Las Vegas

Earlier this summer we had the opportunity to get together with my extended family to celebrate my cousin's wedding. I haven't been able to see my whole family since we've moved across country last summer and I couldn't have been more excited. It was too bad that Leon was still in Boston at the time, so he missed out on all the Vegas fun. I honestly miss him so much at family functions. Ok, I honestly miss him whenever he is gone. Ellie was so excited to see her cousins and her nana and papa. The wedding was beautiful and spending time with my crazy family was even more wonderful. We celebrated Mother's Day in the mountains and courtesy of the baby in my belly I threw up all morning, but other than that I loved spending the holiday with the most wonderful mother's I know. We also had such a fun time playing at the "water park" near Kimi's house. Ellie and Brenn are so cute together. They love to give each other kisses and play with toys. Ok, maybe Ellie likes to steal all of Brenn's toys and refuse to share her own, but it was fun nonetheless. We ate delicious food, danced all night long, and caught up on all the family gossip. We both can't wait to see everyone again in Manti. xo

she could not get enough of her Dora towel

She loved running through the water with all of her cousins and mama

I love that face!!

my beautiful sisters

Ellie's cheese

I love my sisters (the one in the middle is still available nick)

Sesame Street Live

So there I was, driving to work, minding my own business, when the announcer on the radio stated that Elmo Live was in Ontario this weekend. Bah!! For those of you that know my family well, you know that this is BIG news. Basically my daughter la la loves Elmo, Abby, Zoe, and Ernie haha. We left Boston the day that Elmo Live was coming to town and I was so sad that I couldn't take Elmo's biggest fan...and his daughter to the big show haha. So, when the radio host said that caller 10 would win tickets to the big show this weekend, I couldn't help but try. I called...busy, then I called again...busy, then I called one more time...ring, ring, "hello, you won!!" I couldn't believe it! I won. I've never won anything on the radio before ever, and come on, its Elmo tickets. I was so excited and I might have called everyone I know to tell them the exciting news. Why is it that when you have a child making them happy makes you happier than anything else? I spent all week just thinking about how happy Ellie would be to see Elmo in real life. I honestly couldn't contain myself. So, when the big day came we woke up early like it was Christmas haha and headed up to Ontario. We had the privilege of bringing Carder with us for the big day. It is safe to say that we all had a blast!!

Can you see the excitement in my bunny's face lol

Ellie kept saying "Zoe! push, Zoe!" and wanted to push all the buttons to hear her favorite characters talk.

When the sesame street characters came out Ellie literally ran after them yelling "wait,wait!!" She was so excited to see Ernie, Zoe, and Cookie!

This was Ellie's initial reaction to the show.. how cute is she?

Cardy loves him some cotton candy

I know I'm in that stage when you aren't sure if I'm fat or pregnant...I'm pregnant ok.

It's True...

Leon and I are going to be parents again.

I love this picture of Leo and Ellie. I think it portrays a myriad of emotions felt as a first time parent. The pure love between parent and child, the dependence on each other, and the peace and comfort felt in each others arms.  Every time I look at it I'm reminded of that beautiful time in my life when I first felt the sparkle of motherhood. It changed me. She changed me, in every way a person can be changed. The love I felt and still feel for this little princess of mine is unmatched in all the world. She is perfect for me and there is never a day that I do not thank my Heavenly Father for the opportunity I have to be her mother.

The thought of another child is absolutely exhilarating. I remember when we brought Ellie home, thinking that I needed a million more. The only problem with this whole second child thing is that I'm not making another Ellie. I keep thinking to myself, "what will this baby be like?", "will this baby be as cuddly and cute as ellie bean?", "is ellie going to feel jealous of all the attention the baby will need?", and of course the dreaded "how in the world could I ever love another human as much as I love Elle?". I know, its awful and my sister in law told me not to be silly because its not like you run out of love. Duh, right? But I just can not wrap my mind around the fact that another child will be joining our family and I am going to love him/her just as much as I love ellie.  Don't get me wrong. I have always been a lover and you definitely don't have to twist my arm to be enveloped in my heart. But with Ellie, I had never experienced motherhood before, so I never knew what was in store for me. And then I realized that Heavenly Father sent me the best of the best. I mean, to have that happen to me twice? I just don't know if I'm that lucky.

It is safe to say we are beyond excited. Ellie is obsessed with babies, so I know she will just die of happiness to have a real one in our house. I told her that I have a baby in my belly, so naturally she thinks she has a baby in her belly too (because we are best friends and everything I do she does too right?). She will lift up her shirt and touch her belly and say "shh baby". It is the cutest. Of course Leon is rooting for a boy, but I think that every girl needs a sister and am hoping it will be a girl. And let us be honest here, Leon CANNOT get enough of his girl and I would love Leo to have his athlete. So, we will be happy either way. I think the hardest part is choosing a name. With Ellie, I knew basically the moment I saw the plus sign on that little plastic applicator that it was Ellie in my belly, haha. And from that moment forward always referred to her as so.  But with this baby, I have no idea. I especially have no idea what to name the little rascal. 

This pregnancy has been much different than Ellie's. I get zero heartburn (knock on wood), I haven't had too much pain in the round ligament arena (I'm thinking I stretched those babies out nice and good last time and they shouldn't be too much of a problem this time around), but the nausea/vomiting is epic. I have been vomiting for three straight months. And nothing helps. It is awful and the worst part is that I get sickest when i don't eat, so naturally I have to keep my stomach full at all times. I might as well pick out my cow bell now right. ugh not fun. But, whatever, as long as the baby is healthy, I will embrace the curves that come along with the process. I am definitely not one of those women who loves being pregnant. I appreciate the process and that end result is priceless, but the whole gain 90lbs, cry over every bump in the road, wake up to an excruciatingly painful chest, go to the bathroom more times than can be counted on your fingers and toes in a day, never sleep through the night, sleep all day is kind of exhausting and it makes you appreciate your non pregnant self.

Baby is due in October and we are ecstatic. Hopefully now that I am well into my second trimester I will start feeling better and we will agree on a name soon. Let us know if you have any suggestions. We love and miss you all and hope to see you this summer!

Muah

Love,

Us  

Two Years...

Full of ups downs and all arounds. Leo and I will have been married for two years tomorrow. Can you believe it? Haha I know, it feels like so much longer to us too. We have always said that if we can make it through these first two years we can make it through anything.  And after all the sacrafices both of us have made to get through graduate school and be parents at the same time, we are almost done with the two hardest years of our lives!! 

I think we can both say that there is no one else in the world who can push our buttons like our spouse. No one who makes us more crazy, more miserable, more frustrated than the person who sleeps on the other side of the bed.  But I am positive that we will also both admit that no one else understands, comforts and loves us like our partner. No one shares the same jokes, dreams, and believes in us like that crazy person who married the other. All of our happiness is found in this little family that we chose to build. How grateful I am to have Leon as my husband and my daughter's father. We are the luckiest girls in the world.

Here is to two years full of life and love, and to many more that will build us into the people we have always wanted to be. And here is to the beautiful family that the heavens have blessed and will continue to bless us with. 

Love you BZ.

Beach day

So we went to the beach. And boy was it a much needed trip. The sun was shining, the water was nice, and Ellie just had the time of her life. I figured since I had a few days off during the week, and the weather was to die for that we would check out our home state of Massachusettes' coast line. And after researching all the kid friendly beaches i opted for this one. It called Wingersheek (or something like that) beach and its about an hour north of us. It was well known for its tide pools and shallow water. Perfect for kiddos right? Right. The moment Ellie's feet hit the ground she was off. I could not get her to stop. She had to be in the "wawa!" I have never seen her so excited. She is just like her mama, nothing makes her happier than sand in her toes and sun on her skin.

Ok, ok she loved to play in the sand too. She was so cute and would try to make friends with the other little kids. She would go up to them and say "hi!" I just fall in love with that CinderEllie more and more everyday. Oh and isn't that pony to die for. I can't get enough!



She really is my best friend. Every thing I do is more fun if she is around. We talk about Elmo and Barney and Daddy and Jesus. We cuddle and kiss and tell secrets under the sheets. Everyday is such a blessing with her in my life. I honestly feel like everything is going to be ok because I have her. I am such a lucky Mama. There is no one like this little girl in the world and she makes everything shine. I even had a little bout of sickness recently and Ellsie would stand by the toilet and say "mama you ok?" then she would pull my hair as I was vomiting to look at my face with her concerned eyes and say "mommy Ok?" Oh sweet love I am always ok if you are around.

We can't wait to go back to Arizona and California for the summer! Three weeks from tomorrow and Ellie and I are Arizona bound. Daddy has to stay to take finals and do whatever it is he does haha. But warm weather here we come. I can't wait to take this little chica to the beach every weekend!! Enjoy the eye candy and know we love and miss you all!
Love,
Us

MIA

I know that we have been MIA lately.  Leon has been working so hard this semester and is currently enrolled in the Negotiation Workshop at Harvard, which keeps him at school until like 7:30 on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  I just finished my third rotation at Boston Childrens, which required me to work and travel a lot more than I would have liked. And Ellie, well Ellie is always keeping everyone busy.

Take home point is that we are busy but we are all alive and well.  We miss our friends and family so much, but are excited to be heading to San Diego for the summer. Leon was offered a position with the US attorney's office in San Diego while I finish up my last two rotations in Murrieta/Temecula area. Ellie gets to play with Mimi and Jax! She is so excited, and so are we.

Can you believe that I am almost done? I graduate August 4th!! I can't wait. Then it is off to the real world, getting a real job, making real money, and only working part time of course. I would love to get a job in the ER where I can work nights, which is what I am doing for my next rotation. So if you see me this summer and I look 10 years older, now you know why. I just want to be home with my baby, but these blasted student loans aren't going to pay themselves haha. 

Anyway, I thought I would share a little picture vomit of our lives as of late. Enjoy. 

Ever since our trip to the museum and the introduction of Rio "the birdy show", Ellie always wants her birdy towel. And she looks so darn cute, I can't help but let her stay in it for a while.

Ellie loves to watch me get ready in the morning and she will play in the bathroom right next to me. She decided to put my bra on one day and get into my "pretties" which is what she calls jewelry. Haha. Leon is in trouble because this little one is all girl.

Her favorite part of the park is the slide. As you can tell, she can't help but smile and laugh every time she goes down.

Do you like her pony? I love that her hair is finally growing a bit and she looks like such a big girl when we put it in a pony haha.

And last, but certainly not least, my two lovies favorite things to do. BAhaha, Ellie looks so funny! She loves to feel big and pull the computer right on her tummy. I will give you two guesses at what she is watching. Did you say Barney or Elmo (Sesame Street)? Ding! ding! ding! Its one of the two, it's always one of the two. Love her (and him come to think of it) to pieces!

Love and miss you all! 8 weeks and counting! muah xoxo

Natural History Museum

Living in Boston can be quite overwhelming sometimes.  There is always so much to see and so much to do. I want to be the best mom possible and constantly entertain my one year old and with so many choices where do I start? I want to teach her everything I know and show her everything beautiful I have seen. But in reality that is sometimes a little harder than I imagine.  

Being the museum jukies that we are, Leon and I would probably spend the majority of our free time learning as much as we could while we are living in such a historical city, but the princess dosen't always make that possible. She would rather spend her time running around, singing, climbing on things, and pulling things off the shelves. And we wouldn't have her any other way. But one Saturday afternoon, we decided to spend some quality time at Harvard's natural history museum.

The museum was fascinating, especially after having taken Evolutionary Biology at BYU my senior year. They had everything from dinasaur bones to all the finches found by Darwin on the Galapagos islands.  This was the moment Ellie first learned about birdies.  I tried to explain the principles of natural selection as best as I could to a one year old, but all she got out of it was "birdies!". She is the best. 

She loved to run around and make trouble. The Harvard crowd isn't quite ready for a girl like her. They got a little uncomfortable when she was crawling on the ground roaring like a lion haha. Their loss.  

I showed Ellie a model of an ape and informed her that if she ever became an archeologist one day and found a skull in a dig, she could tell if it was a human skull or a monkey skull by one important characteristic... a chin. Apes don't have chins.

Leon always wants to read all of the information about each display.  It's a cute quark about going to museums with him. I think Ellie would have appreciated him reading out loud :)

Is there anything she doesn't want to touch? The simple answer to that is... no.

She looks so astute in this picture, like she is really interested in the dinasaurs behind the glass, but she just really liked messing around on the bar haha.

Ellie loves learning about fossils from Daddy. She especially loves getting to touch them.

What I wanted to say: Look Ellie! There are muliple varieties of humming birds that must adapt in their appearance over time in order to survive in their habitat.

What I really said: Look Ellie! Look at all the pretty birdies!

We are so lucky to have this little princess in our lives.  Honestly she makes everything better...even museum trips.