The rest of November

Apparently I've been a slacker lately keeping up with the blog.  We have just been staying busy and getting ready for the holidays has just kept me distracted I guess.  We had our first snow storm and Mia got all bundled up and went and played in the snow with Monty.

Mia loved just walking around in the snow and looking back at her tracks.

 We've been building lots of Lego towers at our house lately.  Mia loves to build them up as high as we can get them and then knock them over and laugh.  We just need to get some more Lego's so we can build a taller, more sturdy tower.

 For Thanksgiving Monty and Mia went to pie night at Monty's parents house (I had to work).
The Borrowman's love eating whip cream from the can and they are teaching Mia early.

 Mia loves her some pie!

Her cousin Sara was very helpful in the clean up.

 Thursday morning when I got off work we headed up to Idaho and spent 2 1/2 days up there.  We had a great time.  We went shopping on Black Friday, ate lots of food, and played lots of games. 
Mia used Grandpa as her own personal horse.

 Grandma has some pretty cool puzzles that are almost as big as Mia is.

 Uncle Shawn was making and blanket and tied Mia up in the scraps.  She thought that was awesome.

Mia definitely loves her uncle Shawn.

No trip to Idaho is complete without a trip to the hot tub. 

 This year we put Christmas lights up on the house, and when I say we I mean Monty.  (THANKS HONEY).  I still need to take a picture with them on though.

 Mia kept herself busy riding her bike.

 Mia helped out with the decorating by wearing the stockings.  Eventually they made it to the mantle.

Mia is all ready for Christmas.

 

 

Park City

I have been a bit of a slacker keeping up on the blog lately.  We've actually been doing some fun stuff in between all our busyness.  The first weekend in November we went up to Park City for a fun little get away.  We stayed at a great little condo.

 Mia loved playing in the pool.

 I forgot her puddle jumper and she was definitely disappointed she couldn't swim by herself.

 We even got her to jump in the pool a little bit.

 I'm a wuss so I spent most of my time in the hot tub.  Mia enjoyed it too.

 The next day we went shopping at the outlets.  Mia's favorite part was the playground.

 She made out like quite the little bandit.

 She LOVES her new hoodie.  Most the time she won't take the "hat" off

 That night when we got home, Mia slept in her big girl bed for the first time.

 After just one melt down she settled down and slept great.

 The next day we went to the zoo.  Once again Mia loved the monkeys.

 She remembered the big elephant and waited very patiently for her turn to sit on it.  Which is shocking seeing as she doesn't have much patience.

 She loved the metal cats.

 Somehow we forgot a stroller so when she tired out she caught a ride on dad's shoulders.

 Mia has started taking her diapers off on a regular basis and telling me they are ucky.  Well, I figured maybe she was ready to potty train.  That was 3 long and disastrous days.  I finally gave up after she'd peed in my work shoes, in her crib, on my kindle (luckily it was in a plastic bag), all over the floor, bar stools, and about everywhere else you can imagine.  We did have a few successful potty trips but they were too few and far between for my sanity.  Maybe we'll try again the beginning of the year, but she was cute in her big girl panties.

Halloween

This year we decided to paint pumpkins instead of carving them.  It was a really good call with a 2 year old.

 Mia had a great time

 Monty painted a pirate.

And I painted a clown.

 We were kind of surprised at how little paint Mia ended up with on herself.

 All done

 I bet you can't guess which one Mia painted.

 Mia was a New England Patriots cheerleader this year.

 She thought she was pretty funny putting her bucket on her head.

 She got to go trunk or treating with Tom Brady (aka Monty in costume).

 Mia figured out the whole trick or treating thing pretty quick and had a great time.

 Our little Halloween Diva!

Baby Doll Surgery and the Zoo

Conference weekend my parents came down to visit from Idaho.  On Friday we had a girls day out and spent the day shopping and went to lunch.  I worked Friday night and then Saturday we had girls evening out, while the guys were at the Priesthood session of Conference, with Aunt Carol and Julie and did a little more shopping and then went to dinner.  Sunday evening we went over to Carol's to play games.  The baby that Mia got for her birthday has already stopped working (that's what I get for buying it on clearance back in March) so I asked my dad to take a look at it to see if he could fix it.  That's when things got interesting.  My dad was upstairs working on the doll and Mia was running around everywhere.  After a little bit I all of a sudden heard her cry out "BABY" very concerned like and on the verge of tears.  I went upstairs and Mia was standing in front of my dad with her hand over her mouth and this is what she saw.

Not a pretty picture

  I think we slightly traumatized the poor girl.  Luckily baby was back in one piece to take home, but without peeling her entire face off (it wasn't going to come off any further without cracking) there was no way to figure out what was wrong with it and so no way to fix it.  Now it's just a normal quiet doll, but at least it came out of surgery no worse than it went in and Mia seems to be OK now.

On Monday Mia and I went to the Hogle Zoo with my parents.  It's been a long time since I've been there, even longer since my parents have been there, and Mia's never been to the zoo.
At the gate.

 Mia and Grandpa looking at the elephants.

 They have a big elephant that blows water out it's trunk.  Since summer is over it's not as exciting now but Mia loved it.

 Mia and I in the Eagle's nest

 One of the grizzly bears was having fun playing in the water.  Mia got really mad at me and threw a fit because I wouldn't let her go over the fence to go play with the bears.  It was pretty funny.

 They had a baby giraffe that was just 2 weeks old.

 Much smaller than it's mama but already over 6 feet tall.

The stroller was about a lost cause.  Mia just enjoyed roaming and running through the zoo.  Luckily it wasn't very busy.

I think this tiger was hungry.  It just kept pacing back and forth by the entrance to it's habitat.

 Mia was more interested in the fake tigers.

 And of course the lion drinking fountain was the coolest.

 The monkeys were Mia's favorite but somehow I didn't get any pictures of her with them.  She would run along the glass saying "OO OO AH AH"  It was really cute.  We did get a picture of her sitting on the ape's head though.  It wasn't actually a seat but Mia wanted to try it out so Grandma let her.

 We had lots of fun at the zoo and we get to go back in less than a month and Monty gets to go with us that time too.