Christmas Lights on Temple Square

So Yesterday night we thought it would be a good idea to go see the lights on temple square before we left for good this saturday.  BIG MISTAKE! lets just say this probably won't be a family tradition of ours.  Don't get me wrong the lights were beautiful and everything was great.  It was more that Ruby absolutely hated every minute of it. I think i have a grinch on my hands. The moment we got there she immediately started crying and fussing which if you know her isn't her at all.  Then out of no where her nose starts running like crazy and it started making it really hard for her to breath.  She started blowing huge snot bubbles which i thought was funny but she did not.  So we booked it out of there after being there for maybe 15 minutes.  Needless to say we didn't get to many pics.  When we got home we suctioned out her nose which was pretty gross and gave her a bottle.  After she finished her bottle, she was sitting on bryce's lap when she spit up this big glob of snot! it just plopped onto Bryce's arm it was disgusting.  But she was snot free the rest of the night and she was a happy girl after that.

I am pointing at the snot bubble take a closer look!

Even after that little fiasco I am still super excited about going home to Spokane for christmas and showing Bryce how the Elmer's have christmas! I told him to get ready for a lot of manheim steamroller and matching pajamas.

To Precious

THE RUBSTER

5 MONTHS

AND 

THE CUTEST MONSTER AROUND!

So excited...I'm gonna pee my pants!

So today i chanced it and decided to see if I could steal some WIFI from our neighbors which i haven't been successful this whole time we have been in Utah and today it finally happened.  Needless and shamefully to say i have been on it all day long! I facebooked for a while, then watched imdb movie trailers, and then took a gander at all the wonderful deals on ebay and yes i gave in and bought Ruby a pretty pink dress cause it was super cheap and i like being a hypocrite ( i am totally referring to my last post about not being so artificial and materialistic) but its the holidays and that is going to be my excuse! anyways being on the internet got me thinking about what i should get Bryce for christmas and after an hour of failed ideas i struck gold i tell yah! beautiful 18 Karat Gold! i would tell you what i got him seriously i would cause i am bursting at the seams but i won't in fear that he might read this post, doubtful but maybe, you never know with him. I would like to take a moment to thank a couple of things for making this whole using the internet possible. First i would like to give a shout out to pandora for providing the wonderful  christmas background music to my searching. Secondly, i would like to thank the makers of BUMBO for helping contain my child for hours (don't call CPS please) and last i would like to thank the makers of the fine Spatula that entertained Ruby the whole time!  Needless to say i am so excited for Christmas and even more to get back to Spokane to my family and friends and make awesome memories!  I am so excited that its Ruby's first Christmas even though she won't remember it at all! I will and that makes me happy.  Speaking of the Rubster's she just turned 5 months old and can i just say that everyday she seems to learn something new.  we started her on some solid food, avocado, banana, and sweet potatoes.  she really likes banana and sweet potatoes but could care less for avocado. she is starting to sit up on her own although you can't leave her unattended yet.  Remember when i said she had rolled over a couple times yeah she won't do it unless its a blue moon! but she likes to spin herself around during tummy time so i don't feel to worried about her development! Anyways we have two more weeks here in Salt Lake City and then we are off to Spokane and I can't say i am going to miss living here but i will miss our view of the temple.  Happy holidays to all this thanksgiving i hope everyone who reads this has a great time and enjoys the time they get to share with their families! And don't forget to eat your hearts out this Thanksgiving! 

Venting

This whole post is dedicated to me venting so if you don't feel like reading on i totally understand i just need to get it all out! 

Yesterday i went shopping with my cousin and her friend and it got me wishing for lots of materialistic things, cute trendy clothes, beautiful make-up, smelly perfumes, and of course a rockin non-cellulite, stretch mark free body, with glossy thick hair. The longer we shopped and maneuvered past other moms like me with their child in a stroller i realized something... is this what i want Ruby and my future children to learn from me?  I guess what I'm trying to say and i know for a fact all women feel this way is that there is this huge pressure on women to be perfect in every way but even more to be the perfect person outwardly.  But  i also know that when your only concern is having the trendiest clothes, the best styled hair, with perfect 

O-P-I nail polish to match your make-up to perfection your not necessarily happy and your relationship with your children, husband, and all others suffer. Don't get me wrong i totally believe it is important to be healthy and our outward appearance is important to keep up, but to a certain extent? The extent that we lose focus on what is really important in life.  Is it really all that important to have those super expensive cute boots from nordstroms, or that awesome 60 dollar blouse from anthropologie?  When in the end the only thing that we take with us when we die can not be handled with mortal hands.  All those great gadgets and amazing shoe collection we collected over the years won't be waiting for us in heaven so again i ask what is truelly important to you?  More importantly what are we as mothers and all women teaching our children to care about the most in life.  Can we be Rachael Zoes and President Monson's at the same time or do we have to put down that lip gloss and pick up that Book of Mormon? Can i teach my daughter's to love themselves and have self respect and respect from others when i fixate on my own body imperfections and the outward imperfections of other women?  Can i teach my children service to others and the importance of quality family time if we are always hitting the mall and sale racks?  What things do i personally want my children to say their mother taught them. 

1. That Heavenly Father loves them and that I love them

2. That I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ

3. That I love and cherish the Scriptures

4. That family is the most important thing to me

5. That serving others is the key to happiness

6. That every one is a child of God and should be treated so

7. That cooking together is one of life's greatest treasures

those are just some of the things that i want my kids to say that i taught them. My own mom has been such a great example of selfless service to others and her family and the importance of focusing on the inside then the outside.  Recently she has lost a tremendous amount of weight and looks fabulous.  I suggested we go shopping and while we were at a store i kept commenting how great she looked in the clothes she was trying on and how hot she was.  In her wisdom the thing she said next was "I don't want losing weight and being able to fit into new clothes distract me from whats truly important"  She didn't lose the weight because she wanted to be able to get a new wardrobe or praise from others.  She did it because she wanted to be a healthy grandmother that could be around to play with her grandkids. 

Since having a baby and seeing the changes my own body has gone through and working hard to get back to a healthy weight it is easy to put yourself down and wish for other people's outward happiness.  But whenever Ruby smiles or laughs at me it reminds me that life is more than dolling yourself up everyday, but the little moments you spend with your husband in bed singing random songs and playing with glow sticks or reading a book to your child even though all the child wants to do is rip the pages.  Or playing Mexican train with family and friends and being silly! that is what life is about and we all need to take a step back and re- evaluate what is important to us, because what is important to us is what will be important to our children.  I am done venting.

pictures up

Here are the long awaited pictures

 Thanksgiving point

 Our very own Farmer Joe

 My little 4 month old with an awesome fashion sense. It was cold so sue me for the socks

 First ride on the four wheeler at the ranch

 My walking buddy tired after a long morning walk

 Destined rockies fan

 Thanks grammy for the cute halloween shirt and care package

and Thanks Amy for the awesome eyeball glasses

so there are the pictures of whats been going on hope you enjoyed

soup on the brain

so i know i haven't blogged in light years and your going to be super disappointed cause i am not really in the mood to blog about anything substantial that has happened to us Ellgen's the past month or so but all i have on my brain is soup, soup and ....more soup. you see i have made the conscious yet very crazy decision to not eat carbs since september and it has been going really well no slip ups so far and i have already lost a good ten pounds and i don't feel sluggish or bloated like i used to.  Not to say that i don't often have daydreams of a delicious grilled cheese on delicious artisan bread but my will power is strong. plus i get to have dark chocolate as long as it is 70% or more.  Godiva is my favorite. anyways back to my point because its been getting colder i have taken to making soups and i invented the most delicious chicken and white bean soup ever. and i beg all to try it and tell me what you think.  here is the recipe and it is so souper (i couldn't help myself) easy.
Ingrediants
3 garlic cloves minced
1 lemon
3 medium carrots diced
1 fennel bulb diced
handful of mushrooms diced
1 large onion diced
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 T olive oil
6 cooked and chopped up chicken tenders
(any cut of chicken is fine)
2 cans of Cannallini beans (rinse and drained)
32 oz chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

directions
in a large pot saute onions, mushrooms, carrots, and fennel in olive oil.  add the zest of 1 lemon and after about 15 minutes add the juice of 1 lemon and the sprigs of fresh thyme also add salt and pepper to taste. then add chopped up chicken and the beans.  Stir in the broth and 1 cup of water add the bay leaf in last and let simmer away for as long as you want. like we all know the longer you let the soup play together the better it taste and boy does this soup taste delicious. Its the lemon juice that does it for me.
also feel free to add different vegetables to this dish but i found it didn't need any extra veggies.
i promise the next time i blog i will put up pics of ruby but for now i don't have any more time. sorry!

the promised land

Thats right everyone we are in the land of promise and i am feeling the spiritualness flow through my fingertips. can i get an AMEN......AMEN!!! 

We finally made our way from colorado to Salt Lake.  Aside from about 15 super disgusting blow outs Ruby did a really good job car traveling.  We are in SLC tell around the 9th of december and then we are running out of this place tails between our legs.  Our dig is actually really really sweet. Every morning i get to wake up and look out my window to these awesome views

 The Church office building

 Conference center

Capital Building

Thats right, and here is a cool little fact our ward meets in the joseph smith memorial building and our ward is right after president Monson's Home ward but of course i am not keeping my fingers crossed to try and see him (but secretly i am). Ruby is getting a little crabby so i will end by talking about her. she is now three months old and loving life. She rolled over for the first time a couple days ago but has refused to do it again cause lets be honest she is her mothers daughter. but here are a few pics of her to satisfy the fam.

 First day Home From Hospital

 One Month

 Two Months

three Months

She is seriously growing like a weed and its getting harder to carry her in her car seat now a days! 

Also here are some pics from when we stayed with grandma and grandpa Ellgen and when we went to Nauvhoo for uncle Justin and Aunt Ellen's wedding

 Grandpa Ellgen Singing "Ruby, don't take your love to town"

 Ruby with dad on her first plane trip

 Ruby with Momma 

 Ruby with Cousin Hayley

 Ruby life of the party

 Ruby booby and sexy lexi (sorry i know i'm not suppose to call lexi that)

 Ruby with mommy and cousins chloe and Hayley

 Ruby Chillin

 Precious

Ruby with Grandma Ellgen

thats all for now folks cause my buns are getting cold from sitting outside the Joseph Smith memorial Building trying to finish this blog post.  You see our condo doesn't get internet and we are to cheap to buy it. So instead every time we want to get on line we have to walk our little buns to the joseph smith memorial building were the internet is free.  So obviously i haven't been checking my blog all that much.

So you probably won't get another post for a really long time, until then folks eat lots of fiber so the B&M movement can flow evenly.