Sunriver: Snow, Sun, and Cold

Hazel,

We were invited to go to Sunriver with the Hortons and some other new friends, David and Marlo a couple weeks ago. We had such a great time relaxing in the warm house while it was super cold outside. Daddy went snowboarding on Saturday with the other boys while the rest of us hung out and played, went for a walk to Goodies to get some yummy treats. You had some gummy candies for the first time and loved them, but your favorite part of Goodies was all the stuffed animals they had on their shelves. You loaded our stroller with some. When we were ready to go I put them all back, or so I thought. About a block later (while using the restroom) I realized you put one in the basket under the stroller, so we had to do the walk of shame back to return your stollen goods! Gets even better since I found another toy when we got back to the house! Sheesh Hazel, we really need to have a talk about not taking things that aren't yours!

Everyone else left early Sunday, but we decided to stay until Monday. Daddy and I took you and Parker to play outside while everyone else was packing up. You guys had so much fun playing in the 1/2 inch of snow!  We tried to go for a walk Sunday afternoon, but as you can see from the picture below, you were so cold (so was Mommy) that we only lasted outside for about 10 minutes! Poor girl, your hands were so cold they were numb when we got back...sorry about that. All in all we had a great time with friends and with our little family. It was so relaxing to get away.

We love spending time with friends and as a family!
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Beach Family Fun

Hazel,
We started a tradition a couple of years ago of going to the beach with Nana, Papa, Aunt Al, Uncle Ty, and Aunt Hannah. We had so much fun then that we decided to do it again this year! We stayed at a great house right by the beach in Pacific City. The weather was mostly stormy (lots of sideways rain and wind), so we spent a lot of time inside cuddling, playing games, eating yummy food, listening to music, dancing around, talking, and playing with you! We did get to go for a walk on the beach when it wasn't stormy on the very last day. Although we didn't take many pictures of the rest of the trip, here are some from our walk. Such a great time to relax and be together!

I know the last one is pretty blurry, but it's a picture of all of us, so I'll take it!
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

OMSI

Hazel,
The day after Christmas we went to OMSI with Aunt Al, Aunt Hannah, and Uncle Ty. You had SO much fun! I was a little nervous that the activities would be too old for you, but you loved it!! Everybody loved showing you new games and toys, and you definitely loved watching. You threw balls to watch them go round and round, you watched pop bottles be blown into the sky with air and water (Aunt Al's went the highest :), you helped Daddy and Aunt Al make sail boats to sail, and you climbed all over the crane and building station. At the end we went up to the little kids area. You were getting tired so we only had a few minutes to play there, but we will go back! So many fun games and activities that you would love!! We'll have to go back with some friends!

We love taking you new places and trying new things!
Love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Christmas Fun 2011

Hazel, we had such a wonderful Christmas this year. We got to celebrate both Jesus and Daddy's birthdays! It was so fun to watch you explore both wrapped and unwrapped gifts! You did a lot of ooh-ing and aah-ing. We still need to work a little on your gift opening face, but you sure did love the process of opening your gifts, and would say "tink-too" every time. It was pretty funny that you loved opening socks just as much as you loved opening big toys!! We spent the morning at our house, and then went over to Nana and Papa's and played and opened presents with them, Uncle Ty, Aunt Hannah, and Aunt Al. We even ate a really really yummy dinner to celebrate Daddy's birthday!

Such a wonderful time!
We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Tree Hunting

Hazel,
We decided to find the perfect Christmas tree this weekend. We got all bundled up to go to our favorite little tree farm just down the street, only to drive by a completely empty piece of property. Turns out there were no trees there this year! We ventured on down the road a ways to find another little tree farm in someone's backyard! It was perfect for us. We walked around and you pointed to all the trees, stomped on some branches, and explored! Everything was great until we had to pack the tree in the car. It kind of cramped your style. You didn't exactly love the tree branches in your space!

 

We got the tree home and even got it decorated that same day. After crying the first few times you saw it in our house (pretty sure you thought we were going to put it in your crib or something), you loved looking at the pretty lights and ornaments. Every time you looked in the room you would say "ooh"! You'd even run in there just to check if it was still there, "mama, tree. oooh"! I have no explanation for the last picture. You found your sunglasses and the picnic blanket and wanted to sit with both! You are so silly and cute!

We love you silly girl!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Those Things You Do

Hazel,
It has been way too long since we've updated on our everyday (or more appropriately your everyday). You are 19 months old going on 2 1/2. Seriously, your vocabulary is amazing. You say new words everyday, so much so that half the time I don't know what you are saying, and only realize what you meant later. One of my favorites is how you say "k" instead of "yes." Mommy must say "okay" more than she thought! Just in the past couple of days you have started saying "thank you" (sounds more like "tank too") all the time! You are such a sweet girl. Your other favorite is "cuck" (truck). You and mommy get to spend some time in the car to and from school, and you spend a lot of the time pointing to all the "cucks" and even say "big cuck" when you see a semi. Jeannie got you a really fun Tonka dump truck that you either put your baby in, some blocks in, or you sit in it and ask Daddy for a "ride pees" (ride, please). You love truck rides from Daddy!

In addition to all the talking, you are also moving more and more like a big girl. You run and run, you walk up and down the stairs (with just a little help), and man oh man do you climb. You like to stand on chairs, tables, stools...really anything you can manage to climb on!

So many other new things too....you are turning into such a helper: bringing dishes to Mommy, cleaning up your toys, wiping your own face! You love watching videos of puppies on the iPad, but still haven't figured out that when you push the home button the puppies go away! You also LOVE reading books. You go through phases with which book is your favorite. At night you sit in either Mommy or Daddy's lap while we read to you. Right now your favorites are "moon" (Goodnight Moon), "A's" (ABC book Aunt Hannah got you - by the way, you can name so many of the animals and other things in the book), or "cup" (Pucker Up Buttercup). You still love bath time! You play and play with the fun bath crayons nana got you, or by putting your blue hippo on a bath book and push it around. Daddy calls it "hippo island"- so silly.

Hazel, you are so much fun and so full of joy! You smile and laugh all the time, and we love you so very much. You are such a blessing to our family.

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Trick or Treat 2011

Hazel,
We took you trick or treating for the first time this year! Aunt Al and Ashlee were here too. We started the night with a Jack-O-Lantern pizza...so cute and yummy (and a great way to pack in tons of fun on Halloween night)! Then we got you all dressed and headed over to start the trick or treating fun at Caden and Jorie's house. You were all smiles until we took you out of your pink plastic car to take pictures - rookie mistake. Once we put you back you were ready to roll. When we got to the Emmert's house, Shane and Caden opened the door and Shane held out the bowl of candy and you just kinda looked at him. He put a candy in your basket and you looked and looked at it. Then Daddy told Shane that he wanted a Kit Kat so Shane put one of those in your basket too. The best part was that as soon as he put that one in your picked it right out and put it back in their bowl! You then proceeded to take like four candies, it was great! We ended up hanging out with them and walking around with them too. We are lucky to have such fun friends so close!

Such a fun night to spend with friends and family!
We love you!
Mommy and Daddy