March for Babies and This Is The Place

Last weekend was the March for Babies for the March of Dimes.  I was a walker for our unit this year and managed to raise $110 toward our unit goal of $3000 this year.  Needless to say the weather was much less than ideal.  Monty and I had stayed in Salt Lake the night before to celebrate or 6 year anniversary.  Aunt Trina brought Mia down to Salt Lake in the morning (she had to be at Temple Square at 8am) so it worked out great.  The problem was, I wasn't planning on the rain.  Luckily everyone had sweatshirts but we didn't have any coats or umbrellas. 

 We definitely ended up pretty wet but not soaked so I guess that's a good thing.  They had Creamies for us half way through the walk...we were kind of wishing it was hot chocolate.

 The walk was at This Is The Place Heritage Park.  As part of being a walker we got into the park for free afterwards.  We promised Mia that after we went for a walk we would go see the baby animals.  She was so excited to go see them and kept asking for the animals all through the walk. 
Mia and the Donkey.

 They had a whole bunch of baby chicks.

 Mia even got to pet one of them.  It's hiding in my hands if you look really close.

 This poor duck just couldn't get away from Mia.  She was chasing it everywhere.

 It was pretty cool to see Santa's Reindeer.

 The poor sheep had already had their summer shave.  They looked so cold shivering in the rain.

 We went through a few of the buildings there too.  Mia got to color on a chalk board in the old school house.

 After Mia saw the train there was going to be no leaving the park without a ride.  While we were riding around the park on the train we realized we could see our breath and decided maybe we should head home.

 When we loaded Mia in the car and took off her muddy shoes her socks were soaked and her poor little feet were ice cold.  She didn't want to leave but was much happier once she was toasty warm in the car.

One night last week the power went out for about 5 hours.  It was on the hottest day of the year so we spent the whole evening outside.  We went to Subway to pick up dinner and had a picnic in the front yard.  After being outside for hours on end Mia was filthy by bed time.  We almost gave her a bath by candle light before I realized we have a big window in our bathroom and there was just enough sunlight left that it wasn't dark in there yet.  Mia thought it was pretty cool to get to take a bath in Mommy's tub.  She wanted to stay in there all night.  I have to say I am very jealous of her tan lines...and it's only May!

What a BIG girl

I can't believe how fast Mia is growing up.  Everyday she is doing or saying something new that surprises me.  She's definitely a bossy little girl who knows what she wants.  One of Mia's favorite things to do is help cook.  I used to try to keep her away from the stove but quickly realized the more I tried to fight her away the greater chance she stood of getting hurt.  She knows not to touch the stove or the sides of the pan and really does pretty good.  My stove top gets much more messy when she is "helping" but she's getting better at not splashing when she helps to stir.

 This used to be how Mia would cruise around outside.  Not anymore.  Now as soon as we're outside she asks for (more often demands) her big bike.

Look at her go...Cruising in style.

 We have a neighbor who has been nice enough to let us borrow one of their bikes. Mia is getting pretty good at it. She usually needs a little nudge to get going from the stopped position but other than that she is all over.

 We even have had one day that was warm enough (according to the dads) to run through the sprinklers.  Mia was frozen solid by the time she was done but had a great time.

 Every kid has their favorite movie and lucky for us Mia's favorite movie is "Buzz." I don't know if she realizes there are 2 different "Buzz" movies or if she just doesn't care but I find it nice that at least we have 3 movies to watch over and over instead of just one. It adds a little variety. When watching her movie she is usually in one of 3 places, in her tent, standing at the TV stand right in front of the TV or curled up on the chair.  This day was laundry day so I had the baskets out.  She dumped the clean clothes out of the laundry basket then climbed in, blanket and all, and stayed their to watch the movie. I thought it was pretty funny.

Idaho

The second weekend in April was guys weekend at the cabin.  Mia and I decided that instead of staying home alone we would head up to Idaho and enjoy a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Cobbley and Uncle Shawn.  It was a great break away and Mia had a blast!  They have an awesome new playground in Pocatello.  I think Mia would have stayed there all day if we'd let her.  Sadly we only had nice weather one day so we only got to go once.  We will definitely be going again next time we got to Idaho.  It's called an all inclusive playground so it had something for every kid of every age and ability.  Mia loved the big wide slide

 Of course she had to show off her dare devil side on it too.

They had various structures representing Pocatello's history.  Mia had fun playing in the tee pee.

 Playing on the train with Uncle Shawn

 Steering the massive ship.  I don't think Pocatello has ever had a ship but that's OK, it makes for fun for little kids.

 The rope net made me a little nervous but it didn't phase Mia.

 She made it all the way to the top without falling.

 What playground is complete without swings.

 This playground even had drums

 And chimes, Mia tried out her musical side.

 The best part was just getting to climb all over everything.

 I decided these were placed for parental enjoyment.  They are off balance cups so when the kids get in them they spin.  Mia wanted us to push her at first but she quickly realized any little bit of movement would cause the cup to spin.

 We were mean and kept pulling her out and making her walk around.  It was hilarious because she was so dizzy.  I should have gotten a video of her stumbling everywhere.  Luckily the whole playground has a rubber ground so when the kids fall they don't hurt themselves.

 Mia also discovered how much fun the poof pillow is.  Shawn would pick her up and throw her over the couch into the pillow.

 I remember doing the same thing as a kid with our old poof pillow.  Shawn even tried to show her how to jump off the couch into it but she doesn't quite have the jumping thing down so instead she would just stand on the couch and fall into it.

 She thought it was hilarious when Grandma got her with the vacuum.

 Even though it was cold outside Mia still convinced Grandpa to play with her on the swing set.

 She's gotten so good at using the big kid swings.

 Grandma even let Mia ride her bike in the house.  I've had to remind her a few times when she's trying to haul her bike in the house that we only ride bikes in Grandma's house.

 I went to the spring book club luncheon with my mom and Uncle Shawn babysat for me.  When we got home this was what we walked in to.  Quite the impressive fort.

 Mia hanging out with her Buddy!

 After a busy weekend of playing hard, this was the result on the way home.

Thanks for the great time in Idaho!

Easter

The weather has been getting warmer so we definitely took advantage of it Easter weekend.  Saturday we headed down to West Jordan for an Easter egg hunt with Monty's family.  Mia had a great time hunting for eggs and did a good job at it.

 She needed a boost from Dad to get the high ones.

 Quite the haul for such a little tyke.

 No trip to West Jordan is complete without playing with cousins!

Kids are good at finding ways to entertain themselves.

Mia's Easter basket.

 Easter morning Mia wasn't exactly thrilled to be woken up.

 She quickly changed her mind after she saw her basket.  Mia loves her alphabet puzzle and can tell you what about 3/4 of the letters are when you point to them.

 She had to put on her new hat, sunglasses, and "Elmo shoes" all at once...it was pretty cute.

 We saved the big surprise for after church.  It can be a challenge to get Mia out the door for 9:00 church without any extra distractions.

 Mia loves jumping on anything and everything...the ground, couch, bed, whatever she can get away with, so the Easter bunny brought her her very own tramp.

 She has tons of fun jumping and will get in there and just yell "Jump Jump Jump.

We've also taken advantage of the warmer weather lately and spent some time outside.  Mia and I had a picnic lunch outside one afternoon.

 I think our little artist ends up with more chalk on herself than on the sidewalk.

 Mia is very happy to have her "playground" (as she calls it) back.

 She even got to help daddy mow the lawn.  I don't know how much of a help to daddy she was but it was a huge help to me. :-)

 We are outside to ride bikes on almost a daily basis now.  Mia's getting pretty good on the neighbor's scooter.



Mia has also decided that she wants to do my hair since I'm always the one doing hers.

 It didn't work out so well for me.

 Mia has started to take interest in taking pictures.  She loves to take the camera, say cheese and then snap pictures.

 Maybe we'll have to put a bug in Santa's ear that she needs her own camera.

 Mia has become a double fisted drinker.  Personally I think drinking milk and juice at the exact some time would be pretty nasty but hey whatever floats her boat.

 On a positive note we have made some good progress on potty training.  We still have good days and bad days but more good than bad and she finally figured out pooping on the potty!  YAY!!!

 That is a laundry hamper not a sleeping bag silly girl.

 What a cutie!