Ellie Eating her cake

So my posts are all out of order but oh well. This video was supposed to go with her Birthday pictures. She didn't dive right into her cake like I thought that she would. But once we gave her a fork she got a little more serious about it. She stayed in her high chair for about 30 minutes picking away at her cake. For awhile the cousins were all around her and eventually I think they got bored with it and she was left alone in peace to finish it up. I was left to clean her up. Cleaning slimy frosting off of a baby is not easy.

Ellie Loving her Boom Box

Ellie wouldn't let anyone touch this. She had a death grip on it and wouldn't let go. Then once she realized no one was out to take her radio from her she began exploring it. She soon realized that it played music and she loved it. She played with this for a long time Christmas morning. Thanks mom!

Ellie walking

Ellies BIRTHDAY!

Ellie is officially 1 year old. I can't believe it. There are definitely some benefits of having a birthday around the holidays and that is that you get to have a lot of family at your birthday party. Jeff will have to teach Ellie how to handle having her birthday around Christmas time. Grandpa Scooter's (Smith) birthday is on the 28th of December and the family always celebrates his birthday by having a big Bunko party. So we celebrated Grandpa's birthday on Ellie's birthday then celebrated Ellie's birthday on Grandpa's birthday. I thought that she would have been more aggressive with her cake but most of the frosting that ended up on her body was thanks to her helpful sister and cousins...and an unamed Aunt. She got more serious with it when we gave her a fork.


Here is Kiera making Ellie's birthday cake.






Here is Ellie getting aquainted with her cake.

Here are the crazy cousins.

Christmas Slide Show

Live and Learn

Jeff's family has a fun tradition where each year we put together a page about what we did the past year. They have been doing this tradition for years and it is fun to look back on the years. Then usually at Grandpa Smith's birthday party we all get copies of each others pages. So here are our families pages. Double click on the pages to see them in a larger view.

Sisters

I am working on a 1000 piece puzzle right now and Kiera is getting impatient because she wants me to finish it. She told me last night that she would watch Ellie while I worked on getting the puzzle done. So she put Ellie in the green chair and read a Christmas book to her. I thought it was so cute.

Splish Splash

I was bathing Ellie last night and her eyes and eyelashes were just jumping out at me so I took a few pictures. I am lucky that she didn't get the camera wet because when I am done bathing her I am always pretty wet from her splashing. Can't wait for summer to get her into a pool.

Ellie's Winter Coat

I have been shopping around for a coat for Ellie and haven't found the one that I want. Well the cold weather is not holding off for me to find the perfect coat so I found this one the other day. She looks so cute in it. It is a little big and truly overwhelms her but it keeps her warm. She actually likes to wear it regardless that she can hardly move in it. You push her arms down and they pop right back up. The cutest thing is seeing her strapped into her carseat with it on.

My office (I know...boring post)

In September we moved into a new building on the North end of the Football field. It is three levels and we are on the third floor. It is an amazing building and I only wish that we had it when I was a student athlete. Needless to say my new office is about three times the size of my old office. So I am loving it. I took a few pictures of it for those who have not seen it yet. I have this huge window also and I took a pictures a few moments ago of what is going on outside...it is SNOWING SIDEWAYS!

Work Christmas Party

This year the department went to the Fun Park. Kiera had a blast playing inside this huge soft play jungle gym. It is so big that you actually have to wait around and look to see sightings of her. We walked in and within minutes someone took Ellie and Kiera was off playing with Leah, her friend. Later Kiera asked to go rollerskating. I said sure, while thinking to myself are you kidding me. She strapped her skates on and managed for a few laps around. Thankfully when she fell a few times she didn't take me down with her as I was wearing roller blades. Then Big Blue came to give presents to the kids. Kiera got the game "guess who" and Ellie got a colorful stacking toy. I was suprised that Ellie sat right up on Big Blue's lap although she wouldn't look at me for the picture she only would stare at Big Blue.

Volleyball game

Ellie has already experience her fair share of Utah State volleyball games. Here are a couple pics of her up the tunnel after the game in the ball bag.

Some other cute pics...

Here are a few pictures from the other day as well. I am scared this is the last of our warm weather. But I am thankful because I remember some snowy Halloween's in the past.

Ellie has 2 teeth

I took a great picture of Ellie yesterday while we were enjoying the weather. She smiled to show you her two teeth. She is ready to walk anyday and I am ready because her pants are so dirty by the end of the day because she crawls through anything and I don't have my mom close by who can get a stain out of anything! So any secret tips on getting stuff out of kids clothes would be helpful.

Fun with some Friends

We had some friends over for a little get together. Just a good excuse for Jeff to make some good food. Here are some pictures that highlight the night...

Family Halloween Party

We had the 2nd annual Family Halloween party at Jim and Am's. Grandma and Grandpa Smith came dressed up and it made me want to mandate that everyone dress up next year. The kids were so cute and we had fun carving pumpkins, decorating cookies and just having fun together. Kiera loves being around her cousins!! I particularly love the pictures of Kiera and her cousin Brinlie.

Utah State vs. Fresno State

Kiera enjoys all of the aggie athletic events. We were able to enjoy a great football game on Saturday that ended not in our favor. Kiera got into the game in the 4th quarter and was devastated that the Aggie's lost. She was really frustrated and kept bringing it up. That night she asked me for the camera and said that she needed to do something about the Aggies. So we got the camera and waited to see what she had to say. I decided it was too funny not to share. Her Uncle Alan plays for the Aggies and the message is directed towards him and his team.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween usually lasts an entire month for us. We have the pumpkin patch, then decorating the house, then putting some orange lights up outside, family parties, parties with friends, carving pumpkins so everything has led up to today, HALLOWEEN DAY. Kiera determined she was going to be a witch around August. Jeff took her shopping and she picked out her witch costume and decided then that Ellie was going to be a witch too. I am kind of bummed because Ellie will not wear her witch hat.