The Thomas Family

Calling 911

2010-12-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

When Andy and Jenny were in town they let us tag along to meet up with their friend who is a fireman. He took us on a tour of their station and took us on a ride in a FIRE TRUCK! It was awesome. I think we stayed there for over 2 hours. It was so fun to learn about everything they can do, and to play with some of the equipment. So here we are honorary firemen for a day!

Hot stuff!!! Can we take the uniform home?!?!! ;)

I know, I know, I am hard core!

My favorite little oompa loompa.

She loved every second of it!

Her, not so much!:(

She loved it all before I made her step into the boots. I feel so bad seeing that cute little sad face, but it is a fun picture.

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!

2010-11-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

So cute how much fun a huge pile of leaves can be. We played in them for over an hour!

I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Elle, Audrey, and Sophie

Halloween

2010-11-07T13:21:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun this Halloween!

Elle is in preschool and they got to go on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Our little jack-o-lantern.

Who would have known the funnest part of the entire day for our little Elle was the bus ride! That is all she talked about for the next few days.

Mike and Sandra's annual pumpkin carving party!

Elle got to pick out our pumpkins on her field trip.

The two smallest are ours.

We got to trick or treat a lot this year between preschool, trunk or treats, and the actual door to door trick of treating. Needless to say, we have enough candy to last us till next year! (Just January, we like candy too much for it to last till next Halloween! ;))

Cutest girls ever!!!

Our bumble bee, and little bo peep!

Are you ready for this

2009-10-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it has been awhile since I last posted, so I thought I would catch you all up with like fifty new posts. Not really fifty but there are a lot. So I hope you enjoy them.

This post is of my sweet chubby little Audrey. She is almost three months old and absolutely adorable.

So I was blowing on her little belly today and she started giggling! It is the most adorable sound I had to post both of the videos that my Mom helped me take. She is such a happy baby. We just love her to death!

Sisters!

2009-10-14T18:22:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to have my two girls. I love them to pieces and I am so glad Elle loves her baby sister.

Here are just a few cute pictures of them.

Blessing

2009-10-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

We blessed little Audrey a few weeks ago. It was such a beautiful special day. Thank you to all our family and friends for sharing it with us.

Audrey's announcement

Our new family.

Notice who Audrey is looking at, she can't get enough of her big sister.

What an angel

Daddy and Audrey Bear

I can't believe how much we love our girls. They are both so sweet and really good. We are one lucky Mom and Dad!

Stewart Falls

2009-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Our first outing with little Audrey bear! We decided a little hike would be fun. So we chose Stewart Falls. It was gorgeous. The weather was perfect and Elle had such a blast.

Just notice how clean Elle was at the beginning.

Elle stopping to take a picture. Notice the dirt slowly climbing up her legs.

Then she took off running again. She did so great. She walked (ran) the whole way by herself. She is just so tough!

Elle walking in the freezing cold water. Notice her five o'clock shadow, ya, that is dirt. How she got this dirty I don't know. Good thing she had fun.

Cute picture of my cute man and my cute girl.

Running down the path.

Smith Family Reunion

2009-10-14T17:29:00.001-07:00

So this summer was the first annual Smith Family Reunion. So we went up to Antelope Island. It was the first time Nate and I had ever been there. It was so much fun. There were so many little activities to do, yummy food, and just plain old fun with the family!

It was very cool seeing all the buffalo.

Just a dang cute picture of a dang cute girl.

Yet another family picture.

This is Elle with her Great Uncle Mark, playing a little ball. One of the fun activities going on.

It was such a fun day we can't wait until next year.

4th of July

2009-10-14T17:13:00.001-07:00

We had a great Fourth of July! This is one of my favorite holidays.

Daddy and Elle snacking on their apples while saving our spot at the parade.

Elle and Mommy throwing pops while saving our spot at the parade.

Elle and Chloe Jo enjoying themselves very much at the balloons

Family photo

Elle and Ashley enjoying their breakfast at the parade.

Elle and Kaitlynn having fun watching the parade together.

Elle looking so cute dancing around with her sparklers!

It was such a great day.

Hogle Zoo

2009-10-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

We had to make a trip up to the zoo of course. We had such a good time with Grammy and Bethy. This was one of the best times I have ever been. We saw so many of the animals up close and walking around.

Here is Elle with her new kitty.

Elle's favorite part of the zoo.

She is just so cute. She loved watching the crazy monkeys.

The classic zoo picture. You always have to get one drinking from the lions mouth.

Cabin

2009-10-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

We spent another fun weekend up at the cabin with Lisa and Kimball, Jason and Sasha, and the kids. We ate lots of great food(as usual) and got to relax and play.

Elle roasting a yummy looking marshmallow.

Elle devouring that yummy marshmallow in an even yummier s'more.

Nate took Elle fishing for the first time and she caught a fish! It was so cute. She was very excited.

Even though it is so beautiful up there, we still love all the extra naps you get to take!

Another fun thing, Kimball invested in the game, Guitar Hero. As you will see we have some major rock stars on our hands.

That is one cute girl band.

She sure loves to rock out to a little Metallica!

It may look like Nate was teaching Elle but I think it might be the other was around.

Swimming Lessons

2009-10-14T16:11:00.001-07:00

Alright, you are on the last new post.

So early this summer Elle was able to take swimming lessons. Vernal has this amazing indoor pool. She loved swimming every day except the last for some reason, but she did great.

Swimming with her face under the water.

Cutest back float I have ever seen, that's for sure.

The high light of the entire process was her jumping off the diving board, (with a little assistance) to her teacher waiting in the pool. Then her sweet attempt to swim back to the wall with a life vest on that was bigger than she was. I think she meant to do the back stroke all the way to the wall. So cute, and funny!

Well, congratulations, you are now up to date with the Thomas Family!

Audrey Michele Thomas

2009-07-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

She is finally here!

After a few weeks of being sent to the hospital almost every other day for hours of monitoring because of my blood pressure, they finally decided to induce me at 38 weeks!

We had our sweet little Audrey on July 21st!

She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces.

She was 18 1/2 inches long.

She is gorgeous!

Our new little family of four!

We have only been home for a few days but she is already an incredible sleeper.

The cutest big sister ever!

Elle loved visiting the hospital and has been so great with Audrey so far.

She is such a good girl.

Getting ready to take our cute little "Chubbers" home.

Look at that double chin, so cute.

Summer Fun

2009-06-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

We have done lots of fun little things this past month.

Elle and I spent a week out in Orem without our main man, Nate. We missed him so much. Elle decided that when Daddy got back we all needed to go on a date together. She decided all by herself that we should go to Cafe Rio for dinner and then go bowling.

Elle is a very good and independent bowler.

She wouldn't let us help her carry her ball or anything.

She is just so cute.

After almost every one of her turns, this was her reaction when her ball hit the pins.

It was so funny!

On Memorial Day we went to the cemetery with Nate's Mom and Diane

Our little fam in front of Nate's Dad's grave.

We also got to go four wheeling!

Mike and Sandra invited us to go with them. We all had so much fun. This was Elle's first time and she had such a great time. We all did. Thanks for the invite you guys and if you ever need anyone to go with you again just let us know!!

It was such a beautiful day up in the mountains.

Elle loved helping Daddy steer once in awhile, most of the time she just leaned forward on her hands and enjoyed the ride.

Lisa and Kimball's ward in Vernal has an awesome BBQ every year.

This year we got to go.

They roast a huge pig every year. Doesn't it look delicious?

It actually really was so good.

Elle loved telling everyone that we had a pig for dinner.

After dinner they let out a ton of live chickens and bunnies for all the children to try and catch. It was hilarious! They told everyone that if they caught one they got to keep it. Of course Elle caught a little bunny. Luckily, everyone wanted the little bunnies so someone took it off our hands. It was such a good time.

A bunch of RaNDoM things!!*

2009-05-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

ElLe's pIctUreS

We got Elle's pictures done for her third birthday. Here are a few of our favorites!

Don't you love her nail polish. Lol.

I didn't even think about that.

PRinCeSs BiRthDay ParTy

Elle was invited to her first birthday party without Mommy.

She had a blast, Mommy had a hard time without her though.

She is getting too old.

She made me take a picture of her posing like this. Not joking. She felt so pretty.

It was very cute.

GeOCaChiNg

We had our first experience with Geocaching, and loved it!

We told Elle we were going on a treasure hunt, so she had a blast too.

This was on our way to our first find. It was a little bit of a climb, but very exciting.

We found the treasure!

It is in between the two huge rocks.

Opening the treasure box.

We did a lot more "caching" that day.

It is a very fun thing to do as a family (and it is free).

DiNosAuR LaNd

We finally made it over to the dinosaur museum in Vernal!

It was a good time.

Elle and I under "Little Foot's Mom".

That is right, Elle loves The Land Before Time.

There is a fun little section for kids with puzzles and games.

Elle's favorite was digging for bones.

Elle and Daddy posing for a picture between the two Dinosaurs. If you can see her face she is crying because of "Sharp Tooth", again Land Before Time.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Vernal this Easter and celebrated with Lisa, Kimball, Ashley, and Ruby.

We had so much fun going to the Vernal City egg hunt, coloring eggs, making cupcakes, and having our own egg hunt on Easter.

Elle and Ashley getting ready to run for all the candy at the city hunt.

Coloring eggs!

She would have chosen blue for every egg if we let her.

Lisa had the dang cute idea of making Easter basket cupcakes.

They were so cute.

Elle was so proud of her creation.

Easter morning!

Elle got some really fun things from the Easter Bunny and her Grandmas.

She found so many eggs and little prizes on our family hunt.

A couple of days after Easter the library in Vernal held a Sock Puppet Buffet!

It was adorable, and this was Elle's creation.

It depends on the day but it's name is either Fifi of Pom Pom.

So creative.

This is a random photo of my big belly that my friends in California requested. I am six months pregnant.

Elle is going to be such a great big sister. She always hugs my belly and talks to her baby sister.

At night during family prayer she always blessing her baby sister to grow strong and healthy.

She is a sweetie

A Month of Firsts

2009-04-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

We have had so much fun trying new and fun things this month! Here are just a few.

Beth's birthday party was at Classic skating this year. So, obviously, this was Elle's first time skating. It was hilarious. We had so much fun teaching her. This was the position that she was in the whole time she had regular skates on. So cute.

Finally getting the hang of it with the clip on skates.

So big skating all by herself.

Elle and Grandpa's first time bowling on the wii. Elle was hilarious to watch so enjoy the movie.

First time flying a kite.

She loved it. It was a kite with a barbie face on it. Elle kept saying that she (the barbie) wanted to come down and give her a hug. It was pretty cute.

Now Nate's turn.

This is his first time in full gear to go dirt biking. He and Kimball are going this weekend. Even though I am worried sick about him going, he does look pretty dang cute all geared up and ready. Hopefully we will have some pictures of him on a bike soon.

This is also our first time living next to a pasture of cows.

It has been so much fun watching more and more baby cows show up every day. Funny how cute they are when they are little, then they grow up.

It's "Paw"rty Time!!

2009-03-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our little girl is not so little anymore. She just celebrated her third birthday! Time goes by way too fast. It has been so much fun having, loving, and watching her become this sweet big girl. We can't wait to see her with her little sister in August.

That is right we get another beautiful little girl!

Here she is on her very first birthday, with her very proud (and tired) Daddy!

Here she is on her one year old birthday.

She just loved holding her cake and not eating it.

And, at her two years old birthday party.

So this year for her party we were so happy to be here in Utah and enjoy all our families company at her party. She loves to pretend she is a dog all the time, not sometimes, but all the time! So naturally we thought of a puppy party.

It was a blast and she looked so cute. (As did all the kids.)

So enjoy the photos!

That morning for her gift from Mom and Dad, she finally got to go to Build-A-Bear.

Our sweet little birthday puppy!

Everyone got to wear puppy ears and decorate their own dog collars and tags,

play in Elle's dog house,

and get a balloon animal from Elle's amazing balloon artist, Grandpa!

This is just one of my favorite pictures from the party. Elle's best friend, Chloe, loved eating the refreshments (that were served in dog bowls) like a real dog.

It was hilarious!

Elle blowing out her candles. She did it so delicately, one candle at a time.

Opening all her amazing gifts. She loves them all. Thank you all so much.

One BIG puppy family!

Thank you all for coming and sharing Elle's special day with us. It really meant a lot to have almost all the people we love there!

One little puppy family!

For those of you who don't know we are now living in Vernal for the next few months. Nate is working for his brother in law until he goes to Oklahoma for training. It has been so fun living with Lisa and Kimball. Elle is having a ball with her cousins Ashley and Ruby too!

So we did our little family birthday here.

Blowing out her candles, again. I think if we sang the Birthday song to her everyday she would be so happy!

Luckily, I have two of her grandma's on my voicemail singing to her. She loves listening to them.

Of course the best part, licking the frosting off the ends of the candles!

Happy Birthday our sweet little Elle, we love you to pieces!!

California Dreamin

2009-03-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am finally posting our trip to California! We had such a great time going with Mike and Sandra and Chloe. We made stops at all our favorite places, Philly's Best (of course that was the first thing we did!) Disneyland, Sea World, the ocean, and dinner with great friends! There are so many fun pictures it was hard to limit them, so enjoy.

Lots of amazing cheese steaks and fries!

Can't you see how happy he is.

Our first bite of heaven!

First day at Disneyland!

Our second day at Disneyland. We left right at nine to get there when the park opened. It was pouring and Nate and I were soaked. So we get to the park and buy ponchos and ten minutes later it stops raining and is beautiful and warm the rest of the day.

Oh well, fun memory.

Elle looking adorable in the poncho she wore for ten minutes.

Family picture time

Because Elle is so cute, one of the Disneyland employees had her put on his hat and jacket for this picture. It was so funny and cute.

Elle and Chloe giving a thumbs up for the new Toy Story ride.

We surprised my best buddy Vikki with an invite to dinner. It was so fun to see her and her family. Thanks for coming on short notice and sharing a fun night and a yummy dinner. We love you all!

Another day at Disneyland. Elle got to meet so many characters but I couldn't put all those pictures on, so I had to choose her favorite, Woody, of course.

We never bought her Mickey ears when we lived in Cali, so she got her first set this trip and loved them. The only thing was you couldn't call them Minnie ears, they had to be Mickey. She is so funny like that.

Killer muscles Ellie Bellie!

She was finally tall enough to go on a real roller coaster! Afterwards, I asked her if she liked it and all she said was it made her hungry. She is so funny.

If you click on the picture you can see her with her Daddy holding her arms in the air.

Sea world!!

This was right after the Shark tunnel. So she is pretending to be scared of the shark teeth.

Our little polar bear!

She is so fearless! She loved touching the bat rays with Daddy.

The Ocean!!

Playing with Daddy in the water.

All the girls waiting to be splashed!

ELLE!!

This was on the drive home after and super fun trip!

Finally!!!!!

2009-02-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

Nate finally received an email from the FAA. He has been selected for a tower position at the Portland International Airport! In April he will fly out to Los Angeles to complete his interview, background check, medical evaluation, and psych test. Hopefully while he is there we will find out a timeline for his Oklahoma training and our official moving date. We are so excited to start our lives in Oregon. I am so proud of him and how hard he worked to get this position. We couldn't be happier about him starting in a tower.

We hope you will all come out and visit us.

Baby #2

2009-01-11T10:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't already know. Nate and I are expecting our second baby. I am 11 weeks now. We are so excited for Elle to be a big sister!

So done with January

2009-01-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

Well, let's just tell you all about our month so far.

New Year's Eve was a blast. We spent with Nate's brothers and sisters. We ate so much yummy food and played games all night.

Then came my birthday. I was totally spoiled by my hot husband and adorable daughter. They had an entire spa day set up for me at the Kura Door Spa in SLC. My day started with a

Japanese soaking bath. It was so relaxing. Then I was treated to a body scrub and wrap. While I was wrapped up I was given a hair treatment and scalp massage for half an hour. Then I showered and came back to the room for a 90 minute long massage. (Are you jealous yet?) Next, I ate a very delicious lunch of sushi, salad and oranges. Then the esthetician came and got me for my oxygen facial. I finished off my day at the spa with a full pedicure. It was absolutely incredible.

I came home to my sweet little family in bed. Elle was very sick with an awful cough and Nate had the stomach flu. It was very sad. So we just cuddled all together and watched movies the rest of the night.

So the next day is when it got way worse.

We didn't sleep at all, with Nate being sick and Elle not being able to get comfortable. So Sunday was our nephew's blessing. So I decided to go by myself and let the sick ones sleep. Later that night when I was home our little Elle started breathing very rapidly. She wasn't able to catch her breath. It was so scary, so we called her doctor right away. He told us to bring her in immediately. They checked her oxygen levels right away and they were so low they admitted my poor baby to the hospital with pneumonia. It is the scariest thing ever when your child can't breath and has to be in the hospital for any amount of time. She was so brave though. We were there for 3 days and nights. Thank you for all your calls, visits and prayers.

We are so glad she is home now. Here are some of the memories.

Elle's first night. She was so tough. She didn't cry when she got her IV. It helped that we had great nurses who made her feel safe. This picture just makes you want to cry though.

On the second day she was able to get off the oxygen and just get treatments every couple of hours. So we were able to get out of the room and go on walks. Any time she left her room she had to wear one of these masks.

Her cute little hospital gown. Nate's work was so great and let him take time off so he could stay with us. I don't know what I would have done without him there.

Thanks to everyone who came to visit. It helped make Elle feel more at home and comfortable.

The hospital gave Elle a doll she could color on. It had an IV just like her. This is her giving her doll medicine to feel better.

She was starting to feel better the day before we left.

There is that sweet smile we had missed so much.

Back to her normal silly self.

On the day we got to go home she learned how to go cross-eyed.

So funny!

We have been home for a few days now. She is still on an antibiotic to make sure nothing comes back, but she is doing great. We are being a little over protective until she is off the medication, we just don't want her to ever go through that again.

Christmas Day

2009-01-10T16:46:00.001-08:00

Christmas was so great!

We spent the night at Nate's Mom's, and had Christmas morning at her house.

This was Elle's look of pure joy as we came down the stairs and she saw some of her gifts for the first time.

Family picture.

In her tent. Well, stuck to her tent. We had to untangle her hair from the zipper.

Such cute rain gear from Grandma Thomas.

The one thing she has been asking for from Santa was tools. As you can see she didn't put them down all morning.

Elle's Stocking Time!

Daddy's stocking time!

Mommy's stocking time!

Daddy's surprise!

Then we headed over to my Mom's for a very yummy prime rib dinner. It was so so good. After dinner we opened even more presents! Elle got the cutest PJ's and fun tinker bell bath toys and lotions.

Next, it was on the Grandpa and Grandma Smith's.

Where we got even more gifts. Talk about spoiled.

My Grandpa Smith was a great artist, so my Dad carved one of my Grandpa's sketches onto a piece of wood for each of the grand kids. It is so beautiful.

We had an amazing Christmas!

Everything in between Halloween and Christmas

2009-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Lets begin,

We celebrated Nate's 28th birthday on the sixteenth of November! He started his day by going shooting with the boys and having a great time. Then Nate and I went and stayed up at the Little America in SLC. We went to Tucanos for dinner then caught a flick. Then next day we went to the Sunday brunch. It was so good!

Nate went hunting with Kimball this year so Elle and I decided to give him his birthday present a little early so he could take it with him. He got a Garmin gps.

Happy Birthday Babe, we love you!

Thanksgiving came next. We had such a great dinner at Trish and Scott's house. All the kids had so much fun too. They made a huge tent outside and played in it for hours.

Cute picture of most of the cousins in the tent.

Then came December.

We did so many fun things this season. It was a such a fun Holiday because Elle understood a little more about our Saviors birth, and of course Santa.

We went to the festival of trees with Grammy and Beth and had a blast!

Elle loved the kids corner. Every craft they had, she did. It was cute watching her have so much fun. Here are just a few of the fun booths.

Coloring and giving Santa a beard.

She made her antlers and also got a tattoo on her cheek.

We got to be inside a huge bubble, which if you can see her face she didn't like.

Elle got to sit on Santa's lap for like 30 minutes because the camera broke and then they lost her picture. Luckily Santa is Elle's best friend. She could have sat there all day. She just talked his ear off. It was very cute. We have lucked out, she has never been afraid of Santa.

We made it up to the Salt Lake temple this year. It was so beautiful. Elle and her friend Chloe had a great time together. They are getting so big. They would have just gone off by themselves if we would have let them.

Best buddies!

Her dance teacher put together a little Christmas program for the parents. It was adorable and funny. Elle's favorite part was the make up.

Her and her friends getting ready to start.

Elle's solo of the ABC song.

Since we are back in Utah, we had to take advantage of the amazing snow we have had.

This is one of our new favorite pictures of Elle. She is so pretty.

Elle and Daddy cruising down a very steep hill. As you can tell they both loved it.

Making an adorable little snow angel.

And, her favorite part, eating it all up!

HALLOWEEN!!

2008-11-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween was so much fun this year. We did so many fun things with our friends. Elle had a blast trick or treating and playing with her cousins.

A couple of days before Halloween, Hayley threw a great costume party. We had so much fun. We ate great food, and they gave out awards for the costumes. I won the most original, and Nate got the scary award (yahoo!)

As you can see everyone looked great.

Then we had a pumpkin craving contest. We did a classic jack-O-lantern. If you look really closely at the reflection on the floor it kind of looks like the batman symbol, ya, we did that on purpose.

Nate and I, and Brooklynn won first place! We got a batch of the best pumpkin cookies I have ever had (way to go Hayley).

Then at the Strongs house we had a fun filled night of pumpkin craving. Elle got to carve her pumpkin with Daddy. She choose a kitty.

It turned out super cute, and she loved it.

The week of Halloween, at dance, she got to wear her costume. They even did a little halloween performance for the Moms. It was super cute. They are learning a dance for a little recital in December.

This is Elle with her best buddy, Lauren. Have you ever seen a cuter cow girl?

On Halloween we had so much fun with every one.

Our little family with my Mom and Beth!

All the Thomas cousins together.

Elle and Chloe heading out to the trunk or treat.

(isn't she the cutest Costco manager ever!)

This was by far the coolest car at the trunk or treat we went to. I wish you could see it better. It had a fog machine and blow up halloween decorations, it was great.

We finished up the night with Sasha and Jason at the Hansen's.

It wouldn't be Halloween without the Hansen's yummy chilli.

Halloween Carnivals

2008-11-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

So many things to do so little time

My little pirates, sword fighting.

Rock climbing! She is a pro.

This was the coolest thing ever. Nate said he wanted to buy one of these instead of a trampoline. It is like a gaint balloon.

This was a smaller version.

Elle and I went on a train ride. We are waving to Daddy.

Playing in a playhouse

Elle, catching some major air in a bounce house.

Out of everything there was to do, this was by far her favorite. We came back and did it two more times before we left.

This was at another carnival. During the entire corn maze Elle was singing "Following the Leader" from Peter Pan.

Nice cannons babe!

There was a little petting zoo. Elle loved being able to be in the pen with the animals.

A real hay ride!

This slide was awesome. It was so fast. Elle loved it because you got to climb up hay bales to get to the top of the slide.

Cutest sheep I have ever seen!

Fall Fun

2008-11-06T19:22:00.001-08:00

We just love fall!

We got to spend another week in Vernal with Lisa and Kimball. We had a great time. The whole family came down for Ruby's blessing, at the beginning of the week, so the boys took advantage of it and got a little football game going.

Meanwhile,

the girls had a great time jumping on the trampoline.

While Nate was busy working with Kimball, us girls had so much fun playing together. Elle and Ashley coundn't get enough of eachother. I love seeing her having so much fun with her cousins. They loved jumping on the tramp, going to story time at the library, and decorating halloween sugar cookies.

I had a blast holding and playing with little Ruby. She is such a cutie. Lisa and I also had fun exploring Vernal and working out. It was a great week.

You can see Elle and I were all tuckered out after all the fun.

At FHE with my Dad and Diane, all the kids got to pick mini pumpkins from the garden with Grandpa.

So proud of her pumpkin.

Then we all got our make shift aprons on, so we could paint the pumpkins.

It was such a fun night. The pumpkins turned out great, and with how much paint Elle put on hers it only took 3 days to dry!

DINASOURS!!!

2008-11-06T19:04:00.000-08:00

We went to the Dinasour Museum!

Nate and I had so much fun. Elle wasn't as interested in the fossils but when she got to dig for dinasour bones she didn't want to leave. We were suprised at how big it was. We would definelty recommend it to anyone.

Isn't she the cutest paleontologist!

Oh no, a SHARK!

2008-09-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have decided that I need to post more often. Whenever I sit down to blog there is always so much to talk about. We are having too much fun.

So most recently I ran my first 5k with my brother Chris! We had a blast. It was for a festival in Pleasant Grove. I have been running with my friend Sasha almost everyday since we moved back, so I decided it was time to run a race.

So that means in the next 5k we run, Sasha you better run with

us!

My brother and I before the race.

This is the fastest I have ever ran 3 miles before, 27 minutes! I was proud of myself. Chris did amazing, he finished in 24 minutes!

I had an awesome cheering section! Nate, Elle, Sasha, my Mom, Rob, Beth, and Dixie all came out to support us. Sasha even made me a sign! Thanks guys.

The next newest thing. . .

Elle started dance class! She is taking a jazz, ballet, tumbling, and singing class at Center Stage. She absolutely loves her teacher, Brittany. She is so much fun to watch. SO CUTE!

This is her dance

outfit!

A cute little video of her on the balance beam.

We went and had a BBQ in the canyon with the family, and Elle got to roast her first marshmallow. She didn't like the smoke very much, but she sure loved the marshmallow after!

Helping Daddy!

I loved this picture of Elle, Kaitlynn, and Jaxon! Having so much fun in the mountains.

We were lucky enough to have my friends from California come and visit. We had such a good time having Vikki, Hannah, and Leah stay with us for a short visit. We loved seeing Cassandra, Maurina, Aubrey, and Cody too. We went to the Thanksgiving Point farm country with everybody..

I love this picture of the kids on the scale at the petting zoo.

Nate's sister, Brenda and her family came from Chicago for a long visit before they move to Thailand for a year! This was the first time we got to see her new little guy, Thomas! He was such a little stud. He pretty much smiles all day long and you can't help but smile at him. We are so glad we got to see them before they moved. We can't wait to come and visit you in Thailand! (We wish!)

This is Elle holding Thomas for the first time. She loved playing with him and all his toys. He looks huge compared to her.

She was always so excited to see Brenda and Jacob when we came to Grandma's house. We miss you guys already!

Cabin Fever!

2008-08-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

We got to go on a little vacation with our friends, Jason and Sasha, to Flaming Gorge! We had such a great time. Lisa and Kimball were so nice, and let us use their cabin. We did so many things, it couldn't have been more fun. Thank you guys so much.

Okay, so Nate and Jason went fishing quite a bit. Sasha and Elle and I decided to stay home and sleep, instead of getting up at 4am! But if we would have known how beautiful it was where they went we would have totally tagged along.

One of Nate's catches.

See what happens when you get up at 4am to go fishing!

So while the boys were sleeping I was making Magleby's french toast. (So yummy!!) As you can tell in the picture I got into a fight with the cinnamon, and lost. Good times!

Elle had so much fun playing outside with bubbles and hiking around the cabin.

There isn't two more beautiful people in the whole world. I just love this picture!

There were deer everywhere! Elle would yell "Bambi" every time we saw some. It is so beautiful being up in the mountains and seeing all the wild life.

So we happened to go up on the weekend that Breaking Dawn came out. So Sasha and I drove down to the Vernal Walmart at 12am to get our copy. We read it until like five in the morning, and finished the whole book in two days. I don't think I need to tell you, we both loved it!

On the last day we took Jason and Sasha all around Flaming Gorge. It was so beautiful.

Elle was in the silliest mood. She was being such a cutie. So this is her little photo shoot!

"Check it out"

Pretty darn cute!

The girls having a group shot!

The boys having a group shot. This picture just reminds me of the song. . . .

"London Bridges Falling Down"

"Everybody feels so happy and GAY!"

They were very silly, it was a blast.

One big happy family!

Summer Fun!

2008-08-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here are just some pictures of the fun things we have done lately, (and not so lately, since I haven't posted for a while.)

My cute husband doing fireworks on the 24th!

Our cute baby in awe of the fireworks on the 24th!

We just took her bike out of storage. She has been so happy to have it out again.

We went on a bike ride up to Bridal Veil Falls and had a yummy picnic with our buddies Jason and Sasha!

Elle just loves Thanksgiving Point's petting zoo. Beth taught her how to milk a cow, lovely. This was her first shot at it.

By far, this is her favorite part about the zoo. She loves to ride ponies.

All she did was beg me to hold to bunnies. She is so much fun. What a lucky Mom I am.

July 4th!!

2008-07-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

This year was one of the best Fourth's of July ever! We did so many fun things and spent so much time with people that we love.

First, the night before, we got our spot at the 4th of July parade in Provo. So my sweet husband, who doesn't even like parades, camped out for Elle and I and our family and friends to hold our spot. Luckily Derrick, Jen, Cecily, and Ainsley kept him company all night, thanks guys.

Elle and Daddy pretending to sleep. We actually went home and slept in our beds.

So early in the morning Elle and I met up with Nate and we watched the hot air balloons launch. Elle was in awe the entire time. She loves balloons as it is, but to see a ton of "giant" balloons, she was in heaven.

Her favorite was the strawberry one.

We ran into Chloe, Mike, and Sandra. Elle was very happy to see her best little buddy.

At the parade Elle wanted to hold her little cousin Ainsley the entire time.

Elle and Cecily holding their cool leaves.

Elle and Ashley were "twins" for the day.

Of course she loved the Curious George balloon.

After the parade we all took naps, then went to a yummy barbecue at Chris and Dixie's house. We ate tons of delicious food. It was a blast.

Thanks to my Grammy and Grandpa we were able to go to The Stadium of Fire. Which Elle and I were very excited about because Miley Cyrus was preforming. I don't know how excited Nate was for Miley, but he did love the Blue Man Group and the fireworks. This is Elle trying to see if "Hannah" was on stage yet.

Nate and I both thought this was so beautiful.

There she is!! Elle wouldn't take her eyes off the stage. She loved dancing and singing the songs she knows. After every song was over she would turn to us and ask "What's next?"

Dancing away!

We are so thankful to live in our great country, and enjoy our freedoms everyday. We are also so thankful to all the people who fight or have fought for our Nation.

God bless America!

Vernal, baby!

2008-07-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Vernal for a week so Nate could help Kimball build a huge garage. So Elle and I were able to play with with Lisa and Ashley. Elle had such a great time with Ashley, she asks for her everyday now. Thanks for being such great hosts Lisa and Kimball. Here are just a few of the fun things we were able to do.

Dress up time! Elle just loved being able to dress up like Jessie, from Toy Story! The boots were her favorite. She has been asking for a pair for the past few months.

Howdy, partner. Isn't she adorable!

This was her first time on a tramp. She was scared to death at first, obviously!

After about ten minutes she was all smiles, jumping all over the place.

After a while she was all tuckered out. Isn't that such a cute picture of my two favorite people?

She got to ride on the Kubota with Daddy!

She even stayed up late a few nights and watched movies with Ashley!

We did some fun crafts. This is her with a handful of beads. She was very excited.

She made a star.

The girls had so much fun painting too. Even though she is not smiling. She doesn't like to smile for the camera yet.

This was the first time she ran through the sprinklers. She was a little nervous. But very excited.

Ashley loved to tease Elle by spraying her with the water.

Elle wasn't so sure about that. I thought it was pretty cute.

Elle and Ashley took turns being the doctor for each other. It was very funny to watch.

Elle insisted on laying down when it was her turn to be the patient. So, so cute!

2008-07-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my friend Vikki's beautiful family and their new baby, Leah! Isn't she beautiful! Their family is being sealed in the temple on the 12th of this month.

We just wanted you to know how proud of you we are. You are an amazing family. We just wish we could be there for your special day. We miss you so much and can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Vikki, Scott, Hannah, and Leah

Look at that face. It is to die for.

Living with Grammy!!

2008-07-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Since Nate hasn't gotten a job yet, we are living with my Mom for a few months. We have had a great time so far. Elle just loves to see Grammy, Grandpa, Bethy, and the dogs every morning. Here are just a few cute pictures of the things we have done.

This was our first encounter with Costco's roasted chicken. Holy cow it is good. Elle just dug right in.

We bought new bikes and a bike trailer for Elle this year. She absolutely loves it. It was obviously a long ride that night.

We moved back just in time for the Orem summer fest. The parade was great. We had a blast. Thanks everyone who came with us.

We filled up Beth's old pool for Elle. We swim almost everyday. This day we were able to swim with my sister Sarah and sweet baby Kelly.

This was the first time in the trailer. She loves her helmet just as much as the trailer.

Moving Day

2008-07-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Nate Graduated!!!
I am so proud of my awesome husband! He finished school with the highest grades in all his classes. What a good student. It was a tuff year and a half going to school full time but he did it! He is going to make one incredible Air Traffic Controller.

With Nate's graduation came the time to move back to Utah. We have counted that as his graduation present, because he was so happy to come home. But moving is a lot of work. Luckly, we had amazing help from our strong little girl Elle, and our great friends!

I couldn't believe how much fun an empty moving truck could be.

This much fun......(see how strong!!)

With work gloves she was ready for anything.

Until her best friend Hannah came over, then they just hid in a box and played.

Peek-a-boo

All worn out from our day of moving.

Catch up time!!

2008-07-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I have been a huge slacker. Our lives have been pretty crazy this last month. I am determined to catch up though. So I am going to start right where I left off, Father's Day.

We did Father's Day a little early this year for my man. Elle and I decided we wanted to take him deep sea fishing (it was mostly Elle's idea, hee hee!). But seeing how we were moving back to Utah before Father's Day, we opted to do it the week before. He had no idea. It was very fun to surprise him. I had my Mom come into town to babysit sweet little Elle. (Thanks a ton Mom!)

I woke him up at 4am and we set off to the beach.

This was our spot on the boat. Pretty much perfect.

There were seriously over one hundred dolphins swimming around our boat. It was incredible.

We both ended up catching one fish each. It was so much fun! This is our friend Patrick filleting Nate's fish for us.

I hope you had the best Father's Day ever, babe. You are one amazing Dad and Husband. Thanks for everything that you do, and how much you love us. We love you to pieces.

Leah is here!

2008-06-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

Nate finished his last days at Best Buy, and we decided we should go to Utah a little earlier then planned. So we were packing up our car the night before we left, and I got a call from my best friend out here, Vikki. She was calling from the hospital. She had just had her baby! It was two and a half weeks early, I thought I would miss it for sure, because of the trip. I was so happy we got to see her beautiful baby girl, Leah, before we left. Although that just made us miss them that much more. I just want to share that happy news. I will get some pictures soon and post them. She is so cute.

Our trip to Utah

2008-06-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Well Utah was such a blast. Elle had so much fun seeing all her cousins and Grandparents. Nate's sisters Lisa and Jen came into town while we were there too. So we got to see almost everyone. It was nice having so much time so we could play with everyone. We are excited to not have to say goodbye for so long anymore. Our offical move out date is the 12th! We are going to be staying with my Mom for a few months. We are so excited. Elle loves "Grammy's" house. But back to our trip there are a lot of pictures to see, so enjoy.

Elle had so much fun with all her cousins. They played great together while I was doing hair. Of course a little ring-around-the-rosie!

Yummy cake with Kaitlynn!

She played so much this trip I think it caught up to her. One minute she was watching cartoons with Daddy and the next she was out in this uncomfortable looking position. So sweet!

We visited Grandpa Thomas' grave for Memorial Day.

That night our new little niece Ainsley was blessed. Elle just loves her. From the second she met her she was asking to hold her. She will be such a great big sister some day!

Alright, lately our little Elle thinks that every time she bumps into something or gets hurt at all, she needs a band aid. We were at Grandpa and Grandma Smith's, and Grandpa decided to humor her with this ace bandage. I thought she would hate it and maybe not ask for a band aid as often, but no, she loved it and wore it for the rest of the night. Even while she was eating cake with Kaitlynn. She is so silly and cute.

Our first visit to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house she was totally spoiled with ballon animals, which she loves! So she was helping Grandpa with the balloons here.

I think Nate has just as much fun as Elle does when my Dad is creating the animals. He is always watching in awe, he is so cute, my little boy!

Elle was very excited to show Grandma Thomas when we got home. She didn't need any help bringing them all into Grandma's room. See how spoiled! I think she is loved, a lot!

Of course I have to throw these pictures in even though nothing was going on she is just so beautiful!

I don't think you could get any cuter!

We had so much fun. Thanks everyone!

We will see you soon.

The Best Mother's Day ever!

2008-05-12T20:36:00.000-07:00

So I will start at the beginning. Nate decided to keep my Mother's Day gift a secret. So I had no idea what was going on.

He woke me up at 5:45 am on Mother's Day and told me the get ready. He took care of getting a lunch packed for Elle and he got her dressed and ready for the day. At 7:00 am we headed out for who knows where. After about 15 minutes on the road I could tell we are headed for the ocean. I had an idea because Elle kept saying "Ocean, beach, Mommy." so that gave it away too. So we drove to the beach and park by the docks. By now I have figured out that we are going on a boat. I was so excited! It was an awesome surprise! Little did I know he had a whole trip planned out. He took me to Catalina Island. It was amazing. I absolutely love being on a boat in the ocean. It was so beautiful. We saw dolphins and a small shark. Very cool, right?

This is Elle and I in front of our boat!

Here is the beautiful island of Catalina. It was a little foggy, but still so amazing.

We have arrived! I had that permanent smile on the whole day!

We also were able to go on a submarine ride to a wild life preserve and see tons of awesome fish! It was very cool and Elle just loved it.

Some of those awesome fish.

This is our sweet baby on the boat ride home, she fell asleep in like two minutes. It was so cute she was eating pretzels and fell asleep with her hand in the bag holding on to a pretzel.

Are there two more beautiful people in the world? I don't think so. So I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband and such a sweet baby. I want to thank him and tell him how much I love him, and that I couldn't have asked for anyone better. My Mother's Day was amazing. Not just Mother's Day but everyday is so much fun with him. He makes my life better. I love him so much. He is such a great husband and an incredible father to our little Elle.

Speaking of Elle. She brings even more happiness to our lives than we ever thought we could have. I can't believe how lucky I am to be her mother. I have loved every minute of her. I am so thankful to have a husband who supports our family so I can stay home with her. She is so funny and happy and every stage of her life has just gotten better and better. I love her so much. I think I am the luckiest mom in the world. Thanks to My Naterator and Baby Elle!

I love you two!!

2008-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today a high school in our neighborhood was hosting a carnival. So we asked Elle if she wanted to go ride the ponies, of course the entire morning, and all the way to the carnival she was squealing and laughing with excitement. So we got there and the first thing she got was a sticker from the fire department. She thought that was pretty cool. She got to have her face painted too. She was excited at first, then she wasn't so sure about it when they started painting, but she sat still. When they were done and showed her in the mirror she couldn't stop smiling.

Of course the highlight of the entire carnival was the pony ride! They totally spoiled her because there weren't very many people there. So her ride was like fifteen minutes long. She couldn't of been happier. It wasn't as fun for me, walking around in a small circle that whole time. But she loved it so I was happy. All she kept saying was that she was like Jessie and Woody riding Bullseye. They are from Toy Story 2, her favorite movie. She was so happy.
Our little firefighter for a day!
Okay, this really should have it's own post. This is our favorite thing in the world right now, besides each other, the one and only Philly cheesesteak sandwich! We cannot believe how good this is. We go to this restaurant at least once a week. Everyone should be able to taste this masterpiece. So when you come to California you need to hit Philly's Best. Get a cheesesteak with onions and "wiz"(cheese wiz). You will not regret it, and you're welcome!

Sea World Baby!

2008-04-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

We have had such a fun week. On Thursday we were able to go down to San Diego and visit Sea World for the day. It was awesome weather, which made sitting in the "Splash Zone" that much funner. We got to see the Shamu and seal shows. Elle just loves seeing all those animals that live in the ocean. She fed the dolphins and was able to pet them. She was freaking out, she just loved that. By the late afternoon she was completely exhausted and fell asleep. So we headed home. We finished the day off with Outback for dinner. Which made it that much more of a happy ending.

Having a little peanut butter and jelly sandwich before the Shamu Show!

The killer whales would just come right up to the glass and watched Elle. It was really cool to see.

Introducing the New and Improved--Nate

2008-04-17T14:46:00.001-07:00

The past few months I've been working out and eating healthy, besides the few Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches I've been enjoying. So I decide to show everyone how good my body looks. Don't laugh, but I've really worked hard for this. If anyone needs any help getting the body they want, just give me a call.

Elle's Birthday

2008-04-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

Elle is two years old; and just incase you missed pictures of her birthday party on our old blog I will add them to this one. We had a little BBQ at the park with all her little friends. All the little girls got to run around in little tutu's and her friend Clayton got a super hero cape. I know she had a blast, and she was totally spoiled. Especially by Chloe Joe! Her and her Mom, Sandra, flew all the way from Utah just for her birthday. Boy is that little girl of ours loved. She is so close to all her sweet little friends down here. We love them all. They have all been so good to us. Thank you all so much for making it such a great day for her. We really have loved living here in California and getting to know all of you.

Just a little side note, I had a ton of help making Elle's cake. My sister in law, Lisa, talked me through it over the phone. Thanks Lisa, love ya tons!

Fun in the SUN!

2008-04-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

I heard that out in Utah today it was snowing. Now I am not trying to make anyone jealous, but it has been great weather here. We have gone swimming twice this week already. So I thought I might give you all a glimpse of our beautiful day at the pool.

Nate just started his internship at the Ontario Airport today. He will be going every Tuesday for 4 hours. Today he was in a simulator. He was able to get an idea of how his job as an Air Traffic Controller working in the tower would be. He came home pretty happy. I think he is really going to enjoy his career.

2008-04-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

Just to update you all, the newest thing in our lives is, we have started potty training our sweet little girl Elle. She has been doing great so far. Only two accidents in one week, pretty good, huh? She got to pick out her potty seat, and of course it is a pink princess potty. She loves to sit on it and read and practice her alphabet. But, her favorite thing of all is that she gets to wash her hands all by herself after she is done. Lately it seems like that is the way she wants to do everything. She is always saying, "I do it myself Mommy, please?" She is so independent and cute!

2008-04-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, we have decided to make it that much easier for you all to see our beautiful faces. We have switched from our Mac blog to blog spot! All of you out there that have it, have inspired us with you cute blogs.