Eleanor's Latest Tricks

About a month ago, we finally got Eleanor walking around with the help of her baby doll stroller. She was very proud when she started and always wanted to make sure we were watching.

I would try and get her to stand on her own, but she would only do it when she wanted. On Thanksgiving day, she stood up once in front of a crowd of family and people started cheering for her. When she fell, she stood right back up, lead the crowd in clapping for her, fell and then repeated...about 15 times. It was hilarious. She is definitely her biggest fan and loves attention.

The day after we got back from our Utah trip for Thanksgiving Eleanor took her first steps. We're almost three weeks from then, and she still only averages about 4 steps each go-at-it she gives. Ever so slowly, she's getting there. Sam says the problem is that it's as if she's trying to learn to walk on peg-legs because her feet are so small ;)

She does love watching the Sing Off and dancing and cheering for the teams. This week she has started standing to watch:

And to finish off the post, some fun with Dad the other night. (Please note how her fake cry starts and soon as she's down the first half of the stairs but stops as soon as she realizes she still gets to go down the second half - little drama girl).

November 2013

I'm trying to get caught up with a few things that have happened lately so I'll be all ready to blog about Christmas and not feel like I have to do a lot of catch up!

November 3rd, I turned 26! Both Sam and I are now officially closer in years to 30 than we are to 20. That just seems so weird to me. I had a Sunday full of church meetings, but Sammy spoiled me the rest of the day with a fancy home made dinner and, of course, yummy dessert! One of my counselors announced in Young Women's that it was my birthday so they all sang to me. Some of the girls thought I was turning 21 :)

We spent a weekend down in Utah to go to the ASU v. Utah game. Originally, only Sam was going to go to the game with a cousin of us, but a few days before another cousin was selling some tickets so we decided to buy them so our whole little fam could go together! It was a great game and a lot of fun to be at. Eleanor was busy throughout the game, but did really well. She LOVED clapping her hands when everyone was cheering. She'll make quite the cheerleader one day if she decides to follow her mommy's footsteps :) Her Uncle Jack bought her this ASU onsie and we were so glad we could put it to good use at this game! (She has grown out of it, but we made it work).

And ASU won, so Sammy was a happy boy!!

The weather was semi-warm for a few days so Elle and I took a detour to a park with swings one day on our way to the grocery store. She was so happy.

 And then the weather took a turn for the worst (only it wasn't even near the worst yet). I took this picture on the first day it got down to 20 degrees. I thought Elle and I had to be bundled up to go out for an errand...little did I know that a week and half later we would be in NEGATIVE 20 degrees. Boy, that was a shocker. I am also learning first hand about the "Wyoming wind" everyone warned us about when we first moved here.
But seriously, how cute is Elle in that coat?!??!

This is my life pretty much all day, everyday. Finding Eleanor making messes like this then cleaning up...

Eleanor recently developed a true love for Elmo. If I ever really need to get something done or am desperate to get her happy I'll play a few videos from the Sesame Street channel on YouTube. While at Walmart the other week I took her down the toy aisle and showed her Elmo. She immediately reached out for him, held him next to her face like this while swaying back and forth, pointed at his eyes and then her eyes, clapped his hands and gave him a kiss. It was the cutest thing to watch. She wasn't too happy when I said it was time to put him back. Lucky for her, Santa was taking note :)

We got to spend an extended Thanksgiving weekend in Utah. We stayed at Sam's grandma's house. Sam's parents, sister, her husband and daughter were all in town as well. Eleanor's cousin, Stella, is only 4 months younger than Elle. The two had so much fun playing together. Watching the two together was my favorite part of the trip. Sam and I felt bad for Elle when we took her back to Wyoming and she was stuck with just us in the house again.

 Grandma Sallee bought them these matching outfits. So cute!

Sam's cousin hosted Thanksgiving dinner. It was an excellent meal with great company. I enjoyed the day and the time to think about all of my many blessings!
My baby girl waiting to eat...

 Elle showing off her big belly after the meal. It's a tiring job eating turkey and mashed potatoes while looking that cute.

 A new shopping center, Station Park, opened up a few months ago and is in Farmington - not very far from Sam's grandma's. On Black Friday, Sam and I decided to head out to the center at about 8 am. I've hit Gap on Black Friday the last two years and know they usually do 50% off everything. I've waited over an hour in line to take advantage of the deal and I was prepared to do that again. Imagine my shock when we showed up and were able to park right away, then we walked in the store and found it pretty much empty except for employees! I was seriously shocked and couldn't believe our luck. I had to get a photo to prove it :) We went to just one other store then headed home with our goods. It was the best Black Friday shopping experience ever!!!!

Halloween

I made it back to Wyoming from North Carolina just in time to celebrate Sam's birthday and Halloween! We didn't do too much for Sam's birthday and I felt bad because I had mutual that night. I just tried to make a nice dinner and when I came home for mutual we ate key-lime pie (his fave) and watched some shows together. Low-key, but that's how my lover likes it! One night that week we had our friends, Nick, Natalie and Easton over for pumpkin carving:

 

We put our pumpkins on doorstep that night and were quite surprised when we woke the following morning and found that it had snowed!

Earlier that week the moms from my ward that I do play group with decided we would make our get together that week a little Halloween party for the kids. It turned out great! We had little crafts, things to climb, the cutest monster cut-out prop for pictures and treats. Eleanor was a lady-bug and I absolutely loved her in her costume!

 Here Eleanor is with Easton aka Clark Kent. I just love these two cuties. Natalie and I are hoping they have crushes on each other one day :)

On the actual Halloween day we made it to our stake's trunk-or-treat event. It was freeeeeezing and so many people showed up to trick-or-treat that our big bowl of candy only last about 15 minutes. We left right away to get back to our warm home! Elle was pretty good about keeping her little mittens on.

And I have to show off these cute mummies Natalie and I made for the women we visit teach. She had made these for her Beehives and they were a hit! I thought they were so cute and asked if we could make more together for visiting teaching. They were super easy!

Birthday Wish Come True, Part 2

The next day was Sunday. A guy I used to work with at OrangeSoda is a counselor in the bishopric in Maegan's ward. He recognized me after the meeting and we chatted for a little - how crazy small-world is that?! Later that day Maegan's street had a cute Halloween party for the kids. We had our little pumpkins to show off...

Look at the little smiles I was able to get from Miles :)

The next day was Maegan's birthday! We took the kiddos out for another walk in the morning. Miles was good and gave his Mom big smiles on her special day. 

 Elle was really cute with Miles. She would watch him on the ground and if she ever came across his binky or saw it fall out she would try and help him get it back in his mouth. It was really cute until she wasn't getting it in well and she started kind of banging it to his face to try and get it in! She had good intentions at least.

 Maeg has the perfect little southern brick-step front porch and I dare say this little model is near perfect

We picked up some Chipotle and had a picnic for the birthday girl in the gardens of Duke University (where Maeg's hubby, Landon, is doing med school). I cannot believe how huge and beautiful these gardens were! I'm so happy we went and spent time there.

I thought these lily-pads were the coolest

 That night I made a cake for Maegan and they had some friends over for cake and ice-cream. I somehow missed getting a picture of her with the cake though.
The next day was our last day, but we were still able to fit some fun in. I got to see a little more of their downtown and Maeg and Landon treated me to some southern soul food - chicken and waffles! I've heard about this combo but was a bit unsure about it. The food was actually really really good! And Maeg pulled off a surprise of getting my plate to come out with birthday candles :) My birthday wasn't until the following week, but since it was my birthday trip she said I still needed to be sung to! Our waiter was entertaining and had some fun with Elle...

 

 We stopped by Duke so I could walk around the campus and see the amazing chapel. I loooooved the campus. It seriously feels like you are walking around Hogwarts! All the dormitories and buildings are so beautiful and neat to look at.

And that was the trip! We were sad to say goodbye. I am so grateful Maeg and Landon were happy to have me and that Sammy was so kind as to grant my birthday wish. It was fabulous.

And...Elle was an angel and slept almost the entire way home :) Hooray!

Birthday Wish Come True

A few months ago, Sam caught me looking up flights online and asked what I was doing - I told him my birthday wish was to go see my best friend, Maegan, in North Carolina and meet her little baby, Miles. The conversation didn't go much past that, but then in August I asked Sam what he thought about my birthday wish (fingers crossed) and he said I could go! I jumped for joy and couldn't wait to tell Maegan!!! I'd been dying to meet her little boy and was so excited to get to see her new home and surroundings in NC. The countdown was on :)

I drove down to Utah the day before my flight, was able to see my sis-in-law Candace and her kiddos who were in town, visit my friend Ashley then spend some time with Sam's Grandma who graciously let Elle and I stay the night there then took us to the airport. From Salt Lake we flew to Chicago where we had a layover. That flight was bad. Eleanor and I were both in tears when the plane landed, but luckily the layover gave us a little break and we were both feeling good again! I was flying at night and I thought FOR SURE Elle would sleep Chicago to NC. I was so relieved when I learned the flight was pretty empty and I got a whole row for just Elle and I! (Prayers were answered - we couldn't have a repeat of the previous flight). While we were waiting for take-off Elle grabbed her blankies and laid down on the floor...that meant she'd be asleep soon, right? She didn't sleep the entire flight. However, I can't complain because she was good! She was just hyper-tired. She would lay her head down on my lap with her blankies for a few minutes, then jump up and look out the window. Then, she would stick her head in between the window and seat and play peek-a-boo with the lady in the row behind (who luckily fell in love with Elle and liked the entertainment). Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we made it - but we made it!

 

It was passed midnight when we got in so Maeg gave me a quick little tour of her house, I got to peek in on sleeping Miles and then went to bed. Party started in the morning! We took the babes on a walk and it was soooo gorgeous! Green everywhere! (As a side note- I've been to North Carolina once before in 8th grade. My mom's best friend lived there at the time so we took a little trip out and - Maegan got to come with! So, my one time there was with her and it was so funny to be back there with kids of our own and her living there! You never know where life will take you!) Any way...check out how beautiful this pathway is. And her backyard literally backs up right to it!

That first day we were able to spend time catching up and did a few essentials like hit Target and get lemonades at Chick-fil-a :) Look at cute little Miles, he is such a good baby

For some reason, Eleanor was a nightmare when it came to sleeping through the night on this trip. I would try and put her down still on Wyoming time and she would usually fall asleep fine, but then would wake up 2 or 3 hours later and not sleep the whole night. I felt bad for Maegan, Landon and Miles if I had Elle "cry it out" but I couldn't do anything to get her to sleep. As soon as she'd wake up I'd bring her into bed with me (which I never normally do) and she would just want to be awake! After about an hour she'd get really restless and tired, but wouldn't sleep. It made for some realllly long rough nights and I still don't know what the issue was, but luckily we're over that. If anyone has tips for getting your child to sleep on trips - let me know! She was an angel in the days, so at least that made things easier! Here is the morning after our first rough night...

 The next day we drove down to Charleston, South Carolina. It was so fun! Such a charming little town. We could've walked around exploring the town forever. King Street is right in downtown and it has great shops on both sides of the road. We spent some time strolling, shopping and enjoying the great architecture. This chandelier was inside an Urban Outfitters - so random but such a beautiful building!

Maeg captured this great shot from our afternoon...

 Loved King Street!

 

We ate dinner at a cute cafe, then spent some time by the coast. Sightseeing, relaxing and pointing at sailboats :)

 

As we made our way back to the car we would stop in little candy shops and every place was so cute. We also passed this car which I couldn't resist taking a picture of...

Elle was awful in the hotel that night, but I won't dwell on that. The next morning was fabulous! First thing in the morning we made our way to Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts....they were wonderful and did not disappoint! This whole box of donuts may have been just for me.... A girls gotta enjoy a girls trip, right??? (I did share with Elle)

We walked past the theater from The Notebook...

 We then hit up the local Farmers Market. Sam and I have come to love Farmer's Markets in the last couple of years (Salt Lake's is pretty amazing). It was fun to walk around and see what Charleston had to offer! I walked away with a necklace and Maegan got a candle.

We then got lunch at the charming and must-eat-at Magnolias. I enjoyed my fried green tomato BLT sandwich with sweet potato fries!

And after that we hit the road back to NC! A trip within a trip was so fun! We actually ended up driving about an hour the wrong way (ha!) but we were able to laugh and say it made for a good story and the biggest blessing was that the babies were good for us! Seriously amazed at how well they did on the trip. And, no one can ever complain about extra time for girl talk in a car with your BFF!

Well that was only half the trip so I'm going to continue the rest in another post...