A girl's best friend.

 

Taya got to ride all by herself for the first time on Sunday and LOVED it.  She has been asking for a while and I would always tell her when she turned five I would let her. The first words out of her mouth when I asked if she really wanted to ride all by herself were "well, I am five now mom."  She did great, even in that big ol' saddle.  Her grandpa and I were never more than a few steps away, but she was thrilled to be holding the reins and making him turn all by herself. I am so proud of her and love that she still enjoys this kind of  "therapy" so much!

Thanks Dad for taking such great care of Sun for all these years. I could never repay you or tell you how much it means to me to see Taya ride him.

A climbing he will go

Ready or not, Garrett has decided to start climbing.  He can't quite get on the couch yet, but if he tried just a little bit harder he could do it.  I don't encourage or help because I am NOT ready for this stage.  It started with him climbing in and out of Taya's rocking chair and then progressed to climbing in and standing on her rocking chair (which quickly found it's way to the basement before we had stitches or a broken tooth).  I am glad he found this outlet for his climbing need, although it is a little scary when he does it 20 times in a row as fast as he can and his little legs are wobbly as he climbs the stairs.  It is also a little scary when he stands on top of the slide and yells to the neighbor across the street. He is all BOY!  It's a good thing he is so cute and we love him so much. :)

This was from my phone and I can't get the video to play the sound.  You'll just have to imagine his cute little voice counting one, two, three, GO!

Lions and Tigers and Bears......

and dogs, and cats, and elephants, and lamas, and zebras, and giraffes, and horses, and pigs, and pandas, and kangaroos, and sheep, and monkeys, and ducks, and mice, and ladybugs, and caterpillars and....... I bet you thought this was going to be a post with pictures of us at the zoo. Nope. We are the zoo. The stuffed animal zoo!


Taya has sooooo many stuffed animals I can not even keep track anymore. She knows each one of them and where they belong on her shelf (or floor since she ran out of shelf room) and takes turns with a different one each day and each night. It is very rare for her to choose the same stuffed animal two nights in a row. She tells me that she can never get rid of them because they are all special and she loves each one.  We seriously have a zoo! What kid can say they have a stuffed lama?? (thanks grandma!)  On the other hand who can resist that face when she says how much she loves them and needs just one more? Obviously not anyone who knows her!  Sometimes she likes to pile them up all around her and play in the pile. One day she might just disappear in them!

And he's off....

Garrett has almost mastered the skill of walking. Surprisingly he hasn't just taken off and started walking full time. I think he still likes to crawl because he can get to things faster.  After a few weeks of a step here and there between things he has decided the last few days that he does like it.  He walks around the living room when I am in the kitchen and he thinks no one is looking. He also walks towards the TV without realizing it whenever it catches his attention.  I'm so glad to check this skill off the list, but a little worried about what it will bring when he gets good at it! 

St. George fun!

St. George was warm, beautiful and FUN! It was so hard to come back home and back to reality.

We spent time playing at the park.

Taya's favorite part was riding the carousel at the town square! She couldn't get enough of it and each time she had to ride a different horse. This horse was her very favorite. 

The kids couldn't get enough time playing with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not sure how I am going to entertain them now that we are home. There were constant squeals and giggles!





Garrett spent most of his time clinging to his Grandma! He couldn't get enough of her and was worried I was going to peel him away when I got close.

We spent some time Sunday afternoon at the temple. It was gorgeous! I love the St. George temple and love to be able to go right up to it. The grounds were covered in beautiful flowers everywhere.

This is how we all felt when we got back to the condo at night. Full tummies from lots of good food and lots of time in the sun. We had a blast!