The Gospel of Ella

Ella is getting very articulate and is talking more and more. She has such a simple mind......it's so cute. I just love that children are told soemthing and they just accept it and then file it in their little brain. Here are some cute things she's said lately:
1) Last Monday we were having FHE and we were talking about Hagoth and how he was obedient to the prophet when buidling his ship and leaving (obscure person in the scrips, I know). So we related it to following our prophet. I asked Ella if she knew who the prophet was and she said no. Oh no, FAILURE!!! So I said, "The prophet is President Monson, can you say that?". She repeats, "President Monster". Yup. Perfect. Don't change a thing you cute little girl!
2) After church on Sunday (which makes me wonder what they are teaching her in nursery) she asked me this:
Ella: "Mommy, are all the Daddys the bosses of all the mommys?"
Me : (thinking in my mind, "heck no!") "No."
Ella: "But Daddy is the boss of you."
Me: "No he isn't." (where is she learning this blaspheme from?)
Ella: "Yes he is".
3) Ella came in last weekend complaining of her leg hurting. I asked her what happened. She said "I pushed Dee-Doo (lincoln)". Immediately, without gathering all the info, I reprimanded her for pushing brother. She looked sad and dropped her head and told me she was pushing him in the stroller. AWWWW. My heart fell apart, I felt so bad!!!! Push on ELLA!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!!

Sometimes I think these first few birthdays are really for the parents rather than the child. Case in point: Lincoln's birthday was actually the 14th, but we were in CO. Do you think he cared? No. So we celebrated today with Jason and Grandpa and Grandma Allred, and Uncle Jordan and friend. Grandma made him a "CARS" blanket which he couldn't be more thrilled with and is clutching it in bed as I type.
The last picture is my favorite. Here's why: when he first saw the cake I guess he just assumed it was entirely his. In fact, he claimed it with his open mouth and slobber. Oddly enough, the guests still wanted cake. So when I cut it to give them a peice, he pouted for several mintues. OH LINCOLN!! Did you really think you could stomach all that cake. Oh and I must explain the color. It's not a Mary Kary truck. It's supposed to be red but that never happened. It just really wanted to be pink. Oh well. Yeah for trying Mommy!

The Infamous Jewkes Family Reunion

The Jewkes Family Reunion 2008 was something to behold. It was a ten bedroom ranch in Breckenridge, CO. It slept 28, but we had 42. Half of that 42-children. Although it was beautiful scenery, there was a VERY swift, dangerous river 10 feet away from the back porch (notice the pic of me and the kids in front of it...literally a coupld feet from the porch). 24 Adults, all very opinionated. This led to a very fun, lively, reunion. The only one to not make it was my sweet Jason who took one for the Allred team and stayed home for school so he can apply for dental school on time. Way to sacrifice honey! We missed you! We had fun mountain biking, white water rafting, and lincoln enjoyed throwing rocks into the river.

Even wilder west

Had to add these pics. Cooper got on this tricycle after swimming at my Aunt Lori's pool. He was nude.....and really enjoying this ride until Lincoln came along. Then it became really torturous when Ella joined in. I think at this point, he became uncomfortable and nauseous. You can probably understand why. Poor Cooper.

The Wild Wild West

After the funeral, we had a week to do whatever we wanted in Utah while we waited for the Jewkes family reunion to start in CO. We had fun. Ella got a ride with my cousin Charlie on his motorcycle. She looks like a natural huh?

Lincoln rode his machine of choice- a tractor with my cousin-in-law, Brandon. I cannot even express how excited he was.

Ella still has not stopped talking about her horsey, "Prince", How fitting for our little princess to ride a horsey named Prince. She was in heaven. It's the only thing she talks about when telling people about her two week trip out west.

At the petting zoo at Gardner village.

Taking time to smell the roses

Whilst Lincoln was really taking time to smell the roses, we did that in a not so literal sense. We enjoyed celebrating my Grandpa Maurice Heninger's life. It was a beautiful and meaningful time where we got to reunite with family.

Lincoln giving his great grandpa one more hug before he was lowered.


It's a dark pic, but this is Lincolc, Ella and I by the casket.

All eleven of the children made it out to Mom's Dad's funeral. So this pic is ALL of us- Jennefer, Josh, Jessica, Jordan, Emily, Rebecca, Rachel, me, Julie, Jeremiah, and Jacob. PHEW! What a mouthful! The few extras in the pic are relatively local nieces and nephews of mine and a brother-in-law, Jim.