Orlando Temple Trip

Our stake has been announcing our Stake Temple Day for the last 2 and half months!  It has been a big deal as Southern Florida has been trying to prove that we are a temple worthy area...it must have paid off because if you haven't heard we are getting a temple here in Fort Lauderdale (announced at the last conferance)!

The Orlando Temple has never done 1000 endowments before in one day so our stake along with another stake set a goal to reach that mark on October 23rd, 2009.  We decided that we wanted to be part of the Millenial Stake Temple Day - so along with our friends the Batemans we packed up the kids and headed to Orlando on Friday.  We left right after school and made it up there around 3pm.  We watched their kiddos while they did a session and then they watched Taija so that we could.  It was great to just be a part of that day!

We spent the night in Orlando (let's be honest...who wanted to make a 3 hour car ride twice in one day with 3 kids) and headed home today!

Taija in her big-girl car seat!

Taija thought it would be fun to wake daddy up in the morning!

Miami Metrozoo

It has finally cooled off here in Florida so we decided to go to the zoo!  We drove down with our friend's the Batemans (BreeAnn, Sophie and M.J.)

Taija trying to see the tigers!

the giraffe's were pretty cool - you could buy branches with leaves on them to feed them...we just watched some other people do it

Taija had more fun just running up and down the ramp to see the giraffe's

I hauled Taija around in her wagon...the last time we went to the zoo we tried her stroller and she didn't like it as much.

Taija and MJ (he is only 6 months older than her, but so much bigger)

All 3 kiddos in the car!

We had so much fun at the zoo!  Thanks BreeAnn, Sophie and MJ for joining us!

Halloween!

My little devil!

Taija's FIRST Birthday!

So I finally got all the pics from Taija's birthday party! Enjoy!

This was taken before the party started...it was supposed to start at 5:30, but people didn't start showing up til quarter to 6...I was a little worried that no one would come to her party!

Taija's cake!  The theme was butterflies and flowers!

We took our wagon - ALL of the kids loved it and wanted turns riding in it!

Party people!

Taija and Mommy opening gifts!

We had so much fun - thank you to everyone who came!  Love you guys!

One Year Pics

So...today I took Taija to get her pics taken at Target!  We even had some taken in her Halloween costume...those pics to be posted later.  Enjoy!

Grandma's Visit

This past week my mom came to visit us!  Yay for Grandma!  She came because on Friday Taija celebrated her 1st birthday!  Enjoy the pics!

Taija waiting at the aiport!

At Taija's Birthday party - more to come soon!  My mom took all the pics on her camera

At the beach on Grandma's last night

Gifts from Aunty Kate

Thought you might enjoy these pics of Taija opening her present from her Aunty Kate

Fort Lauderdale Children's Museum

Today we went with some friends to the Fort Lauderdale Children's Museum.  To be honest it wasn't that spectacular of a museum...but Taija had fun.  There was a little Toddler area where she could run around, but most of the stuff was for older kids.  Not to mention there were a million other kids there!

Taija fell asleep while we were looking at some of the exhibits

This was a section of the little toddler area

Fun Day at the Beach

Taija in her wagon!  She decided she was afraid of the waves so we spent most of the time walking around with her in the wagon!

Taija in the car after the beach!

Sailboats - there were a ton today!

Taija's so happy when Daddy comes Home!

BIG smile!

This is Taija's latest face - she squints her eyes!

The other day I took these pictures as Justin was coming home from school. Taija always has the hugest smiles saved up for when her Daddy comes home!

Taija goes to the playground!

Today Justin and Kate (she is in town for the weekend) took Taija to the park while I worked (I was line judging at NOVA). Justin took some video of here going up/down the slide - she loves to climb up and slide down. Sorry our camera doesn't have sound...Enjoy!

Our Place

I thought you all might want to see where we are living these days...

This is Spike looking over the stairs from the little balcony area

This is our bedroom - it's huge! We made a little study area for Justin in the corner. We also have a full bath connected to our room and a big walk-in closet.

This is the spare room/computer room/scrapbooking room/storage room!

This is the cat's area/hall. There is also a 1/2 bath on the 1st level.

This is our front room - Justin and his parents hung up all my pics the 2nd day we moved in! Now it feels more like home.

I am missing pics of Taija's room as well as the dining area/kitchen...I will post some pics of Taija's bathroom too. It's a cute little safari theme!

Poor Sammy

Our kitty Sammy is a long-haired cat. When we moved from Utah he got these nasty matted fur knots all over his back and on his haunches. So after talking to a friends whose in-laws have a long-haired cat that is shaved once a year we took our Sammy in to be shaved too. Below are some super funny pics. They shave everything except his head, a tail poof, and down his legs. Poor Sammy all we could do is laugh!

Taija's First Steps

So I thought that you all would enjoy this story...the other day Justin, Taija and I were up at his parents house. We had to drop his Grandma off and so we were just hangin out for the day. Well, his dad came home and we had already been there for a few hours so we were getting ready to leave, but he insisted that he needed to talk to us and play with Taija. Pa was sitting on the couch and Taija was about 2 feet away and he said, "I'll give you $1,000 if you walk towards me." (He is always doing these random give aways, but only offers the big money when he doesn't really think they can do it) So, we are all telling Taija to walk towards him and SUPRISE she took her first 2 steps! All for $1,000! Well below are some pics of Taija in her wagon that was bought with some of her money...she loves to go for wagon rides!

Super sad...our computer was being stupid and we lost those pics! More wagon rides coming soon - with pics!

Taija's First Time at the Beach

Taija loved the beach! She liked to play in the water as it came up over her toes.