Born to Skate

The upside to Dallen loving his super cool skateboard, is that he LOVES to pose with it for pictures. The downside to having such a crazy active athletic boy are the bumps and bruises WE get along the way!!Pictured: Dallen's scrapped elbow and major bruised head, and Mommy's fat, bloody lip!!

I tried posting an adorable video of little D in action but blogger isn't working!! You can try and view it HERE

Anyone for a swim?

Don't worry, if we invite you over to swim, our pool no longer looks like this:
After lots of time, sweat and money, we daily get to enjoy this:
Oh yeah, and its snake free!! Did I forget to mention the time we were swimming with a snake IN the pool. Scariest moment of my life!! And if you happen to be looking, thanks Uncle Paul for all your help :)

Saving Some Pennies

Thanks to Kelloggs for sending us free stuff just for eating their delicious cereal! Dallen received his Toy Story, Mr. Hamm piggy bank in the mail this week and couldn't be more excited to start saving his pennies, instead of throwing them away in fountains :)

My Life Has Two Stories

Adjusting to life in a 2-story house has been interesting!! If only Dallen didn't wake up every morning saying "ba-ba" we could stay in bed and not have to go down to the fridge within minutes of waking up. Believe me, I am not complaining because it is much improved compared to our old 900 sq. ft. condo and WAY better than how we lived while waiting for carpet...

Poor Dallen couldn't go anywhere in his own house!! We had to wear shoes anytime we went upstairs, I kinda felt like I was at girls camp.
Now that it's all done, we love having all the extra living space. Dallen loves playing upstairs and downstairs and even likes playing ON the stairs.

BEFORE
AFTERMost of the obvious differences are in the bottom half of the picture, it just looks so much cleaner to me! Also, we hope to install white wood railings...someday.

Making Memories

For the first time ever, we let Daddy shave Dallen's head...and he looks SO cute!! D made his surprise face when he saw himself in the mirror and said "cute" when he saw the pictures :) Check 'em out:BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
Some other things I want to remember about Dallen, having just hit 22 months old:
*He loves to sing Jesus wants me for a sun"beep"
*His opposites are opposite: he mixes up off and on, up and down, etc.
*When he wants to sing "do as i'm doing", he does jazz hands way down low and says "highers"
*My picky eater, eats what he wants, when he wants, and there is no telling him otherwise!!
*Just the other day he started repeating "thank you's" in prayers
*He now says "you're welcome" after saying "thank you"
*On that note, he is so polite and reminds you to say "thank you" by saying "your welcome", and says "excuse you" when necessary ;)
*He knows most of his friends and family members by name and picture
*He loves to pose for pictures now (although he rarely poses long enough to capture it), but only if he can see them immediately after
*He can count to eight, he just gets there differently, 2,5,8...??
*He thinks everything is blue, but I think his favorite color is actually orange cause thats his favorite marker
*Every since we got back from CA, he spontaeously starts saying "and then, Disneyland, and then, Mickey Mouse, and then, Disneyland, and then, skateboard, and then shoot hoops, and then..."
*He imitates my sad voice and says "Mommy sad" and gives me kisses
*He loves to talk on the phone now, but fully believes you can see him!!
*He is adorable as ever, and the cutest, most energetic, Momma's boy I know :)

From Bottom to Top

When we bought our new house, we knew it had good bones and great potential. Since it was a short sale, we also knew it would need a lot of work. We are slowly working our way from the bottom to the top. We replaced the carpets and baseboards throughout and painted every last wall and ceiling in all 1700 square feet. We still have SO far to go, but it's a great beginning.

BEFORE
AFTERTo save money on these gorgeous baseboards, we are caulking, sanding and painting them ourselves and we're probably about 40% done. Needless to say, that is still a work in progress but they are maybe my very favorite touch we've added!!
To say that getting our carpet was a major headache would be an understatement. We originally ordered carpet through Home Depot, then they backordered them by a month. So we turned to Mark's cousin who got us an amazing deal. After living for weeks with no carpet, receiving the wrong order the first time, and the delivery truck breaking down the second time, we finally got our beautiful carpet and couldn't be more pleased!

We have SO many projects to tackle and so little time to do it, so you'll have to see things the same way we're doing them, piece by piece. Here's to hoping you get to see another piece real soon!!

Double Dipping

Just to clarify, Friday on our actual anniversary, we went to dinner and a comedy club in Scottsdale. So fun!!As our gift to each other, we are going to Hawaii in ONE MONTH!! We are going to Oahu for a week, with the whole family to take little Uncle Scotty to college!?!? Mimi, Grandpa, aunties and uncle are gonna take Dallen one night so we can re-celebrate our Anniversary as our gift to ourselves. Yea, it's kinda like double dipping ;) Can't wait!!

5 Years Ago...

...on a day that is starting to feel like a distant memory, we chose to spend eternity together!! And we're still happy with our decision today :) Happy Anniversay to us, let's go celebrate Aloha-style!!

Do a little dance...

Over the weekend we flew back to CA to attend a major event in Mark's family, a Gardner wedding. Just like always, it did not dissappoint!!

Dallen was plenty entertained waiting outside the temple...

Balancing on the curbs:
Climbing in the bushes:
Smiling for the camera:


But the reception was where the real party was at...

Trying to get the first bite of cake:
Hugging cousins:


And doing a little dance:
What a party!! And a great opportunity for some adorable photos :)

Celebrate Good Times!!

Last week on Tuesday Dallen, Shayla and I drove up to Flagstaff to surprise our best friend (Mark's cousin) Lyndsie and help her celebrate her birthday in style!! We could not have had more fun:We took her to Chili's for lunch:The boys found ways to be entertained while the Mommy's caught up:We got caught in a rainstorm: Then the boys played in the remnants of the storm:
And finally we were graced with a rainbow on our way out:Happy Birthday Lynds!! I hope you stay 29 forever ;)

When it's SO hot outside

Unlike other states in this nation, we spend our cool winter days outdoors, enjoying the weather. In the summer, when its SO hot you can hardly stand to be outside, we have to find other creative ways to have fun and keep cool, like...

Eating ice creamPlaying in air conditioned arcades
Find a comfy spot in the shadePlay in the sinkObviously, LOTS of swimming
And always a good hose down

Speaking of hot, when we moved to AZ, I thought for sure there would be no reason to hang on to our snow clothes, but on the off-chance we might need them we kept them. It turns out, my snowboard helmet has been put to good use afterall:
Dallen wanted desperately* to wear a helmet when he rides his bike, just like Elmo (*and by desperately I mean threw a HUGE tantrum when I didn’t buy him an 8 year old helmet at the store)!! Luckily we found this, and he was plenty happy to wear Mom's gigantic old helmet.

Celebrating Independence

{Photo courtesy of Independence Day 2010}

For several months now Dallen has become more and more independent with each passing day. Everything is "myself" and I am not allowed to help him. He loves to help me carry stuff, walk alone, push his own stroller, help with the chores, drink from big boy cups, and so much more. Dallen can totally communicate to me with words what he wants, needs and dislikes!! I feel like (and he thinks) he is all grown up and although it scares me, I am so proud of him and the little man he is turning into.