Friday Five

-Our piano tuner visited yesterday and came with good news :)  Other than not being tuned in 35 years, there aren't any huge problems with the piano!  He took the sound board in to fix in his shop and we should be hearing Clare de Lune by Tuesday!

-With each Yin there must be a Yang and our car is in the shop this week.  Turns out it needs a new distributor- bummer!  Along with that we are getting our spark plugs replaced and an oil change. I'll spare you the details, but that is costing us some pretty pennies we didn't plan on using!

-BYU football began last night and we started off the season with a win!!  My Aggies were also victorious so this made for one very happy girl!

-Elise just looked up at me this afternoon and said, "I love you".  I think I can die happy now.  What a sweet girl!  Looks like me telling her that 400 times a day has paid off :)

-I spent the past two nights watching the Republican National Convention on TV.  I guess this means I'm a real adult huh??  I mean, my kid was asleep in bed and there I was choosing to watch a political speech!  What has happened?!  Regardless, I really enjoyed listening to many of the great speeches that were given!  Romney, Ryan 2012!

It's Here!!

I'm not sure if all of you read my previous post, but I told you that I had a fun secret to share and that it would have to wait until Monday!  Well, wait no more :)  The time is now!

The big and exciting new is that we bought a piano!! 

We have been combing through many many ads on craigslist and decided to take this one!  Is is a beautiful vintage piano, made in 1905!  It is also the tallest upright piano that people make, coming in at 57 inches- it comes level with my chin!  Pretty tall, right?!  The woman we got it from said her parents bought it from Holy Hill about 30 years ago and then it was given to her in hopes her children would play, but they never did. 

We really love all the elaborate oak leaf carvings on the front and are so excited that it can be a part of our living room.  We know that with a piano this old, it could also come with its own rare problems and we are hoping that luck will be in our favor on Thursday when our piano tuner arrives!  Until then, can all of you send out your positive thoughts to the universe that it will work well enough?

Zack and I never thought we would ever have a piano until we were done with residency and more "settled" down.  We are so excited that we get the chance to have that dream now!  I can't wait until it is tuned and I get to sit and listen to Zack play beautiful music on it! 

Five on Friday

Life is back to "normal" now that we are back in Milwaukee, so my Friday posts have returned with it!  Back to your usual scheduled post:

1- Elise had her 18 month check up last week (only 2 months late!) and is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight.  When she got her second round of her Hep B shot she winced a little bit and that was the end of it. What a tough girl!

2- Speaking of Elise, she is learning and talking SO much!  Here are some of her new words she uses a lot- Zack or Zacky, Thank you, Please, frog, monkey, and she has also learned to say lots of our cute neighbor friends names.  She also has a new favorite movie, "Barbie: Princess and the Pauper".  I guess of all the Barbie movies it is the best and the singing/songs in it are actually pretty good. 

One of Elise's favorite songs from Princess and the Pauper.

3- The other night all of our neighbors in the cul de sac had an impromptu party and visited out in the yard for about an hour!  It was so fun- definitlely re confirmed why moving her was the best idea ever!

4- We tried out the restaurant chain Qdoba this past week and although it is no Cafe Rio, we really enjoyed it.  Very similar to Chipotle; a huge 1 lb burrito! Yum!

5- We have a very exciting thing to share/show you BUT you'll have to wait until Monday to hear more about that.  And before you jump to conclusions, no it is NOT a baby.  But please stay tuned, Zack and I are pretty stoked about it :)

And since no blog post should be without pictures, here are some of Elise playing with her friend at the park this week:

Chasing each other!

Playing with sand in the volleyball court!



Elise loves her littles Radio Flyer trike!

Here's to a great weekend!

Island Park

At the end of July, Zack and I were able to head up to my family's cabin in Island Park, Idaho with my Mom and Dad.  It was fun to get to be with just them and be spoiled and have lots of free babysitting offered :)  My Grandparents bought the cabin after my Grandpa retired and it was remodeled this summer and looks so nice! 

It takes about 5ish hours to get there from Salt Lake and to start things out right we got Elise a new pair of some sweet shades!

Before we got to the cabin we made sure to take a stop at Upper Mesa Falls.  It is a beautiful waterfall that is only about 20 min away from our cabin and well worth it!

The next day my Dad was kind enought to rent some 4 wheelers for Zack and I to use!  For most of the day we each had our own 4 wheeler and my Mom was kind enought to watch Elise for us!  We had a lot of fun racing around and going to sites like Mt. Sawtelle and Two Top!!

Can you tell who was the 4 wheeler in back?  Zack's face got a little bit dirty out riding!

The next day we all headed out to Yellowstone for a few hours!  We were able to stop at the painters hot pots as well as the canyon of the yellowstone and a few other scenic byways.  We saw some elk and buffalo while there too.

Elise had a fun time climbing on the rocks and playing in the puddle created by the brief rainfall that happened before we got there!

The next night Zack and I were able to have a date night!!  My Mom offered to watch Elise for us while we went out to dinner in West Yellowstone and then to see The Drowsy Chaperone at The Playmill Theater.  My family has been going to see shows there for as long as I can remember! This play certainly lived up to its reputation! We had a great time!

No trip to the cabin can be complete without heading over to Big Springs! We went Sunday after church and had a fun time feeding the ducks and checking out the Johnny Sack cabin :)

We were heading back home Monday morning so we had to do s'mores before we left!  We all had a good time and enjoyed more s'mores than we are willing to admit!

Elise helping Dad start a fire!

Family photo! Elise was having fun until we made her pose for a picture!

She liked it!!

And to finish the trip off, the cutest picture of a Dad with his daughter!

Thanks again Mom and Dad for spoiling us up there! We had a great time :)

Jungle Jims

My sister and I bought a groupon to use at Jungle Jims Playground while I was still in UT and we managed to finally use it a few days before I left!  I thought it would be something to do and get out of the house and that Elise would think it was so-so.  Turns out we both LOVED it!  She couldn't get enough of the rides and it was so much fun to see her enjoy it! 

Riding the airplanes!  Finally towards the end of the ride she figured out the trigger that makes it go up or down!  It was so cute!

Another girl was able to join her for her ride in the safari jeep cruise!

Elise and her cousins had a lot of fun playing in this cute house!

I was a little worried she'd hop out of the swings but she did great and had a really fun time!

We were able to go on a Monday around lunch time so it was totally dead and we were able to do all the rides we wanted with hardly a wait at all!  We'll have to hit up Jungle Jims again when we return to Utah!



Family Photo Shoot

One thing on my Summer Bucket List was to have our family pictures taken while we were here in Utah!  Like most things in my life, I waited until the LAST possible moment to get them done, but get them done we did!!  I was lucky to have my sister Nicole and sister in law Nina take some for us and I absolutley love how they turned out!  Here are some of my favorite!

 

Elise was being a little pill (of course) while we took these but we did get in some GREAT shots that showcase her beauty and personality.  I really love how these turned out!  Now instead of seeing our giant wedding photos on our wall you can now see our cute family instead.  While I love my wedding I love seeing this little girls smile more!