Friends from Cali!!!

We had such blast when some of our dear friends stopped in from California. First, the Farnsworths (Nate, Ashley, Hailey and Brook) came to stay. We all had a great time laughing and eatting yummy food.
It was too short but definately sweet to see the girls become best buddies again.
Then Lena and Lily Kubota came to stay. Timo was on a business trip, so the girls came to stay with us. Lily and Ella had some good chats.
Lily is a little doll--so cute and happy. The girls loved her. The morning after they left, Ella kept asking, "When came Lily come back to play?". Hopefully, we'll see her soon at the beach!

Grandpa and Nancy Came to Town!

The girls loved spending time with their Great-Grandpa and Grandma! I don't know how Nancy didn't get caught by my camera--she's sneaky! She made her wonderful meatball sauce and stuffed mushrooms. We had quite the feast!
Grandpa serenaded Ella...
which won him a great big kiss!
She loves her Grandpa! It was great fun to have them stay with us.

Happy Easter!

Ella was so excited this year for the big egg hunt. She loved to find an egg and then sit down to enjoy it's contents...
Here is Tom pointing out some of the hot spots before the race begins. There was also some coaching along the lines of "pick of the egg, put it in your basket and then quick try to find another one".
Now that Ruby is mobile and in to everything, Ella has become quite a concerned about her things. Here she is not so gently explaining to Ruby that this egg is 'minnnneh'. Ruby is such a good sport--she just smiles at the Ella, knowing that her time will come.


Here is Ruby going for the basket of eggs. She is pulling herself up and loves walking with help...won't be too long.

April showers bring May flowers...The Easter Bunny brought the girls some dress up flower headbands.

Dinosaurs!!!!

Today we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. Ella had a blast. Here she is on a giant scale--she weighs as much as a Eoraptor! (25lbs.)
Here's my own personal little raptor. Ruby loves to attack people's shoes.
They had a great big sand pit where the kids could use brushes to uncover their own dino bones. Ella stayed in there for quite a while with frequent breaks to let me dump out the sand in her boots.
The real reason dinosaurs went extinct...
Ella taking a rest on the foot of a supersaurus. These things were HUGE.

Happy Spring! a day at the park

Here are my little sun sprites.
Ella's favorite thing to do at the park is to reorganize all the wood chips.
Wheeeeee!
Ruby loves getting to do all the big girl things.
Mini-me--Ruby is definately all Tom.

Ruby is 6 Months Old!

Here's my Ruby Joy! She's my big shot. She is long (and not too delicate) and has almost graduated to 12-18 mo. size clothes. She weighs just over 20lbs. (which Ella didn't hit until after she was 1 years old) and Ella is 25lbs. Watch out. She is getting quite mobile with her combination rolling and army crawl. When she sees something she wants, i.e. her daddy's toes or Ella's goldfish, there is no stopping her.
I love every roll on this little bit of love.
Here are the girls with Grandma and Grandpa Gardner over Christmas break. Ruby and Grandma are having a nice chat, while Grandpa and Ella are just chillin'.
Ella is enjoying the fact the Ruby is getting more playful and wrestling worthy. They are laughing in this picture because as soon as I'd take the picture Ella would fall back, bringing Ruby with her and then they'd both roll around laughing.
I love this face.

The New Year

We had a very Merry Christmas in Kansas with the Gardners. It was fun this year because Ella was so excited about everything--leaving cookies for Santa, her stocking and of course the presents.
On Dec. 26th, Ruby had her first taste of solid foods. She wasn't that thrilled and is only now starting to enjoy them (a good month later).
The weather was pretty nice in Kansas--warm enough that we went to a park. Unlike Utah that has been fridig with tons of snow. (I'm not even going to bring up how I am missing California)Ruby is mastering sitting up. This was taken on New Year's Eve. She was 5 1/2 months old.
Here is Ella in her pink wig ("just like Stephanie" from LazyTown, her latest obsession--if you don't know, don't ask) that she got for Christmas in her dress up box. My little pixie/rock star.

The Lights at Temple Square

Here's Ruby all bundled up and ready to go. She got in the stroller and fell asleep in her little cocoon.
Here's the beautiful temple at night. This is where Tom and I were married, so we always love coming back.
Here we are all bundled up--it was so cold. We walk straight to the Nativity, into the visitor's center to warm-up and then we were done.
Ella had a great time--she brought her doll, Sabrina, to see the lights.
Here's Tom navigating the stroller through the sea of people.

Ho Ho Ho

Ruby and Santa were instant friends--two jolly ol' souls with rosy cheeks. It took Ella a little longer to warm up to big guy but once they started chatting Ella had plenty to say. This year for Christmas she wants a new green balloon because hers popped. He's gonna see what he can do.
Big loves for Daddy.
twinkling lights
Ella loves holding Ruby. Ruby is not so sure.
Ella's first snowman of the season.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here's Ella and Ruby in the holiday overalls Michelle Gardner and I made over the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a little too much fun.
Two giggle boxes.

Kisses--Ella is so sweet and gentle with Ruby (most of the time).
Ruby's favorite part of her new outfit are the edible pom-poms...kind of a problem.

Thanksgiving Weekend with the Gardner Cousins!

After Thanksgiving dinner with Jared and Sherry, we headed down to Springville to spend the weekend with Robert and Michelle. Ella and Ruby had a great time playing with their cousins. Here are the girls--Ella, Ruby, and Amanda.
Amanda is wearing Michelle's ice-skating outfit and James is just loving the camera. He kept posing for a picture.
Ella really didn't want to take this one but Reed looks so handsome I had to put this one up. I can't believe how big they are all getting.
Here's Ella's "cheese" smile. (She's also dressed in one of Michelle's costumes).