Drawing

Ellie is a born artist (and she's not bad for 18 months old!) Whenever she finds a pen or crayon, she comes up to me and says, "Draw?" If she can't find any paper, she'll just get creative and draw on the coffee table, closet doors, or the white throw rug in her room.

This girl loves to draw

Helping Daddy set up the Christmas tree

We have to keep our tree up high this year (out of toddler reach), so Colin got creative by duct-taping a small tree to our big pot. Of course, Elliott was right there to help.

Sitting by the Christmas tree

Elliott's holding her favorite stuffed animal, a polar bear that dances to "Shout".

The Hamster Dance

Elliott still loves to dance! The Hamster Dance is her new favorite song, and she makes me play it over and over . . . and over. She does her best dancing in the morning, after breakfast, which explains the pajamas and bed head.

Hiking with Sadie in Millcreek Canyon

Elliott and Mommy took a trip to Salt Lake City this week, just in time to see the beautiful fall colors. Ellie had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone. She especially had fun playing in the back yard with Sadie and Grandma Irene.
Then, we drove down to St. George to see Colin, Corey, Grandma Barbra and Breanne run the St. George marathon. Colin got his best time yet. Everyone did great and we were so proud, especially since it was pouring rain during the entire race.
Elliott loved playing with her cousins, Lane and Burke and seeing her baby cousins, Grady and Teagan.
We miss everyone already!

Playing in the fall leaves

Fall in Millcreek Canyon

Fall in Millcreek Canyon

Elliott and Sadie

We just spent a week in Salt Lake City and stayed with Grandma Irene. Sadie lives at Grandma Irene's house and she is Ellie's new best buddy. Everywhere one would go, the other would follow.

Park City Marathon

Colin and Corey ran the Park City marathon on Saturday! Elliott was there to cheer them on.

Saturday Night

Elliott likes to go dancing on the weekends. She is a total party girl. There are 2 outdoor malls with live bands to choose from, but we usually go to The District just down the street from our apartment.

Dancing at The District

Ellie wows the crowd with her best moves.

Bright Eyes

It has actually been overcast and rainy the past few days, and we've been loving it! We've had some pretty cool thunder storms, too. It's an event when it rains here, everyone goes out on their balcony and watches it, and the kids come out to play.
Elliott is getting bigger (I don't know how, she literally lives off whole milk, cheese and the occasional canned pear.) She's still all over the place and saying "hi" to everyone we see. She can say "eyes" now, but she points to your nose. (Hey, it's close.)

Playing at the Park

Ellie's Curls

Elliott's New Groove

We took Ellie to a party last weekend. They turned on some loud hip-hop music and she entertained the whole room with her dancing! She had a great time. Sorry our apartment is a little messy in some of these shots, but I play music while I'm cleaning and that's when she likes to dance.
Elliott is now 13 months old! She is the busiest little thing, getting into everything and keeping me very busy. She officially says "ma ma", "da da", "no (doh)", "ya (dah)", and points at everything, especially our noses and every airplane that flys over. Her favorite foods are cheese, avocados (she would live off cheese and avocados if she could), canned pears, and mac & cheese.
Summer is officially here! It's been about 105-108 degrees, but it's really not too bad. We go to the park in the mornings and we've been swimming a lot.
Colin is still working his head off and doing a great job. He's been running at night (after it cools off to a comfortable 99 degrees.) I'm still working 1-2 nights a week at The Gap (however, I'm spending more than I'm earning! It's been a little slow, so I basically fold clothes and mentally shop during my shifts.)
And we are so excited to welcome our new little nephew, Grady, and our niece, Teagan! We can't wait to see them in person.

Springtime at the Park

The Fist Bump

Elliott's Uncle Mike taught her the fist bump and now that's her new thing.

Helping Mom unpack after our trip to SLC . . .

I thought I'd show you some examples of how helpful Elliott is.

Helping Mom load the dishwasher . . .

She literally gets into everything I do! Sometimes she'll contribute by throwing a few toys in.

Helping Mom with the laundry . . .

While I'm loading the dryer, Ellie likes to throw in a toy and shut the door. Every now and then I'll find a little surprise as I'm unloading the laundry.

Dancing With Myself

Elliott officially started walking a few days ago!
Grandma Irene came to visit and Ellie had such a great time with her. We took her to the park, shopping, walking on the strip, and swimming at the hotel pool. The first day Grandma Irene got here, Ellie had to hold my hand to walk and by the time Grandma left (only 5 days later), Ellie was dancing around the room by herself!

Elliott's First Steps

Colin and I were on the computer when suddenly Elliott let go of the chair and took about 4 steps on her own! I grabbed the camera right after she took her first steps, so technically, these are her second first steps.

Laughing

The camera is a little crazy because I was jumping. The higher I'd jump, the harder she'd laugh.

Social Butterfly

Colin and I took Elliott to the park for a picnic the other day. She is so friendly, she just has to be in on everything! We didn't know these little girls, but Elliott went right over and introduced herself. They had a great time.
As you can see, the weather here is perfect. I LOVE Springtime in Vegas!

Elliott's New Toy

Ellie and I went to babysit her little friend, Jackson, the other day. He's only 2 months older than she is and they were so cute together! Jackson would follow her around and give her toys to play with. He was really sad when we left (I think he has a little crush on Ellie), so his mom and I are going to arrange regular play dates. Anyway, Jackson had this very walker and I couldn't keep Elliott off of it. So, that night Colin and I went to Target and bought her one. It tuns into a little car when she gets older, too. She was pretty excited.

Crusing Around

She is everywhere now, we can hardly keep up with her. Notice the iMac box in this video? Yes, Colin finally got one!

Singing

Happy Valentine's Day from Daddy

Colin happened upon a shoe sale last night, so this was his Valentine's Day gift to Elliott (yes, all 4 pair!) Colin gets after ME for buying Ellie too many clothes, but he's definitely the bigger sucker.

Elliott will be 9 months old next week! She is such a happy baby and always smiling. Her hair is getting curly on the sides and in back, it’s so cute. She also has 2 teeth on the bottom and her top 2 are coming in. She crawls really fast and gets into everything! By the end of the day, there is stuff all over the floor like we've been robbed. We call her "Baby-zilla".
She can also pull herself up to standing and can walk along the coffee table, but she still prefers crawling as her main mode of transportation. She is a total chatter-box! When she cries, she crawls to me saying, "Ma ma ma ma", so we think she officially knows that word. She also says "Da da da da", but we're not sure if she's just babbling.
It's getting warmer here, we've even had a few 70 degree days! So, we've been going to the park and running outside. Colin is still averaging 60 hour weeks at work, but he seems to be in good spirits (or at least he hasn't complained to me.) He's doing a great job and his boss really likes him! We're really proud of him. He's a great Dad, too! I work at the Gap about 2 nights a week and Colin watches Ellie. He usually ends up taking her shopping (she's not spoiled or anything.)

7 Months Old

We had such a great time in Salt Lake City over Christmas! We got to see everyone and it even snowed on Christmas Eve. The best gift of all was Elliott crawled for the first time, right in Grandma and Grandpa Chipman's living room! She is a pro crawler now. She also got her first tooth a few days ago and the one next to it is well on its way. It's been bothering her a little, but overall she's been a really good sport.
We miss everyone and can't wait to see you again soon!

Our Family

Elliott is crawling everywhere now . . .

. . . and nothing is safe . . .

. . . nothing!