OK, here I am. Wow life has been busy! Today I am 29 years and 1 day old. Last night we had a small group of GREAT friends over. I made bacon wrapped steak kabobs with zucchini (Aunt Carol would be proud!). My super-savvy, Sunset Magazine-reading sister whipped up some chili lime corn-on-the-cob! It was delish! Ella learned that if she bats her eyes at Uncle John he will place her ON TOP of the pool table and she can bang all the balls she wants.
My sly husband proceeded to celebrate my birthday in style with our friend (and neighbor) Leonard- until 1:00, which he paid dearly for all day today.
...Also seen here sitting on my niece, Lexi's lap. That's great Ryan. 
...moving on.
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Henline Construction installed a 12x24" Behemoth size dog door.
Ella nose dived out it the first day and has been feeding her toys and babies to it ever since.
We purchased a family season pass to the Hogle Zoo this year. We had our first official trip to see Gerry the GI-raffe. I was probably more excited for her to see them then she was. Go figure.
It was cute to see her notice all of the different animals. She would point and even squealed a few times! While we were there we ran into Ryan's sister, Marcy and her family. Small world!
My precious baby girl is officially 1. My mother purchased a party dress for her birthday, which she proudly sported the entire day- pigtails and all.
A most candid moment where my sweet girl is keeping the other toddlers in line.
I somehow came up with this "great" idea to make a sugar-free cake. She enjoyed the frosting but at some point arrived at,
what seemed like under-cooked substance below and immediately decided she was ready for her balloon again. Mom gets an F (at least my mother-in-law thinks so...)
She excitedly opened every gift and made each gift-giver feel appreciated (yae, good girl!).
Her favorite item was her little doll. 
Ryan and I purchased her a fish tank. So far Mom has abandoned 2, murdered 3, and sucked 1 fish up in the filter (it lived). She likes it though, if you ask her about them she will run as fast as she can, shouting gibberish, and body slam the tank.
Ella has made some real achievements over the past month. I've been trying extremely hard to get her to kick the bottle and drink her milk from a cup with a straw. She 100% refuses the sippy cup.
So finally after reading on the Internet and scanning every blasted book I have, she just decides she's done.
Just like that.
We bought her a pink potty- I figure if I set her on it once or twice a day, read her a book and she happens to go- well then, I'll make a big deal out of it. Maybe, just maybe, she'll figure it out sooner then later and voila- no more diapers. Simple, right? Well this is my plan anyway.
So... She pooped on the potty this morning (and the crowd goes wild!) Woo hoo! It's true. I'm not lying. Guaranteed I'm more excited then she is. I start screaming and jumping around and clapping and all the hoop and holler- the whole time shes looking at me like...
