Vacation Day Five

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Maui Wowi's which was a little coffee bar close to Aunty Opal's house. After breakfast we headed to Aunty Opal's house to say goodbye before we headed to the airport. I was sad to leave because it had been so nice spending time with my grandmother and cousin who live in Oregon and we don't get to see them that often.

Taylor loved the tiki totem pole at Maui Wowi's

Playing dice with GiGi

Taking pics with Angie

Cuddling with daddy on the plane (no she didn't sleep at all on the flight home)

Vacation Day Four

Saturday morning I went to a funeral with my mom for my Dad's cousin Beverly McCants. I had met Bev several years ago at my parents house when my parents had a family reunion there. She was full of life, but cancer finally beat her in the end and she passed away several days before we arrived in Phoenix.

After the funeral we went back to Aunty Opal's house to finish painting the kitchen. We spent all afternoon painting and got it finished. Nathan took Taylor back to the hotel to go swimming when she woke up from nap and then they went to dinner together at a German restaurant. I am not a fan of German food, so Nathan was happy he got the chance to go without me. Mom, Angie, Grandma, and I ended up going to our favorite Jewelry store in downtown Scottsdale before we were going to see Aunty Opal. We spent 2 hours in the store and got some fabulous pieces! We spent so much time in there, we missed our opportunity to go see Aunty Opal so we went to dinner. Nathan and Taylor met us at the restaurant and sat with us while we ate.

Us at dinner

Vacation Day Three

Friday morning we found a Cinnabon, but it wasn't all that I had made it up to be. It was okay though. After breakfast, we went to pick up Angie and then headed to Sedona for the day. Sedona is absolutely beautiful with the red rocks and mountains. We spent the afternoon shopping on the old main street and then headed back to Phoenix.



Sedona



Sedona



Sedona



Giant silver turtle in one of the shops in Sedona. Nathan wouldn't let me take him home since he wouldn't fit in my suitcase.

Vacation Day Two

Thursday morning we tried to track down a Cinnabon (I had never had one and really wanted to try one), but we couldn't find it so we ended up at IHOP. We drove over to the Desert Botanical Gardens after breakfast. The botanical garden was almost entirely comprised of cactus, but it was still really nice. We hooked up with a guided tour and learned a ton about cactus. We spent 3 hours at the botanical gardens. We went back to Aunty Opal's house for lunch and to help paint the living room and kitchen. After painting all afternoon, we went to Trader Vic's for dinner. I don't think I can put into words how wonderful the food was. It was restaurant week in Phoenix that week, so we got a great 3 course meal - started with prawns, then had the best salmon ever, and ended with a giant dish of rum ice cream. It was fabulous!!



Checking out her reflection in the waterwall right outside our hotel room




Family pic at the arboretum



Super cool cactus. This is one special kind of Saquero Cactus that is only happens 1 in 200,000 times. It has to do with the arms on the top of the cactus.



Taylor at the botanical garden



They look so little next to that enourous cactus



Thought this was pretty



Grandma, Angie, and mom enjoying the drinks at Trader Vics



Taylor was so tired she had to hold her head up while she ate her ice cream



Angie, Grandma, Taylor, Mom, and me - 4 generations

Vacation Day One

Last Wednesday we left for Phoenix to meet my mom, Grandma, and cousin Angie there for my Great Aunt's 93rd Birthday. When we got to Phoenix, we went to the hotel first and then headed to Aunty Opal's house to see mom, grandma, and Angie. That evening we went to Aunty Opal's retirement home for her 93rd birthday party.



Taylor getting her shoes on before we left for Phoenix



Riding on the Sky Link at DFW



Opening her airplane prize - this was the best idea!! She played with Diego the entire flight to Phoenix



Aunty Opal at her birthday party



Taylor hitched a ride with Aunty Opal from the party back to her condo. Quite the pair!

1st Baylor football game.....Sic'em Bears

Yesterday we drove down to Waco with Brandon and Kami to go to the Baylor vs. UConn game. We tried to go to George's when we first got there, but the wait was over an hour and we were all starving. We ended up at La Fiesta (YUM!) and then went to the game. Kami's parents have season tickets, so we got to sit in their awesome seats. Taylor wore her cheerleader outfit and we bought her some green and gold pom poms. She did really well throughout the whole game, but was ready for a nap at half time. We couldn't get her to fall asleep because there was just too much going on at the game. Baylor started off strong and quickly fizzled out. The game wasn't that great, but it was really fun to get to go to a game. It's been at least 4 years since we have gone to a game. We tried to go to Georges after the game, but the wait was an hour and a half, so we went to Buzzard Billys. We left Waco around 8:45 and luckily Taylor passed out on the ride home.

She did so well with not getting a nap yesterday. I think her favorite part of the whole day was watching the cheerleaders. She is quite the little cheerleader herself. She always cheers for Nathan at all of his sporting events, but she loved watching and cheering with the Baylor cheerleaders. I just pray she gets Nathan's coordination and not mine (or the lack there of!).

Lunch at La Fiesta

Taylor with Brandon and Kami at the game

Kami, Brandon, Nathan, and Taylor

Looking over the crowd at everything

Watching the mascot do his dance

Baylor Line made a tunnel for the football team

Taylor with her pom poms

Taylor and me

Clapping along to the cheers

Making new friends with Lego's

This morning we went to our first Early Childhood PTA (ECPTA) event. We met 5 other moms at the Lego Education Center in Southlake. We had our own room with thousands of Lego's for the kids to build with. The kids all played well with each other and they all seemed to loving playing with the Legos.

Taylor loved this giraffe

Playing with legos when we first got there

Playing with Harrison

Dressed up in her construction gear

We spelled out 'Taylor' on the wall and then Taylor added an XO to the front of it. I guess that is how she is going to sign her name from now on - XO TAYLOR (just like a rockstar!!)

Playing with her new friends!

First day of KDO 2009

Love this picture!

I can not believe that I forgot to blog about Taylor's first day of KDO this year. Last Wednesday was Taylor's first day of school and of course, she loved it! She was so excited to go to school and see her friends. She gave me a kiss goodbye at the door and was off to color.

The "front door" picture

Carrying her lunch box to class

Coloring with her classmates

Sound asleep when I went to pick her up (photo taken through glass)

Weekend in Houston

We drove down Friday night through the horrific rain storm to mom and dads house. We decided that Taylor could just sleep in the queen size bed instead of a playard. She was super excited, but I don't know if it was because she was too excited or what, but she had a hard time going to sleep. She didn't fall asleep till 1am - which means, I didn't fall asleep till 1 am. I kept going into her room to check on her and she was wide awake, finally when I went in at 1, she was asleep. We blocked her in with pillows and she did great!

Saturday mom hosted a Chez Ami catalog party with friends and it went great! I was hoping that Taylor would model some of the clothes, but she slept through the entire party. I think she was alittle tired from being up so late the night before.

After the party, Nathan and I went to a wedding over in Cypress, Texas. It was a couple that Nathan works with, so tons of his coworkers drove down for the wedding. It was actually a renewal ceremony, but they had a nice big wedding with the white wedding gown, tuxedos, reception, and sparklers. Mom and dad kept Taylor for us, so we had a night to ourselves. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast.

This morning we got up and left Houston by 9am. I had a baby shower to attend to this afternoon back here in Coppell. Taylor slept the entire time I was at the baby shower, so Nathan got to watch the Cowboys game (he tivoed it so he didn't miss any of it) with no distractions.

It was a nice weekend, but it just went by too fast!

Update on my foot

Friday I went to the orthopedist (finally!) to get the results of my MRI on my foot. It has been 4 weeks since the pain started. I don't know why I was surprised, but the doctor said they didn't see any broken bones or torn tendons/ligaments in my foot. He said they found a little bit of fluid on my big toe joint which he believes is causing the pain. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory which should stop the pain. If it doesn't he said he would give me a cortizon shot in my toe (hopefully it won't come to that - I hear they are painful).



I am glad there aren't any broken bones or anything torn, but I wish they really knew what was wrong. I'm hoping it is this fluid and not something they couldn't see on the MRI. Hopefully the pills will help and the pain will be gone soon. Once the pain is gone, I get to start working out again and running! It's amazing how much I have missed my daily runs with Katherine.

First movie theatre experience

Yesterday we took Taylor to her first movie at the movie theatre. We decided to take her to the dollar theatre because we weren't sure if she would make it through an entire movie and we didn't want to waste $30 on tickets at the regular movie theatre. You can't beat $0.50 movie tickets yesterday at the dollar theatre. It was $1.50 for all three of us to go to the movies! That's awesome!!

We took her to see Disney's Up because we had heard so many good things about the movie. We bought her some popcorn and she was pumped. We sat on a 4 seat row in the back and it was perfect. She didn't sit still the whole time, but she did pretty well. She did get down at one point and ended up slipping on the nasty, dirty floor and cut her elbow on the cup holder. She is fine, but we made sure we disinfected her elbow when we got home. The funny thing was, when she would sit in her seat, the seat would fold up because she wasn't heavy enough. Nathan had to hold the chair down the whole time she was sitting in it. We finally figured out that she could sit on the arm rest and lean again either Nathan and me and then she would sit still the longest.

Overall it was really fun and now we know we can take her to the movies. I think she loved it!

Getting ready for the movie to start!!

Peeking through the seats in front of us to see the screen.

Showing her battle wound - I think the cup holder won!