Summer Update

Here are some of the things we've done since I stopped blogging :) We built a sandbox in the backyard, which we have spent MANY hours in this summer.We took a trip to St. George for Steve's B-day in April. This picture is one of the lizards that we caught. We also went swimming, hiking and played at parks. Somehow I only have a picture of the lizards. We took a trip to Cedar City in May to see Steve's sister graduate. This is what Ethan spent his time doing during the convocation. After Melanie graduated we took a girls trip to California. No kids... that was a weird but wonderful experience for me. This is me outside of the Newport Beach Temple. We went to Disneyland and the Beach also. It was a great trip. We went fishing with friends on Deer Creek. This was both of the kid's first time on a motor boat. Chloe liked it (minus the life jacket). Ethan did not like it. We went to the Strawberry Days rodeo and had a great time. My favorite is always the Mutton Bustin'. In June we took a trip to Bear Lake for the Davis Family Reunion. We had loads of fun on the beach, in the pool, four wheeling and just hanging out. For the Fourth we went up to Tower and Grandma and Grandpa rented a side-by-side so that we could take the kids with us. Ethan LOVED it and Chloe liked it once she got used to the idea. For her it was just another drive in the car seat, but much more bumpy. We have also been doing lots of swimming at the pool and in our yard and at the ranch and in Salem Pond. I don't happen to have any pictures of these things because me+camera+water=disaster. Maybe I'll update again when it's fall and I get the camera out again.:)

Pictures and Some Walking

Ethan Age 3
Chloe Age 1
Watch this video on mute if you want to NOT hear the very very proud mom in all her annoyingness :)

Silliness

Chloe thinks it is fun to have me put these glasses on her, and the pull them off and repeat numerous times :)Ethan thought it would be fun to hoard the pen drawer and try and put them all in his pocket. Apparently I'm going to have to go get him a pocket protector.
This is of Chloe who can stand up all by her self... she refuses to walk though, that would be too much work.

What was I doing five years ago today?

Only the best thing I've done in my life :) Five years and loving it.

Goings On

Christmas morning: Ethan is elated to see that Santa has some how managed to find a red spaceship, red astronaut and a green alien. Go Santa!

Cousin Thomas and Chloe, going to town on Thomas' Christmas treats. Yummmm....Here we are about to go snowshoeing.It was beautiful and very fun, as always. This time we turned the snow into a picture frame.Here is one of Steve's many stellar jumps. Talk about extreme snowshoeing :)We also spent some time sledding. Chloe and Thomas didn't really know what to think, but everyone else had a great time.This is the way the Davises sled... nice ride up, fun sled down. Sure beats walking up the hill.Here is Chloe, gearing up for the big moment. That's right folks, she is finally one. Happy Birthday!

And also, Starring Ethan as Mr. Potato Head

GROSS!!!

I woke up this morning, and was getting the kids breakfast. I went to get out a plate and noticed some special little droppings in my drawers. YUCK. I called Steve and told him about it and he said he'd take care of it when he got home. I spent the rest of the morning hand washing all of my dishes. I have never missed a dishwasher so much. When Steve got home he went about setting some more traps, and checking the old ones. And this is what he found...

Hopefully it is the same little guy who decided to defecate on my plates. We tried to feed it to the cat (who won't even eat the food we put out for it). She didn't want it. Oh well.... I'm still totally grossed out.

Ethan's Birthday and Santa

Ethan wanted a yellow dragon cake for his birthday... this is my attempt. It was very tricky to frost, so we just say that it looks scaly. The main thing is that Ethan loved it. Here he is blowing out his three candles.This is one of his presents; Grandma Davis made this really cool batman cape for him. The kids also got to go and sit on Santa's lap, this is their second time. Ethan always asks for the same thing, a red rocket ship with a red astronaut. I have no idea where he came up with this, but he has it stuck in his head. Chloe was a little nervous, but she made it through the picture :)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year in St. George with Steve's family. We had a wonderful dinner and then decided to go work off all that extra pie we ate. I don't know the name of this place, but it's up by the Dixie on the mountain and Ethan just had a ball climbing on all the rocks.

To crawl or not to crawl... NOT to crawl

Just thought I'd share Chloe's funny scoot :) She doesn't just do this on the wood floor, she does it EVERYWHERE. The carpet all through our house, the grass... she's pretty good at what she does.

ROOAARRR!!!

Sometimes I wish that blogging came with the option of sound effects because E's dragon costume made it so he couldn't stop roaring like a dragon. Now, to some of you this might look like a dinosaur, and that's because it probably is, but to Ethan it's a dragon, there is no telling him otherwise. Chloe was a giraffe, and in this particular instance, she was trying to eat like a giraffe. We had a lot of fun Halloween festivities, but I think the costume part was the most blog worthy, so that's all you get :) Maybe I'll toss in a couple of pumpkins for good measure.

Cute Kids and Fall Foliage

I just thought I'd show how cute my little baby is! And my big boy too :) Steve says that the picture of Ethan looks like he is in a third world country... it's really just our front porch. We also got to go four wheeling to see the pretty changing leaves. We brought Ethan with us, he went in the side-by-side with Grandma and Grandpa, and he LOVED it... I somehow failed to get a picture of just how much he loved it, so you'll have to imagine. I did get some pictures of the leaves though, and Jon and Cami, who came with us. I love fall, it is one of my favorite times of year, because of the leaves and all of the soup I get to eat :) Hope you'll all enjoying the change of seasons!

Calf Creek Falls

We had a wonderful time taking the kids camping before it got too cold. This was Chloe's first time and she LOVED it. By the time we got home she was covered in sunscreen which was covered in sand and had leaves coming out of her mouth... she really was one with nature :) We camped at the bottom of the trail head. We spent Friday playing in the creek, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and trying to get all of us comfortably in our small backpacking tent to sleep. Saturday morning we got up and hiked to Calf Creek Falls. I had Chloe on my back in the baby carrier. Ethan walked the first half mile and spent the rest of the trip on Daddy's shoulders. The waterfall was beautiful, and cool after a tiring hike. I can't wait to take the kids camping again... next stop: Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse Canyon :)

Steve's Attempt at Blogging

Hello all,
This is Steve, I decided to try my hand at blogging. :)














Here is Chloe getting ready to go for her first bike ride.














Ethan enjoying the carnival and fiesta days!














Chloe in all of her chubby cuteness.

Evil Eye or Blue Steel?

Chloe has the giggles!

Yes, we are alive...

I know it has been a long time since I posted, and according to our blog we still live in Idaho. Turns out that we moved (one of the reasons that I haven't posted in a really long time). When we finally got settled and all of our boxes unpacked and got back from our trip to Bear Lake, I realized I had no idea where the camera was (the second reason for no posting). I looked for weeks, through all of the storage through every nook and cranny and there was no camera to be found. I was bemoaning the fact to Steve, when he asked if I had looked in the suitcases... no... I hadn't, and so that's where it was. Now that I have my camera back, I'm all ready to update :)
Here is a picture of the beautiful 150 year plus home that we are living in. We share the house with a number of God's other creations (namely; mice, beetles, earwigs, spiders, mosquitoes, and more flies than you can imagine, even if you just moved from Jerome.) We also share the house with Mildred, who is the Ghost who inhabits the upstairs. I only put that in so that those of you who have lived in haunted houses can swap stories with us.

Just before we moved, we took a trip down to Las Vegas for a seminar for Steve. We moved in the middle of June and were in our new place for about a week, then we were off to Bear Lake for the Davis family reunion. When we got back from that Steve went full tilt in getting his new business set up, and I am proud to say he is finally to the point where he is treating patients... yes, it takes that long! This is Ethan at the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus in Las Vegas. He was too little for most of the rides, but he sure liked the kind you put the quarters in. We also spent a good amount of time swimming in the Lazy River at the Monte Carlo where we stayed.

We got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Ethan was so excited to go and kept asking when we were going to Oquirrh Mountain to touch the temple. He loved being in the temple and was surprisingly well behaved. He only attempted a couple of times to put his feet on the carpet that hadn't been covered. :) And little Chloe? She just keeps growing and growing and growing. When she grows she gets taller and chubbier and cuter :) Hopefully I'll be better about posting now that I have my camera back. Here is a funny video of Ethan. He has reverted to baby talk, especially around Chloe, and he has started making up his own songs, which is a weird Taylor trait. I'm pretty sure Lauren taught him this one :)