This past weekend we blessed Ellie and were lucky to have so many familiar faces here to support her. We packed upward of 25 people in our apartment (luckily we all like each other) to play games, visit, dance, laugh, and have a lot of fun. Here are some pictures...





Ellie was delighted to meet GraMaude for the first time!




Little Eli was an expert at giving kisses to his new cousin.


Paul was able to meet up with an old highschool buddy. He stopped by with his wife Sarah and darling little girl Ava.

We decided to surprise Jen with a decadent, delicious "everything" cake. Actually, to be quite honest I was pretty nervous to taste it. We bought a frozen chocolate cake and Paul had the idea to add a layer in the middle. We were in the middle of trying to decide whether to fill the middle with rasberry jam or candy bar chunks when I went to get in the shower. When I got out I found Paul and GraMaude cutting up FOUR different kinds of candy bars and putting them in sections. Then I found out they had put the rasberry jam under the candy bars AS WELL. So the middle layer was a combo of rasberry, Twix, 1000,000 grand, Snickers, and Reeses cups! I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it turned out - and I'm not just saying it to make Paul feel good, I really loved it!



Here is the inside layer before we put the top back on


Becca, Meg, Emmy, Lyssa and Secily had fun decorating the top


Here is the finished product... Mmmm


Ellie was great the whole weekend, just happy to be here.


All the women of the house having "girl talk" while the guys were watching football. Ellie's just layin in the middle taking it all in.


Here are a few of the family pics we took Sunday morning in the rain.








This is a four generation picture, complete with my grami BJ who just got home from a mission in Australia last Tuesday.



Yes, I realize Ellie's red shoes are gigantic, but I couldn't resist putting them on with her outfit.

.........

Right before the blessing I was getting ready to sit down in the chapel. I looked up and realized our family filled two full rows, which is amazing to me considering the fact that we live in NC. I felt such an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude for everyone who traveled to support us, and I know everyone else wishes they could have been here. Ellie doesn't know it quite yet, but she has an AWESOME family who loves her!!

- JONI

Face switching, Hair Raising Fun

We had some fun this weekend while at home. Joni has a new app on her iPhone that had us rolling until our guts hurt...here are some of the highlights. Which do you like the best? Maude Turner and Joni Bon Jovi...

Gayle and Jim, isn't it sweet how Jim curls up into Gayle's chest?

Joel and Erin look surprisingly normal, except for how manly Erin's new shoulders/arms are. Joel's new hair could rival a Patrick Swayze from Point Break look.

All I have to say is I make a pretty hot girl, look at that pose...and massive forehead

Happy Anniversary indeed, the new Freddy Mike looks so happy with his new earrings and hair

All I can say about this one is creepy...

I take it back, Ellie does NOT look like me, poor little thing

This one looks so real, Andrea woke up with some new found man cheeks/jaw

What a game, I was drooling at the Cowboys cheerleaders...

Barter and Cess, anyone want to guess what Glen and Kendi's next kid will look like?

These last two are my favorite...nothing else really needs to be said for this one.

I would look concerned if I was Eli too...

Have a great week!

December

What a sad, sad day for Broncos fans. You'd think that 4 straight years of epic, end of season collapses could make me quit them. I feel like the guy from Brokeback..."wish I could quit you", but I just can't. I guess that's what makes winning a Super Bowl that much better (2 in our case), but after not even tasting the playoffs for so long its just plain heartbreaking. What's happened to the home crowd at Mile High? Why was the stadium half full to start the 4th quarter when we still had a shot? Where did the guy go who camped out on a billboard for several weeks in the snow until they won a game? R.I.P. Barrel Man, probably good that you didn't witness this one.

Enough of the depressing stuff, aside from that I'm feeling pretty blessed so I can't really complain. We had a great first Christmas with our little family. We gave Dilly a bone which made her dissappear from our sight for about 8 hours, and Joni and I opened up presents while Ellie snored. It worked out pretty well having a baby during this time of year, I was able to work from home a lot, and I had some extra time off.Took a stab at our first gingerbread house, and doubled our trouble with some of my mom's famous maple nut sweetrolls. So much for New Years Resolutions.Having a blast with our little one. She loves to hear us talk, and sometimes mumbles right back at us. She smiles a ton, especially in the morning, and she follows our every move. She's getting stronger and she loves to peek over the couch to see everyone. She also loves driving in the car, but she starts to cry as soon as we stop. We think she looks a lot like me, especially the eyes, nose, mouth and chin...but its still really hard to tell. She has plenty of gas all the time, I'd say its a rare talent, we'll see if it keeps up.
Ellie also does a pretty good DeNiro impression

New Years Eve was just another day for us. Whenever we think about what to do it's either rent a movie or play a game. We haven't been too creative with a little one around, but hopefully we can get back to our normal selves soon.

We took Ellie to church for the first time today, she did pretty well. It was fun to finally go together again. We really missed being with everyone this year. We've had a few people visit but it was a little too quiet for Christmas. Keep the blogs coming, its all we have to keep up with everyone for now. We can't wait to share our little girl with you all, for now we'll help you get to know her as much as we can.