I Know I am a Slacker!

I know that I have been a slacker with my blog lately. I am trying to get better. We just have a lot going on right now with finishing up out here and getting ready to move back West. I am going to try not to get behind so much and at least add a few things every week instead of a lot of things once a month. I am trying to keep this as our family journal so I know I have a lot on there but I guess that is the point of a journal. Hope you enjoy the huge update!!

Happy Birthday to Mother, Mother-in-Law and Grandma

Happy Birthday to both of you(both our moms have a birthday a week apart in March). I know I am a little behind but we just wanted to wish both of you a happy, happy birthday. We love you both so much and appreciate the examples you are to our family. We are so lucky to have both of you in our lives. Taylyn loves you both and you are both excellent at spoiling her!! Cody and I always comment on how lucky we are to have such wonderful mother-in-laws. We love you and can't wait to be closer so we can see you more! Just a few pictures to show why we love you so much!

General Conference

It is always nice to sit and listen to General Conference twice a year. I always feel so uplifted after the weekend is over. This year was a little bitter-sweet for me. I kept waiting to hear President Hinckley's voice, which used to be the best part of conference for me. He has been a great example and wonderful prophet throughout most of my life. I will miss him greatly but know he is happy to be back with his sweet wife. I really enjoyed listening to President Monson and his sweet spirit. He will be a great prophet and I look forward to being able to learn and grow through his wisdom, guidance and example for many years to come as well as his counselors.
Taylyn made it slightly challenging to focus on conference. She wanted to play, color, read books, climb off and on the bed and much, much more. We have to watch it on the internet because we don't get it with cable so she kept dragging more and more stuff in the room. Cody was playing with the camera and taking pictures of Taylyn. She kept yelling "cheese" and followed that with "Baby." She loves to see herself in the camera after you take a picture. What a goofball!!

Ready for Church Mom

She is getting so grown up!
Oops! Wrong Car!

New Hairstyle!

After many long months we finally have enough hair to add another hairstyle to our choice of 3. I decided to try pigtails and it actually works. There is not much hair up but I think it looks cute and I was tired of the same hairstyle everyday.

Roxie's Boyfriend is Back in Town!

We left for 1 1/2 week and then Brooke and Cody left before we got back for 2 weeks. It was almost a month away from each other but they are finally back and Roxie was glad to have her boyfriend back! We were glad to have Brooke and Cody back too!!!

Discipline

I have started seeing my baby already getting into some of the tendencies of the terrible twos. I thought I had another couple of months of my sweet girl. I have started trying to discipline her so that we have something in play when it really hits. She started whining every time she wanted something. After about two weeks of constantly reminding her to ask nicely she has finally caught on. She still forgets sometimes but all I have to do is remind her and she will show me the sign. She watches Baby Signing Time sometimes and has picked up on "more" (she claps her hands together) and "all done". She uses more for please, up, and more. I figured that is better than whining so I will take it.

New Things to Do!

Baby StrollerKatie (girl I work with) has a baby stroller that Taylyn loves, so I finally went and bought her one. She will put her baby in it but her favorite is to make Roxie get in and she pushes her around the house. Roxie has been a good sport about it. Tay has also realized that she can fit in the stroller too. Hopefully it can hold her!!!

Playing with Balls

Grandma bought her a ball while she was here. She didn't quite know what to do with

it but has definitely figured it out. She loves to throw it and has even tried to kick

it a few times but hasn't quite mastered that one.

Getting into Things

She has just started getting into things. Cleaning is impossible because everything I put away she pulls back out again. When I catch her getting into things she is not supposed to that is the face I get. "Who me?"

Climbing

She has started climbing, which I am not so happy about that. She can climb onto the couch and has started to climb up the chairs. I am in for it!!

ShoesShe loves to wear our shoes. She tries so hard to get them on and then it takes her forever to walk across the room. The hardest is Cody's shoes because they are a lot bigger than mine.

Miami Metro Zoo

While my parents were here we went to the Miami Metro Zoo. It was the first time Taylyn has ever been. She loved it and was so curious with so many animals around.She called anything with four legs a neigh-neigh and came up with her own noise for her favorite of the day an elephant. As soon as she saw them she started pointing, giggling, and making this noise that actually sounds a lot like an elephant. They had a Zorse (part horse, part zebra) that was too cool not to get a picture of! Taylyn also liked the lions and tigers, even though she called them "ome, ome" (meow, meow, her version of a cat). They were lots of birds flying around and she had to point them all out saying "bir,bir." She sure loves animals!

They had a fun park that she really enjoyed. Grandma took her to play for awhile. Taylyn had Grandma wrapped around her little finger. Grandma was patient and walked with her, put her on her shoulders and carried her while I pushed an empty stroller. I guess that's what Grandma's are for!!!!The zoo had a petting zoo. After 20 minutes in there I had to drag her out screaming. She wanted to play in the "Wawa" and see the "quack, quack." She was not ready to go but everyone else was!
Grandpa had the best ride of them all. He got to ride in an electric wheelchair and raced Taylyn in the stroller a couple of times. He won!! He was a lot faster than Mommy!Taylyn of course wouldn't take a nap on the way there so I was worried she would be a monster. She was amazing, but by 4:30 when we left she was exhausted (she was laying down in her stroller, which never happens). She was asleep before I drove out of the zoo! Grandpa felt the same way!

Papa and Grandma May Came to Visit

My parents came to visit us one last time in Florida. They got in early Friday morning and were very tired. They slept off and on throughout the day so they were rested to go to Wicked. My parents have never been to a Broadway play before and so I was excited to be able to do it with them. They slept off and on during the first half but both perked up during the last half. At intermission I explained to my Dad the background of the play and he said that he enjoyed it much more once he knew what was going on. I absolutely loved the play. It might be one of my favorites. It was also nice to have a date night with Cody. It has been a long time since we have done anything. We found ourselves rushing through dinner and had to remind ourselves that we didn't need to hurry because we didn't need to entertain Taylyn. We had the Branch President's daughter come over and Taylyn loved her and they had a blast. It was an amazing night!

My parents were here for almost a week. Taylyn loved all the attention she got from them. My mom spent a lot of time outdoors, which is where Tay would love to spend all of her time. They blew bubbles, went for walks, played ball (my mom bought it for her and she wasn't quite sure what to do with it but she has got the hang of it now and even tries to kick it with her feet), read books, played with Papa's can and walker, ate all their food, and just plain got spoiled. We went to a little pizza place on the beach, drove around to show them around, went to the zoo, and just sat around and talked! While we were driving around Taylyn had had enough. She was getting really fussy and whining so we were trying to distract her as much as we could. She got a hold of some tissues and very intently tore them into little shreds and handed it to us like we needed it. She was very proud of herself.My mom also helped me make cinnamon rolls. It took us two tries because I just always buy whatever flour I see first and didn't realize that self-rising flour should not be used to make anything with yeast, salt or baking powder. My mom couldn't figure out what was going on with the rolls and then noticed the flour. So we threw it out and started again. They ended up turning out pretty good for my first time.

It was sure great to have them here. They have have always been such good examples to me and I loved having them in my home. You are never too old to need your parents around!!! We can't wait to be back where we are just a couple driving hours away instead of a long plane ride away!