Yes, We're History Nerds!

Last weekend we heard that an original copy of the Declaration of Independence was going to be at our state capital, so on Saturday, we headed down for a quick look. Apparently there are only 25 copies left out of 500-1,000 that were originally printed in 1776 (quick history trivia for you!). Well, seeing the actual document certainly was quick (we had just enough time to take a picture and look over it) while the line was anything but! From the time we got in line to when we were finished looking at the Declaration, it was just under four hours. Yes, we know, that pretty much puts us in the nerd department. And Ella? She was fabulous! We took turns for the first little while taking her for walks around the capital and got to see where the Supreme Court meets, where the Utah House of Representatives meets, and a few other places. In one hallway, there were some stone busts of a few past politicians and they reminded Ella of a few weeks ago when we were at the church conference center and saw the busts of the prophets. She pointed to Lincoln's bust and goes, "Look mom! A prophet!" After Ella explored much of the capital building, she was tired of wandering around and decided she wanted to wait in line. Of course, we did not come prepared with a coloring book and crayons (perhaps it would be a wise idea to keep and emergency set in the car.....) but Mom happened to have a pad of paper and a pen in her purse. So we played pictionary for a good portion of the time, and then during our last 20 minutes or so of waiting, they provided us with a sheet of paper that had pictures of different items in the capital on it. The search game was fun to play, but it would have been a little nicer to have it at the beginning of the line! Anyway, we finally got to see it! And when we got back in the car, Ella gave a sigh and said, "Wow, for a minute, I thought we were going to stay there forever!" She behaved so well (a perfect angel compared to the behavior some of the older kids and young teenagers were displaying) with so few complaints that we decided to take her out for some dinner as a treat. We were headed to Applebee's and then she saw a McDonald's playland on the way and changed her mind! We gave in because she had been so good and made it through cold french fries and room-temperature hamburgers. To treat Mom and Dad for putting up with McDonald's we went to Coldstone's Creamery! Yummy! It was quite the day! Well, other than all of that, we are counting down the days till we start school (Mom on the 25th and Ella on the 29th) and of course counting down the weeks till our due date (much to Mom's dismay, we are not quite at days yet). Mom and Dad are finally realizing that it's really going to happen, and Ella keeps asking WHEN it's going to happen! And she is still quite insistent that the next one be a girl so she can have a sister. Yikes! Once Mom and Dad are able to experience this whole labor process, we'll decide how soon we'll have another one. 5 years, 10 years, or never! So this last picture added to the blog is Ella and the first sign of "regression" she's shown so far. She found the baby bottles and wanted to drink from one. Well, Mom wanted to tell her to forget it, but she had just finished an article a few weeks earlier that said that it was okay to let them regress a little. The article promised they would get bored soon enough, decide that being a big kid was better, and move on. So Mom decided to try it, filled the bottle with water, and gave it to her. Ella quickly realized that the hole at the top was extremely small and it wasn't easy to get the water out! Less than ten minutes later, she decided it was too much work and tossed the bottle in the sink! Don't forget to check out our baby's development for this week (31 weeks as of 8/18) and our new book of the month called, "I Am a Mother."

Happy Third Trimester!!!!!!!!

As of Monday, July 21st, we are officially in our third trimester! Hopefully only 13 more weeks to go! (Check our week by week development page, week 27.) And mom is no longer praying to have the baby early because we found out that Ella's primary program at church is on October 19th (baby is due 20th)! Especially since it is her first, Mom and Dad really don't want to miss it, so they're just hoping to go into labor right after it's over!
Well, we've had a crazy and very difficult past month because as soon as we got back from California, Daddy was "asked" (more like forced) to work the night shift for a few weeks. Aft first we were told it was going to be from 6pm to 3am, but it ended up being 4pm-4am (sometimes 4:30, 5, or even 5:30). It was miserable for all three of us! But Mommy and Ella tried to make the best of the situation and found some things to do so that the house would be quiet for Daddy to sleep. We've spent a lot of time wandering around stores, playing at the park, playing with friends, and we even went to two different museums. The best one was the museum at Thanksgiving Point, and we took along some friends. We had Ella and Mommy, Eric and his mommy (Trishia) and Ava and her mommy (Marci). With 6 of us in the car, it was very full! We even got to use our third seat in the Highlander for the first time! The kids loved the different exhibits, mainly all of the dinosaurs, and they loved digging in the dirt, pretending to be paleontologists (and yes, Ella can not only say that word, but if you ask her what it is, she will tell you the correct answer: someone who digs for dinosaur bones!). Ella wasn't too crazy about the shark but I convinced her to stand in front of it for a picture. We were only there for about two hours, but by the time we got in car to go home, the kids were wiped out! All three of them got some much-needed sleep on the way home. We had a great day and are looking forward to doing it again in a few months. Ella and Mommy also went down to Elk Ridge to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Wyckhuyse for a few days, which was fun and a good change of sceen for us! As for Daddy's schedule, we are all very happy to say that it's normal again! His sleep patterns are still a little off but hopefully we can get back to normal sometime this week! We've added a new section to our blog called "Book of the Month." Check it out!

California

Well, we made it to California and back safely! It was quite a trip with us leaving earlier than planned, being gone nearly 10 days, daddy having to work part of the time, a graduation, and of course Disneyland! Ella and I got to relax for the first few days, but unfortunately, Daddy was asked to work some of those days and the office was too far away for him to stay with us. The day after he got back, the McCarters and Westover/Whipples arrived and we went to Cheriss' graduation (the kids stayed behind with a sitter)! Now shortly after arriving, Daddy thought he spotted Ronny James Dio (former lead singer of Black Sabbath and lead singer of his own band Dio). Dad, Uncle Ian, and Grandpa spent the whole graduation trying to decide if it was him or not, but this was a difficult task since we were sitting behind him and all we could see was the back of the head. Well, Daddy and Uncle Ian were determined to find out, and sure enough it was! They were so excited! They asked him if they could take a picture with him and here it is! Uncle Ian and Grandpa got one with him too (he was very nice about it) and I think that it made their night (Sorry Cheriss!)! Anyway, we all had a great time together that night at the party, but all of the Farfans (especially Kaylie and Brandy) were missed! By the end of the day, there were just a few people that were wiped out! Ella climbed up on the couch with Aunt Cheriss and I think they were both out in less than 10 minutes! The next day we headed for Disneyland! We had churros, saw Princess Jasmine, Alice in Wonderdland, Peter Pan, Woody, and Jesse. We rode Dumbo, the Teacups, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, and Ella even braved a roller coaster! Now, Mommy was pretty nervous about the roller coaster, but Ella loved it! Mommy and "brother" weren't allowed to ride but Daddy rode with Ella and he said she had her hands up in the air and screamed with joy! Nearly the instant they got off she was begging to do it again! Unfortunately she was not quite as fond of the Haunted Mansion. We had explained to her what it was and she said she wanted to try it, but once we got in the elevator and they blacked the lights, of course, everyone screamed...and it was all downhill from there! By the time we got off, she was crying and yelling, "I don't ever want to do that ride again!" But as soon as we got off of Pirates of the Carribean,

she was happy again and singing, "Yo-ho! Yo-ho! It's pirates for me!" To finish the day we bought our little princess a pink hat, complete with minnie ears, a tiara, a veil coming down the back and we even had her name put on the back for her! She loves it! As for Ella's little brother, he is growing like nothing else and becoming very active! Don't forget to check out his progress with our week by week developmental chart! As of 6/16 we are 22 weeks along. Only 18 to go...we hope!

Our Little Lamb

We've been able to do a handful of fun things this month, including the zoo, playing with friends, having Grandma Nancy come to visit, and a dance recitial. We have been busy little bees that's for sure! But one of Ella's favorite things to do when we do have some down time is to play hairstylist on daddy. About once a week, daddy will end up wearing pretty hair clips, colorfull headbands and even a shiney princess crown! Ella just loves it, but daddy...well, not so much, but he sure is a good sport! At the zoo, we saw a baby giraffe that was taller than daddy, bears, rhinos, and Ella's favorite, the elephants! We also were able to have our new friend Eric over and Ella was such a great helper! She became a little concerned when Eric wouldn't use his fork to eat and so she decided to help him so he wouldn't make a mess! She is going to be such a good big sister! Then of course, as most of you know, we had Ella's first ballet recitial last weekend. Grandma Nancy was down to visit and so she was lucky enough to be able to go with us. She and the rest of her class were Bo Peep's little lambs, ears included! It was so cute and everyone loved it! One of the teachers told us later that just before she walked onto the stage, she proclaimed proudly, "Here I go!" And she was great! She watched "Bo Peep" very carefully and did her dance very precisely, just like she was supposed to! In my completely unbiased opinion, she was the best one! We did purchase a video, so when we come visiting over the next few months, we'll be sure to bring it along so that some of you will get the chance to see her dance.

In the group picture, she is the lamb that is centered, with her arms out, doing the dance! We were so proud of her, and when we told her how great she was, she sighed and said, "Yes, I really was." No self-esteem issues here! By the way, "baby Jordan" is doing well and is growing at a good rate. Mom just kind of feels more fat than pregnant right now, but that's okay! We should find out on Friday if it's a boy or a girl. Check out our week by week development chart on the top right of the page (as of May 19 we are 18 weeks along). Take care everyone and to those of you in California, we look forward to seeing you in just a few weeks!

March Madness!!!!!!

Well, no, it has nothing to do with basketball, but we certainly have had our own version of March Madness! What a crazy (but fun) month! We started off with our big announcement that we're having a baby! We got to hear it's heartbeat and we couldn't be happier! We are all so excited and Ella continues to pray for our baby to come as soon as possible. We also had a fun weekened with Alexis and Spencer coming for a slumber party. The girls of course enjoyed all of the Barbies, but poor Spencer wandered around feeling a little lost and asking several times, "Do you have any boy toys?" Not in this house, that's for sure! He was also very concerned that he was going to get sick from me until I assured him that morning sickness was not contagious! But anyway, the kids sure had fun with their movie party and plenty of treats! Easter weekend was also quite a bit of fun with decorating their own little bags, coloring eggs, and then of course the Easter Egg hunt! We stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Ella was more than excited to see all of the treats that the Easter bunny brought for her! And finally our other big news is our new car! We have been shopping around most of the month and finally last night made the purchase! Since it was the last day of the month, they were pretty desperate to get rid of the car and we are pretty happy with it! Of course, it doesn't spin and make us dizzy like Ella requested, but we're excited! It's a 2005 Toyota Highlander, with leather interrior and seat warmers on the driver and passanger's seats. It sure was cozy last night on the drive home! We took Ella with us to the dealership and even though we were there for 2 1/2 hours, she was soooo good! Tonight when we go to the store we are going to get her a special treat!

Sick, sick, and sick!

Well, we've had a rough two weeks! Just after Valentine's day, Chad came down with a nasty cough and cold, and then just a few days later, Ella caught it from him! They were both pretty miserable

although Ella did enjoy her fair share of popsicles, ice cream, and shakes!

I was pretty busy too, and when I wasn't tending to the sick ones, I could never decide if I should attack the mountains of laundry, dishes, or homework!

But we got through it! Chad and Ella are both coughing just a bit still, but hopefully they are on the mend! Ella has pretty much turned back into her normal adorable (and of course crazy!) self! She still loves to dress up and one of her latest hobbies is talking on one of her many phones to her "boyfriend" Samuel! (Oh dear!) She's also as

silly as ever and came to me the other day with a stretchy headband over her eyes, holding her stick-dinosaur like a baseball bat and says to me, "I'm ready to play pinata!" I just had this vision of our house in shambles and trying to explain to Chad when he got home from work what exactly happened....."well, you see, Ella wanted to play pinata and....." anyway! Luckily I stopped her in enough time! She's a cutie, always bringing a smile to our day!

Our Trip to Washington

Okay, so I know it was over a month ago, but I figure since I never shared the pictures in the first place it was a good place to start. We had a great time! We went to church with Grandma Nancy, shopping, sledding (which I had never done before!), and spent time with family and friends, but I think Ella's favorite part was Christmas! Shocking, I know, but she was so excited! She got to open presents Christmas eve, Christmas day, the day after Christmas, and when we got home, there were even more presents to be opened! Some of her favorites include a new dress-up dress from the "other" Jordans, her 2 new "Murphy doggies" and of course, her monkey and monkey blanket from Grandma and Grandpa Stites. We also enjoyed having our Wyckhuyse family over after we got back and spending New Year's Day with them. We had a great holiday season and we hope everyone else did too!