I cannot believe my baby is 5!! Amazing! E. is such a sweetheart and the joy of our life! Since day one she’s been an alert, social little thing…and she hasn’t grown out of that! E. is always up for an adventure! She wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and excited for the day! Her eyes will pop open and she’ll say, “Mom, its morning!” and will start climbing out of bed (not wanting to waste a single second).

E. is my little buddy and goes everywhere with me. She has always been the type of child we could take anywhere at any time – a definitely “go with the flow” kind of girl! And in the past few years we’ve been able to take her to any meeting or apt. – as long as she has paper and a pen or some books she can sit quietly in a corner for as long as we need! That leads me to the next thing…E. LOVES to read! It is a common site to see her walking around with her nose in a book! Whether it’s walking up to soccer practice or into church or just heading out to the car for a drive she pretty much ALWAYS has a book with her!  Her favorite Princess is Belle (I encouraged that one a little, how can you not love a Princess who loves to read)!

E. is a total Princessy girly girl who loves all things girl (except for getting her hair done – I blame that on slow growing hair and her experimenting with scissors once she finally got enough hair to “do”)! She loves to dance and really moves to the music whenever she hears it (wherever she is)!! As girly as she is, she informed me the other day that, “Mom, I’m kind of a girlish boy, I mean, boyish girl!” I told her, “You are definitely a GIRL who likes some boy things!” “Yeah, because I want Forces of Nature, Bakugan, and Pokémon!” She also really loves sports! She enjoys watching sports with her dad and has loved learning volleyball and basketball this year! She just completed a Daddy and Me basketball class and boy does she have a great shot!

Obviously, I could go on and on – what parent couldn’t!? I love E. so much and am so grateful to have her in my life – she is our little miracle and we recognize her as such every single day. One thing I love most about my sweetheart is her budding testimony. She has a great love for the scriptures (I hope that continues) and an amazingly simple and real understanding of the Gospel! My greatest desire for her as her mom is that she will always remember who she is and strive everyday to be the best E. she can be! Thanks E. for making me a mom! I love you!

5th BIRTHDAY at Disneyland!!!!

Birth – day (St. Vincent Hospital, Portland, OR)!!

Blessing Day – 7 weeks old!

2 years old!

This picture definitely captures her excitement for life!

2 1/2  years!

2 1/2 years!

3 1/2 years!

3 1/2 years!

4 1/2 years!

We have spent a lot of time on BYU Basketball this winter. Whether it’s going to the games or watching them on TV we’ve enjoyed cheering on the Cougs! E. has become quite the huge fan of BYU but has had to learn that it’s okay to like the U also (but we absolutely cheer for the Y when they play each other)!  Her favorite player on the team is Lee Cummard. She’s heard us talk about what a great player he is and everything, but I think the fact that he shares his name with one of her favorite uncles helps too! This past Saturday was Senior night and the night the Cougs clinched the title of MWC Champions so there were lots of fun festivities! It started out with honoring the Seniors so we got to see Lee’s wife and little boy. Fortunately we pulled out the win and got to celebrate afterward. We went out to the Victory Bell and got to slap hands with many of the stars of the team…..except for Lee. So we went back in and hunted him down. We found him on the court signing autographs and Bryan worked his magic and got Lee to sign E.’s program…he then told the crowd that was his last one and had to head for a team meeting but would come back and do more signing if they wanted to wait! We so lucked out!! E. said, “Thanks Lee!”  E. was thrilled and as we walked back up the stairs she said, “He signed his name and team number! I wish he signed his phone number!!” So cute! Don’t worry, we’ll all be cheering our team on this weekend and for several weeks to come (we hope)!! GO COUGARS!

A few games ago, E. blew her very first bubble!! It was a very exciting night!

Well, I’ve decided to finally write something about our fun summer! So I will just mention the highlights.

* Eliza recovered from the removal of her tonsils and adenoids amazingly! Drinkable yogurt saved us – Eliza loves yogurt and after a few traumatic doses of the “yucky” medicine Bryan had the idea to first squirt the yogurt into her mouth and then the medicine and have her swallow it all together! Worked like a charm!! Her voice was a bit higher and louder for several months, but it’s pretty much back normal now. It has been amazing to see all the changes for her. She can now sleep with her mouth CLOSED!!! And for the first time in her life she experienced fluid coming up through her nose (she didn’t like that very much)!

*The Wasatch Back Relay Race:  Logan to Park City  - 178 miles – so fun!! This was a definite highlight and accomplishment. I had talked Bryan into running this with me (well actually, it was more like his buddy Sean talked him into it) and we started training in January! The 2 days of running and driving and like NO sleeping was awesome! Good times! My 3 legs added up to 15.6 miles. My very best run started at 4:00 am after about 1.5 hours of sleep and I loved it!

*Reunion/Trip to Lassen National Park and Yosemite! We LOVE seeing the beauties of this world! It was our first time to either of these parks and they were breathtaking! We enjoyed the 4th of July in Carson, NV.

*Ashton, ID Half Marathon – Bryan had already filled his running quota for the year….but I just couldn’t stop! I had kept running after the relay race and figured I’d better get the half marathon in this year while I was ready for it! Who knows if I’ll ever train like this again! I loved Ashton, ID! Thanks Megan for getting me through!

*Tons of yard work/soccer/football! We bought a home that needed a lot of TLC! So most Saturdays we were busy working! And then football and soccer started and our Saturdays were packed! That’s right, BYU football has taken over our weekends!…and we wouldn’t have it any other way! The best part has been taking Eliza to the games and seeing her excitement (as you can see in the pic, we did need some treats to help the time pass)! My brother plays football for Dixie State in St. George so we’ve taken a few trips down for his games as well! Eliza also started soccer this year! It is so fun to see her play (or dance, or blow kisses to the side-line, or purposely elbow and/or run into the opposing team – we’re working on that).

We had a great summer! And if you actually read all of this – thanks for caring!

Well, the deed is done. E's huge tonsils have finally been removed. She is doing really well and we are anxious for her to get feeling normal again.  On Thurs. we headed up and when we got there they informed us that they were ahead of schedule so we had hardly any down time. They got us right in for the initial exam and then we met with the doctor for a second and then onto the anesthesiologist who was great with E. and let her listen to her lungs and heart. E. brought her purple doggie and her purple blanket. We walked with the anesthesiologist and a nurse down to the big double doors where they had us give hugs and tell E. that we love her and we would see her very soon. Then they walked away. E. walked the whole way down this long hall just chatting away with them! We watched for as long as we could before the doors closed on us - we couldn't believe how brave and how big she seemed. They gave E. laughing gas to put her out and then gave her the IV. At the class the night before they taught her that she should breath in the yummy air and then if she smells something yucky (once the medicine started to flow) she should take a really deep breath (at which point she'd probably be out) and then blow the yucky smell away. We went down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat an headed up to the waiting room. We waited about 10 minutes before the doctor came in and said everything went well....what relief!!! He also said, "Her  tonsils were huge and so were the adenoids!" From that statement we derived that he'd decided to remove the adenoids as well. When they called for me to go back to see her (only one of us could go which killed Bryan) she looked so drugged but calm, but as soon as she saw me she started crying and grabbing onto me and practically jumping of the bed. She kept pulling at the IV in her hand and doing this cry/cough that she totally did as a baby! Finally, after she kept trying to clear her throat (which made me cringe every time) she said so sadly, "There is something in my THROAT and I have to get it OUT!" Once we finally got her to calm down and got her to start eating a slushy we were able to explain to her that there is nothing in her throat  that she can get out and that if she keeps doing that it will hurt more than help. Finally Bryan got to come back with us and we spent the next couple hours watching the Disney channel and shoveling slushy into E. Some of the Utah Blaze players came in to visit the kids and one of the quarterbacks came to talk with E. and gave her a stuffed animal of Chief, their mascot. Finally we were able to leave and E. wanted to be pulled in one of their wagons out to the car! By this point she was chatting it up with everyone and being so pleasant! We couldn't believe how good she was doing! Everyone at the hospital was so great! What an amazing system they have up there PCMC. We couldn't be more grateful for all the caring and professional people who cared for E. that day!

On Wed. night we attended a pre-surgery class at Primary Children's Medical Center where a nurse and some child-life experts walked all of us through the next day's process. We watched a movie about a little robot who came to the hospital for surgery and then the child-life experts let the kids play with all sorts of doctor's tools. They sent each child home with gloves, two medical hats, a mask, and a doll (with out eyes, nose or mouth as E. always points out) that they could use as their very own patient. Then they took us on a tour of all the different rooms and areas that we needed to know for the big day. The class was incredibly helpful and E. had a really great time - it really made the next day not so scary.

Saturday was a big day for Eliza! She reached the lofty status of 4 year old...something she's been looking forward to for quite a while! She now thinks, since she's 4, that she's "the oldest!" I don't know exactly what that means to her, but it's quite important and she's quite proud of being so big! We had fun on her birthday morning opening her gifts, having her favorite breakfast ("Popeye Pancakes" - German Pancakes), and then celebrating with good friends at Chuck E Cheese's. She had a fabulous time and we hope that all those who joined us had a little fun too! Eliza felt quite special with all the fun and you could see the wonder in her eyes all day. Thanks to all those who helped us celebrate!

I just had to share this picture of Eliza! With a backpack on her back and her cute little outfit she looks so grown-up! We were heading down to watch BYU play Colorado State....and we won! Go Cougs! After the game Mark and Stacey made dinner for us.  Bryan's cousin Tara and hubby, Jeramie, came over also and we all played Ticket to Ride. Thanks Mark and Stacey for the yummy food and great company! 

So, this afternoon wasn't the best time of our day. E and I had gone to the library and had fun reading books and then headed home to get dinner started. E. really wanted to have some yogurt and I was okay with that except that she really needs to be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. I told her she either had to have half of a banana, part of an orange, or some carrots before her yogurt. She wasn't very happy about this rule. Well, she lost her composure and cried and cried and told me that yogurt was healthy. I agreed with her and then tried to explain to her that she needs more fresh fruits and veggies and that it is my job that she eats them. She told me that she hates my job! At one point, when she was just completely beside herself she said (in a very sad/mad/sobbing way), "Mom, I sentence you to death!" I quickly washed my hands, grabbed her, gave her a hug, told her I love her and that it is only okay for the scriptures to say that, but it is not okay for us to say that to people!" She also told me that "Heavenly Father thinks you are being a bad example!" Oh, what do you do when these precious little ones know too much for their own good. Even though times like these are no fun, I have to admit that it is neat to be amazed by what kids can come up with. I just hope this is the last time that I'm "sentenced to death!"

Okay, my little baby is officially a Sunbeam! I can't believe it and I'm not sure I'm ready for it (although she totally is)!! I'm so glad that I am a Primary Teacher right now in Jr. Primary so I can spy on her! E. was a little hesitant to leave my arms as I sat her down with her class, but she was quickly chatting with her teacher and intently watching what was going on. They had all the new Sunbeams go up and we sang to them. I tried to wave to her, but she couldn't see me. Then they did the birthday song and since it was my birthday last week I got to go up....the best part was standing up there and waving to my little girl!! (Okay, I'm so cheesy)! I am excited for E. to learn the primary songs and hear the doctrines we teach her at home reinforced by other wonderful people! 2008 should be a fun year for her and for us as we watch her grow!   **Here are a couple of pics from her big day! I just had to insert the pose pic....she's definitely not camera shy!!

Well, we just returned to Utah from Arizona this week. This trip was where we  closed the previous chapter of our life and opened the next. We watched (with great appreciation in not having to do the work) as the packers packed all our belongings and as the loaders loaded all our stuff like an intricate puzzle into a huge semi! It was a surreal feeling for me to walk into our home and see it just as though we'd left it for a vacation. I did pretty well, emotionally, until I walked into E.'s room and then I lost it! Bryan's dad and brother had come with me that morning to help me empty the attic, poor guys! They did a great job trying to console me!! I was glad when Bryan flew in the next day! It was great to be able to see so many wonderful friends over the weekend. Thanks to all of you who hosted us, fed us, and chatted with us! We also had a great time with Bryan's family! We have so much fun when we are all together! We were able to go out as just the adults to dinner at Gecko Grill and then to see National Treasure! So fun! I think big families are so fun because when we get together there is just so much going on! My birthday was great! I opened gifts in the morning with family at breakfast and then went out to breakfast with friends! Then the rest of the day Bryan, E. and I watched the loaders load the truck. We took a few pics of the house while we were there just so we'll never forget our great first home! Oh, the memories! We made it back to Dad and Mom's house just in time for dinner and then we all hung-out, trying to stay awake, until midnight! E. had a ball the whole weekend seeing friends and playing non-stop with cousins! She definitely lived it up and loved swimming again in Grandpa and Grandma's hot tub!  We  had a wonderful trip and all the fun times definitely outweighed the moments of sadness! We look forward to this new chapter and hope that it will be as good as the last! We're just grateful that in this day and age we can go back and visit and easily keep in touch with everyone!

We had a great Christmas! E. obviously wanted to play with every toy as soon as she opened it! I felt bad saying, "Wait until you're done opening everything and then we'll let you play with it!" It was kind of like, "Oh, that's cool,...here's another!" As it turns out, we could have just stopped at the Stocking because whenever she was asked what she had gotten for Christmas she said, "A Hello Kitty purse with pens and paper! And body paint!" We'll have to remember that for next year!! To her credit, we did leave for Arizona soon after Christmas and all she got to really take with her was her Hello Kitty purse. She loved all her toys and has played with them like crazy since we've been home! What a magical time of year it is!! On Christmas Day we realized how much E. loves to ride on ATVs! Uncle Lee took her out for a ride and couldn't get her off for like an hour! Her little face was freezing and she loved every minute of it!