Zoo

We went to the zoo and Miles had so much fun he fell asleep. He got to pet goats and see most of the animals he has learned about from picture books. He asked to see dinosaurs. I tried to explain that dinosaurs don't live in a zoo - I'm sure he didn't understand but we did get to see some dinosaur sculptures and I think he was satisfied to see them. James an I were impressed with how many animals Miles knows.

Hair Cut

Here is James cutting Miles' hair. Miles will cooperate if he can play with his toys in sink.

This was one of the best hair cuts he has ever had. Good job dad!

Chef Miles

Miles wants to help anytime he sees me cooking. We pull out the step stool so he can stand next to me. This particiular day I had finished putting things away while Miles played with his dry cereal. I found him cutting the cereal into pieces. Notice the look of total concentration. I love how he puckers his lips when he's in deep thought.

Self Portraits

Miles loves to take pictures. Here are some he took of himself. NICE!

Playdough

Miles got playdough for Christmas and wants to play with it every day. It's a fun activity for us to do together although James and I wish he didn't have to do it daily!

Finger Painting

This was Miles' first time finger painting. He loved it.

TWINS!!

The twins at 8 weeks

Here's our boy

And here's our girl

Well, we've been holding out on the news that we're having twins!! I'm now 17 weeks along and just today we found out we are having a boy and a girl!! We couldn't be more excited!!! James bought me a scanner so I could post pictures of the little rascals.... we'll keep it updated

The ultrasound estimates our baby boy is 8 oz (226.80 grams) and our girl is 7 oz (198.45 grams).

Miles turns Two!

Miles turned 2 on New Year's Eve!

I've always worried that having Miles' birthday on New Year's Eve would be difficult for birthday parties. But not this year! It appears all our friends with young kids are staying home that night anyway so planning Miles' birthday party was easy! Our friends the Petersen's, Hendersen's and the Haughton's were able to come and we had a great time eating cake, breaking the Lightning McQueen Pinata and opening gifts! Thanks for coming guys!

I am amazed Miles has only been with us for 2 years! he is a delightful little boy and is always entertaining us with his latest anticks like "Meow" and a phrase I'm not sure where he picked up - "Look at me!!" He knows most of his colors and surprises me with funny things like "Hello blue! Hello Red!!" and my favorite "Hold you Mommy?" instead of asking us to pick him up, he askes if he can hold us! Who can resist? He has learned to whisper.... the list goes on. That's why we have a blog!

Cute Sunday Picture

This was taken just before leaving for church.

Happy Birthday at Rainforest Cafe

We went to Ontario Mills (a mega shoping outlet mall) the weekend after Christmas. The place is HUGE! We had fun browsing the sales and got a few bargains. For lunch we thought we'd try Rainforest Cafe. If you've never been there - the place feels like you're in a rainforest. With Monkeys and elephants, birds...not real ones, but life like. They also had huge aquariums, I think Miles loved those the most, the fish were incredible. The food wasn't so incredible and wow!! the price was horrific! Our waiter they told us they'd sing Happy Birthday to Miles and bring him a treat (not knowing the cost of the treat would show up on our bill!! Usually places do that part complimentary!) Miles enjoyed the singing but didn't touch the icecream. Oh well! We did love the atmosphere although it was probably one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

Christmas eve and day happenings

We let Miles open most of his Christmas presants on Christmas Eve. We saved the one we thought he'd love the most for Christmas morning. When James and Miles went to bed, santa filled the stockings and set up Miles' new train set. Ok, the train set actually turned out

to be a bomb. I can't believe I bought such a lame set. It's from the Geo Trax collection. Our friends have it and Miles always wants to go to their house so he can play with it. This particiular set I bought came with only a few pieces. I was going to have to redeem myself and buy a better set next week for his birthday. After presants and breakfast, we tried to decorate a gingerbread house. It was pretty pitiful looking, but Miles seemed to enjoy the activity! James and I agreed it was the best Christmas we'd ever had. Miles is just the right age to be excited about toys so watching him was really fun. I love the gifts I received and James especially loves the new surround sound system he got along with the everything else.

Cats

Miles LOVES cats!! He meows all the time. So imagine how excited he was to play with the cats at my mom's house and at Lori's. Here he is trying to play with Lori's cats. Thank heaven they have been declawed!! I guess Miles pulled the tail of one cat and became enemy #1. Miles wasn't phased at the cat's growling and attempts to swipe his face! He just giggled everytime the cat tried to swat him. The other thing that made me laugh is how Miles got down on his belly to get on the cat's level every time he got close.

The other day James asked Miles if he was ok? and Miles said MEOW!! then he proceeded to repeat that every time we asked him if he was ok?!

James and I are not pet people. Visiting other people's pets are enough for us. However, I think I could be swayed to get a cat. James says he will not budge so Miles will have to live without!

Birthdays

We celebrated birthdays for those born in December (we were really missing Haylee!) Lee and Lori let Miles blow out their birthday candles.

Before he fell asleep; Miles had fun in the arcade on this little carousel. Good thing the rides were only a quarter! Lynne and Marilyn had fun playing a dance game.

Bowling

Our Miles family Christmas party was the main event of our trip. We met at Fat Cats in Ogden and bowled --- Miles bowled!! they even had shoes that fit him. He loved it! Unfortunately he did not get a nap and was exhausted. He fell asleep before he could finish his game.

Visiting Family

My mom's sisters, Buelah and Trilba, are two of the sweetest ladies on earth. We had fun meeting them for lunch. The weather was so cold Miles actually wanted to wear his hood -- normally he protests!

We stayed with Stephen and Karen - I can't believe I don't have any photos of them! Miles loved playing with Tasha, their nearly 2 yr old daughter. Having Miles and Tasha play together made us excited for Miles to be a big brother. It was so fun to watch them play.

James and I also enjoyed visiting with a few other friends in the Ogden area -- We wish we could have stopped to visit all of our friends and family! Some day we're just going to have to move back to Utah so we'll have plenty of time to see everyone!

Utah Snow!

When we were in Vegas we were shocked to hear we'd missed a huge snow storm at home in Palmdale!! (it rarely snows there) It snowed more than a foot which is a big deal when there are no snow plows to clear the road -- as well people just don't own snow shovels! When we got to Utah, we heard it snowed in Vegas too!! We also missed that storm! We were extrememly blessed in our travel, had we waited 1 day later we would have had a terrible time traveling. Well, the snow caught up to us in Utah. That's ok because we expected snow there! And it was beautiful. Miles was afraid to touch it! "It's COLD!!" he'd say! Here's James clearing the car.

Vegas Surprise

On Dec 16th we started our drive to Utah. I usually book our hotels when we go places, but thanks to pregnancy I had no interest! James would not tell me where he booked us/or let me see the confirmation. He wanted it to be a surprise. We stayed in Las Vegas the first night and as we got closer to the Strip, I realized we were staying somewhere incredible! I couldn't believe we were actually staying on the Strip -- it's usually way too expensive! Before long we were parked an hiking* our way to check in at the Paris! POSH!!!

*the walk from the self park is a long one, but so fun because it took us through the cobble stone streets of the french looking shops, it really looks like you're transported to France.

Here we are enjoying our room. Normally I would protest having this hideous photo of me (watch out! fat pregnant lady!) posted, but it's the only one that shows the cool bed ensemble. Somehow we missed taking a picture of the amazing view of the Eiffel tower and Billagio's incredible fountain show (we could even hear the music so we enjoyed the full effect of the fountain shows). This was definately a once in a lifetime experience and I loved every minute of it! Thanks for the surprise honey!