From Curtis' Phone...

We need to do better at taking pictures lately. We often forget our little snap shot camera or our SLR...so the phone pictures are what we do lately.

These are from Curtis' phone. My phone pics will be coming soon. His phone isn't the best at photos, and result in very blurry photos. Probably user related due to being impatient and not holding still for so long... :) So sorry about the fuzziness. I just want to add these pics to remember them.


A Little too Excited:

These pictures make me laugh. Elise's expressions are too funny, and I can tell that maybe her Daddy was doing the same thing or being goofy/happy behind the camera!!
He was sweet and took Elise and her cousins out to eat. Lucky that they got to eat Ice Cream. Elise sure was happy...

Crawling:

Ayla started to crawl at 51/2 months! She also can sit up by herself as well(that came first). In these photos she is 6 months. She loves to play with Curtis' coins, they are clean, just so you know...they must be cool and smooth on her gums.

During New Years we went down to Utah to spend family time with both sides. We were able to get a picture of both the girls with their Great Grandpa & Grandma Guest.

Curtis knows how to crawl too!! Hehe. Not only does he crawl, but he gives horsey-back rides. I cropped this picture, there is actually a 4th person on his back!! And He's smiling?!? :) That was during Christmas time at His parents house with all His family that could get together. Pure Chaos! No really, it is so much fun to get together. And when I say chaos, it's not the huge family, it's just making sure that I can relax, knowing where my children are and my things are in their place.

Winter Time:
These pictures are going backwards. Ayla is younger in them. Oh well. It's so much fun to see our little family grow. Happy and sad at the same time. You know what I mean. Curtis is so sweet at church. He was like this with Elise as well. He was just released from being the Gospel Doctrine Teacher. It was his 4th year teaching, and he had gone through all of the books. So after teaching, he would take Elise to Priesthood. Now he does the same thing with Ayla. I love this picture of Ayla sleeping. He was so nice to fold up his suit jacket to give her a pillow!! :) It's just cute to see him think that they need a little pillow, when they don't.

Out and About:
We are spur of the moment people and it get us out to do different things often. It is fun and I love getting out. I am very much an out and about type of person. I do love being home. But love to be out just the same. :) Elise is this way so much. Like me, she loves the outside and doing different things and going different places. It is very nice as she is happy with most situations. It does not throw her off. In fact, she absolutely LOVES it when there is somewhere to go and do. During these winter months we have been home a lot and not getting out as much since Ayla is so little. I have been changing this up at home and it has been a success. Art, books, puzzles, games, dancing, singing, cleaning, throwing balls, toys, some shows(I have recently limited her watching a ton) we now skip days with shows, ect. So being home is a nice change, but when it warms up, our little bodies WILL see the Sun. :) We will see what Ayla is more likely to become, a homebody or not. we will see.

In these pictures: 1) Elise seeing Boise downtown from up high. 2) Picture of the BSU stadium/Game. Curtis got to go to a BSU game this year with the Big Bosses. He has been doing really well at his work. He has been able to do lots of neat things at work and also has gone to an Idaho Stampede Game w/ the Big Bosses and to the Movies. It would have been nice if they could have included their spouses, but I am happy for Curtis. 3) Elise in an airplane toy at the airport.

View the World from their Eyes:
Don't you just wish you could do that? And better yet, at any given moment. Understanding would be a breeze! These pictures just look like true bliss. Happy. Content.

Wonderful Moments:
1)Elise with a praying mantis on her arm. I found it coming home from a family bike ride one Summer evening right outside our door. Curtis got it for her, and asked her if she wanted to hold it. I remember playing with those when I was little. 2)Elise sleeping with her puppies on the couch. She absolutely loves the white one. She chooses that stuffed animal most often to go places with her and makes sure she has it in bed. If you see another one in her arms...that animal just got a LUCKY day!! 3)Elise and Daddy, there is a bond there. I love that we share her equally, and that she shares us equally...not one over the other! :) Makes life fun that way. 4) The Boise River. Last Summer we went on bike rides a lot. Almost every night. So relaxing, a memory that will always be in my heart. We created one of those nostalgic moments in our lives. I love when that happens. Little Ayla loved it too. 5) Elise putting on Daddy's socks. Don't you just love when children mimick the things their parents do. Most of the time. I love how she put them on backwards. Such fashion! 6) Elise with her cousin Ben, which she loves. He has always been able to make her smile and laugh. I am thinking she has a special place for him in her heart, just like I do. He is a sweet one to me, all grown up now. 7)Ayla sitt'n pretty 8) Elise in the chair: we visited Daddy's work often last Summer as well. She does not want to leave.

Rejoicing:
Such a Sweet little spirit was born into our family. I wrote about the whole birth in an earlier post, but did not have any pictures.

A couple other things to document: (for my remembering)
Ayla's 4 month stats: weight 10th % Height 25th % Head 10th %
6 months: weight 5th% Height 25-50th % Head 5th% (Elise's at this time was around the 25-50th percents and 90 percents) She is healthy though, sport'n her little baby rolls and all!

At 6 months she is sitting, crawling, starting to pull up on things, starting to get the baby talking going but no mama and dada words yet, sleeps really, really well. Is easy to distract. Very content. Smiles, laughs, interested about everything around her. Alert. If there is something infront of her like a box, step, leg, she will want to climb up it and is so happy and proud that she pulls herself up! Still our cute little Baby Doll (very petite little girl).

Elise: a wonderful 2 1/2 year old. Not much to complain about. Does have her fits, but that is normal and expected every now and again. How we cope with them...time out and the obvious talking about what she did to be in time out, and what not to do and what should have been done. Typical. She is speaking really well. Her vocabulary is expanding and takes me by surprise when she says big words. She also has a very good memory and can remember doing things months ago and talks in cute conversations about them. Lately fascinated with jumping from High places. Steps, couch, chairs. Whenever I sing primary songs she automatically puts her head on my lap and snuggles...every time. Then she likes me to scratch her back. Repeats her scripture when we read our scriptures every night. (We got the idea from the recent conference talk) Everyone has a turn to read their verse, even if they can't read, they can try to repeat. She has gotten really good at the words. Pretty soon we will read a verse for Ayla(probably when she's a year old), even though she will not be able to repeat yet...but she a least gets "Her Turn", then when she's ready, she can start.