Christmas happenings and the Latest

Wellll, Christmas has finally come and gone, and as grinchy as it sounds I am happy to see it go! I'm not a huge fan of Christmas......maybe it's the FREEZING weather...maybe it's the stress of shopping and crowded stores...maybe I'm just a Grinch. Who knows, but still, I'm glad to see it go. Bring on Spring already! Winter is so over-rated, and I would be totally fine with it going away forever.


However, we did have a good Christmas, and it was so much better having a baby to share it with. Buying stuff for her and watching her "open" her presents was a lot of fun. Playing Santa was fun, and I'm sure it's going to just get better as Ellie gets bigger and understands it better. Speaking of getting bigger, Ellie turned 9 months (9 MONTHS...WHAT!?!?!) on Christmas Eve. She is definitely growing up too fast.


Here are some pictures of Elle's first Christmas season:

 We went Downtown to Temple Square to see the lights. 

 We took a picture in this same spot on one of our very first dates!!

 Christmas Eve...

 Ellie loves her cousins so much. She will just sit and watch them play and laugh at them. They're so cute with her!

 Christmas Eve.

 Playing Santa for the first time... so much fun!

 Santa Came!!!!!!!!!!!

 Our stockings.

 Christmas morning. Ellie loved the wrapping paper the most! :)

 I love her face in this picture. SO cute. 

 Figuring out her new walker.

 Oh my gosh.. She is OBSESSED with cats. She loves them so much. When she sees them she freaks out, even if it's just on T.V. It's so cute! 

 Opening presents at Grandma's House

 Christmas day. We stayed in our Christmas jammies all day long!! :)

 I think she thought this dog was real. She was having so much fun playing with it.

 Matt's grandpa turned 90! He and his wife came from California to celebrate his 90th with everyone. It was so good to finally meet him!

 ALLLLL the Maynard Grandkids.

New Year's Eve. All the banging of pots and pans woke poor Ellie Bean up. She wasn't too happy about that! :)

 I finally got a Garmin running watch for Christmas!! I have been wanting one FOREVER. Running with it is amazing. I don't know how I ever ran without one! I also got a sewing machine! I am going to learn how to use it, and sew lots! Especially in the Fall when Matt is busy with school. :) I made Matt a blanket out of old special t-shirts. It turned out so cute! He also got accessories for his guns and some new clothes as well. Overall it was a good Christmas!


Ellie has started to say a few little words. She says cat, da-da, hi, bye bye, ball. She is crawling like crazy, has started to pull herself up, walks with her walker, and gets into EVERYTHING!!! She is a busy girl. She loves animals and always smiles and gets so excited to see them, even if it's just on T.V. She loves going to Petco. We will just go over there and walk around, and she loves it!! She is always so happy and always makes my day so much better. She's so excited to see me in the morning when she wakes up. I just love walking in to see her standing in her crib waiting for me with her little 4-tooth smile. She is my little world and every day I feel so lucky to be her mommy.

Matt has now been accepted to Rocky Vista in Colorado, and also Touro University in Nevada. We're not sure which of those we will be going to, and we still haven't heard back from some schools. He has an interview in February at Des Moines University and one in March at a school at Pacific Northwest in Washington. I'm not sure if he'll even end up going to the Washington interview, we'll just have to see.

I sure wish I knew where we will be for the next 10+ years of our lives, but I guess that's just part of the adventure. I'm excited for what's to come, wherever we may be!

XOXO

Accepted!

Well, Matt got a call yesterday that he has been waiting for for A LONG time now. It was a call he often wondered if he'd ever get, and after months and months of an agonizing application process our steam was beginning to run out. But, alas, it came. He got a call from the admissions office at Rocky Vista University. They told him that he has officially been accepted into their medical school. Oh happy day!

He called me, and when he told me the good news, I could hardly believe it. I didn't know whether to cry, scream or die I was so excited! We went down to Colorado last weekend for his interview, and weren't really expecting to hear back so soon.

When he recieved the call he was on a job installing an alarm at a customers house. The school told him that if he was accepted he'd recieve a call, if he was put on the waiting list, he'd recieve an email, and if he was rejected, he'd get a letter in the mail. They told him to be looking for a "303 number" and if he saw it, to make sure he answered his phone. So, when he saw the "303 number" he ran outside of the customer's house and answered his phone. They told him the great news and he said that he was just freaking out and kept saying "thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!" over and over. I wish I could've been there to see it. :)

He has another interview in Washington in March that he is still planning on going to. We have also applied to several other schools that we're still waiting to hear back from, so we'll just have to see what happens there. We're going to wait and see if we get in anywhere else, and then weigh our options and deciede which school will be best for our family. I really liked Colorado, and the area where the school was. I could totally see us living there, so we'll just have to see what happens!

YAY!!!!!! :)

Half a Year

Ellie is already 6 months old, (*now 7! I started this post a couple weeks ago) and I seriously can't believe it. I know everyone says this, but time has FLOWN by since she's been born. I am loving staying at home with her, and it's so fun to see all the new things she's learning everyday. She is already crawling!!! A couple weeks ago she started to army crawl, and is getting better all the time. Before I know it, I'm going to be chasing her around the house! The baby-proofing has already begun. I wish I could just freeze time. The stage she is in now is so cute- so baby! I love how chubby she is and that she can't move too fast yet. I love her little chuckle and how excited she gets to see me or her daddy. I love how she smells- I wish I could capture the smell and bottle it. The combination of baby lotion, slobber, poop, and laundry detergent has got to be one of my most favorite smells. I love burying my nose into her chubby little neck and giving her kisses. She just makes me so happy and I am so glad that she is mine.

I have been terrible about blogging lately. (what's new!!)But I thought I'd give a little recap of what's been happening at the Maynard home for the past couple months.....

July: Matt Graduated, and we moved back to Utah!! (YAY!!) I am loving being closer to family and taking full advantage because I don't know how long it will last. Matt applied to 17 different medical schools. And spent most of his time studying for the MCAT.

 

Our parents both came down for his graduation.

 

 

 



 

SO PROUD!

I love this smarty pants of a man! This picture was taken in front of the building where he had the majority of his classes.  He's so happy he never has to enter that building ever again! (and so am I!!!)

 



Hello stud muffin!!!

 

 



4th of July!

 

 

 

Harris Family Reunion- this was also Elle's first time swimming! She loved it.

 

 



Cousin Viv's Blessing

 

 



 

Enjoying our new pool!

 

 



 

She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini! I simply couldn't resist. 

 August:

Ellie started to army crawl and gets around pretty well!

Matt started his new job at Elite Home Security working as a technician. It has been such a good job for him, and he is really enjoying learning new things. Matt took the MCAT at the end of August (such a relief that's over!) He spent the majority of August studying and working on applications.

Here's Matt working his butt off on med school applications. I had NO IDEA how much work this was going to be!!! I'm relieved we're almost done now!

 We watched my sister's kids while
her and her husband went to Hawaii.
Having 4 kids was quite the adventure.
Good birth control! :)

Lisa and I got together a bunch this

 summer and did all sorts of different crafts. I'm hoping to 

gain some homemaking skills from her!! :)

  We went camping with Lisa's family and my Mom and Dad.
This was ellie's first time camping, and she loved it!

 

September:

Ellie got her two bottom front teeth! She loves to play, and thinks EVERYTHING is funny. She's super ticklish and loves to play with daddy.

If you look close, you can see her two cute little teeth starting to come in.

 

Nothing too exciting happened in September, we still continued to work on secondary applications and Matt kept busy with work.

As the school year started I was so relieved that I didn't have to go back and work! Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, and had a blast doing it, but there is nothing better than being able to stay home with my baby. She changes and grows so much every day, and I am so thankful that I am around to see her new tricks and play with her all day. She's my buddy, and I love hanging out with her. :)




October: Most of the secondary applications for med school have been sent, but we are still working on a couple. This whole application process is so much more difficult than I thought it would be, and definitely an emotional roller coaster. We have applied to 17 schools, which means we have had A LOT of secondary essays to write. It takes FOREVER!!!!! The waiting game is painful, and after all this trouble I'm hoping we just get in SOMEWHERE, anywhere!!

So far we have heard back from 2 schools. Matt has his first interview on Monday!! EEEKKK we are SOOOOO excited. I am going to go with him so I can check out the area. It is in Colorado, so we are just going to drive. My mom and sis are going to watch Ellie, so it's just Matt and me going. It'll be like a little vacation, which will be fun. :) We also heard back from a school in Washington State. Matt has an interview there in March! The waiting game continues....

Ellie is learning and growing so much every day! She can sit up, crawl, and gets into EVERYTHING!! I can't take my eye off her for two seconds. She is a busy bee!

She said her first word: DADA!!!! It's not mama, but hey it's still dang cute!



 

These rolls!!!!!

 

 

 



6 month birthday!!

We went for lots of morning runs together. She loves running with Mamma!  

Checkin' out the ducks at the lake!

View from our new home!!

Halloween!!!!

 

 A weed, a flower, and a gardener. We went to the annual "Edstrom Monster Mash" at Lisa's house. It was SOOOO much fun. Her and Ben go ALL out every year, and really it's quite the event. They had their backyard full of carnival games for the kids, prizes for the kids, a cotton candy machine, crock pots full of various soups, treats, a magician, music, dancing, and just all out FUN! We look forward to this party all year. Edstroms sure know how to do it! :)

Trick or Treat!



 

Ellie and Grandpa! She loves Grandpa Ray!

 

 Loving the wagon ride while trick-or-treating.

 

 

 

 

 

At Grandma Sue's house!

 

 

 

 

 

Well there you go. A recap of the last few months. I'm really going to try to be better about blogging so I don't have to try and play catch up like this again! (How many times have I said that!??) :)

 

 

XOXO