HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!!!

We cannot believe she is one! It has been such a great year! She is so happy all the time but she does have her moments! Here are a few things about Ella's first year!

• She has traveled over 30,000 miles in her first year (1600 of them by the time she was 1 week!)
• She has driven from Mississippi to Utah twice and been on an airplane once!
• She has been to 20 states!
• She isn't on the charts for weight she is to small! She never has been since two months!
• She thinks her dad is the best thing ever! She does like mom though if he isn't around!
• She has been saying mama and dada for a few months but her favorite word right now is HI!
• She loves books she will sit on the floor and look at them for almost an hour, legs crossed and everything!
• She has started waving and understanding why she is waving the last few weeks
• She has started folding her arms even though it never at the right time!
• Her nicknames include Ella Bella, Turkey, silly
• She loves her blanket and binky but is limited to them for nap time and bed time only (and church to make it not so bad!)
• She licks everything. It is kind of disgusting. We are trying to get her not to do it! She tries to lick my hands when I am washing her hair or when I am putting on her lotion, she is strange!

She is such a sweet girl and we love her so much! She is going to be such a great big sister! She just doesn't know what is about to hit her!

Happy Birthday Ella Bella!!!!

There are a lot of pictures I can't pick just one or two or five!

Newborn!!!

One Month!!!

Two Months!!!

Three Months!!!

Four Months!!!

Five Months!!!

Six Months!!!

7 Months!!!

8 Months
(apparently we didn't take any pictures this month!)

Nine Months!!!

Ten Months!!

Eleven Months

Piano Bar

Last Friday we went out to a Piano bar downtown on Beale Street for Cara and Monica's Birthdays! We had a lot of fun!

Before we left! Larysa, me, Cara, Monica, Ashley, and Heather

We stopped at Crepe Maker on our way to Beale for some dessert! I love Crepe Maker!

Listening to the music! We had a lot of fun singing along and talking really loud over all the noise! We were the fun table we ordered waters and french fries! But we were probably the only ones there that remember all the fun we had that night!

At the end of the night we stopped and posed for a picture on Beale! The place we were at in the one right behind us on the left!

Thanks for the fun night girls!

Dinner with Dr. Chang

Last night one of Andrew's teachers Dr. Chang took all of us out for a yummy dinner! The guys had gone a few Saturdays ago and helped him get his yard ready for the winter. He in turn treated them and all the wives to dinner! We went to an awesome place called Asian Palace, somewhere we will probably go back to!

Half of the group!

The other half of the group!

Dr. Chang was at our table and he knows all of us our the LDS students so he stopped us before he let us eat and told us we had to say a prayer, it was great!

New Car Seat

Last week we got Ella's new seat delivered! She looks really small in it! She isn't 1 until tomorrow and she isn't 20 pounds but we let her ride anyway! She is so happy to face forward she keeps laughing! She loves to be able to see us! Her first ride she was a little tense but she is getting used to the idea!

On our way to our first ride!

Spaghetti

The other night we let Ella try our Spaghetti we were having and she loved it! I let her get into it and get dirty which I have had a hard time doing and it turned out ok! I love how the noodle is hanging out of her mouth! She even started slurping the noodles like she knew that is what you can do with spaghetti noodles!

First Piggy Tails

Last Sunday we were able to get two tiny pig tails into Ella's hair so she could wear her matching bows. Trying to get her picture was a challenge after church because she was so tired! They are nothing much but I am excited her hair is starting to really come in! She actually left them in and didn't bother with them during church!

Easier to see from the back!



I love this she is trying to get away from us!

I love this picture because it shows her coloring really well! She is so fair skinned and red in this picture. Blue definitely brings it out in her!

Fall Leaves

Last Saturday afternoon we decided to take a drive to see all the pretty fall leaves! We drove to the dam side of Lake Arkabutla and found a place to sit and enjoy the awesome weather! We had some hot cocoa we had brought with us and some fresh popped popcorn! It was so nice and pleasant with no one else around. We just sat and talked and played with Ella! It was so pretty with all the awesome colors of the leaves and the lake!

I love this picture she was so happy! It is easier to see when enlarged!

She loved playing in the leaves!

Her new thing is to point and also she has started this week waving goodbye when someone leaves.

She really is a turkey!!!

So most people know that Ella's nickname has always been turkey! Not sure how it became maybe cause she was born in November! Anyways she lives up to the title very well sometimes! She keeps us laughing and now if we laugh she laughs back so we have to be careful at what we laugh at so that we aren't giving her the ok to do something she shouldn't!

Last Sunday we went to some friends for dinner and while we were getting it together we put her in her chair with some snacks and two minutes later the snacks were gone and she was done! I turned around and she had attempted to get her bib off! Usually she is more successful but not today!

Her new trick when she eats this week is to lick and smack her lips like the food she is eating is the best ever!

She thinks she is so funny. Her new tricks this week include the stairs! She has never even tried to go up she usually just sits at the bottom and yells to Andrew because she knows he is up there but last night I heard a thumping on the stairs and go around the corner and she is four stairs up! She has never shown us that she even understands what to do so I was shocked. She has tried to get her leg up on the couch this week as well to climb up but it will be a while before she does that she is to short! She is growing up to fast!

Pumpkin Carving!!!

Last Friday we had some friends from school Eric and Jenn come down with their two boys to carve pumpkins! We first made homemade pizza and then got on to the carving!

All of us and the finished products!

Andrew's Pumpkin!

All of the pumpkins that were carved!

Boys!

We had a lot of fun and Jenn made some really good cake! It was amazing! We are glad we were finally able to use our pumpkin carving pattern book we have had at least 4 years!

WICKED!!!

Last Thursday I had an awesome opportunity to go to see Wicked up in Memphis! It was amazing! There was so much I don't remember from seeing it two years ago! We had so much fun!

Outside the theater! Elise, Ashley, and me! Such a great Girls Night Out!

The cop outside the theater took our picture for us and didn't think one was enough he wanted to take another! We didn't plan the green and black we just all showed up in it!

The stage! We were dead center!

The best we could do inside getting our own picture! I have to say the best part of it is the lady behind us looking a little mad we are taking her picture! Those ladies were hilarious as well they laughed so loud and hard and every little thing!

Thanks again to Andrew who was so nice and let me buy a ticket to go and for taking such good care of Ella while I was gone especially since he had a test the next morning! He is the best!

Halloween Parties!!!

Last week we had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween! On Friday our Mother's Group had a fun party with a fun craft and some fun games! Ella just wanted to explore the large gym and follow the kids! Her knees were so dirty by the time we left!

Not the best picture but she was all the way across the room!

Attempting to get a picture of the Bees. I was a little late so this is the best I could do!Doing the craft she helped me hold a crayon and color with it!

She wanted to sit by herself on the chair, she also didn't want her hood on!

Saturday Night our ward had a Halloween Dance since we already had our Trunk or Treat earlier in the week! It was a lot of fun even though I sat a majority of the time (dancing is not easy or I am just too sore)! It was fun anyways!

Ella loves to be up on Andrew's shoulders! He might lose his hair faster this way cause she pulls it out!

Right before we took off her costume she was sweating really bad!

Ella and the only girl closest to her age in our ward, Kayleigh! How cute is that cow! Ella just wanted to touch her!

She is happy we took her costume off finally! Easier to move around! Andrew and Ella have the same eyes in this picture they must be related!

It was such a fun weekend full of lots of fun things to do!