Ellie is ONE (a month late)

In August my little Ellie Claire turned ONE. I feel like she is still a little baby but her attitude reminds me that she is not, haha! She add so much personality to our little family and we LOVE having her! She is our little comedian and keeps us laughing all the time. She is the perfect addition to our family and this last year has FLOWN by with her here. On Ellie's first birthday her stats are

Height: 30 1/2 inches (90%)
Weight: 19 lbs. 12 oz. (20%)

Has 4 teeth with 2 on the way!
Claps whenever anybody else does.
Waves at everyone she walks by and yells "HIIIII" everyone in the store (or wherever we are) is always laughing and telling her hi back. Her brother has noticed the attention she gets from it and sometimes they will do it together. Glad we provide shoppers with some good entertainment!
She has blonde hair and GREEN eyes.
She is absolutely beautiful!
She is the boss.
Ellie FINALLY walks all the time but on her birthday she was still crawling and only walking sometimes.
She LOVES to eat. she seriously eats ALL day.
When she wants something she does not stop until she gets it.
She loves to give kisses and blowing kisses.
She loves belly buttons and thinks they are hilarious. 
She is also known as chatty cathy cause she never stops jabbering.
Loves to dance and can find a good dance move for any rhythm she hears.
Loves to make messes!
Loves to make her brother mad. She sits right in front of the TV if he is watching it. If he pushes her away she just walks over and turns it off. She thinks it hilarious. Carter does not.
Drinks whole milk and eats everything that we eat.
Says: mama, dada, hi, ball, yum yum, no no no, baba, baaa(bath), and yea.
Smiles and laughs all day long.
Loves to help mama do the laundry.
Ellie loves to copy her brother. She wants to eat whatever he is eating, play whatever he is playing with and even tries to mimic his words.
Plays peek-a-boo ALL.THE.TIME. never gets old....for her atleast! 
She LOVES her big brother and gives him kisses all the time.
We call her dede and that's the only name she answers to. (It's what Carter has called her since she was born) 

WE LOVE YOU ELLIE GIRL!

8 months

Happy 8 months to my big crawling, smiling, screeching, BEAUTIFUL Ellie! We love you so so so much!!!

exploring our new surroundings

Since neither Skyler or I have ever lived in the Sacramento area we have been having lots of fun exploring. We spend our weekends trying out restaurants, going new places and enjoying the warm weather with our little family! So far we have ventured to Roseville, Old town Sacramento, The Nimbus fish hacthery, The train museum, The Sacramento Temple, Fishing on the American river, and The Folsom outlets. We love the area so far and are having lots of fun getting to know a new area.

Life lately through instagrams

just because

I'm obsessed with my babies and think they are the cutest!

where has my baby gone?! and other exciting things!

My baby boy isn't a baby anymore (even though he will ALWAYS be my baby)! He has gotten so big and ever since he turned 2 he thinks he has to start doing everything like a big boy. When he is hungry he sits at the table and patiently waits for his mama to make him food. He brushes his own hair and teeth. He helps me do all the chores around the house. His favorites are laundry, dishes and sweeping/mopping. He sits in his room and just plays. Plays like a big boy, he drives his cars and makes car noises, he plays with his trains and says chooo chooooo! He sits and reads his books, and when I read to him he spends the whole time pointing at the pictures and telling me what everything is, "mama, BACKPACK! and mama CARS! and mama I luuuuuuuuh you." He is starting to make little sentences like, "oh no mama, I'M STUCK" anytime he wants out of his car seat, or "stacky stacky blocks mama". Sometimes I just watch him and wonder where my baby went, he is such a big boy. I am so overwhelmed with love for this little boy that my heart could just burst. Being a mommy is the BEST most rewarding thing on this earth.

Speaking of babies growing up to fast, my Ellie is seriously trying to catch up to her brother waaay too fast!! She is 4 1/2 months old and I can not believe how fast she has grown! Her 4 month appointment was at the beginning of this month. Here are her stats:

Height: 25 1/4 inches (80%)

Weight: 12 lbs. 7 oz. (20%)She eats rice cereal every night before bed and unlike her brother, she LOVES it. She seriously can't get enough. The second you take the spoon out of her mouth to grab more cereal she freaks, it's pure comedy. My Ellie reminds me a lot of her big brother at this age, she is SO happy and everything makes her laugh. She loves her mama the best. I am the only person she will chill with, anyone else has to be walking and holding her a certain way (such a little diva). She rolls over the minute you put her on the ground and is very entertained by all of her toys. She sits up for about a minute at a time and has the most edible cheeks I have ever seen. We love our little girl and she has been the most perfect addition to our family that I could ever imagine.
and since this blog seems never-ending I will keep on going! WE MOVED!!! Well we moved to California the end of November but we were staying at my parents house till we found a place, and we finally found one. It is perfect for us right now. We love it. It's only a few years old, brand new hardwood floors throughout the house. Beautiful granite counter tops, and cute fireplace, a nice backyard, its just what we wanted!! We are leasing for a year while we explore the Elk Grove area and then we will decide where exactly we want to buy! We had to buy a fridge and a washer and dryer, and now we are feeling like adults, haha! I will post pictures of our place once we finish unpacking a decorating...which may take a while. Stay tuned!!!

life in california

I am so behind on posting that the thought of catching up is overwhelming!!! We are here in California and enjoying the warmer weather! Skyler LOVES his new job and the kids are loving being spoiled by mam-ma and papa (grandma and grandpa)!! Ellie has grown like CRAZY since she got here and is already rolling over and sitting up! She turned 4 months old on new years eve and loves the rice cereal that has recently been added to her diet. Carter turned 2 on Nov. 30 and he loved opening presents and eating endless amounts of his favorite food, spaghetti. We are having so much fun here and can't wait to see what our time here in California has in store for us.

On the road again

After only a week and a half in our new place Skyler received a job offer from Apple. The job is perfect for him and we know this is the job he was supposed to get. It is a position where he will be speaking Portuguese and doing business with Brazil for Apple. There was a reason the lord sent Skyler on a mission to Brazil and we can't help but feeling so blessed. They want him to start right around Carters birthday so around thanksgiving we will be packing up our place and moving to CALIFORNIA! We are so excited for the opportunity and are excited to be living only an hour from my parents and 30 minutes from a major airport!! So here we are moving for the second time in one month...we are going to miss our place, rexburg and all our friends here but can't wait to start the next phase of our lives together!

Halloween

Even though I am super late, I had to post some pictures of my babies on Halloween because they were completely adorable!!! We celebrated Halloween all weekend by going to 2 Halloween parties, a trunk-or-treat, BOO at the zoo, and of course did a little trick or treating.Carter didn't like being a pumpkin, haha!!Carter and Ellie both had 2 costumes! Pumpkins from their great-grandma groseclose and a monster&strawberry from mam-ma. Skyler and I were so busy with the move that we didn't dress up, but next year we are definitely going to do a family theme. I already can't wait!!

Home

We moved! It wasn't the super exciting move out of Idaho I was expecting at this point in time. We are just across the highway. But, It's still exciting to have a place, and we LOVE our new place. Its perfect for us. As long as we are all together I am exactly where I want to be.

Plus Carter loved playing in boxes and sliding down his mattress on the stairs till he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe!!!

and my Ellie girl is cute as ever!!