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.

Birthday Party

Yesterday, February 20th, we went out to celebrate Tyler's Birthday. First we went out to eat with Tyler's sister, Kelly and her husband Charlie. We went to the Mongolian BBQ, which was delicious and of course, I stuffed myself. (Thanks Kelly and Charlie for taking us out for dinner. It was fun)



After eating way too much we went to play Lazertag. COOL, I KNOW. We were meeting some more friends there. I had a bunch a coupons, buy one mission get one free. And a coupon for extra tokens, so I bought some tokens to pass the time. We mostly played a jump rope game. Kelly and I got a TON of prize tickets. So we bought little knick knacks for our kiddos. Then it was time for our mission. All thirteen of us were able to get on the same team which was AWESOME. We totally killed the other team which was filled with little kids and teeny boppers that dressed up for the occasion (Kelly asked to take a picture of me, so she could get pictures of them. She also has a really funny story, you have to go to her blog and check it out). We beat them really bad, we had over 100,000 points than they did. As we walked out they called us "Mean." You could tell that we were all married couples, because none of us were flirting with each other, we were just trying to kill the other team, unlike the teenagers. The last round Kelly got the second highest score. I am really happy that everyone came and did the Lazertag with us. I still have a lot more coupons, so the next birthday we have to do it again.






















After running around at Lazertag, we invited everyone back to our place for some homemade ice cream (that I make for Tyler every year) and brownies. It was lots of fun. I am still surprised that we could fit everyone into our little house. But Tyler and I love having people over. So it was great everyone came and helped us celebrate Tyler's birthday. THANKS AGAIN!

Tyler, I love you this much.....

For Tyler's birthday (and for mine birthday) this year we decided to not do presents. I wanted to do something really nice for Tyler, that he would really enjoy... SO I DECIDED TO MOW OUR YARD. We are renting a really little, but cheap house at the moment, and part of the reason that it is cheap is that we have to mow are own yard. And Tyler has been in charge of mowing the yard.

For that past couple of months Tyler has been working late at his job, and when he is not working late at his first job, he is tutoring (his second job). With Tyler so busy and it has been and a couple of weekends it has rained, he hasn't been able or feel up to mowing. This weekend is there is supposed to be great weather, and he wants to go bike riding in the mountains. So I decided that I would mow, since he probably doesn't want to do it on his birthday weekend.

I honestly can't remember the last time I mowed. When I live with my mom, the rule was that on Saturday, the women do the inside house work like vacuuming and mopping, and the men do the yard work. So I never had to mow(weed, yes but mow, no).. When I lived with my dad, it was the same thing, I bet a mowed a handful of times. When I lived with Doris, someone else always mowed. So before today it has been at least 10 years since the last time I had to mow.

I got out the lawn mower, and tried to turn it out, but of course it was out of gas. So after I got gas, it tried starting it again. I found the button that said pump three times, I guess to get the gas in the lines. Then I started pulling the string after three minutes, I remembered that I need to hold the start lever..DUH.. So after a half an hour I finally got the machine on. About an hour later, I was done. The line in the yard aren't straight, but at least it got mowed. I decided not to tell Tyler and hopefully he will notice that I mowed, (how could you not it had been several months since the last time it was mowed). I was going do the weed whacker (sp?), but I could find it or we don't have one, thank goodness - now that is one thing I don't even know how to remotely operate or start. All have to say it that I love Tyler, and he better not expect it to be a reoccurring thing.

Here is a couple of pictures of the finish product, if only I would have thought of taking before pictures.














Also I need to thank my mother and father-in-law, who are nice enough to watch Lizette while I attempted mowing.

Birthday Boy

TYLER IS 29 TODAY! I can't believe that in one more year he will be in his thirties. Just a couple of thoughts about Tyler, I would like to share.

Tyler is an amazing person. He is very talented, funny, and hard working. I honestly believe that Tyler can do anything that he wants to do. He picks up anything, FAST- it almost makes me mad sometimes.

He also comes up with the funniest stuff ever, all I need to say is Dirty Dog Cooker 2000. And I can never stay mad at him for longer than an hour (if that) because he always does something to make me laugh. And he makes Lizette laugh so hard by doing the silliest stuff.

Dirty Dog Cooker 2000


Tyler is a very hard worker for our family. He is a wonderful husband and an amazing father. Lizette just adores Tyler to pieces, almost as much as I do. I know that Lizette loves me, but she is DEFINITELY a Daddy's girl. This morning she woke up at 6:30. I went in there and held her for a second, and she immediately pointed to the door and said, "Daddy". I lied and told her that she needed to lie down and I would go get Daddy. Luckily, she fell asleep right away. But she loves it on the weekend when she wakes up and sees her Daddy, and she gets to tickle his feet.




















In conclusion, I want to wish Tyler a great birthday, and that we will have many, many, many more together.