Ella-isms

Ella has been saying some pretty hilarious things lately that I thought I'd share and record for posterity! :)

Ella Talking to Chad being very serious, "Dad I wanna go somewhere..." (Chad) "You wanna go somewhere, Where do ya wanna go?" "I wanna go somewhere Dad... I wanna go the distance."

(She had been watching Hercules the day before and there's that song that he sings, " I will find my way, I will go the distance..." She's obviously thinkin' if Hercules wants to go " the distance" it must be a cool place right?


Talking to me, " Hey mom come sit down and eat dis wif me and be best friends."
(melted my heart)

We were all dressed in our church clothes to go to the temple and Ella saw us and said, "I wanna go to church mom, " (me) "We're not going to church El, we're going to the temple," (Ella)"I wanna go to temple and get married mom." (She just kinda figured that one out on her own cause we hadn't really talked to much about that with her yet. It was cute)

One of her favorite phrases to say is, " I can't want that." " Or I can't like this." She says it to pretty much everything that she doesn't want or that she doesn't think she wants...It's kind of annoying because she is really stubborn about trying new things but it's funny how she says it!

When she is reprimanding Jackson she will say, " No no Jackie You-wis (Louis) don't do that!"

She made up her own word that she will just say randomly, we're not sure what it means..."Shampoobutt" Don't ask me where she came up with that one, i have no clue!
She will use it to answer most questions we ask her like for example," What do you want to eat?"
"Uh...Shampoobutt"

She calls her Gummy Vitamin her, "Gumin" and asks for it everyday.

She gets "Yey-yoes" (Marshmallows) for going potty on the toilet.

I got her some books from the library and one was about "Thomas the Train" and she asked me, "Mom, I wanna read the Thomas Monson train book!" She came up with that one on her own accord!

Lately when I put Ella to bed she has wanted me to follow a very strict routine which originally started out with just telling her a story that either Chad or I make up, then I sing her a song which she almost always requests "Popcorn Popping" and then I would give her a kiss and she would go to bed...but now after story and a song she must have a hug then a kiss...then last night she added on a high-five, then tonight she added on "knuckles" or what others might call "Pound it" and then started putting up her fingers and said 1-2-4-8 (and then she got the right fingers up) and said "Peace-out mom, Peace Out" What will she think of next! haha

One day I was talking to Ella and telling her something and she said to me, " Are you kiddin me Momma? you kiddin' me?

She has also started saying, " Momma you ridic-o-wus" or "that's ridic-o-wus!"

The other day I was telling Ella something she needed to do and she said to me, " Momma I frwustrate" with this face of pure dismay, it was hard not to laugh, while trying to be comforting.

Pretty much my child is a little sponge and you can't be around her without her picking up what everyone says!

There's so many more little Ella-isms (I stole that term from the Rakozy's- I thought it was the perfect way of describing the way she does things) that crack us up and keep us on our toes, that I can barely keep up with writing them down! We love our little fire cracker of a girl and learn a lot from her.

Hangin out with the Henkels

So I am so behind as usual on my Henkel Happenings...we have had so much going on that I have not documented...so I am going to try to play catch up and take you through a little rewind of the things we've been doing over the past while.



So all the way back in July we hung out with our friends Abby and Ryan Bell before they left for Arkansas to go work for Walmart Corporate. We went bowling and all did pretty well if I do say so myself! :)



Aww Just Precious huh?



We got to go say bye to them the day they left and took a couple pics with them as well. Sam & Lexi Christensen were there as well so we had to get a pic with the wives and the babies (of course Ella was not up for taking pictures!)



And of course Chad and Ryan had to get a pic together as well (well actually we told them to stand there for the pic and they listened :) )

It was truly sad to say bye to our buddies but we're really happy for them and the opportunity they are pursuing!



Another pretty big thing we've experienced lately was Chad's second ACL surgery.
He actually tore it and his meniscus back a couple years back but finally got the chance to do it a couple months ago.



A couple days after the surgery it had this crazy bruising from his mid thigh all the way to his ankle! But he healed up pretty fast and is now able to walk on it without any problems! We were really blessed to find a really good doctor and to have everything go so well with it all!



So next on the list of things we have been through lately was the morning that Ella decided to put Bag Balm (a balm like Petroleum Jelly) all over everything! I went to go take a shower and asked Chad to watch Ella but he was quite tired from taking Hydrocodone for the pain from his knee surgery...and well he fell asleep...so Ella took it as an opportunity to experiment with the Bag Balm. I got back from taking a shower and found her whole face, hair, arms, neck, hands and my dresser were covered in it! The pictures don't do it justice! We washed her hair at least 7 times and she still looked like a grease monkey as if she hadn't been bathed in weeks. So of course it was Sunday and we were going to church, the best solution became to just put it in a greasy looking pony tail. It took a few days before her hair looked normal again but I guess it probably gave her some good conditioning though ;)



We also got to go to the Rexburg fair which was really quite fun, mostly because of how much Ella and Jackson loved it.



We got to eat lots of yummy fair food like corn on the cob, funnel cakes, hotdogs etc!



Ella got to go in the bounce house and she absolutely LOVED it!



She was bouncin' all over the place and laughing hysterically!





Having the time of her life! You can imagine what leaving this place was like...



Jack just being a happy little camper!



Petting goats and loving it.



A really weird looking chicken thing!



Jack thought the animals were pretty cool as well!





Then the Henkels came down to visit and to open up Dallon's mission call with the whole family together! He got called to the Carlsbad California mission and reports on Oct 14th! We are so proud of him and really excited for the experience that he's going to have! Go get 'em Dal! We love ya!

So there's more that i am still behind on but this post was getting pretty long so i'll have to split it up into a few posts to cover it all!

Zoo ZOO ZOo!

So a few weeks ago we went to the Tautphaus Zoo in Idaho Falls with our in laws Didi and Jason Barnum and their daughter Macazlyn. It was quite fun, the zoo was actually pretty impressive for a smaller zoo. Ella absolutely loved every bit of it, especially the monkeys! Actually it was quite a sad day for her when we had to leave but she was pacified to find out that there was a park with a playground just across the street and exclaimed, "Bye Jungle, see ya soon!"



Tiger riding...it's all the rage! As you can see our kids were really into it...haha!



So there was this little joey that got loose into this part of the zoo where we could get pretty close to some of the animals. It was so friendly it was just hopping right up to us. Ella kept trying to pet it but it was just a bit to quick for her.



Then their was this crazy angry goose that came running toward us like it would attack us if there wasn't this wood fence thing in between us and it. Once it realized it couldn't get to us it just bit this log as if to show us what it would do to us if we got any closer! It was wierd!



Ella got to pet this big ol' fat goat and though that was pretty cool. Cazzy on the other hand did NOT like this experience and was then freaked out by pretty much any of the other animals. Poor thing...there's always next time!



So Ella is officially against taking pictures...she will literally do anything to avoid being in them or looking at the camera! It is SOOO annoying. Any tips on how to get her over this phase?



SO Chad thought it would be a good idea to try to turn her head toward the camera...obviously this one's a keeper!



Here's little Caz comin' down the slide, not quite sure what's in store for her...



looking a little nervous....



than POOF she aged 30 years and turned into a male! haha i know I'm a dork!



this was her actual reaction...you would think it was one of fear but she kept wanting to go back for more!



She couldn't wait to get back on the slide again for another try! What can we say, she's hard core!



Ella thought the little hut part of the slide was much more fun than the actual slide. She just wanted to hang out there and block access for anyone else...good times!



and of course there's always the ever entertaining dirt piles on the slide which of course is much cooler than the actual slide itself!

All in all we had a fun time with our fam and had quite the yummy dinner after the zoo/park festivities! Barnums it's always a blast when you're around! Thanks for inviting us!

My buddy, my buddy, my buddy and me!

My kids crack me up. They have become such cute little buddies...don't get me wrong Ella still steals things from Jack and can be a little rough at times and he still tries to crawl all over her and pull her hair but they have a lot of fun together as well. They love to make each other laugh and can keep each other pretty entertained at times. I love it because when Jack is crying in their room when he wakes up Ella will sing to him, do silly things that make him laugh and say
" It's ok bud." and he calms right down and will usually end up jabbering right along with her. He will make these high pitched squawks and she loves to mimic him and so they end up sounding like some kind of primitive velociraptor (as Chad would say) communicating with each other. One afternoon they both woke up from their naps and they seriously played in their room communicating in their foriegn baby tongue for like 35 minutes! Don't think me a bad mom but i thought it was good for them to "bond" with one another and since neither of them were crying i thought hey i'll get a couple more things done! :) It was awesome.





She was giving him a hug and he decided her shoulder looked tasty so of course he thought why not suck on it? She thought this was quite hilarious!



As you can see her shoulder is all wet and slimy from Jack's super duper drool power he posesses.



Aww kisses!



This baby loves to smile. Even when he is crying he will break into a smile at times!



Our little Tinkerbell...we tell her a bedtime story every night and every night we ask her what she wants it to be about and she always says "Tinka-bell". She truly loves the Peter Pan movie and pretty much every day she says she wants to watch the "Pirate Show". She loves the "croca-gator"as she calls it, that is always after Capt. Hook and will walk around the house singing, "Ti-dum-Teedee a deedley dum ti- day." It's really funny.



She has developed quite the headlock...



This little drool-osaur as we call him is a little munch mouth. He has become such a little begger ever since he started eating solid foods and pretty much will attack anyone who is eating ANYTHING in front of him.



I just love those big baby blue eyes that he has. They melt my heart.



Pretty much these two make me laugh, cry, sing, dance, pull my hair out, entertained, exhausted, refreshed, impatient, excited, and have given me some of the grestest joys I have ever experienced in my life. They are truly amazing.

Splash Park!

So it's me (Chad) again, trying to redeem myself and accomplish a full post. I don't know how Crystal does this time after time, she is amazing and hot!



This is Ella at the water park here in El burgo. It is a classic picture of how excited Ella gets about just about everything in life...except sleeping lately...whenever we tell her it's time for a nap she says..."I can't sweep (sleep)" with pretty much the most sad and dramatic face she can put on. She is a stinker that girl.



One of the many expressions that we get from our daughter. Obviously, she was quite excited to play at the Splash Park.



This is a tricky and seasoned veteran, you can't tell but she is actually standing on the fountain. Yes, she is a magician.



There in the background is her little buddy, Ryan. They had fun playing there together, Ella just punched him in the nose. Jk, but it kind of looks like it...



It's time to start polishing the gun. This is essentially second base for kids under 3 years old.

Henkel Family Island Park Trip

This is Chad signing in here...

So Ella, what can we say? She is a funny little girl, all of the Henkel's got together in the last week of July and did some "camping" in Island Park, ID... as in we all pitched in and rented a cabin. It was a lot of fun. Here is Ella taking a break from chasing birds. I don't think she ever came to the conclusion that she'd never catch them. She is tenacious.





Here is the little bear having fun with Gramps, she was really liking the rocking chair.



My little niece Macazlyn is a funny little girl. If she is going to show affection in the kissing department you can expect an open-mouther.



As you can tell, not everyone is comfortable with it. "SAVE ME!"



So us kids floated the Henry's Fork as a little getaway, the sweet g-parents watched the babes for us. It was a lot of fun for the first 45 min when we had lots of energy. However, the float lasted a good 2.5 hours and the water was super shallow in some areas so we had to pretty much get out and push at some points. Needless to say it was a good time with the fam.





(So Chad couldn't handle finishing a whole post so I had to take over...i guess it was a good try for his 1ST time ever posting in like the 3 years I've been doing it. :) Love you still bud!)

Dallon and Chad decided to jump in to the pretty frigid water.



He's really hardcore...can you tell?



Uncle Dallon is Ella and Jackson's buddy.



Jack and his cousin Macazlyn are pretty good buddies... if you call their constant poking and mauling each other being friends then i'd say they're the best. :) It's way cute to see Cazzy get excited to see him and like to touch his face. I think he enjoys it too!



While we were at Island Park we got to go to Yellowstone for free! It was fun to see the sights again being that all of us hadn't seen them since we were young.



Of the animals to see there, we got to see 1 buffalo and a bald eagle in it's nest which was pretty cool.



On our way home from I.P. we stopped at Mesa Falls and there was this awesome rainbow there. The pic doesn't do it justice!



I'm not sure what our kids were looking at...



Sweet little Cazzy and Auntie Angie-bo-bangie!



The whole crew.



Ella was getting really into sniffing flowers! Even though there was a sign not to pick the flowers that we happened to see AFTER she had had a good ol' time picking as many as her little hands could carry, what can I say she's our flower child. Oopsie!

Well we had a good time getting to have a little R&R in the wilderness with the fam, with good food and good company, what else can you ask for? Hope to make this into a tradition! Love you Henkels!