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..."