Elin's Blessing

My mom made Elin's dress for her, which is why it was so beautiful : )

Four Generations

Grandma Melissa

Grandma Sylvia

Halloween

I was super excited for Halloween this year because I just knew Sophie would love it, and despite the look she has in every picture we took, she did love it. She wasn't too sure what to think of pumpkin carving, but thought it was way cool when we put the candles in. She loved her tiger costume (if you ask her, she was a kitty), and has already worn it to Walmart and out running errands twice. And more than anything she loved running around the neighborhood and getting candy from everyone. There were a few houses with "cary" (scary) decorations, so she made daddy carry her to the door so she could get more candy.

"Mmmm, rain."

As I was standing on the porch talking to a friend, Sophie decided to go out and play in the rain. It wasn't raining that hard, so I didn't mind. I got caught up in the conversation and didn't pay attention to what she was doing until I heard her saying "Mmmm, rain." over and over again. She had found a cup and was drinking the "rain" from the gutter. She thought it was delicious and starting bawling when I took her cup away and told her it was yucky rain.

Elin Danielle Thornton

Elin Danielle Thornton was born on 9/29, just under 2 weeks early, and I'm SUPER happy about it! She weighed 9 lbs 2 oz, so I can't even imagine how big she'd be if she cooked any longer : ) One of my friends from high school went into labor early that morning, and since she was due 3 weeks AFTER me, I wasn't very happy about it. I spent the whole morning doing laundry, washing the floors, taking walks, and chasing Sophie, and still nothing happened. Later that night when Eli got home I started not feeling well, so went for another walk, ate some Arby's, did some squats, and went to the hospital hoping they'd just start me. Turns out, I was in labor, and she was born 2 hours later. *to clear up any confusion, not that anyone reads this, but just in case, her name is pronounced EE - Lin, not Ellen. and yes, we are aware that it's Tiger Woods ex-wifes name

Sophie Turns 2

"Helping" make her birthday cake.

Her new kitty and stroller, she does laps around the kitchen every morning when she wakes up.

NERMAL

A few weeks ago Eli noticed that our lawn was being over taken by voles. A vole is a bigger, uglier version of a mouse, by the way. They were tunneling through our lawn, into the flower beds, and up near the foundation of the house. Eli immediately saw this as an opportunity to go to the hardware store. After countless hours spent trying to trap, poison, and get rid of these nasty little creatures, it seemed they were only multiplying. I suggested a cat, but Eli HATES cats. So we bought more poison. Which also didn't work. So after weeks of this dilemma, and seeing the home and garden center on our Wells Fargo statement way too many times, I decided to take matters into my own hands. While Eli was sleeping one day after a long nights work, I got on ksl.com and found a cat. An old woman was trying to get rid of the cat because she kept leaving dead mice and birds on the porch - just what I was looking for. So, I called her up and went and got the cat. I didn't know if an adult cat would change homes easily, so I also found a free kitten online and picked him up too. The adult cats name was Sophie, so that needed to be changed. The box I brought her home in said "Hot Tamales" on the side, so 'Tamale' is her new name. Nermal just seemed to fit the kitten, so that's what he got. When Eli woke up and went out to the garage for something, he saw Tamale and Nermal - NOT HAPPY. The next morning when there was a big fat vole on our front porch he started to come around. The morning after that when there were two on the front porch and one on the back, he suggested I go buy her some treats and a collar so no one could steal her. Vole problem solved.