Love, Marriage, and a Baby Blessing!

My younger brother, Todd, is a married man now! This past weekend Todd and Jenny got married in the Mesa temple. It was a short and sweet trip for us, but busy! Flew out on Wednesday morning and back on Sunday night. (well, technically not home until Monday morning!...late flight!) I was nervous about flying with 2 kids, but they both did great on the plane rides. Luke had been counting down to when he could fly on an airplane for months, so he was just excited to be there! El slept the whole time both flights... didn't make a peep! We had a great time with family that came into town for the wedding (all my grandparents and aunt Carol) and with the Smith side of the fam too. The only one that had met baby Ella before this was my mom, so Ella got to meet lots of new faces! The first day we were there we hung out with mom and dad Smith, and then went to dinner with everybody... Mel, Joe and their kiddos, Daniel, Marci, and Davey. Thursday we hung out with my side of the family. Abby came down from Flagstaff, we went shopping with mom for last minute wedding things, went through the temple with Jenny and family, and then to Dak's football game (which btw... happened to be televised and he was awesome :) Friday we had a little luncheon/shower with the girls for Jenny, Jake took Luke to hang out with cousins at the park, we hung out with everyone at my parents house, Fred and Ron made the trip down from Prescott to see everyone, and Luke got to play with Betsy (Todd and Jenny's cute new beagle puppy). Saturday was full of fun wedding stuff! They were sealed in the morning, took lots of pictures, ate at their Carrabas luncheon, and then headed off to their reception. Fun times.
Here are the newlyweds!!! So cute together...
Jake, Me, Ella... (Luke was hating pictures on wedding day... jumping in puddles, and running in sprinklers is so much more fun on temple grounds!)

the Mesa temple...

Davey, Ella, Daniel, and Jake

Jenny and bridesmaids...

Dak chillen with Don ( a friend from Todd's mission) in the visitor center...

Abby, Aunt Carol, Me, Lukester

Mom and Dad

Luke pulling leaves and tree stuff onto Dak... btw, Dak and Chris are great babysitters, if anyone needs some :)

Grandma Nan holding Ella...

Luke found a good hangout spot at the visitors center...

Luke and Abby's man, Chris! (Luke fully endorses this guy!) He was a great sport helping out... and looked great sporting the diaper bag. haha

Weird side pic of our fam... Jake is behind Dak

"I'm sooo thirsty mom!!... .I'm too hot!!" It was pretty hot outside... like high 90s

Grandpa Arnie sporten grandma's purse... haha

Jenny and the guys...

Cute couple at the reception...

The Fam... Dad, Me, Todd, Abby, Dak, Mom. 2 kids married now, 2 to go!
Luke had a good snooze on great grandpa's lap...

Grandma Fran and Carol...

Jake and Luke...

Todd and Jenny dancing! They're pros... really. Me and my hubbie...

Boon and Marci!

Yeah Rachel! She caught the bouquet...

Davey made sure he got the garter! Ryan and Daniel made a good effort though!

Ella snoozing through everything as usual...

Grandpa Rick with Ella...

Cute Abby and Chris...

The girls! back to front... Jenny's mom, Aunt Carol, mom, Jenny, Grandma Fran, Ab, Grandma Nan, me, & Ella

Ron on the piano...

Todd, Dad, Grandpa John, & Don out by the trains. I should have gotten Lukes pic with them. He loves grandpas trains!

Meet Aunt Abby!

Ella was always being held. So nice to have so many babysitters!

Luke being gross with Dak...

Everyone climb on Uncle Davey!

Meet the cousins!

Ella was blessed Sunday at my parent's ward since so much family was in town. She was lucky to have her dad, two great grandpas, both grandpas, and some uncles there!
Ella with Jake...

I wanted to get pictures after the blessing in front of the church with everyone that was there, but Ella POOPED OUT her dress. Seriously, it was pooped. All up and down the back of her dress, and all over me. Nice timing. At least it didn't happen before the blessing though! Jake's mom and his sister, Melanie, organized a dinner for everyone afterward at Mel and Joe's house. Super tasty, and fun to hang out with everyone!

Yeah!!

Right now it's 55, sunny, and feels AWESoME outside! Today the high is supposed to be 85. I love fall weather..

I know,

I'm biased. But, I think these pictures my friend Krista took (same talented chica that made that cool shower cake) of my kids turned out pretty cute! She got so many great shots. Hopefully one day I'll be able to be a pro at taking pictures like her!
Some of Ella's pics... mostly nudies, but we took a bunch with her in her blessing dress, too. (by the way, this little cutie is 4 weeks old today!!)

A few she got of Luke...

So, this last one I'm putting on here... I think he looks super old and big-kiddish. Kind of sad that when we do his hair he doesn't look like a baby at all anymore. We'll have to compare it one day to his 2nd grade school picture. Haha

Oh, and to say something on sort-of a different topic, I loved President Monson's talk on Sunday morning. He said, "If you are still in the process of raising children beware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly-cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear - all too soon. And that you will, to your surprise, miss them - profoundly." It's hard to imagine missing all the laundry piling up in our laundry room right now... and the huge mess in the living room! But, I'm sure one day I will. I love having these two little cuties around.

Love Creek

We went to Love Creek Apple Orchard on Saturday with friends and family, just like we did last year! It's always a great way to start October. Pumpkins, hay mazes, scarecrows, lots of tasty apple and pumpkin treats... so fun. Luke was excited to go on tractor rides (well, technically they are just hay rides behind a tractor, but that seemed to satisfy his tractor craze) and to hang out with his buddies. He and Lily had a blast running all over the place. It was Ella's first big day out, and she slept great through most of the festivities in her sling (which by the way, we are super excited that she will hang out in there... Luke always hated being stuck in things like that!)
We took a million pictures. Here are a few. Oh, and I really should have gotten a pic of all the adults together. Seems like we always just think to take pictures of the kids!
the fam...
Mr. tractor driver/ apple orchard tour guide... (zzzzz....)

Jake was thrilled to learn about apples... ;)

Mr. Luke on the tractor ride...

Luke and Lily were connected at the hip the whole time. Goofy cousins...

Cheese!

Yum! Pumpkin muffins.

Who knew so many kids would have so much fun playing on a big stump!??

The kids were playing on a swing display... they were for sale, and not supposed to be played on. (or the lady giving us crusty looks from behind a sales booth gave the impression that you should not swing on them. haha) These two had fun though :)

Drum Roll...

We just found out where Jake will be stationed next year... Nellis AFB in Las Vegas! It was our first choice for Jake's AEGD location so we're excited to get it! It's nice finally knowing where we'll be (and that it's a place we want to go! :) So weird thinking Jake will be graduating and we'll be moving at the end of this school year... time flies!

So, we've survived

a full week without extra help. I was scared last week for my mom to leave since she did so much while she was here, but so far we've made it. :)

My babies...

Everyone seems to be asking how Luke is doing with Ella around. I think this video clip shows his attitude toward the whole thing pretty well. Haha. He loves her... wants to kiss, touch, tickle, and hold her, and tries to help me do everything. BUT, he gets this crazy look in his eye sometimes and he'll hold his fist in her face like he wants to hit her (thank heaven he restrains himself) and is always in her space... wanting to touch her and rest his head on her... stuff like that. Pretty typical of a toddler I guess. I don't leave them unsupervised in the same room yet. Hopefully one day... :). I thought he would be a lot worse when we brought her home from the hospital... scream his jealous scream like he would in nursery when I would hold other kids. At least he doesn't do that when I hold her!

Like how Luke calls her Halle Ella Callie? At least he doesn't ask after he says all three names "what one?" anymore. He overheard a few too many baby name discussions before she was born, and has been calling her all three of those names since she came home from the hospital. Lately he says just Ella about half of the time though, so there is some improvement! Seems like Luke is in at least a small part of most pictures of Ella so far. If we're paying any attention to her, he wants to be there too!

Wide awake! (her brother probably took the bow out of her hair)
What a helper
We try on dresses and ridiculous hair accessories when Luke is taking his nap. Shh... don't tell him he's missing out on anything ;)

One week old!

This past week has gone by so fast! I'm loving every minute of this new little baby stage. It feels like I'm playing house. Ella is such an easy-going baby so far...I'm hoping she stays this way :) (Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself saying that!) I'm sure that once my mom has to go home the reality of having two kids to watch will set in, but for now it's just fun.
Just a few pics from the past week...

Luke loves his sister... still adjusting to sharing our time with her, but he's doing much better then I thought he would.

Ella hanging out on grandma's lap... she sleeps so much we don't have very many pics with her eyes open but here's one!

Luke was running through the house in his new Halloween undies grandma got for him... too funny! He loves them! haha.

To make a long story short...

We finally decided.
Baby's name is
ella morgan