Reviving the Blog

So much has changed for us this past year.  I feel its time to reinvigorate the blog!
It will take me way too long to post everything that has happened since the last post (March oops) so Here is a short list!

1. Hudson Davis was born on June 2nd.
2. We spent the summer in Okoboji.
3. Ellie stole the show at not one but two wedding dances.
4. Ellie is potty trained!!!
5. Hudson started solids and cut two teeth.
6. Ellie turned 3 - she's such a big girl.
7. Kelly is still in school...
8. We decided not to move to Des Moines and are staying in Phoenix for a while.
9. Spent Thanksgiving in Naples with the fam and Grandparents.  It was a wonderful trip.
10. Ellie found a love for fairies and princesses.

I didn't mean to make it a list of 10 but that's a nice round number so I'll stop there.  We are so excited to see what 2012 has in store for us.  We will be spending Christmas in Phoenix with Bob and Mari.  Mark and Julie will be coming too so we can all go to the Iowa v Oklahoma game (GO HAWKS!)

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!  We are so blessed to have you all in our lives.

Flu

The flu hit our house with a vengeance.  You'd think that since we don't send Ellie to daycare she wouldn't get sick but apparently we were wrong.  When we left Iowa I had a sinus infection that wouldn't go away so when Ellie started to get sick I just thought that that's what she had.  When she spiked a 102 degree fever our pediatrician suggested we get to the hospital right away the next morning so we did and as it turns out she had Influenza A!  When we took her down to our naturopath the first thing the doctors said was, "daddy gets to be the main caregiver now, you can't hold her!'

So this began the longest week in Kelly's week I'm sure and one of the hardest for me since she was born.  I was banished from the house for two days and Kelly got to give her round the clock care.  He was amazing!

I'm happy to report that after 11 days and three trips to the doctor and one trip to the chiropractor she is back to normal and so far Kelly and I haven't caught the dreadful flu. 

This past weekend four of my sister in laws came to visit the house.  Kelly and Ellie got evicted this time for the weekend.  We had a blast just sitting around talking, eating, they did a little (and I do mean little) drinking, and shopping.  I'm sure our husbands would have thought we were boring bumps on a log but it's amazing the conversations you can have when you don't have wee ones interrupting every other sentence.  Plus we all got the chance to see Mark before he heads off on deployment!  Next summer we will hit up exciting Okoboji for our girls weekend.  It is such a fun tradition to start and I feel so blessed to have married into such an amazing family.

Now we are preparing for the little one's arrival and taking one last trip to Denver for Bucky's college graduation!  We have an ultrasound in three weeks so I'll try and put them on here!

Finally an Update

So I have been stressing about how I'm going to update you all on what has been going on these past few months.  I've been terrible at it!  I haven't posted anything since before Ellie's Second Birthday!

We had Ellie's bday at our house and she had a blast.  We couldn't get her to eat or anything because she was having so much fun playing.

We spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix with Po Po, Jesse, Ren, Bobbie, Bucky, and Emily and had a blast.  Ellie loves spending time with all of them and its nice to finally have some females around to hang out with!

Christmas was in Turks in Caicos with Dad, Molly, Ben, RA, Bucky, Ren, and Jesse.  It was a very nice and relaxing trip.  Ellie loved the beach and even swam in the ocean and played 9 holes of golf.

In January we went to Disneyland.  Ellie loved all the characters which surprised us.  She didn't want to leave.  We had fun with Kerri Eich, Boden, and Eric Reiners and got to see Ren, Dad, Molly, and RA at the NAMM show.

In February we went to Iowa.  I spent a week in Des Moines working and enjoying the snow storm.  Ellie and Kelly flew out a little later.  We got to go to Minneapolis to Shelagh's baby shower (she is due two days before me) and see all our old friends.  Ellie still loves the "up and downs" (elevators) at Embassy Suites.  Every time we got to our floor she ran out screaming, "We did it!"

Ellie is officially in her toddler bed and doing well.  She still stays in it all night and wakes up and reads books.  We just put a baby gate up in her room so she can still see out but so far she hasn't cried for us to come get her.  Let's just hope it lasts!

Other than that she is just growing so fast (2 inches in the last month to be exact).  She is definitely a comedian and knows it.  She's a great talker and loves to play with her alphabets.  Over and over we have to go through the letters and say what they all are!

She is taking ballet lessons and it is so fun to watch!  She will resume her music classes next month as well.  She is loving having some time with other kids.

Kelly is working hard at his studies.  He has gone completely online so no more trips to campus.  He is working out the outside of the house and trying to get it looking pretty. 

We just got solar put on our house this week and are excited to turn it on.  They tested it yesterday and showed us that at 80% we were still paying electricity back to the energy company so we are excited about the lower electricity bills we will have this summer.

I'm working from home now.  I am the new Development Director for the Des Moines Social Club and still doing work with the camp (now preparing for its fourth summer).  We are settling into a new routine that is great.   I'm 25 weeks along so almost in my third trimester.  Sorry, no pictures of the baby bump.  I can't wait to meet this little guy that we have decided to name Hudson.

Now we are preparing for all my sister in laws to come visit.  They will be here this weekend and it should be a lot of fun.  Kelly and Ellie are being sent away to Po Po's house!

Hope you all are doing well!

Love,
Sami, Kelly, Ellie

Long time now see!

Hello everyone!  Sorry I haven't been keeping on top of things.  I'll try to update you on everything that's been going on.

We are 15 weeks pregnant today!  Sorry no picture of the bump yet.  We will find out December 28th what we are having (yes Mulherns we are finding out)!  The pregnancy has been great.  The first trimester was a little rough but nowhere near as difficult as it was with Ellie.  This makes me think we're having a boy but Kelly thinks its a girl.  Baby and I are happy and healthy and loving chocolate.  Ellie doesn't really know that we are having a baby but when asked if she wants to give the baby a kiss she'll kiss my belly.

Ellie has had a busy couple of months.  We went to Iowa and played with her cousins for a week.  She loved running around with everyone.  She even grew to love her coat and hat!

We went Trick O' Treating downtown Spirit Lake with Jenny, Rylee, Missy, Morgan, Ashley, and Scott.  We rant into Tahoe on the way!  She loved asking for candy and when the bowl was presented to her she never took just one...we had to teach her to only take one piece.  She didn't even get eat any of her own candy.  I took it with me to San Francisco and ate it all...mean mommy!

We went to Des Moines and had fun with Karter, Katelynn, Josh, Karma, and Jeff. They all went swimming at the hotel pool.  Ellie was blue and shivering but she refused to get out.  Man kids love the water.

Ellie has been talking up a storm and is speaking in full sentences.  She has a new love of trains and painting.

We took her to a pottery painting place last week and she loved it.  Now she wants to paint all the time.  Such a little artist!

Kelly has now officially become an online student (which is cheaper yay)!  Now he can register online and doesn't ever have to go to campus again.  This is great because he can finish his degree wherever we are.

Now we are preparing for Ellie's Second Birthday and then Christmas vacation!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my brothers and their girlfriends (well except for Jesse) and my mom.  We hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

MISS YOU!

Lots of Visitors

We've had lots of company the past few weeks.  It's been lots of fun.  We had Papa and Molly here two weeks ago and Bucky here last weekend.  Cousin Jason is supposedly staying at our house right now but I haven't seen him!  Apparently his conference is keeping him busy.

Things have been crazy around here like usual.  Ellie is growing like a weed (3 pounds in the last two months) and talking like crazy.  Every morning she just talks and talks and tells me lots of stories.  We are understanding more and more and its just fun to see her change.

We went and got her hair cut and it was a very traumatic experience.  She did not like it very much.  Luckily it only lasted about five minutes and it was just a trim.  Who knows when we'll be able to put her in a chair again without freaking out.

She still loves to swim and smile for the camera.  She put these sunglasses on her head all by herself.  Such a ham!

We had lots of fun with Papa and Molly.  Ellie always asked where her Papa was when he left the room.  They had fun fishing in the living room.


Kelly is still working a few hours a week at Tobias Bodyshop and working hard at school.  Its midterms so he's secluded himself in his office to get work done.  I'm still busy at work.  I've been working extra hours because things are so busy.  We are settling into a routine finally after being home for over a month.  It is nice to not travel for a while.

Overall things are going well!  Hope to talk to you all soon.

Road Trips

So here are some pictures from the last portion of our roadtrip.  We headed up to Aspen to see Papa and Molly.  Ellie absolutely loved it up there.  The horses were her favorite part by far.  Below she is singing in the the microphone.  She loved that too.  In face we just bought her a T-ball set so Kelly can teach her how to play and she picks up the bat and sings into it.

 

When we were in Aspen we rode the gondola all the way to the top of the mountain.  Ellie thought it was interesting.  We asked dad to take a picture and he took about 15 of them but he never told us when he was taking them.  This is the best one by far! 

Day Two at the horses.  This time she has her hat.  We tried to get her boots but she wouldn't put them on her feet.  We'll try again next year.  After spending a wonderful three days in Aspen we headed home.  We spent over 40 hours in our car and put about 5,000 miles on it.  It was a wonderful road trip and we all had a blast!

We got home on a Friday.  The house was great to come back to.  We picked up Po Po on Saturday and I started my new job on Tuesday.  It was a crazy week trying to get everything put back together and then on top of that we left for San Diego on Friday.

We stayed with John and Sheryl (Kelly's cousins) and had a blast.  John and Sheryl were great hosts.  We went to the Zoo on Saturday and the beach on Sunday.  The beach was definitely the highlight of the trip for both Kelly and Ellie.  Here she is taking a break because trying to refill the holes that Mark and Kelly and Julie dug was exhausting work!

 

The Final Product  Ellie touched my lens at some point so its a little foggy.

We are finally back home for a while now.  Po Po and I just celebrated our birthdays and Kelly celebrated food poisoning.  Ellie loves being back home and in her space.  She asks daily to swim - most days we do.  She is getting much braver in her swimming and now just takes off assuming one of us will catch her in the water.

She can count to 13 which amazes me.  She just started counting to me one day!  She talks all the time and is even stringing words together.  Singing and dancing are still her favorite activities. 

New job is going well.  Its a little chaotic but I'm learning a lot!  Loving having the camp going still.  We are working hard and it is more fun now that I have a partner in crime to help.

Kelly started a new job with Tobias Bodyworks (not sure if that's the actual name).  He goes in a few hours a week to help with books and payroll!  He starts school on September 6th.

So that's what we've been up to in the last few weeks.  Miss you all!

Mulhern Family Roadtrip

After spending three weeks in Okoboji we headed off on our first family roadtrip.  Up to date we have spent almost 30 hours in the car.  We wanted to take some time to spend together and with family and friends along the way before we got back to Phoenix and had to work and start school again.  Here are just a few pictures...more are on Facebook so check there if you can!

We started our journey heading to Rapid City. 

 

After driving through the Badlands we made our way to Rapid City.  We spent two days there and went to Bear Country, Reptile Gardens, and drove through Custer National Park.  Ellie LOVED Bear Country.  She got to sit in the front seat with mama and see all the animals.  Bear Country added a new section since we remember being there for baby animals that is outside.  It is always nice when things are still as fun as you remember them being as a kid.  Reptile Gardens was a different story...it didn't help that we were there during a hail storm which didn't feel safe at all.  We also went to Old MacDonald's Farm which was a lot of fun.  Ellie loved the birds most of all and thought the goats were pretty funny.

It took Ellie a little bit but eventually she warmed up to the bear at Bear Country.

 

After the Black Hills we headed to Fort Collins.  We were going to spend a few days with Tabs, Jentri and Bucky and company.  We arrived on Friday and just relaxed.  Saturday we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and did a hike and had lunch in Estes.  It is beautiful out there.  We wanted to enjoy the weather before we get back to HOT Arizona.  She loved the gushing water of the river and waterfall.  Kelly carried her on his back for over two hours!!!

Don't we all look so happy!

 

Today we had breakfast with Bucky and headed to the Aquarium downtown.  Then we went to lunch at the Rio - which I forgot I missed - and are now relaxing at Tabby's on our last night in town.  Tomorrow we head to Aspen to spend some time with "Papa" (aka Grandpa Tom).  

We are having a blast and Ellie is being a little angel (most of the time).  She is putting more words together everyday and we are constantly asking each other, "what does that mean?"  

As I said above...check Facebook for more picture from our trip.  We love and miss you all!