The Rodee Family

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-12T12:52:00.001-08:00

Well as you can see from the lack of blog posts, this year has been a very busy and exciting year! I just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. This has been such a wonderful holiday season for us and I hope for you too!! We're so thankful to be an eternal family and to be able to remember Christ our savior this season. Merry Christmas!

Love, Marci

It's been a while...

2011-08-27T08:09:00.001-07:00

Well what can I say...thought I would be better at making time for this thing but sadly it's been very neglected! We have had a very very fun summer! Busy but so fun! Christian's work schedule has been pretty awful this summer but there have been good parts about the traveling. He's been working a 2 week on, 2 week off schedule so when he's home for those 2 weeks he's completely home! It's been pretty hard but I've made some really awesome friends in our new neighborhood so that makes the hard times a little easier! We have been LOVING our house and neighbors and ward. It's so so great here! Lots of fun things to do to keep us busy! We've been able to go to Canada, bear lake, lots of parades, lots of fun times on the lake...enjoying our first summer in Utah!!

We got a very special opportunity this summer to be a part of an adoption for our very dear friends Carl and Mandy! It was such an amazing experience and we LOVED having little Zion in our home for the first few weeks of his life! We love their family so much!!

All in all we've had a really great summer! Can't believe it's over already but we still have some fun things planned before Eden starts preschool and Ella starts joy school!! Hope everyone else had an awesome summer too!

Love, Marci

3 cute girls...

2011-02-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

Well BUSY! That's the only word I can think of to describe the last couple months for the Rodee Family! 3 kids has been a really tough adjustment for me. Especially only breast feeding Maya. Don't get me wrong, Maya is SUCH a great baby! So patient, laid back, such a cuddler and a GREAT sleeper! But I felt like I was neglecting my other 2 girls having to feed Maya every 3 hours and not being able to do ANYTHING while I was feeding her. It was hard. I don't want to say luckily, but that's kind of how I feel, my milk started drying up. I wasn't producing enough for Maya to be full. So we started supplementing with a bottle and some formula. It was like the heavens were aligning! Maya was like a different baby, so happy and smiley. And I was SO happy. I didn't feel as tied down and limited. It was so great. So we are just bottle feeding out little one now and I couldn't be happier about it! I feel like it's so important to have a happy baby and a happy mommy. So that's where we're at now. Christian has started traveling again for work so I'm working on trying to stick to our schedule as best as I can! Let me tell you, getting 3 girls and myself ready for 9AM church...not happening! But I'm getting pretty good at getting everybody ready to go and out the door and ON TIME for Eden's preschool!

So Eden gave her first talk in Primary at church on Sunday! It was such a proud moment for me as a mother! She only needed a little bit of coaching but other than that, she had the whole thing memorized and she wasn't nervous AT ALL! I cried a little. She's just growing up so fast! She re-enacted her performance for the family after church so we recorded it!

Ella has been a little bit of a handful the last few weeks, but we LOVE her spunky personality and how she keeps us on our toes! The other day this is how we found her when I went to go and wake her up from her nap...

That's the closet! And without fail, EVERY morning she wakes up and takes off her jammies and puts on a pretty dressup. She is ALWAYS wearing a dressup dress! I'm surprised I can get her out of the house in regular clothes! It's so cute how she just loves to look pretty!!

The girls have started to really play well together lately! The other day they stayed upstairs and played, without fighting, for AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!!! It was a miracle!! That has NEVER happened before! It was so awesome to hear them laughing and helping each other. I just loved it!

Maya...oh my sweet Maya. I love her so much. She is such a joy! When she smiles, you can't help but smile with her. She's so cute. I never want to put her down!

She is cooing and is a lot more awake and is starting to really look at you and respond! It's so much fun. We've basically got her reflux under control. She's on 2 medications but she's hardly spitting up and she's not acting like it hurts her anymore to spit up! It's so great! All in all, we're doing so great!

What I've been up to lately...

2011-01-27T12:35:00.001-08:00

Love, Marci

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Rodee family. We hope your Christmas season has been full of joy and love. We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. Happy Holidays!

Maya Kate Rodee

2010-12-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

Well our little one finally arrived!! And just in time too...my Dr. decided he was going to schedule his family christmas vacation to Hawaii right when I was due! So the plan was to either do everything we could to have her before he left, or just PRAY that she didn't come while he was gone. Needless to say I was pretty stressed about it. So the week before he left I ate spicy food, went for a lot of walks, scrubbed the floors, did lots of laundry...anything I could think of! I went into labor Thursday night and Maya Kate Rodee joined our family at 7:05am Friday, December 3rd. She weighed in at 6lbs 10oz and was 18 in long. She's just a little peanut! She is so beautiful and such a great baby! She is so content and patient and such a great snuggler!!! (Oh and just a little side note, my father in law, who graciously stayed with the girls Thursday night, did their hair that morning. Just wanted to put that out there!) My labor was very easy and recovery has been so fast. It's been SO awesome to have my mom here. She was in the delivery room with us and it was such a great experience to have her there. She's been a lifesaver since we've been home. I don't know how I'm going to do it once she leaves! Christian has been really great too about getting up in the night when I need him. It's going to be a big adjustment having 3 kids but we're just SO excited Maya is finally here! The girls love her so much. Especially Eden. She could sit and hold her for hours. She just talks to her and loves on her. It's so cute! Ella loves her too but is only interested in loving her, every now and then! She's super gentle with her though and gives her kisses every time she passes her. I feel so blessed to have 3 beautiful, healthy girls to call my own. I love them so much, and I'm so grateful for the chance to be their mom. Maya, we love you so much. We're so lucky to have you!

My AWESOME sister in law took these beautiful pictures of Maya! Thank you SO much Brittney!!! And my other AWESOME sister made the blanket in the pictures. I have such talented family!

My first Thanksgiving!!

2010-11-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

Well this year I hosted my first Thanksgiving! It was only my mom and my sister and a couple friends, but it was still very exciting for me! We brined the turkey the night before in some yummy spices. And then in the morning we lathered it up with butter and some more spices. When it came out of the oven, it was so golden brown and beautiful! It was so much fun. We also had yummy mashed potatoes, crock pot stuffing, vegetables, and of course gravy! It was so much fun having my mom and sister in the kitchen doing thanksgiving dinner together! I wish my whole family could have been here but we had a blast. Thanks to Lee and Heather for coming and bringing delicious cheesecake! We got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade while daddy went and played football, which was so fun and then we watched the Dog show too!! Eden and Ella were so funny while we watched all the different types of dogs. They want one so bad! Sorry girls...mommy is NOT ready for a puppy! I have so many things to be thankful for in my life. I have a wonderful, loving husband and 2, almost 3, beautiful girls. We have such amazing families that we love and cherish so much. We are very lucky and so blessed for everything we have. I'm so thankful for the gospel and the knowledge that I get to spend eternity with my best friends! I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ. I'm so excited to celebrate his birth in just a few weeks! (We already decorated!!) I hope everyone's thanksgiving was as great as ours was!!

Being crafty!

2010-11-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

Well since I don't have a lot to do I've been reading blogs, and shopping online, and looking at creative ways to make my house cute for cheap. All ideas that will probably never come about because I'm not creative, but I found this idea on a blog that I read and decided to try my hand at doing it! I'm so happy with how it turned out! Now I just have to get it printed and put it in a frame. I can't decided if I'm going to put it in the baby's nursery or put in in the girls playroom. Anyways just thought I'd share!

Not so busy month...

2010-11-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well first off you'll have to forgive all the phone pictures. I've been terrible at taking pictures with the camera lately. So I have a new nephew!! My brother had a BIG baby boy at the beginning of the month. His name is Dean Robert Ellingson and he was 10 POUNDS 8 OUNCES!!!! Can you believe that? My brother's wife Mel is such a trooper. He is just so adorable and I love him so much. I can't wait to meet him and pinch his big chubby cheeks!! This month has taken forever it seems to go by. Christian left at the beginning of the month to go back to California to work for a little bit. The day after he left, both of the girls got the flu. Eden was on one side of my bed throwing up and Ella was on the other side of my bed throwing up! At one point I only had one bucket in the bed (Ella got sick later than Eden did) and both of them were throwing up at the same time, in the same bucket!!! Poor things! I felt so bad for them. I thought I was in the clear because I didn't get it for the next couple of days but I wasn't so lucky. I got it and I got it BAD! Worst flu I've ever had! I actually had to go into the hospital because I couldn't keep anything down for over 12 hrs so they were a little worried about the baby. So I went into the hospital to get some fluids put back in me and to monitor the baby. I have been having contractions since about September and I've been progressively getting further along as far as dilating. Up to that point I had only been a 1 and the Dr wasn't too worried about me going into pre-term labor. Well the whole time I was at the hospital I was having contractions (not painful ones just so you know). They gave me some medicine to stop the contractions and had the Dr come in and check me. I was at a 2. So my Dr put me on bedrest for the weekend to try to avoid me going into labor. So poor Christian had to rush home and come to my rescue! And that he did. He had to take care of EVERYTHING that I usually did! Poor guy. Men and not made to be the housewife. Well at least my man was not made to be the housewife! So Sunday morning hits and what do you know, Christian gets the flu! Just our luck! And I didn't mention that my inlaws were out of town this whole time that all this was going on! We had to call in some major favors. But luckily they got back in town Sunday afternoon and came right over to get the girls. Christian got over it fairly quickly and was feeling ok the next day. I had another drs appt and we were hoping that I would be able to get off bedrest. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I had progressed to a 2.5 over the weekend so alas, I had to stay in bed. It's been SO hard for me to just sit here. I actually miss cleaning and making dinner. I realized that I REALLY love just being a housewife. I miss it so much. So that was last week and I had another Drs appt yesterday, again hoping to be relieved from this boredom, but no. I'm now a 3. So I have to stay down until Thursday, which will make me 36 weeks. After that, if I do go into labor they won't do anything to stop it. I really don't feel like she's coming early but I can't tell if it's because I don't want to expect it and then get to 38 weeks and be completely miserable and wondering why she's not here yet, or if it's because I really don't think she's going to come early! Regardless of what I think, we've been preparing for her to come. We're trying to get the nursery done (as much as I can while being on bedrest...thank you online shopping!) We've bought a couple things we need for her. I've packed a bag for the hospital for me and for her. And we've tried to get all of our Christmas shopping done (again, THANK YOU online shopping). My mom is coming out next week for Thanksgiving and I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be so much easier and so much more fun for the girls when she comes! I just can't wait to spend time with her and have her be involved in getting ready for the baby to come! So needless to say this month has just kind of crawled by. It does seem pretty crazy that our little one will be here in less than 4 weeks. 3 kids...I hope we're ready for this! I'm feeling ok about it but I'm a little worried about Ella. I think she knows something is changing. She's been acting out, and she's been VERY clingy to me. I know she's so excited for the new baby and to be a big sister and a big helper, but I just hope I can still be the kind of mom she needs right now, while taking care of a newborn! Eden is going to be the best helper. She loves to be involved and she just loves to help whenever she can. I'm hoping that I can still get some alone time with each of them once the baby comes. I know there will be an adjustment period, and I'm just praying so hard that this little baby will be calm and patient know how excited we are for her to join our family.

Look at this adorable face!!!!! This is my nephew Dean! Ugh I just can't get over how cute he is!!

We cut bangs for Ella! Doesn't she look cute!

Playing games! Eden's favorite thing to do! (well that and watch movies!)

iChatting with my family. The girls LOVE to chat on the computer! What a blessing we can do this! That's how we met baby Dean.

My mom made this adorable quilt for the baby. This is kind of the colors for the nursery. It will be the blue color and then some pinks and a touch of black. I can't wait till it's all put together!

My cute hubby. He did a great job on the paint! He's awesome!

The new swing we bought for the baby. I LOVE it!!!! It's so pretty and there's so much padding in the seat. It reclines almost all the way back and can swivel so it can be used as a bassinet as well. And the seat comes right off to be taken from room to room! Love it!

Lastly here's a little video of my cute little Ella just playing away with her Little People that she loves so much. She has the most amazing imagination for only being 2. I can't believe how well she plays on her own.

Yay I'm actually doing it...

2010-11-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

Well I can't believe I got myself back on here to finish the update!! I'm pretty proud! So we'll just continue on where we stopped...

June

We spent all of June in California with Christian. We had A LOT of fun this month. We spent a lot of time at Disneyland, the pool and just hanging out with daddy. Scotty's fiance Audra (Auntie Audie) came out to visit Scotty so we went to Disneyland for a day with her. Unfortunately I didn't get ANY pictures with her and the girls :( But we had so much fun. Then Aunt Brittney came down and we took a special Princess trip to Disneyland! We got the girls all dressed up in their princess dresses, Eden of course was Ariel and Ella was Tinkerbell. Which is so funny because she TOTALLY has tinkerbells personality! We did the Princess Fantasy Faire and the whole day was devoted to finding princesses and meeting them! It was a blast! The girls had so much fun. (And so did mommy and Britt)

July

In July we took a trip to Texas to visit my family. We hadn't been there in a really long time so it was so nice to be there and spend time with them. Christian also was able to work while we were there so we got to stay extra long! We had 4th of July there which was SO fun and luckily we were there for the coolest week in the summer!! It was still super humid but I don't think it got over 100 the whole time we were there. We went to see Toy Story 3 and the girls LOVED it!! Ella sat through almost the entire thing. Eden got a major hair cut! We went to a rangers game. And...we found out we were having another baby girl while we were with my family. After Texas it was back to Cali where we spent more time at the pool and we finally took a trip to the beach. I wish we could have gone more but it was just a little to far away. We also took a trip south of the border to Tijuana. Wow was that an adventure. It was fun for the first little bit but then it got really hot. We walked around FOREVER to find some cowboy boots, which we found! But the drive home was the most interesting part. On your way out of Mexico, right before the border there are TONS and TONS of vendors and people trying to sell you stuff before you leave. It was so awesome! People come up to your car and haggle like crazy! It was so fun. The guys were LOVING it. It took forever to get out but finally once we reached the border we thought we were home free. NOPE. For some reason we had to pull over into some secure area while these Border patrol police checked out our car. They wouldn't tell us what was going on. THen finally they opened the rear door of the Tahoe and asked Chad to step out of the car. They took him away in handcuffs and didn't tell us one thing. It was super scary. While Chad was no where to be seen, we also realized that I did not bring my INS card. I had my Canadian passport but for some reason I didn't even think to bring my INS card that shows that I'm legal to be in this country. So our options were to leave me in Mexico while everyone else drove the 2 hours back to Fullerton to get my INS card and then drive the 2 hours back to pick me up, pay $500 (ridiculous), or have someone bring me the card. Luckily we have some pretty awesome friends and our hero, Lee Evans, drove down to bring us the card. We were at the border for about 4 hours, 3 of those hours were spent not knowing what was going on with chad. Finally he came back and he had been detained because of a ticket that wasn't paid. The cops kind of laughed when they realized thats all it was. We were not laughing. Pretty much it was not the best experience but we got some good stuff! Quite an adventure! We also took our last trip to Disneyland. It was kind of sad because we're not sure when we're going again. With the new baby we just don't know when we can get the whole family there :(

(5 months pregnant)

August

This month we took our annual Bear Lake Trip with the Rodee Family. This year was really fun because the girls were such a good age. They just played in the sand and the water the entire time! They loved riding on the boat and they even rode on the tube. It was so much fun! While we were there Brittney and Josh told us they were expecting a baby!!! This was such great news because they had been trying for a really long time. Our babies will be 3 months apart. How fun! At one point, me and brittney were walking together down to the back and Dad Rodee was walking back and he saw us and got all teary and said, "My 2 pregnant girls!" It was so cute! The boys built rival sand castles, well more like forts! It was the good guys (Scotty, Josh, and Cameron) vs. the bad guys (Christian, Chad and Braun). Their forts went with the theme! It was funny. The guys also grew "Bear Lake Beards" Eden carried on with her crush on Chandler Wilson. She loves him so much. All she wanted to do was spend time with Chandler (he's 11). He was, and is always, SO sweet with her. He just plays and plays with her. It was great to watch them! Eden started soccer! She loved it so much. She had a little bit of trouble her first game with everyone trying to take the ONE ball away from each other. But she got the hang of it. Ella loved watching and cheering on her sister but REALLY wanted to be out there with her! I don't blame her. It looked like fun!

Eden 3 years

September

September was a great month! We FINALLY got to move in to our new house! This was such an exciting day. We had been waiting for this since March! We LOVE our new house so much. Eden started preschool, which she loves and does so good at! She also started a Dance class. She is SO cute in her outfit and dance shoes! She's really good too! I love watching her. She loves her teacher Miss Debbie. We had a bridal shower for Audra which was super fun to get to know her and her family a little bit more. We went to watch Aunt Kayla play rugby and the girls loved cheering for her! My awesome SIL Brittney took some belly pictures of me and the girls for Christian for his birthday. And we celebrated Christian's 28th birthday! He spent most of the month working in California but came home for his birthday which we were SO glad to have him!!!

October

This month was busy! First off, SCARUDRA GOT MARRIED!!! It was such a beautiful, enchanting, so so fun, HOT day! It was just so awesome to be with them in the Temple and share such a joyful day with our family. The girls were so good the whole day. They loved being a part of a wedding. It was just such a blast. We also had Audra's birthday and Cameron's birthday. I don't have pictures yet of those things but I'll some up when I get them. It was Halloween this month too and so Eden got to go to the pumpkin patch with her preschool and she got to dress up in her costume for her dance class. This year Eden really wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story and so her talented Aunt Stef offered to MAKE her costume. That's right, I said make. And let me tell you she did an amazing job! I can't believe how incredible it turned out! To go along with the Toy Story theme, Ella was Rex the dinosaur! She was so proud of her costume! She wanted to wear it ALL the time. She did her little "roar" with it and it made everyone laugh! She's so adorable! Christian took the girls to the ward Trunk or Treat and then we also had a fun Halloween/Ella's birthday party at our house this year! I don't have pictures yet of that but they'll be up soon. Everyone's costumes were awesome! I can't believe my little baby is 2 already. She definitely acts like she's 2 but we just love every minute we get to spend with her! She loved her birthday! For like a week before her birthday she would sing happy birthday to herself all the time it was so cute. On her birthday we took the girls to the zoo with our friends the Leatherberry's. Their girls are the same ages as our girls and so it's so fun to watch them play together. We had so much fun. There were lots of animals out because the weather was perfect. The Tigers especially were putting on an awesome show for us! The girls got bored watching them but all the adults wanted to stay! It was a great day and a great way to celebrate our little Ella! (I also will be posting pictures from the zoo later too!)

Eden and Miss Debbie her dance teacher

Well I think That should be it! It feels good to get everything on here! Hopefully I can keep up to date on everything when the baby comes. Which could be sooner than later! More on that to come. Bye!!!

The Rodee Family is still alive!

2010-11-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

Hello all...I know, I know, it's been almost a whole year since I posted last. I really have no excuse. Every time I thought about it, it just kept becoming a bigger and bigger task! But recently I've decided that since I don't keep a journal, I have got to keep more up to date on this blog so that we can have a record of the fun (and not so fun) times that we have as a family. So bear with me as I catch up the last year! I decided to do it in months so that it doesn't seem so overwhelming!

January

In January we had fun in the snow, fun watching daddy play tackle football, we put in new carpet in the house and we said goodbye to our dear kitty Thomas. Christian and I got Thomas before we were even married. He was such a great kitty and we miss him so much. He just got very sick and there was nothing we could do to help him. To this day the girls talk about him.

February

February was a pretty busy month for us! We headed up to Canada for my brother and his wife and daughter, cami's sealing. This was such a special day for us. We never really knew if it was going to happen. And then to be there in the temple with them was just the neatest experience. We were so happy and proud of them. And it was so nice to spend time with my whole family all together. That doesn't get to happen all that often! Even though we had a pretty busy month Eden got to start gymnastics. She LOVED it! It was so fun watching her learn new things and be so proud of herself. I tried sushi for the first time, which if you know me, this is a BIG deal! I am not adventurous when it comes to food, but I have to say I was fairly impressed! It was still very cold outside so we found some fun places to play inside. Christian climbed the mountain behind our house! Then to end the month we took our annual trip to Disneyland with the Rodee's. It was such a fun and memorable trip. Scotty (who had just got home from his mission in December) brought his girlfriend on the trip and we all kind of knew he was planning to propose to her at Disneyland, but the outcome of the day was just so amazing!! There is a lady at DIsneyland, magic Pat. Her job is to make magic at Disneyland, and that's exactly what she did! The whole day was full of front of the line passes to our favorite rides, VIP seating for the parade and a private boat ride during the firewroks, where Audra said YES!! It was so awesome!

March

In March, Christian and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We decided not to do anything too extravagant but what we ended up doing was so awesome and so much fun. We went down to southern Utah and camped/hiked through Zions National Park. It was probably one of the best trips we've taken together. It was so beautiful and so awesome to just be with Christian without a lot of the distractions we have everyday. We ended up hiking a total of 23 miles. It was so cool. After a couple days in Zions we headed to St. George where we got pedicures and massages and went to a session in the St. George Temple. Best anniversary ever I think! Thanks hun.

April

Christian left us early this year to start work out in California, so we did a lot of things without daddy this month. We decorated Easter eggs, and had easter morning. The weather was a lot nicer and so we found time to play outside at some fun parks! We also found out that we were expecting another baby!! Eden was the first person I told and i got just the reaction I wanted!! She screamed and was jumping up and down! She was so excited and I know she's going to be such a great biggest sister! Ella didn't really understand at first but now she is so cute with my belly. She talks to it and tells the baby who she is and that she loves her. It's so special. We also celebrated Eden's 3rd birthday. She started the morning off with some pink scrambled eggs and then she got to go on a date with her daddy to go and see The Princess and the Frog. She wanted a "PINK" party so that's what we did! Everyone had to wear something pink. It was fun. I can't believe she's 3. It's just crazy how big she is and how grown up she is. We love her!

May

In May the girls and I did a lot of driving back and forth from Utah to California. We missed Christian so much but had to be back in Utah for my Drs appts. So while in Cali we took a trip to Disneyland (the apartments were 8 min from Dland!!) and we swam and went to the zoo enjoyed the beautiful weather. Then back in Utah we went to the aquarium.

Well I think I need to take a little break! I'll post the rest of the year later today! I'm actually really excited to start blogging again! Maybe it's because the baby is coming so soon and I'm feeling like I need to keep my girls little. And I'm also freaking out about having 3 kids but I'm excited to keep myself as well as my family up to date on everything that's going on with us! See ya soon!

Mexico!

2010-01-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

So for our Christmas this year we took a little trip down to Mexico to Cabo San Lucas. It was SO beautiful and so relaxing and just so so much fun! We rented a 4 bedroom Villa that was fully equipped with a kitchen, washer/dryer, hot tub, pool, everything you could ask for! It was seriously the only way to do it! It was a blast!

So this is the view from our villa,

Here are a couple of cute pics of the girls! They had so much fun with my family! It was so fun to have all the girls be close in age and so they played really well together! Well Cami and Ella kind of had their differences but all in all they got along great!

This is what we did most of the time! Hung out in the pool! The girls wanted to get in as soon as they woke up!

Bath time! Well not really bath, we couldn't figure out how to get the tub to work so all 3 girls showered together every night! They loved it!!

'Whale Watching'!! This was such a fun excursion! We went on a catamaran with quite a few other people and went out into the ocean to spot some whales! And that we did! It was incredible! They were HUGE!! It was so awesome. The pictures don't even do them justice to how big they were!

My Brother and his cute family! Melanie and Cami (who is almost 2). They live up in Canada and so we only get to see them about once a year. It was so much fun to spend a week with them!

This is a famous spot in Cabo. Lovers beach I think is what it's called. So pretty!

My siblings! Mac, Stef and Kayla.

After the Whale watching we went and paid to hold 2 lions!!!! One was a brand new baby and one was a bit older. We were in Heaven! Eden LOVED the little baby! Ella didn't really know what was going on!

Ella's "Scary Face". ANd my dad's scary face too!! Haha I love this pic so much!!

ANother Excursion we did was we rented 4 wheelers and drove them out to the beach. It was so much fun!!!

We also found a spot the was pretty good for snorkeling and went and looked at the fishies! There were SO many different types of fish where we went! It was awesome! I put this pic in here just to show how tall my brother is! He's 6"9' and look how far he has to bend down to hold cami's hand!!

My mom and dad were in heaven this trip, having all 3 of their grand babies to love on everyday! They were so great with them! When the girls would wake up I just took them out to Grandpa and Mimi and I got to go right back to bed!!! It was so great!!

Thanks Mom and Dad, Stef, Mac, Mel, Cami, Kayla, Christian, Eden and Ella for making this one of the best vacations I've ever been on! It was so much fun and I'm sure we will remember it forever!!

Playing catch up!!

2009-12-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I hope your holiday season has been as busy and fun as ours has! Hence the lack of posting!! So I was going through my pictures and realized that I haven't even posted from Thanksgiving! Wow! So I thought I'd just do a quick recap on our holidays! We spent Thanksgiving with the Rodee's this year and couldn't have had more fun! It was relaxed and filled with games, chatting, GREAT food (and dessert!!) and looking at all the sales for black Friday! We love our family so much and feel so grateful that they're so close that we get to see them as much as we do!

So then Christmas fun began! We made gingerbread houses...

We went to see Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork (which Eden LOVED! Every time we got in the car after that for a long time she would ask if we were going to see more lights!)

We got to see Santa a couple of times. This time was at our ward Christmas party and Ella REALLY wasn't feeling Santa! We went to the mall as well but I don't have those pictures yet so I'll have to post those another time! Ella still wasn't feeling santa so we did a family picture!!

We went Sledding...

We welcomed home our awesome Missionary Elder Scott Rodee, from Chile! Ella wasn't scared which was good but she kept staring at him, but Eden, man she was SO happy to see him! She wanted to be wherever Scotty was and she wanted him to hold her all the time! It was so awesome, she was only 8 months old when he left but she remembered him!

We've been to some football games! (Didn't think you'd get away with reading my blog and not seeing any football pictures did you?!?)

Christian is number 20!

Had a little family photo shoot when Elder Rodee got home!

Decorated our tree...

Daddy took Eden on a date to go and see Princess and the Frog! Which she loved!

Had a little Christmas party with our friends...I think Eden likes Dax just a little bit! (We missed you Barnette's)

And we had a little Christmas morning at our house the day after Christmas! The girls loved their gifts! I guess it's a good sign when they haven't put them down since Saturday right?

We also had a VERY fun vacation in Mexico with my family for Christmas this year! It was the funnest vacation EVER!! We spent a week in Cabo San Lucas with the Ellingson's and had a blast. We rented a Villa that we had all to ourselves, our own pool (more like a really big hot tub after we figured out we had control over the heating) our own jacuzzi, fully stocked kitchen, laundry room, anything you could ask for for a good vacation was there! It was awesome! We did a couple of really fun excursions but I'll save all the details till I put up the pictures! All in all we had a wonderful Christmas season! I am so so grateful for my family and for Christian's family for just being so amazing to us and especially to our little girls! We couldn't have asked for better families. What a wonderful time of year to celebrate love and the birth of the Savior! We hope all of you had a very merry Christmas and we hope 2010 bring you all so much joy!! I know it's late but I thought I'd just put up our Christmas card anyways!! Love you all!!

Love my little Eden!

2009-12-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

I just had to share the cutest story! So we went to my inlaws ward today for church, it was fast Sunday. A couple of little kids got up and bore their testimonys an Eden couldn't take her eyes off them! She said "mommy I want to bear my testimony!" I wasn't sure if she was old enough, thinking she'd just get up there and not want to be up there and start crying! So I just told her to listen. She kept saying after every testimony "it's my turn mommy!". She really wanted to go! So her uncle cam said he'd take her up there. They went up and waited their turn. They got up and Eden grabbed the microphone and said " I'd like to bear my testimony." Cam whispered something in her ear and she said "I'd like to bear my testimony". Cam whispered in her ear again and she said "I love my mommy. I love my daddy and Ella. I love to see my Gramsy and papa and cam and rocky (their dog) and I love to see all my peoples!". She said a few more things and we motioned to cam that he should probably end because she could have went on all morning! So they finished and she came back down and had the biggest smile on her face! She said "mommy I bore my testimony!". I had tears in my eyes and just gave her the biggest hug! This is what being a mom is all about!

More Family Pictures

2009-11-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

So here's some more of our family pictures! I am so happy with them! Thank you so much Stef for doing this and for putting up with the girls! I think they turned out so good and I'm so thankful I have such a talented sister who does things like this for me!! I love you so much!!!!

Could it be true???

2009-11-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

HELP!! Could it be that my sweet precious 2 and a half year old is ALREADY done napping? It is such a fight EVERY day for me to get her to nap. Most days I just don't have the time or energy to fight with her for an hour so she doesn't get a nap! Is this real? I need that 2 hours!!! When she doesn't take a nap she does go to bed super early so maybe I can get my sanity back when she's in bed by 7! Moms out there...is this real?

Family Pictures

2009-11-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

So we went and did some family pictures today and let me tell you, it was a nightmare! The girls were SO CRAZY, and Ella is seriously the most stubborn 1 year old I've ever met. Once she has something in her head, where she wants to go something she wants, you get the picture, she DOES NOT STOP until she gets it. And if she doesn't get it, she throws a fit! Luckily my sister was taking our pictures, and she didn't mind the tantrums and the bribing with candy and the running after the girls. We did get some REALLY good shots I think! Here's just a sneak peak!

Didn't my sister do a GREAT job!! I was so impressed!!! More to come later!

Halloween Festivities!

2009-11-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Christian got home on Wednesday night for Ella's birthday and Halloween so we tried to get all the festivities jam packed into one weekend! We had so much fun at Ella's first birthday party (pics to come later) , I still can't believe she's ONE! Anyways so Friday started off with a trip to Ikea to get Eden her very own big girl bed! She's been in a big girl bed since before the summer but we haven't officially got her her own bed. So she got to pick out whatever bed she wanted! Well she couldn't really decided so Mommy kind of made the decision for her. Haha! Anyways we picked out a really fun one that is a bunk bed for when Ella is older and they get to share a room! I'll put some pics up once I'm finished changing her room around from a nursery into a big girl room! It's going to be so cute!
After Ikea, we headed over to Cornbelly's. It was SO much fun! Even though it was REALLY cold, the girls, and Christian and I had so much fun together! They had a princess area where you could dress up as a princess and take pictures in the carriage. Wow was that a hit!! Eden picked out a Snow White dress, we had just finished watching the movie! She LOVED IT!!Look at her! She's was seriously so happy. She kept saying, "Mommy I totally love this dress!"
Here she is trying to do her best princess smile! We need to work on it a bit!
Snow White and her handsome Prince!
Much better Princess pose!
We got a wagon to carry to girls around from place to place and Ella was having a BLAST in it!! As you can see!
They had slides and train rides and monsters to walk through and hay rides and pumpkin cannons...it was awesome!
They also had these awesome Trampolines that the girls, and Christian, loved!!
Daddy showing off his mad skills! All the little boys that were around kept asking him, how do you do that? It was so cute!
Cute little monkey!!
Here we are on the hay ride! We were all so cold that it was definitely time to go after!
After we left cornbelly's we went home and took naps and got all ready for Brittney and Josh's Annual Rodee/Leavitt Halloween Party! It's so fun! They've had it for 4 years now I think...I can't remember but it is seriously so much fun! We had some great costumes this year! Here's mom and dad...Can you believe them? They go all out every year!
Brittney made these!
"Crikey"
Incase you couldn't get it (I couldn't) A blade of grass and a Lady bug! Cute huh?
The Leavitt's did so awesome this year!!!
Look at Ava! Cutest Minnie ever!
Rodriquez family!
And...2 little monkey's jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped her head. Momma called the Dr. and the Dr said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" What do you think? Britt gave us the idea!! We even won 'Funniest costume'!!
How cute are these monkeys!!!!!
Britt and Josh do such a great job every year at having the best parties! We just love them! We had dinner and played bingo and had dessert! It was so fun!
Halloween day was pretty uneventful, Christian painted Eden's bed and I played with the girls. Then we went to take the girls and go Trick or Treat for the first time! I can't believe that I have girls old enough to Trick or Treat! It was a blast! We went up to American Fork to Gramsy's house and to their neighborhood. The girls didn't get too much candy but that's ok with me! Less temptation for me!! Bit it was so fun to see Eden especially, Ella didn't really know what was going on, but it was fun to see her so happy! She said "Trick or Treat" to every house! And she even said "Happy Halloween to some houses! I have to say that I am just so lucky to have such a wonderful family. Christian's family has seriously made living so far from my parents so easy. I love them so much and I'm SO SO HAPPY that they love me and my girls so much. It really is just a blessing to have such wonderful inlaws. And having Christian here has been so awesome. The girls are SO much happier, I'm so much happier! I just love him so much. I can't wait for him to be back for good! He is such an amazing daddy! Well I hope you all had a fun Holiday! Can't wait to see everyone else's costumes!!!

My baby is one!

2009-10-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well today is Ella Margaret's first birthday. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. Ella you are the sweetest, cutest, most determined, curious, funny and most impatient little monkey we know!! We love you more than words could ever express. Thank you so much for joining our family. You have brought so much joy to your sister Eden's life. She loves you so much! Even if she doesn't like to share all that often!
Especially since your daddy has been away so much, you really make your mommy feel so special when you come up and give me loves and kisses. Thank you for being so sweet to us and bringing a smile to our faces everyday. We love you so much and are so excited for you to be one! Happy birthday my little monkey. I love you so much.

Hogle Zoo

2009-10-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday me, the girls and Aunt Brittney went to Hogle Zoo up in Salt Lake. It was so much fun! It's a tiny zoo but we were there for just enough time to enjoy it! So they had quite a few new additions to the zoo this summer. They had a new baby Elephant named Zuri, who was by far the most amazing part of the zoo! She was so darn cute! Me and Brittney couldn't believe how cute a little elephant could be but she was just darling!!! She was so tiny compared to her mommy!! We got to get so close up to them too. A lot of the exhibits were like that. Which I love about a zoo.Look at her! She's so cute!!

These penguins were so close! We could have touched them!

Here's another new addition, a baby giraffe. We couldn't find it's name but it was so cute too! While we were watching it, it's mother came up and and was licking it and loving it! So cute! They were standing right against a wall that had measurements so you could see how tall they were! The baby was standing 7ft when it's neck was up all the way! Can you believe that?? The mommy was like 12ft! Unreal!

My cute babies!

This was my favorite, another little one! I love tigers, they're my favorite animal ever!! They're so pretty! This little guy was walking up and down against the fence and I get SO close to him!!!

On the Carousel. Ella was a little unsure but I think she liked it!

They had a little playground that we played on.

We rode the train.

We had a couple meltdowns and a potty accident but overall it was a fun trip! Ella is so funny! She's such an explorer that it's so hard for her to be couped up in the stroller when she sees Eden walking all around. She's still not fully walking so when we get her out she just wants to crawl around everywhere and then she gets SO dirty!! But we did have so much fun. We always have fun going to "See Animals". That's what Eden says. She LOVES the zoo! She loves animals! It's so cute. Every time we were going to a new area we'd tell her what we were going to see and she would get so excited! It's so cute to watch their little minds work. I just love my girls. And I'm so glad that I have people like Brittney who can come with me to places like this and they don't care that my girls are sometimes crazy and scream and cry and pee their pants. Thanks for coming Brittney! We love you!!

2009-10-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Eden's first haircut!!

2009-10-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well I finally broke down and did it! She's 2 and a half and I've never gotten her hair cut! So I decided we'd go and get it done right. We went to the cutest little place called Cookie Cutter's. It was so fun for her! They had a slide and books to play with while you wait. And then when it's your turn you get to choose a movie to watch. They have TV's in every little station! You get to choose what type of car you want to sit in too! It was so cute! Eden loved it! Before

The first cut!!

After!!

Isn't she pretty? She LOVED getting her hair cut. After she was all done they gave her a balloon and a sucker! How fun is that!!

If anyone is looking for a good place to take their kids to get their hair cut, this place is awesome! And it was NOT expensive either! Oh and I have to put a plug in for my FAVORITE SHOW EVER!! Glee is on tonight and I seriously love that show!!! I put all their music on my playlist!!! LOVE IT!!!

Oh fall...I love you!

2009-10-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

So Fall is by far my favorite season! I love the changing of the leaves, the cool air (notice I said cool, not COLD), I love sweaters and shoes! Love this season! A few weeks ago I took the girls to drive up the Alpine Loop here in Utah. It was seriously so beautiful! I feel so lucky to live here! While we were driving I told Eden the Heavenly Father and Jesus made all these beautiful things for us. She thought about that for a while, she asked, "they made them for me?" I said, "yes honey, just for you to look at!". She thought about it for a little longer, and then she said, "Thank you so much Jesus. Thank you so much Heavenly Father!". I got tears in my eyes. What a sweetheart! It made me feel like I'm doing something right. She is just so cute! She loved seeing all the different colors and the mountains! She LOVES the mountains! Ella took a little nap for the drive up until the very end!

Aren't my girls just so pretty! I love them!!
So the Rodee family, not my family, Christian's brother Cameron, decided it was time to get a new puppy! Something we never thought would happen, but it's great! Rocky Rodee is SO cute! We love him already! He loves the girls, a little too much sometimes but he is a really good puppy!
Pops and Gramsy Rodee got another new addition to their house, a new little playground for the backyard! They call it the Rodee Clubhouse! I cannot tell you how much the girls love it! That's the first thing Eden wants to do when we get there. It's so fun!

Christian and Chad had their 27th birthday! You're getting up there babe! It was so fun to be with the whole Rodee family! Another reason I love fall, we finally get to do all the family things we missed out on during the summer!
While Christian was home for his birthday we took the girls up to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was actually really fun! Eden warmed up to the huge dinosaurs and by the end was loving everything! This is what Ella thought about it...
This is what I thought about it...

But seriously it was really fun! It was probably so much fun because we were together as a family. Anything we get to do with Christian these days is the best!

For Christian's birthday I surprised him with a little trip just the 2 of us! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! It was the first time we'd left the girls for more than one night and I was pretty stressed out, but we had the best time! We're so lucky we have such great family that we trust to leave our girls with. Thanks guys!!! So we went to San Diego and stayed downtown in their historic Gaslamp district. It was really cool! We walked around and people watched, ate great food and just enjoyed each other's company.
Another surprise, I got us tickets to the Chargers/Dolphins game! That was a blast! Neither of us had ever been to a professional football game and so it was so exciting for both of us.
Then another surprise...we went SKYDIVING!!! For Christmas last year I bought Christian a gift certificate for a tandem skydive and we just hadn't had the time to redeem it until now. So When I was booking the jump for him, the instructor taking his reservation talked me into doing it too! I can't believe I did it but it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Craziest thing I'll ever do probably but it was so awesome. Christian LOVED it! It was so fun doing it with him!

Our last morning we did a little surfing. Also fun, but VERY hard! Then it was home again for me, and Christian stayed in San Diego. Sad.
Conference Weekend was so fun. My best friend and some of her family came down from Canada to go to conference and they let me tag along for a session! It was so cool. I'd been to the Relief Society broadcast in the Conference Center before but never a session of General Conference. it was so amazing! We were so close too! I snagged a picture of the Prophet before we started. Is that bad? It was just so cool how close we were to him!
This is Kayley and her daughter. I seriously love them so much. I've known Kayley my whole life, literally, and I have never and probably will never find a friend like her. It is just so natural and easy and SO MUCH FUN when I'm around her. And her daughter is just the sweetest thing ever. I can't believe she's 8!

SO there's a quick update of a few things we've been up to. I have some more updates, like ELLA IS WALKING!! It's not her full mode of transportation but she's definitely walking! It's so cute!! Hopefully I'll get some video up here soon of it! Christian came home this weekend and it was so much fun having him here. I miss him so much. It is so hard living without him. I can't handle being away from him so much. He is such an amazing dad and husband. I do think this has made us a lot stronger as a family though. There's a lesson to learn in everything! Well I'm off to bed!

Girls just wanna have fun!

2009-09-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

First off I just have to say that I absolutely LOVE having girls!! It is so fun to play with them! Well yesterday I was feeling lonely and sad that Christian was gone and it was Saturday night and I had nothing to do! So me and the girls decided to have a pajama party! We wore matching PJs, we played with our hair, did our nails, did make up and played games! It was so much fun! Eden and Ella are really starting to really play well together! I love it!

Ella painting her nails! It was so cute because she really tried to put it on her nails!
Eden curling mommy's hair. She LOVES to do my hair! Brush it, curl it or just play with it!

Eden doing Ella's make up! SO cute!
Setting up Jenga! Eden really got the concept of the game and she did pretty good at it too!

When they all fell down she though it was so fun!!!
I can't even express how much I love my little girls. They seriously are my best friends (and you too Christian). I know at times it's super hard having 2 kids, especially having them so close, but I really wouldn't want it any other way. With christian being gone it's been so nice to know that I can still have fun with my 2 girls. I'm so blessed to have them. They're beautiful, fun, loving, so smart and they're healthy. For that I am most thankful for. I love you Eden and Ella more than I can say. Thank you for loving me and bringing me so much joy! I love you!

It's official...I'm the WORST blogger ever!

2009-09-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have no excuse other than I have a 2 year old who, is a 2 year old, and a 10 month old who wants to be a 2 year old! I am SO busy!!! These girls definitely keep me on my toes that's for sure! I love it! So I thought I'd just do a quick recap of our summer activities. Now that we're home in Utah I'm hoping I'll have a little more time to update this. So here we go...

Well Denver was so much fun! I really loved the city. We had lots of visitors...

It was so fun having everyone come and stay! We spent a lot of time here...

when the weather was nice. The Weather in Denver was so crazy!! It rained almost every single day. And when I say rain, I mean crazy hail and wind and thunder and lightening! We spent lots of time with these guys...

And went to lots of these...

4th of July...

Ella learned how to do this...

And Eden turned into this...

Such a big girl! We took a few fun trips...

Utah

Bear Lake

We bought this beauty just for the trip! LOVE IT!!!

Christian dug a hole. LOVE HIM!!!

Disneyland

Where we met Mr. Incredible!

Mickey Mouse!!

Minnie Mouse!
Pooh Bear

Peter Pan(totally Eden's Favorite this trip)
Cinderella
Stitch

Handy Manny!!
Alice

Rosetta(one of Mommy's favorites of the trip!)

Tinkerbell! (Worth the wait!)

My mom rode THIS!!!!

And I ran my first Half Marathon!!!!!!

So glad you came with us mom!
We caught some waves at Huntington Beach

And after all that, we finally made it back to home! Only to be without Christian for 2 months while he does an extension selling in San Diego. It's only been 4 days and we are seriously missing him like crazy! We're hoping to have him come home every weekend so hopefully it won't be too hard!

We're very excited to be looking at new houses! We've sadly grown out of our little townhome! We're practically bursting at the seems! Which is one reason Christian is selling for an extra 2 months.

A quick update on the girls...for those of you that are still reading this NOVEL! Eden is 2 and is such a 2 year old some days! Most days she is s sweet angel that helps her mommy SO much, but then there are days where I have to put myself in timeout so I can get a minute of peace! She seriously DOES NOT STOP TALKING! I shouldn't be too surprised her being MY daughter! She is FULLY POTTY TRAINED!!!! YAY! She's such a big girl! SHe loves nursery and come home every week singing a new song to me or teaching me a new game that they've played! She loves to sing and dance and to have girl nights with mommy where we paint our nails and watch a movie!! I love having girls!!

Ella is getting SO big!!! She's 10 and a half months and just wants to be wherever Eden is, doing whatever Eden's doing! She LOVES her older sister! She also loves to drive her mommy crazy getting into EVERYTHING! She is such a busy baby. She is trying so hard to walk! She has taken a couple of steps but nothing too solid yet! She can say 'Hi' and she waves while she says it! It is the cutest thing ever! She also can say 'Dada' and Mama' and just recently she started saying 'Stef'! She is comprehending so much more now and getting so fun! She claps her hands, she sings and dances! We just love her so much!

Well sorry for this post being so long! I promise I won't ever go that long again without posting. Oh and I don't think I'm going to have my blog be private anymore. I always forget to check my private blogs and so I don't want people to forget about me! Even though I haven't posted in SO long!!! Well we're so glad to be back in Utah! We've missed our home and our families! I go to look at houses tomorrow so I"ll keep ya posted!!!

A Day In the Life...

2009-06-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well I thought it would be fun to share with everyone a typical day in the life of the Rodee's! So me and the girls usually start off with a morning run. Our apartments have this really great jogging trail around a lake! Eden colors and Ella usually takes a nap! (PS these adorable blankets were handmade by my sister! How talented is she! Check out her Etsy site here. More on that later)

Then we head over to the park and spend some time on the swings and the slides and play in the sand at the volleyball courts! Sometimes we all play volleyball while the kids play at the park! It hasn't been warm enough to go to the pool much this year, as you can tell from the bundling of the girls!

Then we come home and play! We usually color, play with stickers, read books, sing and dance! We have fun!!

Then we make lunch...mac and cheese is always a favorite for Eden!
Then we sit and watch a little TV while Eden eats lunch! It's usually High School Musical! That is Eden's ALL TIME FAVORITE movie right now! She seriously wants to watch it all day long! She asks for Troy and she sings all the songs and dances! If you ask her about Troy she says, "He's so cute!" How funny is that!
These are her High School Musical sunglasses. They say 'I love Troy' on them!
After the girls naps we usually go to Target and get groceries or go back to the park or go to the mall with these cutie pies!

And then we come home and make dinner, eat and have baths and then go to bed!
Not too exciting but we love it! I seriously love being at home with the girls! It may get a little crazy at times with 2 but I do love it! We love the mornings that Christian's home and we get to do fun things with him, and we miss him on the days we don't!

Easter Update..I know I know!

2009-05-30T13:37:00.001-07:00

Ok so I know Easter was forever ago but I haven't had a chance to put anything on here about it! Since Christian was leaving early for Denver, we were going to be able to spend Easter with him. All of our friends were the same way, so we decided to do a fun little Easter egg hunt early for the kids, so they couls at least do something with their dads for the holiday! I t was so fun. Eden loved finding the egs and putting them in her princess bucket! All the kids had such a fun time! We LOVE that Eden has such great friends! Here's Eden with Daddy showing him her eggs!Daddy and his 2 girls!
Eden and Aunt Stef
Daxton and Savvy! Aren't they cute??
Mommy and Ella
So for Easter we were in Texas visiting Mimi and Grandpa Ellingson. It was so fun to be at their house for a holiday other then Christmas or Thanksgiving! I hadn't been to Texas since right after Eden was born so it was a long overdue trip! Mimi and Grandpa loved having the girls there and they LOVED being there! We did so many fun things...more pics to come...we went to the zoo, took pictures in the blue bonnets! It was so fun! On Easter we did a little scavenger hunt for Eden to find her basket. I dressed her in bunny ears! It was so cute!!! She loved looking at Ella with them on!!!

Then we did a big easter egg hunt with Some Texas friends. There were so many kids there and it was so fun!
Here's Eden's Texas Best Friend Saylor!!
All the kids!
All in all it was a great holiday! It was sad being away from Christian but it was wonderful being with my family! Hopefully Eden kind of understood what the holiday was all about! We got to hear my dad sing in church and it was just amazing! I love hearing him sing! As soon as he saw Eden waving to him, he lost it! It was so cute! We just loved spending time with you guys Mimi and Grandpa! Love you!

SO we're still alive....

2009-05-27T13:41:00.001-07:00

Hello all!! This post is so late coming but we've had NO INTERNET since we've been out in Denver! Luckily one of the guys out here, a hero in my eyes, finally got our internet working so I'm back! Yay!! I have SO much to go back to but I thought I'd just give you guys a sneak peak of what's been happening lately!
So Easter was so much fun! We did so many Easter egg hunts, Eden loved them! We were actually in Texas for Easter this year. It was so fun to be with my parents for a holiday besides Christmas or Thanksgiving. The girls were spoiled of course by their Mimi and Grandpa! They love them so much! I'll have to post Easter pictures later.
Then we came out here and Eden turned 2! Can you believe my baby is 2 years old! Time has seriously flown by! She is so awesome. We just have so much fun everyday! She gpt an ariel bike for her birthday and she loves it! She's still a tiny bit too small to reach the pedals but she loves riding on it and pushing it around! Ella is getting SO big! We got her ears peirced a few weeks ago and it just makes her look so so cute!! She has 2 teeth, she is babbling a ton and rolling everywhere! AND... she's about to start crawling ANY day! Can you believe that? For any of you the knew eden when she was this age, it is the exact opposite! Eden was so content just sitting in one spot. I don't think she even rolled over until she like 8 or 9 months old! And she hardly ever crawled! She was a scooter. And now here comes Ella who has to be moving CONSTANTLY!!! She wants everything around her and is determined to get it! She can backwards crawl and she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth! She's so close! The other day she tried to pull herself up on the couch but I pushed her down...mommy is NOT ready for that yet!
We love it out here in Denver so far! Things have been non stop fun it seems like! Our summer family this year is just so great! All the kids best friends are out here and Mommy's too. We have GREAT apartments and so I think that makes a big difference. There is a nice park for the kids, sand volleyball, pools, an awesome gym and a running trail around the lake. It's so great! The kids love to go outside and play at the park and build 'cakes' in the sand...thanks Lindsay! There are some really fun girls out here! It'll probably be one of my favorite summer's to date! We've been to the zoo and the aquarium! Everything is really close! So many fun things for the kids to do!
We took a really quick trip to Arizona for Corey and Jen's wedding. It was so fun! We stayed with my best friends Mandy and Carl. We love them so much! It was so fun just sitting up talking and making food at 10 at night! We also got to see our cousins Morgan and JOsh who had just had a baby a week before we came out there. She was SO beautiful!!! It was so nice visiting with them and watching Gracelyn and Eden play! It was a great trip!
So we've been out here about 5 weeks now and the summer is already going by so fast! We are havign tons of visitors this next month that we are looking so forward to! And we welcome ANYONE else who wants to come!!! I hope everyone is doing great and I'll be posting way more often now that we have internet! See ya!

My Precious Eden

2009-04-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Eden,

Today you turn 2 and it seems like just yesterday we were on our way to the hospital, not knowing what to expect with your arrival! From the first second you were born you have brought more joy to my life than I could ever express. You have made me into a better person. Watching you grow, your first smile, getting your first tooth, laughing for the first time, sitting up, rolling over, scooting, your first word to know listening to you sing a while song, learning to walk, listening to your stories, watching your imagination run wild, seeing how gentle you are with Ella, all these things have brought a new sense of meaning to my life. You are growing up into such an amazing, smart, funny, beautiful little girl. Everyone wants to be around you! I wouldn't change the fact that I get to be at home with you all day long one bit! I love you so much Eden. I hope you always remember that. And I hope you always remember just how important and loved you are, not just by your daddy and I, but by all your family and friends. You are SO loved Eden. You are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents and Aunts and Uncle and friends that are so willing to drop anything to come and spend a little time with you. You're out on a date with your daddy right now and I hope you always keep such a strong relationship with him. He loves you so much Eden. And Ella, she just always wants to be where Eden is! She watches you with such loving eyes. You are such a great big sister to her. You make mer laugh way more than mommy can, you sing her songs, you play with her, you share your toys with her...thank you for loving her so much. And Eden your Heavenly Father loves you so very much too! He is so proud of the little girl you're growing up to be. He is so happy that you bring so much joy to all the people around you! And lastly Eden, your mommy loves you more than anything. You will always be my special little baby. Thank you for knowing when I'm sad and just coming up and giving me a big hug and kiss. Thank you for laughing at me when I'm trying to be silly. Thank you for treating me like one of your friends! I know that we're always going to be best friends. I am so proud of you for who you are. You are such a good listener and you are so sensitive and you are so loving and kind and beautiful and funny! You make me laugh all day long and I couldn't have asked for a better 2 year old! I don't know how I got so lucky. Eden I hope you know that 2 years ago today was one of the best days of mommy's life! I can't wait for more special days like today! I love you so much!!!

Love you Forever, Mommy

2009-03-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

So I probably have THE BEST husband ever! What husband will sit through a 3 hour concert with thousands of screaming teenage girls, just because he knows his wife loves David Archuleta?? That's right, my husband did that! He got me tickets to the David Archuleta concert for my birthday and it was last night! I cannot tell you how much fun we had! I have never been to a concert that was louder than this one. The ENTIRE time these girls were screaming for their lives, hoping that David would notice them!! We had 3 girls sitting right next to us that were SO in love with him! In one of the videos you can hear one of the girls yell, "I freakin love you!" It was so fun to have them right next to us! They made it so much more entertaining! David was so good! He is just such a little cutie! No wonder all these little girls love him! He was such a great performer! It was seriously one of the funnest nights! Thanks so much baby!

Look at that face! Does it get cuter than that?? Well besides my 2 girls...hehe!

So after the concert we took advantage and stayed the night up in Salt Lake, thanks Britt and Stef, at the Little America! Such a pretty hotel! Look at our view! We were on the 16th floor!! So while Christian was checking us in, I was sitting in the car looking at my pictures and videos from the concert. I looked up and saw this huge man walk out of the lobby. I looked a little closer and thought, "is that Shaq?"

And yes it was!!!! He started walking right by the car and he smiled so I waved and was a little in shock! It was Shaq! So I jumped out of the car and asked if I could take a picture with him and he generously let me run up and hug up next to the biggest man I've ever seen! He made small talk and was very nice! It was the coolest thing that's ever happened to me! I was SO sad though because Christian just missed him! I would have asked him to wait, but who makes Shaq wait!! So I called Christian and he was so sad!! But the Hotel receptionist said that the whole suns team was staying there for their game today! an you believe that? Shaquille O'neal!!! Amazing! And then I got to send the whole night, baby free, with my hot husband! It was the BEST NIGHT EVER!!!

What we did today...

2009-03-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Meltdowns and Milestones...

2009-03-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Well if anyone knows Eden you know that she has a favorite blanky. She's had it since she was 2 months old and LOVES it! We've tried replacing it with a new one because hers was getting too dingy, but she wouldn't take it! She can't sleep without it, she can't watch a movie without it...it's so cute! But her love for this blanky makes some things a little hard, like washing it! Today I snuck it away from her in hopes to wash it. Well she started asking for it and I told her I had put it in the wash. She seriously had a meltdown! She was crying so hard and went to the dryer and just sat there and watched until it was finished! It was so sad!!

We've also had some fun things happen this week! Ella is 4 months old!! Wow! Can you believe that? It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital! We had her appointment on Monday and she's growing so much! She's 13 and a half pounds in the 50th percentile and she's in the 75th percentile for height and the Dr. said she's super healthy! He also said we could start her on solid foods! It's been so fun! She LOVES it! The video we put on here is her first try and so she's not really too sure about it, but she is loving it now! I love watching her grow! She's making so much noise and smiling all the time! She loves to be held and cuddle! We just love having her in our home!! I put a video up of her talking too! It's so cute!

Just had to share!

2009-03-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

We're home!

2009-03-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

Well we are home and I can't say I'm all that happy about it! We had the best time on our vacation! Disneyland is seriously the best place to go on a family trip! I just loved seeing Eden so ahppy with all the characters and being around Christian's family and our friends was seriously the best time! I can't wait for our next trip there! Sea World and San Diego Zoo were so fun too! The hotel we stayed at in San Diego was SO awesome! We were right on the beach and the kids LOVED playing in the ocean! Ella put her feet in the ocean for the first time! I brought the dress that Eden wore her first time in the ocean and put it on Ella! It was so cute! Here are just a few pictures but there are plenty more to come!

Free giveaway!!!

2009-02-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hello!!! So we are all feeling SO much better in the Rodee household!!! (except Ella has an ear infection...poor baby) but other than that we're all doing so good! We are getting so so excited for our fun trip to Disneyland on Saturday!!! I think I'm way more excited than anyone because Eden is just going to have so much fun this time! She's going to be so cute and she's just going to LOVE the characters! I can't wait!! We're also heading down to San Diego to go to Sea World and to the Zoo! It's going to be such a fun trip! I can't wait to have Christian all to myself for a WHOLE WEEK!!!!!
I also wanted to let everyone know about a giveaway that my friend Kylie is having at her boutique, Simple Lulu Boutique. She's offering a free hooded towel (hand made!) and a $40 gift card to Olive Garden! Fun huh? Her boutique is just the cutest thing you guys (I may be a little biased because Ella is right on the front page!!!!) but she has some really really cute stuff! I think I probably have every one of her flowers! It is so well made and so versatile! Everyone should go and check her boutique out! Just click here and it'll take you right there! I hope everyone goes to check it out! Here's a picture of the towels she's giving away! Can you believe she made these? Amazing!
So go check out her boutique and hopefully one of you will win!!

Happy Love Day

2009-02-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

So this is how Eden says happy valentine's day! Happy Love day! I love this family so much!

PS...my sister made the girls skirts!!! SO SO cute!!

Fun Play Day!!

2009-02-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well Victoria and Dax, and Jackie and Savvy came over to play today! It was so much fun! Eden just loves Savvy and Dax! They have so much fun together! Always laughing and chasing each other! I love it! Ella even got to join in the fun a bit!! She was SO good while they were here!
Here's Eden Loving on Ella!
We tried to get a good one of everyone smiling! This is as good as we got and it's actually ok!!

Victoria with Ella! She's loves her aunt Vic!

Helping Aunt Marci make lunch!

Playing the piano! Look at Eden's cute face in the reflection!!! I LOVE my new camera!!!!
How lucky are we that we have such good friends that live so close to us!! It was so fun today!

Sick, sick, sick...

2009-02-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

Well we've been having a lot of days in our pj's if you can't tell! We've been so sick in the Rodee house the last couple of weeks! First Eden got sick then Christian and I got sick and then poor little Ella got SO SO sick! And then I got sick again...ugh! I hate winter time! It's not even worth going out but then if we stay in, i go nuts!! I really don't like having a winter baby! She's so little and so at risk for so much stuff! It was really scary how sick she got! But luckily she has an amazing daddy and good friends who are willing to help out and use their priesthood(thanks Matt)! We're so lucky to have good friends so close to us and I am SO lucky to have such an awesome man in my life who keeps himself worthy to give our daughters blessings whenever they need one! I just love my family so much!!!

Lately...

2009-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

What we woke up to yesterday!!!! Can you believe that hair??? Funny huh? She's so cute! Even with crazy hair!

So my sweet little baby girl Eden is not such a baby girl anymore! Look at her ponytail!! Yay! I can't believe what a big girl she is! She is just getting so independent. She doesn't like mommy to help her with anything these days!

So this is our usual lunch routine! Eden helping mommy on the counter and Ella sitting content in her bumbo! She loves that thing! Eden LOVES to help me cook! She loves it. She always wants to be on the counter right by me helping! It's so fun! It makes cooking a little more enjoyable!!!

All about Eden...

2009-01-29T13:32:00.001-08:00

So 2 posts in 2 days! Yay me!! Ok so Eden is just growing up so much. I can't tell you how much I love this little girl. She is smart, so sweet, compassionate, funny, affectionate...I could go on and on! She is now 21 months old...wow! I just feel so blessed to have such a special spirit in our family. Sometimes she'll just run up to me and give me the biggest hug! When she can tell I'm a little sad, she touches my face and says, "mommy sad?" and she'll act sad and just hug me. What a sensitive girl huh? I need that with Christian for a husband...haha! Love you sweetie! She talks ALL the time and is starting to really talk, like in sentences! I don't always understand what she's saying but for the most part we can have full on conversations!! She LOVES mickey mouse, and anything disney really! She loves to watch movies (mostly disney ones) Her favorites right now are Cars (she calls it vroom vroom), Ratatouille (yes she loves Remmy the Rat) and Meet the Robinsons (she calls this one Lewis). She loves to color, play with bubbles, read books and dance to 80s music with mommy! She loves to play pretend, she is always the mommy when she plays with her dolls! She's such a good big sister to Ella. One of the first things she asks for in the morning is for Ella! She is always trying to hug and kiss her. When Ella is crying, she tries to give her her binky or rock her chair to comfort her! She'll sometimes give Ella her precious blanky when Ella's really upset! She understands pretty much everything and amazes Christian and I with the things she learns from just watching us or what she sees in her books or her shows! She's so good about sharing her time with Ella! She never makes a scene when I have to tend to the baby. I just couldn't have asked for a better first baby! I get emotional sometimes thinking about her because she's just growing up so fast. She truly is my best friend and I wouldn't want to spend the day with anyone else but her!

So I have to do a little bragging...my sister hand sewed Eden and Ella's christmas dresses. Yes she made these dresses! Without a pattern I might add. THey were so beautiful. Not a seam showing anywhere, fit them PERFECTLY. I couldn't have bought better dresses for them! She's amazing! She's starting up her own little boutique in the near future so look forward to seeing more of her really cute stuff. If anyone is interested in having a dress made, just let me know!
So I just have to say that I do not know how I got so lucky in my life! Look at my 2 beautiful daughters! What a lucky mom I am! They both have such sweet personalities. They make it so easy to be a mom. I am just so so thankful to my Heavenly Father for sending these 2 little one's to me!

All About Ella...

2009-01-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well Ella is now 13 weeks old! I cannot believe how fast time has flown by with her! At her last Dr.'s Appt she weighed 11 and a half pounds and she's starting to get some chubby cheeks and thighs!! She smiles and coos and loves to watch her sister do anything! She can sit in her bumbo all by herself and loves it! She's just so fun to have in our house! We love her so much and are so happy she's here!!

Already loving Mickey Mouse!! We start them early!!!

Ring in the New Year!

2009-01-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

With the holidays over and things starting to wind down and get back to normal, I can't help but be a little bit sad! This Christmas was so much fun being here in utah! Christan has tons of family here and so we were able to have lots of family parties and get togethers! I am just so lucky that I married into such an amazing family! I just love spending time with them! Christmas was SO much fun with Eden this year! She was so excited to open all her presents and she just rbougth so much joy to all of us this season. She is growing up to be such a sweet, loving, funny little girl! I just love her so much! Ella is growing up too fast! SHe is smiling so much and starting to giggle! She is so much fun and we love having her in our home! Christian and I got to spend New Year's Eve ALONE this year, thanks mom and dad! It's so nice having them so close and so willing to watch the girls for us! We had a much needed, relaxing night! We even slept in until 10 AM!!! We took Eden sledding for her first time and it was so much fun! She loved it so much! It was so cute to watch her just laugh the whole way down!
I am so excited for this new year and can't wait to see what it brings us! One of my resolutions this year is to run a half marathon!!!! I am really excited. I have never done anything like this and so I am really looking forward to working at it! I hope everyone had a great holiday and that you're as excited as we are for this new year!!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T20:13:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! We hope all of you have had a wonderful, happy holiday! What an awesome time of year! We have had such an amazing Christmas. I have felt closer to my Savior this Christmas than ever before. I am so lucky to have married such and amazing man with such an awesome family! We have 2 beautiful girls that bring us so much joy! I have SO much to be grateful for in my life and I owe it all to Jesus Christ. I love him so much. I love all of you and hope and pray that this holiday has brought you as much joy as it has to us! Merry Christmas!

Santa, Snow and Smiles!!!

2008-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

I just LOVE christmas time! We've been able to do lots of fun things this holiday season! We took the girls to go and see Santa at the mall! It was so fun, the Santa they had was so good! He kept telling Eden you're so pretty! I love you! It was so cute! She wasn't too sure about sitting on Santa's lap all by herself so Mommy had to sit with her! But she warmed right up to him and gave him a hug after we were done! Ella didn't cry at all!! Haha! She didn't even know what was going on! AFter Santa we took Savvy and Eden on a train ride!! They LOVED it! It was such a cute set up they had at the mall! How fun that they do that for kids!! We also got our first real snow this weekend!! It's snowed but hasn't really stuck and it did this weekend! Eden would look out the window and yell, snow snow! It was so cute! So her daddy took her out to play in it this morning and we had such a fun time! Eden is just at the funnest age! We love finding things she loves to do! And...Ella smiled yesterday for the first time!!!! It was so cute! I love it when they start to smile and realize who you are and start making cute noises!! I took a video and actually figured out a way to post it one here!!! YAY!!! And Eden has just been loving her little sister these days! It's so much fun having 2 little girls! I just love our little family right now!!!! Well I hope you all are having a great holiday season!

It's Christmas Time!!!!

2008-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well it is a huge tradition in my family to all be together and decorate the christmas tree, so I wanted to start that with our little family! We weren't even going to get a tree because we just didn't have the room in our house but my so sweet hubby made room and surprised me with our very own tree!!! I was SO SO happy! Eden LOVES that tree too! We had so much fun puuting up the decorations and dancing to the christmas music in the background! Every year my parents get us a new decoration and this year they got our ornaments in HAWAII!!! So we had the cutest little hawaiian santas to put up on the tree. It was seriously the funnest night! Thank baby for making it possible! Love you and I love our family or 4!!! Crazy!!! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!!!!

What a blessing!

2008-11-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

Well today we blessed our little one, Ella Margaret Rodee. Not only was our family and many close friends able to be there, but Christian gave a beautiful blessing. I am so blessed to have a worthy priesthood holder as my husband. It's such a miracle for our family to be sealed for eternity. THank you Christian for being an amazing father and making it possible for us to be together forever. I feel so lucky to have two beautiful girls. Ella, today on your blessing day I just want you to know how much I love you. You have brought so much more joy to this family. I cannot wait to see the young woman you become. You are such a light to us. You are so loved. Thank you for coming to our family! I want you to always remember that your father and I are always here for you and we will always love you.

Thankful...

2008-11-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Brittney who took these family pictures!!!
On this Thanksgiving day I am overwhelmed with things that I have to be thankful for. Sometimes I feel like I don't really deserve all the good things I have in my life! First of all, my beautiful daughter Eden. I can't think of you and not get teary eyed because I just love you SO much. You have changed my life. You truly are my best friend and I enjoy every single moment I have with you.
My new baby Ella. I did not think I could love another baby as much as I love Eden, but you proved me wrong! I love you so much. You are so sweet and we can already tell that you're going to have the sweetest personality! These last couple of weeks have been some of the best times. I am SO grateful you came to our family!
My husband. Christian...what can I say. You saved my life. SInce the moment I saw you I knew there was something special about you. You have given me the best gift any girl could ask for. Being able to spend eternity with my best friend and our beautiful children. You have loved me more than I could ever ask for. Thank you for being the man you are, and making me the woman I am! I love you so much!
My family. I don't know what I'd do without you guys. I ALWAYS have the best times when we're all together! I couldn't have chosen better people to spend eternity with! Especially you mom. I can't even express to you what an amazing mother you are. You are so selfless and giving. I don't know how I would have survived these last couple of weeks without you. You are so great with my girls and I just can't tell you how much it means to me that you've been here. I love you so much.

My other family!! You guys are awesome. I have always felt so welcome and accepted and just part of your family from the very beginning. You guys are so fun, and so loving and I am SO thankful that I married a man with such an amazing family! Mom and dad, you guys are such a great example of love. Thank you SO much for loving me and for loving my daughters. Brittney, I never thought I'd get a best friend out the deal when I married Christian, but seriously, you mean a lot to me!!
Our Missionary. Elder Rodee your letters mean so much to our family! Christian cries almost every time we read them because you just have the most amazing spirit. You are truly an extraordinary missionary and are doing an amazing work! We love you so much!
My sister...I don't even know how to start. I've never known anyone as special as you are. You mean more to me than I could ever say in a blog or letter or anything. You have always been there for me, even though I know it must have been so hard. You are an amazing person and it means so much to me that you are so great with my girls. They LOVE you so much. Thank you Stef for being you and loving me. I love you so much.
To all our friends and family, we are so lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives. We love each and every one of you! We hope you all have a very special holiday! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Tagged!!

2008-11-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

Ok so I was tagged by my sister and so I thought it'd be fun to do this one!!!
7 things that attract me to my hubby
1. His love for our daughters
2. His love for his family
3. His obsession with anything football (even though it is one of our biggest fights I still love that he loves it!)
4. His work ethic
5. His ability to make anyone laugh
6. His mullet...haha! Had to throw it in there!
7. His love of anything disney!

7 things I love to eat:
1. Skittles
2. Tacos
3. Carabbas...anything from there!!
4. Granny's brownies!
5. Cheesy potatoes
6. Freezer Jam
7. Chicken alfredo

7 things I can do:
1. Digital Scrapbook
2. Sing primary songs
3. Be a mom
4. SHOP!!!
5. Put cute outfits together for my girls
6. Lift more weight than you would think just by looking at me!!
7. Watch disney movies over and over and over over!

7 things I can't do:
1. Go to bed when I know I should!
2. Let people help me
3. Say 'NO' to Eden
4. Handle not knowing who is the biggest loser this year! LOVE THAT SHOW!!!
5. Eat healthy
6. Go to Target without buying something for my girls!
7. Handle my cats at 4 in the morning when they decide they want to wrestle each other

OK girls I tag...Vic, Candice and Mimi!!

Melissa, Melissa, Melissa...

2008-11-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

Why do I do this to myself! Melissa Davis has yet again has taken some AMAZING pictures of my girls! She is so good at capturing just the right moment! Here are just a few of the beautiful pictures she took the other day! There are so many to choose from that I just don't know what to do! Man kids are expensive! If it's not diapers, it's clothes or food or PICTURES!!!!! If you want to see all the pictures she took go here Thanks again Melissa! It was fun and I can't believe some of the shots you got! If you want to check out Melissa's Website go here. She does amazing work!

Sunday night walk!

2008-11-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Well since my mom is here we're able to still take Eden out and do some things with her one on one. yesterday was such a gorgeous day so after church we took Eden for a walk to the little playground up by our house! She just LOVES going to the park and going down the slide. It's one of her favorite things to do! She's so brave! She climbs right up the biggest slide and goes right down without any hesitation! You can also see the cute curls we got from the sponge rollers we put in yesterday! They turned out SO cute! She did have a cute clip in for church but we all know how long those last in a toddlers hair! I was pretty impressed though how good the curl held up and how cute it turned out!

So Melissa Is coming down to take pictures of Ella on Wednesday and I am SO excited!!! I've been a little nervous though because Eden has NOT been smiling for the camera lately and I really wanted her to be a happy girl for pictures. So the genius that my husband is, he thought of a little trick to get her to smile! Eden is really good at remembering things, like animal noises and things people say and do, so Christian said to her last night, "Eden, what does a Princess do?" And then he smiled SO big, showing her that that's what a princess does. So now every time you ask her what a princess does, she gives you the prettiest smile she can!!!!! ISn't that so funny!!! I'll have to try and get it on video to show you guys! But hopefully that will work for at least a few pictures while Melissa is here! I seriously can't wait to get these pictures done! I've been looking forward to it for a long time!!! I'll keep you posted!!!

Football, football, football!

2008-11-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

Well for those of you who know our family, you know that our lives pretty much revolve around Christian's football schedule! He plays on an intramural BYU team that have made it to the elite 8. He plays in a city league, and he recently has been added to an arena league team where they get to suit up and tackle and everything. This has been his DREAM forever to suit up and play tackle! He loves it! So last night Stef, Eden and I ventured out to Kaysville, SO FAR, to watch Daddy in his first arena league game! He didn't get too much playing time since he's only been on the team for about a week but it was fun to see him all cute in his pads! Eden just LOVES to watch her daddy play so it was fun for her to see some real action! Unfortunately Ella had to stay home with Mimi because she's still too little to go out! But she's doing so great! We've been giving her some tummy time and she is just so strong! She holds her head up and everything! She's only 2 weeks old!! We got some cute pics of her last night too!

We also put Eden's hair in curlers this morning!!! I'll post later and let you know how it turns out!!!!

Big Change!!!

2008-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know this isn't the best picture but look at my hair!!!!!!!!!!!! I chopped it! I've been wanting ot do it for a really long time but I just couldn't get myself to do it! But finally I felt like I just couldn't take it anymore! What do you guys think? I love it!!! it's darker too. My hair dresser is SO good! This is the first time I've come out of a hair cut and got exactly what I wanted!! Thanks Ciara! I'll put up some better pictures in a bit!
And of course I had to put a picture of Ella! She's growing so much! She had her 2 week Dr. appt today and weighs 7 pounds 11 and a half ounces! She's totally healthy, except she has a little cold but that's ok! She's such a good baby. She sleeps a lot and eats a lot and poops A LOT!!!! She's so fun! And Eden just loves her! She's such a great big sister! She is testing the limits as much as she can but that's to be expected!

More pictures of Ella!

2008-11-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ella Margaret Rodee!

2008-10-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

Our little one has finally arrived! Ella Margaret Rodee was born on October 29th at 10:54 am. She was 7 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. She has tons of dark hair and round chubby cheeks!! We just love her so much! More pictures to come! She's changed so much already!

When do we get to meet you????

2008-10-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well we could meet this little one today, we could meet her tomorrow...we're just so excited!!! I have a DR's appt today and we'll find out for sure when this new little one is going to get here! We still don't have a name so we're most likely going to wait until we see her! Which is something I never thought I'd do, but for some reason, it just hasn't come to us yet! My friend Tiffany took this picture...isn't she good?

Update!!!

2008-10-21T11:00:00.001-07:00

Hello! So we've been so busy the last few weeks! Christian had his birthday the end of September, sports, baby birthday's, and more sports!! Christian decided it would be fun to play on 4 different intramural sports teams this semester! So our weekends and week nights mostly consist of us going to watch him play! His goal was to get an Intramural Championship shirt from BYU and guess what??? They did it!!!! Their Volleyball team was so good!! They won the championship game! Christian was SO excited! He wears his shirt ALL the time!! He brought sparkling cider to the game incase they won, (cider he'd been saving since last year when they had a chance to win but they lost!) They busted it open and celebrated! It was so much fun!
Kayla, my sister plays for the BYU Rugby team and so we got ot go and watch one of her games! I swear she was made for Rugby! It is totally her sport! She LOVES it and is SO good! It's so fun to watch her play even though we really have NO clue about the rules!! It's so nice to have my sister's so close!
Christian turned 26 last month! Oh my young husband!! We had a little party at his parents with his twin brother Chad! Eden and I got him a Wii for his birthday and we love it! It's like all we do, play Mario Kart on the Wii!! Eden painted him a picture for his birthday! He loved it! Eden loves to watch her daddy play too!
Our friends little Aiya turned 1! It's so crazy that all of our babies are just growing up so fast!!! She was so cute!! She dove into her cake! It was so awesome!!! It's so nice having friends that have kids all close to the same age as Eden. They have so much fun together!
AND...I'm finally at the end of my pregnancy!!! I'm 37 weeks now and will most likely be having our new little one next week! I think I'll be getting induced next Tuesday so just pray that everything goes ok! We are SO excited to meet her! I've been pretty emotional the last few days thinking about being a mom of 2 and dividing my time, and being able to be as close to Eden! I know it's normal and that it will all work out! It's just so crazy to think that in a week we're having another little baby! WOW! So I really hate this picture but I thought I'd document what I looked like at 37 weeks!! Well wish us luck with everything!!! Hopefully soon there'll pictures of our little baby girl...still no name!!

Sunday Blessing...days late!!!

2008-10-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well this sunday I decided to do Eden. It was her first time in Nursery this Sunday and it was such a happy and sad day all in one! She went right in and sat down to play play dough with the other kids and didn't even hesitate when I went to the corner of the room! Christian and I were planning on staying for Sunday School just to make sure she was ok, but she didn't even need us to stay more than 5 minutes! I had to leave because I was crying, thinking about leaving her, and I'm pregnant so give me a break! But Christian stayed for a few minutes and said she did awesome! When we went to pick her up after church, they said she did so good for her first time! I was so proud of her! I just cannot believe that my baby is in nursery! So anyways, when I got home I decided I definitely was going to do my blessing on Eden because I just love her so much and couldn't imagine my life without her!!!

Handbag Contest!

2008-10-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

So I LOVE purses and got sucked into this contest! Try it out! You could win an awesome handbag!!! Just click here and you'll be linked to Handbag Planet!!

Sunday Blessing!

2008-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

So my sis, Brittney has yet again inspired me to start a project! She told me about scrapping a sunday blessing every week and then at the end of a year, you'll have 52 blessing to put in a scrapbook! How cool is that! And the best thing is that you don't have to start at the beginning of the year or anything. You just start when you want and do it for a year. Hopefully this is something I can stay on top of because it's only once a week!
Well this week I decided to do my sister Stefanie. We are 2 years apart and have had our fair shares of ups and down, but she is my best friend. She lives like 3 minutes away from me right now and I couldn't be happier. She LOVES Eden so much and is such a great aunt to her. She is a wonderful friend to me and I don't think I could go one day without her. I love her so much and I am SO blessed to have her in my life!

Utah fun!

2008-09-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Well we have been busy, busy, busy since we've been home! Christian's going to school full time AND he decided it would be fun to play 3 intramural sports AND a city football league! It's been really fun to go and watch him play! Eden's favorite are the volleyball games! She LOVES them! She cheers and runs around! It's so cute! She loves to be a cheerleader for her daddy! Well we've also been doing lots of family things! We get to go to Christian's parents every week for dinner and we have even been having family home evening! Something we can never do during the summer. It's so nice. Last night we went to have a picnic at the park and it was so much fun! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera but Eden had a blast, and so did mom and dad! Eden got to go on her first horse ride! It was so much fun! Our friends invited us to go up the canyon and have a BBQ and ride their horses. Eden loves to look at horsies in books and on TV so we were really anxious to see how she'd react to them in person, and she loved them! She wasn't scared at all! She even got on and rode for a while with her daddy! I was sad I couldn't get on but it was still so fun watching her and Christian have such a fun time! Thanks Matt and Amy for inviting us up there!! Me and Eden have been doing some fun things too! We had a Pajama party and we've been coloring ALOT and Eden did finger painting for the first time! It was so much fun! I let her get so messy! I was super proud of myself! She loved it too! I'm so glad to be back home. I get to see my sister all the time and we get to hang out with Christian's family, and most important, we've been able to spend a lot more time as a family! Christian is here for dinner almost every night and he is here when Eden wakes up in the morning! It's so great! I just love having him home!

We also had a DR's appt yesterday and got to look at our beautiful little girl! She is super healthy and is just over 4 pounds they think! While we were having the ultrasound she was sticking her tongue out at us! it was SO cute! It looks like she's gonna have big full lips like Eden! I just can't wait to see what she's going to look like! Only 6 and a half more weeks to go! I can't believe it! This pregnancy has gone by so fast! I hope these next few weeks go by fast as well! Christian and I still haven't decided on a name. It was so easy with Eden, we just knew! But we haven't had time really to think about what this new little one is going to be named! We've got it narrowed down to 2 options! What do you guys think...we're still deciding on a middle name so I'll just give you the first names...Ella Rodee, or Isolde 'issy' Rodee! What do you guys think!??

Update!!!

2008-09-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have been terrible this summer about posting! So I thought since I finally was able to get all my pictures on our new computer...yes we got a new computer!!! YAY! Anyways I thought I would update y'all! (Ya I lived in Texas, I can say that!) So here's some pictures from when my parents came to New Mexico. In Albuquerque they have the longest Tram in the world! So we went on it and it was so cool! It went so high and the view was amazing!! It was super fun. Eden loved looking at the trees and the little animals, and the flowers!

THese next pictures are from when we were moving from New Mexico back to Utah and we were taking a break from packing. Christian got out the lazer to play with the kitties. Well it did not only entertain them!! Eden was LOVING it! She was laughing and jumping! It was so cute!!

This last one is from this past monday we had family night and went to coldstone for some ice cream! It was so fun! I love having Christian home in the evening!!

Ok so the biggest news is that Eden is FINALLY walking!!!! She's almost 17 months so it is about time! I am so happy for her! She loves to walk! When we're at home that is how she gets around now! She's not always super sturdy but she is just getting better and better everyday! She started really taking steps last week, so it shouldn't be too long before she's running around! I was pretty worried for a while but she just needed to do it in her own time! Like everything! She's so funny! I just love her. SHe's so happy and we just laugh and laugh all day long! We are so happy being back in Utah! Christian is going to school full time this semester and I couldn't be prouder! He is such a great dad and we have been able to spend so much time together since we've been home! It's SO nice! Ok so I just tried AGAIN to upload the video of Eden walking but yet again, blogger has failed me!! SO like always you'll have to go to my facebook to see the cuteness! Sorry about that! Well i hope this satisfies for a good update! I don't have Photoshop on our new computer yet so I haven't been able to scrap on it yet. I can't wait to do it...the monitor is huge!! Can't wait! Well I'm off to bed!

Home Sweet Home!

2008-09-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well we're finally back home in Utah! I am SO happy to be back. And I think Eden is happy too! She's been so smiley and loves to explore and loves being back in her room and crib! I missed it! We've only been home a couple of days and nothing is really unpacked, but it's just so nice to be back in our home. With the new baby coming we're trying to get things organized around here! I went through all of Eden's old clothes from when she was tiny to see what I could use for the new baby, and it was so emotional! I remembered when Eden wore certain outfits and it just made me so sad that she's not a baby anymore! But happy that I'm going to have another baby to put wear them! It's too bad because Eden was born in April, so all of her little baby clothes are summer clothes, and the new baby will need warm winter things so we'll be able to use most things, like onezies and pajamas, but I"m going to have to get some warm clothes. Too bad, more baby shopping...haha! Ok so I need some advice...please!!! I've been trying and trying to find a double stroller that I can get for when the new baby gets here, and I've found one that I really like and have read some really good reviews about, but I just don't know!! Please you moms of 2 let me know what you recommend for a double stroller. This is the one that I really like, It's a Joovy Sit Stand. I love that it's not long like a lot of double strollers, it can accommodate a car seat, and I love that I can just take it out with Eden if it's just her and I. But I don't know if it's practical because Eden isn't even really walking yet! Which by the way we've made some REALLY good progress today with walking!! She stood up and took like 10 steps!! I was so excited! Anyways, back to the stroller, please let me know what you guys think! I could really use the advice!

Catching up!

2008-08-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well I've been trying to catch up a bit on my scrapbooking. I've been making myself find time because I just enjoy it so much. So I decided to do the pictures Brittney took when Eden turned a year old. I wanted this page to be perfect because the pictures are just so precious! I spent a long time looking through scrap pages trying to find an idea of how I wanted to do it and then all the sudden I got this idea! So it's s little different than my other pages but I really love how it turned out! I can't believe how big my little girl is getting! I just wish she'd walk already!!!!!!!