December 2014

Before we headed to Wisconsin for Christmas, we got to enjoy JJ's preschool Christmas program.
JJ had been working so hard for the month of December and was singing songs all month long.

He is holding the list of songs, I think there were 15. The kids did so well.

They were all so cute.

I took a lot of videos because Joe could not be there.  I could not smiling the entire time, the kids were so great.

Taylor loved watching her brother. 

After the show.

Funny quotes from JJ

Yesterday JJ was full of it.  He was hilarious.  I just need to write two quotes down.

We went to the zoo yesterday-

JJ-"Mom can I make a wish in the wishing well"
Mom-"Sure"
JJ-"I am going to wish for my own wishing well"

Smart kid.

Last night at bath time-

JJ-"Mom when I am seven will I be a person?"
Mom-"What, you are already a person" "Do you mean a big boy?"
JJ-"Yes a big boy!"


My favorite moment yesterday-
Jayden was such a great boy at church and spent most of the time sitting next to me reading one of his bird books. It was a blue mass and we were thanking law enforcement personnel.  Many men and women were in uniform and JJ thought it was pretty cool (I did too)  We were trying to teach JJ about how we are saying thank you for protecting us and keeping us safe.  He looked at me and said "but mommy you protect me?"  Oh melt my heart. One goal I have had as a parent is for my children to always feel safe.  They may not always like what I have to say but they know that I will keep them safe.


Thanks JJ for making me smile every single day!!

Catching up before things get crazy!

Taylor is now 15 months old, almost 16 months. She weighs what JJ did at 8 months.  She still is off the charts for her height and her head size is not far behind.

She is extremely social but still very shy at first. She is just a very happy child.  Not sure how Joe and I got so lucky.  Taylor does whine a little bit more than her brother and that is probably our fault....I was overly cautious and willing to give into every little whimper....

She uses sign language to communicate and has a few select words ....like Mom, Mom, Mom...never uses it just once.  Dadda, Banana, Lanie, and JJ are her other favorites.  She also says Uh-oh when she drops something on the ground, usually on purpose.

Taylor has a fake cry....just like her brother.  It is comical to watch. She also loves skype and gets very excited to she her Grandparents' faces.

She doesn't walk but did take 5 steps several times over the past few weeks. She loves to stand by herself, so any day now and my life will be a little harder.  With her brother, we had to do very little to baby proof our home.  Taylor likes to get into everything and can find the one cabinet I have not secured and just yesterday she had fun with her hand in the toilet.

Our kids love when Daddy walks in the door after his day at work.  JJ is usually at the door the moment the garage door goes up.  Below is a video of Taylor and her excitement!

Jayden is getting smarter each day.  He now listens to every conversation even if you think he isn't paying attention.  He loves birds.  He loves animals.  He has loved Star Wars for a while but now loves Star Wars legos.  I think his dad is a little excited to share the new Star Wars movie with him. Jayden loves to read ....more memorizing but he tries every day to sound out words.  He misses Hawaii and his friends.  Luckily one of his friends from Hawaii has moved to SLC and he loves her. We were very fortunate to share Thanksgiving with her and her family.

We had some photos taken of our family in Park City this fall and JJ stole the show. But we also did get a couple cute ones of T.

And T

Thank you to all the visitors we have had too.  We have been very lucky to have so much of our family out here to visit and even share in some of the holidays.  Can't wait for more.

Halloween 2014

So it wasn't a nice Hawaiian 85 degrees outside but I will take mid 70s and crisp leaves falling from the trees.

JJ had been saying that he wanted to be Darth Vader again but once he tried on the costume, he decided he wanted to be yoda.  JJ wore the same costume when he was 1 (the exact same one)  He had a large head when he was little :)
We were originally planning on having Taylor wear Yoda (she can't talk yet, so she can't say no) but since JJ wanted to wear it, I realized yesterday morning I needed something for her.  We ran to the store and what was staring me in the face C-3PO.  Poor girl, that is what she got.

JJ was excited to wear his costume to school today.  And when he got home we talked about going trick or treating.  He told me that he no longer wanted to go.  I asked him probably about a million times if he was sure.  I didn't want to push it but I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't wake up tomorrow and want to go. Even my husband offered to take him to the neighbors.  He just wanted to put on his ears and hand out the treats.  He had a blast.  He didn't stop jumping and moving around.  He loved it.  So much more fun that walking around the block.  We all sat on the porch and met some of our neighbors. Perfect night!

I was also surprised that older kids liked pencils and every one loved vampire teeth!

Happy Halloween!

We have a 4 year old

JJ turned 4 this year!  4! ...I just can't believe it.

I asked him what type of birthday he wanted this year and he said Thomas the Train....not too shocked by that.

He was so excited for his birthday but understood he had to wait until it was his turn to celebrate. It was also a great lesson to talk about the months and day's of the week.  He now knows the order of everyone in our family has a birthday--grandmas, grandpas, aunts & uncles included.

This was a big year for Jayden.

He finished his first year of preschool and started his second
He fell in love with Birds (thanks auntie Sarah)
He fell in love with all wildlife (thanks uncle Casey)
His favorite books are the night before anything...and any book on birds or nature (adult editions)
He has an amazing memory and can remember everything....I mean everything
He loves Star Wars and wants to be Darth Vader again for Halloween
He loves his new friends and misses his Hawaii friends a lot
He doesn't really want to share his baby toys with his baby sister
He loves to talk about States and wants to visit all of them.  For a while, his favorite state was Maine
He learned to count in Spanish
His favorite thing to do at the beach was to run and look at crabs
He went on his first road trip and it was without mommy or daddy.  He still talks about Colorado and wants to go back :)
He could live at the Tracy Aviary in Utah or become a tour guide
He remembers how to get anywhere---and corrects you if you go the wrong way
He says his prayers every night before bed
He gets so excited when Daddy gets home from work
He loves to go on rides like the ferris wheel, helicopters, boats and he can't wait until he is big enough to go on bumper cars. He can spend a whole day at Bay Beach (WI) or Lagoon (UT).
He loves to bake and gather all the ingredients.

JJ wanted to spend the day at the zoo and loved visiting all of his favorite animals.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Happy Birthday JJ!  We love watching you grow up!

A Big 1st

We now have a 1 year old in our house.  The year started a little differently than we had anticipated but we now have a healthy, happy 1 year old.

This year has been many firsts for our little lady.

First time meeting daddy & mommy
First time meeting big brother Jayden

First smile
First giggle
First cuddles
First meeting grandmas, grandpa's, aunties, uncles and friends.
First tooth ( now has 8)
First time crawling (still loves the army crawl)
First airplane ride (8 hours)
First time in the pacific ocean
First time meeting Mickey & Minnie
First time at the zoo (she has been to 3 different zoos)
First bites of food (this girl can eat and will eat anything)
First word (I will have to give this one to DADA....she said MAMA too but she says Dada a lot more.  She also says banana)
First time on a swing and giggled the whole time
First time pulling up into a standing position (done right before 1st birthday)
Favorite books are touch and feel books

So many other memories....baptism, meeting her first cousin and moving from Hawaii to Utah


Last 12 months.

Her first official photo

Happy Birthday!

Thank you to everyone who helped make her birthday special.  

Happy 1st Birthday Miss T!

Missing Hawaii

This morning we saw a commercial for Aulani (the Disney Resort on Oahu).  JJ stood up on the couch and said, "Mommy that is our island".

He followed it with "Mommy, when are we going back", "Do you think they are worried about me?", "Sophia is worried about me, so are Mickey and Minnie"

I told him we would be planning a trip there next year.

He asked "Are we going there for good?"

My response "No we live in Utah"

JJ "I want to live in Hawaii, they have a better zoo"

At least he worries about the important things.  Also have to add....the zoo in SLC is actually pretty good.  It isn't next to the ocean with a view of  Diamond Head but it is still a very nice zoo.