Vote

I can't believe the election is next week. I know how hard it is to get to a polling place with little ones! I think this year it is so important to make every effort we can to get out and vote! Not only is the presidential election going on, there are some important propositions on marriage here in AZ and in CA and I hope we can all get out and voice our opinion... don't let everyone else decide the direction our country goes in. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Golf

On Saturdays Christian likes to play golf when he can. I called a babysitter last minute yesterday and I went with him to play 9 holes. I haven't really played since we had Eliana but I enjoy being out on the course even though I really stink. It was lots of fun and nice to see lots of green here in the desert.

Christian didn't play his best game of Golf (I was probably a distraction), but this particular chip was an amazing shot, it went right into the hole! I was very impressed! I guess I should've taken more pictures.

Christian is growing a beard for work, some kind of team building thing. I am definitely not a fan of facial hair, but he MUST do it (atleast that's what he says ;))! Oh well, at least it's temporary.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch outside of the Safeway by our house. It was fun... a little taste of fall anyway. We let Eliana pick a pumpkin and she picked the smallest pumpkin ever. I tried to talk her into getting a bigger one, but she wanted the small one.
These are Eliana's favorite shoes that her Aunt Katie got her.

This picture definitely shows how tired I am! (even with some editing!)

FHE

On Monday night as part of our Family Home Evening we made peanut butter ball spiders. We were practicing for an activity that I did with preschool on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. Eliana loved it and Christian reminisced about having pb balls as a kid and loving them.

North Mountain Park

This afternoon we went to check out a park in our city that we heard about, thought it might be good photo background. It was fun! There are lots of walking/hiking trails and we want to go back again when it's cooler to explore more. It was about 95 degrees... who would have thought 95 on Oct. 19th!! And for those of you wondering what it looks like where we live, this is it! It's definitely a desert!

Jewels enjoying the ride.

Eliana chilling on a rock.

Eliana

Eliana started writing her name on her own about a month ago. I have helped her refine it a bit, still needs some work, but not too bad for a 3 year old.

I LOVE these two pics of Eliana I took last week. We just think she is the most beautiful girl! (no bias on our parts of course!)

We went the RR tracks to check it out for future photo shoots and within 5 mins a truck drove up and asked us to stop trespassing on RR property, they must have cameras I guess. Now I am on the hunt for some abandonded RR tracks b/c I really love the look.

Eliana wanted to help feed Julia. She actually did a really good job minus the mess. Julia thought it was really funny. Eliana has gotten a lot better with Julia lately. She loves to make her laugh and when Julia is sad she tries to make her happy. She's a good big sister.

Still Sick!!

So we are all still sick here at our house... that's why I am posting on this instead of teaching my sunbeams right now! Eliana was the last one the catch it and is coughing like crazy! Oh well... hopefully we'll all get better SOON!

On a brighter note it is FINALLY cooling off!! It is like 61 degrees outside right now!!! HOLY COW it feels awesome! Even a little COLD... yes I guess I am becoming an Arizonan if the 60's feels COLD!!! Ekk! What will I do when I go back to Maine?

Development

I am using my blog as way to keep a record of Julia's development... which I am/will transfer to her baby book. So if you aren't interested in this post, no worries, it's for me mostly. Julia starting pulling up to standing the day she turned 7 months! She loves to stand...
Eliana loved baby einstien videos when she was Julia's age, but I really haven't showed any to Julia.... she is usually just watching her older sister play and loves that. But the other day I put one in the laptop up on the crate... to keep it away from her. She wasn't really interested in watching it... just pushing the keys on the keyboard. I think this picture is funny though... she looks like she knows what she is doing on the computer.
Julia has decided to climb up on EVERYTHING... the chairs, the endtables, my leg, the cupboard etc. etc. so I decided I need to get her something more interesting and safer to keep downstairs for her to pull herself up on. When Eliana was a babe we had a leap frog table as seen in the picture above, but we just borrowed it from Jenn and don't have it anymore. So I looked on Craigslist the other day and found a few for $25 up in the valley, they are on sale at Target right now for like $36 so that's not the best deal, plus I'd have to drive to get them. But then I found one in Casa for $10!!!!! So I got it! YAY! Another great Craigslist deal! She loves it already!

Big Wheel Daredevil

We got this big wheel for Eliana LAST fall and they didn't have a display model so we just bought it without her trying it out b/c she was tall enough for most "bikes" of this type. Well this must be the extra tall version because she barely fits it now, but she is actually tall enough to ride on it now. She LOVES it! She loves to go fast! Notice the small hill behind her in the first picture. I gave her a push and she flew down it as fast as she could... she proceeded to do it over and over again and tried different things like going backwards, jumping off the edge at the bottom into the sand volleyball ct. etc. We were thinking of getting her a real two wheel bike with training wheels this winter but are rethinking that decision... we think we'll wait until she is more steady on this one... we don't want her doing crazy stuff on a bigger, less stable bike and biffing it. It is so fun to go with her b/c she gets SO excited. One of the first times she went down the hill I said to her, "Eliana was that super fun?" and she said, "It was SUPER DOOPER fun....WAHOOO!!!!!" She's so cute!
As you can see, she just barely reaches the pedals.

Sisters... and So Big!

Now that Julia is getting bigger and is sitting and crawling etc. Eliana is starting to play with her more. I have to be watching closely because Eliana tends to get a little hyper and crazy at times. But this was a cute moment they had together. They just sat by the door for awhile, "playing" nicely.
Now that Julia has learned to pull herself up this is all she wants to do. She started teaching herself to "cruise" today!

Conference Weekend

Like I said in a previous post, Christian's parents and sister came to visit us for Conference weekend. We had lots of fun. Katie is now 16 1/2 weeks along and we are so excited for her and Jason. They are going to be great parents.
Julia was a little wary of Grandpa and Bedste but she did warm up a bit by the end of the weekend.


We are trying to figure out what color her hair is going to be... I think it will be lighter than Eliana's... maybe a dirty blond/light-light brown? It also looks a bit reddish in the sun, but so did Eliana's. Hmm... time will tell.

Homesick for Fall

It's still very warm and summerlike here in AZ... I am totally missing the fall! Here are a couple pics I found online of Maine in the fall. These are definately scences I grew up seeing every fall! I miss fresh apple cider and frosty grass and the gorgeous, brilliant leaves that are everywhere!!

We Live... random post

We worked on our computer and thought it was fixed several times and then it crashed again for one final time! Due to some very fortunate circumstances we now have a brand new computer. :) So hopefully we won't have any computer issues for awhile.

The only glich so far is that I have to install the driver for my camera onto the new computer which hasn't worked yet, but I am sure I will figure it out soon. So I have a bunch of pictures on my camera that I now just need to get onto here so I can post them.

Christian was pretty sick last week and over the weekend and shared it with Julia. She has been miserable and not sleeping AT ALL so I took her to the Dr. yesterday and she has an ear infection and flem in her lungs... so she started antibiotics yesterday and seems to be doing better already! She took a 3 HOUR NAP this morning! Too bad I didn't get to sleep.... that's what happens when you have 2 kids I guess.

Christian's parents and sister Katie came for the weekend and we had fun hanging out and watching conference. I will post some pics once I get them on the computer.

I am definately SLEEP DEPRIVED and dream of the day that I will sleep 8 hours straight.. or even 6 ... or even 4 would be nice!!

I got some cute hats for Eliana and Julia for our family pics... the following is a picture of Eliana with hers (and in her pj's).