All by myself!

"Mere-Mere do it"..."Mere-Mere's turn"...or "I want to do it all by myself"...are becoming the most common phrases to come out of Meredith's mouth lately! She doesn't want me to help her get dressed or help give her a bath or blow dry her hair or anything else...including not wanting me to help change her diaper (scary)! She wants to do EVERYTHING all by herself!! I guess this is normal behavior for a 2 year old, or so I've been told, but this is all new to me!

For the most part, I don't mind...it is pretty harmless and quite cute...but sometimes (especially when we are in a hurry or if it involves a stinky diaper) it drives me CRAZY!! Plus, her outfit selection may occasionally lack some taste, but luckily it is generally easy to convince her to change (NOT always, though!). A couple of mornings ago, I could hear her digging through her drawers and I wondered what masterpiece of an outfit she was trying on! A few minutes later...she came out like this!

She did a pretty good job matching her shirt and pants, but the socks...this just cracks me up. I was laughing so hard when she came out! If you can't tell, she decided to wear daddy's socks instead this day. I love how the socks are more like tights or leg-warmers since they are SO HUGE! I also LOVE how she tried to layer and added a black sock on the one foot!

This is a territble picture of me since I look like I just woke up, but I like the picture anyway. Meredith is so silly and so much fun...I love it! We both had a little too much fun taking pictures of ourselves after we finished laughing about the whole sock thing! :)

Fun at the beach...in the tub...and at the aquarium!

Meredith is such a little water-baby. She loves everything and anything to do with water...especially if it involves getting wet! Last Saturday we went to the beach with my niece, Leah, and her cute little boy...Roy! Meredith and Roy had a lot of fun playing in the sand and Roy really loved playing in the ocean. Admittedly, Meredith avoids the ocean because she thinks it is too cold! As much fun as they had at the beach...I think they might have had more fun afterwards in the bath tub!

Today we went to the aquarium with my niece, Julie, and her cute little girl...Sadie! Meredith LOVES the aquarium! It has been awhile since I have taken her, so she actually seemed more into it than normal! Plus, it was Sadie's first visit and it was so fun to watch her smile and get excited after seeing the fish and animal life!

Here are some pics from Meredith's latest adventures:

Roy-boy!

Meredith giving Roy a bath! She is practicing being a good big-sister!

Julie and Sadie checking out the fish!
Meredith's close encounter with the turtle

Fish lover!

Sadie and Meredith

Sadie watching the sea krait! Talk about a scary snake...one bite from this snake has enough venom to kill 4 grown men! Yikes!

Father and Sons

This past weekend was the Father and Sons camping trip. Granted, we don't have any boys, but my friend's blog inspired me! She was saying her husband took their little girl to the father and sons campout every year and I thought that was a brillant idea. In our ward there isn't any father/daughter camping trip and I figure it is only fair that she also has the chance to enjoy the great outdoors with her daddy! Plus, it is only fair that mom get one night off, too! Right? So...after a bit of convincing...I talked Robert into it! Meredith was SO excited to go camping, it was so cute! I thought she would cry when she left (since mommy wasn't coming), but she didn't cry at all! She just gave me a big kiss and said "bye mommy"! I sure wish they did this more than once a year! :)

Getting dressed in the tent (all by herself!)

Daddy & Meredith

View from the tent! They camped 10 minutes away from our house at Huntington Central park...not exactly hard-core camping, but convenient and fun!

Trip to the Zoo

We went home to Phoenix the first week of May. We went out for a few reasons, my little niece, Ellie, turned 4...my brother-in-law, Chris, graduated from ASU...and we wanted to eat some free quiznos before we officially sold the store. :) We had plans to do a bunch of other things while we were home, but going to the Phoenix Zoo was all we ended up doing. It was nice being able to just relax and hang out with the family, though. Hopefully I'll have a little bit more energy on our next visit so I can actually get together with all my friends out there! Sorry guys!!

My mom and my little niece, Daphne, came to the zoo with us! Here are some pictures from our visit. Meredith was so excited...it was her first trip to a zoo. She loved it, but I felt bad because many of the animals were hiding out and she couldn't see them. She really wanted to see a Lion...but no luck! Sad...but maybe next time!

Daphne and Meredith holding hands! So cute!

Checking out the giraffes!

Daddy and Meredith looking at the otters
The girls checking out some fish
Mom and Daphne on the zoo tram!

The "Dinosaur" Park

Two weeks ago, my good friend Angie came to visit from New York! It was so great to catch up with her and Chad and their little twins! It's been almost a year since we have seen them and I can't believe how quickly the twins have grown up! We also got to catch up with Angie's sister, Katie and her family, who just moved to RSM from Indio! It was fun to see her again and hopefully we'll get to see them more often now that they live close by!

We went to this cute park in Laguna Hills that the kids all call the "Dinosaur" park...although, I don't think that is the park's official name. The kids had a lot of fun, especially Meredith! She couldn't get enough of the turtle fountains!

Kate and Jackson sharing a swing!

Little Anna-bear

Miss Kate

Jackson loving cheetos!

Meredith having way too much fun getting wet and dirty!

Katie's cute kids (Taylor above...Brent below)

Katie getting hugs from Jackson

Ang and her little guy!

Happy Mother's Day!

For my mom!!

I just wanted to let you know how much I love you!!! Thank you so much for the happiest childhood I could have asked for! I have so many fond memories! I still remember all the time you spent with me having "school" after Kimball went to Kindergarten and I felt so left out! I loved it and it really did mean so much to me! That is just one of a million things I can remember you doing that made me feel special. I'm not sure where you got all of your energy from?...but thank you for all of the things you used to do!! As a mom, I now realize what a sacrifice it is to be a mother...and I want you to know how much I appreciate all of the sacrifices you made for us! You are the best!!!!!!!!!! I just hope I can offer my kids the same kind-of safe, happy childhood that you created for me! XOXOXOX

Such a girl!

I am so happy that Meredith is finally turning into such a girl! No longer does she scream, yell and wiggle while mom is trying to do her hair! She actually asks for her hair to be done...she either requests: "just pigtails", braids, or buns. She looks so sweet with her hair up, so I love to honor her requests!

Here is the first time we put braids in her hair and she was so proud...I had to take a few pictures of her showing off her new hairstyle. :)