Thursday, July 29, 2010

We Finally Did it!

We finally bought a house! We moved just a few things in tonight. Skye's already found her favorite new play area under the stairs.
She was excited to play with some old toys she hasn't seen in months.
There will be more pictures to come...

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Cute Things

Every age has it's fun, special, unique parts. Right now, Skye is at the age where she says the funniest and most random things. We were at the park one day when she said, "Mommy, I like you. I think you are really beautiful." I told her thank-you and that I thought she was beautiful, too, to which she responded, "Well, I am kinda pretty." Kids look the sweetest when they are sleeping.
I've often found that the times I'm most overcome with love and happiness for her are moments when I spy her sleeping--looking like a precious little angel.
Yesterday, my dad was singing "The ants go marching..." song. Like most kids, Skye is interested in bugs and likes watching them. So he asked her if she had seen the ants marching outside. She firmly responded, "No. Ants don't march. Only marching bands march. March, march, march." Kids are so logical!
Skye loves my mom's cats--maybe a little too much. Chiang here does a pretty good job putting up with the hugs, squeezes and harassment, but the other cat, Squeakers (or Freakers as Skye calls him) isn't as tolerant. My dad told Skye he and Cookie were going to the temple. She told him she was going to stay home with Mommy. Then she said, "The cat (meaning Freakers) is mad at the temple. He doesn't like the temple." Where did that come from?

One last funny story. In an effort to try and help Skye get over being picky when it comes to food, we have started putting several things on her plate--even things we know she may not eat, just so she can see it and have the option of trying it. I put some of the pasta salad we were eating on her plate. After awhile, she finally noticed it, picked it up, said, "I don't like this," then stuck it in her mouth! Unfortunately, it fell out of her mouth and she didn't try anymore. But it was funny that she would try it after saying she didn't like it. Kids are worth it just for the entertainment they provide!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I Totally Forgot...

to post these pictures from the children's garden at Thanksgiving Point. Lance and I took Skye there a few weeks ago. Of course I immediately started taking pictures of flowers. It looks like this one became a little snack for a little grasshopper!
We saw these baby birds in a cave/tunnel at the gardens. We also saw the parents flying in with food.
I love water lillies!


It ended up that Skye's favorite part of being there was playing with these wooden blocks. After quite some time, we had to slowly coax her away from them.
Skye's a big Toy Story fan. These forked pieces of wood became "the claw."
Another fun part was Noah's ark! There was a sign saying it was broken so I'm guessing water usually shoots out of the ark and the animals, but there was a pool of water surrounding it which was fun just to run and splash in.


We also had fun in the garden maze. We really did get lost in it! I'm glad we're finding some fun things to do in Utah.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Fishing Fun

My parents took Skye fishing to a trout farm a week and a half ago while I was hiking with my friend. I was a little worried how she'd react because she's pretty sensitive when it comes to animals. We were walking up the driveway one day when we saw one of my mom's cats and a dead baby bird he had caught. Skye was extremely sad and started crying. But she ended up having a great time fishing and even caught two fish!

I heard fun stories of how she liked catching the fish and putting them in the bucket and how she'd stand so close to the edge of the water. My dad said she'd never stay in one place long. If she didn't catch anything right away, she'd move on to a new spot. They took her to look at another of the ponds, thinking she'd like to just look at the fish. Once she found out she couldn't catch them with her pole, though, she didn't want to have anything to do with them! I'm glad they took her on a fun outing and look forward to taking her myself someday!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Outdoor Adventure Part Three: Wildflowers

I feel so lucky. We caught the beginning of wildflower season in Phoenix before we left, seeing and capturing on camera some beautiful flowers. And now, we get to enjoy wildflower season in Utah, too! Lance and I saw tons of these beautiful, bright white flowers on a hike we took in Mill Creek canyon yesterday. We were also amazed by this island of yellow flowers in the middle of the river.



This big, pink poppy was sitting all by itself, still in bloom.
Lance noticed this baby bird as I was taking a flower picture. It held so still.
Other wildlife we encountered included dozens of butterflies. There were orange and yellow ones, too, but these black and white striped ones were the most abundant.

Something else I enjoyed were all of the cabins we hiked by. I just had to take pictures of a couple of them that I liked.
I wish we could have a cabin like this to retreat to in the summer. That would be so nice!
Here I am standing on a bridge that crosses over to one of the cabins.
It was such a beautiful hike. It was a nice, cool day in the mountains and we were surrounded by green everywhere!
And all the colored flowers. There were so many flowers! Yellow...
Purple...
Yellow and purple...

Wild white columbine...

And pink! It's hard for bright pink not to catch my eye.

This is where we finally turned back a couple of miles into the hike. It was hard getting a good picture of Lance because the bugs had finally found us. He had to swat something away right as I took this picture. Bugs, heat, and exhaustion finally convinced us to go back.
But we still enjoyed the sights and sound of the river. Once again, I'm so happy to be living near the mountains again! It's so good for the soul!


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Outdoor Adventure Part Two: Climbing

After hiking in Big Cottonwood last Friday, I had to go back. So Saturday, Lance and I took Skye and my brother to BCC for some climbing fun. It was a bit hotter Saturday, but just in case of a freak snowstorm, Skye came prepared with the ice scraper! Here's Travis climbing this ultra fun crack.
Skye had a blast being outside. Her favorite thing was attaching quick draws to whoever was belaying, then weighing them down with rocks so they'd be safe. It was so cute!
Attaching a long chain of quick draws to Lance before belaying Travis.
Me climbing! We did a few different climbs that were all so much fun. It was such a great day and a great time.
Lance climbing.