Trip to AZ.....Picture Overload

Taisley and I were able to fly to AZ the end of January because Kenric came home from his mission!!! He served the Mississippi Jackson Mission for 2 years. I was so excited because he had never met Taisley before. My sister, Melissa, and I were both pregnant when he left so he was able to meet Taisley and Kamden for the 1st time.

Here are the kids waiting at the airport for Elder Westbrook to arrive!

My mom made it very clear she was getting the 1st hug :)

 Taisley meeting Kenric for the 1st time

Taisley had no trouble warming up to Kenric. This was on the way home from the airport :) 

My dad wanted to get some pictures of all the kids together again. 

It was fun and just like old times.

Oldest to youngest...

Tallest to shortest...

It was so fun to see Taisley and Kamden play together this trip. 

This was their hug goodbye. So cute!!

 All the grandkids together.

 Taisley with Melissa's kids: Brylie, Easton and Kamden. 

It was so good to see Grandma Westbrook

 Papa Ken being his funny self :)

 We made it to the Phoenix Zoo with Grandma Ria, Melissa and the kids. 

It was Taisley's 1st time.

 The goats were probably Taisley's favorite because she could touch them. I was trying to get a picture of her but she was busy running from goat to goat touching every single one. It was hilarious! She smelt like a goat the rest of the day.

This never happens...Taisley falling asleep on the couch. I think this vacation wore her out pretty good.

I was so happy we were able to meet Denver and Jessica's baby girl, Kloee. 

She was born in Mesa while we were in town. She is adorable! Taisley wouldn't let me hold Kloee too long but she did really good with her. She wanted to see her and touch her head a lot. 

 Taisley and I got to spend some time in Thatcher too!!! It was so nice to see Trav's family and spend time with them! Taisley spent most of the time running and playing outside...she loved it! Papi took her on a tractor ride and she literally could not control her excitement. 

 Taisley, Ellie and McCoy

Taisley and Lorin. All the kids had so much fun together.

 Grandpa Delbert and Grandma Karen...it's always so nice to see these two :)

Taisley is slightly obsessed with 2 movies right now: Despicable Me and Tangled. One of her favorite things to do this vacation was to snuggle up with her Papi and Papa and watch Tangled. If you know Taisley you know she is not a cuddly baby at all...she has no time for that. So these 2 guys are pretty special to her :)

(Papi in Thatcher)

(Papa Ken in Mesa)

I was able to catch up with some very missed friends of mine! Love them!

Taisley was so lucky to see her Grandma and Grandpa Storment...they are very special to us :)

 Unfortunately, Travis was unable to come with us because of his busy school schedule and everyone missed him dearly. I owed him about 30 hugs from everyone by the time I made it back home. We enjoyed the mostly sunny, warm beautiful AZ weather and left him to freeze in this:

 If you follow the news you know that the east coast was hit with a pretty bad winter storm. It hit right about the time Taisley and I were supposed to be flying home to NY which made the trip home a bit of a nightmare. Our original flight for Saturday, Feb 9th was canceled and rescheduled to Sunday morning. Our flight was from Phoenix to Baltimore and then a connecting flight from Baltimore to Islip, NY. The storm was over by Saturday afternoon and the major issue was if the airport in Islip was going to open or not. To make a long story short, I was on the phone with Southwest airlines all day Saturday and Sunday morning before I left and every person I talked to to said everything was scheduled to go out on time and that Islip was up and running as of Sunday morning. So we got the o.k. to board our 1st flight. We land safely in Baltimore and about 30 minutes after we land they cancel every single flight going to Islip, NY for the rest of the day and then they tell me that flights are booked until Tuesday! So here I am stuck in Baltimore with an 18 month old with no luggage whatsoever because it is on the connecting flight to Islip and I basically just started to bawl. Taisley was oblivious to anything that was going on because she was strapped into the stroller watching Despicable Me, eating french fries and was as happy as can be. She was such a good girl! I called Travis and as soon as he heard what was going on he said I'm getting in the car and i'll be there in about 4 hours to get you. Travis to the rescue! What a wonderful guy he is! I know everyone, including myself, was so worried about him getting there safely with the road conditions but thankfully the roads were very well taken care of and clear and dry. He got to Baltimore about 6:30 Sunday and boy was I relieved to see him! We got in the car and turned around and drove home. We got home about 11:30 that night and I was so glad to be home safe and sound. Our luggage didn't arrive until Tuesday afternoon. Even though the trip home was a nightmare, we had such a blast in AZ and I treasure the time we were able to spend with our families. 

There was still plenty of snow left when we got home so Taisley got to play in it the next morning. She loved every second of it. She kept taking handfuls of snow and eating it and then she just started sticking her face in the snow and taking bites. It was so funny. 

Christmas and New Years

 Every Christmas the Fire Department pulls Santa and his sleigh around the neighborhood with sirens blaring while he says hi to the kids and hands out candy canes. Well we were too late the first day he went by and we missed him. So, the following day I heard the sirens start up and I knew Santa was on his way again. I did not want to miss him this time so I threw our coats on and ran down the street with Taisley where I could see the fire trucks and his sleigh parked outside a house. I was just standing outside the house holding Taisley, wondering where Santa was. All the fire trucks were parked there and his big sleigh was sitting right in front of the house but no Santa. Pretty soon the fire department guys came out and asked if I wanted to take Taisley inside to see Santa. Apparently Santa was visiting a special friend at this house but was so sweet with Taisley and picked her right up to take a picture. I think she was in shock because she didn't make a peep the whole time. He gave her a candy cane and wished us a Merry Christmas. 

We missed out on Becky's yummy sugar cookies this year so I snagged the recipe from her and we made a batch at home. They turned out pretty good! :) 

Poor baby Taisley was sick on Christmas this year :( We took her to the doctor on Christmas Eve morning and discovered she had her first ear infection. It just broke my heart. Even though she wasn't her normal energized self she still had lots of smiles and loved opening her gifts. We missed our families this year for the holidays but enjoyed them together as a little family here in NY.

 She was a spoiled little thing and got so many fun gifts from her grandparents. Shanna drew her name this year and sent her a Minnie Mouse doll which she LOVES and our sweet neighbor gave her a Minnie dress-up outfit with ears...so cute! (look at her sick droopy eyes, poor baby)

She got 3 new baby dolls...one from B's House & Papi, one from Grandma Ria & Papa Ken, and one from mama & dada. Playing baby dolls is probably her favorite thing to do right now. She walks around, sometimes trying to hold all 3, and says "shh shh'' while she pats their backs. She feeds them "ba ba's" and gives them lots and lots of kisses! She loves to push them around in the grocery cart or stroller while holding her purse and keys. She is such a crack up. 

Santa brought her a new play kitchen! She loves to pretend to eat all the food and for mama and dada to eat it too. The play kitchens are all high tech now and make sizzling noises and boiling water noises and they have marble counters!

Ellie girl was in the city the week of New Years and we were so happy to spend New Years Eve with her! The one night we had with her definitely went by way too fast!! :( 

Taisley started crying when her buddy got out of the car at the airport. 

Since we were so close to the city after dropping Ellie off at the airport,we decided to finally go see the big tree in Rockefeller Plaza. New Years morning was the perfect time to go because the streets were so bare! It was a cold day so we made sure Taise was all bundled up!

The tree was AWESOME! It was so cool to actually be there instead of seeing it on TV. 

The ice rink right below the tree

Taise cruisin around the city.  

 This is Taisley's little friend, Jerry, from downstairs. They are good little buddies. He got an iPad mini for Christmas so he was showing Taisley all of his new cool stuff. So cute! 

Grandma Ria & Papa Ken got her cow girl dress-up clothes for Christmas. Her new thing is to climb up on her pony and say "yee haw"...it's really funny! 

First Snow

We had our first snow back on November 7th! 

(I'm a little behind on putting the pictures on here)

It was a Nor'easter storm that arrived about a week after Sandy hit. The snow only lasted about 2 days and then it was gone. It was very strange to look out the windows and see WHITE everywhere. We didn't get any pictures outside in the snow but we definitely will next time. Taisley finally has a full water proof winter attire so we are ready for the next snow storm to come...maybe :) 

 Taisley LOVES to look out this window no matter what's going on outside

She always enjoys a ride on her pony 

She is getting very good at stacking her blocks.

 She gets frustrated when they fall during her stacking process.

 These glasses are from her Arthur doll she has, it's SO funny when she puts them on

Trav trying to teach her how to play football

She met a friend while we were at the field 

Love this girl so much!!

We put up our tree and stockings! We are ready for Christmas! 

Fun Before Hurricane Sandy

As I said in my previous post, Cassie and Chris came to visit!! Luckily, we were able to do a lot of fun things before Sandy hit. We went to the Fire Island lighthouse on Robert Moses Beach and took turns watching Taisley while we climbed to the top, all 192 steps! The view was so gorgeous but I'm nervous to find out what it looks like after Sandy hit. So sad. We are still not allowed to drive across the bridge to see what is left of the beach. :(

Cass and Chris on the boardwalk to the lighthouse. There was so much more color than the last time we walked to it in September.

We stopped to take a quick walk on the beach before we left. Taise still loves the sand but she didn't eat this time!

I'm so glad Cass and Chris were able to go to the city one day by themselves because Chris had to catch an unexpected early flight home before the hurricane hit.

They saw WICKED on Broadway! They found these last minute tickets on the 3rd row for a great deal! So glad they saw it because it's awesome!!

We made it to another Pumpkin Patch/Petting Farm which Taisley loved of course.

Cass and Chris being good sports and entertaining Taise on the playground :)

The pigs there were huge and quite disgusting but they amused Taisley

Her favorite were the goats again because they talk to her :)

They had adorable little red wagons you could pull around the farm. In Taisley's class at the library they sing a song about 'bouncin up and down in my little red wagon' so I thought it was cute that she was really in one. 

We bought tickets to this Jack O Lantern Blaze near Hudson Valley and it was awesome! It was over 5,000 jack o' lanterns made into all kinds of formations. We took a lot of pics but they don't do it justice. 

Spider made out of jack o' lanterns

The blaze was awesome!

 It took us an extra hour to get home due to construction at 10pm which was not awesome. 

So before the Jack O' Lantern Blaze we went to dinner. It was a very small Mexican restaurant and there was only one other customer besides us. Well if you have a toddler you know going out to dinner isn't always a smooth ride. Taisley was getting fussy and the waitress was very friendly with her and picked her up out of her seat to hold her. So we got to enjoy our dinner while the waitress babysat behind us! (notice Taise in the background) That was definitely a first timer for us! Of course Taisley, being the friendly baby that she is, didn't hesitate at all. We made sure to leave her a good tip for babysitting! I wish this place was closer to us.

Chris was supposed to be in this picture too but he had to catch his flight home due to Sandy. Cass and I had tons of fun in the city...we took the ferry to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, went to the 9/11 Memorial and also went to China Town. I really enjoyed all the "sister" time we had the following week since we were mostly stuck inside from the hurricane. I was so glad Cass was there with us! 

I'm so glad their trip was mostly before the hurricane hit...we had such a blast with them! Love you guys!