Ft. Walton Beach

I've put off posting about Florida long enough! I'll do it in two parts, first the beach, and then family...

First off, I was so nervous to take Ellie on the plane. I had seen so many (okay not so many, but two) toddlers who had been kicked off planes. I knew for sure that we would be next. We had an early flight to Atlanta (we left the house at 4:30 am). I thought Ellie would sleep (boy was I wrong). She was SUPER tired, but for the most part she was okay. I thought the "ear popping" would bother her, but she acted like nothing was wrong.

When we arrived in Atlanta, we waited for about an hour to get on a smaller flight to Tallahassee. Ellie fussed a little on this flight, but soon crashed (she was SO tired). We arrived in Tallahassee after 45 minutes, and then drove about 45 minutes to Grand Ridge (Sneads, FL) to see our family (I'll get to this in the next post). We stayed for two days in Grand Ridge, and then headed to the beach.

The beach was a two hour drive from Grand Ridge. We stayed Saturday to Friday. Grandma GiGi paid for three condos. We stayed as a family (Ben, Mom and Dad, and Dan, Ellie and me). Joni, Grandma, Lucas, and Shannon stayed in the other one on our floor, and Tosh and Maggie stayed on the second floor (no one really wanted to stay with them anyway...honeymooners...gag!)

We had a beautiful view from our room! I love the ocean, it is so beautiful. Ellie loved the beach and the pool. I thought she would tire of it, but every day as soon as she awakened, the first thing she wanted to do was go to either the beach or the pool.

I realized that it was a lot different to travel with a child than what it used to be, but I was so grateful that Ellie has grandparents who love her so much, they often took her to play or watched her so Dan and I could do our things too!

We went out to eat about three of the nights we were there, and cooked the rest of the time. Mom, Maggie, Grandma, Joni and I went to the base to get some groceries. We had a couple good laughs, especially when we were told that only Grandma was allowed to drive on the base. We thought of arguing, but the man enforcing it had a really big gun! Grandma was a really good sport!

We were also able to go to church while we were there. Right before we left though, Ellie was jumping off of the couch and hit her chin on the table (it was pretty deep). The ward was a really small, but they were all so friendly! Ellie wanted to go to nursery (but Dan, Ben, and Lucas bolted for the car as soon as sacrament was over).

While we were at the beach we went to an amusement and water park. I'm the type of vacationer who likes to sit on the beach and do nothing, but the occasional waiting in line is okay.

One day, we went to the Big Kahuna. It was fun, but had more kiddie-type rides. Ellie wasn't allowed to go on anything, so it kind of made it a long day at the kiddie pool. Her grandpa ended up taking her for a while. She was so beat and grumpy that she threw a fit and ended up peeing on him. Luckily, he still loves her, I don't know if I would have been able to!

Also another night, Dan, Ben, Tosh, Maggie, Lucas and I went back to the Big Kahuna to ride the Sky Coaster and the Cyclone. I love roller coaster rides, so it was right up my alley. Dan of course had to take his dramamine (he even needed it when he went in the ocean...wuss!).

We took some family pictures on the beach, here are some of our favorites (besides...these are the only proof I have that I was actually in Florida with my family)...I'll also throw in some other pictures, and a little less talking!

We really had such a good time, and realize why it is important to go on family vacations...

Snow!!!

Ellie was so excited to see snow today! I'm glad we got the moisture, and I am anxiously awaiting snowboarding season (I got a snowboard, bindings, and boots recently). Today we went to lunch, and when we left...it was snowing like crazy! While we were in the parking lot Ellie was running around like a mad woman! I seriously almost lost her, she dashed for the busy road!

She has been talking about Christmas all day today, and it didn't help when we went to JC Penney, and all the Christmas decorations were out. I can remember (when I worked at Meier and Frank) that I hated putting up Christmas in early November, but Christmas before Halloween...now that is a little EXTREME! It made me feel like I needed to start buying now! I guess it is a good marketing scheme...

House For Sale

Dan and I recently listed our townhome, we have mixed feelings about it, but for the most part are pretty excited! I don't want to have more than two, small children in this home...We have WAY too much stuff with one kid! Anyway, this is our listing, I don't know where we will end up. We've been looking at some homes in our area, as well as some in Springville. We better start to figure this stuff out soon!

Miss Independent...

Ellie has been saying and doing the funniest things lately...

Whenever we are outside crossing the road or in the parking lot, I always tell Ellie to hold my hand. Everytime I tell her to hold my hand now, she looks up at me and says, "I'll hold my own hand.", and she proceeds to hold her own hand...It is amazing, I've been around for twenty-five years, and never thought that was a possibility (hahaha).

From the time she was a baby, we would rock in the rocking chair in her room. I would sing her a song (I never really got THAT into it, I'd be about a sentence into it, and she'd point to her crib), but now as we go into her room to rock, she races me to the rocker, rocks back and forth singing her favorite lullaby (Hap Palmer song below), and climbs into her crib. Who does that?

Anyway, her is a picture of her rocking herself to sleep...She is in her panties, which is a miracle, she usually prefers to sleep in the buff.

Cousins

Ellie and I have been watching baby Lucy on Thursdays while Leticia is working. Ellie loves baby Lucy, she often helps out by bringing me diapers and wipes, and she even wants to feed Lucy her bottle. Lucy, on the other hand, might not be so fond of Ellie...She will smile at her (Lucy has such a cute smile), but doesn't really like to be held by her. Ellie is also so confident that she thinks she can carry Lucy around. She does so well with her dolls, Lucy should be the same...right?

This is Ellie strolling Lucy around in one of Ellie's baby's strollers...Poor Lucy, she was such a good sport!!

Here is Lucy loving that Ellie is holding her...

Ellie's Favorite Bedtime Song

WE ARE ALL ALIKE
(Words and Music by Hap Palmer)©Hap-Pal Music, Inc.

Like each flake of snow, floating through the sky
We are all unique, we are all alike
Take a look around, you will see its true
You're a lot like me, I'm a lot like you.

Everybody has eyes, they come in different shapes
Some are brown, some are blue, some are gray or green
Everybody has skin, it comes in many shades
It may be dark, it may be light, or somewhere in between

Everybody lives, everybody breathes
Everybody needs, everybody dreams, everyone is born,and changes through the years
We can laugh and cry, and share our hopes and fears.

We all have a body, any size will do
It may be thick, it may be thin, it could be short or tall
We all have a heart, let it beat with pride
A common bond goes on and on, we're people one and all!

Like each flake of snow, floating through the sky
We are all unique, we are all alike.
Take a look around, you will see it's true
You're a lot like me, I'm a lot like you.

Dan and I were driving home from my parent's house the other night, and Ellie broke out into song! Singing has become her favorite thing to do. Grandma GiGi has a microphone, so Ellie put on a show for us. Every night while I rock her to sleep Ellie asks me to sing the balloon song, which is the above song. I didn't know that she was capable of singing the whole first verse!

Some Good News....

My Dad and I took Ellie up to Primary Children's Medical Center on Friday. She was so funny about it, she kept telling me how excited she was to go to Salt Lake.

While I was registering her for the lab, a lady kept referring to my dad as Ellie' dad, which got me thinking...she thought he was my husband...YUCK!! Anyway, they had tons of toys to play with, and Ellie was actually having a lot of fun in the waiting room. We were told the test would be an hour and a half (I don't think we were planning on it being that long), which really isn't that long to wait when you want to make sure your child is okay.

They definitely have some amazing people working for PCMC, when we went back, a lady named Kim came, and it was her job to be a distraction for what the nurse, Patrick was doing. Patrick put two "bracelets" on each of Ellie's arms, one red and one black. They created electromagnetic waves that we were told would feel like the pins and needles sensation you feel when your feet fall asleep. Ellie was SO good! Kim and Patrick were also so helpful. Kim was blowing bubbles and had some magic wands with lots of colors in them. Ellie answered all of their questions, like how old she was, her favorite color, and what was at Great Grandpa's farm. She even told them about the man made slip and slide we had at the farm when we had the reunion, and that Great Grandpa fell and hit his cabeza. As we were leaving the lab, they let her pick a toy from the toy chest for being so good.

The test to make her sweat lasted five minutes, and then they put a piece of gauze on her arm where the arm was irritated from the electricity. They wrapped the gauze with a long piece of plastic, and then covered that plastic with another long piece of plastic, and then covered them with a purple bracelet (bandage). We were told to let her run around and play for thirty minutes and then to come back to have them removed.

When we went back to have them removed, a nurse named Kyle helped us, Kim also came back with us again. Ellie, yet again, was surprisingly good. We had to wait around another ten to 15 minutes to make sure they had collected enough sweat, and as we were leaving, Ellie headed straight to the toy bin! We told her she already had her toy, so she bounced right out the door without throwing a fit. When we checked back to see if they had enough sweat, they told us we had, and we could go, but as far as the results go...we wouldn't be able to find that out from them, we'd have to hear it from Ellie's pediatrician.

My Dad took us out to eat, Ellie wanted Macaroni and Cheese, I told the waitress (they didn't have any, obviously it wasn't on the menu), she told Ellie that, and Ellie asked if they could buy some! Grandma GiGi and Grandma bend over backwards for her, so she thinks everyone should!

We got home, and I crashed...It had been such an exhausting week! We heard back from the doctors at about 5:30...the test results came back negative! YAY! We never suspected she had it, but it was such good news to know that Cystic Fibrosis was ruled out!

We also have some more good news...the last three bm's that Ellie has had, she hasn't prolapsed! I don't know if it was because we were in a public place, and Heavenly Father knew that I didn't want Ellie to get down on her hands and knees in a public restroom, or if things are starting to get better! The good thing about it not coming back for those three times, is that we can now actually look at it being something she can eventually grow out of instead of resorting to surgery. The only reason she was going to need surgery was because it was happening so frequently that her muscles weren't getting the chance to build up strength

I just want to say that I have gained such a testimony on prayer, and the power of the priesthood. I appreciate all the love and support and prayers that were tossed our way! I know that I felt a lot more calm these last two days, and that was definitely something Dan, Ellie and I needed! Thank you so much for everything! We love you guys!