and instead of pulling us over he raced off to somewhere else. But both Dan and I agree, that if their hadn't been some other pressing issue, we would've been in trouble for running a red light. *A word of advice, don't run red lights, but even more important, don't run a red light in front of a cop*

The rest of the trip was less eventful, but still as enjoyable. Here are some pics:

This is the temple,It is absolutely beautiful(inside and out)!

Any one up for a wagon tour of Nauvoo!

There were tons of little shops and buildings to see: this one here is the Brick Yard.

These two pictures are especially moving. The one above: the 2nd floor window is the one that Joseph Smith fell from when he was martyred. (we both felt weird posing and smiling in front of such a place, but the missionary that took us on the tour made it seem like a common thing to do) The picture below is the bullet hole left by the bullet the killed Hyrum Smith, looking through into the room where they all were.