Dude!

This last week Teya has been sick with an ear infection so we've been watching a lot of Finding Nemo. She loves the movie and carries around her stuffed Nemo fish everywhere. Anyway, this morning I was reading a book about animals to her and asking her what sound each animal makes. Through the whole book she was barking, quaking, and neighing right on cue, but when I got to the turtle and said, "What does a turtle say?" Without skipping a beat she said, "Duuude!"

Bust a Move

I think I've mentioned before that Teya is a dancing machine. No matter where we are, if she hears a song with a catchy beat she will stop everything and break it down. We recently took her to see the Bee Movie and she especially loved dancing to the credits at the end of the show. In fact, that might have been her favorite part of the movie. Anyway, since then whenever we watch a movie at home, no matter how lame the ending credit music is, she will stand up and bust a move. Here she is in action after watching Ice Age 2, the Melt Down (which does have very cool ending credit music by the way)

Best Apple in the Universe

Last summer our friends Dave and Jodi introduced us to the most amazing and delicious life changing dessert I have ever eaten in my life. It is the apple pie caramel apple from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. It's an apple dipped in caramel, white chocolate, and brown sugar and cinnamon. From the first bite I knew I would never be the same. When we moved away from Utah I went through withdrawal not having access to these decadent wonders. I didn't know how I would get by, but then everything turned around a few weeks ago when they opened a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at our new mall!!! Now I'm trying to make it a family home evening tradition to eat one every Monday night. I mean, hey, an apple a day keeps the doctor away right? : )

Singing and Dancing with the Uda's

On our way back from Colorado we stopped at my parent's house in Pleasant Grove to stay the night before we flew out of Salt Lake in the morning. Before we arrived Teya was very grouchy from being in the car for so long and not having taken a nap that day. Anyway, I thought when we got there she'd be a total grumpy bear and not let anyone play with her, but boy was I wrong! As soon as she walked in the door and saw her grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins, she was in giggly hyper hypo mode. She ran around high fiving and hugging people and was laughing like a little hyena. I couldn't believe this was the same little girl I had just spent 4 hours in the car with. Anyway, I decided that since she was in such a good mood I'd lead her and her cousins Mason and Maile in a little song and dance time. You can see from the way she bounces around in the video just how excited she was to be at the Uda house.

Rigg Ranch Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving Holiday at Taber's parents Ranch in Grand Junction Colorado. It was a very adventurous 5 days, especially since Taber's brother had to leave early due to a medical emergency in his wife's family, leaving his 3 oldest kids behind for us to look after. We had a great time though, four wheeling, playing in the dirt, going on golf ball hunts (they live next to a golf course) and all kinds of good stuff. Teya loved seeing her cousins and by the end of the week was calling them by name. It was hard saying goodbye, but we'll be back to see family again for Christmas, so we'll get by until then.

Teya and her cousins

Golf ball hunting

Cold and tired

Four wheeling with Daddy

Flight of a toddler

Being in Colorado for Thanksgiving was a lot of fun but getting there and getting back was another story. We had to take a 3 hour flight from Nashville to Salt Lake, and then another 5 hour drive out to Grand Junction. The drive was a little easier because she had her own seat and we could stop, but the flight, aye aye aye!! We thought she would just sleep on the way there because the flight was during her bedtime. That didn't happen though, she was too stimulated and hyper. She just kept bouncing around on our laps, kicking the seat of the poor people in front of us, making loud demands for ridiculous things that we couldn't get her, and of course, screaming when she didn't get what she wanted. When it's your kid doing that, you feel like everyone is watching and you just want to crawl up in a ball and hide. Everyone was really nice though, playing peek-a-boo with her through the seats, picking up her binkies when she'd throw them across the aisles, and being patient through her tantrums. It was very frustrating not being able to get her to sleep on the plane, especially because she finally laid down and started zoning out as we were landing. Still, we made it through, and it was good practice for when we do it again next month for Christmas.

Saturday Fun!

This Saturday we decided to make it a family fun day. We started by hitting Chuck E Cheese in the morning. Teya had a great time riding all the rides and Taber and I got in a few games of basketball and ski ball in so we were all quite happy. Later in the day after her nap we headed to the theater to go see the Bee movie. We got Teya really pumped up by punching our fists in the air and chanting "Movie! Movie!" all the way to the theater. When we got there she was doing the chant all by herself. Unfortunately the 3:15 movie was all sold out. We got tickets for the 5:00 show but when we turned around to leave the theater Teya was devastated. It's kind of hard to explain to a 20 month old what sold out means. Luckily there was a McDonald's playground nearby which was the perfect distraction to put her in a good mood again. We climbed in and out of the playground with Teya and chased her through the tunnels and down the slides. She was laughing and bouncing everywhere. I think she really got a kick out of seeing her mom and dad be so silly. Time flew and soon we were back at the theater. Teya LOVED the movie and sat through the whole thing! At the very end she ran up to the front and danced to the credits. She talked about Bee's all the way home and then crashed from having such a long and fun filled day. I definitely think we should make every Saturday a family fun day!

Man's Best Friend

Teya and our dog Monty are very close friends. In fact, she thinks he's her brother, and he thinks he's a human, so it really works out. Anyway, yesterday we had to take Monty to get groomed and when we went to drop him off he started whimpering because he was nervous. Teya caught on to his nervousness and started getting stressed herself. When the groomer actually picked him up to carry him away she started crying, "Monty! Monty! I want Monty!" She cried for 30 minutes after we dropped him off and kept asking where he was. When we got home she was was starting to forget about it, but then we ate lunch and when she went to throw her leftovers on the ground, she realized Monty wasn't there to eat them and got all sad again. Needless to say it was a very joyous reunion when we picked him up.

Here's a little clip of Teya and her best bud. Please excuse her nose-picking at the end, we're still working on manners.

Well-baby report

Today we went in for Teya's 18 month well baby check. She's actually 20 months so we're a little bit behind. Anyway, she had a great check up. She's a little on the small side, 25th percentile for weight and 30th percentile for height, but they said she is perfectly proportioned and right on track developmentally.

Teya has also been a little sick lately and we found out today that it's bronchitis. Poor little thing! She's been so miserable, but we have her on antibiotics now so hopefully she'll be in top condition when we go to Colorado next week for Thanksgiving.