Eli Laughing

The following video contains a few highlights from November. There are three clips. The first clip is Eli smiling. The second clip is Eli laughing. This is the funniest thing to watch... Merrilee laughs, and Eli loves her laugh so he laughs, which makes Merrilee laugh even harder. The third clip is Eli copying his Dad by sticking out his tongue. In this clip Eli is being very obedient and doing exactly what his Dad tells him to do. This is one of the few instances where that happens. Enjoy!

More Pics of Eli

Eli Sporting the Tux

So many times you just see the good pictures, but never see the hundred or so other pictures taken to finally get to that good photo. Well here is a little collage that shows some of what went into making the above photos.

Wicked... Back in Kansas!!

I recently had a wickedly fabulous getaway with all my sisters and my mom. On November 7th, my sister Christine (who lives right next door to me... love it!) and I drove up to my mom's house and then we all carpooled to Kansas, where we met up with my other two sisters, Shannon and Phaedra, at Shannon's house. We went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and then we headed off to watch the most amazing musical of all time (well, it's Top Ten for me, at the very least!)........... WICKED!!! The set was amazing, the cast was spectacular, and the music was phenomenal. I am in love.

Where were Ben and Eli, you might ask? Ben, who happens to be the most terrific-est, spectaculous, amazeringest (I'm speaking in the Ozzian dialect from "Wicked", for those of you who haven't seen it yet) husband of all time, watched Eli all day and night so I could go!!! He deserves a medal, does he not???

But how do I repay him? By continuously singing the entire score from the musical until I successfully got each song stuck in his head. I couldn't help myself. I'm pretty sure after he sung a refrain from the song, "Popular", he informed me that he's never enabling me again. We'll see.... ;)

So, Mom, Christine and I drove back early Sunday morning. I got a phone call on the way back from the bishopric. Never a good sign! I rushed home, kissed Ben and Eli, got ready to go, and made it to church in time to be released as primary teacher and called as 1st counselor in the Young Women's presidency. Then I sang in sacrament meeting, drove Ben home during 2nd hour (he was feeling sick), and got back in time for my first day in YW. Busy weekend!

Girls' Getaway!! Left to right: Christine, Shannon, Mom (Carla), me, and Phaedra. Pretty sure the song "Popular" will never mean the same to us again!!!!

Eli's Blessing Day

My ENTIRE family (minus one brother, who's living in California) was able to come for Eli's blessing day, which was November 1st. It was a wonderful experience, and I felt very blessed to have all of them with me to celebrate such a special day with my own little family. For those who don't know my family, I'll list them off, left to right: Lemy (actually, he's a foreign exchange student from Taiwan living with my parents), Carla (mom), Christine (sister), Ariana (niece), David (dad), Daniel (brother), Hunter (nephew, in front of Daniel), Brent (brother), Grace (niece, in front), me, Eli, Ben, Austin (nephew), Phaedra (sister), Shannon (sister), Summer (niece), Zach (nephew), and Hayden (nephew). I have such a wonderful family!!

Ben was very prayerful before giving Elias his blessing. There were THREE baby blessings that Sunday, and Elias was the second one to be blessed. He started crying on the way up, but Ben was very patient and got him situated and calmed him down before he began the blessing. A member of the bishopric told us that he was very impressed with the way Ben handled it and it reminded him of our Heavenly Father's love and patience with us. My dad and brother were also able to be in the circle for the blessing. It was a beautiful blessing and I felt the Spirit very strongly that day. There were many neat experiences involving my family as well.

I couldn't resist... I bought a tuxedo for Elias for his blessing day. He looked so dang cute in it!! Doesn't he look like those guys who, after a wedding, throw off their ties and crash?

Reed... Elias Reed...

These weren't taken on the actual blessing day (since Elias threw up all over his little suit before I could even button up the vest!), but they were taken just a few days afterward.

Stylin'! Looks like a young James Bond!

Always a good sport...

My favorite pic... you can see his beautiful blue eyes.

Eli 0-2 months