Brought to you by the letter "E" and the number "2"

Two years ago we were blessed with this cute face, and we are so grateful she came to us. She has grown so much and taught us along the way.

This doesn't even look like our LE now.


This is LE last year, don't you just love those four front teeth.

This year for LE birthday she wanted a "Abby" and "Elmo" cake from Sesame Street. Ba had fun making the cakes, which turned out better then she thought.

We had a hard time deciding what would be our families birthday party tradition for the kids. The end result was on even years the kids can have a friends party and they can invite as many friends as their new age.

This year LE invited her good friends from Bountiful. We had a Sesame Street party. We played games that had to do with the letter "E" and the number "2".

The two cute girls LE has so much fun playing with them. It is fun to watch the girls play together, if one does something the other thinks they should do it too, for good or bad.


LE loves to cook, this is why she received a play kitchen for her birthday. She played with it until it was time to go to church, and had a hard time letting go.

Why does this 100 piece box of play food have so much junk food?

She even played while it was time to eat breakfast. She was having so much fun she didn't eat very much.

On Ba side of the family we get together each month for FHE. This is all the grand kids that were able to come in March.

LE got a lot of great gifts for her birthday. The book is the one that we are most excited about, and I'm sure she will to come the third week in September!!!!

Arizona Spring Break

We don't officially have a spring break anymore because we are not affiliated with school, so we decided to just pick a week and go to Arizona and call that our spring break. Children that are 2 years old need their own ticket, so our trip ended the day before LE turned 2. Great timing I know.

We played some backyard cousins. We found about 40 old tennis balls at the park, so the adults were having fun throwing them at each other. Somewhat childish of the adults.

This is some fine Arizona cookin. Meals are always nicer when you don't have to prepare them or clean up by yourself.

It drove Ry crazy that the bikes were not in good working condition, so he did some fixin.

The girls loved the charriot, and we are very interested in purchasing one. We think LE should do her first triathlon this year, so she might have to spend some time in one of these puppies.

Everyone loves the park

Ba really enjoyed basking in the sun. She claims it makes her skin feel better, but she probably just want that super model tan.

LE got super muddy while playing the the water and dirt... wait... that sounds like the exact thing her dad does.


We hiked about a mile, and LE walked almost the entire way. I feel like this is going to be a nice family activity.

When LE has these shades on, she thinks she is pretty cool. The pack didn't last long.

It is really nice when LE reaches up and asks to hold your finger. She will only take one.



Ba won $20 to her personnal budget by sinking a few birdies in a very intense game of mini golf. We didn't have time for a full golf game, but we figured we were in Phoenix, so we had to get as close as we could.

We were all surprised when the two kids under two started riding away on the tricycle.

We missed our flight home, so we decided to drive. It wasn't bad, and we had all sorts of fun stopping at parks, and eating ice cream, oreos and fries all the way home.

Everyone is passed out, except the driver, and it was nice to have some quiet.

Toddler Talker

If you spend much time around toddlers, you realize they are sometimes hard to understand. They are developing their speech, and with any language there are some stumbles along the way. Ba does a great job at keeping up with LEs new words. Ry struggles a bit, and he realized how much he uses context to try and understand. As we enjoy many games, we decided to develop the "Toddler Talker". Watch the following videos and try to guess the words LE is saying. You can't see most of the props, so it might prove difficult even for you seasoned mothers and linguist out there. At the end of the post is the answer key to each video, so let us know how you did. One of LEs favorite words that didn't make the video is "Fa-gee", and neither of us know what it really means.











First video
milk, orange, cheese, ranch, cheese, plate, cup, mine

Second video
Elmo, dice, tights, headband, jammies, sock, baby, blanket, hat, blanket, pillow, tower

Last video
apple, boat, apple, doggie, ball, milk, car, bath, flower, cat, banana, duck

A little breezy

Two weeks ago we had a wind storm that cased a lot of damage, we were even with out power for 24 hours . We were lucky that in our little apt. area there wasn't a lot of damage. But driving down the street one could see a lot of trees down and power polls. The Sunday after the storm we went to church to find out that we would just be having sacrament meeting. The rest of the day we were asked to go help clean up the trees, to avoid more problems with a storm predicted that night. It was a very different Sunday but all types of people come out to help each other.



There were four tall firs, and now there is only one tall stump.
Hundreds of trucks were on the roads hauling limbs to the high school or landfill. It was a nice decoration for Christmas having garland strung along every street in the entire city.

The big dump truck at the end of the picture was filled with only a few trees in it. Nearly every pine tree that was over 30 feet tall was blown over.


On a lighter note, we celebrate St. Nicholas Tag. It was fun to have LE get excited to see her shoe filled with candy and a gift.


I know this shirt is cheesy but it is so true. LE loves to help out with whatever we are doing.


Ba is very excited when she was able to get LEs hair into two very small piggy tails. It only stayed in for about an hour but it was still able to be done. She will probably get her first haircut when she is 5.

Little Chef

We went on a hike last week and in turned out to be more of a scramble than a hike. It is kind of tricky with having a backpack on with a 19 month old in it.

We made it to our destination! That was close. We enjoyed throwing rocks into water, and finding the right path back to the car.

LE and Ba had fun painting glass jars and making them look like jack-o-lanterns. LE is at a very fun age, and learning so fast.

She has started learning the art of dress ups. After moving from trying on all the shoes in the house, she put on as many pair of pants on as she could-or that BA will help her with. She is sporting 4 in this picture.

One of our favorite games to play is hide and seek. Most of the time we just hide her "baby." She thought it would be so funny to hide herself and she chose to go in the block bag. It was very funny because it was clear, and she keep tipping over and wanting to do it again.


LE was a chef for Halloween, and it fits what she loves to do the most. Whenever either one of us is cooking she wants to be right in the action helping.

Our ward had a harvest fair, which turned out to be very fun. With LE's great cooking skills, she won an award for the creamiest pie in the contest. You would think her age played a role in skewing the judges decisions, but it was an anonymous entry.

This is a picture of us at the fair sitting on some hay.


This is a picture of us with a witch. LE didn't like them when they were close, but loved them when they were far away.

This is a picture of us dressed up for a Halloween party. Ba is a cupcake (with cherry on top), Ry is a receipt and cooking supplies, and LE is our little chef.

All five kids did not smile, but they also did not cry, so that is a bit of a miracle.
Ba put a lot of time into hand crafting this outfit, and it just might be the last year for that.

A new time Record

Sometimes Ry rides his bike to work. It is about 9 miles, and some days he goes super fast. Today was one of those days, and he was aiming for a new record. At one downhill stretch he was going 30mph and crossed a bridge. He looked behind him to find a gap in traffic to merge between cars when his front tire suddenly blew. It is hard to control a bike, and he started to panic right when the second tire blew. He didn't crash or get hit by a car which is good. Ba was not awake yet so he got someone from work to come get him because he was 2.5 miles from a bus stop. While walking down the road a not-so-ugly blonde pulled over and asked him if he wanted a ride. He politely declined, but thought it was pretty funny. In the end a new record was set for getting to work, but it definitely wasn't the fastest.

Klepto

Last weekend Ry went on an adventure with his brothers. Ba and LE were left behind. Sad? Yes, but it is good for Ry to get in some brother/man time. Ba was determined to have some fun as well, so they went to her sisters house for a day and a half of the trip. LE, Abe and Big Red had a swell time. Playing with shaving cream on the table was a big hit, but Abe was a little hesitant to getting messy.


When Ry is gone, what else is left to do but go shopping!! Ba found some nice clothes for LE for next summer which is always fun. At one store, Ba was checking out and LE was playing with some displays. While driving on the freeway, Ba noticed LE was pulling things out of the bag and was playing with some lotion. Ba didn't buy any lotion. Little pirate snuck her goods under the sensors, and right past the security cameras. Ba had a good laugh and turned around at the next exit and headed back to the mall. We had a little talk about making sure we pay for things before putting them into the bag.

The local town was throwing a safety fair. LE thought she was such a big girl when she was able to sit in the fire truck.


Waiting in line to sit up in the truck.


Aunt Netty and Uncle S were so nice and treated us to ice cream. Abe and LE shared a cotton candy scoop. It wasn't very good, but LE thought it was great. She looked like a little Smurf before she was done.

Over Labor Day weekend, the girls headed over to nick-knack heaven, Swiss Days. We like to get there early and beat all the crazy shoppers. It is always so much fun to walk around and see what decorating ideas other people have, and what the "hot" items are.



LE has become quite the pool shark. She is very sad that our complex pool is now closed for the season. If you look closely, she has just enough hair to make a tiny pony tail. That is 18 months of hard work.

Ba taught swim lessons to family, and she just loved teaching people of all ages. Below is our niece just figuring out how to side breath. Doesn't she look good?