Happy birthday, Dallin!

Since Dallin showed so much self control in not opening ALL of his presents from grandparents before his actual birthday, we let him open the remaining ones early on his birthday. . .6:45am. We then had blueberry pancakes and got ready to head to. . .

The Railroad park again! After riding the train for a couple of hours we grabbed lunch at Joe's BBQ and then headed home for naps. That evening when Michael got home we went to Joe's Farm and grill for dinner.

I made this cake for our baseball-loving son and it just so happened that I found a cake box from the Costco bakery lying around. How perfect.

We had a friend party the day after his birthday at the park across the street from us. One of the perks of living in AZ in December.

The birthday boy is so dejected after I told him he had to eat his first piece of cake before I would give him another one. The party was fun, but I was ready to pass out after an hour and a half. We had an obstacle course, a treasure hunt, and park toys to keep everyone happy.


I sure love this sweet little three year old. He is growing up too quickly, but I am loving every minute of it. He is the joy of our lives and are so grateful he is in our family.

Takes it like a champ

So today I went to get the boys out of the car and I noticed that Dallin's little water balloon that he had been playing with was empty. I felt his clothes and the carseat and he was completely dry. Hmmm. No water around him. I walk around the car to get Taylor out of his carseat and notice that his shirt, pants, hair, face and carseat were soaked. Dallin must have made a hole in his little water balloon and sprayed Taylor from his seat. We had been driving MAYBE 5 minutes and I didn't even hear a peep out of Taylor. As I picked him up he just flashed me a huge smile. I'm not sure his joy was because he had fun "playing" with Dallin or simply because I had rescued him.

Train park

We went to the McCormick Ranch Railroad Park in Scottsdale two Saturday's ago with Missy. We love this train and wish we lived closer so that Dallin could ride it all day long. The train takes you for about a 8 minute ride around the park. We went back for his birthday (pictures coming) and I think we'll go back in a week because they are setting up Christmas lights for night rides.


Our friends, Kelly and Evan, just had a beautiful baby girl, Mia, four weeks ago. She is so cute and so sweet. I can't believe that our little chunk of a son used to be that little! We just love Kelly and Evan- Mia is a lucky little girl.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Missy flew down to spend the weekend with us and we loved having her here. After we stuffed ourselves, we headed over to the zoo. Going to the zoo lights on Thanksgiving night has become a tradition for us- we have gone the past three years and we love it (except for the lighted, giant scorpion which we really, really dislike. . . Michael doesn't like to use the word hate. But I don't mind. I hate them. yuck. Probably the creepiest thing you will ever see). It started to rain while we were walking around and as Michael and I frantically dashed for shelter Missy just laughed. I guess our definition of severe weather has changed a bit since living in AZ.

Here Dallin is busting out his famous move during the musical tree show. Missy has creatively named it "The Dallin". He begins by swinging his arms back and forth, sometimes pausing the motion for dramatic appeal, and then will often end the move by falling on the ground. It frightens those passing by because they think he just got hurt while his caring parents just sit and laugh.




Oh, how we love our Trader Joe's cookies.

Dave and Scott's visit

Michael's Dad and brother came to visit us last week. It was a great break for all of them. They, of course, went golfing and our boys loved being with grandpa Dave and his boys. Dallin was a little heartbroken that he couldn't go golfing with the boys so grandpa Dave made sure he had lots of golf time at the park. Dave was able to spend part of his birthday with us and now whenever Dallin sings happy birthday to anyone (birthday or not) he always inserts, "happy birthday, grandpa Dave. . .". We had a great time. Come back soon!

Best Buds

Taylor has become Dallin's No. 1 fan. Seriously, Dallin could just look at Taylor, tip his head to the side a little, and Taylor will bust up laughing. Dallin enters the room and Taylor lights up with that big grin of his. He absolutely adores Dallin and I'm pretty sure Dallin loves the adoration. Some of the pictures below are pretty similar, but since I couldn't decide which ones were blog worthy, I put them all in for the grandmothers' sake. Eat your heart out, ladies.

Build and Grow at Lowe's

Every other Saturday Lowe's has a free building class for kids. Dallin built a rough and tough semi truck with his daddy. He loves his truck so much that he takes it to bed with him. We were impressed that Dallin consistently hit the nail on the head and his own finger only once. Looking forward to building a football goal post next time. Seriously, what could be better than a FREE class that allows your toddler son to purposefully hit something with a hammer as hard as he wants?

Triathlon

The only thing that kept me from eating ALL of Dallin's candy on Halloween night after he went to bed was the fact that I would be doing this triathlon the next morning. Well, I survived and I loved it. A friend talked me into doing it and I have been training for the past 6 weeks. It was a nice motivation to get out and exercise and I have found that I actually enjoy running now (I have always loved biking but haven't done much of it since the kiddos came along). My cute cheering squad- made up of Michael, Missy, Dallin, and Taylor- were there rooting me on the entire time. It made my day to look across the pool and see Dallin frantically waving at me. I had a blast and would love to do another one. . . some day. :)

Halloween cuties

These are pictures from both our ward trunk-or-treat last week as well as Halloween night. Dallin had a blast and would run from house to house trick or treating. He enjoyed it a lot more this year because he loves candy, he loves his pirate costume, and because last year he was sick with croup. He would say "trick or treat" on his own and would then grab a handful of candy. He is funny, though, because he has forgotten entirely about his candy. Taylor had a great time too. He was content riding around in the wagon and watching everyone in his cute little lion costume (which, surprisingly, he didn't mind wearing). Missy flew in to join in the festivities and we LOVE having her here.

T-ball

Dallin had his first official T-ball game this past Saturday. I must admit that he is a pretty darn cute baseball player (his "cute outfit" that I couldn't stop talking about is actually called a "uniform", Michael informed me). He did well up to bat but wasn't too thrilled playing the outfield - it's hard for him to not be able to be the only one up to bat the entire game. This is a good thing, though, because he is learning teamwork and how to take turns. He loves being on the team and has a great coach. I am proud of how is he doing, espeically being the youngest on the team.

Disneyland

We just returned from Disneyland and it was a perfect trip. Unless, of course, you count the part where Missy was taken from Disneyland in an ambulance. How many people get to say that? Missy had some type of allergic reaction while riding the Pooh ride that made her lungs tighten and her face swell up (still so pretty!). When her symptoms kept getting worse my Mom took her to first aid and they gave her an IV of benadryl. The IV didn't do anything so they put her on a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance. She was not happy about that and I was not happy that I had left my camera with Michael. They took her to a nearby hospital and gave her steroids, which helped, and she was able to go back to the hotel about 2 hours later. She is such a trooper. Because of Missy's allergic reaction we were given an extra day at Disneyland. Yay for allergies! We were there for a total of 6 days. Thanks for taking one for the team, Missy!

Dallin LOVED anything to do with Buzz Lightyear this trip. He would take his Buzz zapper on rides and zap everything around him. His favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story, Pooh, and the train. The first day just as we entered the park we sat and watched the Disneyland band perform because Dallin loves bands. After a few songs the conductor came over to Dallin and asked him if he wanted to conduct the band. He did at first and did a great job leading the band with Missy's help. We thought he would love it but if you click on the collage it should enlange the picture so you can see his expression.

This is the Buzz toy that he zapped everything with. The other pictures are the gang riding Pirates and the Jungle Cruise.

Dallin and Megan danced for a good 20 minutes while this man played ragtime music on the piano. They were so cute. Taylor did well the entire trip- I was pretty surprised. He loved riding around in his stroller, took great naps, and was enthralled with the sights of Disneyland. Once when he was crying, however, Dallin reached for his cloth and shoved it in Taylor's mouth to quiet him down.

This is at the Brother Bear playground in California Adventure. Dallin was in heaven here; he could run, climb, jump, explore caves, crawl through tunnels, and slide. It was a nice place to relax because they played blue grass music and it had lots of shade- not to mention two workers guarding the exit so children couldn't escape. We spent quite a bit of time here because Dallin needs to run A LOT and this self-contained play area is much less stressful than chasing after him in the park.


Goofy's Kitchen has become a tradition for us while at Disneyland. The kids love hanging out with the characters and the adults love the french toast creme brule. Yum!

The picture of Jim, Amy, Michael and Addi was taken at night. They had just come off of the Grizzly Bear Rapids and were SOAKED. It was so cold! I think I'm becoming a wimp in my old age. Instead of heading home with the rest of us they went on it again. Surprisingly, there was no line for this ride so they were able to hop right on. We had a blast and it was so great to spend time with family. Love, love, love Disneyland!