Disneyland

In November my sister Amanda, her boys, my other sister Candice and my Dad came out to visit us.  They all piled into our front room and we had so much fun.  Taj was in heaven with his cousins and we were all lucky enough to have one day at disneyland.  Mike even got to come, which was so much fun!

Taj dog piling his cousins.

Taj couldn't be happier with cousins Oliver and Conner.

Taj loves dancing cheek to cheek with Grandpa.

More Halloween Fun

So Halloween morning Taj  was quite upset because he couldn't lift the pumpkin.  Classic.

Taj helping me make some yummy Halloween cookies.

Ok this one cracks me up.  Taj is at the phase where he likes to go to a corner or private place to go poop and this was one of them.  He went in the log cabin played for a while and then suddenly it got very quiet.  When I peaked in and caught a whiff I knew exactly what he had been up to. 

So he loved these little toys he could play on.  Anything with wheels is fun for Taj to ride on. 

Uh Oh, I think we are in trouble.  This reminds me of those freestyle moves.

Halloween

So I haven't done a post in a long time, but I have a good excuse.  I really wanted to post a video of Taj riding the ponies and the blog would not let me upload it.  After 10 trys it finally accepted it.  So make sure you watch the 20 sec. pony ride video because I wanted to keep things in order.

Ok now on to Halloween.  Mike had a great idea for a Halloween costume for Taj and I couldn't find the pieces to put it together.  He wanted Taj to be Nacho Libre.  Hysterical!  Hopefully we can pull it off next year.  So instead he was an awesome pirate.  It was so fun watching him run around with his sword and bucket of candy.  And of course my favorite part is his mustache!

Here is Taj with his buddies Ellie and Shane.  Sooooo cute!

Ok this is one of my favorites.  Taj was so happy to be with his fellow pirate Jayden.

Taj and Marley loving their lollipops. Taj was so sticky.

Swords

So our sweet neighbor margaret introduced Taj to swords.  It was instant love.  I am seriously amazed at how natural it is for boys.  He had never seen a sword in his life and he new exactly what to do with it.  Margaret handed it to him and he immediately bent his knees and began to chop the air with the sword.  It was so funny.  We both had a good laugh.  The only problem was he loved it so much he wouldn't let it leave his side and had to go to bed with it. 

Taj absolutely loved the pony ride at the pumpkin patch.  It is so cute how he held onto the saddle and enjoyed the ride.  Of course we had to let him do it twice.  So fun!

FHE Pumpkin Patch

This ended up being such a fun night! Taj had a great time and we loved being together. Mike has been really busy with work lately, so this was a nice escape for all of us. Taj's favorite thing was by far the ponyride. We let him do it twice because he loved it so much. I am going to try to download one of the videos. so cute!

We had the privilege of having my sister Stephanie, her husband, Martin and three boys here to visit.  They had a great week at disneyland and at the end of the week they came to stay with us.  It was so fun to spend time with them and hang out at the beach.  Thanks for such a fun visit.  We love you guys!

Here is Taj with Jame, Isaac and Luke at the end of Huntington beach Pier.

A few more of Taj's favorite things.  Again things I am sure so many of you can relate to.  He loves to pretend talking on the phone. And of course I think it is so cute. 

He is also in the copying phase.  Lately he is doing everything Mike and I are doing.  He always sees us open the garage with the keys, so the other day he walked right up and started to do it himself.  Just a couple minutes ago Mike had the hiccups so Taj pretended he had hiccups to. 

So we have the cutest neighbor ever named Gavin and Taj is obsessed with him.  He seriously wants to be Gavin.  We know this because everything Gavin does Taj wants to do.  If Gavin is riding his bike, Taj must ride the bike too.  The other day Gavin was skateboarding and he had to get on the skateboard.  He would cry so hard every time I took him off of it.  I got so tired of pushing him on it that finally I just stopped and he was almost as happy just standing on it.  He just wants to be like Gavin.  And...hopefully if we are lucky Taj will be a happy, fun loving boy just like Gav!

ok this one cracks me up because he is totally  yelling his boy yell/grunt that means go faster.

Taj has started making the craziest faces.  We have learned this kid can make some dirty looks when he doesn't get what he wants.  Hopefully I can capture it one of these days to give you the full affect.  Here he stood up and knew he wasn't supposed to.  So he started to scowl at me for telling him to sit back down. 

One of my dear friends, Sue, gives Taj so many great toys when her kids grow out of them.  This is the latest donation to the Taj toy room. He loves this toy and loves playing with cars.  It actually keeps his interest longer than 5 minutes.  Which as many of you know is pretty amazing for a busy toddler.

Taj started a toddler tumbling class with some great friends in our ward.  It is so fun to watch all the kids dance and have fun.  As I heard one of the workers say, "it is a baby disneyland."  It really is a lot of fun.

Dad actually made it one day to play with Taj. They both had a blast. 

Taj and teacher Gail.

Ok so I thought this was a fun video to share.  hopefully it works.  It is Taj doing some sign language, smiling and walking.  what a cutie!

Taj's Favorite things!

So here are a few of Taj's favorite things! I am sure many of you can relate to these fun activities they seem to discover.  He has been so much fun and such a pain lately.  Isn't that funny how that works.  As some of you know he chucked my cell phone in the toilet the other day.  Of course it destroyed the phone, but I now have a phone up and running again.  Oh the joys!

He loves putting on our shoes, but when he does he trips all over the place. 

He loves digging through my purse and taking everything out.  He does this multiple times a day and never seems to get sick of it.  Go figure.  All those toys and he wants my bag. 

He is currently obsessed with Hats.  He will get his hat and his dads hat and then will hold them until we get them on. 

And of course he loooooves pulling the kleenexes out of the box.  And lets not forget the toilet paper.  We have finally just taken it off the ring because I can't deal. 

Balloon Boy

I had to put these pictures on because Taj is soooo cute.  No I am not biased.  Taj has loved balloons since the first time he laid eyes on them.  Anytime he is sad or cranky all you have to do is give him a balloon and it is perma grin.  

I got Taj and his friend these chairs and it has been a big hit.  When I take it to the beach he actually sits in it to eat his snacks and just chill.  So funny. 

Doheny Surf Trip

I finally went Surfing!  It has been a long time since I have been on a surfboard and I had a blast.  Mike, Taj and I went to Doheny beach on Friday and had such a fun Surf day.  I was finally able to ride my new long board (which Mike as been enjoying for me) and catch some great rides.  Taj also had an awesome time.  Mike and I took turns surfing so one of us could play with Taj.  He had so much fun just playing in the sand and waves.  I think his favorite part of being at the beach is all the airplanes and helicopters he sees.  Every time this kid hears any kind of plane, no matter how far, he spots it and says, " I see it!"  It is so funny and so cute.  He was so tired he slept in until 10am on sat.  If any of you know my little boy, you know that is so out of character.  The bad part is I didn't even get to enjoy it because we had things we needed to get done.  Bummer!  Oh well, at least he was a happy camper.  

My little sand digger.  At least he doesn't eat it anymore.  Yea!

Gotta love him in his glasses.  He thinks he is so cool!

I love his mischievous little look.

He loves to get on any kind of board and thinks he is such a big boy.

Utah Summer Trip

So we had the great opportunity to go to Utah in August to visit the Packer Family.  Mike was able to take an entire week off of work and we had a blast.  It went by so fast because we were having so much fun.  Because we had built in babysitters we were able to go to a Chris Isaac concert (one of Mike's favorite singers), to some great movies and to dinner at Sundance.

The date nights were great, but it was so fun to spend time with my family and see Taj interact with his cousins.  They all play so well together, which is not surprising considering they are all a bunch of boys.  It is always so hard saying goodbye to everyone, but at least we have photos to help us relish in the memories.  Whenever we go to Utah we spend as much time on the lake as possible.  We had so much fun water-skiing, tubing and taking rides on the 5 seater wave cutter (we call it a banana).  I don't have any pictures of it, but trust me, we had such a blast.  I threw in a picture of my dad skiing.  He still loves to get out there and he got such nice water.  I feel so blessed to have such a fun, active and loving family!  We love and miss you all!

As all boys Taj loves to play with balls!  He actually has a pretty good arm.

Go Dad!

Taj was such a good boy and loved being on the boat.  He even road on the inner-tube!

Taj's 1st Birthday!

Taj turned 1 on July 5th and we had such a good time celebrating his life.  We had some family and friends with us to celebrate his special day.  Taj had  a great time playing with his friends.  Mike blew up a pool and made a ball pit.  It was an absolute hit!  All of the kids loved it.  Taj kept throwing balls to anyone who would play.  Most of them landed outside of the pool.  So we were chasing balls around the courtyard most of the evening.  We also had a bubble machine which brought instant smiles to all the children's faces.  My favorite part of the evening was when Taj ate his birthday cake.  He didn't smash his face in the cake, but he did go to town on it.  There is nothing cuter than a baby with frosting smeared all over their face.  I love being a mom!  We know he got a sufficient sugar rush because he stayed up until 10:30 and was bouncing of the walls.  We included a picture of his first quad he got from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Dan.  He got on it, grabbed the handles and was ready to go.  How does the saying go...."like father, like son."  I have to say it is definitely in his blood.  Every time he sees a bike he wants to jump on and ride it.  When we do put him on a bike or motorcycle he instinctively grabs the handle/throttle, starts bouncing up and down and starts babbling excited jibber.  I am pretty sure he is saying, "let's go already."  

Taj with his friends in the ball pit.

He was having so much fun!

Taj eating his first cake ever!

Here he is on his quad.  Ready to go!

Lake Mead

Best Buddies

such a cute smile

This one makes me laugh

So we went to Lake Mead with Mike's Family and we had so much fun.  It was Taj's first boat ride and he loved it.  Like all babies he hates the life jacket, but if we kept him focused on the speed he would forget he had it on.  I love how his cheeks sit on the top of the jacket.  So funny but so uncomfortable.  We definitely love being on the lake!