"Little House"

Life is a crazy kind of Roller Coaster some times. I have had a few different moments in my life when, I have tried so hard to take control and yet I know I am totally NOT in control.

Here is the very short version of what my life has given us in the past few months...

We have finally Officially SOLD our house and will be moving in to an apartment at the end of this week. Selling our home has been in the process for the past 5 months. It's been so long and I thought I had expressed all of my emotions of leaving this chapter in life. But some how I was SO Completely Wrong! I think I had been trying to hold back any emotion to help me not think of what we were leaving. So the last 2 weeks have been an emotional Roller Coaster to say the least.

My pride had gotten the best of me for a few moments and I knew it! I knew it was not right to be jealous of what others have or how others seem to be progressing. I really had a hard time, then randomly yesterday morning I woke up with a song in my head...

"Little Houses" By Doug Stone

Totally a country song that I haven't heard in F-O-R-E-V-E-R! I love that Heavenly Father Can work to help us in so many different ways. At this moment in time that was exactly what I needed. I simply was reminded that it's not the size of where we live that can or will make me happy, but the attitude we have. Life is to short and my head can't handle any more at this point.

So our "little house" will be a 2 bedroom apartment for now! Here's to the newest loop in our ride!

Could I Borrow

So I am flying on a jet plan this month.
I will NOT be any more specific about the time line or the place I'm going until I am back....
So DON'T ask (and if you already know DON'T reference it in any comments on here Please). You can call me crazy, paranoid or what ever but do to the world we live in that's just the way I work with things like this.
Anyways-
So I am in need of borrowing something... a light weight stroller. I really would rather not take my huge stroller if I don't have to. So if you have one I might be able to borrow please let me know!
OR
If you know if airlines allow you to take a stroller on the plane when your boarding and if so would that be considered your Carry On Item?
Thnx!

Cute ladybug to Help Promote A PHOTO/ FOOD DRIVE

So my wonderful friend Christina is a truly amazing Photographer. She has TONS of Experience under her belt. She is not one of those self proclaimed photographers who just happens to have a camera or just barely started in the biz. She is nothing short of AMAZING! She is totally at the top of her game! She believes that photographs truly capture moments in time and is worth so much more than the paper it is printed on. She has a way of making still shots come to life!

Anyways -

So you know I think she is SO Amazing! But the point of my post is to help promote her Halloween Charity Event!

When: October 31
Where: Our Gilbert Studio
Time: 9 am- 2 pm

The event will benefit the local food bank. Canned goods (or $5- donation) are collected in exchange for a 4x6 portrait of your trick or treater. Limit one 4x6 per family. So call her and schedule your appointment 480-857-8349

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day Weekend we were able to get out of the heat and escape to Salt Lake City!
I was SO Grateful that we were able to fly instead of drive. It's Crazy to think that we flew to Salt Lake in the same amount of time as it takes us to drive down to Tucson.
Anyways-
So to give you a little insight into the day we flew out from phoenix. It all was supposed to work out perfectly our flight was supposed to leave at like 6:40 am. Well... Umm... We missed our 6:40am flight... umm because I spent 20minutes doing Addie's hair. Oh and it was totally 20 minutes we DID NOT have. So, subsequently we ended up spending a total of almost 6 HOURS in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport until we were able to get on to a plane that wasn't completely full. ;)
Lets just say I will NEVER do that again!
Now Gary is actually afraid that I am going to go to the other extreme and be ready and waiting to go like 3 hours before our flights leave next time around. And actually when he said that to me I had to admit that was almost the exact thing I was thinking to myself!!!

Hmmm... Were these Piggy Tails worth a 6hr wait in an airport?

NO WAY!!!

Adelyn's first Air plane ride. She was great! I think she figured we were just in a really strange type of car or something.

(Gary and his Dad Dan)
While we were up in SLC it was also my Father in law Dan's Birthday!

(ALL OF THE ELMES GRANDCHILDREN)

I hope that Grandpa Bob was able to get a better photo of all the kiddos!
We were in SLC for a few different reasons Our main reason was my Nephew's baptism. It was So very nice to see ALL of Gary's side of the family (minus his two younger sisters- Liz & April).

This is a picture of my AMAZING HUBBY & BABY GIRL!!!

I have to say my husband is sooooo very Patient with me all of the time! And My little Adelyn is such a GREAT Traveler! She did a wonderful job with all of the waiting we did.

Help Please!

For both my hubby and I, it has been a Long Time since we were in School. And we are seriously contemplating going back to school in the FUTURE!

I am sure that one of you either knows of someone or you yourself can help us with ACT/SAT prep (We are open to any suggestions). We figure if we want to even START truly entertaining this thought, we should probably refresh ourselves. So Please let us know if you can help or suggest someone who can.

THANKS SO MUCH!

P.S. If you could also do us a favor and NOT assume anything!!! If you have any questions or are wondering anything PLEASE PLEASE ASK US!!! But we promise if anything in our uneventful life's change we will let you know. :)

PONY TAILS!!!

My Baby girl is looking Less and Less like a BABY!!! And more and more like a BIG Girl!!! I am not so sure I am fully ready to acknowledge this but I am trying.

My Cutie Pie is a little ham just like her Momma

SEE What I'm Saying!!! She's so NOT a Baby :(

Side view of the "Pig Tails"

Top/Back View

OK, so it might be a Big Stretch, but I but Addie's hair up in 2 pig tails today! I had to take a picture. Because I know that one day I will look back and laugh at what I am Currently considering "pig tails." But WHATEVER!!!

Sorry it's been way too long...

So I just realized its been almost 2 Months since my last post. OOPS!! Oh well! Life goes on!

So, to catch up July & August have been almost a blur. Except for one Sweet spot... SUNDAY AUGUST 9th!!! The long awaited day... I have been counting down for this Amazing Sunday for a while now. For any of you who are confused by all of this I will explain. Adelyn went to her first day of Nursery on her 1/2 Birthday!!! WOO HOO!!!! SWEET!!! No more walking the halls, or having to rush out of class because my Little's had decided to SCREECH Purposely or anything like that! Oh how wonderful that day was. Except for the fact that now I have no excuse not to focus on the lesson. It's kinda crazy but I almost feel like I have a SHORTER attention span because for the last 18 months I haven't been able to get much out of church because my main focus has been keeping Addie quiet. So now all I have to do is figure out how to pay attention. :)

Other than that life has been just moving' along with nothing much to report. All I can say is I can't wait to not be living Half way out of boxes... Ugh! It gets really annoying sometimes when I go to get something and then am reminded that I packed it because I thought it to be an "non-essential." I have decided that When I was packing I may have packed a few more things than just the "non essentials" Oh Well, I am learning to get real creative with what i have on Hand. Like the other day I was using the Ice cream scoop as a mallet to crush my walnuts :-) Its kinda humorous to me that I left the Ice Cream Scoop Out as an Essential but packed a way my Measuring spoons??? What was I thinking??? Oh well I am learning to be really good at just "Eyeing" what I think 1Tbs. or 1tsp. looks like. And Gary isn't complaining because we can still eat is most favorite dessert ICE CREAM!!!

Fun Filled 4th of July

This year Grandma & Grandpa Stakich came out from New Mexico for the 4th. We had lots of fun. BRIGHT & EARLY Friday Morning we ALL went golfing. Actually, Grandpa and Gary did the golfing. And we actually had a 6:45 AM Tee Time!!! Like I said BRIGHT & EARLY. Grandma and I were the drivers of the Carts. So we definitely had LOTS & LOTS of FUN racing around :)


They almost matched exactly... Oh How Cute ;)

I think he had pretty good form... But then again what do I know?

Adelyn was determined to go help daddy, by picking up the golf balls!

Ugh... Addie couldn't figure out why we didn't want her to "clean up"

Way Past Nap Time = Passed Out on the Golf Cart

Then on Saturday for the 4th we had a ton of fun with our family and "extended" family (The Hurst's). We had a BBQ and played some fun games. Then we went to Apache Junction High School (since there weren't any fireworks going on in Mesa). Adelyn actually slept threw half of the firework show and then we woke her up to see the rest, even though she wasn't very interested.

MOVING BOXES NEEDED!!!

Just in case you have not heard, we will be moving. Not far we'll be staying in East Mesa. We will be moving in 6 weeks. We really, really, really need Boxes!!! And I figure I may as well ask all of you for help in getting boxes! So if you have any suggestions as to were or how to go about getting moving boxes please leave a comment or give me a call!
Thanks SO Much!!!

POTTY TRAINING

Right now I am in the middle of potty training Adelyn and it's going quite well!
Yes I said we are potty training my 16 month old. And we've been doing this for a little more than 7 weeks. I have always said that my goal is to have Adelyn completely potty trained by the time she goes to Nursery (18 months old). I was originally inspired by my amazing sister-in-law. She had her first son completely potty trained by about 10 months!
The official push for me came a little more than 2 months ago when Addie started to pick her bum and legs up when we would go to change her diaper. I mean don't get me wrong it was cute and nice to have her help. But come on, if she could figure out that by her helping us we changed her diapers faster, then she could certainly learn how to go potty in the toilet!
I do have to say its been very frustrating at times but we are finally coming to a point where I am lots more confident in her. Addie is finally telling us when she needs to go to the potty. That was truly my biggest "issue" we had to over come. I was so sure she was smart enough to tell me. Especially since she has been able to tell me things like What that, More, Please, Thank you, drink, & eat for a long time now. So there, that was my reasoning for intentionally testing my sanity. Oh and I do have to say it is so nice not having to change Stinky Poopy diapers!
GOTTA LOVE IT!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!
P.S. I can't wait for Addie to be able to pull her panties up and down by herself because I figure once she can do that, then my sibling will have no excuse not to be able to watch her for me. HA , HA, SWEET!