It's a . . .

It's a BOY!!! We are so excited! His name will be Jacob Michael Hampton and he is due on May 20th. It took the Dr. a long time to find out because I am carrying so deep and the baby is in a crazy curled up position; but in the end she figured it out. What a crazy day! Anyways, I know it's short, but that's the big news in a nutshell! I hope everyone has a merry Christmas!

Officially a Toddler!

Okay, I know it has been forever since I've updated anything so here it goes. Even though Elsie has been toddling around for months she is officially a toddler (as of a few weeks ago) and lives up to the name wonderfully! We had a few birthday celebrations. My grandma had a family dinner to celebrate my mom's and Elsie's birthday. She made Elsie her own cake which she demolished face first; it was awesome to watch!

Then she had a little birthday bash with Mike's family. She got lots of fun toys and loved playing with her cousin. On her actual birthday, we had a family wedding so we just told her that the whole party was there for her and it was great.

Elsie is in the 91% for weight, 58% for height and 69% for head circumference. She also has 12 teeth! Some of the things she loves to do are dancing, running, climbing, clapping, talking on the phone, playing in the snow, chasing older kids where ever she is, and giving kisses. She is really funny with food because she is so skeptical of everything we put in front of her. She always tries things 4 or 5 times before she decides if she likes it or not. If she decides she doesn't like it, she throws it off her high chair tray. I leave it on the floor and she eats it when she gets down like it tastes better that way. Oh well, it's funny to watch. She loves her daddy and always runs to him when he gets home from work.

She has also started to do fake coughs and fake laughs when she wants attention. So, in the middle of Sacrament meeting she will try to get people's attention by fake laughing until they look at her and then the real laughing begins. :) She has learned to at least "cover up" her fake coughs now.

I bawled my eyes out the day before she turned one because time has gone by so quickly; but I just said it was because I was pregnant. Which I am by the way. I'll update on that next week when we find out what we are having.

Let's see, I am done coaching for the moment until Club Volleyball gets into full swing. Our team took 5th at State and I'm so proud of the girls! I am trying to figure out how I got anything accomplished when I had practice every day. Mike has passed 2 CPA exams thus far with 2 to go and we can't wait until he is done!

We were caught in that crazy windstorm and lost shingles, rain gutters, and a fence. We feel pretty lucky compared to the damage that was all around us. It helped reveal the things we need to fix to prepare for something else crazy to happen, which I'm sure it will eventually.

So for those of you who I am not sending Christmas cards to, because I'm a slacker, not because I didn't want to send them, this is the picture that would be on it:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Big Changes

I know it has been forever since I've posted. . . but here it goes. We moved about a month ago. We bought a triplex in Layton so it has been fun learning the whole landlord/homeowner thing. Some days, I feel like everything has gone wrong! It's a lot of responsibility, but I guess I need to learn that sometime anyways.

Mike is working at Salt Lake at Grant Thornton. It's the middle of busy season right now for all the extensions people made for their taxes, so he's working long hours. I am working as a volleyball coach at Bountiful High School and I love it! Elsie is our little mascot. I made her a brave outfit and everything. She comes to all our practices and games. I can't complain about being able to take her with me. Her grandpa likes to have her around as well.

Elsie is now 9 months and WALKING!!! She has been walking with help for ages now, but a few days ago she started taking multiple steps in a row without holding onto anything! She still prefers crawling because she gets around much faster though. Let's see, she has 6 teeth. Her favorite games are peek-a-boo and running away when we chase her "I'm going to get you!" She makes massive messes where ever she goes. She climbs stairs, and falls down them usually gracefully. She opens cupboards and our sliding glass door. She eats everything (no surprise, she is related to her mother). We just took her to her 9 month appointment and she was:

23 lbs. 10 oz. (97%)
28" tall (77%)
18" head circ. (89%)

She is so much fun to play with and we love her to death! She has adapted well to all the new changes with the new house and is sleeping through the night! Yay! I think that's about it in a nutshell. I'm going to try to be better. . .

Here is a little video of Elsie

7 Months

So, Elsie is 7 months today. . . I thought it was worth updating the blog. For starters, she's crazy! She started officially crawling (as opposed to the army crawl) about a week ago. She likes to explore everywhere including the bathroom, the office, mom and dad's room, behind the chairs, under the table, and anywhere else she can get on her own. She loves to attack unsuspecting targets, like blankets. She always wins those fights. She learned to play by those rules from her daddy.

Sometimes, she just wears herself out. This is one of my favorite pictures of her after she fell asleep in her bouncer!

Once she has worn herself out, her favorite position to sleep in is with her head in the corner of the crib and up on her knees. It looks super uncomfortable, but whatever works I guess!

She loves to eat everything! She now has 5 teeth!!! She got three on the top within a week, it was crazy. She loves to grind them together, which I'm pretty sure isn't good, but she doesn't understand that yet when I tell her. This was her most recent experience with new food. She ate at least half that watermelon on her own.

She also loves shopping. It comes so natural to her. . .

This is just really cool, on Monday we went outside to enjoy the weather and a dove flew down and landed right next to us. It walked right over, under Mike's legs and right up to Elsie. Shortly after this reaching scene it attempted to bite Elsie, but she was too fast. Anyways, cool right? It even ate rice out of our hands, we were friends for like half an hour.
She loves to play with her alligator.
Okay, this is probably one of my favorites ever. She just discovered the glass door. First, she was interested to see me through it:
Then, like everything else, she had to taste it:
Then, I got the most awesome picture ever! Mike doesn't like it because it doesn't make her look cute, but it was so funny I couldn't resist! haha, I love her!
We hope you were entertained watching our crazy cute daughter grow up a little. We love her to death!

Someone New in the Family!

So, my brother Tyson married Michelle on Saturday! What a great addition to the family right? She makes him look pretty good. :) The whole day was so much fun. Someone was watching over them to give them perfect weather even though it had been raining for days before and ever since. They were able to do everything outside as planned! That's one example of divine intervention. Welcome to the family, Michelle, I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into. :)








This is a classic sister shot; it had to be included. I'm pretty sure I have the best sisters EVER! Just look at how cute they are.










Okay, so it was a long day for Elsie. Poor girl, no schedule and basically no naps all day long. She's a trooper though, when we were leaving at 10:00 to go home that night she was still laughing her head off!

This is what she usually looks like: all smiles and laughs. We love her to death! Yesterday she had her 6 month check up. We found out she was huge:

Weight: 19 lbs. 5 oz. (95%)
Height: 26 3/4 in. (84%)
Head circumference: 43 cm. (64%)

Graduation!!! It's about time. :)

So, my wonderful husband graduated with his Masters in Accounting from BYU at the end of April! It is so awesome to have him done! He was such a hard worker in school and it is well worth it now. He'll be starting his new job up in Salt Lake in the fall so I get to enjoy him for the summer (when he's not studying for the CPA Exam).

When I asked him how he felt to be graduated, he said "check". That's my husband for you. . . not terribly effected by change. I told him that we should celebrate and he asked if we needed to. I told him YES! Because if you don't need to celebrate, I do. So we went to classic skating and discovered that spit stains glow in the black light. It was so much fun! I'm so proud of you Mike!

Besides that, we have been having so much fun with our little girl. She is growing up way too fast! She has both bottom teeth now and she likes to use them too! She is also army crawling all over the house. The good news about that is she can entertain herself for a long time now. The bad news is that we never know where we will find her or what she will be in to. She loves almost all food and even the stuff she doesn't like she eats anyway and then gives me a face that says "Really, you're giving me this again!" She makes our life a little adventure and we love her so much!

First Tooth, Prom, and General Conference

So, Elsie had her first tooth pop through a couple days ago! Best part of that is that I didn't even know she was teething. Someone suggested it and so I checked and poked my finger on it. She's a trooper, she wasn't more terrible than she always is through the process. :) She definitely doesn't have the Herrick genes when it comes to teeth, she must be like her dad. We attempted to take a picture, I bet you can guess how well that turned out, but here it is anyway (pretend you can see the tooth).

My two beautiful sisters went to Prom with some very special dates. They are both so GORGEOUS I thought I'd show them off. P.S. These dresses were my first attempts at learning how to sew on sleeves. . . not bad right?

General Conference was amazing (as it always is). We spent Saturday at home and Sunday up with our families. I love all the advice that our Prophet gives us and all the other speakers. What a blessing to have continuing revelation today! Besides, it helps me reevaluate life and what I need to be better at. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the true, living prophet in our day and that he is sent here to lead Heavenly Father's children back to Him. Grammi Tami got Elsie a new toy, that she loves! Here are some pictures of our pride and joy. :)

Elsie and Papa

4 Months

Elsie had her 4 month check up yesterday. Everything went great. . . except for the shots. We had a very unhappy baby all evening. However, when she finally fell asleep last night, she slept 7 hours in a row! That's a record!!!

Length: 25 inches (78%)
Weight: 15 lbs. 15 oz. (92%)
Head Circumference: 40.8 cm (48%)

So, she's a chubby baby. . . and it's so cute! I wouldn't have it any other way! I can't believe how much she is growing!

St. Patrick's Day

So, Elsie and I had to get creative on how to work green into her outfit on Thursday. Green just isn't a color girl babies get much of. . . but we managed. :)

Love these socks! Thanks Grammy Tami! I love St. Patrick's Day, we can all wear as much green as we want and people don't think we are too weird.

Big News

So our big news is that Elsie ROLLED OVER yesterday! She's been trying for weeks, but yesterday she was successful twice! We are so proud of her. :)

A little bit about how life is going for us right now. Mike is in the midst of midterms, which is no fun for any of us. He is always studying or working. . . but I had an epiphany the other day. He will be done with school forever in about a month! He can't see the end of the tunnel yet, but I can! That doesn't mean he will stop studying; because when you have a crazy husband like I do you realize that he actually likes it. He mentioned to me the other day that he can't wait to study things of his own choosing. At least he won't have a deadline when that time finally comes.

As for me, I try to keep the house clean and get some sleep. In the small periods when I have time, I am trying to get some crafting done. . . it's a slow process. I get distracted easily and I go play with Elsie. I can't help it, she's too cute! :) Besides, I don't want to miss anything and Today Will Never Come Again!

Our Little Poser

Elsie had a little photo-shoot this past weekend. Shes a poser just like her dad! These were some of my favorites. . . she's sooooooo cute!

Birthday and Valentine's Day

Mike turned 26 on February 9th! I'm pretty sure he is considered to be old now. :) My cake decorating skills came from the cricuit (I wish I had that good of handwriting with frosting). Elsie doesn't give me a whole lot of free time so this was much faster and it turned out okay, We just peeled the paper off before we ate it.

I love bath time pictures! We decided that because bath time is Elsie's favorite time of day, it's mine too. She dictates what I like now.

These are the beautiful flowers Mike got me for Valentine's Day! I love them! We ate a roast (that I cooked successfully!) for dinner. Mike worked until 8 that night so it was pretty low key. For our romantic movie that night we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It's one' of our favorites.. . . anything to keep us laughing! I love you Mike!

Elsie's Blessing Day

Yesterday we blessed out little girl! It was such a wonderful day for everyone. Mike did a beautiful job and it was a very special blessing. We had a ton of family come and support us, thanks to all who came and brought food.

Family Picture
Elsie wore the dress that I wore when I was blessed. It was really special!
Three generations. . . my mom doesn't look old enough to be a grandma.
Aunt Brindee and Elsie.

2 Months

I took Elsie in for her 2 month appointment a couple days ago. It is so crazy to think about how much she has grown in such a short amount of time! Really, I just found out a couple weeks ago that my body wasn't producing enough milk so they had me start supplementing formula. Initially she has only gained 12 oz. in 6 weeks. Then she gained a pound the next week and we are going up from there!

Weight: 10 lbs. 13 oz. (64%)
Length: 22 3/4'' (48%)
Head Circumference: 38.2 cm. (31%)

Our Growing Little Girl!

So here are a bunch of random pictures of our little one. . .
Hanging out with mom, I love cuddling with her!

She is so tough, she can stand on her own for about 8 seconds if she is leaning up against something and she's not even 2 months yet!
Bath time.
She is such a big smiler and so happy, we love it!
Christmas Dress
Bath time in a mixing bowl (she just grew out of it).

Tummy Time
Elsie and Dad
Her first big diaper blow-out! Mike didn't know quite how to react to this one. When I said we needed to clean her off he almost died. :)
Loving the car seat.