February Favs

Just a few of our favorite things this February:

 I love this girls smile.  It usually involves a wide open mouth, sometimes even with a tongue hanging out.  She finally got those top two teeth and tries to eat everything she sees us eating, especially if it involves chocolate or sugar of any kind.  Watch out if you are holding a brownie.  She with use both her hands to push your hand & the brownie into her mouth.

She loves to hang onto our legs when we are in the kitchen trying to clean or make dinner.  It makes it a little difficult to get things done.  But we sure think she is cute.

 She is a walker!  I wouldn't say she has completely given up crawling, but her preferred mode of movement is definitely walking.  She can stand up on her own and walk across a room.  I think much of her motivation for walking is to keep up with her big brother that she loves to follow around.  I am trying not to be too sad that she is growing up so fast and concentrate on being grateful she is developing.

 She loves the newest addition to our house.  I do too.  It has been so fun to be able to play again.  I have missed having a piano for 13 years.

Brigham loved having Grandma and Grandpa Barth visit.  He enjoyed playing his "trumpet" with grandpa during the chicken dance (which he is a big fan of lately).

After a few days of adjustment he seems to really be enjoying the bunk beds grandma and grandpa brought.  They are the same ones Aaron slept in when he was little.  He likes to turn on the little lamp on the side and "read" his books in there.  His latest favorites are the Berenstain Bears.

He has loved having Ty and Kylee come over to play and build forts with him.  He asks for TyKylee just about every day.  

On President's Day we started a 1000 piece Disneyland puzzle.  Brigham was fascinated by it and loved "helping" with it.  We had to find places to hide it when we weren't working on it.  He found it this day and was so tempted to pull it out.  It was really difficult for him to resist.

 I'm happy to say we finished the puzzle and didn't lose any pieces along way.  It is glued together so now Brigham can just stare at it and point out all the things he likes.

Brigham's favorite toy since our trip to Denver has definitely been his new Toy Story toys from cousin Jacob.  He loves these things.  He calls them "toy story 2" and it is one of the first things he asks for or looks for in the morning.  He spends much of the day playing with them, setting them up in Andy's room, moving them into the castle, putting them in buckets and pans and shoes, hugging them, galloping with them, and sleeping with them.  It is hard to get him to leave them behind when we go anywhere.  It is also hard to protect them from baby sister.  She can tell they are prized possessions that he doesn't want to share, so when he isn't looking she sneaks up and grabs one and crawls away as fast as she can.  

It's been a good month. :)

Colorado

 We just got back from a fabulous trip to Colorado to visit the Davis family.  My mom and I planned the trip months ago, before they actually moved there, and have been really excited to visit their new home.  Brigham was so excited to use his new suitcase.  He looked so cute pulling it around the airport.  The flight there was rather uneventful and then we made the long trek through the Denver airport to meet Julia.  As soon as we got outside Brigham started asking "where Jacob is?" and was so excited when they pulled up.  Our first stop was to get some food.  We love finding new and interesting places to eat, and Biker Jim's was definitely interesting.  They had hot dogs made from rattlesnake, elk, reindeer, wild boar, pheasant, duck, and buffalo.

We spent our first afternoon at the Children's Museum in Denver.  The boys LOVED this place.  They could have spent all day there.  They got to be firemen, vets, cooks, scientists, and grocery shoppers.  Brigham loved the grocery store and kept heading back there for more shopping.

  On day 2 of the trip the kids spent part of the morning playing outside!  It was even warm enough for short sleeves and bare feet.  

In the afternoon we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  This place was awesome!  Brigham loves animals so this place was perfect for him.  They have 18 giraffes including a cute little baby one.  You can feed the giraffes lettuce and they will walk right up to you and stick their big black tongues out and eat out of your hands.  Brigham was brave and had no problem walking up to them and feeding them, even when his hand ended up inside of a giraffes mouth.  He just laughed.

Lexi thought they it was pretty funny to watch me feed the giraffes and started giggling whenever the giraffe would lick my hand and I would pull it away.

We saw a gorillas, orangutans, hippos, bears, lions, zebras, and a tiger.  We couldn't see the elephants because they are remodeling their home, but Brigham seemed almost as excited about seeing the huge elephant statues outside.  When we left the zoo he started clapping and saying "bye animals."  Every time we went out to the car after that trip he would say "Animals?  Animals?" in hopes that we were going back.

On day 3 we made a trip to the dentist.  It was Brigham's first time and we had been practicing opening our mouth for the dentist all morning.  When he got in the chair he was a bit nervous, but Dr. Davis was able to peek in long enough to see that his teeth look good.  We left the kids with a babysitter in the evening to celebrate Julia's birthday early and try out a local BBQ joint that was really yummy.

 On day 4 we thought about taking the kids to a bounce house or indoor playground, but decided they loved the zoo so much we should just go back there again.  It was just as much fun on the second day.  We got to see a hippo training session where they brushed the hippos teeth and fed them.  The Orangutans were really fun to watch too as they were eating, relaxing, and swinging on their ropes.

 Some of the best times we had were watching the kids play around the house.  They built trains, fought over cars, wrestled on pillows, danced, tasted toys, read books, and just had a great time together.

Jacob was such a good cousin to Lexi and loved to help her walk around the house, bring her toys, and give her hugs and kisses.  She loved all the attention she got from him.

 Brigham loved spending time with Jacob.  This was their goodbye at the airport.

The flight home was more eventful than the one before with a delayed departure, Brigham spilling his entire drink, Brigham putting most of the bag of pretzels in his mouth at once then chewing them up and then spitting them out all over his chair, Lexi wiggling all over the place and refusing to sleep and dropping her pacifier every few minutes.  As the plane landed and came to a stop Brigham clapped his hands and then put them in the air and said "I did it."  Yep, we did it.  We survived.

Thank you Davis family for such a great trip.  We loved being able to spend so much time with you and do so many fun things.  We sure do miss you, and we are so glad that you have moved a little bit closer so we can see you more.

Snow, Snow, Snow

We have had lots and lots of snow dumped on us the last couple of weeks.  It has been a few years since we have had snow storms like this.  We have spent most of our time inside doing lots of reading, playing, puzzles, movies, singing, naps, cooking, marching, and dancing.

We did enjoy a couple afternoons outside when the snow died down a little, the yucky air pollution and inversion were gone,  and it warmed up a tiny bit.  The snow was perfect for making a snowman and a little sledding hill on this day.

We came up with some makeshift snow clothes for Lexi and she enjoyed sitting outside in a sled and watching Brigham play in the snow.  This is her on the driveway with snow piled a good 6-8 inches higher than her head in the background.

Brigham loved watching dad throw snowballs, even when they were being thrown at him.  He kept asking for more.  It was fun to watch him try to walk around in the snow that was up to his knees.  He loved being outside again.  We had a hard time getting him to come back in.