Dallin at the Zoo

We haven't been to the zoo for a while... something about Florida in the heat of the summer... so when we went this past week it was like a whole new experience for Dallin and he LOVED it.
Checking out the white tigers, There were two tiny baby cubs, of course they were a bit camera shy. There is an awesome water play area where the kids can play and cool off.Dallin may have gotten a little too cool, He likes to cuddle when he is cold.
Dallin Loved the petting zoo, he would make his rounds on the goats gracing each one with a little pat before moving on to the next one.... so considerate.

Cookies

nap time is becoming a sketchy thing for Katelyn, She still mostly naps but it's becoming difficult to put her to bed at night now. Yesterday I decided to try not having her take a nap and she and Dallin fell asleep at 5pm watching a movie while I was getting dinner ready, they woke up at 6:30pm. They were a bit on the grumpy side and Katelyn wanted to make cookies, she loves to cook, especially when there are sprinkles involved... we have tried to make it a policy not to give into little terrorist demands but... they are so convincing especially when you know it will make them happy...

Katelyn's favorite part is adding the sprinkles of course.
Dallin and Katelyn helped decorate, Dallin mostly got to choose some colors. He's not so good a cookie decorating yet, he likes to try and eat the sprinkles while they are in the container.

We only have wheat flour right now so I was a bit concerned about how they would turn out, The kids didn't seems to mind they loved it... at least the loved the frosting...
What a happy guy!

Rings and Princess Dreams

Katelyn has become interested in anything remotely related to princesses including weddings (because they all get married and live happily ever after of course) Last night as I was putting her to bed she stood there looking around for something. When she spotted my wedding ring she said,

"you had that a you got married?"

Yes, Daddy gave this ring to me when we got married.

"oh.... I had one when I get married?"

yep you will get one when you get married.

"oh."

she thought about it for a while then as she jumped into bed she said with a gleam in her eye, " I want lots of them!"

We may have to warn her future husband about this...

Swimming at Play Group

This week for our ward play group we went to a swimming pool with a slide. we've been there before but because I'm by myself (meaning without Cameron, I don't really consider it "play Group" if I'm by myself...) and there are serious dangers in letting children play unattended at a pool, I haven't let them go down the slide except once when a friend offered to take Katelyn down. This week we brought Katelyn's "floaty" and had a friend watch for her when she came off the slide and we had a great time sliding down, running up the stairs, sliding down, running up the stairs over and over and over again. Dallin especially loved the slide, he giggled with glee the entire time we went down.
Katelyn is such a big girl going down by herself. She was in heaven. she is becoming quite confident in the water... that is with her floaty.

Lance, one of the dads who was there had a great time playing "alligator" with the kids, he would chase them back to the edge of the pool. the kids loved it.

J-E-L-L-O

In an attempt to pack less when we move, we have tried to use up our food storage before hand, so this week we made Jello. Dallin's never had it before and he thought it was fantastic. of course he insisted on feeding himself ( can you blame him look at how much fun he is having...) so naturally when it was all over we had a big bath party.

Let's Pretend

Ok let's pretend that I'm great at this blog thing and you are all updated on what's up in my life. (Just to fill you in, Cameron and I have been married for 5+ years we have two adorable children Katelyn 2 almost 3 and Dallin 15 months. we are expecting our third mid October... a boy who hasn't a name thus far... we live in Tampa Florida where Cameron goes to Medical school he has started his rotations at Tampa General Hospital... that means he is a third year this year. I have the joy of raising our cute family at home. I love it and wouldn't change it... in my pervious life I Graduated from BYU and taught school for a year, 3rd grade in the mornings and art and music for 1st through 6th grade in the afternoons... loved it! Kids are wonderful! Now I keep busy trying to keep up with my cute family…and capture every adorable and not so adorable moment on camera, film and through writing… it’s quite a task but someone's got to do it…)

Katelyn loves playing in the front seat of the car so this week as we were waiting for it to stop pouring so we could visit the zoo and as we were waiting for some friends to meet us at the aquirum, she got to "ride Shotgun" isn't she beautiful!
When we got to the zoo it was pouring but since we've lived in Florida for 2 years we knew it would only last 15-20 minutes and then it would be bright, sunny and hot... and what do you know it was...
we were waiting to meet some friends at the aquirm. Katelyn chomping down a snow pea while we wait.

Independence Day

This year for Independence Day we decided to stay home... Cameron had a test on Friday and we thought it might be best if he actually studied the day before... Some friends invited us to the Temple Terrace Parade and then to a BBQ at their house... It's great to have friends to watch out for you especially when you are away from family.

Of course Dallin's favorite part was the lolly pops and other candy... can you blame him?

Dallin slept through most of it but when he woke up he was intrigued by what was happening around him.

Katelyn wasn't sure what to think of the parade... She did enjoy gathering any candy that was thrown and storing it in the safety of her parade cup... she waited until we got home before she would try any of it.

Dallin's pink Blanket

We took Dallins pacifier away as he was weened, but as we discovered the hard way with Katelyn, kids need a comfort so we introduced him to soft cuddle blankets and he fell for it. we had two little soft blankets, given to us by our neighbors when Dallin was born, a pink one and a blue one. We left the blue one in Utah while we were visiting so mean while he fell in love with the pink one, and now even though his blue one has returned, he loves anything that is pink.
Dallin likes to stuff his blankets, and anything else he gets his hands on, under himself, he bunches it all up under there and sleeps on top of it all.
He likes to take his blanket everywhere. sometimes he like to stuff it under his chin while he is walking around.

Utah May 2007

We decided to visit my family in May rather then during Christmas this year because... Well.. Florida is wonderful during the winter and not so wonderful in the summer and Utah is Great during the summer and a bit chilly during the winter... it made sense.

Utah in May

Cameron and Dallin Dancing away at Tessa's wedding. Isn't Utah breath taking in May?
Katelyn and Elisabeth enjoying the wonderful weather.

Some Of Our Favorite People in Utah

we stayed at my parents house in Orem. The kids had a great time chasing all the cats and running around in "Dacky's House" Katelyn insisted that it was Becky's house because my mom wasn't able to be there the first few days we were there.

WE got to hang out with the Jepsons and the Katos.. we love those guys! Katelyn is here with Brittany, Zoe, and Kara. They are getting so big!

I was thrilled to see my old roommate Jessica Burnett. She is such an amazing person. Dallin even likes her... which is actually saying a lot considering Dallin was in this "I don't want anyone but mom or dad" stage.

someday I hope to look as cute as Jessie.

Grandma Maren stopped by for a short visit. it's been too long since I've seen her and it was great to catch up. She is such a wonderful person.

The kids were determined to make this picture difficult... but we still smile...

We were excited to see David... we had a great time playing with him at the park. We also saw Stephen and Carolyn and their children but for some reason we didn't take pictures, we will do better next time.

We loved the parks in Utah especially when we got to play with Sheryl and Kara Jepson, and Brittany, Zoe, Kade and Ceianna Kato. of course we are there too.

we got to go to Ogden and have a short visit with Grandma and Grandpa Durtschi. Grandma wasn't feeling well so she stayed in the house.

A Visit From Amy and Becky

Amy and Becky flew down to Florida to visit in April. We had a great time going to the parks around town, the beach, the zoo and shopping.

Becky and Dallin bonded right away. Becky was one of the few people Dallin will let hold him. She must have the magic touch.

Of course we had to celebrate Amy's birthday while they were there. We had Strawberry Cheese Cake... yumm Amy is so easy going and fun to be around, it was great having her here.

Elisabeth and Dallin... Does life get better then this?

Gasperilla

Every year Tampa celebrates the pirates taking over the city. Or at least I think that's what we are celebrating... I'm not exactly sure.



they have a children's parade where they toss beads out to the crowd it's great fun everyone is shouting waving their arms, jumping and shouting "Bead, Beads, Beads!" Everyone walking the parade love our small children so they get a lot of beads, when the beads get too heavy we take them off and put them on the stroller then they see these kids without any beads and so they give them even more. it's a viscous cycle.

this year my mom got to come with us. It was great having her there to watch the parade and fireworks that followed.

Crawling Drama

Dallin knows how to crawl, but he is in denial. Basically the only time he does crawl is after I’ve put him on the floor and then I try to go do something. As soon as I walk away, and sometimes as soon as he realizes that I’m about to put him down, he starts crying. He tries desperately to get to me and in the process moves. I hoping that someday he will realize that crawling is not cruel and unusual punishment...