Vacation

Well, I'm sorry it's been SO long since I last blogged. I've been a tiny bit busy hosting 5 adult family members in our little condo. :) Phil's parents, brother, sister and grandma came to visit us for a week. It was cozy but it worked. We had an absolutely fabulous time. We enjoyed the fellowship as it has been a couple years since we've seen anyone except Phil's mom. (She visited for 3 days after Taeya was born). I cried when we said our goodbyes last night.


We were able to do some exciting things this week. Here's a quick run-down of some of our favorites.

*Celebrated Sarah's 20th b-day. Thank you Naomi for the cake recipe. It was delicious! Everyone loved it.


*Played lots of games. Card games, Settlers (yes, Phil's dad is officially addicted) and video games. I LOVE games so I was in heaven with the card games and Settlers.

*Went whitewater rafting. So much fun! I've wanted to go since moving here but my pregnancy prevented it last summer. It was absolutely awesome. Check out the pics. We invited two others from our church to come, Katie and Jeremy. Graham from our church was our guide. He was GREAT! He's been a guide for 10 years and taught us so much both about rafting and about the area we live in. He made it so fun and informative.


*Hiked to Hanging Lake. Phil, Mom, Dad and Sarah all hiked. Grandma, Taeya, Timmy and I stayed at the bottom and relaxed.

*Went to the hotsprings pool for a day. Relaxing and restful.


*Had family pictures taken. I'm SO glad this happened as it's hard to get the whole family together.


*Phil and Dad went to a marble quarry one afternoon.



*Ate lots of yummy food. Mostly at home but Phil's family took us all out one evening to an Italian restaurant.


*Of course, both grandmas spent much time holding and playing with Taeya. She was sweet for everyone and a good girl all week. The only times she was really fussy was due to teething. She's officially teething and has already bit her tongue and made it bleed. I still don't see the teeth but they're coming in.

*Both Grandma's brought pictures from Phil's childhood. I have been working on scanning and organizing them for a photobook that I want to make later. I must say that my husband was one CUTE baby! What do you think?

I'm sure I am missing some important events but off the top of my head, this is what comes to mind. Family is truly a blessing. How I wish we were closer...to both of our families. They live on either side of the country and we live in the middle. Sigh. Someday Lordwilling.

I also need to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to my college roommate Michaela S. and her husband Ryan! I just found out they they had their first baby-a little boy- earlier this week! Congratulations on the birth of William Ryan S. :) So excited for you!!!!


Pics of our rafting trip taken by the company we went with. I have more pics to post later from the rafting trip.







Here are a few random pictures from the week. I will be posting many more later this week as I have more time. Enjoy!
Mom, holding Taeya at church last Sunday.

Sarah with her brother and cake. Happy Birthday!
Taeya really enjoyed getting to know her family more. She especially bonded with Grandma Z. She would turn to her voice by the middle of the week.
Great-grandma Judy and me. She's so sweet and kind. She enjoyed spending time with us and with her first of two-great-grandchildren and is a great card-player.



Aunt Sarah with her niece.

Pizza Dough Request

Phil and I have started a weekly tradition of making homemade pizza's after church every Sunday. I have been experimenting trying to find a really good pizza dough recipe. I've found some that are okay but nothing outstanding. I'm looking for a recipe that mimics the Stonefire pizza's from Santa Clarita. That is my all-time favorite pizza. If you have a great pizza dough recipe that you would be willing to share, please either post it to my comments or email it to me if you have my address. It would be MUCH appreciated!

This was our attempt at a BBQ chicken pizza. It LOOKED beautiful but didn't taste

beautiful. The BBQ sauce we used was way too sweet and overpowered the pizza and the dough too yeasty. If at first you don't succeed, try try again!

Life As We Know It

Another week has gone by and Taeya is approaching her 5 month "birthday." She continues to grow and change every day. The highlight for me from last week was when she starting giggling/laughing/shrieking really loud as I kissed her little neck. We had just finished swim lessons and I was waiting for my helper to shower so she could watch Taeya while I showered. I started kissing Taeya on the neck which made her laugh and laugh. It was sooo sweet. Jackie heard it all the way in the shower and of course I kept doing it because she loved it. She's only done it once since then for a brief moment. She definitely loves kisses from Mommy and Daddy though. She usually gets a big smile on her face whenever she's kissed. Oh, the memories we make. My dad reminded me to write them down as we think we'll remember them and we very quickly forget them. That's one reason I love to blog in detail. It's really a journal for me to remember things. I've found it very helpful as I've been working on my scrapbooking. It's so easy to look back and remember a few of the details that I've already forgotten.


Sarah, Mom & Dad, do you recognize the book Taeya is "reading" upside-down? I found it on half.com! (Squiggly Wiggly's Surprise was one of my favorites growning up).



Taeya reading her new book from Aunt Sarah & Uncle Chris. She LOVES it. Unfortunately, I've misplaced it and it's really bothering me as there's not that many places it can be...I just can't find it!
We went out for ice-cream on our walk down-town last Saturday I wanted this ice-cream the entire time I was pregnant but everytime we went...they were closed. :( I finally got my chocolate peanut butter ice-cream!
Taeya enjoyed helping me hold the cone. But mostly she just enjoyed the saddle-horn of the saddle we were sitting on.
Taeya loves her daddy. Can't you tell? She loves to talk with him when he comes home. Then she's usually ready for bed within a few minutes (if not already in bed). She's definitely Daddy's little girl though.

My new Mei-Tai carrier. I like it but I think I'll like it more as she continues to grow. Right now, I tuck her legs inside because they get spread really wide if I let them hang out. As you can see, it was a beautiful Colorado day. It's FINALLY starting to warm up around here...hopefully, we're done with snow for awhile.
Taeya enjoyed checking out the grass although she was a bit tired so there weren't many smiles. At home, she practiced rolling over some more. She's getting there although she's still not consistent but she's rolled over a couple more times on her own.

Our friend, Lynhaar, at my work bought Taeya this adorable outfit along with the jean dress she wore in the first picture. I love them and she looks so adorable in them both.
A toes pose...Taeya often has her feet in this position.


Getting ready to roll...
Half-way there.
Just hanging out on her side...

Video of Taeya's First Roll

I know I sound like a dork. Enjoy the video though.

A Special Day

Today was very special for a number of reasons. Here are a few.
*One year ago today, I found out I was pregnant with Taeya! (5.11.07)
*Today is my first Mother's Day with baby in hand.
*Taeya was dedicated to the Lord today at church. Phil and I will strive to raise Taeya to know Him and we will encourage her to have a personal relationship with Him as she grows older.
*Taeya ROLLED OVER for the FIRST TIME by herself and I caught it on camera! She's usually so laid back she never tries to move. Today she just slowly rolled over and of course it made me very excited for her. *I'll try to post the video later.

Happy Mother's Day to My Mom, Phil's Mom and all of our grandmas! We love you all!

I know I'm one of those crazy mothers who only posts about her daughter but I'm fine with that and won't make excuses for it. I don't mind being a little fanatical and Phil's and my family appreciate it so they can be a bit more involved in our lives.






At church, there's a lady, Bethany, whose first grand-daughter was born on 1/13/08 (Taeya's duedate) and lives in Florida. She always loves to see Taeya because it reminds her of her own grand-daughter that lives far away. So, I always let her hold Taeya each week at church and she gets to be Taeya's Colorado Grandma. The following is a picture of her with Taeya.

Lots of news...

This is a long one but I have a lot to say so sit back and get comfy if you're going to read it.



Some of you knew that Taeya's only surviving great-great grandma wasn't doing well lately. She had an infection in her leg and would have to have it amputated to save her life. She chose not to because she lived a long, full life and didn't want to go through something like that. She passed away this past Thursday. If you'd like to read more about her, click here. About two months ago, she mailed me a beautiful little dress that her daughter (Taeya's great Grandma Joyce) had worn as a baby. She asked that I take a picture of Taeya in the dress and send a copy to both of them. I took the pictures and planned on sending a nice copy to all of the grandma's for Mother's Day. When I found out Grandma GG didn't have much longer to live, we took the photos to the post office and sent them to her quickly to ensure that she would be able to see them. She was able to get the pictures in time but I am sad that I never got to meet her and she never got to see her only great-great grandaughter in person.


It was one year ago tomorrow 5.11.07 that I found out that I was expecting. I think it's pretty neat that the one year anniversary falls on Mother's Day. (Last year it was 2 days before Mother's Day and we told all of the family on Mother's Day). It seems like so long ago now. I was reflecting today on all of the morning sickness I had for all of those months. It's so wonderful NOT throwing up 24/7 anymore and having the reward of a beautiful, healthy baby to love and cuddle. It has been a wonderful journey and I have loved every minute of being a mother. Some days are harder than others but all are rewarding. Each evening, after Taeya is asleep, I love to walk into her room and touch her softly and thank the Lord for her. I am truly blessed to be her mother.

While on the sleep topic, Sarah M. asked how sleeping through the night is going. Taeya is doing very well for the most part. When she occasionally wakes up a few hours after going to sleep, I've been putting her pacifier back in and handing her the little bunny she loves to cuddle while she sleeps. Almost every-time she goes right back to sleep without needing anything else. Most nights, she's been sleeping from 7 or 8 all the way until 4 or 5:30. At that point, I've been giving her a quick feed and putting her back to bed. She then wakes up between 7 and 8:30. So, she's been sleeping longer and is only eating a small amount once a night. Seems like progress is being made. I'm happy with it anyways.


Notice anything different about Taeya? She had a big day today. The first thing we did was go to a local free fingerprinting, carseat check for kids at a local dealership. We originally went just so the sheriff's dept could check our carseat to make sure everything looked good with how it was installed. We weren't going to do the fingerprinting because we assumed she was too small. They said if she was at least 3 months they could do it so we had it done. She did fine but cried because she didn't like her hands being held still.

We then got our carseat checked. Everything looked fine but she cried during this too.

As I blogged about awhile back, we wanted to get Taeya's ears pierced before she got too old. I had forgotten about it for awhile but remembered this week so we decided to do it today as well. She cried when they were being done but calmed down very quickly afterwords. Phil and I think they look very cute and they look like they're positioned well...no mistakes for which we're thankful. The lady piercing her ears had lots of practice and did very well with Taeya. They gave her a certificate for being brave. I think it's funny because it says "This award is presented to Taeya B. C. for very special behavior while getting your ears pierced." Hahaha Very Special Behavior can mean a myriad of things! Anyways, it's done, looks great and she doesn't even notice that she has them.