No pictures...

For safety reasons.
A while ago we did a post about how Elle was scooting, albeit unintentionally. Well she is FULL ON crawling. What a mobile babe we have now! She can get basically anywhere. She loves to pull herself up and walk along the edge of the couch too!
Again, a while back, I promised a post about a crawling story. Well the reason it has taken SOOOO long to get it up is because I had great intentions of recreating the scene and taking pics. Yeah, that didn't happen. To be fair, I don't even have internet access during the daytime, so all my blogging has to happen at night. That is, by the way, also when I have other things to take care of. So the blogging has suffered. And so have you. Sorry about that.
SO: here's the story. Our apartment is pretty small, so it's hard to make sure everything is out of her reach. We have to use all the cupboards to store our stuff. As a result, I usually put all of Elle's toys out on the living room floor and let her explore in there. To keep her in that room I place our coffee table between the couches. To keep her from crawling under the table I place the couch cushions underneath it. Well, the other day I was putting something away in another room. It sounded like she had crawled around our barricade to the tile portion at the front door. Imagine my complete surprise when I found her "pacing" back and forth on top of the coffee table!!! No one told me she could climb. So now we prop the cushion upright in front of the table. They are too big to fit underneath, so the excess part she can use as a stepping stool.
Needless to say, I immediately removed her from the situation and did not take time to snap a picture. You're welcome!
If you need pictures (and don't we all?) check out our cougar post right below.

NOT a fair weather fan :)

So, as you may be aware, our BYU Cougars have not had the season we were hoping for. However, while some people were ready to throw in the towel partway through the season and wait for better things to come next year, I want to announce that we still kept going to all the home games. See for yourself:

The BEST part about being able to attend the games was taking this cute girl to cheer them on:

I wish you could see how cute the whole cheer outfit is, but it was not meant to be that night. No good pics of it. As it is, we'll have to get the whole outfit in a picture at the Marriott Center, where the Cougs have their home basketball games.
Another quick note: do you see the ladies in the background of this picture who are admiring Elle from a distance? Yeah. Every time we take her to the games people are talking about her from rows away. I can see them pointing her out to their neighbors. She really brightens the day for many people!

It might rain

Elle and I have been going on lots of walks lately. Today we needed to go pick up Ted's contacts, which had just come in at Shopko Optical. It is about a 25-30 minute walk each way, which is perfect because we're trying for an hour/day.
Unfortunately, when our opening came I looked outside and saw that it had been raining just before. I wasn't sure if the rain was finished, so I decided to put her in a jacket and hat. The good news is it did not rain on us at all (don't worry--I had an umbrella too. It covers the opening of the stroller PERFECTLY!). The other good news is how CUTE Elle looks in her hat... even if she doesn't really like it all that much. Check out her cuteness for yourself:

 

Check out our blog soon for a Cougar update and a crawling story!

Recent Events!

Two weeks ago we went to the temple as a family!  It was a wonderful day.  The day after we went to the temple we blessed Elle at the churchhouse.  Again, a wonderful day.  Here are some picture from the two days.

Last weekend Ted ran in a relay with his cousins, aunt, and uncles from Smithfield, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was an amazing experience. The first picture is of everyone who was at the finish line. The other picture is of Ted and Elle hanging out at dinner after the race.

ALMOST scooting... intentionally

Elle is now quite proficient at rolling around. Back to front and front to back. She has mastered the art of moving around the room. She is trying to so hard to use her skills to go where she wants to be, but she is still in the phase of her momentum just taking her where it will. She usually ends up, as you will see, with half of her body under the couch or end table. She gets pretty excited about it! Here, see for yourself:

Can you hear her eyes? They are saying "I DID IT!!!"

Hello again! It has been awhile, but here are some pictures with a few notes.

A couple weeks ago we went to Kansas City, Missouri for a family reunion.  It was SO fun!! Elle met a lot of cousins.  The picture below is with her cousin, Levi.

While in Kansas City we decided to snap a family picture under a big shade tree.  It was a beautiful day!

Before we left Grandma Gilbert took Elle shopping for some summer clothing so she didn't get overheated in the hot, humid weather. Here is a picture of her in one of her outfits.  As you can see from the look on her face she really liked it!

Another momentous event that happened this month is that Elle is eating solid foods...well, mushy solid foods.  Here are a few pictures of one of her first eating sessions.

The last notable milestone is how well Elle is sitting up on her own.  She is still a bit wobbly, but she is holding herself up! :)

Here is another cute, random picture.



We are so grateful to have Elle in our family.  We are eternally grateful and full of love for Elle's birth parents who gave us a gift that we could never give ourselves.

We found it!!!

Here is that sweet picture of Elle's tiny hand in Thurl's not-so-tiny hand:

I know you're probably thinking that her hand looks tiny next to any adult. Not that tiny. Also, you can see that his hand is at least two of her faces and about half of her entire body height. Crazy. He actually held up his hand against another grown man's hand during his address. It made the other grown man look like he was twelve!

And the winner of the swimsuit competition is...

ELLE!!!

This, by the way, is not a shocker. First, she was the only competitor. Second, Elle wins every cuteness competition here at our house.
The sunday school room at church got a bit overheated, so upon returning home we thought this would be a good opportunity to try on her new bathing suit to see if it will be a good fit for this summer, should an opportunity come up. It allowed us to see if her suit fit and also get her temperature regulated.

Speci-Elle meets someone special

Saturday night was a great event for our family. We were asked to attend the Maeser Prep Awards Gala. We all got dressed up and had a great time. Elle basically has everyone wrapped around her little fingers. Even this man asked for some of her attention:

If you are not sure who that head belongs to, here is a better shot:

Are you still confused? Try this out:

Yes folks. That's right. Thurl Bailey was pretty enamored with Elle. He was also a pretty fantastic keynote spekaer, by the way.
Somewhere there is a picture of Elle's hand in his. That is a contrast! He can grasp a basketball the way that the rest of us hold a softball. If we can track the picture down we'll share it. He is a super cool guy. He was so friendly and cute with her; she was cooing and smiling for him.

She is so SpeciELLE (special)

We've been thinking lately about what makes Elle unique. What is her day to day life like? Here is a small list of things that make Elle Elle.
Elle LOVES to snuggle the right side of her face while she sleeps. Here is a picture of what that looks like:

Another funny thing about Elle is that when she is in her swing it makes her really mad if her blanket falls off.
One of the sweetest things about Elle is that she is pretty social. She will snuggle anyone we let hold her, even falling asleep in their arms. We never hear any protests from her when she is getting in the car seat or the stroller, because she knows that means she is going somewhere.
Elle is VERY expressive with her face. She has flirty eyes and she knows how to express exactly what she is feeling, whether it be surprise or excitement or confusion. For example,

Elle chews her tongue like it is gum. It even sounds like she is chewing gum!

One last great thing about Elle is that she LOVES watching baseball. That may sound like a stretch, but we can tell that it is a genuine love. She acts differently watching baseball than doing anything else. Even other people have noticed her great affection for it.

 Yesterday we went to a park to take some pictures while the weather was so gorgeous. Here are just a few for your viewing pleasure:

HELP!!! My mom and dad kiss me a lot...
I'm pretty sure they love me a ton.

Beau-tif-Elle

One of our great friends sent us an adorable dress (more than one, but she can only wear one at a time!). Elle looks SO cute in it; she has worn it several times in the last two weeks. Here. See for yourself:

We have another dear friend who teaches school with Ted. She made Elle a hat that is an apple. It's a perfect teacher hat, and it is SO cute on her:

I wish you could see the stem and leaves better, but they're there. I know it doesn't really match the red on her outfit, either, but we have to keep the wind out! Elle and I are going on walks every day. I'd say we're out on the road for at least an hour each day. Elle LOVES going out. We never hear a fuss when she is being buckled in the car seat or the stroller, because she knows that means she is going somewhere. The walks always put her to sleep--even if she has just woken up.
It has really been warming up around here, but she has this adorable sweater with matching headband. The first day it was cold enough to justify a sweater we had it on her:

She wears it with the cutest little pair of jeans. Wait. Isn't everything the cutest on Elle? YES!!!

Easter Sunday

To make Easter Sunday particularly meaningful, we drove out to Tooele to see Grandma-Great. Elle was able to meet a few more cousins and Uncle John! She also was able to see Grandpa Workman's headstone.
FYI, Elle travels GREAT. She is super chill in the car. When she starts to be a bit fussy we just start singing to her and she calms right down. She also does great meeting new people. She got downright excited (flailing her arms and legs with a huge smile) meeting cousin Colette at Aunt Judy's. Sadly, we don't have a picture of how cute that was.
Here is what our trip looked like:

 Since it was Easter Sunday, we simply need to say that we know we will indeed be with dad/grandpa Workman forever and we are thankful for Jesus Christ who makes this possible. We love them both.

It's worth a post...even though it's not Elle

So the other day Elle and I had to go spend the day at Ted's school. He was asked to join in the faculty band for the school talent show. The gal in charge of the band went a little crazy trying to get him into character. The pictures will prove it.
The best part is that Ted is always this FUN!!! In his defense, he was really out of his comfort zone running around like this. I just have to show you how hilarious this was!

Yep. That was a Choose The Right shirt. Pretty classic

Seeing that in public was TOTALLY worth spending 8 hours at a school with a baby--away from the convenience of home!

And We're Back!

Sorry about the long-time-no-post business. It's been a busy time at our house! As Ted puts it, I'm about to "post pictures like crazy". Some will speak for themselves. Some I might decide to explain. We'll see as we go!

Elle is getting much better about smiling on cue!

While my pictures are trying to be found I will tell you a bit about our adventures of late. Elle has had many firsts recently. Last week, she met many of her non-familial aunts (old college roommates, etc) for the first time. As several of them live FAR away (Boston, for example!) it was great that this was able to happen so early in her life; we thought it might take a while. She also met Aunt Marnie, Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Dan, Uncle Mike and Uncle Dallin for the first time. She met seven cousins, who live in St. George, and she watched her Semi-Annual general conference, where she listened to prophets of God for the first time!
Here she is shaking hands with Bethany Robison, the cousin she is closest to in age.

Although it wasn't a "first" to see Grandma Workman, it was her first time at Grandma's house. We are grateful Grandma has a place for us to stay! We were lucky enough to be there at the same time as Uncle Mike and Aunt Lindsay. Elle had tons of fun being around so many playmates!

Elle witnessed her third baby blessing when cousin Carter was blessed, which was right after cousin Harrison's baptism--her first opportunity to see one of those! Here are four pictures of Elle with Harrison. They're all similar, but really. How am I supposed to choose which ONE is the cutest? Not in the job description people.

Today is Elle's first Easter and she also had her first Stake Conference, instead of regular church. We'll snap pics of her Easter dress soon.
Elle has been spending lots of time on the BYU campus lately, where she cheers loudly for the cougars! Her favorites are the baseball games, but she likes the volleyball matches a lot because that is where she really gets to interact with Cosmo Cougar. She tries to wear her "First Cougars Tee" to all of the events, but sometimes a girl has to do laundry, you know! Anyway, thanks Aunt Trish, cousins Sabrina and Halle for the shirt to wear to the games!

We hope you enjoyed all these pics and are looking forward to more!