Time for an update. And nothing exciting to report. Ellie keeps getting bigger and life keeps getting busier. We are constantly having visitors, activites and new things to learn. The sun started shining and that means new outdoor projects for Justin. Ellie has become very determined to have activities happen by her own accord. I finally new how my mom felt when we were kids and she couldn't find a spoon or bowl in the house. I left Ellie unattended for 5 minutes and all the spoons in my kitchen had disappeard from the drawer. I guess that is the one bad side effect of her knowing how to put the silverware away---now she knows where to steal it from.



We are excited for summer!!! Hopefully springs hits soon. The dogs have found a new friend named Ryker who likes to come and visit from accross the street. Ellie seems to enjoy his company more than her own dogs. We will try to be more exciting and get a good post up soon.

So over the past few weeks the Myers Madness has grown in numbers. We have had a guest in our home sharing with our families experiences and learning a few new tricks himself. Sean came to visit and it has been a new experience for all. First I have to say I congraulate all of those parents with more than one child. Justin and I daily hope to have another baby but when we consider increasing our numbers we never think about having another TODDLER. The experience of sharing time with Sean has been both a blessing and at other times we couldn't be more tired. Between learning to not cry, play nice, potty training, two baths a day, endless loads of laundry and making sure everyone ate enough during the day we barely have enough time to think about what it is that we need as parents to survive. But one thing we have learned is what it means to really be a parent. It's not about being an adult or being in charge, but a lot of it is becoming a kid again. Kids don't want to go to Wal-Mart or the grocery store. They want to play with all those toys you bought them!!! They also don't want to play with those toys alone, Ellie is constantly wanting Justin and I to show her how the toys work and her show us she knows how they work. While Sean has been here I have been amazed at the information he can recall from watching Disney movies. He knows the characters, songs and even the plots of some movies and he loves to tell us about them. Kids need their parents to be innocent and fun and a big part of their daily activity. They want us to roll around on the ground, paint a picture and maybe eat a bite of play dough. I think when you have only one kid, especially a kid that is as amazing as Ellie, you really don't understand the patience it takes to be a parent. The most important thing I learned didn't come from the kids at all, but my amazing sister. When we were talking about some of the frustrations of being a parent she explained to me that kids aren't the frustrations but they are the victims of our frustrations. So often we send our kids to time out to give them a break away from the contention, but I have discovered that time out should really be for adults. The adults need the break away from the chaos just as much as the kids do.
Over the past month we have had a lot of fun. Most of the fun we have is pretty daily for us, meaning it isn't any different than what we normally do, we just have another body to share in the excitement. We have definately had a messier house than we usually do and we haven't had a lot of people over but we have found fun in our own little space.

Justin and I have joked with eachother about how excited we will be to get our lives back to normal when Sean goes home with his mom. Yesterday at the Robinson Family Dinner my mom whispered in my ear, "you are going to miss him when he is gone" and I think she is right. Even though there have been a few struggles day to day I think our home will be a much sadder quiet than it has been for the past two weeks. I think Sean has become part of our family and daily routine. Just as it took time for us to get used to Sean I think it took Sean time to get used to us. I feel like we have finally made it to a point where we understand eachother and are working towards the same goals. All of this happened just as it became time for him to leave in a couple days. I know that Ellie will miss having a constant companion...someone she can drag around the house and show how to have fun. She is a natural born leader and always wants to show people the way to the party and excitement. She is the first to let the family know it is time for dinner and always wants to make sure everyone has a treat and a drink for the movie. She isn't very motherly but I think she will make a good big sister someday making sure everyone knows the ropes.

Justin and I decided to start the New Year off with a New Activity. This year we planned a New Year's celebration in Downtown SLC. We had a few friends join us in the super exciting Hyatt Place at the Gateway. We are all overly excited when we saw how nice our rooms were. The beds were super comfy and the pillows were large and fluffy. It was a perfect place to rest our heads after an evening of ringing in the new year. I put in a couple of pics with Girls and I. The boys decided to be their usual boring T-Shirts and jeans selves, but the girls were all glitz and glam!!!

It has been said that during any major holiday event one of two things will happen. 1. You get violently ill and don't enjoy it or 2. Someone gets hurt. Sad to say Ellie was the New Years victim. She was spending time with her friend Sean Ron when the battle for "Gary the Snail" broke out. Unfortunately this time I can't say "you should see the other guy" but she seemed to have survived her first big goose egg! She has been a pretty good sport about it and I bet it would have minimized much sooner if she wasn't so busy letting people know she has an owie while poking at it.

exciting events

Yesterday after we picked Ellie up from the babysitters she told us she wanted to eat PIZZA!!! She loves pizza. So I decided I wanted to try to make pizza. We went to Snowee's house and picked up some yeast so we could make dough. On the way home Justin told Ellie that we wouldn't be eating til 10 at night. So we came home and I started making the dough. I got interrupted a few times while we were setting up our Wii Fit game but I finally got on a role. We got the dough made and started searching the cupboards for items to put on the pizza. We decided to make a mexican pizza---refried beans, olives, tomatoes, onions and

hamburger in taco sauce. We also made some Buffalo Chicken and Ranch Pizza and it was delicious and Ellie got plain old cheese. I was pretty impressed with myself!!! Justin was pretty impressed that I had the skills to pull this one off.

Sharing a Few Memories of 2009--accidentally in reverse

Snowee and Daisy...Probably the only time this will ever happen.

Ellie sure thinks she is funny sometimes.

Ice Cream in the bathtub...might as well happen now.

The long drive home after a wonderful trip to St. George.

The classic pose with my best friend Dylan.

Everyone loves a visit with the California Cousins!!!

We went to Baby Kyle's birthday party and Ellie was trying to figure out how to play pin the tail on the donkey.

Going down the Big Yellow Slide at the Fair with Grannie Jannie!!!

It's not very often we get a photo op with Mendi!!! Ellie was very sad to leave the party.

Off to the farm with Snowee!!!

Its Ellie's Birthday and she got a cake with flowers cause it was her favorite word to say.

Just before her second birthday, but she hardly ever looks at the camera.

There is always time for play.

We tried to spend as much time in the pool this summer as we could!!!

Fourth of July with the cousins is always a favorite activity, especially when they travel so far to see us!!!

This is classic Ellie face. She was very excited for her new slides in the backyard.

During the Holiday week we had a lot to do. It was a good time to take some time off work. We took little Daisy to get fixed and her dew claws removed, she handled it like a champ. Then we had Christmas Eve parties with the Robinson's and came home to get ready for Santa to come. On Christmas morning Justin got Ellie out of bed and as she looked out her bedroom door she whispered to her dad...presents!!!! She was so excited to see all the gifts. We are sure if she understands why there were presents or where they could of come from, but she soon figured out they were all for her. She had so much fun opening every one of them. Although it is taking her a few days. After opening a few at home we went to Grandma and Papa Myers house to eat breakfast and spend time with the family. Ellie was very excited with all the presents she had waiting for her there, including a suprise present that arrived from our Aussie cousins. After the Myers family gathering we returned home for naps and cleaning. I learned this week that mid afternoon Christmas naps for children are not an easy thing. All Ellie wanted to do was play play play and watch all her new movies. On Christmas Evening we gathered with friends and family to celebrate the Holiday!!! We were so lucky to have Christmas on a weekend this year because it gave us days of Celebration. Snowee and Don were able to come and visit on Saturday. Snowee got lots of loves and kisses from puppy Daisy. We had lots of time with friends and family and we feel so lucky there are so many people we can share the days with!!!

Our Holiday Season started off like most others. We were busy making our new sugar cookie recipe over and over. We had to call Snowee and borrow her rolling pins so we could make our fancy Christmas cutouts. Little did we know borrowing a rolling pin would lead to a Christmas present idea from Snowee. I think over a 2 week period of time we made 8 batches of sugar cookies and buttercream frosting. We shared them with friends, took them to work and frosted them at the annual Robinson Christmas Eve party. Ellie and I were so excited we had something to share this year!!!