Eight Months Old

I completely forgot until now that I haven't done this yet for Ella! Oops!

Anyway, Ella turned eight months old one week and one day ago, on Presidents' Day. I cannot believe how fast she is growing up! I know I say that every month, but it's true! She is turning into a little girl.

She can do so much now! She is starting the first stages of crawling. She gets up on her knees, but still hasn't quite figured out how to move forward. But, she is becoming very mobile and is starting to get into everything she can!

This little girl has a very long attention span. It amazes me. She can sit for an hour or more playing with her toys intently. It's great when I need to do something! Sometimes I just sit and watch her play, play, play. She also love to dance! I will have to get a video of her dancing on here soon!

Another thing that she is doing is that she can clap! And she even makes the little smacking noise. I tried to get it on video, but she will not perform on demand. She's very smart. She already is very stubborn and even shows some attitude (like pushing my hand away if she doesn't want me touching her or if it's in the way of something she wants). She also knows the word hungry. We ask her if she's hungry and she starts to whine if she is.

Ella has also said her first word! Well, sort of. She can and does say "ah da", "da", and last night she was saying "dada" quite a bit. However, she does not quite yet associate "dada" with Craig.

We love Ella so much and it just more and more exciting watching her grow up, figure things out, and physically doing new things. Craig and I feel so blessed to be able to raise a special little girl.

Help!

I think I'm turning into one of those crazy Twilight people! AAH!!!

Here's the story. When these books were big (about a year ago?), I thought everybody was crazy for being so into a book. Now, I love reading, but I am not the type of person to become like this over a book (or anything for that matter). I usually avoid things if everybody has to have it, see it, or read it. However, I sometimes will get, watch, or read these things after the craze has passed. A long time after.

This past Thursday was my birthday, and one thing I received (from my sister), was the first two books from the Twilight series. I thought, "Cool! I finally have something to read!" I have been secretly sort of wanting to read them, but would NEVER admit it to anyone.

Anyway, I decided to start reading them that night. Needless to say, it's only Monday, four days later, and I'm over half way through the first book. I can't put it down! I was a terrible mother on Friday just putting Ella on the floor to play by her self so I could read. And I fully intend to do it again today. Don't worry, I'm feeding her, and everything. I feel very bad, but I can't help it!

What's worse, I even can't wait until March when the movie comes out on DVD so I can rent it! I think my husband thinks I'm crazy now. We watched the Oscars last night, and every time the guy who plays Edward in the movie was shown, I yelled to Craig, "That's the Twilight guy!" Every time.

So anyway, I now know why people went so crazy when it all first came out. Now I have to get back to reading some more.

Snow!

On Monday, Craig, Ella, and I went up north to Flagstaff for a snow trip. It was Ella's first time in the snow, and was my first time in that much snow. It was so beautiful! There was probably about a foot or more snow on the ground.

It was a last minute decision to go up north, so we weren't exactly prepared for how much snow there actually was. We did not get to play in it very much, but the times we did, it was very fun! Ella also loved it! She got so excited when she could touch it and walk in it! We had so much fun!

Now, tomorrow, is a different story. It's the day I turn old. 25. A quarter of a century old. Yeesh. I guess one positive is that our car insurance will go down in price a bit.

Anyway, here are some more pictures of our trip.

The Annual Newman Family 4-Wheeling in the Desert Trip

On January 24, we went out on the desert near Florence with all of the Newman family. They hold this trip annually (usually closer to the new year), but did not last year because Craig's parents were on their mission. His dad has a 4-wheeler he always takes, and Craig's brother Chris brought his motorcycle. It was very fun and the weather was beautiful! However, we were afraid it was going to rain on us. Thankfully it didn't! This was also Ella's first time on the desert. Ella did not ride on the 4-wheeler. I just kept picturing her falling off, and I didn't want that to happen and have her severely hurt. Craig and I were able to go by ourselves for a little bit, though. She is still not quite used to her Grandma and Grandpa Newman and she's going through the separation anxiety phase, but we had a great solution that worked every time! All we (or they) had to do was give her to Craig's twin brother Keith. She thought he was daddy, so she was totally fine once he was holding her! So cute!

Here are some pictures of the trip (and a couple I took the other day that I thought were adorable). Sorry for the picture overload!

Daddy and Ella

Cousin Ashlynn, Uncle Keith, Grandma Newman, Aunt Melissa's legs

Grandma Newman

Cousin Shelby, Uncle Chris

Daddy and Ella

Sleeping on Mommy

Ella pulled the pillow on her lap by herself