being grown up.

I realized that I am officially a grown up. I mean, when you're giddy and excited for a DISHWASHER to come and be installed, that must mean you've finally grown up, right?

Ever since we've lived here, our dishwasher has been just ok. When Ellie was born and my Mom came she washed every dish by hand because the dishwasher wasn't even washing them.. and so we had a repair man come and fix it. Well, it's sorta worked for a while since then and occasionally it just shuts off mid cycle and won't turn on at all. Then in the middle of the night it starts beeping and turns on and finishes. And that is kinda scary to wake up to beeping and water suddenly gushing in the dishwasher.

Well, FINALLY it turned off and stayed off for three days so we gladly said goodbye and went shopping for a new one. Guys, did you know that you DON"T have to completely wash your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? Did you know that some dishwashers have top racks that move up and down depending on what you want to fit on the top rack? And some even have turbo blaster things that clean gross stuck on food so you don't even have to soak it and scrub it off by hand? Dishwasher shopping is very enlightening and actually really fun!

So, we picked out a beaut, (ok so the stainless steel one was way cooler, but we had to choose white.)and then we had to wait for it to be delivered to our house. And I couldn't wait! It finally arrived and unfortunately we had to wait another whole day for the guy to come and install it.. Luckily he came at 8 am and it was like Christmas morning!

 Please excuse the messy kitchen, I had to have dirty dishes to test out the new dishwasher immediately after it was installed. Just to make sure it worked. And boy did it work!

So, now we have really clean dishes! Come over for dinner and check them out :) 

1/2 birthday!

 Ellie had her first 1/2 birthday! I cannot believe she is 6 months old!

 She is very interested in EVERYTHING!

And becoming quite the little chunk.

At 6 months, Ellie is 16 lbs 4 oz and 27 in long. 

The past few weeks can be summarized in three phrases. 1. Things in the mouth. 2. figuring out crazy hair. 3. Explore every little thing. SEe for yourself. 

 Her very favorite noise to make is "OOOOOH!"

At her 6 month appointment, she ripped up the paper on the exam table and threw it all over the room. She grabbed Dr Larsen's pen while he was writing. She didn't even flinch when she got her shots. And she didn't know that Josh and I were going to start sleep training her that night. It only took two nights and now she sleeps 12 hours a night! Its been the best sleep I've ever had in over a year!

I love her more and more everyday. She is way too much fun!

cubmaster

Josh is the cub master for our ward and the boys absolutely love him! Since my Dad and mom have extensive experience with cub scouts and scouting in general, he's been able to get ideas for pack meetings from them and other helpful tips. Its been a lot of fun going to pack meetings and seeing him interact with the boys and teach them things. Its also been fun to hear him talk about things he did in cub scouts. For one of his pack meetings he showed them how to tie a rattlesnake knot with paracord and told them the Legend of the Rattlesnake which I learned from my Dad. The boys loved it and some of them tied their knot on their scout shirts.

Yesterday we took some boys around the ward to drop off bags for Scouting for Food. Its been fun for me too because I get to interact with the boys in my class outside of Primary and Sunday lessons.

In February for the Blue and Gold banquet, the theme was "The Great Outdoors" and Josh had tons of fun ideas. HEre's the set up.

The room was totally dark except for the fire and the lights around the room on the ground. boys had tons of fun playing with the fake fire and Josh was excited to sing campfire songs with them. Unfortunately we didn't get to because the Arrow of Light presenter took a verrry long time and pack meeting was over.

Last week for pack meeting Josh relived an activity he did when he was in scouts. He made a door stop lizard when he was in scouts and his mom has kept it all these years-which is a feat in itself! ha

Since we were headed to Idaho for my Grandpa Montgomery's funeral, Josh thought maybe he could get my Dad's help and use some of his scrap wood in the shed to make lizards for each of the boys. My Dad cut out two and then Josh set to work and cut out 18 more! I didn't realize our ward had 20 boys in scouts, but we do! When we got home he sanded them and pre drilled holes so that the boys could screw the legs on to the lizards and then color them at pack meeting. They had a blast and lots of moms and leaders were impressed and loved the idea.

Josh has loved being cub master so far and I've loved going to pack meeting and watching him in action. They passed out the pine wood derby cars at the end of pack meeting and hopefully we'll get to see all the boys' cars when they've made them... there's going to be a big change in our ward at the end of the month so maybe Josh's days of being a cub master are limited!