NAKED ELI Eli hates getting dressed, undressed, and basically anything to do with clothes! I was trying to find a few random pictures for a post of November and realized I didn't get ONE of him with PANTS ON!! This is more of a problem than I realized! Even the videos I have of him... NO PANTS! So for the sake of history...here is NOVEMBER NAKED ELI! Maybe in December he will have pants...??

November 2009 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We spent this year with only the Manwaring side. This was a first for us to only be with one side of the family. We usually make it to 2 dinners every year. The family is getting too large for the house (45 people) so we had dinner at the church then different people were assigned activities (Turkey shooting with rubber-band gun, decorating sugar cookies, bingo) for all the kids and a talent show. It was a lot of fun. We definitely have much to be grateful for this year!

Halloween 2009 Eli was a pirate for Halloween and HATED putting on the costume! He wanted nothing to do with it! We never did get the hat on, but at least he wore half of the costume. After he pouted for a while he forgot he was wearing it and became happy Eli once again. What would Halloween be without Ben dressing up trying to scare the children? I feel bad about this one, I didn't get a good picture of the costume and the only pictures that did get are too dark to see it. So take my word for it, It was a great costume! He sat on the step holding the bowl of candy with our great collection of spooky music blaring through the window. Most people thought he was fake and others didn't even want to try to get the candy. For Halloween dinner Lesa and Chad had us over for their fun Skeleton, spaghetti meal. It was great as usual and the kids loved it!

2009 Sister Sneak This year we had our Manwaring Sister Sneak in Utah. Katie was in charge and did a great job! We arrived in Logan on Friday Night and went straight to a fun BEADLES shop where we learned to wire wrap and make fun necklaces! Later that night we shared our Favorite things (we each bring one of our favorite things to share and we go home with a bag of fun things!). Saturday we slept in, went back to the bead store to finish our necklaces then on to Gardeners Village, dinner, and back home! What a great weekend, if only it could have lasted longer!

We are excited to Announce Baby #2 will be coming to our home May 2010 PS. This is an ultra sound from Eli, we haven't had one yet with this one.

I forgot to post this picture in August and I thought it was worthy to post a month later. At the Murdock Family Reunion Benjamin thought it proper to show all the little kids what fun you can have with fire. Todd is the photographer who caught the moment! What a crazy picture! Labor day we went to the fair and stopped at Justin's (Ben's brother) house after to say hi. While we were there Eli HAD to go outside to see their dog... and within 10 minutes somehow he managed to fall down the window well (A very tall one) ??? We still aren't sure how he fell in, but he had a nice shiner to show off for over a week! Luckly he wasn't hurt other than that! (if only it had happened during the week of Halloween..so many costumes to go with the black eye) Anyway... Grandma Anna has old or rather antique leather boxing gloves that her Dad used as a boy so we TRIED to take some photos of Eli with them on! Nice thought, but he wanted nothing to do with them. He wouldn't even put them on his hands and when Grandma Anna tried to pretend box with him he yelled out "Owe!!" So we compromised and put his shirt back on, tied the gloves together and let him hold them... here is the best we could get! What a stinker!!

Happy 6th Anniversary Babe!!!! To many more great years!!!

Palisades Area Last week, Benjamin, Justin (brother), Natalie (sister), and Meisha (dog) hiked to the upper palisades and spent the night and then hiked back the next morning. It sounds like they had a blast!

Happy 2nd Birthday Eli! Eli's Birthday was Monday! Wow! We really can't believe that he is 2 already! He is our favorite entertainment! We had a fun day and then went to one of our favorite parks for a train cake, cup-cakes, and ice-cream cones with family. One of Eli's presents was a football so most of the boys went to play a little game. We have enough little boy cousins to start their own football team! A great start to another great year! We love you Eli!

Hi, I'm Kaylin, and I'm a addicted to couponing.

So in the last year I have couponed on and off, but lately I have been more into it than ever. Grocery shopping is a chore in my mind, but when I coupon, grocery shopping and getting amazing deals is a complete high. I love it. This week I did especially well at getting some great deals so I thought I would share.

12 boxes of cereal (you ask who can eat that much cereal...I can...one of my favorite meals)
3 gallons of milk
1 head of lettuce (no coupons for this)
2 pkg of paper cups
= Total with tax $7.70

The funny thing is that while I was at the store Ben called and wanted some popcorn, and having no coupons or great deals for this I paid $4.44 just for a box of microwave popcorn...

Summer Fun 2009 Camping with Murdock Cousins Fun with fireworks and learning how to clean the house :) Very Independent Eli! Had to have cereal in the bowl he picked out. Dancing. Ready to go work in the garden.

Quote 1:
The other day Ben was singing and Eli yelled at him "Quiet!", we both looked at Eli and thought "Did he really just say that?" we dismissed it and thought it wasn't anything just jabber that sounded like he knew what he was saying.

That night our neighbors were lighting off firework and Eli climbed onto the couch and got right in the open window and yelled "QUIET!!!" so I guess he does know what he is saying.. :)

Quote 2:
At the register while shopping Eli went to touch the CC machine were you enter your pin and just before touching it he paused and said to himself "No, no, Eli" then proceeded to push buttons.

Grandpa Shurtliff came over to my mom's house while I was there the other day and Eli really liked his hat! The rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

LOOK AT THAT!

Yellowstone 2009- Manwaring Family Reunion We left Thursday and arrived in the afternoon to RAIN- LOTS OF RAIN then hail, then rain again. It would rain for a few minutes then stop long enough to get out chairs out and pitch our tent then it would start all over again. By dinner time it stopped enough to make a fire and cook our tin foil dinners. A Bison was in the camp area when we arrived and made its way over to our area. Here are some pictures of the bison and how close it was to our tent. Friday was a perfect day. Not too hot, not too cold and we took full advantage of it by starting the tour (7 cars) at 8am and not coming back to camp until 6pm. We saw almost all the sights and had a lot of fun with a great picnic lunch. It didn’t rain the entire day- thank goodness! We ended the day with Dutch-oven pizza and cobbler. YUM YUM!! Saturday we packed up camp and headed to Fire Hole River and Old Faithful and ended with a picnic lunch, just as it started to rain again. We saw lots of animals on the trip: Fox, Bison, Mountain goat, pelican diving in the river to get a fish, 3 grizzly bears (2 different times), raven-I don’t know if this counts as wild- life, but it is an animal, and deer. I think that is all of them? This is Ben with Ogden(nephew) feeding a chipmunk pine nuts. It was a fun trip and hope to go back soon to see more of the beautiful area and go hiking!

CARTER JAMES MURDOCK The first Sunday in June we went to Utah for Carter's baby blessing! This is my brother Dan's baby. Carter is so cute and loves to coo and talk- quite the little jabber mouth! It was fun to see them. Thanks for the fun time and awesome meal after! We were able to go swimming at the hotel...as you can see Eli really enjoyed it!

RECAP of MAY In May, Benjamin took Eli camping with his brothers and their sons! They had a blast. After the weekend when Ben was leaving for work Eli cried because he wanted to go with him! How cute! He loves to be with his dad! Happy Fathers Day Benjamin! Eli has become very independent! Most days I have to fight him or hold him down to get his clothes on, but the night this was taken he wanted to keep putting clothes on, so of course we did! One night Eli found the baby car seat in the basement and brought it upstairs. He then went and got his blanket and bink sat down, and to our surprise he was out within a few minutes! It's too bad I didn't get a picture without the blanket because you can't see how crammed his little legs are. ha ha..good times.

BUSY BODY ELI!! (20.5 months)

Life is definitely staying exciting with Eli around. I been keeping a list of all the funny habits he is picking up, so here are a few…

1.First on my list is Eli at church, since we just got home it is fresh on the brain. Last Sunday was Eli’s first week staying in Nursery the entire time and today was week 2. It has taken him almost 2 full months to warm up to the idea. As soon as he sees a nursery leader (in or out of church) he waves and says “Bye” and holds on tight to mom or dad. Today we were leaving sacrament and he was happily jabbering away as we were walking down the hall holding Ben’s hand and he stepped one foot into the Nursery room , realized where he was, and stepped right back out saying “Bye” as he left.

2.He has also discovered he is able to climb under the benches in the chapel. We now have to constantly hold onto his legs so he can’t get away.

3.He opens all doors! He can get anywhere he wants to go and is very helpful in opening the door for Meisha. The not so helpful part is that he won’t stay in his room to go to sleep so we have had to tie it shut since it doesn’t have a lock. Every night he falls asleep leaning on the door after his last attempts of escaping; so we have to push him and the door to get inside his room to lay him in his bed.

4.Another favorite past time is playing scientist with the water in our bathroom. He has emptied the Q-tips and cotton ball holders so many times they will stay permanently empty for the time being.

5.He is very independent and can now climb to the 3rd shelf in the pantry and get whatever he pleases. Last night he got a full cereal box……


6.Loves Pizza, a couple of weeks ago I was gone and Ben ordered pizza. As soon as the delivery guy came Eli went running to him saying “MMMMMmmmmmmmmm” The delivery guy thought it was pretty funny.

7.Crayons, Markers, anything that writes! He can take the lid off of anything. I now know that dry-erase markers come off of our couch, pen comes out of clothes and washes off hands, and permanent marker comes off of our desk.

8.Chap-stick… We have to hide all chap-sticks or he will find a way to get it. He loves to stick his little finger in it and eat it. YUM YUM!

9.He loves to go for walks and doesn’t mind if anyone is with him. Last week we were at Ben’s parent’s house and looked around and realized that Eli was gone! We searched everywhere calling his name. We were starting to get worried when Emily saw him about 4 houses away in the yard. The house is painted in really bright colors so we aren’t sure if he liked the colors or if had chased after a cat. He carried a broom with him the whole way.

9a. About two weeks ago we were getting dinner ready and Eli was watching a movie in the living room (we thought)and heard someone knock on our door. Our neighbor was at the door with Eli. She had found him walking down the street. The worst part is we didn't even know he had escaped! The dead bolt is now locked at all times!!!

EASTER WEEKEND This Easter we were able to take it easy and mostly relax. Saturday we spent time with the Murdock family to dye Easter eggs. The picture with Eli next to the eggs is the only time he was near them. He quickly lost interest. Next year he will think it is more fun. We then were off to an exciting scavenger hunt that my brother Dan put together. The kids loved reading the clues and running to find their eggs at each stop. It ended with them all finding a surprise Easter basket with something for each kid. Eli only cared about getting the candy out of the eggs and was always behind the bigger kids because he had to eat his candy at each stop hence the pictures of Eli alone with his mouth too stuffed to smile. Then as an added bonus my sister Melanie brought her dogs and the new puppies which all the kids loved holding and petting. Their were enough dogs for all the kids to hold and love at the same time! Then Sunday we went with the Manwaring's and had a great Easter dinner!! It was a great weekend!

April SNOW Showers Bring May Flowers...hopefully....!!!! My daffodils have little yellow blooms and my tulips are a couple of inches high...last week I was so excited thinking maybe spring was on its way then this morning we wake up to snow and not just little snow flurries, but snow that was sticking to the ground!! The robins were all over in our front yard this morning talking away...they sounded like they were having a family feud! When I went to get the camera Eli escaped out the screen door to see them closer.

Random March Photos

Eli's Expressions are really funny to watch. Here is an example... 4 different expressions, 4 different photos, in less than 4 minutes.
Eli playing with his Aunt Natty!

March 2009 has come and gone already- time flies when you are having fun. We went on our annual snowmobile trip with the Manwarings the first week and enjoyed a little vacation which included; hot tubing, great food (only had to cook 1 meal in 4 days...that is a vacation in itself)and great company. Eli had a great little Bubble-bum with his snowpants on and reminded us of The Christmas Story "I can't put my arms down!" We spent a day in the meadow having fun rides on the tubes behind the snowmachines. Then the next day went on a nice family ride to Big Springs. Eli fell asleep on the way there within 10 minutes,but loved looking at the rodent(Ben could tell you want we saw...)Birds and fish in the river when we got there.He stayed awake on the way home. He loves being outside!! On the way back Ben was able to get some air on a jump (The picture turned out great! of course I would say that since I was the photographer) Cousin Izzy and Eli - They were binky buddy's It was a really fun trip and we look forward to doing it again next year!