Rudolph...the Princess Version...

Elly loves Princesses and they sneak into anything she's doing:




Merry Christmas!

Elly is 3!!!

Elly turned three last month and she is all grown up now. Her favorite thing to say is "I can have three treats, because I'm three."
 

She sat still while I did some "Special Birthday Hair" for her, just on that day:
 

Doesn't she look all grown up?
 


We had a really fun Birthday Ball for her at our apartment with some of her friends.





She's still young enough that I don't have to plan her birthday parties in detail. I just invite some of her friends and their parents (our friends) over and we all eat dinner together and then eat some cake. This time, one of her friends (who is a little older than Elly) kept asking me when the games were going to start. Whoops. We improvised with some Duck, Duck, Goose and some freeze dancing. I guess I'm going to have to actually plan something next year!



When we brought the cake out and everyone started singing, it took her a second to figure out what was going on. Then, she realized that everyone was looking at her and singing to her! So...naturally, she decided to give us a little show for our trouble.



It was an amazing birthday party for her and I couldn't have done it without the help of my mom, who came down from Salt Lake that day when I called her in a panic. Thanks, K-ma!

Merry Christmas!

Elly Quotes

After a woman cut me off in the car today...

Me: (under my breath) "Fine, go right ahead."
Elly: "Mom, what did you say?"
Me: "Nothing; I was talking to that lady in the car in front of me."
Elly: "Did you say: Hi, my name is Lacy?"
Me: "Yep, that's exactly what I said."
Elly: "Then, what did she say?"
Me: "She didn't hear me. Because people can't hear you when you're inside your car and they are outside of your car."

Elly: (after a long pause) "Yeah. People...and Backyardigans."

Elly Quotes

Elly: "Mom, you have to smell this...it smells ENORMOUS!"

Elly Quotes

Mom: "Elly, what are you painting a picture of?"

Elly: "You'll see when I'm done."

Halloween!

Since about September, Elly has never waivered when asked what she wanted to be for Halloween. Belle. And that was it. I even already had an adorable Dorothy costume and a Snow White one, too. Nope. Belle. And that was it. My AMAZING sister, Keri, made this dress for her from scratch with no pattern at all. I was so floored and so was everyone who saw it. Elly even won best costume at our ward Halloween party. Elly also would not take no for an answer when she told Brandon he would be Gaston and I would be Mrs. Tea Potts (as Elly calls her). I will post a picture of those costumes as soon as I find one.

The beautiful Belle:
 


All the Huntington Friends:
 

Trick-or-Treat!
 

I just had to put up this picture of my mom's house in the fall. It's so stunning with all the colors!
 

Elly Pix for Mother's Day

Did I ever post these awesome photos that my friend, Candida, took last spring? She was having a Mother's Day special, so we took advantage. She did a great job capturing Elly's expressions, I think. I even got in some towards the end. In the last one she's crying because Daddy couldn't be in them. (Well, he wasn't dressed for it.)


 
 
 
 

 
 

Elly Quotes

Mom: "Elly, would you rather play at our house or at Hailey's house?"

Elly: "At Hailey's house; our house is all messed up."

Rewind: Fall Fun

One of the highlights of Elly's and my week is when her little friend, Hailey, comes over for a a couple hours on Thursday afternoons. Her mom, my friend Emily, teaches dance, so we keep her at our house. Hailey and Elly are only 4 months apart and they get along beautifully. Mostly, they like to dress up in princess dresses, but occasionally, they'll curl up on the couch and watch a movie:
 

My friends and I walked to Bridal Veil Falls with our kids. They paid no attention to the amazing falls, but enjoyed throwing rocks in the water.
 

We took a trip to Thanksgiving Point with K-ma, Keri, Emma and Lily. We hit the activities at "Cornbelly's" and spend almost the entire time in the "dress up" booth. They even had dresses for the adults!
 
(The pregnant lady opted out of dressing up; somehow a pregnant princess just isn't as fun)

We also took our favorite friend from California and babysitter, Amanda, to the MTC before her mission in the Provo Utah South Mission. We'll miss her!
 

Rewind: The End

The End of the summer meant the end of my brother, his wife, and their boys living here in Utah because they moved to Delaware. Before they left, we had some fun together. My mom got to take all her grandchildren to the zoo and we amazingly snapped this photo of all of them:
 

We also spent some cool summer evenings at my brother's house swinging on the tree swing. Tim had a little too much fun on it and ran straight into the tree:
 

The end of the summer also brought the end of Elly's innocence about Beauty and the Beast. We went to a live production of the musical; my friend, Ivey, was starring in it. Elly fell in love...with Gaston. She had no idea (still has no idea that he is the villain). Why should she think he's anything but wonderful when there's a song all about how great he is?
 

She was a little shy with Gaston after the performance, but loved to look at him. She thought he looked like her daddy. She called Brandon "Gaston" from that day on...and still does.
 

Rewind: Back at BYU!

After our summer in Seattle, we came home to our Provo apartment and were so happy to be reunited with friends:

The Kids:
 
Bryson, Devon, Elle, Hailey, Elly, Katelyn


The Whole Gang (except Adam, who was working):
 
The Andersons, The Harrisons, The Coombs (in the back) and The Wankiers


We were happy to be back in Utah, where we could go shopping with K-ma! Elly loves to go to Old Navy...not for the shopping...for the mannequins! This one is Elly's twin and she calls it her "little one":
 


When we got home to our apartment, I swear Elly spent almost two hours in her room by herself rediscovering all the toys we'd left behind for the summer. It was awesome:
 

Elly Quotes

Elly put on the tutu that I had just made for her. Taking it off as quickly as she could, she said:

"Not twirly, not twirly, NOT TWIRLY!!!"

"Twirly" is the most important feature in a dress or skirt, of course.

Elly Quotes

Elly, in an attempt to get out, calls from her bed:

"But, Mommy, I'm starving!"

I didn't even know she knew that word.

Elly Quotes

(singing the Mary Poppins song)

"It's a jolly holiday with me!"

---

"Mom, yogurt is kind of like a drink."

--

Elly and I recently had a discussion about how we don't get to choose if our baby will be a boy or a girl.  She was pretty disappointed, because she wanted to make sure we would have a girl.  I told her that Heavenly Father chooses.  So this morning during prayers:

"We're so grateful for Heavenly Father that chooses our baby for us..."

Elly Quotes

Elly (singing after church today): "Tell me me...tell me me. Tell me me...tell me me. Dad, you sing it."

Dad (with puzzled look on his face): "Sing what?"

Elly: "That song."

Dad (with Eureka! expression on his face): "Oh...'Til we meet...'til we meet."

Elly (singing along): "Tell me me...tell me me. Tell me me all those things that Jesus said..."

Elly Quotes

Me: "Elly, 5 more minutes and it's time for your nap."
Elly: "No Mom, 3 more minutes."
Me: "Ok."

Elly Quotes

Mommy: "Elly, I'm going to jump in the shower, okay?"

Elly: "I thought we weren't supposed to do that, Mom."

Mad and Cody

Again, we felt horrible that Madelyn and Cody had to spend most of their trip alone while we monitored Elly's sickness. These are the ONLY pictures that we have of them from this trip...Elly took them...on our way to the airport to drop them off:

 
 
 
 

Okay, I took that last one. But don't you think she did a pretty good job with the first three? I like the one in the elevator especially. Very artistic.

Mima and Papa came!

Brandon's parents and his brother, Jordan, came all the way to Seattle to visit us. Elly was so excited to see them!

We went to Pike's Market, of course:
 

Mima and Papa left no rock unturned when it came to spoiling the granddaughter!
 

They also took us on the duck boats which was a lot of fun. I'm surprised that Elly looks as good as she does in this picture, because she was running a fever (that we didn't know about cause it was stinking hot that day)...
 


and she was starting an ear infection that landed her here:
The Seattle Children's Hospital ER
 
We felt so bad that she got so sick when our guests were visiting. Madelyn and Cody came the next day and we couldn't spend much time with them at all. Such is the life of a parent! It turns out that Elly's ear drum burst and she had to be on crazy strong antibiotics the rest of our stay and on the drive home to Utah. Poor girl.

The girlsies in Seattle!

My sister, Keri, and cousin, Karen, came for a visit. Keri's girls live in Seattle with their dad each summer, so we did fun things with them all week.

We had a fun day downtown shopping at the hugest Nordstrom Rack ever. Then, we ate lunch at my favorite lunch place in downtown Seattle...The Nordstrom Cafe. It was kind of a Nordstrom Day.
 


We went to the beach and played fun games:
 


Elly and the girls fell in love all over again!
 

Emma and Lily were so sweet to Elly. They just love her. And she loves them! We're so glad we get to live closer to them for another year!
 

Goodbye, Seattle

I know it's been a while since we left Seattle, but at the end of our stay there, I felt a little under the weather (for obvious reasons), so I'm just catching up now. We did so many fun things in Seattle, but we really tried to pack it in in the last few weeks:

We saw a 3D movie at the IMAX Theater at the Pacific Science Center. It was called Under the Sea. It was an amazing theater and Elly kept her glasses on almost the entire time. It was the first movie theater she's ever been in. She did great, but ended up on Brandon's lap for most of it. She also had a hard time using her "movie theater voice" and kept saying things like "Where's the shark, Dad?"
 


We also went to the Butterfly Habitat at the Science Center. It's this huge greenhouse looking area with trees and rocks and water and flowers. And butterflies everywhere! They just fly around you and land on the plants right in front of you. There's even a check point at the exit, so that you don't walk out with a butterfly on your back. I caught this funny picture there. This girl could not have been more than 9 years old, taking a picture of a butterfly...with her cell phone. Crazy.
 


On the 4th of July, we took a little road trip to Snoqualmie Falls about 40 minutes away. The waterfalls were amazing. It was so beautiful we didn't even mind the huge crowds of biker groups and tourists.
 


This is Elly at her most favorite place in Seattle, The Children's Museum. That membership was the best thing I bought all summer. She absolutely loved painting there and constantly asks when we can go back and paint again. She would sit there for 20 minutes on one sheet of paper. Today, we went to Ikea and bought her an easel.
 



More to come...