Village Inn Ordering

Yes, I'll have the scrambled eggs and a milk. Shaken, not stirred.

Intense Breakfast

We hit Village Inn for breakfast on Saturday morning with the girls. They had both already eaten breakfast (3 Nutrigrain bars a piece) and I was worried that they wouldn't be hungry. Um, right. I was totally wrong. Hayden ate 2 gigantic pancakes and Ellie had 3 scrambles eggs. I have a hard time saying no to breakfast foods too so I guess I should have known.

Anyway, while we were there Hayden colored pictures (very intensely) and then refueled herself with O.J. I love that she looks like she's just so exhausted after all of that coloring!

Funny Faces?

Hayden and I were snuggling on the couch one night before bed and I said, "lets take a funny face picture."

This is Hayden's funny face. What's hilarious is that she thinks it's a funny face. I guess it IS a funny face because every time she does it we totally crack up.

Time with Grandma and Grandpa

We are so lucky that Dave and Sarah can spend some of their year here in Arizona. The girls love hanging out with them, and I think that the feeling is mutual.

All Smiles

This gal sure knows how to turn on the charm.

Enjoying the Weather

It has been an awesome year so far in the Sonoran Desert. Every day has been 70 degrees and perfect carbon copies of each other.

We put in fake grass in the backyard and we are loving it. The girls enjoy it and of course Matty wanted a putting green so a small portion of the grass is just that complete with a couple of holes. Sometimes we just lay around outside enjoying each other's company. In fact Savannah and her friend Kathy, her Best Woman from our wedding who was in town, laid on the grass literally shooting the breeze for 2 hours.

We also celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 6th. We can't believe it has been so long. We went to Dominick's Steakhouse in the Scottsdale Quarter for the occasion. It was great and we really enjoyed an adult night out.

After dinner we walked to Eddie V's for dessert which is another nice restaurant in the Quarter. They are known for their bananas foster which is legendary. It is not like traditional bananas foster since it has a soft cake like base but it is glorious and we scooped up every last bite.

You will also see pictures below of a visit to our community park, and to the train park. We were lucky and got to the train park early to beat the crowds. It was a great time.

For the development of the girls, Ellie is now walking all over the place and she now prefers to walk (as opposed to crawling). It is now VERY rare to see her crawling at all. She still takes her tumbles but she is getting better every day. She is still very cheerful and her smile is championship level. She is also much more cuddly than Hayden was at this age as she will walk up to you and give you a big hug with no prompting.

Hayden still thinks she owns the world and she is as sharp as a whip. Her mind blows us away at times and now we need to be on our game. In fact, if we have told her something to do or not do, then we break that rule at any point in the next 6 months, she will call us out on it.

Recently we were flipping around the channels on TV and we stopped on The Sound of Music for about 3 seconds before flipping again. She yelled out, "Daddy, I saw Mary Poppins! Go back!" We were bown away as she saw Julie Andrews, in a different movie with a different hair color, but made the connection.

So we are enjoying our family life and watching both girls grow. Perhaps the best part is that they both love each other. Hayden frequently invites Ellie into her room to play and Ellie loves doing anything Hayden is doing. She even calls out for Hayden, though it is indiscernible to the untrained ear: "Tay-Duh". It sounds somewhat like "Dada" but slightly different. Thanks for reading and for the comments. Enjoy the photos.

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Fiesta Bowl 2012

The Fiesta Bowl this year was between the Stanford Cardinal and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Oklahoma State won in OT after a great game. The contest featured several future NFL players including QB Andrew Luck and WR Justin Blackmon.

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Beans

I don't think I've ever seen a kid love beans as much as this kid. Seriously, she loves them. And she especially loves them now that she can get about 1/3 of them in her mouth using a spoon. The other 2/3 wind up in her hair, on her face, on her clothes and on us.

Peek-a-Boo!

We've had to take Ellie to the pediatrician recently for some recurring ear infections she's had. In the examination rooms their exam tables are different colored fire trucks. The sides of the fire trucks have little mirrors and they are the perfect height for Ellie to check herself out. It's such a funny sight when kids start to recognize their own reflection.

I think my favorite things about this picture are her chubby little hand and that really long piece of hair in her face that obviously needs a little hair clip. Now if only we could teach her to leave the clips in her hair?!

New Years Eve

For the third year in a row, we went to Jeremy and Lindsay Grogan's house for New Years Eve. They put on a classy fondue dinner and it is a great time and something we look forward to every year.

The best part is the food - there are 3 courses: the first is the cheese fondue course. With bread, apples, red pepper, and other items for dipping, it was a great start to the meal. Then the main course is a pot luck and the guests did really well with some fantastic dishes. Savannah made her famous shredded buffalo chicken sliders with blue cheese topping to much fanfare from the crowd. Lastly was the desert, the chocolate course. We dipped strawberries, bananas, and cheesecake. The chocolate had some amaretto in it as well and it was delish!

The dinner takes about 3 hours so it is a great social affair. We capped the night with a champagne toast at midnight. It was a great end to 2011 and a great way to start 2012!

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