ANIMALS

Last Friday, Lizette and I went to the Santa Barbara zoo with Luke, Baby Charlie, and Cristin. It was Lizette's last chance to go somewhere and get in for FREE - because she is still under two. Lizette loves Luke and baby Charlie, but above all she LOVES anything to do with ANIMALS. She gets so excited. She can tell you what all the animals say or do.

The Santa Barbara zoo isn't as big as the San Diego zoo, but it is perfect for a toddler. Lizette loved seeing the birds, turtles, elephants, lions, giraffes, monkeys, and the list could go on and on. The Santa Barbara zoo also has a little area for kids to run around. She loved getting inside the ceramic egg and saying, "Cheese" for the camera. She loved roaring at the lions and looking at the giraffes and trying to stretch her neck as far as it would go. She was excited to see the gorilla too. She would beat on her chest making gorilla sounds. She also loved being around Luke, and there wasn't as much fighting as I thought there was going to be. Except for those rides that you would see a lot in front of grocery stores that go up and down. They got very possessive over them. Cristin said that we should just take them to Chuck E Cheese if that is all that they want to play with.

We were also so lucky that we got to ride the train that goes around the park for FREE. Awesome, I know. Lizette loves trains. We got to see the lions and the giraffe really close up. When we saw the lion she started roaring then all the kids starting roaring, it was too funny. Over all it was great weather, we got to see all the animals we wanted, and we got to hang out with Luke and baby Charlie.

The rest of the day I kept asking Lizette about the zoo. I would ask her what animals we saw at the zoo, and she would say, "Luke".

Big Helper

Lizette is such a big helper. She loves to try to help Mommy and Daddy do things around the house. The other day, when I was trying to make dinner she kept on saying, "help, please." So after washing her hands, I got out the stepping stool so she could "help." She thinks she is such a big girl when she helps. We were making homemade pizza. I decided to have her make her own pizza so she could play with it a little more, and she would be the only one eating it. She rolled out her pizza dough all by herself, then she added the sauce and the cheese.




































After we were done she helped me with dishes while the pizza was cooking, she kept saying, "Wash dish, please". I would only let her wash all the plastic dishes. She mostly likes playing with the water and the sponge.













Lizette also loves to help me do laundry (putting clothes into the washing machine, and moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer) Once she hears the water she is right there saying, "HELP" and trying to climb up the washing machine. And if she hears me open the dryer she starts putting clothes in, even if they are from the hamper.


This past week, Tyler and I (mostly Tyler) took a job painting my Aunt's house before she moves in. I took Lizette with me to help for a half an hour. She wanted to help Daddy paint. We gave a cup and a paint brush - don't worry the cup didn't have anything in it. I also put her in an extra shirt that I had just in case she wanted to paint. She had to go where ever Daddy was. Tyler had to stand on a bucket so he could get the ceiling, Lizette saw him and immediately wanted a bucket of her own.






















Sometimes it is hard to let her help us because it ends up taking twice as long, but we hope it will pay off in a couple of years.

Drink

Tyler always say when he eats ranch dressing, that whatever he is eating (i.e. salad, rice, potatoes, anything you can think of - he has even tried noodles). The food is just a way to transport the ranch to his mouth. For Valentines Day, Tyler and I ordered out Wood Ranch and they have the best RANCH. Since Lizette is at the age she likes to dip everything especially in ranch. When she saw it she kept on saying, "That...Dip" I decided to give her a container that had just a little bit in there so she could dip her potato and roll. She liked the ranch so much, she picked up the container and started trying to drink it. Since there wasn't very much in there she didn't consume so much. It just was so funny. We started laughing and we just had to take a picture. I guess like father like daughter.

Beans & Rice, Rice & Beans

Tyler and I have been doing the Dave Ramsey Plan for the past 3 1/2 years. One of his says is, "Beans & rice, rice & beans." That basically means live within your means, and to live like no one else (debt free & frugally) so you can later live like no one else (debt free and money in the bank). We have introduced this method to many of our family members, One of my cousins made fun of us, within a week he was on board and now is a Dave Ramsey-aholic, and has even called in on his radio show. Tyler has even given a lesson for a our church, Relief Society Enrichment. So needless to say we are HUGE fans, and will talk to anyone about it who will listen.

Tyler lived in Brazil for 2 years for our church. He lived in the poor parts in Brazil and ate black beans and rice a couple of times a day. So he loves beans and rice, and is really picky about them, they CANNOT be from a can, they have to be homemade. Over the years, I have come up with a really good recipe for black beans. It is really really cheap and doesn't take that much effort. But most importantly Lizette LOVES it. She isn't a huge fan of refried beans but those black beans she can not get enough of them. She eats a huge bowl and asks for more. So now we are taking Dave Ramsey serious and only eat Beans & Rice, Rice & Beans......just kidding.....60/40.

Lizette & Braddock sitting in a tree.....

Lizette's boyfriend, Braddock came over at the end of January for a play date. Lizette isn't very nice to Braddock, because she doesn't like to share her toys or her play kitchen. But Braddock is the sweetest boy ever. He doesn't get mad when Lizette takes toys from him. He just lets her have it and gets something else to play with. After Lizette had a time out for taking a toy from Braddock. Lizette had to hug him, and say sorry. As soon as I said hug he came running over to her with his arms wide open ready for a hug. Lizette wasn't too happy about hugging him at first, but she did it anyways. After time out, she was a lot nicer to Braddock and she feed him while they sat on the couch. I hope she will be a better girlfriend to Braddock, eventually...

Reading Time

Last Monday, March 2nd, Tyler stayed home from work. He had a cold and later we found out he had poison oak as well. I left to go run some errands and when I came home I found this. Lizette sitting on the end table reading a book and Tyler reading a book on the couch. It was so cute and funny. Lizette just loves to read.

Tagged

I got tagged from Ashley, You take the fourth picture from your fourth photo album.

This is a picture of Lizette holding a Xbox controller and an IBC Rootbeer bottle. This picture still makes me laugh every time I see it.

I tag anyone who wants to do it.