Happy Fall!

Fall is the best! I love it. I'm loving it even more down in Arizona. Seems like it didn't take us long to get acclimated to the warmer weather! ha. It actually doesn't even really feel like fall at 80-90 degrees, but we'll take it! We did take a quick trip up to Utah again. I swear every time I post we have gone to Utah...sweet. Anyway, it was super hot here, so we were excited for a little cooler weather, but got a little more than we bargained for. I think it snowed one day! ha. We had to buy Tay some warmer clothes! We surprised my family when we came up, so that was soo fun. Stopped in Cedar City to see Hannah and totally caught her off guard leaving work. Saren was super confused when she called the house and I answered, she thought she had just dialed the wrong number. We always love visiting our family.

Anyway, when we were there we took Tay to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. It was super cold and windy so we didn't stay too long, but we still had fun.






This is Tay with her "cousin" Claire. Someday they will like playing together. They totally don't get it yet! They're sure cute, though.


And this is what happens when your 18 month old learns how to climb up the chair onto the computer desk while you're not paying attention. Stinker!

Eric's mom came out for a week and we got to do some fun things with her! We went to the Arizona State Fair. Fairs are always sooo funny to me. The people that come out to them...love people watching there! Tay LOVED the carousel. She went on it 5 times, I think.




The day Eric's mom left, my mom came! How fun. We got to carve pumpkins with Kjersten and her family. Tay loved the guts.


I love Eric's tongue in this picture. Total concentration.

I can NEVER get Tay to even look at me to take a picture, let alone smile. This picture is a rare one, so I had to post it! Pretty soon you'll see more than just those two teeth. Two new ones on the bottom and another one on top, making her now have 7 teeth! Sweet.

And finally we made it to Halloween. Tay was Dorothy. I had to take a gazillion pictures to even get a couple decent ones! I swear.


We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Tay had a great time. Eric took her around to the cars, and after the second car she wanted to do it all by herself. She would either hold her basket up for them, or set it on the ground so they would put their candy in it. She loved getting candy!

When we were leaving we put her in the car and were outside talking to Kjersten and Kevin. When we got back inside she had tried to chew through about every candy wrapper to get some chocolate! Silly girl. Also, the first thing she asked for when she woke up today was a sucker! Oh geez.

And this is the face of a happy girl! TWO suckers and drool all over her chin. Doesn't get much better than that! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

1st Haircut and Other Miscellaneous Things

I had another GREAT trip up to Utah over my birthday in August. It was sooo fun to see my brother Curtis. We had a fabulous time. We were sad that Eric couldn't come with us.

While we were there we took a family picture...minus Eric:(


Saren and Tay playing at the park...cuties


Lovin those popsicles! Oh, I think I'm going to have one right now!:) Yummy


Hannah's new haircut. Love it.


All the kids went up to Park City. We rode the zipline and went shopping at the outlet mall.


Tay's first haircut. I forgot to take a before picture. But, let's just say it was looking a little like a mullet! Ha She actually did really well while Kjersten cut her hair.


All cleaned up.


Tay practically swimming on her own.;) Look at those lips!


Olivia doing a dive into the pool...she's pretty good at belly flopping!


Yeah...Eric decided to do her hair one day, don't ask!


My sweet, sweet 16 month old girl. She pretty much refuses to have pictures taken of her, so this is the best we can get! I'm hoping she gets out of that stage pretty quick!


Tay's new rain boots. Her and Olivia got matching ones. Found those cute things on just another too-hot-to-be-outside day spent at Target!


Just playing at the little fountain thing at an outdoor mall. Good times.


We painted our office area and kitchen island red. It was really stupid trying to take pictures of them...but here's what I got.

Good Ol Summer Days

We have been having such a fun summer! I'll just show you through all the pictures.


Eric and Tay riding the four wheeler up at the cabin. We had sooo much fun there, and the weather was perfect! Tay loves, loves, loves being outside, so this was perfect for her!

Then we went up to visit the family in Utah since we were already up there at the cabin. We spent the week just hanging out with our friends and family. It was very relaxing!

We got to go to the Timpanogos Temple as a family. What a great experience!

Waiting in line to ride the go karts.


Then we brought Saren back home to AZ with us for the month. We has so, so much fun having her here. We totally miss her already. Thanks for all your help Sar. She did this crazy hair do on Tay. I was laughing so hard!

Giving kisses


We went camping, and Tay was soooo dirty. But, she was loving it!
We are having a blast this summer!

Happy Father's Day

Happy father's day to all the fathers out there!

I have the best dad ever! He has sacrificed so much for our family. He always worked so hard. When I was in junior high, my dad decided to go back to graduate school to get his master's. We moved to Champaign, IL to the University of Illinois. My dad got two master's degrees in two years, a 4.0 GPA, with 5 kids and working 5 different jobs to get by! Can you believe it?! My dad is one of the smartest people I know. He always helped me with my homework and projects. When he was in graduate school, my parents would leave at 3 AM to do their early morning paper route. Then my dad would be gone the rest of the day working and going to school. I am so grateful for his determination. He has taught me to work hard for what I want and to persevere and finish things that I start. I love him with my whole heart. My heart aches for the things he has to endure now, but he does it with a good attitude and always puts on a happy face for us kids. I love you daddy!

I have been so blessed in my life. Not only do I have the best dad, I have a husband who is the greatest dad. I love watching him with Tay. She loves him so much!

Here are just some cute daddy/daughter pictures from when Tay was 3 weeks old.

A Plethora of Pictures

I found my camera cord, and found TONS of pictures I forgot about. Ahhh...this is going to be another long post! Sorry.

We went to our ward's Gold and Green Ball. We had tons of fun, and Tay loved playing with the balloons until the older kids got there and started popping them...then she wanted nothing to do with them!Our neighbors in Utah would give us tons of veggies last summer from their garden. Unfortunately we just caught the beginning of it this year before we left. But, Tay loved it. This picture is a little blurry, but I love it. She has a carrot and a radish.

Her bored look.
Loves sunglasses when she can just put them on and rip them off a million times in a row. Hates them if I try and really make her wear them!For Eric's birthday we hiked to Timpanogos cave and went through the cave. It was on Memorial Day, so it was packed! We had a blast. The hike was great, and the cave was amazing! Anyone in Utah should go do it...it's up American Fork Canyon.One of our last nights at our house.:(Learning how to talk on the phone. If she's anything like I was, we better have unlimited minutes. Geez.Loving this, as you can see. It makes me feel better that she's not pushing my face away~!When we first got to our house to start moving stuff in, our AC wasn't working. It was 96 degrees in our house! So, all Tay wanted to do was drink daddy's lemonade.Our new house.The entry when you first walk in the front door.Front room. Don't really know why it's blurry. HmmmAlso part of front roomTay's roomWork out room by Tay's.Living room.AgainKitchen
I forgot to take pictures of the guest room and our master bedroom. Oh well, you get the idea. Really excited to paint and decorate some more. We love our new place!

Moving

Hi! Well, life has been crazy around here lately. But, we are loving it! We moved to Tolleson, AZ (just outside of Phoenix) on June 3rd. The move went really, really well. Only a couple broken things and a little ding on our table, no big deal. Eric's dad drove the moving truck down for us, and left at 4 AM! Talk about a good dad! Thank you sooo much (I KNOW he will never read this, but thanks anyway!). Eric and I split the trip up and spent the night in Vegas with Tay, and then drove to Arizona the next day. Tay was really good in the car.

Once we got here I was REALLY excited to see the house. I had seen it once before, but I didn't remember it, because we saw seriously like 50 other homes. We were looking at homes that were in the upcoming auction, and we had no idea which one we would get, and what would be in our price range. Eric got the house at an auction for a killer deal. Anyway, I love the house!! It is a rambler, which is what I really wanted. It it about double the size of our other house. It has 4 bedrooms, and a really open floor plan. It is so fun to watch Tay. She loves all the open space. It's funny, because in our other house I would always know where she was, because basically I could see anywhere in the house. Here, I have to go find her sometimes. She'll be playing in a back bedroom, or shut herself in the bathroom (naughty!). It is really fun. I took a bunch of pictures of our new place, but of course I can't find the camera cord. So, when that is found, I will post all the pictures of our new place. We have lots of plans for it. We want to paint, do a backsplash, paint the cabinets, get the carpet cleaned, and a little decorating. But, all in good time! ha. We're not in a huge hurry, because we still love it the way it is.

In other news, our Utah house in UNDER CONTRACT!!! We got an offer in the day before we moved out! It was such an answer to our prayers. This is exactly the way the Lord works in my life. Things ALWAYS work out, but usually it happens right at the last second! I swear this is because I am such a planner, that the Lord is trying to show me who's in charge!! haha I love it. Thanks for all the prayers for our house. It is a really cute young couple with no kids. They are really nice. Hopefully all will go through, and it will close the end of this month! Exciting!

But, we really miss our families and friends in Utah. It definitely is not the same. Especially since I always have to watch Tay, no dropping her off at Grandma's house or with her aunts! Oh how I took that for granted! My one saving grace is that Eric's sister and brother are down here with their families! That is sooo nice. We love hanging out with them. Eric's sister just moved here, and lives only 10 minutes away, and they have a POOL!! It is awesome.

We also just barely got back from Vegas, where we went to Eric's cousin's wedding. It was a great sealing, and the reception was beautiful! Loved it, and loved seeing all our family. They are so much fun to be with.

Tay is doing well with the transition. She sleeps well in her new room. I love that her room is on the other side of the house, because now I can actually do things during her nap without waking her up. It is a beautiful thing! She "talks" ALL the time now. It is the cutest thing ever. She jabbers the entire day, I love it. She is saying more and more real words too. But, she is also getting pretty fiesty. She has learned the word no, and likes to tell me no multiple times a day. She also just learned how to open our doors, and can get into the pantry and bathrooms!! Ahhhh. Sure keeps me busy. She is so smart. She grabs my hand and takes me to whatever she wants, usually to the door so she can go outside. Also, she will get in her cupboard and bring me a sippy cup when she is thirsty. Such a good girl. We went swimming yesterday, and she loved it. She was so happy. She didn't even cry when her head went under the water a couple of times! ha, whoops!

This post is getting long. I'll post a few pictures of our last house all finished. Eric did such a good job with it.
I'll post pictures of the new house as soon as I find the cord!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

From this a year ago...(those cheeks are AMAZING! haha)

To this! Wow.

Our baby girl is ONE! Ahhh! It's making my heart hurt thinking how fast she is already growing. Geez. She is one smart little girly. For a little journaling purposes, I'm going to make a list of things she does:

**Walk soo well. Is basically running. But, she is very cautious of stairs or any incline. We have a little incline in our house, and she is so careful going over it. Usually. When she is not, she almost always biffs it.

**Says more, hi, bye, hi dad, ball, dada, and mama.

**Signs more, all done, and dog.

**Does the animal sounds for dog, cat, bear, and pig. But, we jut got a new animal book from Seth and Jack, so we're hoping she'll catch on quickly.

**Points at everything and says, "What's that?" all slurred together with a lisp. I love it.

**LOVES everyone in her family. But, of all the people including her parents she could chose to go to, she will ALWAYS choose her Mimi (my mom). They have a special connection, and there's no denying it! It is so fun.

**Plays really well with other kids. Loves to roll the ball back and forth.

**Loves the swings, hates her stroller.

**Hates being in her car seat.

**Throws tantrums now, and just SCREAMS. Like deathly screams. Lovely.

**Has gotten a little crib time because of said tantrums.

**Has 4 teeth, two on top and two on the bottom.

**Does not like getting them brushed.

**Usually sleeps from 8:30-7 or 8am. But, has started waking up around 2am to scream those deathly screams which scare the crap out of me when I'm sound asleep. But, will usually go back to sleep pretty quickly.

**Still takes 2 naps, but is trying to transition to just one. I don't think I'm ready for that!

**Has become pretty clingy to me ever since she was sick. Wants to be held a lot. But, if she can see me, she will play really well by herself for a long time.

**Sings so cute in church with the hymns.

**LOVES playing with her two cousins Spencer and Olivia. Well, mostly just follows them around everywhere. (And I'm sure if she could tell you, she would say she wants some more cousins to play with. Wink, wink:))

Her stats and her Dr. appointment:
Weight: 19 lbs--18th percentile
Height:30.5--90th percentil
Head:32nd percentile

We love our precious girl. She is so cute, and is learning all the time. Happy birthday baby, I mean Miss, Tay. No baby anymore! We love you.