Return of the chicken

For Halloween this year we decided to recycle Eliza's chicken costume from last year. It still mostly fits. The pants are a little short but that's okay. On Monday night we took her to Murray Park for their Haunted Trail Halloween party. It was only $1.50 and if you survived the scary walk you were rewarded with a donut and hot chocolate. After standing in line for over an hour we finally got on the trail. It actually was a little scary but I don't think Eliza is old enough to know that it was. She was probably just wondering why we were walking for so long in the dark. One of the scary people that jumped out from behind a tree was dressed like a monkey and she really liked him and wanted to pet him. After we finished we got our treats and headed home. It was fun and also a great way to tire Eliza out before bedtime.

On Tuesday night we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Eliza was excited to wear her costume again. We have a pretty small ward but there was a good turnout and we had a fun time. They had a pinata for the kids. Eliza was a little unclear on the concept of what to do but she did get the hang of holding out her bag and getting free candy, and that is really the most important thing.

We are carving our pumpkins tonight so there should be more pictures coming soon. Happy Halloween!

4-year anniversary

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our four year anniversary. I can't believe it's been four years already. Does anyone else feel like time is flying by too quickly? Anyway, Matt had the day off work which is always nice. He surprised me with beautiful flowers and a basket full of my favorite treats which he told me were my "Twilight treats" for the movie. Somehow I don't think many treats will survive until November 21st but we'll see.

During the day we mostly just took it easy and ran some errands. In the evening we left Eliza with Grandma and Grandpa and we went out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. Luckily, the novelty has worn off a bit and since we were there fairly early we didn't have to wait at all to be seated. The food was good, but pricey. You wouldn't want to eat there too often. We decided that since we were at The Cheesecake Factory we better get a slice of cheesecake for dessert. It was fantastic! I'm not sure it was worth $7.00 for one slice but hey, it was our anniversary.

I'm very thankful for these past four years with Matt. He is a wonderful husband and father and I'm grateful for his hard work and all he does for Eliza and me. We love you!

Life at grandma and grandpa's

No news to report on the house hunting so I thought I'd just post a couple fun pictures and an update on Eliza. She is talking more and more each day. I think she learns to say a new word almost every day. No real sentences yet but she can definitely communicate what she wants. She knows how to count to ten (for some reason she skips "seven") but she won't do it when we want her to so we have yet to catch it on our camera. She knows her colors and a few shapes. She loves to sit at the piano and pound on the keys. My mom and dad have pictures of all their grandchildren on the piano and Eliza trys to say all of their names.



The other day my dad brought home a crown for Eliza. You can't really tell in the pictures but it lights up too. Matt took her in the bathroom with the lights off so show her how it looks with the lights on. Pretty cool. After anchoring it to her hair with all sorts of clips and barrettes she wore it all day. It hasn't even broken yet either which is pretty remarkable.

Eliza loves books and takes great joy in getting every single one off the bookshelf and putting them in a pile. It's a big mess but she doesn't mind helping put them all back. Here is a sample of what she does almost every day.

I can't believe she will be two in just over a month. This whole year has just flown by. Hopefully we can celebrate her birthday in our own house but we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for us!