A while ago I posted a side-by-side of Elna and me at about the same age. It has been harder to find pictures of Brian at the same age as Elna, but this is one of him as a newborn, so I found one of Elna as a newborn to compare.
Here are infant pictures of my two loves (unfortunately I couldn’t find a face-on one of Elna to match Brian’s):
I think she looks so much like Brian—that mouth, nose, cheeks. I am so in love with both of those faces!
When my parents came for Elna’s blessing, we went on a hike in the gorge with my dad and he bought these postcards and gave them to us. We love the gorge and plan on living near it for a very long time, so we wanted to display these postcards in our home:
I wanted to make something to decorate our home simply for Valentine’s Day. For some reason I’m kind of obsessed with these hearts. When is too long to leave them up? I can’t imagine finding something I love as much to replace them for St. Patrick’s Day.
I have been imagining this gallery wall for quite some time. I am so pleased with how it turned out:
I have been meaning to post pictures of Elna’s nursery since she was born, but was waiting for a few pictures to be hung. We finally got them hung 6 months later…
This was a view when you walk into the room that I took months ago (before we hung the pictures that are sitting on the window sill.
A few close-ups from this view (that Kristy took right after Elna was born):
I created the print on the left using www.wordle.net/ –I really love how it turned out.
And a few months ago we finally got to hanging the portraits of Elna’s namesakes—this is one of my favorite things in Elna’s nursery.
Top left (going clockwise): Barbara Fae Ouzts Harris, Elna Fae Harris, Elna Parkinson Cowley Austin, Elna Austin Linford Clark
A view from the other side of the room—the bookshelves above the chair we got at Ikea. I love them! Brian’s mom, Barbara, gave us the mirror, which Brian painted gold. I love how it makes the room seem a little bigger. Elna also loves it—when she wakes up we always spend some time in front of the mirror. My mom made the bedding—the bumpers, the crib skirt, and the gorgeous quilt. I adore the quilt and it works so well with her nursery!
And another close-up of the shelves taken by Kristy (which should be obvious by the picture quality):
And a view of the shelf on the right side of the room:
Brian made this shelf—it’s gorgeous! The romper on the left she was blessed in, the pink dress was made by my Grandma Clark for me when I was a baby, the knobs in the shelf were from my sweet friend and past roommate, Emily, the star was given to me by my dad a long time ago, but we painted it gold, the I am a Child of God print was free here, the teal thing is a checkbook that Brian made when he was a little boy (it’s pretty hilarious actually—complete with perforated pages and checking account numbers—they look remarkably official. I love thinking of Brian as a little boy making it for fun. He has always loved money), the pink little hand is mine, the pink golf balls we got the day we found out we were having a girl.
These are some of my favorite pictures of Brian and Elna that we took after our date last night. She is holding her balloon and just loving on Brian in the cutest way!
This may be my favorite picture of Brian and Elna. Ever. I love the looks on both of their faces.
They are very serious about their kisses. I’m not sure who she learned her kissing moves from, but apparently she thinks there needs to be a little tongue involved…
Elna and I woke up Valentine’s Day morning to some fun surprises:
Elna was pretty pleased with her balloon from Daddy. This picture is from when she first discovered her balloon.
Sometimes I just can’t get enough of her faces:
She then crawled around with it for quite a while (with her tongue sticking out—a pretty cute phase—teething, I’m sure)
And some fun prizes for me too—I love tulips!
One of the best gifts Brian gave me was coming home at 5:00! We went right over to Olive Garden, knowing it could be a long wait. It was longer than we thought it would be—50-55 minutes! Luckily, Daren and Heather were also there (what are the chances?!) and were nice enough to let us join their party. They had been there for a while and only had 10 minutes left. So nice! We love hanging out with them, so it was a great night!
Elna did pretty well, but it sure is crazy to eat out with a baby. She was trying to get into everything and eat everything.
When we got home we ate a yummy dessert I had made—a raw raspberry cheesecake. It was delicious!
Elna’s balloon was a great gift—one that keeps on giving—even today she is loving it:
