Zavoral Villa!

Los Angeles ZOO  During my Spring Break, I went to the Zoo with Taryn, Christie and Christie's daughter. It was super fun because we all teach school together, and Christie's daughter is one of my students! The weather was perfect for us, we got to eat lunch next to the giraffes and lions, and we had lots of time to chat.   Tanner was a super trooper. He was running a fever the night before and in the morning, but I decided to still go to the zoo. I gave him some tylenol and he did really well until about 3:30, which was perfect because we started leaving the park at 4:00. I knew it was probably better for him to be home, but I decided that life is too short to be sitting at home all the time with a sick baby. At this point, I was pretty sick and tired of ear infections, fevers and canceling all kinds of activities because of snotty noses and amoxicilin. So this time I decided that he was going to be sick no matter what, so we may as well enjoy ourselves watching animals out i...

Easter is my favorite holiday. This year, we got to spend Easter Eve with Desha and the Summer cousins! It was especially nice to be with them shortly after Grandpa's memorial. The holiday was a beautiful (and needed) reminder of The Resurrection and that we will all be resurrected, too. On Good Friday, I ate Hot Cross Buns. Yummy! But no one else liked them. On Easter Eve, I served fish with honey sauce because Jesus ate fish and honeycomb with his apostles after he was resurrected. Desha made the sauce for the fish. We also had deviled eggs, veggies, salad, fruit and kuskus. For dessert we made and frosted sugar cookies together. Tanner got a taste of the frosting and wasn't too sure about it's texture. Then, we made history by turning our mirror-wall into a giant game of Pictionary! We used dry erase markers, and drew all over the wall! You could see the drawings pretty well, and it made for some fun laughs. We started playing in teams, but then decided we liked it bette...

My sister, Desha, came to visit us during her spring break, from April 3-8. She lives in Portland and is getting her PhD in Natropathic medicine, emphasis in midwifery. It was SO great having her with us! I don't know many people that would choose to spend their spring break changing diapers and wiping a snotty nose. But Desha loves babies, so she couldn't resist. Desha was amazing to us. She took care of Tanner for a couple days while we were at work. They went on walks, read books, had music time, played crawling games, and had clapping lessons. (we're still working on getting him to clap). Desha also cooked nearly every meal for us the whole week. And she did dishes and kept the house tidy. Luckily, she did have some fun, too, because we went to the beach a couple times. We also had a great time visiting and just being enamored by Tanner. Common site- Desha's camera in a baby's face. Desha takes hundreds of pictures of Tanner when she visits.  We had to cuddle un...

This videos was filmed the week of March 19, 2012. Tanner had just barely discovered how fun playing ball is! We could not stop laughing at his reaction every time Jeremy caught the ball. I have no idea how he learned to make the sound (I worry it's ruining his voice), but it has become his go-to cheer when he is really excited about something.

Our Grandpa Reed Higgins passed away in March. He is my mom's dad, and lived to be 93 years old. He is a wonderful person, and I grew to love him very much while sitting at his feet, listening to his stories of childhood adventures. As a young teenager, I would write down the stories he told me in my journal. I realized early how important it was to be with him. I made a conscious effort to spend time with him during my busy high school years and during my visits home from college. One of my favorite things was to sing with him and for him. Grandpa always made me feel like a million dollars when I sang for him. I had the privilege of singing at his memorial last week in Colorado. It was a beautiful service with a formal military salute.  For many years now, every time that I said goodbye to Grandpa Higgins and my grandma, I've acted as though it would be the last time I see them. I've tried to make my time with them special so that I have no regrets once they pass on. That ...