Tag your it Elora and Max!

Elora Gough

1. We got the name Elora from a movie actuallly... Ever see the 80's fantasy movie with Val Kilmer called "Willow"? Well, Elora Danan was the name of the princess baby that Willow had to protect. I liked the name Elora, and I like that it's not a popular name.

2. Elora is much like her mother in very many ways... looks and personality... It's very hard to make Elora do anything that SHE doesn't want to do. She also likes order in her life... to line things up, put things away, put things together...

3. Elora loves playing with Max and sharing with him sometimes... She loves to run around the room and have Max follow behind. And when she hits or kicks Max, she gets a time out, but then gives Max a kiss and a hug afterwards...

4. Elora loves giving me big fat long kisses on my cheek... it's quite a slobery thing, but I sure do love it!

5. Elora loves playing with her baby dolls... giving them a bottle, a ride, wrapping them in a blanket, and putting them to sleep. In fact she loves taking her many friends with her to bed.

Max Travis Gough

1. Max is named after my grandpa Max on my mom's side. He was an artist, always fun to spend time with, and was an amazing man. Travis is of course from Max's father's name. It's sort of a tradition in the Gough family to use the father's first name as the middle name for the firstborn son.

2. Max is much like his father is many ways...looks and personality... He's just a happy go-lucky kid -always smiling! And when he's tired or just wants a cuddle, he'll dig his face in your chest or arm....just like Travis does :)

3. Max loves crawling and exploring all over the place. His favorite thing is to crawl UNDER things, even when it's easier to go around.

4. Max will eat anything you give him! Complete opposite of Elora... He still loves it when you just shove it in... give me more Mommy!

5. I love his abundant hair, especially the fuzz ball in the back that he gets after he wakes up...

I love my kids! They are the cutest ever! I'm tagging anyone with kids who reads this and wants to participate! So just say five things about each of your kids.

Cousins, friends, and siblings...oh my!

So Elora LOVES to put order to everything. She loves lining things up, putting things where they go, and putting things together...

Max is showing off his teeth! There's only 6 or 7 teeth in this picture, but now he has 8!

We had a party with our cousins last week. Here's Elora with her 2nd cousin, Thomas.

Elora and her 2nd cousin, Sarah. (Sorry it's washed out...but it's still a cute picture...)

This is my niece, Kalissa. She looks so much like her Dad, Scott, we should call her Scottina.

Another 2nd cousin of Elora's and Max's, Carson.

Elora and Max just LOVE playing in this Elmo couch... Thanks to Grandma Seegmiller.

So we finally bought some sleeping bags of our own, and when we opened it up to see what it was like, Elora and Max went crazy for it! They were all over it! It's slippery on the outside, and Max just loved the feel of it... Here he is digging his face into the sleeping bag...

I babysat some kids the other day, and here they all are enjoying the Elmo couch as well...

The rest of the pictures are just of all of us in our winter Sunday clothes. I figured that since it will be Spring soon, I better show off their winter clothes first...

Max just learned how to wave bye-bye...

Popcorn Popping

This video is from a couple weeks ago, but I finally figured out how to get it on here...so enjoy Popcorn Popping... Try not to listen to the singing too much though...

Sibling Rivalry?

Ok, so yesterday Elora was being especially uh... what's the right word... contentious? with Max. She kept taking toys away from him and throwing them across the room, pushing him down, and one more thing... When Max was asleep upstairs, Elora and I was downstairs. Elora heard Max wake up, and said, "Max awake!" So she goes upstairs to greet him I thought... I was doing something downstairs, so it was a few minutes before I went upstairs to get Max. Well, before I went up there, I hear Max crying hysterically. So I went upstairs and find Max crying in his crib buried under all of the kid's books! Elora had taken ALL of the children's books that we have on the shelf in our bedroom and she put them all in the crib on top of Max. So I unbury Max, pick him up and console him... I just don't understand what possessed Elora to do this... It is really unbelievable... But I guess that's a two year old for you!

Snow and cute kids!

Aren't my kids the cutest in the whole world?!

This is before it stopped snowing on this particular day,

look at all the snow ON TOP of the fence!

Elora LOVES playing in the snow!
Here she is half an hour before Daddy came home. She says, "I wanna pay thsnow!" and I told her she could play in the snow when Daddy got home, so she proceeded to dress in her winter clothes and sat and waited for Daddy to get home a half an hour later...
Last week, Max learned how to pull himself up to standing all by himself. It's a lot of weight to pull up the first time! At his 9 month apointment, he weighed in at 22#4oz and measured 30.25 inches long.
Yay! Travis is 25! Elora is just excited about the cake! Look at her face!
As you can tell, she quite enjoyed her cake!
They really are the cutest!!

Quotes

We're driving in the car...

Elora: "Mommy pee pee, Daddy pee pee!"

Cynthia: "Does Mommy and Daddy go pee pee in the potty?"

Elora: "Yeah."

Cynthia: "Does Elora go pee pee in the potty?"

Elora: "Noooo."

Cynthia: "Why not?"

Elora: "I don wannit!!"

So there you go, she just doesn't want it... Even though I want it!!!

New Year

In case you missed it, here is our Christmas card and letter, enjoy:

Hello Friends and Family! DECEMBER 2007

January~ We started the year off great ready for any adventures we might encounter. Travis began online classes at Weber State University. He also started his search for a job in Ogden. Travis also celebrated his 24th birthday. By the end of the month we got to come and visit Ogden for job interviews and to look for an apartment while Grandma Gough got to take care of Elora. While we were gone, Elora broke her little leg by accident.

February~ We spent the month packing and cleaning and then moving up to Ogden. We were thankful for all the help we received while moving, it was very much appreciated. Being 7 months pregnant, Cynthia vowed never to move while pregnant again... especially since this was the 3rd time moving while pregnant. Travis started work at Hinckley Dodge as an apprentice mechanic right after we moved.

March~ We settled in our new surroundings and got everything ready for a new baby, while it snowed several times. Little different from St. George weather... Cynthia also celebrated her 24th birthday.

April~ Most of the month was spent anxiously awaiting the new arrival. Max Travis Gough was born on April 20th at 3:45 am weighing in at 10 lbs 8 oz and 21.5 inches long. It was a wonderful experience, but then came the struggles of sleepless nights and breastfeeding... Grandma Gough and others in St. George took care of Elora for a week which we were VERY THANKFUL for.

May~ Grandma and Grandpa Seegmiller came up and stayed for a weekend and we also went to Cynthia's brother Scott's graduation for his Masters degree. By the way, word of advice: Don't get pregnant and have a newborn baby in an apartment with three stories... We also went down to St. George for a spur of the moment weekend, we had to GET OUT!

June~ At the beginning of the month Cynthia decided to quit breastfeeding after a very difficult time with it. It was very hard, but much was learned from the whole experience. Amazing how children do that to you... During the last two weeks of the month, Cynthia, Elora, and Max spent their time with family in St. George. Travis came down to drop us off and pick us up for a weekend. Max was also blessed by his father in St. George. We had a lot of fun seeing family we miss so much.

July~ We spent the 4th of July with Cynthia's relatives in Salt Lake, and enjoyed a 24th of July celebration BBQ dinner with Travis' relatives in Salt Lake. Travis got a calling as the assistant scout master.

August~ Cynthia got a calling in the Young Womens presidency as the second counselor. Travis started classes at Weber: one class during his lunch break, a few online, and a few night classes -all while working full time still. Cynthia's Dad and sister, Christina, moved to a galaxy far, far away in Virginia while Cynthia's Mom stayed in St. George to sell the house (still there...).

September~ We went down to St. George for Labor Day weekend to see Elora and Max's new cousin Emma's baby blessing. Elora celebrated her 2nd birthday even though she was acting “2” long before her birthday...

October~ Enjoyed a first snow that didn't stick for very long... And had a very fun Halloween. We went to a “trunk or treat” and Elora dressed up as a fairy princess, and Max was a pumpkin, Cynthia was a cat, and Travis was super Dad because he really is!

November~ We experienced ward boundary changes which caused Travis and Cynthia to be released from their callings. Grandma Seegmiller came up for Thanksgiving which we had at Cynthia's brother, Joseph's, little apartment. It was fun and cozy. The next day was spent with Grandma Seegmiller doing plenty of SHOPPING... but not at 4am.

December~ First of the month -SNOW! Travis was very excited about that. This month, Cynthia's sister, Christina, will come out from Virginia for a visit. It will also be a fun month full of the Christmas spirit that we so love! And of course Cynthia especially is counting down the days until Christmas like she always used to do since she was little. Currently, Max is 7 ½ months old, growing like a weed, has two teeth, not quite crawling but getting there soon-he gets on his hands and knees and rocks backwards. Elora is over two years old, also growing, talking more everyday-a few of her new words are, “Woah!” and “Thnow”(snow), gaining her own little (or big) personality, and loves to do anything for attention. We will see many family and friends this month and miss many others especially those we won't get to see on Christmas...

So that's our year! Glad we could share that with you. If you want to see more pictures, go to www.cynthiagough.blogspot.com
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love from the Goughs,
Travis, Cynthia, Elora, and Max

So that was our year, some hard times and some good times. Many things to learn from. Who knows what adverntures are around the corner in 2008. It should be a good year. Happy New Year Everyone!