Taya's Birthday!

Holy moly my baby girl turned 2! It's crazy how time seems
to just fly by sometimes! Anyways, we had a great party day!
The kids and I drove in to Phoenix to meet Mike for lunch.
We went to Peter Piper Pizza. The kids had a blast!


You know, every now and then you just get that perfect
cheesy grin pic.


Here's Taya on the train (choo choo)!


That evening we had a little birthday bash at our house.
Jesse, Jaymie and Henslee came over.


We made Monkey's favorite treat (aka: bananas with peanut
butter and chocolate chips). Super tasty!


Dillon really enjoyed the chocolate chips. In fact he couldn't
even smile at the camera he was so busy eating. :)


Opening presents

She was pretty excited about everything!

More presents

This was the climax...

...Tada!...a kitchen! She also got some clothes (the hat

she's wearing) a super stylish pair of boots, accessories for

the kitchen and a cozy coupe car.

This is the monkey cake. I was pretty proud of how it

turned out. (notice the 2 candles in the bottom left corner)

Taya is wearing her favorite PJ's, her monkey ones. These

were the inspiration for the theme of the party and the cake.

Attempting to blow out the candles!

Hooray, her very own cozy coupe. Dillon got one when he

turned 2 and Taya loves it. They are always fighting over his

so we decided she needed her own. And it's pink! Now they can

both cruise around in the back yard together!

We had a super fun time! Thanks so much to Jesse, Jaymie, and

Henslee for coming and celebrating with us. Taya had a great day!

She is so much fun to have in our family. She loves to play with her

big brother, she is talking up a storm and she loves to sing.

We love her very much! Happy Birthday Taya!

Cracker Jax!

Saturday night we went to a place called Cracker Jax.
It is a family fun center in Scottsdale. There is an arcade,
go carts, and mini golf among other things. Dillon and Taya
had so much fun playing in the arcade. They got lots of tickets
and prizes!


Dillon got to drive the little go karts all by himself! He
was so excited and he loved it!


Taya wasn't big enough but she had a sucker so she
was happy just to be hangin out!


Dillon is a cautious driver, he wasn't going very fast but
he was making the turns and staying right on the road!


We all went mini golfing. What an adventure! Taya just
had fun carrying her club and pink ball around (she had to
have the pink). Dillon stayed one hole ahead of us and just
played and played.


Mike and Dillon went on some bumper boats together.
They had a blast, Dillon was laughing the whole time! I
tried to get some pics but they were way blurry.

We had so much fun! Dillon keeps asking when we get to
go back.

Update...

Here's an update on a couple of things...
Over Labor Day weekend we went for a little drive
to see the Arizona Supreme Court (where Mike works
for now doing his externship). Across the street from the
Supreme Court is the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum.
We walked over to check it out. It was closed but there was
a couple of cool things outside to see.

This giant mural on the back side of the building. Wow
that is super awesome! (Mike, Dillon, and Taya are standing
on the right by the truck.)


Here's a close up just chillin with the workers!



A giant bucket that once was attached to a huge
excavator. Did I mention huge!!!



There was a small mining train on the track so
of course Dillon was lovin life!

A giant wheel that once belonged to a mammoth

dump truck like the one in the mural! It was pretty

cool to see, we'll have to go back some time when it's

open.

Dillon started Preschool last week. He is loving it!

Yes, I took the traditional first day of school pic!

What a cheeser! He must be excited!

Taya needed to get a picture too because it was

her first day taking Dillon to preschool!