What we've been up to....

It has been awhile since I posted last so I'll try to catch you up in one post!



Derek and I took a night off and went to cheer on his favorite college team....Purdue...I mean University of Arizona! The game wasn't in our favor but we had a great time with our friends and cheering for the Cats anyway! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Bob for watching Taylor! We know she had a great time!




We took our first fall/winter trip as a family to the zoo! Taylor and I were actually at the zoo three times within that week. I guess we are getting our monies worth! I would venture to say, she has the most fun when daddy comes along!







We celebrated Grandma Bonnie's birthday! Taylor and Derek decorated the cake and had a blast, we hope you liked it as much as they liked decorating it! As you can see, she had two great helpers when it came time for the presents!



My parents came for a visit!! Mom and dad were able to spend Thanksgiving with us this year. When they are able to come for Thanksgiving it really helps me get in the holiday mood...mostly because I make them help me put up our Christmas decorations! We went back to the zoo for zoolights, it was a beautiful night and not much of a crowd since we went during the member preview. Taylor was probably pretty thrilled Grandma was there, she let her ride the carousel twice!! Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bert...I'll be keeping my decorations up until you get here in January to help me take them down haha.

















We decorated for Christmas!! We let Taylor help this year and she actually did a great job! We picked several ornaments that she could put on the tree....so from the perspective of a 2 year old, they are at just the right height! I tried to balance it the best I could, but figured, hey...I do this for her, so she should enjoy it the most!





Anyone want to come for some gingerbread?? Probably not after watching this video...again she is a great helper, as long as the health department isn't around! Actually I noticed after I posted this, it isn't the video with the licking of the candy before placing it on the house, she's doing pretty good here haha!







And finally we've been taking nightly walks to check out all of the lights in the neighborhood! This year our neighbors really stepped it up and there are a bunch of houses that decorated! Of course, Taylor's favorite is her daddy's tree...which has been quite the labor of love. Unfortunately my picture doesn't do it justice, but trust me, we are very proud!

Deer Valley Airport

We live very close to a small airport....I should elaborate...it is small in size, however, is the 2nd busiest general aviation airport in the nation. Lets put it this way, there are a LOT of planes that fly over our house! Taylor LOVES it and generally will stop to listen to each one and identify if it is an airplane or a helicopter. One of her favorite outings is to head over to the airport and watch the planes take off and land. There is NO shortage of action at this airport! Today was even more special, we heard from a neighbor that there were Bomber planes from WWII that were parked at the airport and you could walk right up to them on the tarmac!

It was so neat to be so close to this plane and be able to check it out! Taylor loved it and kept saying "big plane, I ride on it?"! She is so use to the small planes that fly in and out of the airport! After checking out the B-29 we went to show daddy our special spot where we watch the planes take off and land...all she wanted to do today was go back to the "big plane". I hope this really cool plane didn't ruin her love of our little airport!

Happy Birthday Bea!

Our niece Beatrix turns 2 today! We can't wait to celebrate at her party tomorrow! Taylor however, has been celebrating all week...this has been her song of choice, in the car, on our walks, at the dinner table, while taking a bath, while playing blocks.....you get the idea!

Happy Birthday Bea! We love you!

Trick or Treat!

Here's a video of Taylor going to our neighbor Cindy's for her first trick or treat of the evening! She cracked me up how she walked right up there like she's been doing it for years! When she was done, she said "Goodbye Cindy, I go back to Bubby (her friend) now." Guess she didn't want to be rude, just taking the candy and leaving!

Here are some other pictures from our night! Thanks to the Troyers and Kimels for spending the evening with us! We had so much fun with all of you! And a friendly reminder for Ryan....Halloween is MINE! Haha!

We had such a cute little Flapper, Fisherman, Colt and a cute little baby Jordan to show off around the neighborhood! Can't wait for next year!

Halloween Fun!

We had such a great time last night! This was the first year we took Taylor Trick or Treating, and we had such a blast! She was very excited about her costume and couldn't wait for the big reveal to daddy!

Here's the big reveal...

I am guessing I'll never get two videos to post on the same blog, so I'll do another one!

More fall fun...

October has flown by! I can't believe tomorrow is November! Although, I am excited at all the next few months will bring...my parents for a visit, a trip back to IN, our new nephew, A visit from my sister and her family, a visit from my best friend Elizabeth and her family! Whew, after all of that, time might fly until March!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last couple of weeks!

At our favorite mini pumpkin patch..St. James Catholic Church! We waited too long to head to a real pumpkin patch this year...so we went with our backup...or in our case the same place we've gone every year for the last 5 years or so!

This year's pumpkin! Derek once again used his power drill...I think this will forever be his favorite method of pumpkin carving!

There will be more to share after trick or treating tonight! Hopefully we'll get some videos as well! Happy Halloween!!

A quick trip to IN

Taylor and I just returned from a super quick trip back to Indiana for my sisters baby shower! What a fun....extremely QUICK weekend we had! Here are some highlights:

Helped Grandpa Bert with his Jeep!

Helped Grandpa carve a pumpkin...and played with Ollie A LOT!

Celebrated Baby Schrock and spent time with my sisters, mom, Grandma and my moms cousin Sue!

Lots of hugs and kisses from Grandma and Grandpa.

And I got to spend a little time with my best friend Elizabeth, her adorable little boy Josh and her hubby Jeff!

As you can tell, we made the most of our quick trip!