Ode to Naiya Bo Biaya

I just want to take a minute and talk about my little chub chubs. She is growing so fast and she does so many cute things and I want to remember them and the only way I remember things lately is to write them down. So here it goes. Naiya is about 19 1/2 months old now and she is a little character! She loves to laugh and act silly. She does this thing where she rolls her eyes back in her head and rocks side to side like Stevie Wonder. It's so funny and I think she does it even more because it makes us all laugh so much.

She is a dancing machine! Everywhere we go, if she hears music, she stops what she's doing and dances. Last week, we were at the mall and I came to the realization that most of the stores have music playing in them. What made me notice? Naiya's journey through the mall went something like this: Walk, walk, walk. Hear music in a store. Stop. Dance, dance, dance. Mommy: "Come on Naiya." Walk, walk, walk. Hear music in next store. Stop. Shake booty. Mommy: "Come on Naiya." Walk, walk.....Needless to say, it took us like a half hour to get through one hallway of the mall. We couldn't tear her out of the Christmas section at Walmart...they were playing Christmas music.

Naiya babbles up a storm with more words becoming coherent now. I often wonder what all she is saying in her babbling. I know she knows what it means because she will come up to me when I am doing the dishes and say, "Mommy, babble, babble babble..." and then, after I acknowledge what she said, she seems satisfied that she has delivered her message and walks away.

Naiya loves her Daddy and gets so excited when she hears the garage door opening in the evening. She toddles over to the door and says, "Daddy? Daddy?" and waits for him to come in. She loves playing with her big sister, Melia, too. They crack each other up!
I totally understand the old saying "bundles of joy" now that we have two of our own. They are truly a joyful blessing in our lives and we are so grateful!

Halloween Solo

So this Halloween Bo decided to get a bad head cold and sleep through the whole weekend, which left me flying solo to do all of the Halloween fun having with the girls. The nerve of him--I mean, poor Bo. :) Just kidding. It really was fun, just a lot of work.


Melia decided to be Ariel this year...


So of course, we had to have her trusty side kick Sebastian come along too. (Yes, it is actually a lobster head, but close enough!)

On Friday night, we went to a Halloween Carnival in Lehi with our friends, the Saavedras and the Votaws. They had tons of games, trick or treating, movies...everything Halloween you could think of and it was packed!


Here's us when we first got there with Melia and Naiya looking a little dazed and confused at all of the chaos. At first, Melia didn't want to play any games or smile for pictures....and I'm thinking "Ok, I didn't just get everybody all dressed up by myself and drive an hour in traffic to get here so you can not have fun, did I?" Luckily, she snapped out of it pretty quickly and started enjoying it.


Here's Melia with Sierra and Naya (sp?), two of our friends' kids.


Here's the whole gang hanging out on a huge purple spider.

The night was fun, but I was wearing very high heel boots and trying to keep track of two kids in a big crowd, so needless to say, after the long drive back home, I was worn out.

Next day: Trick or Treating!


Here's Melia doing her impression of Risky Business as we try to get ready.


Grandma Sue stayed home to hold down the fort as all of the Trick or Treaters came by.


The nice thing about our neighborhood is we know pretty much everybody that we were trick or treating to. Here's Melia's friend, Brooke, that we picked up along the way. I had a lot of fun watching the girls run up to each door so excited! The only bad part was that I had to carry Naiya almost the whole way and I was wearing uncomfortable shoes again. Why, you ask? Well, I tried not to. I thought, "There's no way I'm wearing those boots again. What can I wear instead? Disco mamas don't wear tennis shoes. I guess I'll just wear some of my lower dress shoes." Turns out those dress shoes weren't so comfortable for running around after two little girls while carrying a 1 1/2 year old all over the neighborhood. Go figure. Anyway, we had fun seeing all of our friends trick or treating too. We saw some of my kids from the 6 year old class I teach at church and they were a little blown away that it was actually their teacher under the huge fro! It was fun. :)


Here's Naiya checking out the spoils of her conquest.
Lots of fun, but we all got Daddy's cold the next day. :(

Ahh, the Joys of Working Out

After doing the basic pilates workout for a couple of months, I decided to do the advanced one. As I was doing it, I was thinking, "Yeah! I'm stronger than I thought I was!". One hour later, my gluteus maximus was sore. Not one day, one hour.

Quest for a Pillow Pet

A few weeks ago, we were out shopping and Melia discovered Pillow Pets. In case you aren't familiar, they are big, soft stuffed animals that turn into pillows you can sleep on. Well, Melia fell in love with the pink and purple unicorn and asked me if she could get it. "Sure. Look and see how much it costs and then you can save up your money and get it if you want it." (My token answer for pretty much everything she sees in the store and asks me for.) "It costs a one and a nine, Mommy. Can I get it?" "Wow, $19 is a lot of money. You'll have to save for a long time to get it." "Ok!!" Usually, she forgets about most things, but this time was different. She kept talking about it all the way home and was so excited to save up her money and buy it. So we made a "Pillow Pet Fund" jar and Melia did jobs around the house for me and Bo and my mom (Luckily, Grandma Sue pays well. :) ) for a few weeks until she finally had earned enough money to buy her beloved Pillow Pet. She was so excited to go and get it with her little jar full of money.
Well, let me tell you, I know God has a soft spot for his little children and works things out for them even in the things that may seem small to us, but that really matter to them. For example, the way we acquired this Pillow Pet for Melia...
On the day that we are going to get it, I call ahead to the store to make sure they still have it. After all, she was so excited and had worked so hard--I didn't want to go there and have them not have the one she wanted and have her be disappointed. So anyway, I call the store and turns out they are completely out of pillow pets and will not have them in for two weeks. Great. I call around and Target doesn't carry them anymore and Walmart puts me on hold forever and we get disconnected. So I decided to just go to Walmart and take our chances and if they didn't have it, we could order it online. I told Melia all of this ahead of time to soften the blow just in case Walmart didn't have them. So we went to Walmart and looked all around the toy section. Nothing. We asked a worker and they told us they thought they had them but they were in the home section. So we went there and they had Pillow Pets....but no purple and pink unicorn. Melia was disappointed, but decided we would order it on the computer.
I still wanted to look around at the curtains and stuff and here is where God stepped in and created a chain of events that would lead Melia to her unicorn. While we are looking at the curtains, Naiya starts having a fit. Not just any fit--this one lasted and lasted and she screamed and screamed. I didn't know what was wrong with her because she usually doesn't do that. Finally, I had had it. "Ok, let's go pay for our stuff. We need to go." (Otherwise, I would have stayed because there were still other things I wanted to look at.) As we are walking to the checkout stand, Melia just "happens" to glance down the aisle of checkout stands at that precise moment and says, "Mommy! My pillow pet is in her cart!!" I looked and didn't see what she was talking about, but she wanted to show me so I reluctantly followed her thinking she had just seen a pink and purple stuffed animal or something. So we are weaving our way around people and stands full of stuff that Melia is getting distracted by and Naiya is still kind of fussy, so I finally tell Melia that we just need to leave and go pay for our stuff. "But Mommy, the worker had my pillow pet in her cart!" "It was someone who works here?" "Yes! Come on!" As we round the next corner of the check stand that is at the complete opposite end of the store (and would have never been close to if we had followed my plan), what do we behold? A lovely Walmart worker stocking the shelf with pink and purple unicorn pillow pets! I couldn't believe it. Melia was thrilled! She pulled out her little jar of money and was so proud to pay for it all by herself. In her prayers that night, I told her to make sure she thanked Heavenly Father for helping her to find her pillow pet. And she did--night after night. :)


After she got her pillow pet, I asked her what she wanted to save her money for next. Her answer was an example of why God said to be like little children. She said she wanted to buy a pillow pet for her sister, Naiya. Awwww. So she worked and did jobs for the next few weeks until she had enough money to buy one for Naiya. She was so excited when we went to buy it for her. Melia picked out the monkey and gave it to her and said, "Surprise! It's a pillow pet for you sweetie!" Naiya took it and hugged it and laid her head down on it right away. :) It is such a joy to watch Melia do sweet things like that. I hugged her and thanked her for doing that for her sister. Both of the pillow pets have had much use and love every day.



In other news, Naiya found Daddy's lotion and decided to lather herself up--her hands, arms, hair, face and clothes. Not to mention the newly mopped floor!

One of Those Days

Deep breath, sigh. I did a lot of that today. Just breathed through all of the stressful, frustrating situations. Here are a few of the more entertaining ones:
Situation: Morning Bath Time
So, I've just finished giving Naiya a bath and I'm getting her dressed in the girls' room while Melia is supposed to be starting her bath. Naiya was not too happy about having to get out of the bathtub in the first place, but I leave her to play while I go help Melia with her bath. As I enter the bathroom, Melia is sitting on the edge of the tub and says, "Mommy, I got a little pee pee in the bath tub." What??! Why??! How long have you been potty trained now and you decide to pee in the bathtub??? All of these things are running through my head as I am quickly trying to get her legs and feet and all the toys and poof balls out of the pee pee water. Meanwhile, Naiya has decided that she is not done with her turn for the bathtub and hurls herself head first, fully dressed into the bathtub. I use my cat like reflexes to catch her mid-flight and manage to pin her down with my forearm (because my hands are still full of toys) so that she is left hanging over the side of the tub upside down with her face about an inch from the water. Close, but no cigar, Naiya! Unfortunately, this sends her into a screaming fit while I'm trying to get Melia to take the toys from my hands so I can finish foiling Naiya's plan. After much crying from Naiya, much explaining from Melia as to why she would pee in the tub, and much deep breathing from me in the midst of the chaos, I managed to get two girls clean and ready for the day.
Situation: Trip to the Mall
I love using a specific brand of lip stuff because it is the only thing I've found that keeps my lips from getting dried out. Problem: They don't sell it anywhere near Orem, UT. I don't want to order it on line because they charge a crazy amount for shipping. So I have the bright idea that I can drive to Salt Lake to the mall to a salon called Apothica to buy it and save myself the shipping cost. Here's a run down of how it went: Naiya cries for the majority of the 40 minute drive, we get lost off the freeway. I battle an endless number of one way streets seeming so close, but never actually making it where we need to be. Can't find parking. End up parking waaaaay at the other end of the mall in a parking lot you have to pay for. (So much for saving the shipping cost.) Make the long walk back to the end of this outdoor mall, Naiya in the stroller and Melia walk/jogging the whole way to keep up with us--did I mention that we only had an hour until nap time and a 40 minute drive back? Melia was a trooper on the way there. Her little cheeks were all red by the time we got close to the store. Finally, we see it! Apothica! We enter and ask for Suki lip butter. Worker: "Sorry, but it's out of stock right now." Really? Really. "We can order it and have it shipped to you with no shipping cost." Hey, now we're talking. All is not lost. Finish up there. Melia wants to ride the escalator. Up the escalator with baby in one hand and stroller in other. Naiya walking at the pace of a slow turtle. Melia complaining that the only snack I brought is raisins. Melia pushing stroller and crashing into Naiya. Time ticking away. Forget this, Naiya goes back in stroller. Mommy pushes and Melia takes up jogging again. Did I mention it was hot? Make it back to car, kids loaded in car seats, stroller loaded in trunk. Look at the time. 2:00. Naptime. Wonderful. Pull up to pay. There under an hour. It's free! Yay! 40 minute drive home. No crying this time. Naiya awake the whole time. Home. Unload kids. Put Naiya down for nap. Put Melia in room for quiet time. Mommy collapses in bed for much needed mommy nap time.

There were more "moments" today, but we'll let those remain unwritten. :)

Dance Battling: A True Art Form

The scene: Vero's second wedding reception in Utah. A somewhat subdued event. The happy couple greeting their guests. Chatting and mingling at tables. Cake eating. Guests beginning to leave. And then, it happens. The DJ decides to play a few dance songs to end the night while people are beginning to take down tables and clean up.


The signal for Vero's friends to let the good times roll!


There are few rules when it comes to dancing, but here's a good one: Dance, not only with your body, but with your mouth as well.


Uh oh...here comes the challenge. Vero calls Bo out with her awesome running man move.


Bo counters with a little Vanilla Ice.


Oh no she di'in't--MC Hammer typewriter move!


A new battler on the scene with his own MC Hammer moves! Go Alex, Go Alex!


Bo's back with some sweet Michael Jackson moves!

Tough battle....but there can only be one champion.


Victory dance!


Wait...looks like we have a tie!

Good work people. It was an honor to be there with you to witness such a thing of beauty.
P.S. Vicky, you were truly missed. :)

Cute or What?

I've never been into all the girly stuff. In fact, at the time we found out I was pregnant with a girl, I didn't even like the color pink. I always said that my girl wasn't going to be into Princesses and stuff like that. Little did I know that it wasn't up to me. :) Melia absolutely LOVES all things pink, fluffy and Princess looking. And I have to say that since she has come into our lives I have softened to that kind of thing quite a bit. How could I not with this adorable little girl?


Anyway, Melia loves dancing and so do I and I have been wanting to put her in a dance class for quite a while now. After we moved here, another mom told me about this dance class that has a different Disney theme each week where the girls get to dress up like princesses. This class had Melia's name written all over it. So I called and Melia got the last opening!


We've been to 4 classes now--Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Tinkerbell and Alice in Wonderland and I have to say that this may be THE cutest thing I've ever seen! She and her friends are simply adorable dancing around in their costumes. These pics are from the Mary Poppins week.


I love being her mom!

Mar Vista Ward "Transplants"

One of the coolest things about moving here to Utah is being able to hang out with all of our old friends who have moved to Utah from So Cal. There are a bunch of us from our church who were in the Mar Vista singles ward together back in Whittier. We've decided to start getting together once a month because, well, there's nothing like old friends getting together for a good time! And we know there are more of you out there--everyone's welcome! We'll try to get the word out better for next month.


Alex and Heidi


Fawn and Dave


Brian and Austin


Me and Bo


Vero, Peter and Olivia (Peter was adopted into the gang by marrying Vero. :) )


The mini me's. That's one of the weirdest things--seeing your friends morphed into little people.


I thought this was a cool shot.


Thanks for all the laughs everyone!

More Visitors!

Have I mentioned we've been a little non-stop lately? The weekend after Caleb and Palmyra left, Bo's parents stayed with us for the weekend of his cousin, Rashel's, wedding. The weekend after that, Blake and Dani came for the weekend. Blake is Bo's buddy from his last job in Chico, CA. It was fun having them here and we packed a lot of stuff into a short time.


Here we are at Temple Square. Melia was excited to show them the big statue of Jesus. :)


Bo was looking forward to this before we even moved here I think. He couldn't wait to take Blake to a real Brazilian BBQ. Meat, meat, and more meat. I have to say that, as a non meat eater, I was wondering if this would be worth it for me. But the salad bar was delicious!!


This was right after our farewell breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. But before that, other events from the weekend included trips to several breweries (Blake loves them), trip to the Great Salt Lake (yes, the saltiness was tasted), and a mean Hand and Foot tournament. :)


Thanks for the Princess tent guys! It has definitely gotten good use already!


Large man, little tent.

Another Crazy Week!

Ok, enough procrastinating. We've had a ton of stuff going on lately and I've been taking mental notes of all the things I wanted to blog about, but had a total lack of motivation to actually do it. So last night I looked through some friends' blogs and got motivated.

So let me take you back to the week after our vacation--like mid August. That's when my brother in law, Caleb, sister in law, Palmyra, and nephews Alex and Jake came to stay with us for a week. What were we thinking having people stay with us for a week right after a week long vacation with the whole family? I'm not sure--but I'm glad we did. :) This week gave us a chance to hang out and get to know the people we love even better. Yes, we had our crazy moments--how can you not with 4 kids in a confined space?? But we had a lot of fun and we are really glad they came.


Here's their cute family plus Melia in front of the Salt Lake Temple. You would never know that we fought a huge storm just to get there!


Happy Birthday Caleb! We went to Azure's house for swimming and a BBQ.


Melia made Uncle Caleb a card. :)


We had lots of fun on the slip and slide! Thanks Grandma Carol!


This is right before Melia took Alex out!


Just chillin' with Uncle Caleb watching a movie.


Vero and Peter had their second reception and we had a ton of fun dancing! Here's us shaking our booties to the Macarena. Yes, we danced to the Macarena. Don't judge.



This was our attempt to spend the day hanging out on the "beach" at Lake Utah and get some swimming in. Can I just say that I really, really miss the beaches in So Cal? It was so dirty here and there were so many rocks that we could hardly get out in the water. Needless to say we didn't end up staying very long, but at least we got some cute pics of our families.

Thanks for a fun week guys!
P.S. We're waiting for a rematch of our Hand and Foot tournament!

Vacation!!

Two weeks ago, we took a trip to Cedar City for a family vacation with Bo's family. His parents rented a big house there and we hung out and played together all week. We had a lot of fun...


Here's Naiya--"Look Ma! No Hands!" She was standing up by herself and was pretty happy and kind of surprised by it. :)


The kids totally got addicted to Wii on this trip. They played everyday and Melia and Eden actually got really good at bowling. Wyatt and Alex were a work in progress. Maybe next year's vacation--for getting a handle on Wii...and for deciding they really want to be friends after all. :)


It was so good to see Grandma Adeline again. We missed her and I think she really had fun watching the girls play and interact.


Naiya is soooo close to walking and we thought she might do it during our vacation since she had so many people to practice with. No dice. But actually, she took her first steps today with Bo and I in the living room. She took a good 3 or 4 steps and she could totally do more, but she's still got that mental block going. 16 months old. Just taking her time. :)


We did not slack too much healthwise on this vacation. Caleb brought his P90X workout DVDs and lets just say that many were sore for most of the week.


We had a Family Home Evening outside by the fire pit. Micah did a really good job giving the lesson. Eden just got a splinter in her finger prior to this, thus she's not looking so happy here. Yeah, the house was great, but the outside was not so kid friendly. Lots of dirt and rocks. Out in the middle of nowhere. Reminded me a little of Paradise. :)


The pool at this place turned out to be freezing, so we spent a lot of time in the jacuzzi. That is, until we actually went in it during the day time and realized the water was green.


Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.


So we went to a park to have a picnic and we encountered a real live polygamist family there dressed in long dresses and bonnets and everything!! I don't know why, but I got excited to see this. :) Actually, I'm glad we didn't see this until after we had already moved to Utah and had been here for a month so we got to see that people are normal and cool here. If this would've been the first thing I saw...I might have been a little freaked out.


That night, we went to a Shakespeare festival and they had a fun show for the kids with dancing and singing.


So we planned a nice leisurely day at Zion's National Park to camp out by the water and swim all day long. Well, long story short, this is the closest we got to getting wet.


But we made the best of it.


We took a hike up to the emerald pools. We never actually saw any--emerald, that is.


We stopped for ice cream to cool down on the way home. Naiya loves feeding daddy.


We celebrated August birthdays while we were there. Happy birthday Caleb and Bo!


This is on the top of the "mountain" that the kids hiked up one morning because the one that some of the adults were hiking was a little too big.


Goodbye to Grandma Adeline, Grandma Carol and Grandpa! They left a day earlier than the rest of us.


Bo was really broken up about it.


We had a dance party on our last day there. When parents are away, the kids will play. :)


Naiya got really attached to baby Jake. She wanted to hold him in her lap and pet his head. Every time Tia tried to take him away, she got upset.

We're thankful for a great time and a great family!