The Ellingson Family

For Christmas we got these Ellingson shirts from W's oldest brother. Everybody in the family got them. I think they're pretty cool. With sending and shipping from Mexico, we just got them a few weeks ago. They've been our go-to Sunday-after-church-clothes shirt. 

She has got to be the cutest big-headed baby ever.

On Sunday afternoons, she rummages through my bathroom cupboards. Then she asks me to put these rollers in her hair. Unfortunately, she has my hair. It doesn't matter how much or how long you curl it, it will not stay. I'm sure she'll discover curling product soon enough in her Sunday rummages.

This is just what happens when your best friends are your sister, girl cousin, and aunt. He'll just be really prepared when he has a little girl of his own someday.

We had a NO SCHOOL day so we had a sleepover with a popcorn, movie, and nail polish. We love living the dream of living by family.

W and I gave our "welcome to the ward" talks last month. We were given a lot of time to prepare so there wasn't any pressure in that way, but we were given no topic. We were asked to come up with our own topics through our own inspiration. I cringed a little when I heard that. It takes enough personal inspiration to figure out what to share when given a topic, but isn't finding a topic a whole different ballgame? Of course, we agreed to it so we did some searching and tried to be sensitive and open to any inspiration. Sometimes I'm too hard on myself and I doubt all my ideas and my ability to be good at this sort of thing. Then it's funny how when you do the work and try your best things work out and start happening. My talk came together and W's came together. Then when we told each other what we were talking about they had nothing to do with each other. Haha. Oh well. We felt good about what we had separately and somehow they worked together when presented. I think.

Funny little story. 

On Sunday morning J woke us up early throwing up. 

I thought - 1. Aw, my poor baby. 2. Ew, now I feel like throwing up. 

And 3. I guess we're not speaking in church today. 

W had other plans. 

His logic - C'mon, we've got it all prepared and were ready 

so let's just do this and get it over with. 

Something about getting it over with was enticing so I listened. 

His plan - I go to sacrament meeting and when the youth speaker is done I'll text him. He will jump in the car, drive to church (we live at most 2 minutes away), and wait for me to walk out after my talk. We'll switch keys and cars. I'll go home with the kids. He'll walk in while the congregation sings a rest hymn. Then he'll give his talk and voila we've done it! This seemed doable and J was only given a 5 minute time frame where his puke had to stay down. I agreed.

So I went. I told the bishop our plan and everything started. I listened to the youth speaker. Then I gave my talk. When I was done I grabbed my stuff and walked out as the rest hymn began. I looked for W but didn't see him. I called him. 

Me: Where are you?

Him: At home. 

Me: Well, I'm done talking and you're up next. 

Him: You didn't text me. 

Me: Oops. You're right. Sorry. Get here fast.

He throws the kids in the car and zooms down. We switch cars but not keys so I hide the keys in the other car and hope nobody steals it. He sits down to hear the end of the 2nd (and unplanned) rest hymn and then gives his talk. W is better at making awkward moments like that more comfortable so I'm glad it was him and not me.

 

Why didn't we just have a family member watch the kids at home while we went to church? Well, my mom was planning on coming to our sacrament meeting to watch the kids while we spoke. When she found out J was sick she offered to come to our home to watch the kids, but I just couldn't do that to her or anyone. I couldn't risk her getting sick and I would never make her clean up J's throw up just so we could talk at church. We've received some laughs and compliments about how we made that work. I'm not so sure it worked but we did it and we are done. And for what it's worth, it felt like it went well (the talks, not the timing).

C had her 9 month check up. There were no shots. Hooray. However, she did have to get weighed and measured. By the measure of her screams, it was just as bad as shots. In the first 2 months we've lived here we have already been in to the doc twice. Breathing (asthma) and croup. I'm so thankful for medicine and I'm so thankful to have a healthy baby.

Height: 28 1/4 inches.

Weight: 19 pounds.

Head circumference: 17.72 inches.

 I love this baby. 

She is happy. She is funny. She is sweet.

She waves bye. She gives open mouth kisses. 

She bounces her head to music.

She takes good naps and sleeps through the night.

She crawls - slowly but deliberately. She stands on her own.

She walks holding on to furniture and fingers. 

She likes to open cupboards. She loves to pull out the kid plates, bowls, and cups.

She loves the bath. She likes to play in toilet.

She says, "Da dada da," all day long.

She is loved in ridiculous amounts.

The kids went skiing for the first time. 

We took the kids out of school a few hours early on Friday. Fridays are always early out days, so I didn't feel bad taking K out a couple hours earlier. When I picked up her from school and she turned the corner walking to the office she had a big smile on her face and said, "I'm excited." I was surprised. I was expecting her to be more nervous. Turns out I was the only nervous one. 

My sister and I took all the younger cousins (6 kids) and put them in private lessons. 2 did the older skiing lessons together, 1 did a snowboarding lesson, and the 3 musketeers did a skiing lesson together. Private lessons is the best way to do it.

 practicing & preparing.

 there they go.

 here they come. M & K.

J.

In the beginning, there was falling and sometimes they were nearly doing the splits. But again I was surprised. My kids were skiing. They're still on the bunny hill but they are getting better. They loved it and somehow Friday has become our designated Ski Day. I love it too. And as long as K isn't missing out on too much at school, I think we'll keep this up until they're more comfortable and confident. Or maybe it'll be until I'm more comfortable and confident to take them on my own.

 

We figure we can't live this close to the

 mountains and not learn. I love the drive through the mountains. 

It's beautiful every time.

Hi. It's been a while but I'm back. I don't know that I really miss doing this consistently but I definitely miss having a big, fat book of memories to look back on. We treasure our books so much and W and the kids are asking where the more recent ones are and I've been encouraged to start this all again. I'm excited and ready.

Where we are now. 

We are living in Utah. We just moved here in the middle of October. It was quick. It was crazy. But it's been perfect. We live near my family. When I say near that's a bit of an understatement. I live just down the hill from my mom and dad & sister and nephews. It's maybe a whole 2 minute drive if I have to yield at the crossroad. It's also only 5 minutes from my other sister. And now my brother is one short state away. To say it's amazing might be an understatement as well. We love it!

W. He bought a practice. He is the sole doc in the office. So far, the transition has been good. He has a great staff and they enjoy working together. Owning a practice is a lot more responsibility. He puts in a lot more hours than in Texas but he's got a great schedule that we all love. For fun, he continues to read and play church ball. He's also been able to cheer on BYU at BYU surrounded by BYU fans. That makes him happy.

Me. I'm surrounded by my family. I'm beyond happy. I love being a part of their daily lives and having them being a part of our daily lives. When we first got here it was fun to hang out with my sisters and mom all day and everyday just like we would do when I would visit. Now I've settled into a bit of a groove. That's not to say that if I don't have dinner prepared I'm not running to one of their houses. I'm busy trying to keep us all healthy, including myself. I'm comfortable where we are, but I'm still trying to learn things about the area. I've been volunteering at K's school every week. I'm so happy to be doing that again and I'm so thankful Grandma can watch C during that time. It's unreal that that's my reality!

K. She gets to go to school with a couple of her cousins. As always, she loves school. She still loves reading. She loves to play with J and her cousins. Her favorite toys are LPS, LEGO Friends, and Barbies. She still has this sweet and quiet voice that I wish I could pump up the volume just so I can hear her when she sits at the back of the car and I ask how her day was at school.

J. He goes to Pre-K. If you call it preschool, he will quickly remind you that it's Pre-K because preschool is for little kids. He likes to always be doing something and going somewhere. He loves to play with his cousins, too. He loves Ninjago. He likes to watch shows. And though, we think we've found a better way to curb his obsession, he still loves candy.

C. She is loved by all. All of us plus cousins, aunts, uncles, Grandma, & Grandad are always competing for a laugh or smile from her. She's been crawling for a couple of months now. She's started to stand on her own. She hasn't been a fan of baby food but each week she's getting better. She is sleeping in her own bed and through the night. She loves her binkies.

We are happy. We are healthy. We are ready for 2013.

And we clearly are not in Texas anymore.

K and J started swim lessons. K hates her face in the water but it's kind of hard to swim when you're trying so hard to keep your face out of the water. The first week she tried so hard to put her face in the water but it was more like she was dipping her nose in for a couple of seconds. Before and after lessons I'd try to convince her that swimming would be so much easier if she just put her face in the water and let her head float. She didn't seem convinced to leave her face in the water more than 3 seconds. When the second week of lessons started she finally did it. She kept her face in the water for 3-4 strokes at a time. I was surprised. It seemed to just happen out of the blue. Just like that, she was swimming across the whole pool (the shorter length). I was so happy to see how proud of herself she was.

(This is J)

Keeping them pearly white.

Still trying for that thumb. Go C, go!

Life of a child.

Cradle's cap. I love to pick it and softly scratch it out. Not a good habit.

It is risky doing business with him.

Soaking up some vitamin D while the littles ride bikes in the front.

Texas...hot. Water..cool.

Science Friday.

Friends.

Swimming with friends.

June. Not too shabby.