Laundry Lady Needed

How you can tell I need to do laundry at my house...

Anyone interested in doing it for me....so poor Ella doesn't have to use the truck blanket!??

Summer Hikes

One of Allen's summertime traditions is taking the boys on hikes.  He picks certain ones that the boys can do and they go out and work hard and have fun!  The boys sure love these adventures with dad.

Poor Allen started this tradition when Miles was little and baby Quincy was too small to go along.  Then Dad only had one boy to hike with.  Every time there is a new baby in the house, summertime includes HIKES!  Now he has 3 boys to take!  They love it!  Can't you tell!?

6 weeks old

Ella is still not giving us too many smiles, but this morning I was sure trying.  NO LUCK!  Then, Miles walks over and talks to her, BAM....there it is!

Ella is so fun.  My favorite "newborn" thing is when she arches her back and stretches with her arms over her head and the foot thumps at the same time!  (have loved this with all the kids)

Ella still prefers her left side.  She loves to eat and gets very offended if you don't feed her when she's ready...but she will give you plenty of cues so mom has to be paying attention.  All of the boys love her to pieces...they are always BURSTING into the room when she's eating and kiss her...sometimes scaring her!  But as you can see from the picture, she does like Miles, a lot!  We love having baby Ella at our house!  Having a baby is sure high maintenance...but oh so worth it!

Finally....the FORT

If any of you know Quincy, you know he has been talking about "the fort" for over a year.  Well, Grandpa and Grandma were here for a week to meet Ella and make a fort for the boys!

Here is the finished product...well, kind of.  The boys would like a steering wheel and telescope! (if you have either of those that you are trying to get rid of, let me know)

 Boy does that Fort building make Grandpa super duper tired!

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for helping build a wonderful hideout!  Girls are not allowed though, sorry!  (unless you are a member of the family...they added that later) :)

"Lady of Light"

Ella Joy Matthews was blessed by her daddy on Sunday June 3, 2012.

Daddy gave her a beautiful blessing.  He talked about her becoming a "lady of light".  I love that phrase.  Dad also asked Miles what he thought should be said in the blessing.  Miles said he thought the blessing should include her being "strong".  Allen said, "Like so she can beat you up?" Miles said more like being strong to Choose the Right!  Love it Miles.  

We love our "lady of light"!

So so thankful to have the Priesthood on the earth today to bless our family.  I know I am biased, but I think my kids have the best daddy ever.  I hope my kids know how lucky they are. 

We are so thankful that Grandpa and Grandma Hansen could be here for Ella's blessing.

I love my baby girl.

I am so impressed with my boys.  They love Ella and want to hold her and kiss her often.

Ella and her daddy

Wondering how our 4 year old is adjusting to not being the baby anymore?  He has been doing very well, but does have a pretty short fuse.  Notice his presence in our "family" picture?  Yeah, that was one of those moments!

We love you baby Ella!

I like....I don't like

Ella loves to eat!

But she isn't too sure about those BATHS yet...
look at that face!!

Big Brother LOVE

Someday Ella is going to be so thankful to have such a wonderful big brother.  She already loves it when he lays next to her on the bed or carpet.  He gets almost too many smiles...I realize she shouldn't be able to smile "for real" yet but for brother maybe it's possible!