Young Family

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-11T15:57:00.002-07:00

Aiden is an amazing singer!! He knows lots of songs. But for Valentines day, I thought it would be appropriate to post this one. It's the song from Pete's Dragon. Here are the words he's singing.

"It's so easy to find someone who cares, it's so easy to find magic in pairs. Now that you have 'em, hold 'em, treasure him from day to day. Cause it's so easy.
Life is lolly pops and rain drops with the one you love. Someone you can always be with, argue and agree with, climb the highest tree with. Cause it's so easy."

Hope it makes you feel loved!!!

Grandma & Grandpa Francis Visit

2010-01-30T20:16:00.007-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Francis came to visit us. We recently moved (only a block away) so they helped us unpack and organize and get projects done. Of course we found time to play! Yes, we went swimming outside in January. And look at Grandma in the water with us!! Way to Go Grandma!! Grandpa was the party pooper and refused to get in the water.Aiden and daddy are both fishes. They could swim all day, every day. Aiden swims all by himself. He jumps off the side and swims about 10 feet to his dad. No fear, he absolutely loves it!
We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens, which was fun to see all the cactus and desert plants.
We love Grandma and Grandpa so much and are so grateful they were able to come visit us!

Christmas Morning

2009-12-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

YEAH!! Christmas morning!! We had so much fun. Aiden looked so cute in his new Elmo footy pajammies.

We had tons of presents! We made the mistake of having Aiden open Santa's present first. Nothing mattered after that. We were opening his presents for him after that because all he wanted to do was play with golf clubs.

This is all the stuff Aiden got. How fun is Christmas!!!

Santa's Lap

2009-12-10T14:37:00.001-07:00

Aiden was so much fun this Christmas! He got all into Santa Clause and singing the songs and the lights and everything. He got to sit on Santa's lap at the ward party. We had to stand in line forever because all the older kids were in line in front of us. When we finally got to where we could see Santa, Aiden started telling him what he wanted for Christmas. He couldn't even wait until he was sitting on Santa's lap to tell him he wanted, "golf clubs and a golf ball to hit it in the hole." This is Aiden telling Santa while waiting in line.Aiden had no fear of Santa. Everyone helping was amazed that he sat right down and told Santa what he wanted. No crying or anything.
He got a treat bag from Santa that had a lolly pop in it, Aiden's favorite candy!! This is what happened on the way home from the party. Oh man, did he have a good time!

Train Park Adventures

2009-11-04T12:36:00.001-07:00

We went to the train park today with a play group from our ward. Aiden loved the train!!! He was a bit nervous at first (as you can see here,) but he loved it. The tunnel was his favorite part.
Then we rode the carousel. He was nervous for this too, and when the horse first moved he was scared, but he ended up liking it. He's such a big boy now!

Arizona State Fair

2009-11-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Arizona state fair. We love a good fair!! This is on the ferris wheel. Aiden liked it, but didn't say much. I think it scared him a little.
We love to see the animals!
They had a fabulous petting zoo with pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, llamas, kangaroos and donkeys. Aiden loves to see and touch animals! He had so much fun.
Notice him trying to kiss the sheep, and the sheep kissing him back. I love this picture!
What??!!!... Nothing!
We love the state fair!!

Cute Kid

2009-11-03T12:32:00.002-07:00

This is how Aiden had to take his nap today. One sock, and a winter hat. Not because it's cold, but because it's Taylor's hat (a friend who he just loves!)
It made me laugh!!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T13:03:00.006-06:00

What better way to start Halloween than carving pumpkins!
I asked Aiden what he wanted his pumpkin to look like and he said, "Bat and Ball." So that's what he got. He's really excited about it, can you tell?
What else could Aiden have been for Halloween? He LOVES baseball!!

We were a family of baseball players! We had fun at our ward trunk-or-treat. Aiden really liked the cake walk and seeing a kid dressed like Max from 'Where the Wild Things Are'. He just saw the movie, so he was obsessed with seeing Max at Halloween.
We tried to teach Aiden to say, "trick or treat," but all he would say is, "candy," because he knew he was going to get some candy. But he was amazed that he could just walk up to a stranger and say, "candy," and they gave it to him. Hopefully he doesn't do it all the time.

Happy Fall!

2009-10-18T13:01:00.001-06:00

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

2009-09-27T15:28:00.001-06:00

Allen took Aiden to a Diamondbacks baseball game. Aiden absolutely loved it!A lady sitting by them thought Aiden was the cutest thing she had ever seen. When she found out this was his first baseball game, she left and came back with this cute button for Aiden. It says, "My 1st Game," with the Diamondbacks logo and mascot.
Aiden has an obsession with baseball. He carries around a bat and ball all day and says, "Hit it," "Batter hits it, pitcher throws it," "Strike" (with his thumb stuck out), and other random baseball-ish things ALL DAY LONG. He remembers eating CrackerJacks at the baseball game and talks about them a lot too. Recently he has learned the "Take me Out to the Ball Game" song, and we sing that at least 5 times a day.

What else could he possibly be for Halloween but a baseball player. Grandma and Grandpa Francis found this cute baseball outfit and hat for him. We tried it on to see how it looked. He was in heaven!!!

The BEST Trip to Utah!

2009-09-17T09:15:00.021-06:00

We just went on a super fun trip to Utah from August 23 to September 12th. Allen was with us for a week and then drove home, and Aiden and I stayed another 2 weeks and then flew home. We had so much fun seeing all our friends and family!!! This is Aiden helping me pack before the trip.
We stopped in Las Vegas on our drive up to Utah from Arizona. Aiden has never been to Vegas so we took him to the Belagio and showed him the display of flowers and things inside and the water fountain show outside. He loved it all, but his favorite thing was playing with the water arches over the walk way.

We stayed the night in St. George with Grandma-Great Daphne! Aiden mowed the lawn with Grandma-Great and helped her rake and sweep the back porch. He loved looking at all her glass, and playing with her kitty toys (the kitties never came out.) It was so fun to stay with Grandma-Great! We love her so much!!
We stopped in Cedar City and saw our nephew, Brandon. He just started college at SUU. It was great to see him!!
It was a very long drive, and we were all ready to finally be in Utah Valley!!!

TO BE CONTINUED....KEEP READING. I'm splitting up the posts.

The BEST Trip to Utah Cont.

2009-08-23T12:50:00.032-06:00

We were able to see so much family while we were in Utah. We loved playing outside in the nice, cool weather in Utah. We loved playing at parks, having picnics, and doing anything outside. We went camping with Allen's family. It was so fun! But I don't have any pictures of that :(
Aiden and I went out to Price to visit with Jenny's family for a few days. We had so much fun while we were there. We did too many fun things to list them all out, but Aiden did have many firsts. Like first time eating corn on the cob, first time on a riding lawn mower (his favorite), first time seeing a parade and eating his first lolly-pop at the parade, first time on a four-wheeler, first bubble bath, first time feeding a horse, first time playing in a puddle and more. We loved being in Price!!
Another favorite thing was playing in Grandma (or as Aiden calls her G-ma) and Grandpa's backyard! We loved seeing the bunnies, turtle, kitties, all the brooms, and especially the lawn mower! Aiden would sit on the porch and watch the entire lawn get mowed. He absolutely loves the lawn mower!
TO BE CONTINUED AGAIN!!... Gotta love it!

The BEST Trip to Utah Cont. AGAIN!

2009-08-22T12:53:00.000-06:00

So this is a ridiculously long post, but we were in Utah for 3 weeks, and we have a huge family, and we had so much fun so it's just going to be long! Here are other cute, random pictures of family!One of my favorite things we did was go to the Utah State Fair! I have gone every year for a long time. I love the fair. We went with James' family and Brent's family. Aiden loved seeing all the animals and carnival rides and eating all the junk. He had cotton candy for the first time. They had a rodeo that night too! What a blast!The flight home went really well. Aiden did great for his first time on an airplane! It was stressful flying just him and I, but we made it home safe and sound!
We want to say thank you to all our family and friends in Utah for making our trip the best trip ever! We love you all so much and miss you already!!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

2009-07-05T22:32:00.007-06:00

Happy 4th of July! We had so much fun going to watch fireworks this year! We went to Tempe Town Lake. We got there early and had a picnic and played. It was beautiful! It was hot, but Aiden had so much fun! We enjoyed a snow cone, and glow sticks, running up and down hills and especially playing in the dirt and rocks.
He really like playing in the rocks and dirt. I think this is the first time he has ever sat in a pile of dirt and played in it. He's a boy...he loves dirt!
I loved watching the fireworks here because they were shot off that bridge right behind us, and they reflected off the lake. BEAUTIFUL! The fireworks lasted for more than 30 minutes. It was an awesome show.
Aiden had never seen fireworks before so he didn't know what to think of them at first, but he liked them much better while clenching tight to mom. He stayed just like this for almost the entire show. It was WAY past his bed time too, so i'm sure that had something to do with it.
We had lots of fun playing as a family and celebrating our amazing country. We are so proud to be American's in this wonderful, free country! God Bless America!!!

Our Trip to the Phoenix Zoo

2009-06-06T22:36:00.013-06:00

Have I mentioned that we are having fun here!! We got to go to the zoo for free with a pass from our library, YEAH for FREE!! I'm not sure if we go to the zoo for Aiden or for me. I love the zoo!! We had so much fun, even though it was HOT! This was in front of the flamingos. A favorite of mine at the zoo.
This zoo is cool because they have several exhibits where you walk into the animal's area and get to be right up close to the animal. If the animal would let you, and if you wanted to risk loosing a finger, you could reach out and touch them. That's how close they are. I loved it! Oh...Aiden did too. The exhibits we got to walk into were the Marmosets (kangaroo), and the monkeys. That little tiny fence did not stop the Marmosets from jumping over and coming right up to the stroller. So fun!
The monkeys were jumping and climbing all around you. It was awesome to be so close.
A favorite part for Aiden was the water play areas. They have two. Aiden walked around the fountains that would shoot up and hit him right in the face, and he didn't even care. He loves the water!! They have water slides and all kinds of fun things to do in the water!
My all time favorite animal at the zoo is the Giraffe! Aren't they awesome! Aiden and I paid to go feed them. Aiden was so brave to hold that piece of lettuce while the giraffe's long, slimy, blue tongue came at him! He would only do it that one time though. He didn't think it was as fun as I did.
The giraffes get two pictures on my blog because they are so cute. I just love them!
The tiger came and layed right in front of us. It was awesome because then Aiden actually saw it, and it made for a great picture!
They also have a petting zoo and farm area at this fun zoo! Aiden LOVES tractors, and thought he was in heaven when he got to sit on one all by himself.
We got to pet the goats! There were lots of them, and they didn't mind people at all. Aiden was squeeling with delight and patting them and they didn't even notice he was there. He loved petting the goats!!
We had a very fun day at the zoo! We love doing fun things for free! See my other blog below about our trip to the Children's Museum!

Aiden's First Steps

2009-06-01T21:31:00.005-06:00

Today Aiden walked for the first time!!! He took his first steps along the ledge in the swimming pool. He loved walking in the water! We wanted to see if he could walk on dry land like he did in the pool, so Allen stood him up and let go of his hands and he just started walking. It was the craziest thing. I had no idea he could!! It wasn't like he took a few steps and fell, he was just cruising like a pro. It was so awesome!! Click HERE to see the video of him walking. My little boy is so big!! I can't believe it!

Our Trip to the Phoenix Children's Museum

2009-05-25T22:02:00.001-06:00

We are having so much fun in Phoenix. Our library has a program where you can go to different cultural museums, and other places for free!! We are all about FREE, so we got a pass to go to the Phoenix Children's Museum. It was so much fun!!! It wasn't really a museum, just 3 levels of fun things for kids to see and do. Aiden had a very fun time but had missed his nap so was VERY tired and didn't enjoy it as much as he could have. Plus most of the things were designed for kids a bit older than a 1 year old. Although they have an entire section for kids under 3, which was nice for us! This is Aiden on our way in. He was ready for some fun!!!
Every inch of the museum is covered with something fun, bright, and colorful to look at. All of the decorations are made from recycled stuff, which I think is way cool! These are fish made from used laundry detergent bottles. Fun huh!
Aiden sitting in a car all by himself. He thought it was cool to be in it by himself and steer with the steering wheel.
This was my favorite part. They had an area, probably 12 feet by 24 feet ( a huge sized room), that was filled with these bright green pool noodle, styrafoam, things. They were so close together that once you walked in you couldn't see the person walking in front of you. It was a sea of green noodles.
They have a big colorful maze of fabric tubes where the kids can crawl around. Aiden was the smallest kid in there, so mom had to be a kid too and crawl around with him. He thought this was really cool!!

We had such a fun time playing at the Children's Museum! We can't wait to go again for free!!

Our Temporary Condo

2009-05-25T21:49:00.012-06:00

Here are pics of the condo where we are staying till we can find a house. It's furnished, which is nice so we don't have to unpack and repack all of our stuff.

Our favorite part of living here are the 2 swimming pools! We go swimming every day now since I'm not working and dad is gone to work most of the day. Aiden is a fish!! He loves swimming more than anything. He is so brave and goes under the water falls and under water. He kicks and splashes just like he's really swimming.We love it here! The weather's great, the pools are nice. Anyone is invited to come and play!!

Moving!

2009-05-23T22:27:00.021-06:00

We did it!! We finally moved. We packed up all of our earthly belongings, and on a rainy and wet April 25, 2009 we loaded everything on a big Budget truck and headed out to Arizona.

We had so many friends, neighbors, and family come help us get everything out of the house and packed on the truck. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped! We could not have done it without all of you.
Allen had the truck packed so well that we still had lots of room left in the truck. After everything was packed we had lots of help from family to clean out the house and do last minute fix-ups. We spent the night at my mom and dad's house. It was so nice of them to have us in their home and took really good care of us. The next morning we finished some last minute things at the house and we jumped in the big truck and took off. Michael was amazing and drove our car down with so we could all be together in the truck. It took us 12 hours to get to AZ. I didn't have my camera, so all I had was blurry pictures from my phone.

Aiden was amazing on the long 12 hour trip. I couldn't believe how good he was. We only stopped 2 times. I think he cried once. He just loved being in that truck. I think he liked being right next to dad and mom, and he could see out the big windshield! He was an angel!!
We got to AZ late, and Larry and Diane had us stay the night at their house. It was so kind of them to have us stay!! The next day we unloaded all of our stuff into a storage shed. We were able to find a condo to rent that very day and moved in. It is completely furnished, which is nice so we didn't have to unpack all our stuff. We are only going to be here until we find a house.
I usually dread moving, but I must say that we were so incredibly blessed with tons of help on our move. It wasn't bad at all. Thanks again to everyone! We love and miss all our friends and family in Utah (and Idaho). We look forward to our new adventure here in sunny AZ!

Aiden's 1st Birthday

2009-04-02T08:29:00.022-06:00

We celebrated Aiden's 1st Birthday on Tuesday with a BIG party. It was so much fun! We invited all the neighborhood kids over. We had a Safari Hunt and then they colored spots to put on Aiden's big giraffe. There were 16 kids. We tried to get a picture with all of them and the colorful giraffe, but as you can see not everyone was happy about the picture.

It was fun to have so many friends, and family at our house to celebrate Aiden! We ate hot dogs and cake and ice cream. So glad that grandma and grandpa could be there to help with all the little things I was too busy to do.

We were so glad that Aunt Jodi, Uncle Michael, cousin Bailey, Uncle Andrew and Randy were all there too.

My favorite part of the party was when Aiden got his very own cake to dive into. He didn't really understand what he was supposed to do with it at first. But all the kids showed him how to get your hands into it and smear it all over.

I can't believe my baby is one year old. Time goes by so fast!! Thanks to all our family and friends for their love and support! We had a very fun day!!!

First Pet

2009-03-06T23:49:00.002-07:00

Aiden went to his first birthday party for a little girl in our ward. As a party favor he got a goldfish with the bowl and food. HE LOVED IT!! He would watch it, and talk to it. He would do the sign for fish every time we walked into the kitchen where it was. We named the fish "Hot" because that is the first word Aiden said.

Alas, like all 10 cent goldfish do, "Hot" went belly-up about five days later and he took the big swim down the toilet. But all drains lead to the Ocean, right?

First Baseball Game

2009-02-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Aiden went to his first baseball game on Feb 26th. It was BYU's first home game for 2009. It was cold!! Really cold! But dad was giddy with excitement to take his son to his first baseball game. So how can you not go. We ate J-dogs, crack and spits (sunflower seeds) and candy. What can be better than baseball food!

Mike and Jodi and cousin Bailey went with us. Obviously there were not very many people there, but we had lots of fun and BYU won!! GO COUGARS!

Bailey in her B-Ball cap. That's how she rolls!

Allen was a die-hard and wouldn't leave till the game was over (even though it was free to get in.) Baby Aiden didn't quite make it that long and fell asleep right in mom's arms

Salt & Peppa

2009-02-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

This isn't a new picture, but a cute one just the same. This is Aiden and his cute cousin, Bailey. It was taken in the fall of 2008. Diane (Bailey's grandma) calls Aiden and Bailey, "Salt & Pepper." I must admit they are adorable!!

Getting Started

2009-02-26T11:35:00.001-07:00

This is my first posting on my new blog. I have finally entered the blogging world!! What a catch, Huh!!!!!