Testing Mobile Blogging!

In an effort to be a blogging enthusiast I am mobile blogging. This way we can keep you updated when we go on our roadtrip!

We are Coming Home

How do you begin packing for five weeks? Things get so much more complicated as Ellie gets older. Now we have to bring the potty, booster seat, car seat, food, on and on.

We are excited to be headed home. Mom and Ellie leave tomorrow at 6am. and Kelly and I leave on Wednesday. We are driving and staying with Tabs in Fort Collins, spending the night in Des Moines, then heading up. It will be fun to be able to spend the Fourth with friends and family.

Ellie is doing great. She is now sleeping in her crib for naps and goes down all by herself...have I mentioned that before. We are really excited about it. She loves Wow Wow Wubzy and dancing. Every time she sleeps in her crib she takes all the sheets off. We have to golf every day.

Each day she's learning more and more words. She now knows "Papa" (Grandpa Tom) and "Ba" (Grandpa Bob) by their pictures. All my brothers are "Bu" which she learned when Bucky was in town. She still says "Mi" for Mitchell and we're trying to teach her the rest of her cousins' names.

So we will see most of you soon!

Fathers Day

It has been a busy few days for us like always. Ellie finally got herself a bike helmet which she loves. Now we can go for bike rides in her new trailer once the temperature drops below 90!We spent the last weekend in Sedona and Flagstaff. Bucky came to visit us and we headed up to cool down in Flagstaff for a few days. We decided to make a few stops on the way up.

First stop was Montezuma's Castle. It is a home built in the cliffs built by Hohokam Indians in the early 1300s.Kelly got to use the new hiking backpack we got as a wedding gift.

Mom was our tour guide. She read us the signs and taught us everything. If you could see behind her it would be me sitting in the shade!

Doesn't she look thrilled?
Then we made our way to Sedona. This is Nicholas Cage's house and it was amazing!

After lunch we made our way up to Flagstaff. Once we were there we relaxed and enjoyed the cooler weather. Mom watched the US Open and screamed at the TV while Ellie napped and Bucky, Kelly, and I went to a bar and watched soccer and had some drinks!

We also witnessed a major fire that lit up just north of Flagstaff. The smoke was AMAZING to see. Too many pictures to post on here but go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=22981&id=100000049183949&ref=pb and you can see all the great pictures Bucky took.

We also tried to take a family portrait but Ellie was more interested in running around than posing. Those pictures are here http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=22981&id=100000049183949&ref=pb.

Ellie got to go golfing at the putt putt practice green. I'm not sure what was more fun for her...putting or picking up all the flags and carrying them around.

All in all it was a great weekend. We are now back in Anthem and will soon start packing for our trip back to Iowa.

As a side note...Kelly and I are planning the first Mulhern Family Roadtrip! We are going to the Black Hills, Fort Collins, Estes Park, Aspen, Arches National Park and then back to Anthem. We'd love advice, tips, ideas on what to do, where to stay at all those places.

Aquarium

We decided after Ellie's day of feeling sick we'd take her to the aquarium. So we packed up and headed to Tempe. It was ok but Ellie loved it. All the fish swimming around were so fun to her. Everything was WOW and little shrieks. It would have been perfect if there hadn't been lots of older kids running around being crazy.

There is also big news in the Mulhern residence. Ellie is going to bed on her own. We are on night four I believe. Kelly goes upstairs and tells her its bedtime and lays her down. She doesn't even scream! She is growing up every day and this is such a nice change. It will be interesting to see if this stays when we get to Iowa. I have been trying to get her to say Okoboji in our preparation for the trip but it always comes out "apple." Don't ask me what that's all about!

Inaguaral Post

So I have been sending weekly emails to family members for updates on us but I'm going to try out this new method. Let me know what you think!

We spent the weekend with Mark and Julie. My mom kept Ellie Saturday night so we could have fun and relax. It was wonderful until we heard, "THAT'S A SCORPION!" Mark spotted a scorpion running underneath our coffee table outside. It was in attack mode and Mark stomped on it. Kelly told him he needed to do it again and they demolished the thing. I wish we had gotten a picture. The night was cool and it felt so great to relax on the patio and actually be chilly for a change.

It was a great relaxing weekend until Ellie got sick. We are pretty sure she is teething and cutting a molar. Today she had a fever of 102 and it is finally coming down. She is a wonderful girl who just got extra cuddly but not too fussy. I can't believe how good she is when she doesn't feel well.

Ellie and I spent Friday with Brynne (mom) and Ember (who is 6 days younger than Ellie). The girls got along great. Ellie was good at sharing her toys. In the car when we watched DVDs, she was so proud to show off her toy and how cool she was with Wow Wow Wubzy.

This week will be a busy one. We think Bucky will be coming to town on Wednesday. I'm getting my car alarm installed. We are staying busy and enjoying life!