Various October Stuff

I can't believe October is coming to and end! Time just keeps flying by! Anyway, here's an update on a few more things that we've done this month...

Since it's football season, these two girls get to see even more of each other than usual. This year, Ross and I are sharing a BYU season ticket. So when I don't go to the game, I get to watch these two cuties! They keep you on your toes, but they are so fun together. Of course I couldn't pass up putting a couple pictures of them on the blog.

 

One Friday night we went to check out a local family fun center. This place had a variety of activities like bowling, a ropes course, arcade games and even indoor surfing. We mostly went just to check things out, but while we were there, we decided to let Leah play on their toddler playground.

As luck would have it, she was the only one her age there at that time. So she got to play on it all by herself for about a half hour. She had a ball climbing and crawling all over and especially playing with the bouncing balls. Here's a few pictures...

She would have stayed and played a lot longer if we had let her. But it was getting late and was time to go home. But not without getting a scoop of yummy "Southern Blackberry Cobbler" ice cream. Here's Leah checking out the dancing video game.

In the middle of October we got to celebrate a couple of fun things with my dad. On his birthday, the bishopric in my parents' ward was reorganized and my dad was called to be the 1st Counselor to the bishop. It was great to be there to support him when he was set apart. Then after church, we all went back to the house to celebrate his birthday. Here he is with his cake and his "candle blowing out helpers." It's funny, my dad doesn't even like cake, but he has to have one every year so the kids can eat it and blow out the candles with him. But my mom always makes sure she has some pie for my dad to enjoy.

Leah is at a stage where she loves to feed herself with a fork of spoon. She had a grand time eating the birthday cake.

 

Look at that messy face.

Now I realize that the some of the funnest things we've done in October I haven't even mentioned yet, but stay tuned...I have a whole post of all our fun Halloween activities coming next!!!

Before and After

Ever since we moved into our house over three years ago, Ross and I have talked about how we needed to get new blinds. They were old, worn out and getting really brittle and hard to clean. They looked terrible and pieces were falling out a lot. But it wasn't a huge priority so we just never got around to it.

Well, as Leah has gotten bigger and started walking and climbing, one of her favorite things has been the blinds. They come down right to her level, so she loved to grab them and bang them around. Needless to say, this didn't help our" falling apart blind" situation.

Then one day back at the beginning of the summer, Leah had grabbed the blinds yet again. In an attempt to stop her, Ross tried to pull the cord on the blinds to lift them up out of her reach. As he did, the whole set of blinds came crashing down on Ross and Leah. Neither was hurt (I actually thought it was rather comical at the time, but I knew enough not to laugh just then), but the blinds definitely didn't fare too well from the accident as you can see from the picture below...

 

But I'm happy to report that at the end of September, we FINALLY went out and bought new blinds for six of our windows (including the poor window above that was definitely the worst looking)! And last week while Ross was off for Fall Break, we finally installed the last two sets in our upstairs windows. They look SO much nicer now. I'm sure you (and our poor neighbors who had to bare looking at them too) will agree...

A Football First

 A couple weeks ago we had a "girls night" at the BYU vs. Utah State football game. My brother-in-law couldn't come to the game, so he gave his ticket to my sister, Melyssa, who is a Utah State fan. This is the first time that the three of us have ever gone to a game together without any husbands, so I had to get a picture.

It was an exciting game and Melyssa got to do a lot of cheering for her team. But in the end (and I mean the very end) BYU pulled it off and won the game!

Here's a picture of my cute niece, Baby J, just because she's so cute...

For being so little, she did pretty well at the game. However, by the time it was over, you could tell that she was DONE! As evidenced by the picture we took with our parents who were at the game too.

Ross's Birthday

Last week we celebrated Ross's birthday! It's harder to have a big celebration when birthdays fall on a Wednesday, but it was still a fun day for Ross none the less.

After Ross got home from work, we went out to dinner at a local pizza and pasta restaurant. After a yummy dinner, Ross's cousin, Emily, was kind enough to watch Leah while we went to see the movie "Moneyball," which we both really enjoyed. After the movie, we had just enough time for opening cards and presents before going to bed. 

Lucky for Ross, some of the celebrating spilled into Thursday when he went to work at the elementary school (on Wednesdays he works at the junior high). The secretaries at the elementary school always take good care of him. They had a gift and a card and a silly crown for him to wear. Some of the speech groups even sang happy birthday to him. Later that evening, we enjoyed some blueberry crumb cake and ice cream for dessert.  

Here's a picture of the birthday guy and his little girl with their big cheesy grins at the restaurant...

And here they are doing the famous Leah finger point together. Happy Birthday Ross! It was fun celebrating with you!

16 Months

 Our little girl is 16 months old today!

She is a little ball of energy that loves to climb, eat, listen to music and jabber (although we can't understand about 99% of what she's telling us). She still only has a half-dozen or so words. I realized the other day that she says Daddy, Grandpa, cheese, chips and football, but she won't say mommy...I guess I know where I stand.

This finger point is a Leah classic. We get to see this several times a day. This is what she does whenever she hears music or singing. She does the finger point and gets her hand going up and down. So cute! And how can you resist those big blue eyes!

August Happenings

August has been a busy month in the Leslie household. Besides the trip to San Jose, we have had plenty of fun things going on. One of the fun events was when Ross's cousin, Tyler, got married. With the bridal shower, reception, wedding, luncheon and just general hanging out, that meant three fun filled days with the Miller family (who just happen to be some of our favorite people to hang out with!). It was especially fun with some of the Millers from Nevada who came out to join in the festivities.

Here's Tyler and his beautiful bride, Katie, and the nieces and nephew-plus Leah and Ryan (Michelle's son).

Their reception was held on the 6th floor of the Wilkinson's Student Center at BYU in what's called the Skyroom. It was our first time going there. It is a great place for a reception with a beautiful view of the mountains and valley. When we first arrived at the reception, Leah was of course very shy and clingy. But before long she was running a muck all around the place...

She even thought she needed to join all the single girls in trying to catch the bouquet. She's the little one on the right. (I don't know what we would have done if she had actually got it!)

The Sealing was at the Manti temple the next day. Here's Leah with two of her buddies. She is especially fond of Madison (the red-head on the left). Madi is one of the very few people that I've seen Leah walk up to and want them to hold her.

 

One of the many faces of Leah...This girl is full of personality these days.

One of the other fun things that happened in August I didn't get any pictures of...we went back to Heber Valley Camp and spent a night there with my mom's family for a Putnam family reunion. Some of the highlights were playing "Minute to Win It" games, watching "Tangled" after dark projected on a big screen, riding the zipline, team-building activities, rowing in a canoe, answering family trivia questions, eating yummy food and especially all the time spent with my family whom I love to be with so much. I just wish that it could have lasted longer. It seemed like we had just got there and then it was time to pack up and go home.
On Tuesday it was my sister, Melyssa's birthday. So I invited her to go out to lunch for her birthday. She wanted to come down to Los Hermano's (which I was fine with because it meant less driving for me). And as it turned out, Lyndsee and Baby J were able to come down too. It's not often that the three of us get to do something together, so this was a fun treat. Here's some fun pictures from that day...

Happy birthday Aunt MoMo!

They came back to our house afterwards to drop us off and let Leah and Baby J play together before loading her back up in the car again. Here's the five of us together...

 Aunt MoMo and the cute baby girls...And kisses from Aunt MoMo.

 

I wanted to add with this post some updates about Leah. So for those still reading, here's what she's up to lately...

All through July, the raspberry bushes in our back yard were producing like crazy. And Leah LOVES the raspberries. It got to where I couldn't go out and pick them with her because I couldn't keep her from picking and eating them herself (whether they were ripe or not). So here she is one day when I gave her a bowl of raspberries right after I had picked and cleaned them...she wasted no time on them.

 

 

She looked like a war casualty afterward, but she loved every bite! I decided to add this video I took too. The only problem is that I filmed it sideways and can't turn it. So you'll have to turn your head a little to see it. But it is still a great insight into how this girl eats...

As I said before, this girl is full of personality lately. The only problem is that you don't see it until you've been with her for a while. She's always really shy when she's in a new situation, but before long she is on the go and leaving havoc in her wake.

She's not really talking yet, but she does have a few words she says pretty well, they include: Daddy (not mommy), cheese, chips, grapes (are you seeing a trend here?) and teeth. I'm telling you, this girl loves to eat. First thing in the morning she points to her mouth (meaning she's ready for breakfast) and proceeds to head down the stairs whether I'm with her or not.

She also likes to brush her teeth. Mostly I think she likes to play with the stuff around the sink and look at herself in the mirror, but whatever works. Here's a cute picture of her brushing her teeth.

One of Leah's favorite foods is macaroni and cheese or shells and cheese. Here she is after having shells and cheese for lunch. Her face was covered in cheese sauce afterwards, but once again, she loved every bite.

One day I took her to the store when she was really tired. She needed a nap, but we needed groceries more. She did pretty good at first, but it wasn't long before she was really cranky and fussy. So I got her an ice cream cone to help keep her entertained. She went to town on it. She had ice cream everywhere, but she was happy. Her poor face all around her mouth was all red and cold from the ice cream. But she got upset whenever I took the cone and tried to clean some of it off.

Her hair is getting pretty long, but you can't really tell because it is so curly in the back (which I love). Most of the time, she just has crazy looking hair. But when I actually do it, it looks really cute. She held still long enough for me to do it in pigtails for church one Sunday. I looked so cute, I had to get a picture.

She is FINALLY sleeping much better these days, including sleeping all night and some naps in her crib. This makes me want to sing praises! She even goes to sleep earlier, but then again she's also waking up earlier (that part I don't like). One day I let her sleep on the couch for her nap. She usually wakes up when she moves around on the couch so I wasn't too worried. But I slid the ottoman up next to the couch just in case. I was glad I did. I left the room for a minute and came back in to find her sleeping like this...

 She was sleeping so soundly that I didn't want to wake her up. But I couldn't resist getting a picture.

One of Leah's favorite things lately is stairs. She is getting pretty good at going down them on her stomach. But I know she really wants to go down them on her feet. It makes me really nervous when she stands at the top of the stairs for a long time. I just know she's debating about whether or not she should try to just step down them.

When she goes outside, she loves to sit on the bottom step of our porch. She's turns around and backs up until she can sit down (sometimes she misses, that's cute too).

One of Leah's other favorite things is music. One day I'll have to get a video of her reaction to some of her favorite music. She points her finger and waves her arm in the air and shakes her head all over. And when she's really excited, she'll even march her feet. This girl is a bottle of energy and she keeps us on our toes. But she is so fun and we love her very much!

Visiting Lesley, Brian & Hannah in San Jose

August 6-13 Leah and I took a trip to visit my best friend, Lesley, and her little family in San Jose, California. At the time she was about 38 weeks pregnant and her husband, Brian, had to go to a conference in Vancouver, Canada. So I went out to keep her company, help with Hannah and be there just in case anything happened while he was gone (which it didn't). Most of the time it was just us four girls. We had such a good time. I'm so glad we got to go!

This was Leah's first airplane experience. I was a little worried about traveling with her alone. But she did such a good job, it was really quite easy. The hardest part was keeping her entertained at the airport while waiting to board our flight. She was really good to just sit on my lap and sleep some during the flight. Some people sitting by me even commented on how good she was during the flight.

Some of the things we did while we were there included going to the beach at Santa Cruz. Here's Leah out by the water for the first time. She liked playing in the wet sand until the waves came in. She wasn't too keen on the water.

Here's a little video of her playing in the sand for the first time...

Leah definitely preferred the sand over the water. This girl was so sandy by the time we left. At one point she put her face into a mound of sand and got a mouthful of it. And when I opened the snaps on her onesie to change her diaper, a handful of sand fell onto the changing table.

There were lots of seagulls hanging around trying to steal any food they could. Here's Leah trying to chase some of them down. (Look at all the sand on her bottom!)

Someone had dug this hole near where we were playing. Hannah and Leah loved getting down in it.

Me and Leah standing by the Pacific Ocean.

While we were there we also saw a Polynesian circus show on the boardwalk. Leah was so tired that she took a nap during the show.
Here's Leah at the end of the day. Look at this sand and sunscreen covered, wind blown, tired girl. She had such a fun time.

On another day we went to a place called Happy Hollow. This is a park and zoo. They have a small zoo area where you can see the animals in their cages, a petting zoo area where you can feed and pet some farm animals, amusement park rides that are specifically for children and lots and lots of playground equipment for kids to play on. Hannah and Lesley go here often and had told me about it, so I wanted to take Leah while we were there.

Here's Hannah and Leah playing on some of the playground stuff...

Leah loved this barrel horse in the petting zoo area...

You could walk right into the goats' pen and feed, pet or brush the goats. Lesley and I fed them, but the girls were more into climbing on the rocks. At least they weren't afraid of them. Here's Leah pointing at one of the goats...

The carousel and this train-type dragon ride were the only rides Lesley and I could go on with the girls...

In true Leah fashion, she got tired and fell asleep on the train ride. So we let Hannah play on the playground while Leah had a little nap. It is so nice that she will take a nap where ever.

I was a little worried about having Leah ride the rides by herself, so we put her with Hannah to start with. But she did just fine and even enjoyed it. So we put the girls in their own cars.

Hannah was getting a little tired, so I let Leah ride alone again. Here's a little video of her on the ride.

She wouldn't play with the steering wheel or bell while the ride was going around, but I did get this quick video of her playing after the ride had stopped.

Here they are on another ride. It's kind of too bad that the only rides that these two could go on were the type that just go round and round. But they had fun anyway. By the time we left, we had two very tired girls on our hands (not to mention a couple tired mommies).

On another day we went to a park/farm. They didn't have many animals at the time (mostly just roosters roaming around like stray cats). But the girls still had a great time playing on the playground and seeing some of the animals.

Here's Leah checking out the birds. They had a bunch of ducks, chickens and other birds in here.

Leah was trying to climb under the fence to chase the birds. Crazy girl!

They had their moments, like any kids their age sharing was tuff at times. But overall these two did really well together all week and were pretty good friends by the time we had to leave. I hope that they can grow up and be good friends like Lesley and I are.

I love this little video I got of them playing and laughing together on the front porch the night before we left...

I also want to tell this funny story from our trip there...Leah LOVED playing on their stairs. We had to put a gate up, otherwise she would have gone up and down them all day. Well, since they don't have an extra bedroom, Leah and I shared an air mattress on the living room floor. At first I laid next to the wall because I was thinking that I didn't want her to roll over and hit into the wall. This meant if she rolled over she would just fall a few inches onto the soft carpet. But on the second night or so I woke up and realized that she wasn't laying by me anymore. I could hear her somewhere in the room, but couldn't see her because it was so dark. After looking around for a few seconds, I found her sitting on the first landing of the stairs! The little stinker had woken up and found the stairs that she loved so much. Needless to say, she spent the rest of the nights next to the wall and the gate got put up at night too.

For me the highlight of the trip was just being able to spend so much time with Lesley. We can talk for hours and hours and never run out of things to say. We can also just chill watching TV or doing whatever and never get bored of being together. We hadn't been able to have so much quality time together since we each got married. We spent lots of nights staying up late talking, eating yummy, gooey caramel popcorn (my favorite) and homemade cinnamon rolls, and watching "Everybody Loves Raymond." Thanks Bah for such a great time!

Here we are just before Leah and I had to leave for the airport to come home.

I took so many pictures while we were there. So I put together some collages for anyone interested. (You can double-click on the pictures to see them better and then you can click on them again to zoom in.)

Santa Cruz beach...

Happy Hollow...

Emma Prusch Farm...

Playing at the end of the week...