Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!

On Monday night we made our way down to YOGOTOGO to visit Santa and get some frozen yogurt. Mitch's brother Matt was the 'Santa' for the night. Ellie walked right in the door and said, "Hi, Matt". Even though she knew it was Matt she was a little hesitant to go near him. Enjoy!

So True.

When I could see my husband getting overly frustrated during church at our 'irreverent' little girl, I leaned over and said, "she's not even two, you can't expect her to sit perfectly through an hour long meeting". He replied, "that's what bothers me! She's not even two and I already feel like she's manipulating me!" he he he. How true it is.

UEA!

Here are a few pics from some weekend fun!

Ellie wouldn't pull a smile for the camera. Luckily, I think she's cute without one! Happy Halloween!

This year we got season passes to Lagoon. It's been pretty fun just going for an hour or two. With all the rides and everything Ellie's favorite part is the fountains. However, yesterday the fountain got the best of her. It was classic. Keep watching it happens at the very end of the video. (sorry it's sideways...I'm not blog savvy)

Sweet Ellie could also ride this silly train over and over and over again. This picture is one of my favorites. I'm so happy we had UEA, it gave me a taste of what life will be like without going to work, I can't wait!

A Sister Wife!

With this pregnancy I've been having VERY VIVID dreams. Not the spiritual kind, but the kind that leaves Mitch saying, "wow, my wife is CRAZY". Last night was no exception. Last nights dream consisted of Mitch about to marry a "sister wife".In the middle of the night Mitch woke up to me sobbing and talking in my sleep saying, "how could you even want another wife! You didn't even think about this!" {sob, sob sob} "The announcements are already out" {sob, sob, sob} "Your mom loves her because she sings! and she bought her a Christmas wreath from Michael's!" {sob, sob, sob}. (crazy words went on like this for 30 minutes or so) Naturally, Mitch found this hilarious and decided to turn on the video camera on his phone. Luckily, all you can hear is me sobbing and mumbling. In between laughter he would try to be sweet and say things like, "I broke off the wedding, you're the only one for me!" then he would start laughing again. Which of course just ticked me off more. As I began to wake up I was still beside myself and was still VERY upset. I ended up having to take a shower at 4 in the morning to try to get myself to stop crying hysterically (as well as get a break from Mitch's giggling). It was Terrible. This morning I woke up and was exhausted.  I was still fuming mad as I got ready. Mitch woke up and saw me leaving for work and just started laughing again. (REALLY HOW RIDICULOUS AM I)! I couldn't let it go. Anyhow, when I walked in the door from work today there were roses on the table with a note that read,


"Dear Stacie, You're the only girl for me, I love you. Love, Mitch  P.S. You are the funniest girl in the whole world"


The things our husbands go through for us!

Crazy little Ellie!

Elz bellz is at such a fun age right now. She is constantly cracking Mitch and I up with what she is saying! She is very polite and always saying 'Excuse you' after you burp or do the 'unmentionable' (toot). Not to mention she is always on the go jumping off things (she is doing that as I write this blog) preceded by "2", "2", "3"!  Here are a few of the crazy things she has done that I can't help but crack up at it:
        At church a few weeks ago Mitch and I made the awful mistake of looking away during sacrament meeting and before we knew it she was no longer in our pew. We both started frantically looking around and realized that she had crawled under our bench and was up a row STROKING A MANS FOOT LONG BEARD! She was completely mesmerized by his foot long beard. He looked so uncomfortable, he didn't know what to do about this little girl. He just kept arching his back to try to add a bit of space but unfortunately she had him pinned in a corner. We acted quickly but I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.
        A few weeks ago we were at a friends house for dinner and during this time she decided she hates being wet in her diaper. So she rips off her diaper puts it in one room, (she had a  dress on so I could not tell she was going 'natural'), then walks up to me in another room and pee's next to my foot ON THEIR CARPET! Obviously, I was not proud at the moment but looking back now I can't help but laugh our loud.
      A few other things I love is: 1) she could wave at her own shadow for hours, 2) She waves to every car that drives by (this makes her very tired when we are out for a run) 3) She give really good hugs to EVERYONE! Grandparents LOVE this. 4) She ALWAYS stops crying when we start singing primary songs 5) She RUNS to her mom and dad when they come home from work with the best smile ever. 6) She has stopped biting (this is heavenly, I thought we'd have to put her in a zoo) 7) Her current tantrums are baffling me. She lays face down and kicks her legs while screaming. I simply say "are you done" she says, "yes" then moves on with her day. She is such a gift with new surprises every week!

        I suppose the point is, WE JUST LOVE THIS LITTLE GIRL! We are enjoying every moment we have with her before number 2 comes and gives her a run for her money!

Lightning Strike

The church just put out a video on when my cousin A.J. got hit by lightning. It's a great little clip. It only scratches the surface of all the miracles that happened to A.J. but it's a great little video. Here's the link: https://lds.org/youth/video/sanctify-yourselves?lang=eng

LOTOJA- A Family Affair

Last weekend our family 'competed' in the Logan to Jackson  bike race. We had a blast. Between the 6 of us that participated we had 3 teams. My team included my dad, my brother Randy, and myself. The other teams had Robb, Trish, and 3 other non-family members. While my other brother Ryan rode with our 'adopted' brother Bobby. Here is the play by play:

 This is the start of the race. Our wave was one of the first groups out of Logan at 5:48 AM. This leg included Bobby, Dad, and Robb.

 Here is one of the transitions in Montpelier ID. Everyone is waiting for their rider to come in.

 Here is dad and I doing the 'non hills' part from Alpine to Jackson Hole. Dad and I ended up doing a lot of the pulling through this canyon. Kind old dad would come up on a rider and say, "good job" they would reply  something like, "oh man i'm dying" then dad would say "hop on we'll pull you". That great idea was only so great until we got tired.

 After the race we were all tired and hot. The freezing stream was perfect! Our groups times were 10:58, 11:09, and 11:13! Yeah us!

Here is a picture of our support group. They made sure we had everything from grapes, tires and water, to butt butter! Our age range is from 21 months to 86 years! In fact Grandma was so proud of us all, she wore her LOTOJA t-shirt to church with her skirt! What a great tradition, sign us up for next year!!

Baby #2!

 After a LONG 3 months we are happy to report that we are expecting Baby #2! Hoorah!. ETA March 2012!

    We can't wait for you to join our adventure little baby!

Kauai!

Last weekend we had a fabulous time in Kauai with Mitch's company. If Mitch met 110% of his sales goals then he would receive an all expense paid trip to Kauai! It was AMAZING! My brother Robb works for the same company and also met his goals so we were able to enjoy a fun week with them!  We lived like Queens and Kings for a week! We went boogie boarding (and you know, I JUST LOVE THAT!), we swam with giant turtles, went on a helicopter tour, snorkeled, went to the spa, paddle boarded, sea kayaked, hiked and of course laid on the beach!

    SIDE NOTE: Prior to leaving on the trip Robb and I decided we would get a spray tan because we are both shockingly white. Robb's looked pretty darn good but initially I looked like a stinking Oompa Lumpa. When I came out of the booth Robb broke out into uncontrollable laughter. Mitch did the same when I got home. Needless to say I don't think I'll ever do that again.

Our Helicopter ride was awesome! Not to mention our pilot flew many of the couples on the Bachelor/bachelorette! He also has flown with Harrison Ford and a whole bunch of interesting people!

We went on the most difficult hike of my life to this beautiful waterfall! When we got there we swam beneath and behind it. It was freezing! I'm glad I did it once but I'm not sure we would do it again. We met this couple in the lobby and they jumped in for the hike. The funny thing is, is that her name is Stacie Kathryn and my name is Kathryn Stacie. Small World!

This is our paddle board we used. Mitch had a hard time balancing because he is so tall, but I have to say I kinda rocked at it. However, I did get pummeled by a wave and lost my sunglasses. Darn it!

Here are Robb and Carlie doing one of the many dares/competitions on the trip. Robb was always good at making up games along the way.

Here is a pic from our helicopter ride of the Napali coast. As you can see we were really roughing it. We actually stayed in this little bay and on the other side of the bay was where the girl on soul surfer got her arm bitten off. That sat really well especially as I watched 'Shark Week' just before we went.

We met a lot of new faces on our trip. We went to a lot of cocktails mingled with a whole bunch of fancy people that I didn't know. I sure was glad I had Carlie to talk to during those events!
   

Of course we drove the ENTIRE island and saw all the sights!
   

We went to this awesome hidden rope swing. This is Robb posing as usual. We all had a great time here and it was free!

Here I am enjoying the sights. Behind me are a bunch of local boys who did crazy tricks off the falls. It was great! Thank you Kauai for the Great Vacation!

My First Tri!

My Sister Trish and I decided to sign up for an all women triathlon at Rock Port Dam. It was a whole lot of fun! Minus the swim aspect. Seriously the water was freezing, not to mention I can't swim in a dang straight line in a lake and i'm pretty sure I swam an extra mile! I admittedly was one of the last people out of the water (I know shameful) then I tripped in the mud in front of the crowd of cheerers (even more shameful) I even heard the crowed in unison go 'ohhhh'.  But I made up for it on the bike and on the run. In fact, my run was the fastest split of any one in the race! I only tell you that to help make myself feel better about being the last one out of the dumb 55 degrees lake. Anyhow, we had a great time! Check out the pics!

 Some of my sisters friends did the Triathlon too. Like a good race, everyone received medals!

     My sister Trish and I lookin' all good!

       My biggest fan! Ellie loves to have a ride on Moms bike.

Humbled... Beware....

 I was sitting in Young Women's the other day (yes I'm a leader, no I'm not in there because I can't let go. Or maybe I can't. Who can blame me, it's a great place to be!) The lesson was on trials. The leader teaching was telling us about a guy who used to pray for challenges so he could grow and be humble. I found that a noble thing to do, so I took up the challenge and prayed  for more challenges in my life. Let me just say that PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED! Man, it has been a tough weekend! I'll spare you the soap box of my life but let me just tell you, if you ask for something he will definitely deliver so BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR! Then to put a cherry on top of it all I was sitting at church this week and in Sunday school they read a scripture that said something along the lines of "and MORE BLESSED are they who are not compelled to be humbled by my hand" Meaning 'more blessed are you if you're naturally humble without me having to send wild locusts upon you!' AGH.  The good news of it all is that I have a long way to go. Plus, how boring would life be if I was simply perfect all the time, I know you probably think I am perfect (I could see how you think that) But at times I am a little 'less blessed' and need to be compelled to be humbled. So today I'll say that i'm thankful for all my wild locust's even if I would rather them all be exterminated!

Bear Lake!

This weekend we had a family reunion with the Lifferth clan at Bear Lake. We camped at the KOA and that is my kind of camping! Grass, clean water, a swim pool, showers, toilets, i'll take it! Mitch keeps telling me it's not really camping but I strongly disagree. We had a great time up there. We spent Friday skiing for most of the day until one of those TERRIBLE wind storms kicked up in the afternoon. I think we had sand in everyone of our crevices! On Saturday my brothers, Trish and I climbed the pass on our bikes which made for a spectacular view of the lake. Unfortunately for my running, I am really starting to like biking. It hurts a whole lot less in my opinion.
       Saturday was Mitch's Birthday so our day was determined by his choices. He chose to go hike to Bloomington lake, then spend the rest of the afternoon water skiing at bear lake.  Bloomington was true to form...freezing! In fact because of the long winter the lake was still half way frozen over and we hiked most of the trail through snow! I told Mitch there is no way he would want to jump in the lake (even before he knew it was frozen), he said he would. The whole hike up I kept telling him, Mitch you won't do it, it is going to be absolutely freezing! So when we got there he naturally had to prove me wrong and he "jumped' in the half frozen lake up to his neck! The little Turkey. But much to my satisfaction he screamed like a woman and that made me happy. :)

 Here is a bad picture of Mitch and Robb and Bloomington lake. I just wanted you to see the Glacier that is half covering it. They deserved to be cold for jumping in that!

Here is  Mitch taking Ellie on the Air Chair. Unfortunately I forgot our good camera so we had to take pictures with my dads IPhone. Bummer. Ellie had a great time on the air chair but I think  her real love was the tube. She just about waved her arm off at Grandpa for the ten minutes she was on there.

Mitch and Ellie on the Air chair. Not a great movie but it's good to have it documented.

A New Home....

 ...For Mitch's Elk!!!! We have finally found the perfect place for Mitch's Elk (bless that dead animals heart, we ate him for a year and a half! agh!)  The Cal Ranch Store! It sure beats the garage it used to be in, and it definitely beats the idea of having it in my front room! Mitch's is the one on the far right. He keeps telling me, "look how they had to hang part of the breast off the wall so they could fit it without hitting the ceiling!" Do you think he's proud? ABSOLUTELY! No we did not donate it to them they are just using it as a decor piece for a while. Mitch, naturally, loves having it there because then more people can "enjoy it". Sometimes he makes me laugh out loud. So if you get a chance to stop by the Cal Ranch store in Layton take a moment to enjoy Mitch's 'dead trophy'! :)

Mitch's is on the right, Vals (his brother) is on the left and the king Salmon is my Father in laws.

Of course I had to get a picture with him by it. Just like a proud Mom with her giddy school boy! Love you Hun!

Crazy Pills.

So i'm taking this Pill. The other day I noticed myself acting a little crazy. So I googled the name of my pill and up popped this... "Clomiphene citrate sometimes referred to as 'the crazy pill' ".  I continued reading on about all the testimonials of my pill and how crazy it makes the women of our day. But a lady has to do, what a lady has to do! Which translates to, 'a man has to deal with, what a  man has to deal with!' .....poor husbands. They had no idea what they were getting into when they married their seemingly care free wife....So I take that little pill, which gives me this----->

Which makes me thankful for this....

Because he's stuck with me for all Eternity! I bet you've never heard that in testimony meeting, "I'm thankful for my Eternal Marriage because then when I start taking 'crazy pills' he can't kick me to the curb." Nope never heard that one. So sweet Mitchell, here is to 4 years of happiness, learning, and increased patience! Thanks for Loving me through it all! Happy Anniversary June 15!

Sunday Dinners

Sunday dinners at Mom's house are always great. They are full of witty banter, kids running everywhere, and of course roast, potatoes, gravy and Rhodes rolls. We especially LOVE it when summer comes because we can ride the wiggle cars down the hill! Grandma (mom) was especially awesome because she whipped out her latest toy, an AIR BOOSTED POWER ROCKET! Awesome!

I love this picture because all the Grandkids look like they are ready to jump with Grandpa! You can see the anticipation!

With all the kids yelling "Great Grandma! Great Grandma" Our 86 year old Grandma/Great Grandma couldn't resist. She took her turn to shoot the rocket off!

Ellie LOVES babies. Every time she sees one she has to hold it! She cracks me up! We are lucky that poor Kendal is so patient with her pesky cousin!

My mom is the head secretary at an Elementary school. For field day all the kids got to throw balls at this 'creation'. Here the girls are trying to look as mean as Grandma does. I think my siblings and I are the only ones who have ever really seen that face...

Ellie does not like roast very much so she went outside, found an ant pile, and decided to see how they tasted. Luckily, she only ate one before her cousins went and told on her! :)

We Love Summer!

Going Private :(

Well, I'm starting to get a little nervous posting pictures of my sweet little girl for everyone to see. So I'm going private. I LOVE keeping up on people's lives through blogs so please either email me your email address, or make a comment and leave it there. Even if we are distant friends and you just like to 'check in' every once in a while LEAVE YOUR EMAIL! I'm mostly concerned about foreigners viewing the blog. Thanks! Love you all! Email me @ ksdorius@gmail.com, or just leave it on the 'comment'

My Right Hand Girl

Ellie is one busy girl these days. She is my right hand girl! Everywhere I go, she goes. If i'm in the kitchen cooking, she's cooking. If i'm pulling clothes out of a drawer, she's pulling ALL the clothes out of the drawers. Finally, as you can see below, if i'm putting on make-up, she's usually pretending to put on make up, except somehow she snuck out my mascara and went to work. Except the second I finished scrubbing it off her face, I went over the sink to rinse my hands and before I knew it she was 'swirling' hers in the toilet. I know, nasty. But looking back now all I can do is laugh. I love my little girl.

The mark on her forehead happened earlier in the day when she was riding a little bike at Grandma Sherrills and ended up falling onto Lava Rock. Crazy Ellie.

Victorious, Mitch Dorius!

I have to give a shout out to my awesome husband! Mitch's company had a contest last month. The Top inside sells rep for the month of April would win an IPad! Mitch buckled down and went to work! Needless to say, he did it! We are the proud owners of the newest IPad! Great Job Mitchell!

Day 2- IRONMAN

It does not take much to get me to a big racing event. I LOVE racing day. It's even better if all I have to do is cheer and enjoy the competitive atmosphere. The vendors, the people watching, and of coarse the athletes! Ali is one tough cookie for completing the Ironman. You really can't help but tear up when you see these guys finishing this thing. She started the race at 7 in the morning and finished at 8:01 at night. For those who don't know an Ironman consists of 2.6 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a full Marathon 26.2 miles. In other words....Insane. While we were waiting for Ali to come transistion from the bike to the run we spent our time hanging out at the city square. Naturally, Ellie had a great time playing in the water.

Way to go Ali!

St. George Trip Part 1

Mitch and I took a much needed vacation to St. George last weekend. Our reason for vacation for getting away was two fold, 1)Go to the pool and get some rays and 2) Watch my former track teammate Ali T. complete an IRONMAN. Everday was 88 degrees so we spent our time in the pools, rivers, streams or fountains!

The first day we were there we went on an awesome hike up Red Cliffs Canyon. As you can see everywhere we went Ellie did too! She was a trooper!
The red cliffs hike was such a blast. Mitch could waid through most of it with his super long legs, but it was a little too deep for my legs, so I took the dry route! At the top we put my swimsuit top on Ellie and she splashed her way through the water! What a trooper!

After dinner that night Mitch took Ellie on a hike that overlooks St. George, he called itt he buttcrack because of this thin crack you are supposed to squeeze through. Needless to say, I didn't attempt it! But the view was beautiful!

Little Ears

El has had a tough start of the year in regards to her little ears. Since January she has had 5 ear infections with about half of them being double ear infections. So after her last dose of ear infections our pediatrician referred us to an ENT to check it out. After our appt. we walked upstairs to see if the ENT could slip us into his schedule. Luckily, they could and he said he wanted tubes in her ears by the following week! So in we went on Friday for surgery!

Poor Ellie had no idea what she was signed up for. She was a wild woman! She thought the giant metal crib was just about the coolest trampoline she had ever been on. Thus, the fuzzy picture because we could not get her to stop running and jumping in the crib.

Here's Ellie after surgery. She was not doing much jumping around at this point. But after about 2 hours and some food, she was right back to her same crazy self! Now we just have to figure out how to keep water out of her ears!

Should I be worried? Absolutely!

Ellie's little personality seems to be coming out more and more each day. In the last week or so her vocabulary has completely exploded thus, she can communicate MORE of her personality! Her word of the month is "No!". And yes she knows what it means. Last week I found her sitting against the door (her 'hiding' place') eating a bag of Skittles. Where she got them from, I have no idea. She had Skittle slobber all down her chin, as well as her clothes. When I walked over to her she looked up at me, furrowed her brow, pointed her finger at my face and said, "No, No!". Looks like I need to change my parenting. Instead of proving her right and taking the skittles away, I sat down next to her and said, "Can I please have one?" She smiled and gave me a handful of wet Skittles. Awesome kid. Awesome.

She also lets us know how ridiculous we are by copying everything we do. The other day I caught her doing one of my best kitchen dance moves. It consisted of a swing of the arms with a bounce at the knees. Really, do I look like that to you? I thought. Probably El, Probably.

Just for recording purposes these are all the words she can say right now: "No", More, please, Thank you, here you go, mommy, daddy, Ellie, Indy, Grandma. Pretty good El. Your already getting a little to mouthy and your only 16 months (speaking of which, I've thought for the past month that Ellie was going to be 18 m. in may. I've been counting down the days to nursery (literally), until on Sunday Mitch informed me that I was bad at math and that she was really 16.5 months. It was a bad Sunday for me.)

P.S. A quick note. One of my neighbors that I grew up is going through a rough spell right now. Her name is Stacey Love, Her little girl was just diagnosed with Leukemia. If you can, keep her family in her prayers. They have a tough road ahead. Here is a link to her blog. Fayesfight.blogspot.com.

Family Pictures!

The Dorius' family took pictures again. :) (I have taken more family pictures in the past 4 years i've been married then I have EVER taken of the Lifferth group!). We had the amazing Ryan Thompson take the pictures for us and they turned out great! Have a look! I'm taking a poll for which family picture to print. So Vote!

How he made 14 Grandkids under the age of 11 look at the same time is beyond me!

Vote #1 (above)

Vote #2

Vote #3

Vote #4