Happy Birthday, Tylie!

I can't believe that my baby is 2!!! It seems like I just had this tiny little baby who slept perfectly, smiled all the time, and caught the eye of every mom with her abnormally long hair. Now I have a 2 year old who sleeps perfectly (once she's out), smiles when she's not scolding you, and catches the eye of EVERYONE with her abnormally long hair. Most of you know this already, but those who haven't yet met Ty, she is TINY!!! And when I say tiny, I really mean it. She is smaller than all other 2 year olds, most 18 month olds, and some 14 month olds. But with what she lacks in size she makes up with personality. I am not such a lucky mom to have a little 2 year who matches my attitude to a "T" (don't make her mad!!), but the luckiest mom to have a sweet 2 year old who is so adorable that I just want to squeeze her, makes me laugh ALL the time, and kisses and hugs me out of the blue just because. I love this little girl!!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, TY TY! WE LOVE YOU!!

So excited to see her presents!

She LOVES babies, so you can guess how happy she was to get lots of "baby things".

Most of you know how amazingly talented Gus is, but I had to show his latest task I asked of him. I just got regular cupcakes from Costco (YUM!) and asked him to come up with cupcake toppers and to no surprise they came out better than I could have hoped for!!

Drooling as she blows out her candles.

Obviously MY daughter... going straight for the frosting!

To be 2 again and be thrilled just to have a cupcake! 

The Big Yellow Beast...

I still can't believe that we have a two year old that's still afraid of the vacuum! Tylie runs when I turn it on. Although sometimes she is okay with it, there are times when she isn't running away to play "Come and get me".. she's running away with that look of "Oh No! Not YOU again..." I mean, it isn't like we vacuum any less than the average person (once every other month, right??? just kidding-gross...) We vacuum the house often, and she sees our big yellow vacuum enough that she really shouldn't be afraid. At least you'd think. Well, a few nights ago I was vacuuming, and she ran to the table and crawled beneath it with her sippy, whining... I tried nonchalantly pulling the chairs out to vacuum and take a picture at the same time without her noticing-but it didn't work. I had to stop, and take the picture which she noticed, and posed (the little "poser")! 

Adorable as she is, will she ever be alright with the vacuum???

Inquiring minds want to know...

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone! 

Today was a great day. The kids and I have been a bit anxious for it to get here. There's something about having a special day set apart for Becky (and all moms) that is fun. Dallin made a crown for a her at school that she was to wear all day, along with a card that had a poem explaining that it was her day and that so long as she wore the crown, we had to do everything she said... well, he was quite excited to give it to her. Early this morning-around 6:45-7 I woke up and glanced over Bec to her side of the bed. Dallin was in our room trying to find a spot to place the crown and card... I don't remember actually seeing him, just his hands reaching to place the duo on our dresser that heads taller than him! He then went back to bed and back to sleet! Cute Kid... 

But what would Mother's Day be without a few... shall we say "exciting incidents" ? We were on our way out the door to church this morning when Bec saw something on the ground in the garage. She stopped over by the suspicious droppings, beneath our water hose, and starred at it. Her thoughts were that it looked like bird poop!  (I'm laughing just thinking about this) Earlier that morning, I went in there to throw something away, saw the same thing but didn't think anything about it, went back inside and continued getting ready.

(the kids and car in relation to the water hose and mysterious droppings beneath it)

Well, Bec stood there wondering how (what looked like) bird poop got in the garage. She lifted her head only to find that she was face-to-face with the bum of a pigeon!!!! Literally, her face was about two inches away from the bird! She was on her way to buckle in Tylie in her car seat when this happened. She screamed and ran back to the  stairs FREAKING out.. literally. She handed Ty to me and jumped in the car! It was HILLARIOUS!!! Freaky (even though it was JUST a pigeon), but funny! 

The darn thing stayed in our garage all morning. We ended up leaving the garage door open all day, and eventually it flew the coop (and left the poop)! Figures...

The kids really wanted to make Bec breakfast. But since church is at 9, and the kids didn't wake up until almost 8:30, we opted for bowls of cereal for breakfast and REAL breakfast (Fraffles and Scrambled Eggs) for lunch. Here's the Queen of the House enjoying her breakfast for lunch.

NOTE: Bec mimicking Kailee's  "smile @ the camera" face; cheesy grin, accompanied by eyes looking off into space and not at the camera.

Later that afternoon, the kids came in the house screaming that they found a snake! Wasn't much-just a garden snake, but it freaked Bec out (again). We went out and I tried catching it with a shovel so I could throw it over to the swampy area, but it crawled into a car's tire... couldn't get it out. The kids watched and kept an eye on it for about an hour and half, and finally somehow got it to SLITHER out onto the grass. At one point they were throwing treats to it, trying to lure it out!

A little while later, Kailee came in the house saying Dallin had it in his hands and was trying to teach it tricks! How do you teach a garden snake tricks you may ask??? Well... a little girl form a few doors down was with Kailee and told me "the snake came out of the car! It crawled on the grass and then flew home! It got up and flew way up into the sky!" (Yeah, my thoughts exactly!) I didn't know what to say, I just stood there and thought "Dude... you're crazy little girl!" About 5 hours later (Dallin asleep in bed) Kailee told Bec and I that D was taking the snake and throwing it up in the air, and letting it fall on the ground!!! THAT was the trick he was trying to teach it! (I guess I need to teach my son that only cats land on all fours-if we're unlucky) Turns out that little girl wasn't crazy after-all!

All-in-all, it was a great Mother's Day, setting aside the two freak-outs Bec had. Meals prepared by dad and the kids, mom with a crown that gave her Queen's power, kids that slept in (always nice), and visit from some unannounced guests.... Please don't be mistaken-our doors are always open for friends to stop by whenever they want-as long as you aren't a reptile or fowl!!!

Daddy's Little Princess

This morning at church Kailee was sitting next to me sounding out words in the Book of Mormon. She got to one in the book of Mosiah that was King Benjamin, and said, "I know what that one says; it says CAMP." I said "No, not camp..." I tried figuring out how to get her to guess that word. Here was how that conversation went...

Me: Who's the daddy of a princess?

K: You!

Me: Okay (that didn't work as I had imagined).... What is a princess' daddy's name?

K: Gus!

Me: Yes, you are my princess... but that word is King.

She is my little princess-that's for sure, and always will be! She's been so cuddly and loving lately (not that she normally isn't, just MORE). She'll come to Bec and I and pucker up her lips so cute, wanting us to give her a kiss at some of the most random moments!

She melts my heart...

Love you Sweetie-Sweetie...

Cali Trip Part VI

Grandparents

They sure are special! They love their grandchildren like no one else. It's funny, and I know don't understand it yet, but grandchildren bring a different side out of our parents that we've never seen before. It's like they become completely different people than those that raised us... either way, they love our kids, and our kids sure do LOVE them!

Grandpa at the piano, Ty at his feet watching and listening-with an occasional tap on a key 

Kailee and Grandma

Ty and Grandpa Cliff

Ty with Nani. I'm guessing drinking a slurpee from Sam's Club. I'd MUCH rather her have a slurpee than whipped cream on her cereal!

The kids at Grandma's house

No matter how you look at it, a trip isn't a trip with a visit with grandparents. They make it complete. Besides, how could we go to Cali, and NOT visit someone like this???

We love you Old Folks!

Cali Trip Part V

HB (Huntington Beach)

WARNING: The following pictures are quite graphic.

View at your own risk.

This is HEAVEN... one thing Bec and I were REALLY looking forward to was going to the beach. And so... we did!

We spent the day at HB. Although it was chilly when we got there, it warmed up nicely, and was quite enjoyable. The kids had a ton of fun. It was Ty's first time going to the beach. When we took her water sandals off, she just stood there digging her toes into the sand, taking them out, and doing it all again! 

D ran straight for the water, then ran away even faster screaming when he realized how cold it was. After doing this about two or three times, it became a game to him and Kailee; trying to see who could get the closest to the incoming waves without actually getting wet. Of course, while doing this they were getting wet, and getting used to the temperature (as usual). At one point, Dallin SOMEHOW managed to have fallen into the water-I think a wave took him out. I missed it, but Bec got a good laugh out of it. Wish we could've caught it on camera... 

After a while of playing (kids) and laying out (parents) we cleaned up and thought it would be fun to head over to the pier. While we were cleaning up, we looked and noticed Ty had bundled up under a towel, and all you could see were her little feet sticking out. She kept swaying her feet back and forth as if she were listening to music under the towel... 

For a little while there, we thought we could've stayed there, laying on the beach forever! And now that we're back to higher elevations, I still wish we were back on that beach...

(insert sigh here)

Cali Trip Part IV

Happy Birthday Dallin!!

One of the main reasons Dallin was so excited to go to LA was that he'd would turn 6 while we were there. The weeks and days leading up to the trip we'd tell him he only had "so many" days of being five... he was excited to celebrate his birthday there. And who blames him? With both grandparents in the same state, he was able to have two days of celebrating! Grandma had a Build-A-Bear party for him with all his cousins at her house. The Birthday Boy had a few extra outfits that were given to him as a birthday present. He named his dinosaur Steve, after his Uncle Steve. He even chose a camouflage suit to dress him up like Uncle Steve! It was actually really cute. He even made sure Steve had his change pj's (astronaut outfit) for bedtime!

 Each got to select a stuffed animal, place a heart in it, watch it get stuffed, and name it all in grandma's driveway! Dallin's cousins ranged in age from 1-15, and ALL of them had fun.

Later that night, Uncle Carlos took Dallin out side and D show him some of the Tae Kwon Do moves he's been learning. Carlos then prceeded to teach him how to street box! Dallin loved being able to punch and kick as hard as he could and not even make his Uncle flinch! He thought it was pretty cool.

On his birthday, he woke up to find more presents. He was especially happy to get a scooter, as he says it "with one wheel in the front, and one wheel in the back". He's been wanting a Razor for MONTHS now. And anytime he'd see someone riding one he'd ask. This one had been sitting in our closet for some time now, waiting for his birthday!  He rode it all over Nani's house, and even took it to grandma's to ride in the driveway! It made his day! Later, he went to Disneyland with Nani, just the two of them. It was quite special.

The evening ended with a trip to the bowling lanes (a first for our family). The smallest bowling ball that they had was a 6lb ball. So they offered a ramp for the kids. Dallin and Kailee had SO much fun with that ramp. At one point Dallin even stood back about 10 feet, and ran to it thinking he could get the ball to go faster!

Happy Birthday D-Man... You're growing up so fast!

We love you!