Christmas Eve

Ella and mommy are discussin what she would like Santa to bring her tonight. I asked her questions, and she responded with a "ya", or a "no."

Our little family wearing our festive green

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. We switch off every other year with our families since my family lives in Salt Lake, and Zach's family lives in St. George. This year we are in Salt Lake with my family. On Christmas eve all of my sisters go to their in-laws because my family does their big thing on Christmas afternoon and night. So this year we came and hung out with my parents on Christmas Eve since we didn't have anything to do. We sure miss Zach's family around the holidays, and wish that we could live by them. They do their fun family traditions on Christmas Eve, last year was my first year experiencing their fun games. I loved it, it was so much fun!

I just want to tell the Randall family how much we love them, and wish we could be with them around the holidays. We are so greatful for all of the things they do for us, and don't know where we would be without them. They are so great with Ella and love her so much. I know she loves you guys, and misses you too. We can't wait to see you on Saturday, and spend four days with you guys. WE LOVE YOU AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pig Tails!

I have been able to do Ella's hair in pig tails for a while, but keep forgetting to take a picture and post about it. She looks like such a big girl whenever I do it, that it makes me realize how fast my little girl is growing up. She is so good whenever I do her hair. I just sit her on my bathroom counter, and do her hair. It is so much fun to have a little girl to dress up. She even likes mommy to pretend and put make up on her. She is definitly a girly girl which I love, because I totally was all growing up!

Ella looking so pretty

Here are some pictures of cute little Ella in her pretty Christmas dress, and meeting Santa Clause. My family always have a big Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas and Santa Clause always comes. She wasn't too sure about him, that is why mommy is holding her.


Ella and daddy hanging out at the party

We caught Ella by herself sitting on a present, and reading a book. It reminded me of myself when I was little. I used to do the same things.

Ella with Santa not too sure about him

Ella looking pretty in her Christmas dress

Mommy just can't get enough of Ella in her dress

15 Months old

Ella is already 15 months old. I can't believe how fast they grow up. She is getting so big, and way smart. We took her to the doctor on Friday for her 15 month check up. She now weighs 20 pounds 9 ounces so she is in the 20 percentile for weight. She is 31.2 inches tall so she is in the 75 percentile for height. The doctor said she is long and lean definitely. She is getting more and more of her personality everyday. She also talks a lot and loves to sing a couple of songs. Her doctor said she is way ahead on her speaking which makes me proud as a mom. She can now say mama, dada, Dora, uh-oh, grandpa, grandma, ya, hi, shoes, two, four, ball, thank you, dog, kitty, and lolo (yes she calls me lolo sometimes it is funny, for those of you who don't know that has been my nickname since I was born, and all my neices and nephews still call me lolo so I think she picked it up from them.) She tries to copy the tone and words I say to her. She does pretty well considering how old she is. Ella's favorite things now are anything Dora (she would probably watch Dora cartoons all day long), dancing, playing peek-a-boo, counting from one to four (she can only say two and four), playing with Mowglie or even kissing Mowglie a lot, purses (she wears her purse on her arm around the house it is so funny), mommy and daddy, making messes, climbing all over, and her Dora ball. I think her most favorite thing is hair, ever since she was little she has held onto my hair whenever I hold her or she is going to sleep. She will come up behind me now if I set on the floor, and play with my hair. I love it! She also just started to do the "Swiper no swiping" hand out in front of her. If any of you have seen Dora you no what I am talking about. She is so silly! We are so blessed to have her in our lives, and love every minute with her. She gets more and more fun everyday! Sorry enough bragging, but you can't help it when your kids are just so cute!

Mr. UHP

Zach has been so busy with his new job. He comes home everyday with a new story for me to hear. He has had to work a lot of the snow days, and deal with accident after accident. But it makes his day go by fast. The other day they put in an 11 and 1/2 hour shift. Then last weekend he did a DUI shift from 8:00 P.M. until 1:30 A.M. after working already that day from 6 to 4. Then he woke up the next morning to be to work again at 6. He was way tired, but it was all worth it. One day he was on the news in the background, he looked so professional with his whole uniform on and hat. Then last Saturday he got to meet the Governer while he was covering an accident. I guess Gov. Huntsman is really involved with the Highway Patrol, and will go out and do ride alongs all the time. Zach has experienced so much in just a short amount of time, that I am way excited for the future. It is so nice to have him come home happy and excited about his job. Sometimes I think I am way more excited then he is, but oh well.

Ella loves her Trooper!

Doesn't Zach look so good in his uniform?

My Dad

I have been meaning to do this post for a while and thought I didn't have a picture of my dad, but realized I did. The last couple of months have been a scary one for my family. We have never had any issues with sickness or anything so it was a wake up call for us on how precious life really is. I will start from the beginning on me and my dad's birthday (both October 7th) my dad took me to lunch, and if any of you know my family we are kind of clumsy. We went to the garden on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. My dad went and parked the car and was running back when he tripped and fell and hit his head. He jumped up and didn't think anything of it. Then a couple of days later he started to slure his words and was feeling weird. So two days after that they went to the hospital to get checked. They did tons and tons of test and found out that my dad had, had a mini stroke. In fact it was his 5th one, but they think the fall may had made it worse. So he went to a specialist to get his heart checked to see if that was what was causing it, and they found a little hole in his heart. So they set up a surgery to fix the whole and see if that was the problem. My dad is the always on the go type nothing slows him down, but I think he realized that this is serious and needs to just take things easy. We were all very nervous about the surgery, but Zach, my brother-in-law James, and my dad's home teachers were able to give him a couple of priesthood blessings right before the surgery. My dad went into surgery with all of his daughters, grandkids, and my mom waiting. It took a little longer then they said so we were all nervous about what was going on. They brought him back out, and the doctor told us that the hole was gone. They went in 3 times to look for the hole, but it was completely gone. It was truly a miracle. Now he is on a bunch of medication and doing better.
I just wanted to let my dad know how grateful I am for him. He is the best dad and Grandpa in the world. Ella just adores him. He does so much for me and my family I just can't thank him enough. I love him so much and can't imagine what I would do without my dad. Thanks for everything dad, I love you!

Christmas Time

I love Christmas time, I think it is the best time of the year. I love decorating my house, Christmas lights, music, parties, shopping, and being with friends and family. I just love the whole spirit and meaning of Christmas. This year we put a little tree in Ella's room with little snowmen decorations. As you can tell she just loves it! Ha! Ha!

I think she was mad at mommy because I took her picture. Sorry Ella bug. I love you!