Jake made a mess.

I know what you're thinking. Emily never blogs about Jake. But alas, I am and that's because he did something that didn't involve the kids (in which case it would be about them) or law school. He participated in the 10k Dirty Dash. This is because he has been training, along with his brothers and way awesome sister-in-law, to participate in the Tough Mudder.

 

Sammi and I tagged along to take pictures while Ellie stayed and played with her cousins. This is how they looked before the race.

 

Notice the white shirt. FYI, not a good choice for this activity.

 After running, walking, climbing obstacles, and sliding down a slide, this is what they finished looking like.

How they ended up with clean thighs while Jake's is caked in mud, I don't know?

 It sounds like it was a great challenge and a lot of fun to do. The day was warm-ish but the water quite chilly since this is run at Soldier's Hollow. So how do you clean off the mud? Pay $6 cash for warm showers or a power wash or use the traditional shower.

I love the guy in the towel. Any guesses if he has clothes on under?

 We did learn that it is best to wear something that will set you apart from the crowd. It was hard to locate them for pictures along the course. There are a few of Rob and Kristine on their blog. I think they had a good time and learned a little about themselves. Mostly I think they felt better about running the Tough Mudder.

Official picture from Dirty Dash

I know some of you are thinking, "How did you ever get that white shirt clean?" The answer is we didn't. It still has a slight brown twinge in it.

Where does the time go? A long update.

Man, it has been a while since I posted last and here's my explanation, time sped up and I can't manage to keep up with it. Here's a quick breakdown of what has gone on with a few pictures.

Jake was accepted to the University of Utah law school. YA! So when we flew back to Utah at the end of July, we started looking for places. But the main reason for our visit was because my little baby brother was leaving for the MTC and then off to Michigan for 2 years.

Saying good bye at the Temple.

 FYI, missionaries are kicked to the curb at the MTC. Families don't walk in with them anymore.

These kids are going to miss Uncle Jeff.

 Ellie prays for him every night. (She also prays for Grandpa to be a good missionary too which makes me giggle.)

Stef and Sammi looking pretty.

 By the time we flew back to Denver, I had 8 days (count them 8) to pack up everything and make arrangements for moving back. Somehow we made it and this move was better than moving out to Denver. We are glad to be back but sure miss our Denver friends.

We are living the new American Dream of moving back in with family. We are helping my parents clean out their basement to finish some of it. We had a yard sale. Remind me, I will never do anything like that again. People are rude and cheap. Oh, well its over and most of the basement is clean.

Then for the family tradition, Cherry Hills. I don't know why, but we love this place.

Ya for Cardiac Canyon.

Here we go.

Sammi played a little bit.

Ellie loves the water.

Sammi loved the lazy river. She even tried to skip naps to stay.

 I had a ton more pics but I am trying to keep this post as short as possible.

The last Tuesday in August we went to Thanksgiving Point for $2 tues and to see the Museum of Ancient History or something like that. Ellie and Braden had a blast. The best part had to be the ice cream at the end.

She is loving that ice cream.

Braden is a little better at eating ice cream. At least cleaner.

 Then in Sept, we had another family tradition, the Utah State Fair.

The chillin's learning to be farmers and how the whole system works.

Proud FFA members.

Geez, can't we have a normal pic.

Ellie loves her hood.

Sammi too.

 Of course one of the main reasons we go, all you can eat ice cream tent.

Braden struggled eating ice cream this time.

 Of course we had to ride the giant slide.

We had a good time. Things are going pretty good here in Utah. We are glad to be near family again.

Sammi 2 months

At 2 months, Sammi weighed 10 lbs and 10 oz. She was 23 inches long. She sleeps for 6-8 hours at night the only problem is it is 3 hours before I go to bed so I still have to wake up in the middle of the night. She only takes small cat naps during the day but I think it's because she has been so spoiled during naps that she likes sleeping in some one's arms. She is smiling a whole bunch, loves listening to Ellie sing the ABC's, and playing with Ellie.

Wearing her blessing dress.

 Sammi is really smiley and talkative when sitting in her chair. Although every time the orange light on the camera, she would stop smiling.

She is growing up so fast, but I love watching her learn new things and interact with Ellie.

Back in Utah

So after what seemed like forever of not seeing family (with exception to grandmas' visits), we finally made a trip back to Utah. And like most of our trips, it was jam packed with things. We spent all the time with family so that Ellie could be reacquainted and Sammi could be introduced to everyone.
Part of the reason for our trip was the annual Watterson family reunion. This year it was in Ophir (an extremely small town further west than Cedar Fort. Grandma Bonnie was nice enough to let us borrow her motor home for the trip which was nice and rough for the same reason; the wind.

Ellie loved playing with all her cousins and 2nd cousins.

Millie, Ellie, and Becca painting rocks.

Becca and Ellie doing a cake walk.

Eating her cupcake.

Becca enjoying her cupcake.

Hayley really enjoying her cupcake.

There were crafts, activities (rock climbing, zip line and a movie), and the raffle. I made some hoodie towels for the raffle but forgot to take a picture. Trust me, they were very cute.

Since we were in Utah with family, we decided it would be best to bless Sammi with everyone around. Rob and Kris were kind enough to let us use their house for the whole shindig. Of course, I was terrible at taking pictures again (none with Ellie and Sammi or just Sammi wearing the dress).

Proud parents

Grandma and Grandpa Watterson

Grandma and Grandpa Gledhill

Sammi's great-grandma Bonnie

It was a perfect day and Sammi was such an angel. She was patient and happy with everyone passing her around.

We also drove downtown to see the new City Creek mall. That is a really fun place. I think the people who worked on it did a great job. The fountains are great. We also went out to dinner to celebrate Jake's and Stefanie's birthdays and spend some time with old friends. We celebrated my mom's birthday with Annie, Brian and their family (by seeing their new house, having dessert, and playing games).

Grandma and Poppy Gledhill took us to Tracy Aviary. They have done a lot of work around there and I think Ellie had a blast.

My dad catching a falcon as a helper.

This is how Ellie and Poppy measure up.

Poppy, Ellie, and Daddy walking through the Seven Canyons water fountain.

We really had a great time in Utah with family.

Road Rage

You know you have bad road rage when your 2 1/2 year old repeats what you say. When ever I give the car some gas, Ellie yells out, "Move out of Mommy's way. Mommy we getting on the freeway?" Today as I came to a stop at a light, she said, "Seriously!" So I asked what that was about and she replied, "That guy isn't paying attention to me." (Probably from when I say that someone wasn't paying attention while driving.)

My little mermaid

The things this girl wouldn't do to play in the water.
After some really hot days, I decided to clean up and set up Ellie's pool. She loves being in the water and would shower or bathe everyday if I would let her. Now I only filled the pool with hose water but she stayed in it for over an hour. The video shows a few things she likes to do.

After I took her out and dried her off, she decided that while my back was turned making dinner she was going back in but without clothes because she couldn't put back on her swimsuit by herself. I caught her and told her after dinner we could go back out. Of course she remembered and we were back out. At one point I stepped inside to grab something and came back out. She told me to sit down on my chair. I sat down in a wet chair because she thought it was funny to get the seat wet while I was inside.  She stayed so long this time and it was so cool at 7:30 at night in that cold water, that her teeth started chattering. She turned to me and said, "Look mommy. My teeth are dancing." ha ha
Next day, first thing in the morning, she wanted to get back in. It was a cool start to the day (around 60) so I told her after nap. The minute she woke up, she asked to go out. I think I will be spending a lot of time by the pool.

Ellie's Antics

Ellie must be at that age of hilariousness or she really wants attention after the baby getting so much. Here are a few of her sayings and adventures.

She likes hiding in things. Can you tell?

On nice days, she likes to sit on her chair on the patio with her sunglasses and a drink to watch the baseball games.

• After doing something the other day, Ellie told me, "Good job mommy. High Five."
• We have been watching VeggieTales. One of Ellie's favorite's is the Silly songs video. Ellie calls them the Cucumber Songs. She wanted to watch them one day so I told her to ask Daddy as he was watching one of his shows. She said, "We watch the cucumber song. Daddy loves it."
• Apparently she really wants to play outside the house. One Saturday she put on her baseball hat, grabbed mine and put it on me, grabbed a softball, and said we needed to get mitts to go play catch.
• I called up Jake's family to chat on Skype and Cassie and the girls were heading out to ride on a boat with Cassie's dad. Ellie heard me say this and asked to ride on the boat. Of course, we had her ask my parents the next time we spoke.
• One of the VeggieTales silly songs is about a water buffalo. We went to the zoo with some friends and happened to walk past the water buffalo, at which point Ellie says, "Water buffalo, like the cucumber song that daddy loves."
• She is a great big sister and loves learning about how Sammi will learn to do things. Some times she just looks at her and says, "Oh baby Sammi. She's so cute."
• She has become interested in eye and hair color. Mommy and daddy have brown eyes and hair. Ellie has blue eyes and white hair like Grandma and Poppy has gray hair.
• While inspecting my eyes one day, she noticed that there were "breaks" in my eyes. After a few seconds I realized she was seeing the blood vessels and that my eyes were cracked. (Yes, I am a little low on sleep.) I told her they were called blood vessels. She turned and told Daddy that I had red vessels in my eyes.
• On our recent visit to Utah, we stayed with Rob and Kris. They have a trampoline. Sunday morning, I get this text from Stef saying Good morning Ellie. I then realized Ellie had played with my phone and sent Stef about 5 texts, mostly blank. As we were getting ready to head to church, we could find Ellie. Turns out she had let herself out of the house and was jumping all by herself. (Parent of the year award right here.)
• My favorite saying; Jake asked me to look up an address for directions. As I pulled it up on the computer, Ellie walked over and saw the map. She got excited about the map and asked what is was for so I told her daddy needed some directions. At this point, she replied, "Oh, rections for daddy. Daddy has rections." hahahaha

What will this girl think of next?