Our Trip to Utah

We spent some time at the beginning of the month with family in Utah and attending the Brigham Young University Annual Accounting Conference. First Kourtney, Ellary and I left October 4th and returned October 14th. Kris and Alyson arrived a little later on October 8th and returned to Michigan on October 12th.

The pictures below will give you a good idea of some of the things we did while we were there. Some events that are not documented by pictures in this blog include going to Temple Square in Salt Lake City with Nana and Oma, watching my niece Jordann get her senior pictures taken, helping my other niece Aubrey get ready for the homecoming dance, going to a corn maze with my sister and her family and making 24 loaves of zucchini bread.

Ellary fell asleep on the flight to Salt Lake City.

Kourtney and I played card games during our layover in Minneapolis.

This is my sister, Renee and her family.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm and Hayride. What a great day!

Here we are in the Thanksgiving Point Atrium (Kris and I sat at this very spot just before he purposed to me in the Thanksgiving Point Restaurant over 9 years ago)

Cabela's (sporting goods store) near Thanksgiving Point

We watched the fish be fed pellets, worms and gold fish at Cabela's.

I had to throw a picture of Ellary into the mix. Here she is as we wait for the fish to be fed.

We watched my nephew Eli play volleyball and then the kids played at the school playground.

Koco is on the teeter-totter with my brother-in-law's niece, Kassidee.

Kris, and the girls and I went to a park near my sister's house the morning after he arrived to SLC. Later that day we met his mom, and my mom in Provo. Alyson and Kourtney spent time with Oma in Provo for two days while my mom visited me and my sister in SLC.

My sister Renee, Kourtney, Ellary and I went to Temple Square. It was a beautiful, warm day and also Kourtney and Ellary's first time there.

This first picture is for my friend Bill from Bloomington, Indiana who had the privilege of sitting on the Tabernacle organ bench as the choir sang many years ago. I hope you get the chance to see this picture, Bill.

It also snowed twice when we were in Salt Lake City. Kourtney loved the snow. Here she is playing with her cousin Joshua.

Thanks Renee, Mom and Oma for making our trip so much fun!

Two New Traditions

We have two new traditions in our family.

1. We read an article from The Friend magazine each day when Alyson gets home from school. It's a good way to transition from school time to home time, and we all benefit by getting a healthy spiritual boost.

2. The second tradition we have established is for Alyson, Kourtney, Ellary and I to have a "girls" night each Tuesday evening. While Kris is at bishopric meetings, the girls and I paint our fingernails and toenails and play games like "eye spy" as we wait for them to dry. I imagine this tradition will evolve into facials and make overs over the years, but we will take one step at a time.

Ellary's First Taste of Cereal

We performed a test at our house today that reminded me a lot of high school biology.

THE SUBJECT: Ellary.

THE HYPOTHESIS Ellary is ready to eat, and will enjoy baby rice cereal because she is showing several signs that she's ready for solid foods.

EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS: she has been grabbing at our food while sitting in our laps at dinner time, and making adorable smacking noises with her mouth and tongue while watching us eat.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Ellary, bib, bumbo seat, baby rice cereal, baby spoon, bowl, pumped breast milk, camera, feeder, and photographer.

THE VARIABLES: (1) Ellary's somewhat disdain for her bumbo seat (she still needs a little support to sit), and (2) her infatuation with bibs or any other remotely loose fabric around her face.

FEEDER: Me.

EXPERT PHOTOGRAPHER: Alyson (she stayed home from school today because she's not feeling well.)

RESULTS WE OBSERVED...see for yourself.

Happy subject: ELLARY

So far so good. Subject even reaches for the bowl of cereal...

Subject opens mouth to receive the cereal...

Subject tastes cereal...and...

Subject spits it out.

Results following our second...third...fourth...and fifth attempts...

Ellary was somewhat relieved (and somewhat annoyed) when her face was all cleaned up and we took a little break...

Remember that variable I mentioned about her infatuation with her bib...well, after Ellary made a mess of her first bib, she decided to play with then try to destroy her second one...

NEW HYPOTHESIS FOLLOWING OUR TEST: This may take a little more time and work than I originally thought.

Our Three Girls

Alyson had her first kindergarten field trip to an apple orchard yesterday. She had so much fun picking apples and riding the bus with her friends. Alyson felt so big! She also got to bring home a bag full of apples, so she and I made some yummy cooked cinnamon apples after dinner. Now Alyson can't wait to make some more as a treat for family home evening on Monday night.

Now a little bit about Kourtney.

I have really enjoyed spending time with Kourtney and rediscovering some of her wonderful attributes while Alyson has been at school. She is so much fun to talk to sometimes because she can say some of the cutest things. She is also an expert story teller and song composer so she keeps us well entertained.

I have to tell you about something she told me last week as she, Ellary and I were walking home after taking Alyson to school last week. We were having a quiet walk home (it was about 8:50 am, still a little early for me) when Ellary began babbling away in her stroller.

Kourtney and I listened to Ella for a while, then Koco spoke up and said "Ella's talking to me."

"What is she saying," I asked.

"She says she told Heavenly Father she wants to be big just like you and me."

My heart melted. I love it when our girls say things that remind me of a bigger picture than just the present moment. I just wanted to pick Kourtney up and look through those big, beautiful brown eyes so I could see the world as wonderfully and innocently as she does. What a special girl!

Now on to Ellary.

She is feeling better than she did last week so she has begun to sleep in her crib at night instead of the bassinet. Ellary seems to really like the freedom of rolling around now that she has more room. When I checked on her around 1:30 last night she was laying on her stomach, so I attempted to roll her over onto her back. Just as I touched her, Ellary raised up with her arms, looked right up at me and gave me the biggest, wide-awake smile I have ever seen. What a happy face to have at 1:30 in the morning! She is such a delight! I will post more pictures of her room shortly. It's one of my favorite rooms in the house.

(We don't let Ellary sleep with a blanket anymore because she doesn't like the covers on her feet. She kicks the blanket off so hard that it doubles on to her torso. Then she pulls the covers over head where she can't get them off.)

Ellary's Favortie Song

Little Ellary isn't feeling well today. She was up a lot of the night with a stuffy nose, low grade fever and she has been pulling at her ears. I wish I could provide her instant relief, but she can't be seen by the doctor until tomorrow. So, our happy and very smiley baby isn't so happy or smiley anymore. Ellary has wanted me to hold her most of the day, otherwise she cries, and even then she's been crying some when I hold her.

The only sure solution to get her to stop crying has been playing her favorite song on the piano. It's "If" by the 70's group Bread. I swear she remembers it from when she was in my tummy. It's one of the only songs I can play well on the piano, and "If" happens to also be the only one I know by heart. As you can imagine, I play it almost every time I sit down at the piano. It calms me, and obviously, it calms Ellary too. And although I have a pretty average singing voice, and I'm off key sometimes, she will even calm down when I sing it to her. It makes me smile to think she likes this song as much as I do and she's only 4 1/2 months old. You can click on a video to the right of this blog to hear the song.

"If"

If a picture paints a thousand words,
Then why can't I paint you?
The words will never show the you I've come to know.
If a face could launch a thousand ships,
Then where am I to go?
There's no one home but you,
You're all that's left me too.
And when my love for life is running dry,
You come and pour yourself on me.

If a man could be two places at one time, I'd be with you.
Tomorrow and today, beside you all the way.
If the world should stop revolving spinning slowly down to die,
I'd spend the end with you.
And when the world was through,
Then one by one the stars would all go out,
Then you and I would simply fly away.

Last Week's Celebrations

We had a lot of things to celebrate last week. To start off with, Alyson started kindergarten. Then Kourtney celebrated her 4th birthday and I celebrated my 29th.

Kourtney had a birthday party with some friends and went on a Dora adventure. One of the activities was to find berries (water balloons) that were scattered in our yard then take them back to make jam (toss them into a bucket to make them break). In theory this plan would have worked and decreased the amount of water the children got on themselves, but the balloons weren't full enough to break easily. So the kids began throwing them into the bucket sending water splashing up into their faces or breaking the balloons with their fingers with the same result. They all got a little wet, some more than others, but they all seemed to have fun doing it. Kris recorded some of the action (sorry the quality isn't too excellent, but it's still fun).

Here are some additional pictures you may enjoy seeing from her special day. Thank you everyone who thought of her and for the presents she received.

The following day, September 6th, Kris and Kourtney set out for a Michigan State University Football game. They took the CATA bus onto campus and sat behind the bishop and his family. They had a great time watching the game and eating cotton candy. Kourtney lasted the first half of the game, then the two of them took the CATA bus back home just in time to watch the BYU/Washington game on TV.

My birthday fell on Sunday this year, so it was pretty low key but enjoyable and relaxing. Kris made french toast which has become a Sunday breakfast tradition in our household. We then walked to and from church (about 1.3 miles from our house). Kris also made dinner for us and lastly we played UNO and ate some Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Oh yeah...we also took family pictures. That was a present all in itself!