Sacred Grove

Well we just got back from our vacation to New York to visit my family, and we had a wonderful time! We got to see a lot of neat things. Todd and I didn't realize that we would drive right through Palmyra on our way there. We saw an exit for Hill Cumorah and decided to drive by. While we were there the sweet missionaries told us to go to the Sacred Grove if we had a chance. It was just down the road. So as soon as Ella "went potty in the Jesus store", we drove over to the temple and the Sacred Grove. It was such a wonderful experience. It happened to be Sunday, so we took some time to walk around and think about the amazing thing that had taken place right there. It really strengthened and reinforced my testimony in Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. The Spirit was so strong and it was a beautiful day. What a wonderful unexpected addition to our vacation!

Ella's turning 3!!!

Storytime

A postlude to the last post- the plus side to Ella not taking naps is that sometimes I can push bedtimes up to 6:30. Hurray! The negative side, on the rare occasions that she does take a nap, she won't go to sleep at night! So the other day when she actually did nap, we were playing the "I need a snack, I need to go potty, read me a story" game. It had been going on for about two hours... I kid you not. Finally I told her I would read her two books, and then I was going to bed because by then it was Mommy's bedtime. True to form, after the two books, she asked for a third. I said, nope. Mommy is tired. If you want another book, you can read it yourself. She looked at me and said- "Mommy, I can't read!!" I just had to laugh...

Sleepy girl

Well, the time I have been more or less dreading has finally come... Ella has given up naps. Don't get me wrong, I love her with all my heart- but I love her even more after I've gotten a couple hour break! Now she takes a quiet time for about an hour, but during that time she has usually made a huge mess (i.e. makeup, soap, potty accidents) that has taken so long to clean up, it hasn't been worth the one hour of quiet time. And then there are days like today, when I go in to check on her because it has been quiet a little too long, and I find her sound asleep and sweet as can be. Okay, so she did unwrap the toilet paper stash and build a little t.p. tower, but that is definitely worth the hour of peace and quiet. :)

Picture fun

Alum Creek State Park

Today the girls and I went to Alum Creek Park with some friends of ours. Todd was hard at work, as usual! But it was a beautiful day, and the girls had a lot of fun playing in the sand and surf! We are so lucky to have a lot of places around here to play. Hurray for summer!!

Slate Run Living Historical Farm

Todd's parents are in town this weekend so we went to Slate Run Living Historical Farm today. It was really neat. We got to see all the animals and their spring babies, and there was a farm house you could walk around and toys from the 1800's that the kids could play with. It was really beautiful. Ella loved it. She kept asking, "When can we see the animals??"