CA & AZ

Back in March, we had some good memory-making moments. 

First, Grandma came to town! As always, we had a blast with her. On the drive home from the airport, she coined a song in response to Audrey's persistence in asking for cheese. It goes a little something like this, 

"Audrey loves chee-ese. Yummy, yummy chee-ese. Mmmm, mmm, mmm. It's so good." 

It has many verses (including "Mama loves chee-ese. Stinky blue cheese. Yuck, yuck, yuck. It's so gross." Because it's true, I do. And Grandma clearly doesn't.) We continue to sing it, inserting different foods. Sometimes it's true (milk), sometimes it's an attempt at brainwashing (peas). She loves it every time. And tonight she finished her whole bowl of peas, so thanks Grandma!

Before Grandma left we got to give her an early birthday present. In the process we took our only pictures of her visit. But they're winners, so it makes up for our earlier lack. As you can see, Audrey was thrilled with Grandma's idea to turn the bow into a headband. And now we know who she got her laugh from :)

This one's so sweet:

Before long we were off on a trip to visit Audrey's future husband. This picture shows that she has learned how to sleep on planes. Oh the joy of getting her own seat.

Picture taking lameness struck again in the fact that we didn't end up with a single group shot of the love-birds and happy in-laws. But between train rides, massages, golf, yummy dinners, and a trip to the San Diego zoo, Jamie and Eric planned an awesome weekend. And Finn passed Daddy's approval with flying colors. He didn't even seem nervous for their first meeting.

"He's so cute! What's his name?"  "Uhh, Finn..."
Apparently that conversation happens more than
you would expect.

This pic will probably get left out of the wedding slideshow.
So scandalous.
You're welcome, Jamie, for keeping your boy unexposed.

Zoo day finally came! We had been talking about the zoo with Audrey for a while, and she was pretty excited about the thought of seeing all the animals. Let's just say it didn't disappoint! Even now she points to pictures of animals and proudly says, "zoo!" like she remembers seeing them there. But then she also says it of pigs and cats, so her memory might not be perfect. She particularly loved the monkeys. However, she still calls all monkeys "George" after Curious George; and, I think I've mentioned before, in her dialect "George" sounds like "Jew," So there she was, eagerly pointing out all the "Jews" she was seeing. Luckily nobody else was within ear shot. Still, when I ask her what her favorite animal was at the zoo she'll say "Jew!" Awkward.

Just a couple mama's with their baby monkeys.

The fish were a hit, but they were also a distraction
from the two gigantic hippos swimming behind.
I don't think she ever saw them.

Walking through the aviary.

Finn decided he had seen enough, and to make it quite clear he showed us he could be louder than the bears we were standing next to. So Jamie and Eric took him for a drive while we hurried off to the giraffes. We saved the best for last. Audrey is still so in love with her pink giraffe ("Josh"), and getting to see the big Mama giraffes was a bit mind-blowing. She for sure had the longest attention span with them. We got a cute video of her saying "Wow!! Jo-osh!!" and pointing out the babies, but, of course, it won't load.

We then took off to the elephants, expecting the same excitement, but surprisingly she was pretty scared of them and kept burying her head in my shoulder. I stuck her back in the stroller to make our way up to the moose (another favorite, thanks to Grandma) but by the time I went to the bag to grab a snack and got back up to her she looked like this:

Clearly, that much fun is exhausting. (Skipping a nap might do it too.)

We said our farewells to the in-laws and drove up to Newport to give some belly pats to Audrey's second cousin. He'll be making his debut in July/August and we're pretty excited about it. (I just talked to Nicole on the phone tonight, and when Audrey heard me say her name she said "baby!" So maybe that memory is better than I realize.)

The next day my mom joined the three of us as we hopped on a plane and headed to Phoenix to visit my grandma. Sarah flew down from Redding to join in on the fun too. Ryan had a conference during the five days we were there, so while he was learning we were playing :) Audrey had only met Bashe and my aunt Ann when she was maybe five months old, so I was excited to introduce her to the rest of the Arizona family. Lots of aunts, cousins, and second cousins to meet! And I hadn't seen all of my cousins' kids in ages, so I was glad to get to see them again too. 

Except for a new baby, Audrey was the youngest of the kids, but seeing her sit at the kids' table for lunch and play with them in the yard made me so happy. She's such a big girl, hanging with the big kids :) Would it have been great to get a picture of all of them? Yes. Did we do it? No.

I couldn't resist the cuteness of her picking oranges and putting them in her basket.

The big kids climbed the tree, so RahRah helped Audrey get up there too :

Another day we walked to Bashe's neighborhood park. She got to show off her running skills (mainly pumping arms and walking fast), go down lots of slides, swing, climb, and even take a potty break under a tree.

portable potty seat = awesome purchase

When Daddy was done with his conference he would meet up with us for some play time. One afternoon it was in the hotel pool.

How hilarious is that wet ponytail?

 When we took RahRah to the airport Audrey learned how to make kissy faces for the camera. And the fact that Sarah got on that airplane somehow has supplanted all other associations of planes, because now, without fail, every time Audrey sees a plane flying overhead she says, "RahRah. Home." And I say, "Yep, RahRah went home on an airplane." Every. Single. Time.

Before we took off the next day my mom dressed Audrey in an outfit that she wore at Audrey's age. How adorable is this.

We taught her how to salute :)

And in that little backyard the sweetest thing happened. Bashe has a sculpture of an open Bible, just to the right of where Audrey is sitting in those pictures. Audrey and my mom were outside together, and luckily I came out just in time to witness this: Audrey grabbed my mom's hand, pointed to the Bible and said "JiJi, Bible!" Then she walked a little ways away, sat down, and folded her hands in her lap. When JiJi wasn't responding as quickly as she liked she said again, "Bible!" Then my mom asked her, "Do you want to hear a Bible story?" "Yes." So the BSF children's leader in my mom came back in full effect, and Audrey got a perfect little story about how Jesus is coming back! (The lesson we were currently studying in Matthew.) Then JiJi asked her two questions and got enthusiastic "Jesus!" answers to both. Both of our hearts melted. This is such a testimony of what she has learned in her little BSF class this year. She sees a Bible and she wants a story! She sits attentively and listens. Then Jesus is the answer! I'm so grateful for the teaching and training she got there. She's going to miss her teachers. Watching her give them goodbye hugs and kisses was so sweet and encouraging.

Another precious moment was when Audrey picked up a banana and alternated between treating it like a telephone and a microphone. But the best part came when she decided that it was Jesus she was talking to, and then she started singing a little "Ooo, Jesus. Ooo, Jesus" song into the "mic". Again, I have a video, but it's not uploading. Boo.

Our visit was filled with good food. Lots of laughter. Lots of watching Audrey trying to track down the "Meow," which kept avoiding her. And, of course, lots of good conversation. We love you, Bashe! Thanks for letting us come visit :)

Utah, Part II

The night before Audrey's birthday turned into a streamer-decorating competition. Marie brought the streamers and balloons and had the grand idea of tenting the dining area from the railing upstairs. So while she and Sarah worked hard at that (putting up with everyone's mockery of their attempts to throw the streamers back and forth) Lee and Jaimie blew up balloons and I decorated the chandelier and baked cupcakes. 

Then Lee decided balloon blowing wasn't creative enough and he had to come up with something cooler to compete with the streamer tent. When he modeled it for Audrey the next day she looked a little frightened.

The next morning the big two year old woke earlier than the rest of the house, of course. So she and I got to have some playtime downstairs, reading her Dr. Seuss Birthday Book and practicing saying "I'm two!" Then JiJi and Bop joined us in playing and pancake making while the rest of the family trickled downstairs. Audrey eagerly donned her princess crown and devoured her pancakes and bacon. We sang to her with two candles in her pancakes, that sadly were unlit due to not finding any matches. Didn't bother her though, she was just ready to dig in.

Then we got dressed and piled into cars to head back up to Wolf Creek and spend the rest of the day at Audrey's new favorite play place. Everyone got busy helping to cook and decorate for the birthday party lunch. I knew that a "woodland" themed party would be pretty much perfect considering the location and Anita's incredible supply of decorative items to pull it all together. And she did not disappoint! The table was decked out with trees, critters, candles, and even tree stump placemats. Sarah and Marie helped her pull it all together and also hung some banners I made. Jaimie decorated the cupcakes. Ryan and Charlie taped pretty labels on the drink bottles (essential items, I assured them). My mom made fruit kebobs and a toadstool caprese salad out of string cheese and cherry tomatoes. I micro-managed and cut bread bowls for the soup. And my dad carefully measured the distance of each balloon on the that he strung onto the balloon garland.

Uncle Boom sweetly changed baby doll diapers and drew on the chalkboard with the birthday girl to keep her entertained. Precious.

teaching her an important word

So here are some detail shots of the end result.

When it was time to sit down for lunch the birthday girl was more stoked about her juice box and the little animals than about eating. I think she might have said "done" after just a few bites.

she's all about stacking.

Then it was time for more playing!

Notice how her party dress even went with the woodland theme. Thanks Aunt Sonya!

veggie picnic with Bop

Before long we all decided it was time to go sledding again.
(I kinda think she's adorable in her overalls.)

her new favorite way to sled was just scooting on her bottom.

Then it was time to come back inside and open gifts before dinner (aka before the nap boycotting 2 year old had a melt down.) She was quite excited with the whole process and made sure to take time to try out each new item and say thanks to the giver.

this puzzle continues to be a huge hit

trying on her new fleece jacket

reading her birthday card from JiJi and Bop

And since we thought she was ready to crash immediately we went straight to the cupcake so we could attempt a decent candle-blowing and face smearing experience.

However, she was less than impressed...

She blew out the candles seconds after I lit them, with barely an expression on her face. So I re-lit them, and she humored us with letting us sing to her, then immediately did the same stone face puff that took them out without any appearance of effort. Either she's got a powerful blow, or those candles were weak.

She got a little more into the eating part, but apart from a few happy grunts it was still a pretty calm determined face to just try to keep eating as much as she could. And she, once again, didn't get nearly as messy as I had hoped. Just like last year.

Ok mom, time to clean my hands. This is just way too messy.

So, she took a few bites of dinner and then I was convinced she would fall asleep in my arms as I carried her to the crib, but man was I wrong. The chocolate cake kicked in as we were sitting in the rocking chair and she perked up and became Miss Energizer Bunny for the next two hours. But it led to some cute moments, so that was okay.
She and RaRah checked out the Christmas tree for a while:

Then we got a family picture:

Then someone (Ryan?) decided to drape her in the balloon garland, and she thought it was pretty much the best thing ever:

Exhaustion finally set in, and it took her barely a minute to fall asleep once we loaded into the car to head back to the condo. A careful transfer to her crib, another whisper of "goodnight birthday-girl," and we all hit the sack.

The next morning she was excited to try out her presents with her aunts, but she was mainly still all about the balloons! She thought the static hair look was a good one, and so did we :)

We had to leave late that afternoon, so it was a day of saying our goodbyes and soaking up our last hours together.

All in all, it was a perfect way to celebrate our big two-year-old :)