Missouri Trip

Jace and I were able to go to Missouri for two weeks with my sister Natalie and her two kids. The whole reason we all headed to St. Louis was for my niece's baptism. All of her aunts were there and she said that was really important to her so I was glad I made it for her special day. I can't believe she is 8 already. My sister, Heather, had a very nice program planned and the spirit was so strong. My mom gave a really nice talk on baptism. I am glad I could see sweet little Kyra dressed in white make such an important decision. After the weekend was over my parents and my sister, Melanie, each went home and Natalie and I were there to stay for two more weeks. We ate a lot of food, stayed up way too late, went shopping a lot, and did tons of fun activities for the kids. It was fun to spend time with my sisters, Melanie and my parents were VERY missed, but I think all of us were super tired by the end. Thanks Chad & Heather for letting us invade your house for two weeks!!!
It snowed the first weekend we were there so it was very cold. There is a pond close to their house that we took a walk to several times. The kids enjoyed watching the geese.
Here's the baptism girl!!!!
Grandma did her hair.
Heather and her family.

Here's the whole group that came for Kyra's baptism.
Heather made lots of yummy food for us and her house was way cute too.

We enjoyed Heather's backyard. Jace had a great time playing outside.
Here's all the grandkids-Ashton, Skye, Kyra, Cali, Dane, & Jace
My mom rented a hotel room for two nights and we enjoyed swimming in the pool.



This is how Heather's van looked the majority of the two weeks, packed full of kids.
We went to the train museum and the little boys loved it.




More fun in the backyard.


Meal times were a little crazy. :)
We went to the Magic House which is a large children's museum. Jace loved it!!


We also went to the mall a few times. Jace enjoyed the ice cream and the merry-go-round.

Most of the time Ashton and Jace didn't get along so this was a rare moment when they played well together. Jace pushed Ashton in the stroller all the way into the bedroom and then they bounced on the bed together. I think because they are so close in age they have a hard time sharing toys.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese and Jace fell asleep after about thirty minutes there. His nap and bed time routine were all crazy so I guess he had to crash sometime.

We went to the St. Louis Zoo. Heather didn't go because Dane was sick so we took Skye with us. We had fun looking at all the animals and the best part was that it was free!!



The little girls took a break in the baby strollers.
They have an indoor room with butterflies. The little boys loved it. Jace was laughing every time he saw a butterfly. It was so cute.
We also went to an indoor bounce house place. We went the day before we left. It was fun for Jace to get to know his cousins more and fun for me to be with my sisters. We were glad to see Sheldon though since that is the longest we have been apart and glad to get back into our normal routine again. But is sure was FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

20 & 21 Months

I totally forgot to post about Jace when he turned 20 months so this post is a catch-up from the last two months. He turned 20 months on February 5th and that also happened to be in Hawaii when we were moving around from place to place the last few weeks we were there. Then we made it back to my parent's house in Las Vegas, had a quick trip to Utah, and then moved into our new place in Arizona. A few days later Jace and I flew to Missouri with my family for my niece's baptism. We leave from Missouri tomorrow after two weeks of being here. So it's no wonder I got behind. I'm mostly doing these monthly posts because this is my only way I have been recording Jace's accomplishments. I am still way behind on his baby book so I am so grateful for the blog because I enjoy doing it and it's an easy way to remember stuff when I do go back and scrapbook.

Jace has grown up a lot the past two months. He is talking constantly and is getting really good at communicating what he needs and showing me things he sees. He probably knows about 30 words right now. He still points the majority of the time for things but he will use words like bottle, blanket, night night, and cookie when he wants them. I think his favorite word is cookie because he says it all the time. I think it's his word for anything sugary. The other day he was calling a piece of cake a cookie. I feel like he is getting big enough that is it really fun now to take him to different play lands like McDonald's or indoor bounce house places. He also loves Chuck E. Cheese. He is also very interested in animals and can point them out in books when I ask him where they are on the page. He can also point at his eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, ears, fingers, toes, and belly button. His new favorite food is apples. He never would try them before last month. He LOVES the water and loves any type of activity that is water related. He throws and kicks very well and is just starting to learn about jumping and climbing ladder rungs. He is a daredevil at the park and will try anything he sees other kids doing. He has also started playing with other kids and trying to get their attention to play with him. He loves getting kids to chase him around. One time we went to the park and he had gotten three other small boys to run after him and he was leading them all around the playground. He is definitely a pretty coordinated little boy when it comes to movement and it's been fun to watch him become a little happy, running, jumping, laughing toddler. WE love him so much!!!!

Here's Jace at the church for Kyra's baptism. I thought he looked so handsome in his church outfit. Below is a picture of Jace with his boy cousins. Sometimes they all like to play together and sometimes they want nothing to do with one another. Hopefully as the get bigger they will always want to be buddies. :)

Rental House

We were able to move into a three bedroom furnished house in Lake Havasu. It is so exciting to have some space, our TWO cars, and a yard to play in. Jace loves his new backyard and loves throwing the rocks and putting them in his dump truck to dump them. Sheldon and I are super excited about the hot tub. I think we're going to enjoy our new rental house!!

Our rock backyard-there is no grass in the desert

Living Room
2nd Bedroom
Third Bedroom-AKA Jace's rom
Kitchen
Living Room after Jace plays in there
Hot Tub!! I forgot to take a picture of the master bedroom so I will have to do that soon.