Day trip to Vernon

I wish the reason for the trip had been happier, but yesterday we went up to Vernon to attend my great uncle's funeral.

The service was beautiful. And I know the next family reunion won't be the same without JT. I think to honor him I will make something that needs to sit on the cooling rack he gave me as a wedding gift. So many options. :)

Danica had fun playing with her toys and running around. She had Grandpa walk around the church with her about 4 times. Then we sat in the mothers room throughout most of the service so that I could hear the service and Danica could run around and play.

I completely blame the hair on the wind--the wind was crazy.

We also went up to the upper ranch. They have thinned out the trees a bunch and it was a big surprise. We could see the trailers from the road. Danica slept most of the time we were at the upper ranch so I didn't take any pictures.

Then we went to the lower ranch and showed Danica a bunch of the pictures on the wall.

But her favorite part was the windmill. She kept pointing at it and talking about it--in a language we have yet to understand.

Then we went out to see the horses. Again with the wind--you think I am exaggerating--I am not--it was crazy. :)

Cody let her get on the back of the horse--first she wanted to sit side saddle. How ladylike--Glorya would be proud!
Then she decided to straddle the horse--tell me she isn't a cowgirl at heart!

Dinner with a smile

Every day I love to come home to Danica. She really makes me laugh and smile no matter what. And today she was particularly cute--she absolutely loved the sauce Grandpa made to go with the chicken tenders. And she loved watching Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader (we had not watched it with her until tonight). But you can tell from the video why we ended up having dinner with a smile:

Saturday in the Park

Saturday Danica and I went to Playtopia--which is really one of the coolest parks I have ever been to. I hadn't been there until my friends invited us, but I am seriously considering having Danica's birthday there. Anyway, we had tons of fun at the park. The weather was perfect and with the all over shade, all of the play equipment was not hot.

Here is Danica and I on the slide--afterwards she tried to get every big kid going down the slide to take her with them:

Here is Danica after she tried to copy the big kids going up the slide:

Here is Danica jumping on all of the play equipment. She really loved the sound she made when she would jump:

Finally--Danica's favorite thing to do was jump on the draw bridge because it made the draw bridge go up and down:

Cousin's Dinner

This past week we went to Cafe Rio for cousin's dinner. Overall, I really enjoyed my food. I thought the meat on the salad was quite tasty. I enjoyed catching up with the cousins. But I really loved watching Danica's expressions, particularly as she was stealing food from Grandpa's plate. :)

"No really everyone--Grandpa wanted me to steal his beans and rice"--Danica

Mother's Day Weekend

Danica and I had a very busy Mother's Day weekend. We started celebrating early with a Pool Party and BBQ at a friends house. Danica had not really been in a pool much until the party but she loved it. She stood on the first step of the pool splashing and kicking--and of course giggling. Then one of my friends let us use her pool toy for babies, which looks like an inner-tube but has leg holes for the baby's legs to go through. And she loved that. My dad and I are going to start looking for one for her to use throughout the summer because she had so much fun being lead around the pool on that.

Here are some pictures from the party:


Then on Sunday we decided to go to Harper's Nursery and get the herbs that I wanted for Mother's Day. Unfortunately they did not have any thyme that looked good for cooking (the onese there were more for ground cover). But they had Rosemary and Basil. So that is what I got, but they told me to try again in two weeks and they should have more options.

So I took the Basil (I named him Rathbone) and Rosemary (Rosie) home and transplanted them. Here are some pictures of them now: I am hoping they will grow as quickly as Danica did. :)



Finally, Dad noticed that we had a hummingbird who built a nest on our carport. I had seen the hummingbird a couple of times flying around some of our bushes--I showed Danica and of course she giggled. But it was neat to see the nest. I had never been this close to one.

Dancing with Danica

Danica's favorite show has become Dancing with the Stars. Every week she gets very excited as the music starts. She loves to spin herself in a circle. Or she bounces up and down while moving her arms. The whole time she is laughing her cute little giggle.

This week she started wanting Grandpa and I to get into the action as well. She has come over to our chairs, taken our hands and had us help her spin. So we are now her dance partners.

I would take pictures but everytime she sees the light, she stops. She really is not as shy as she likes to pretend to me. :)