Hair band, tie, todder uggs, and our first Christmas Tree

So, lately Taylor has noticed the hair bands that I wear all the time and wanted to try one on. He leaves it in for a couple minutes and walks around the house thinking he's real cute. He would have made a really cute girl! It's funny, he also likes to help me put lotion on my legs in the morning.
A neighbor of my parents gave us a cute little tie for Taylor. It's his first. So we dressed him up all cute for church. It's amazing how grown up he looks with a tie. Also that morning, Sonny gave Taylor his second big haircut. He looked up on you tube how to do it. Turned out pretty good! Taylor's hair is really difficult to cut, not because he moves a lot (we give him a popsicle during it) but because it is so thick. We like to keep it sort of long because we love his curls in the back.


I decided to get Taylor some red uggs... just kidding. These are my slippers that Taylor just loves to wear. We're going up to Rigby, ID for Christmas and will probably be walking through a lot of snow there. These slippers will give him great practice; they are probably somewhat like walking through snow. They make you walk kinda weird.
Lastly, I talked Sonny into getting a real Christmas Tree this year. We've never had one, not even a fake one, since we've been married and I thought for our first time, we had to get the real thing. It's a cute little one from Walmart ( It looked so much bigger at Walmart). I realized that I pretty much have no ornaments so we bought a bunch of little cheap things. Sonny and Taylor decorated most of it and did a fantastic job. I'm surprised, I thought Taylor would have knocked it down by now but he likes flipping the lightswitch on the wall to make the lights turn on better!

THANKSGIVING VACATION

Thanksgiving break was a very fun couple of days! We stayed here in Cali with my family and hung out with everybody. My brother Kyle came home from BYU and it was really fun to see him again. He is looking great. On Wednesday, the day that was supposed to be rainy, turned out to be a perfect day for Disneyland! It only rained for about 10 minutes total. The longest line we had was Buzz Lightyear. Taylor had a chance to finally go on the Pirate Ship, the Columbia. It hasn't been working for a while. He was hoping to meet Captain Jack Sparrow in person in New Orleans square but didn't get the chance. Anyways, we had a good time there as usual. Thanksgiving dinner was at my family's house in Glendora. My sister Sarah and her husband Rocky drove down from Orange County to join the festivities. I attempted to make the yams and they surprisingly turned out pretty good. They tasted like candy! We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and had time to just relax and eat... Taylor thankfully slept most of the dinner. He didn't want to try any of the food though after he woke up. He preferred his grilled cheese. But he did love the pumpkin pie! I preferred the key lime pie. We took some family pictures later on in the day. We haven't had one taken of all of us in a long time. Friday the girls all went out to a movie. We saw "Australia" and we all enjoyed it. It was super long but I always look forward to Baz Luhrman's work. He always does neat stuff. It was a fun Thanksgiving break and we are looking forward to Christmas break in Boise.

Buzz Lightyear : a part of the family... sort of

So, sadly our Disneyland passes have expired and Sonny and I have been debating on whether or not we should renew them for another year. We decided to hold off for a while due to the pricyness of them (is that even a word and if so, is it spelled correctly?). Anyways, but we forgot one very important fact. The fact that we know somebody, not just somebody but the most awesome person in the world (and I'm not just saying that so that I could use your passes) that is part of the Disney family! My sister Elizabeth is pretty much best friends with Buzz Lightyear- she works on the ride. And that also means that she knows all the Disney secrets like, for example, did you know that they are making a whole new land patterned around the disney movie "Cars ?" Yep. Anyways, so luckily she can get people in free 16 times a year and she is only working there until next month. So that means that we can go like every week! Maybe twice! Right Bosh (Elizabeth)? Thanks bosh, you are the best! Here are some pictures from last week...

I've been tagged...

Ok, here goes...

5 things I was doing 10 years ago?

1. Having a blast in my sophomore year at BYU Idaho (at that time, Ricks College.)
2. Probably decorating our apartment for Christmas with my awesome roomates, Julie, Melinda, and Kimberly.(I know, super early, but what else is there to do in Rexburg in the dead of winter?)
3. I hadn't met Sonny yet, we didn't meet until January 2000, so I was enjoying hanging out and checking out other cute boys!
4. Suffering through a bad brake to my right leg and wearing one of those ugly, painful boot contraptions the doctor forced me to wear... I took a bad fall off a snow mobile during Conference weekend. I know, serves me right huh?
5. I think it was around then that I did a little experiment. My roommate and I tried to see how long we could go with just eating Malt-o-meal for every meal. It was around the same time that I gained about 15 pounds!

5 things on today's list?

1. Figure out what I'm making for dinner... something with chicken...
2. Crossing my fingers that Taylor takes a nap. As my last blog said, he lost his teddy bear at Disneyland, of all places, and has not been sleeping well at all!
3. Turning in our rent
4. In the morning, go for a brisk walk with Taylor, which I did! Boy, am I out of shape. I need to start exercising more.
5. Clean Sonny's office, what a mess :)

5 snacks I enjoy?

1. A bowl of cereal
2. a giant pickle
3. fruit snacks, preferably fruit by the foot (I know, what am I, 5?)
4. Taco Bell
5. Candy Corn, I got hooked this Halloween...

5 places I've lived from Birth?

1. Layton, UT
2. Fremont, CA
3. Modesto, CA
4. San Jose, CA
5. Glendora, CA

5 jobs I've had?

1. Mom, of course the best but the hardest
2. Laboratory assistant and Courier at both Foothill Presbyterian Hospital and Westcliff Medical Laboratories
3. Medical Records Clerk at both Orem Internal Medicine and Pomona Valley Family Clinic.
4. Records Clerk in Student Services Center at Loma Linda University
5. and the worst, some fast food jobs like the Bagelry, Flying J restaurant, and the Cannon Center at BYU.

Ok, now I tag all of my dental wife friends, you know who you guys are...

Taylor's costume... of course a pirate!

So, we didn't get very good pictures of Taylor's costume this year. He would never face forward long enough to get a frontal view. Anyways, most of his costume was clothes that he already had. I kind of just put the vest together last minute... using scissors and duck tape. hey, it worked and he looked really cute! Of course, he wouldn't keep the hat and eye patch on though. I decided that I would be a pirate too. The night before my parents had a pirate themed Halloween party so I just wore the same outfit. I'll have to post some pictures of it later. It was pretty authentic looking. My dad actually built a sail looking thingy on his porch in the back yard and also put together a steering wheel. And Sonny (the party pooper, ha ha ha) was supposedly a fisherman. Because of the whole lost teddy bear thing, we didn't go trick or treating or anything but I wish we would have tried it this year. By the way, the bear is still lost and the company Sugarloaf is having a hard time finding a duplicate in their warehouse. We got it so long ago that they don't have anymore. I think Taylor is slowly but surely forgetting about it, I hope anyways. I'm just trying to use one of his other stuffed animals to take its place and see if that works. Wish me luck!

Lost Teddy Bear

On Thursday, a really really awful thing happened... and it's all my fault and I feel so guilty about it. My mom, sister, Taylor and I went to Disneyland. In the midst of all the chaos and crowds, I lost Taylor's most favorite possession, his teddy bear. He has a habit of tossing things out of his stroller very often and I usually see it happen but for some reason, I didn't see him toss out his teddy bear. I knew it was bound to happen one of these times. When he has his teddy bear with him, I usually watch him like a hawk because I'm so deathly afraid of it getting lost. And so, it happened. And me being the worrysome, anxious person that I am, I had a cow, and am still having a cow. We all tried looking, I know he dropped it somewhere in tommorrow land, but what are the chances of finding it? Pretty much no chance at all. So i've been calling the lost and found there like every hour but have had no luck. So Sonny and I have been frantically searching around town and on the internet for a second teddy of the same kind. It's a Sugarloaf teddy bear, light blue, and wears a diaper. I have no idea who even gave it to us, somebody at the baby shower I guess. And even worse, we found out that it most likely came from one of those crane vending machines that have stuffed animals, the ones you see in arcades and stuff. So anyways, we've had no luck and Taylor since Thursday has been skipping his naps and not sleeping well at night at all. He has to have this little bear to sleep. We had some activities planned for Halloween, like parties and stuff, that we've had to skip because of this. So if any of you know of where I can find another one of these bears, let me know. Attached is a picture of it. It's interesting, I think in a way, I sort of became attached to it as well. It's funny how something so small and seemingly trivial can make a huge difference in your children's life.

Sonny's Ukraine Dental Trip

Here is a video of the dental mission trip that I went on with my good friend Devin from dental school to Kiev, Ukraine. Devin had served his LDS mission to Kiev and this was his first time back since. It was amazing how well he remembered both Ukrainian and Russian. We had a short layover in Amsterdam on the way over and back and in case you were wondering all of the rumors about Amsterdam are true - it even makes Las Vegas look tame. We stayed in a small village just outside of Kiev and worked at an orphanage about an hour away. You''ll notice in the slide presentation that the kids are always wearing jackets both inside and outside of the orphange. They do not turn on heat in the ENTIRE country until the 15th of October each year. It was already in the 50s during the day when we were there in late September.

We stayed with Richard and Vicki Nelson. A couple from the states that had a very successful dental practice outside of Seattle, Washington. They sold everything and decided to do dental work full time to help the orphans of Ukraine. Their story is very inspirational and this trip would not have been possible without them. They opened up their house to us and were excellent hosts - thanks for everything. It was an amazing experience to work in the orphanage. They miraculously even had a dental chair. However, it is cheaper to send the kids to the town dentist then have someone come to look at the kids at the orphanage. We were able to treat around 60-70 kids and to our surprise not a single kid had ever had a filling before. The only type of dental treatment that the kids get is when they get a toothache or a major tooth infection that causes swelling - emergency stuff. Since it costs extra to get your tooth numbed up with local anesthetic in Ukraine, the orphans do not even get any anesthetic when they get their teeth extracted. They only use a little topical gel which is that stuff they rub on your gums before they give you the shot at the dental office that usually tastes like lemon or cherry. Just in case you were wondering, the topical does not take away any of the pain from the extractions.

These kids were so excited to get their teeth worked on. Devin and I did some of the biggest fillings we had ever done before at the orphanage. Sometimes it felt like we were building them an entire new tooth. I have worked on kids at the dental school but none of them were as eager as these children to have their dental work done for them. The last day we were at the orphanage one of the girls, Nina 13yrs old, wanted to skip lunch so that we could pull one of her teeth that was very badly broken down. I was a little nervous taking out her tooth because it was broken down to the bone level and we did not have any of the supplies to do any major surgical extractions. So I said a prayer before I started the extraction that everything would go smoothly and that the tooth would come out quickly and painlessly for Nina. I think that Heavenly Father was watching over us because surprisingly the tooth came out very quickly and a lot easier that it should have. Even though Devin and I only spent a few days at the orphanage we grew very attached to the kids. The last day that I was there I called Emily and told her that I wanted to bring home 3 kids from the orphange - Nina, Sophia, and Ulia - all sisters whose parents had passed away some time ago. Right now it is very difficult to adopt from Ukraine. They do not let you pick the kids that you want to adopt and a lot of the time you have to pay a number of bribes to the orphanage directors and other adoption agencies that it ends up costing thousands of dollars. We ran into a family that just adopted a child and they said that it cost them over $45,000. I hope that you enjoy the slide show, I put it to music and included some statistics about orphanages in Ukraine on the pictures we took at the orphange.

Halloween Fun!

This last week we did a couple of fun Halloween activities with Taylor. It is his 2nd Halloween but really the first that he has enjoyed. This year he is going to be a Pirate- surprised? So me being the non-crafty non- sewer that I am, I decided to assemble my own costume, hunting different thrift stores for stuff. We'll see how it turns out. Anyways, so last Tuesday my mom, sister, and I took Taylor to a nearby pumpkin patch. It was nice to go on a weekday when all the kids were in school. Taylor got a kick out of the horses and the funny sounds that they made. He climbed the haystacks and lastly, picked out his first very own pumpkin. He had a really good time. Doesn't he just look like he belongs on a farm with the overalls?
This last weekend we also had the chance to spend a day at the Dental retreat. We went for a short hike up the mountain and looked around a bit. Taylor loved finding sticks and drawing with them in the dirt. Later we had a nice dinner and finished off the night watching the students compete on different events and put on skits. We stayed as long as possible just in case we won a raffle but no such luck. No free trip to Hawaii for us. Instead, a free t-shirt.
On Sunday, we carved Taylor's first pumpkin. We thought that he would love all the gooey stuff in the middle but it was quite the opposite. He just sort of stared at it and decided that he would rather eat a fudgesicle. When we lit it up, I think he was sort of scared. He repeated, "Ma" (his version of "No") a couple times. We put the pumpkin on our front porch with a really good smelling candle. I think he is showing more interest for it, or for the candle, because whenever we leave to go somewhere, he lifts the top off and puts it back on. He takes out the candle and smells it. I think he prefers the smelly candle to the pumpkin.

Ringo and the Slide

I have always loved dogs and have always planned that my kids would love them too. So, I decided that I would start Taylor out super young. When Taylor was only a few months old, I introduced him to my parent's cute beagle, Ringo. I guess you could say that I have been "socializing" them ever since. I think it's really important to have pets in a child's life. I had a dog growing up and I remember how much fun it was. Taylor has really grown to love Ringo a lot. He's the first thing he wants to see when he gets to my parent's house. We are planning to get Taylor a little puppy next year when we move and we are all looking forward to it. It's funny, Taylor gets a kick out of it when Ringo chokes on his water!













All of a sudden, Taylor loves playgrounds. I guess every child does at some point. I think it happened when he learned to go down the slide by himself. He can now climb the stairs and go down without any help. It's so neat! He could do it for hours and hours and hours and sometimes we do. And of course, we can't forget the swing. I've been trying to show him that he needs to sit back in the swing and hold onto the chains but he insists on leaning forward and having his arms dangle out in front... how cute!

Seeing Pirates Everywhere!

So, as some of you know, Taylor is completely and utterly obsessed with anything Pirates. It's probably our fault though... getting those annual passes to Disneyland started it all. Now everything he does revolves around Pirates. It's crazy, when family, friends, or strangers ask me what Taylor likes, I say, "Oh, anything with a skull and crossbones on it." Anyways, so, funny story... I was staying at my parents house about 2 weeks ago and Taylor found this picture that is familiar to all of us... I should tell you too, whenever he sees a skeleton, a pirate, or a ship, it is always followed by a "Arrgh" (the expression that pirates often say). Well, when he saw this picture, guess what followed... you'll never guess. Yep, "Arrgh." For some reason, Taylor believed this to be a pirate ship! Well, I guess the spires sort of do look like sails... what do you think?

Santa Rosa, California... a beautiful place

While Sonny was on his mission trip to Ukraine, which he will blog about hopefully soon, my mom, Taylor, and I went to visit my Grandma Rosa and her husband Gene. Her name isn't actually Rosa, it's Bonnie, but we call her that because she lives in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is a small town up in the Bay Area, about an hour out of San Francisco. We drove a bit through the city on the way up there. It is such an exciting city, very classy and clean... no pollution at all. I captured a few pictures of the awesome and iconic Golden Gate Bridge. I have always loved it in Santa Rosa. It's totally country-ish up there, like you are out in England or something. It rains a lot up there so it is really green. Growing up we visited up there often and still to this day, believe that in some way, it is haunted. We just believe that my Grandpa, uncle Craig, and aunt Cheen, all who lived in that house and have sadly passed away, still kind of hang out there. Not to scare us but just to be around us. Anyways, we had a wonderful time. My grandma Rosa hadn't seen Taylor since he was about 2 months old. Taylor loved her huge front and back yard and most of all, following her cat. She is a really old cat who is very gentle and sweet. Taylor wanted to constantly be out with her and it seems that the cat also enjoyed Taylor's company. She would let him pet her and stuff. Whenever we visit my Grandma Rosa we always make time to visit Bodega Bay. Those of you who are Alfred Hitchcock fans will know that this is where he filmed his thriller "The Birds." I'm a huge fan and of course, had to get a picture of Taylor and I in front of the old schoolhouse. They have turned it into a gift shop now, selling "The Birds" memorabilia. The town of Bodega Bay is quaint and charming with lots of little shops and places to get clam chowder etc. It is always super windy down there, as you can tell in the pictures, but it was so cool to walk the path that ran along the cliff. We went down to the water too and Taylor had a blast chasing all the Seagulls. Attack of the killer birds! At one point, I felt like I was in the movie. They tend to sort of follow you. The beaches in Northern California are not like those in Southern California. The water is a a lot more dangerous and chilly with huge cliffs and strong waves. We had a great time visiting Santa Rosa and loved to see my Grandma Rosa and Gene. She is such a unique grandma, very hip and fun to be around while Gene has a great sense of humor. We hope to visit them again soon.

Hi Caryl, Jim, Jayme and Brett!

About 2 weeks ago we had some of our family come down from Utah. They are my aunt and uncle, cousin, and her husband. We always love visiting with the Haerings, they are all so laid back and fun to be around. Taylor hadn't seen them since the beginning of the year (not like he really remembered them from way been then but who knows). He tends to be really clingy to me lately, especially around people that he doesn't see very often. But he did really well with them; he even let Caryl hold him. We just all hung out in Glendora at my parent's house and had some good food, I think it was ribs. I just remember the yummy green jello thing. But it was really nice to visit with them and we hope to see them again soon!

After dinner activity with dad

Well, we've all been out of town about the last 2 weeks and just got back on Sunday. Sonny went to the Ukraine for a mission trip and Taylor and I went with my mom up to the bay area to visit my grandma. We call her Grandma Rosa because she lives in Santa Rosa. The remainder of the time Sonny was gone, we stayed with my family in Glendora. I hate sleeping at night here at the house without Sonny. But I will talk about that trip as soon as I get the pictures and I'll have Sonny do a blog about his awesome trip. Anyways, since the summer is ending and swimming time is almost over, Taylor will be doing some of his last after dinner hose swims for the year. Ya, after dinner, yep, while I'm cleaning up dinner etc, Sonny takes Taylor into the front yard to play with the hose. He likes this a lot better than swimming in a pool. Maybe because he nearly almost drowns every time he goes if I don't watch him like a hawk. So he prefers the hose and just getting everything wet on our front porch and stuff. He loves to over water my so far tomato-less tomato plant, which I've been trying to keep alive. Since frogs love water, we have a lot of frogs that come to join the fun too. I think all kids love water and I'm glad that he does too. As all moms know, it's easy entertainment. Who knows, maybe Taylor will be a swimmer like me!

Snowing in California

Last weekend my family and us went to the Los Angeles County Fair. It was Taylor's second time to go but we thought that he would enjoy seeing the farm animals a lot more this time. Of course, as you can see in the picture, he had to bring a skull along with him! But he did enjoy seeing the cows and pigs and also a new edition to the fair, the bark park. He already loves dogs, especially Ringo, Grandma Glendora's dog, so he enjoyed seeing them up close. Tay and I are both big dog fans. The garden section of the fair was also lovely, with a Hawaiian themed exhibit. But his most favorite part was the Winter Wonderland. It was his first time in snow! Sonny had to help him walk most of the time but he loved eating it and playing in it. He'll have another chance to play in the snow when we go up to Idaho for Christmas.

Back to Disneyland

Like everybody else, our Disneyland annual passes are finally usable again. Yep, the whole summer was blacked out. So about 2 weeks ago, we returned to the happiest place on earth. "Pirates of the Carribean" is always our first ride, it's a tradition. We push the stroller as fast as we can all the way there, while Taylor repeats "Arrrrr" the whole way there. That's one of his new things. He decided that he just loves Pirates! Everything Pirates... actually it's more like everything that has a skull and crossbones or a skeleton face. I don't know if that's a good thing or what... that he is obsessed with skulls and skeleton's and stuff... but we get a kick out of it. So we had a good time there, went on the carousel a few times... he loves that ride too. A few trips ago, we found a gold mine. There are two little fountain areas in the "A Bug's Life" part of California Adventure that Taylor loves to play in. Both Sonny and Taylor usually get soaked. But it's the perfect thing for a really tired and cranky baby combined with a very hot day.