Bowling

Our ward had a family home evening/activity night at Fat Cat's last night. They provided pizza, drinks and bowling for an hour. At first, we were just going to let Eliza bowl a few of mine and Matt's frames but there turned out not to be enough people on our lane so she got her own turn everytime. I'm really glad it worked out that way because she had a blast! I've never been a great bowler and I rarely break 100 but it was fun nonetheless. And it gave Matt aka "Striker" a chance to wear his silver bowling shirt. I don't let him wear it for any other occasion.

The best news for our team was that no one lost to the two year old. Although, I must say that Eliza's aka "Tink's" score of 62 is not too bad for someone who is 3 feet tall and weighs 30 pounds.

Here's a few pics from our fun night

And here is Eliza in action. We are trying to teach her a different celebration dance that doesn't include flashing the crowd (not that we taught her this one, it's her own creation).

Winter Pictures

We are trying to learn how to use Picasa to make our pictures look cool like other blogs. This is our first attempt so please have patience with us. These are all pictures taken this winter and are mostly of Eliza.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

From an early age Eliza has loved books and to be read to. Part of her bedtime routine has always included reading a story or 2. For several months, her favorite book was "The Night Before Christmas" and yes, it was very weird reading it to her in the middle of July but it was something that she loved and it would help her get ready to go to sleep. Lately she has become so much more independent and now she likes to read the books herself most of the time and gets mad at you when you try to help her. She even likes to sleep with a book or two during her nap during the day or at nighttime. For her birthday, the Corpuz' gave Eliza a new Nursery Rhyme book that Eliza absolutely loves. One of her favorites from the beginning has been "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" which is included in this new book. The other day, Emily was able to film Eliza for a minute while she was reading her book. If there was ever a contest for 2 year olds on how fast you could say/read Twinkle Twinkle, Eliza would take 1st place and it wouldn't even be close. The only problem is you can only pick up on certain words she says while reading it and she loves to read it fast. Here is a video of her doing this and also reading some of the other nursery rhymes too.

Dinner Bell!

Learning how to be a parent is very tough at times. One of the hardest things we have found as parents is getting Zi to eat consistently. She already loves chocolate(who doesn't) and the other day she asked for a piece and when I told her it was all gone she responded,"Oh Crap!!" Looks like she picked up something Emily or I said at some point. Anyway, Emily is not a picky eater so Zi must take after me. One day she is very interested in eating everything in her site but more often than not, we have to be creative in the ways we get her to eat. One of the better ways that works for us is to ask her to take a "tiger bite". I am not sure that she knows what exactly it is but she has learned to at least say it and then take a bite of her meal. Tonight I finally got her to say it on camera. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we ate dinner with the whole family and had our annual chime playing extravaganza. I think we're getting better.

For as long as I can remember, we've had a breakfast at my grandparent's house on Christmas morning but we decided after so many years they deserved a break and so we had it at my parent's house instead. I was put on "pancake duty" which was my grandpa's job so it was a lot to live up to but they turned out pretty good. We only had a couple of casualties while I was attempting to flip them over. After we ate we opened a few presents and finally got Eliza changed out of her pajamas. She mostly got clothes from me and Matt which isn't terribly exciting but her grandparents gave her fun things. She got a big Elmo doll and a little picnic table from my parents. Matt's parents gave her some Elmo slippers and an Elmo doctor kit. We're hoping that will help her not freak out next time she has to get her ears checked at the doctor.

This Christmas was really fun to see Eliza a little more involved than last year. She figured out that she really likes opening presents and is willing to help everyone else with their packages. It's been nice this year too because my brother and his family that live in Phoenix are in town so we've gotten to spend the holidays with the whole family and they got to enjoy a very white Christmas.

New Baby Coming!

So a few of you already know but Emily and I would like to officially announce that Emily and I are expecting child #2. We had our 1st doctors appointment this morning and the doctor did an ultrasound and it brought back all of the memories of when Emily was pregnant with Eliza. Even though the new baby is just a little peanut right now, he/she was very active moving around inside. The doctor said Emily is about 10-11 weeks along and we are looking at a due date of July 6th. This is such an exciting time in our lives and we really feel blessed that we are able to bring another child into this world. Emily has been pretty sick lately and also very tired so it looks like I will be spending my nights watching sports alone after Eliza goes to sleep. This may be a little difficult to adjust to, not the watching sports part, but watching sports alone. Usually Emily blogs about Twilight and her dream man Rob while I yell at the TV during Jazz and Cougar games. In other family news, it appears that we have finally sold our condo and should complete the sale by Friday so we can officially start to search for a new home to live in. This has been a very frustrating process and we are are still cautious that things could fall through, but everything seems to be in good order this time. I really feel blessed that I have so much family that has supported us during this time in our lives and for a loving wife and daughter to come home to every night. I have been thinking about how sweet Eliza is and how much she means to me, even when she is throwing tantrums for no reason. I love to spend time with her and getting her to say funny phrases like "Boozer" during Jazz games or "Game Day" during BYU games. It always brings a good feeling to me at work when I look at pictures of Eliza and Emily and the best part of my day is when I walk through the door after work and get to see them. A lot of changes are coming for us searching for a new home to live in, a new ward to go to, and new neighbors and friends to meet. Child number 2 will be a big adjustment for us but we are up for the challenge and consider it a great blessing in our lives. Emily and I don't agree on any boy names so far and somewhat agree on a couple girl names but we will have plenty of time to find a name that we both agree on. Thank you to all of our friends and family who make a difference in our lives, even if it is the smallest thing. We love and appreciate all of you!

For those of you who can't read the small print, 2 pink bars=pregnant

This is the ultrasound picture. You can totally tell there is a baby somewhere on that screen.

Meeting Santa

My mom's work had a Christmas party Monday night. It was so nice! They had popcorn and cookies for all the kids. There was a magician and a face painter, as well. While we were waiting in line, Santa came down the hall with one of his 'elves' and Eliza got so excited. She started shouting, "Santa! Santa!" It's funny because she doesn't really know who Santa is or what he does but she recognizes him anytime we see anything with his picture on it. Once we got to the front of the line she was still excited but not so sure if she wanted to sit on his lap. She didn't cry but as you can see, she was a little worried. The whole party was so fun and I'm glad we haven't traumitized her yet and she's still excited about Christmas.