DADDYS GIRL

El is quite the daddy's girl. Oh how she loves him. When he's home she follows him around everywhere and wants to do everything he's doing. She will always ask, "Dad, what you doing?" It's too cute. The other day I caught them taking a nap together and it was the sweetest thing ever, even though my husband tends to sleeps with his mouth open and snore.;)

EXTRA PROTECTION

We were cleaning the garage the other weekend and Ellie found some fun things to play with. You never know when you might need a little extra protection.

POTTY TRAINED! YAY!

Its been a while since we've updated our blog, so here's a little catching up on what we've been up to lately. Ellie is offically potty trained. Shes been trained for about a 2 months now, but I just had to share this pic. This was Easter weekend and we were heading up to Joseph City to visit Joel's oldest brother and his family. We bought a potty seat and El thought it was the coolest thing that she got to use it outside. Sometimes I think she would say she had to go just to be outside and use it, but really didn't need to.

CHICKEN COOP

So my mom and I had this idea to get some chickens for the grandkids. Since my parents officially live in a farm house, we thought it would be the perfect touch. I decided to take it upon my self and draw out the plans of our chicken coop. I took the plans to my dad, and for those of you who know my dad know that he loves projects. Well my simple chicken coop that was going to made out of scrap wood we had lying around turned into the same coop, just 10 times bigger. It is now a chicken resort. Ha, gotta love my dad. My mom, Ellie and I painted the coop to match my parents house and my brother Trevor helped with the trim work and construction of the coop. Overall I think it turned out great and Ellie couldn't be happier to have a bunch of new little friend to play with. Its funny, we'll go over to my parents house now and Ellie will go straight to the coop, which by the way she calls it the "chicken poop". She would stay in there for hours if I would let her.

BIG NEWS

To all of you who've been thinking, Ellie really needs a sibling... the wait is over! Ellie has no idea what's going on, but as soon as she figures it out, I'm sure she'll be excited.

Baby Hendricks is due October 14, 2010. We're so excited!

(My sister Tarryn in pregnant too. This is how we told our parents that more grandkids are on the way.)

FAMILY PICS

My sister Tarryn was nice enough to take some family pictures for us. I was feeling like we needed an updated one. Thanks Tar, We love you! The pics turned out Great!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

My mom made Ellie this adorable Valentines dress that she was so excited to wear to church. Doesn't she look so cute? Thanks Mom!

Friday night I surprised Joel with a romantic evening/dinner to our selfs.
I don't mean to brag but everything turned out so much better that I anticipated that I just had to share it. For those of you that know me, know that I hate almost all seafood. My husband on the other hand really enjoys it, so to make it extra special I decided to cook some salmon.
I have never done it before so was a little skeptical on how it would turn out. The receipt was called "Fish as a Gift". You put the fish along with vegetables and spices in parchment paper and wrap it in twine like a gift. Then bake in oven. Ill have to say I even liked how it taste. I also made Joels favorite cake "better than anything cake", which I thought was the perfect dessert to make, Ha!j/k! It was yummy though. I am so grateful for the sweet and loving husband that I have and was so exited that I was able to pull this wonderful evening off. I love you babe!

JO CITY WEEKEND

Super bowl weekend we were able to go to Joseph City, AZ to visit Joel's oldest brother Jason and his family. Hayden, Jason's middle son was being ordained to become a Deacon in Young Mens, so we thought what a better chance to get together. Joel's parents and other brother Justin and his family made the drive from Idaho and were able to make the trip as well. Ellie had so much fun spending time with her cousins and we truly enjoyed everyones company. We were able to go hiking, digging and horseback riding. El and I both loved the horses the best. El was constantly asking to ride the horses and hated getting off when her turn was over. I told Joel that I would love to own our own horse(s) some day:) Overall it was a great trip and we are so proud of you Hayden...

El riding Bare Back. Ye Haw!

Uncle Jason giving El a ride

Waiting for another ride on the horse

Giddy up Cowgirl!

Family hay bail pic. Joel thought we should all be in cut off denim overalls, Ha!

Ellie and cousin Ethan driving the big truck

El and her weird Daddy:)

LITTLE JOY!

The other day I was doing some things around the house and all of the sudden I became very aware of how quite it was. I frantically searched the house for El because this kind of silence usually means a bad thing. This is what I came upon in my search. She was reading her books to herself (at least she thought she was) and was so into it that she didn't even notice I had entered her room. It was too cute!

RAIN STORM

So Arizona was fortunate enough to get some major rain falls this past month. Along with that came some nice winds too. I'll have to say it felt like I was back in Idaho:) Needless to say this was the outcome of the storm. One of our trees in our front yard was ripped out of the ground. Joel, my brother-in-law Ry, and our ward missionaries tried their hardest to get this big tree back in place. (they said it was a lot heavier and bigger than they expected) In the end all was lost, there was no saving of the tree. Ellie was able to encourage everyone along the way by making her special Rock Stew, yum!