Ellie’s Latest

I’ve been trying to capture Ellie mimicking her Lady Bug toy for a while now. The wheels squeak and she has found she can copy the squeak quite well. Listen close. We love it. The video also shows her talents of pulling up and trying to walk. Her legs are still wobbly but she is getting better and stronger each day. It’s bitter sweet she is quickly growing out of the baby stage and into the toddler stage. I know we will have our work cut out for us chasing her all over.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1s8w-5WN6o[/youtube]

She has also mastered clapping her hands as of three days ago and she seems to be very proud of herself as she smiles and gets excited every time. Another achievement this week is saying “Woof Woof”. We have a stuffed puppy her Aunt Danielle gave to her that she is very fond of and we have been calling it the “Woof Woof” of course. We are pretty sure she has picked up on it. Does that count as her first word? We will try to get a video of this as well then you can decide.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zitUSkH3JkI[/youtube]

4th of July

We went to the Park City 4th of July Parade this morning. It was pretty crowded, Gary was a good sport. The parade was fun a good mix of city floats, fire trucks, bands, kids, local hoodlums, and real estate floats (just isn’t PC w/o the big name real estate folks getting a word in). Ellie was fun she started to wave towards the end and she wasn’t too alarmed at the sirens and such. Afterwards we walked to the City Park for some lunch and tunes from the Motherlode Canyon Band who’s front man is PC’s Mayor. (Dana Williams – we like that guy) Needless to say it was a good 4th of July and I’m grateful for my country and my freedom.

Ellie enjoyed the ride home… She passed out mid-sip…

By the way this is what my husband looks like minus a hat sunglasses and crazy mop…

He cleans up well.

Empty House

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Sarah and Grandma Marcoccia as they were starting their adventure driving back to NY. It is never easy saying goodbye, so I always try to focus on when we will see them again and remind myself of the good times we had over the visit. We will see them again soon in October when Jill and Larry get married.

I think Sarah was ready to leave and get back to NY and her new apartment, friends, and job. It was fun having her here all month. I know it was good for Ellie. She loved waking her up in the morning with smiles and hugs. We loved having Grandma Marcoccia here, too. She has so much energy. I wish I could steal away just a little bit of it. So glad Ellie got to show her all she is doing now like the babble, crawling, and playing. Our little house felt very empty yesterday and last night with out them. Needless to say, we are missing our guests very much and looking forward to the next visit when we can see the whole family.

Love you all…

For more picnic photos look here…

Ohhh Sarah

Heber Valley Fun

Grandma Marcoccia arrived yesterday after spending the night in the Denver airport (Ugh Wish we could have scheduled better). She is a trooper though and although we tried to get her to nap with Ellie she couldn’t settle so we took her out and experienced Heber.

First up the Heber Creeper… We did the short ride out to Deer Creek and back. It was a fun ride with excellent views of the valley and I must say right now is the perfect time to go while everything is still green and lush and the flowers are abundant. It is a classic Heber Valley experience.

For more pictures of the train ride go here.

Next… We discovered the Heber Valley Pow Wow at Soldier Hollow. Another great event with lots of singing, dancing, and drumming. I got a little picture happy but I couldn’t help it the dancing was so awesome and the kids so cute. Wish we could have stayed longer.

For more pictures go here.

Dinosaurs

Sarah, Ellie and I took a day trip up to Ogden’s Dinosaur Park. We met up Grandma McKenney, Aunt Laurie, Summer, and the boys. It was a lot of fun and I must say I was impressed with the park…a great place for kids. The boys were a ton of fun to watch they kept pointing and saying “SaurSaur” for dinosaur of course. We walked through one trail with lots of scary creatures and Parker had a tight grip on Aunt Laurie’s hand. Summer was fun as well, she even knew some of the names before we got to read about them and find out who they were. By the end of the day Ellie was showing off her new trick of growling. She just started that this week, and it was a perfect place to let loose with all the background dinosaur noises and such.

Summer was a good sport and posed for this photo opportunity…

To top the day off we had an excellent sunset last night. I love our view of the Wasatch back! Check it out…