T-W-O!

My Favorite Things Milo Says...
- Wow cool.
- Uh huh, I do
- Relax mommy (means he wants to snuggle
- Aparatus
- Machine (and machine noises)
- Smooch
- Love jew (love you)
- It's tiny ( In a high-pitched voice, usually referring to his otterpop).
- There it ares (He hasn't quite figured out when are/is is appropriate, so he mixed them).

Big Accomplishments This Year...
- Crawling.  Yes a year late, but finally he crawls.  After fishing him out of a tube at McDonalds, while 9 months pregnant, I realized how important crawling is.
- Textures.  In the spring, I was so ecited to play outside with Milo.  Until we discoverd that he hated nearly every texture.  Dirt, rocks, sand.  He would stand at the edge of the playground and cry because he didn't like the feeling of the ground, and couldn't get to the big toy.  It was sad.  But happily now my boy runs down the road barefoot.  Digs in the dirt being daddy's helper, and loves park time. 
- Eating.  We struggled for so long with food.  Finally Milo is getting to the point where he likes to eat.  He is still picky, but doing better.  On his birthday he ate a whole kids meal, half a hamburger, and a go-gurt.  I was so impressed.  He loves popsicles, pancakes, asparagus, goldfish, chicken nuggets (but only from Wendy's), and corn sadies (that's what he calls corn dogs).
- Talking.  Milo will talk your ear off.  He says so many things for being two.  He is so smart and can remember peoples names, places, and key things that happened.  He also know where to turn to go to the library, walmart, and grandma's house.

I Love it When He...
- Dances.  He dances the best to "All About Airplanes).  It is so spastic and SO cute.  The other day we were doing yard work and Milo was bopping around the yard.  We had not seen him for a little while so we started looking for him and found him in the garage turning the stereo on and off.  Every time it would turn on he would do his classic dance moves. 
-Swims.  He loves the pool!  He can jump into the pool without floaties and surface.  He talks about going "under" all of the time.  He also loves the "fans" which are really drains at the bottom of the pool.  I think we probably went swimming over 50 times this summer. I am already excited for next year.
- Plays with Taya.  I always used to think, "How in the world will I handle two kids?"  Now I always think, "What in the world would I do without two kids?"  Milo is the best big brother.  I have never once had him get angry at Taya, or cry because he is jealous of the attention she is getting.  He wants Tay to sit with him, pretend to jump, and he is always asking her to chase him.  When I leave Taya in the car to carry in groceries or if she's in the house while I get him strapped in, he gets so concerned and will cry for "Taya come".
- Snuggles with dad.  Chris and Milo are adorable together.  It is obvious that Milo is crazy about his dad.  He loves for Chris to put him to bed and all day long Milo asks me, "Daddy come back?" 

I Can't Wait For...
- Milo to ride a bike.
- Feed himself.
- Halloween!
- Do his own laundry :)
It's hard for me to think of anything else, because I absolutely love this stage. I thought that 0-1 was great, but 1-2 ROCKED!

Below are the pictures from his 2nd birthday party.  We had so much fun, and it was so fun to share this day with all of our family and friends.

    

The Cutest Thing!

After being alone for over a decade, Hotts married Charlie.  It is obvious that they are both head over heals.  They act like high school kids.  They blush just talking about each other.

I love my grandma SO much and I am thrilled that she has found someone to spend the rest of her life with.

Walking down the isle:)

They held hands, shared dessert, and beamed at each other all night.

It was the cleanest cake feeding I have ever seen!
To the happy couple!!!

Why Camping at Home Rocks!

 

Smores taste just as good in your backyard as they do in the mountains.

Manly bonding happens anywhere there is dirt.

When you burn your dinner on the campfire. you can have a nice bowl of ice cream after and then throw your dishes in the dishwasher.

Your beautiful baby girl isn't drug through nature doing what we consider "fun" while camping. She looks real miserable eh?

This guy gets to have the time of his life without having to spend money or drive a long way.

Fire is fun anywhere!

No one is in a hurry to get "camp" set up when it's in your living room.  This leaves more time for:

Jumping on the tent like a tramp and having a bumb war while yelling "ouchewawa"

Running like a maniac on and off of it

and finally setting it up for peek-a-boo.

 When bedtime turns into a dance party, and the adults realize that no sleep is actually going to happen, you can throw your kid in their real bed and sleep in peace.

This is Milo signing bat... It's his favorite sign and he thinks it's so funny. had to be shared:)

3 Months--holy cow!

Things I love about Taya...

Her timing is perfect.

From conception to birth to now, Taya has been on her own schedule.

During pregnancy I was annoyed, but now I am so grateful that she beats to her own drum.

Like when Milo poops in 6 different spots and then screams bloody murder... Taya falls asleep in her crib by herself. 

Or when I'm burning stir fry with one hand, and shoving food into Milo's mouth witht the other... Taya kicks and coos on the floor.

She definately has her "needy" moments, but she always waits her turn, and then I get to enjoy our one on one time together.

She is a people person.  Tay isn't picky about who is holding her.  As long as they hold her out facing the world, she is a happy little bug.

But, the thing that I love the very most about Taya, is her smile.  I have never seen a baby smile so much.  She smiles when you say her name. She smiles when Milo laughs. She loves the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns & Roses.  The mom version or the rock version gets her beaming ear to ear. She even smiles while she falls asleep.  Her eyes will be closing and she'll flash you one of those grins, then when you smile back, she's got to smile again! She melts my heart with those smiles.

I can't believe that it has already been 3 months! I try to hold onto every day, because she is getting big so fast. 

The Last Days of Summer

I can't believe that it's almost fall.  It's kind of depressing really. However, I must say that this was an excellent summer.  Our pool closes on Monday, and I will greatly miss it!


So will Aliyah!

So will Milo!

We have been trying to soak in as much as we can this last week.  Milo can now jump off the side without floaties and swim to the surface.  Not bad for a 1 year old!  We are also so proud of Aliyah, because on her last pool day of the season she finally held her breath and went under water.  Now she can jump off the side and be as wild as she wants without breaking her mom's/aunt's/grandma's arms! Yeah!

People, people, people

I don't have any pictures of todays highlighted person.  But here's a shout out to Letha and Garth
We met Letha and Garth while we were in Hawaii.  They were probably pushing 90, if not already there.  Letha was finishing her degree (one class at a time), and they lived in student housing.  Garth once told us the story of when he met Letha.  He explained that so many other "heros" were crowded around her trying to get her attention, but that he knew that she had to be his.  As he told the story, Letha blushed like it was just yesterday.  They had 7 children together, and were still madly in love 55 + years later. They were the cutest old couple that you have ever seen. 
Some old people act superior, or disappointed at young people's efforts in raising a family.  Letha was never this way.  She didn't expect you to have everything together, and always had a cute story about some blunder that she had with her children that somehow put your current struggle into perspective.  She starts every sentence with, "do you know..." For example, Letha taught me one of the greatest lessons.  She started out with the classic "do you know..."  Then she went on to explain that with 7 small children, a house to maintain, and a million other things to do, there often came time when scripture study and prayer were overlooked.  But she said that they learned that even if they found the time for one verse together their life was much happier.  She explained that at first she felt ashamed that if they didn't have a lot of time to commit, they would just skip it all together.  But in her wisdom she said that even if they read one word of scripture, that meant that her children her one word from God and wouldn't we want our children to have that blessing every day?
Letha and Garth you are shining examples of what a family should be.  Letha I hope you graduate.   And Garth, you are the hero that won Letha forever.

mY PeEps #2

Missy McGary... Formerly know as Missy Cook.

Missy makes our list for many reasons:
1- We've been friends since preschool. 
2- We share the same name.  No we aren't sisters. We always think it's odd when people ask us this after we tell them our names... like our mom loved the name so much that she chose it twice? . . . Never quite made sence to me, but it's shocking how many times people have asked that question.  It reminds me of that Dr. Seuss peom about the mom who had fifty sons and named them all Dave. That's Dr. Seuss people, not real life.
3- She will sing "Once There Was a Snowman", and "Popcorn Popping" as we ride our bikes down the neighborhood just so Milo will be a happy bike rider and I can get some exercise.
4- She understands the beauty of napping, swimming, otterpops, and crafting. just like me:)
5- She'll jump on any bandwagon with me... Hawaii...Harry Potter...Air gliding...Modge Podge...Fads are so much more fun when you have a fanatic friend with you.

All jokes aside, Missy is a true friend.  A seminary teacher once explained that a true friend will always build you up, never persuade you to sin, and will always give you the opportunity to be better.  Missy does all of these things, but what is even more awesome is that she has always been that way.  All the way from Grandma Beverly's pre-school to self centered high school, Miss has always been a true friend.  She's never been the one to get tied up in trash that gives you temporary attention.  She's just always been the rock.  I can't remember a time when Missy didn't include everyone, flaked out, or demanded that she get her own way.  She is a true friend who will be my friend forever.