My big three year old

I can't believe my little Eliza is already three. In conjunction with the big day we also finally moved her to the big girl bed. The transition has it's pros and cons, but we're hoping this will encourage her to get up during her nap or at night and go to the bathroom. *fingers crossed* She still struggles with pooping her diaper at least once a day, despite having been potty trained while she is awake for almost a year. 

All Ellie wanted to do for her birthday was open presents and blow out candles. She really wouldn't say anything else that she wanted to do. So we made sure that happened. We had a 'pop' themed birthday with soda, popcorn, bubbles, cake pops, and bubble wrap. Ellie loves all of those things, so we thought it would be a good fit for her. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the actual party, but I have a few pictures of the night before.

So here's is a little about Ellie. I couldn’t ask for a sweeter little girl.
She loves being read to.
She thinks she doesn’t like brown chocolate (but yesterday she loved M&Ms), but loves white chocolate and eats healthy things pretty well for us.
She loves babies and all things baby doll.
She has started to be interested in puzzles and games.
Ellie now goes to the bathroom all by herself (which presents some complications, but is still awesome).
I love her high voice when she talks to Miriam.

She also loves all things girly—nail polish, tutus, hair bows, hearts, chapstick, jewels, dresses, crowns etc. She has a remarkable memory for seemingly inconsequential things.
She has started to say prayers completely by herself. Although she does mix up the “We thank thee” and the “We ask thee” parts. She always says thanks for things that she would like to have happen.
She loves, LOVES her baby sister and plays with her as much as possible.
She is a bit obsessed with clothes and changes her clothes quite a few times a day (5+).
She is also obsessed with matching, and will tell me things like “Your pajamas don’t match.” J
She loves painting, coloring, and playing with play-dough.
She also really likes to help me cook and likes to sit on the counter and help me shake spices into things. She still likes noodles, cooked veggies, oranges, lemon curd, pancakes, waffles, and whipped cream. She loves to eat cold cereal as a snack.
One of her favorite games is to say, “I wanna eat…” flowers, clothes, Miriam, or whatever else she can see.
She still loves to sing the tune, “ABCs.”
One of my favorite things that she does is that she say what she is doing and then kind of sing to herself, “Do-ta-do.” For example, “Going on a picnic, do-ta-do.”

A couple of days ago, she got some army men as a valentine and she put them on the counter and said they were dancing.

She loves to help and loves to be asked to do something to help, whether it is cleaning, laundry, getting something for me, or throwing something away. I hope she is always so enthused about household chores.  She is such a sweetheart.

Today she was talking about how we have gone to the temple. Here is the part of our little exchange: "You guys got married in the temple. I am going to get married in the temple. Do you want to come?" "I would love to come with you." "I am going to get married in the Salt Lake Temple." "Okay, you need to find a nice boy first." "I want to find a nice boy in the living room." "Daddy is in the living room, but he is already married to me." "Okay." This is so funny to me. From day one she has said that she is going to get married in the Salt Lake Temple, even though she knows that we got married in the Bountiful Temple.

I am constantly amazed by all of the things she says and does. I really feel like she is sponge, just soaking everything that is around her.

Happy Valentines Day

We have reached a new level of girlishness around here. That's right: matching tutus!! I love my little valentines!

For Valentine’s Day this year, I made John breakfast and sent him off to school. I put handprint hearts all over the apartment and dipped strawberries as a surprise. I made a scavenger hunt for him to get his present (some chocolates). It was a lot of fun. Julie came over and we decorated cookies together. John gave me a beautiful card, flowers, and a gift card to go to Great Harvest. We had a great night! Later this month we went up to Ogden for a birthday dinner and Suzette’s blessing (both got cancelled), and we took the opportunity to go out to dinner for Valentine’s. We went to ABC Mandarin and had a really good time being together. We also made cinnamon rolls. Yummy! 

I also wanted to include other recent photos of our sweet little girls that we took mostly at home. Miriam is such an adorable baby (those big brown eyes! And those cheeks!!), and Eliza is such a sweet little girl and big sister!

Kayla threw the cutest princess party at her house! Ellie really rocked the old-fashioned dress my mom kept from when I was a child. Kayla really went all out. Twenty-four little girls all dressed up and using her fine china. It was super cute!

Five Years!

John and I celebrated our fifth anniversary this month. It was amazing! We went on a formal date and exchanged gifts. Bowling, Sherlock Holmes, and Chinese food doesn't sound that incredible on paper, but it really was. The best part was just being with each other. John gave me the most amazing gift this year. He printed off photos of the highlights of our five years of marriage. He put it in a beautiful photo album with notes about why that memory is special. Talk about a tear jerker. :)

I won't go too much into the mush and gush (I'll save that for him). Only let me say that John is such a wonderful husband. He goes to so much effort to make me happy. So thank you, John, for making the last five years the best of my life!

From my journal: Best anniversary yet. I feel so lucky to be more in love than ever. I seriously think that our marriage is the happiest that it has ever been and it just continues to get better.   Our anniversary was a two day event that started out with my parents watching the kids and us going bowling, seeing Sherlock Holmes 2 (good movie), and out to dinner. It was really fun. We went to ABC Mandarin, and it was definitely a restaurant we want to frequent.  Then later that week we gave each other our gifts, which was so nice! We made a special treat. John surprised me with flowers. We opened a bottle of sparkling cider, and gave each other our presents. I gave John a box to keep all of his keepsakes from me and kids in. I also wrote him a letter. John gave me the most amazing gift ever. He printed out a bunch of pictures from our five years of marriage, all of the major events. Then the best part was that he put it all in a picture album and wrote a little loved note to go with them saying what it is and why it makes him love me. He is so wonderful!!!! Seriously I cannot believe that I was so lucky to get it him for a husband. I look back to our courtship and can’t believe that there was ever a doubt in my mind whether or not he would be the best thing that ever happened to me. I feel so blessed to have him for a husband!!! 

For another fun date night recently we went to the bookstore and each found a recipe that sounded fun to try. We love eating!

Cousins

We love all of our little nieces and nephews, and so does Ellie. Since John and I have gotten married there have been 12 girls born and only 2 boys. So purple/pink, jewels, dolls, and princesses are the best at family parties. We sure love all of those little cousins. I have to share the pics my sister took of our little girls. So stinkin' cute. I love their little personalities--it just makes me chuckle. We are so blessed to have so much family around. 

Here are just a couple pictures from Christmas. Each of us had a little girl in less than a year and a half. Getting them all to stand there was a challenge, let alone get them to smile and look at the camera. Anna wins the prize! :)

Notice the princess crowns, bracelets, dresses, and baby dolls. We are a family oozing girlyness. :)