Vacation - What a wonderful word. This last week we took a "vacation" about 20 minutes north in Carlsbad with my (Jenn) family. We had a vacation from school, our apartment, and a crying baby. The family entertained her, held her and almost fought to see who could get her to sleep or stop crying first. Mark surfed at different beaches and convinced my brothers to brave the freezing waves as well. They keep on trying to convince me that it isn't cold and that their numb hands is a normal side effect. Soon enough I will attempt surfing and it will be a great day for Mark.

Ellie has taken up a few new hobbies like: laughing, rolling over, and watching T.V. We tried to put her down for a nap on her stomach and she flipped over instead of relaxing and taking the binky. Thinking that it was a fluke, we moved her to the bed and tried it two more times. She succeeded and then we had to be more creative with her napping positions. She laughs and makes new noises. My favorite unexpected moment was when Mark was watching Kung Fu Panda on the lap top and ellie was curled up on his lap. She was staring at the screen as if she was a very mature three year old that understood what was happening... we may have a tv junkie on our hands.

It was a great week and we appreciated the help from the family and the change of pace.

Ellie's Big Laugh

Eliie's First Day

First Full-Length Jem Production

Pool Central

Hey World…

Life this week has been going a mile a minute, and that’s just Ellie’s digestive system. This week we had major amounts of guests over, and it was Mark’s finals week. He actually had to write two finals, and he about pealed over. At the same time he went surfing everyday with Paul and Jamison.

Paul and Jamison came over from Tuesday to Saturday. Basically, they lived, ate, and got burned on the beach. They surfed everyday, and some days multiple times. They lived off of pepper-jack cheeses, avocado, bacon sandwiches and alovera. Jamison had never been surfing, but he did quite well. By the end of the week all three of us could catch the same wave and ride together. To let Jenn know they appreciated her they got her some wonderful flowers as a thank you.

Also, Jenn’s mom came on Tuesday, and her sister came on Thursday. The three of them did a lot of girl stuff together as well as decorated out apartment. We now have a window in the kitchen that looks out into Italy, and our bookshelf is organized according to color. All in all they did a fabulous job.

Now we are up in Carlsbad with her family and have plans to just surf our spring break away.

Finally, for those of you who read through to the end…ELLIE HAS LEARNED HOW TO LAUGH! Mark was chewing a cookie and making noise in front of her, and suddenly she laughed. It was pretty awesome. Since, she has done it a few other times.

Well till next time enjoy the new photos...

JEM

Mark is fulfilling his husbandly role and has taken me on two very romantic dates. The first one was to the Sweetheart’s dinner put on by the ward. It was a candle light dinner and between the never ending cheesecake and Ellie’s obsession with the Christmas lights strung across the gym it was wonderful. Another night we ventured out to Applebee’s. Ellie got hungry half way through and the waiter kept coming by and couldn’t figure out where the baby had gone. He would discreetly glance into the car seat and see the diaper bag and no baby. Ellie has already played hide-and-seek.

In honor of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Jenn was a little adventurous and made corned beef and cabbage. Our guinea pigs are usually the elders. We also expanded our testing pool to include our home teachers and their two-year-old daughter. First off, she kept saying, “this is yummy” and “I think this is so good.” It made you want to have her over at every meal. Then Ellie was sitting on my lap and she came over and started to play with her. She touched her head and then she tickled her feet. Ellie actually reacted by curling her legs up and then smiled. Brooklyn tickled her numerous times and she kept on smiling. It was really cute. Other than that, Ellie is just eating, sleeping and investigating the world.

Other week activities included the beach (duh!). On March 14, 2009 or 3.14 we celebrated by eating pies with some friends who are math fanatics. Last, after institute class, Mark played a game of pool against himself. I held Ellie and told him which ball I wanted him to hit in for me since she was a little crabby and it was to crazy to switch back and forth. Needless to say that he beat me which in reality is just one more win for the Moyle team!

Where did the week go?

Well, well, well, another week has come and gone and life just gets better and better. Ellie is doing just grand. She has been getting some really bad stomach pains every once and awhile, but they seem to pass after a little bit. We just wish it didn't her hurt so bad.

Jenn is doing amazing as the ward exercise instructor. She now teaches a Yoga class and a Stroller Running class. Each one has its surprises and crazy minutes, but all in all it is awesome. It bigger news she just recently got a hair cut from a girl in the ward, and get this...this girl use to cut hair for famous Utah people like Marie Osmond. So need less to say it looks good.

Mark had a very interesting experience on Saturday. The three of us were watching Monk, the TV show, and he could hear a cat meowing at the door. He could resists so we went to check on it. In order to keep the cat out of the house he stuck his hand out at it, and the second he touched it jumped and bolted inside. While running inside it rammed into couch and a few other things. The cat was BLIND! It hid in the back room and was to scared to move. Mark blocked all of the exits and used a broom to guide it back outside. It was the neighbors cat, but who knew it was blind.

Life seems to never stay the same for one second. One of life's great challenges is to simply enjoy the ride. Even when we are driving through Kansas we still have to find the beauty in those never ending corn fields. Also, when we are stuck in life's traffic jams maybe its just a reminder to stop and smell the roses more ofter. What ever comes we just have to find the joy and beauty.

JEM (Jenn Ellie Mark)

P.S. Enjoy the pictures of Ellie

The beginning of the end

Well, it is finally time for the Moyles to enter the exciting world of blogging, and this weekend has plenty of things to fill up our first entry. To start it all of Mark went surfing on Friday, and had a head on collision with a dolphin. He was trying to paddle through a cresting wave and could see two dolphins in the wave. One of them jumped out of the wave and rammed into the front of his board. He flew off, the board took a beating, and who knows how Flipper is doing. He did leave some skin on the board as a souvenir.


In other news, Ellie continues to eat, sleep, and cry but....she can now smile quite nicely. Here is a few photos of her. These are taken on a Sunday stroll we went on today.