Alicia~ Finally a big sister!

Alicia (like all of us) is so in love with Elli! And she is doing really great at being a big sis.  :)

Elli's Quilt

My Mom is making all of her grand kids lap quilts. They are so beautiful! I want her to hurry so she can make them for her own kids!!! Here is the quilt she made for Elli  :)  Love it!!!

I Love all the material she used! 

My Sweet Pea!

It is soooo much fun having a precious little baby again. I have forgotten how much work they are... and the lack of sleep has rendered me mentally retarded at times... but Oh what a blessing and Joy!!

I love her yellow rocker and I thought how fun it would be to take it to a field or up in the mountains. I love what we ended up with. I have to thank her Big sis Alicia for helping me take these photos. I couldnt have done it without her!

Elliana Linda

My mind was so consumed with the whole situation I did not bring a camera to the hospital. So all of these pictures are from my phone. I really didn't know what to expect when we were there. Would we be able to see her? Keep her in the waiting room? How would it all go down?? At first the birth mom was going to let me in the surgery room and then a few days before the birth she changed her mind. Then at the hospital a RN came up to me and handed me a gown and booties! I had 2 minutes to get gowned and I was able to be there for her birth.

We ended up having a GREAT experience at the hospital. They actually gave us our own room! So we stayed in the hopsital both nights and kept little Elli with us the whole time. The birth mom had only a couple visits with her. As soon as the legal paperwork was signed on Friday- we were able to take our baby home! So here she is- at her first moments in life! And look at all her hair!! Isn't she adorable?!?!?!

My Camping Sleep Over

This last Saturday I was able to get my Sweet energetic niece Brinley and her sweet little brother Wyatt for a sleepover! I had been looking forward to this for sooo long!! Now, this was not just any ordinary sleep over... it was a camp out! Complete with a little tent, indoor fire and "roasting Marshmallows". :)

Brinley is such an intelligent, funny, adorable and sassy little thing! I absolutely love her!! And Wyatt, is such a fun, sweet, loveable, thick and hearty fella!! and I absolutely love him too!!

After I picked them up at Malachi's soccer game (Soccer post to follow!) we went home and set up camp. We then went to the Layton Duck Park, then to a park closer to home that is not so crowded on the slides. We watched about a million movies.... Cinderella, Toy Story, Madagscar... you get the picture. Oh and actually, I was surprised- she wanted to watch Christmas cartoons. So, we watched those too. When it got dark- we plugged in the fire (My Mom has these awesome lights that flicker like flames) and we roasted marshmallows. Now, Brinley probably hasn't roasted a marshmallow since last summer.... but she remembered to blow on them- and her's "caught on fire" a few times! It was hilarious to watch her slowly turn and move her marshmallow around- that was stuck to the end of a fork- over this strand of lights...... I will never forget how much fun this night was. So Precious!!

We played around in the front yard for a little bit. At first he did NOT like the grass. But after a while- he got use to it and was pretty content to hang out in the front yard.

The picture she is holding is a picture of Alicia when she was about the same age. Brinley refused to believe the little girl in the picture was not her. So this is Brinley's mean face picture.  ;)

Here it is!! Our Indoor Camp Fire!