Happy Birthday Dad!

Not only was yesterday Elena's 1/2 birthday, but it was also my Dad's birthday! So what did we do? Pretty much the same thing as last year! :) As you know my Dad will use any reason to go eat at Sumo so that is what we did. This year, Elena got to sign the card for him - and only got a small amount of ink on her lovely white shirt! Check out her 1st ponytail!! I love it!!

Marie, Clyde, Twila and CJ all came to help celebrate!

The food was so yummy!I think we may have had the same cook as last year! What are the odds? :) Elena was a little scared this time - I can't really blame her it is so loud and noisy in there! But she got better throughout the meal.

You know how the cook uses the fake "ketchup" and squirts it at someone as a joke? Well Robert was the victim this time and it was so hilarious - he almost jumped out of his chair! I missed it actually happening but did get a pic of everyone laughing at him!

Happy Birthday Dad and Grandpa!! We love you!

A year and a half!

My little baby girl is getting so big! It is so hard for me to grasp that she is a year and a half old! She is so amazing and some how keeps amazing us more and more with each passing day! So what is she up to these days?

• She is taking swim lessons and has absolutely no fear of the water! She escaped from me the other day and jumped in the deep end all by herself! Very scary for mommy but she was ready to do it again!
• She is getting very, very good at her letter/number and color recognitions. She has about 1/2 of the alphabet down as well as just about numbers 1-10 and the colors, red (but she will only say that one in Spanish - rojo), purple, blue, yellow and green!
• Elena loves pointing out those things on any car ride - if you are headed into Park City with her in the car you will hear her say "apple''- for Applebee's, "M" - for McDonald's, "8" - for Super 8 Motel, and "E" - for the Emprise bank.
• She still loves to be outside - thank goodness it is getting warmer! She will go get her shoes and coat out of her room and repeat "out" until you let her go outside.

• Is still working on the potty training - she will usually go #1 and #2 at least once a day in the potty but that is about it for now.
• She has a new found obsession with our cars - she wants to be in the front seat and pretending to drive and pushing all the buttons. It was cute at first but now she will throw a tantrum if she doesn't get to do it.
• Which reminds me that she has also started throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way - welcome to officially having a toddler!

• She has started to recognize songs and actually sing along. "Imma Be" was on the radio the other day and she started saying "I Be, I Be!" It is so adorable!
• She loves reading, playing with Play Doh, taking baths, coloring, putting on necklaces and bracelets, playing catch and going to the park.
• She is already growing out of her size 5 shoes! Looks like she is going to have her mommy and daddy's big feet!

Happy 18 month Birthday Little One!!

Blog-iversary!

Well, it has officially been a whole year since I started this blog!! How insane is that? It has gone by so fast and I can't tell you how glad I am that I started it! I now have 176 posts to prove just how much I love it - ha ha! I have so many fun memories and pictures to look back on that I just know would have never made it into an album or scrapbook! If you are thinking about doing your own blog I say go for it - I am so happy that I did! :) Now I am looking forward to another year of blogging and hopefully turning what I have so far into a book!
Do you have any favorite posts or things that you like about my blog? I would love to hear it!

Flashback Friday - Sammy.

Next Monday is my Dad's birthday, so I thought I would share some pictures of Sammy Frank for my flashback today.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

70 degrees!

Today (only 2 days after it snowed!) the temperature got up to 70 degrees!! What a perfect chance to go to the park. Elena loved it of course!

What a big girl - she climbed all the way to the top of the BIG slide and went down it all by herself!! (Many, many times!)

Maybe spring is finally here!! :)

Chatterbox.

Miss Elena is becoming quite the little chatterbox! These are a couple of phrases she has been saying constantly and I was finally able to catch them on video tonight. Enjoy!

Zoo.

Apparently we are supposed to get 4-5 inches of snow tomorrow, what?!? So we decided to take advantage of this gorgeous day by going to the Zoo before the winter storm hits. It was absolutely beautiful outside. Robert had also never been to the Zoo with Elena so he was excited to run around and look at all the animals with her. We started out at the petting zoo - it really is Elena's favorite part of the zoo. She walked into the area and started 'baa-ing' at all the sheep! Too funny, she really does love sheep!

Waiting for the sheep food!

She would leave her fingers in their mouths for a few extra seconds and let them nibble on her - what a goofball!

Robert tried to make this one sit like a dog, but it wasn't interested!

Checking out the longhorn-Robert figured he was in a bad mood because Texas lost last night!

Walking over to see the camels~

She found some more sheep!

This miniature donkey was definitely Robert's favorite animal of the day!

The tigers we walking all over today!

Elena waving at the tiger!

Last stop was the Gorilla habitat - one gorilla was really far away...

but suddenly the other one came right up to the window!

The animal in this exhibit is apparently related to the monkey too - all it wanted to do was hang on the railing! Lol!

Time to head home!

Just as we were walking out there was a gust of wind that was honestly 20 degrees cooler than the current temperature! It was so crazy - guess we picked a good time to leave! Bring on the snow!

Flashback Friday - Breezy's.

This Flashback is in memory of a favorite hang out spot that was called Breezy's. It was a little Mexican restaurant over by College Hill and we used to love going there. One day we drove by and it was closed! What the heck? We were pretty upset! Even worse, the sign is still up - a regular reminder of the fact that it is no longer there!! They had the best fish tacos and always had really good beer specials. These pictures are of Rowe, Thomas and I celebrating St. Patty's Day at Breezy's 4 years ago!

Cheers to Breezy's ~ we miss you and since your sign is still up we will continue to have hope that maybe someday you will be open again! :)

Softball.

Since today was so beautiful outside, I decided to take Elena to her 1st college softball game! Of course I had to take her to watch my alma mater, Newman University, play! Marie and my mom came along to watch the Jets too. I always forget how much I miss playing until I am back at that field ~ then I remember just how much I really do miss it!! Elena seemed to enjoy watching the game.

She did get a little antsy so we let her run around in the batting cage and play.

Hmmm...is that an airplane or a foul ball you two?

Need to stretch before we throw! :)

Maybe she will be a pitcher just like her mommy!!

Newman didn't play too well today, but it was so nice to be outside at a ball field! It is going to be so much fun watching Elena when she starts playing sports!