Utah

Dave says: When winter break arrived, it was time for a bike trip. The crew was Keith from Oregon and Aleks and Jon from Tucson. I picked Keith up from the airport, we grabbed some food, and we drove straight to the trail head where Aleks and Jon were already waiting even though it was an hour early. We shuttled National which is a fun ride and a long shuttle before heading to Sedona in the evening. Then, we had two monster days riding all of our favorite hard trails like Hangover, Hiline, and Hogs. We're riding pretty much everything on Hangover these days and it is legendary. Who would have thought to build a trail hundreds of feet up on a sandstone spire.

When the trip was over, it was time to drive up to Utah to pick up Alisha and Skye. I arrived just in time for a winter storm and Skye got her first taste of snow. However, a day later we were ready to flee to Vegas for some (slightly) warmer weather. We brought along Mandy, Shane, Brody, and Elsie for two days of adventure that included the children's museum, scrambling around at red rocks state park, lunch at a western ranch, a long walk on the strip, and the hot tub in the evening. Brody said it was the best day ever so I guess it was pretty fun.

Adorable!

Alisha says: Skye's great grandpa Ivan is an amazing man. He is 93 and still very sharp. He has a lot of grand kids around and will still get on the floor and play with them. He tried teaching Skye to walk when she was just learning how. He thinks that Skye is an adorable little girl and looks a little bit like Shirley Temple. He has asked several times for a wallet size picture of her that he can put in his wallet. I took her to JC Penny to get a picture taken to give him for Christmas and we ended up getting a lot of really cute ones. I had bought a groupon for 3 digital images but we ended up getting the whole album because Dave couldn't decide on just three.

Shirley Temple vs Skye, what do you think??

Goldfield Ghost Town

Dave says: We took a Saturday afternoon trip to Goldfield Ghost Town with Mark, Monica, and Lola. Lola is one of Skye's first friends and they get excited when they see each other. The town is a re-creation of the original wild west mining town with a bunch of old buildings, people dressed in cowboy attire, and a train that circles the perimeter. It was a nice warm December day that almost felt a little too hot on the train ride. However, the kids were happy so everyone had a good time.

November

Dave says: Time for a quick November update. Skye loves going on regular trips around town. One of her favorite places is the children's museum although she also really likes the aquarium, malls with carousels, and parks with kids. 

I escaped for a quick overnight trip to Sedona. So beautiful and such tough and fun riding!

We took Skye down to the Gilbert city parade and she had a good time. There we a half dozen dance troops that passed by and she seemed pretty interested. It's only a matter of time.

She's always doing something new that is funny. Right now she loves the pantry. Partly, this is because all her favorite snacks are in here. But she also likes to hide in here, close the door, and peek out the bottom. She's starting to count to ten and will also try to sing some songs like the ABC song.

Payson

Dave says: My parents recently bought a cabin in Payson. It's only an hour away and finally has all the furnishings to stay there so we headed up for an overnight trip with the family. The weather was pleasant and Skye ran around at a holiday event while Parker and I bought and installed a flatscreen tv. As always, we enjoy visiting some of Payson's parks where you can play in the pine trees. Skye's favorite part was hanging out with all of her cousins.

First Time Fall - Prescott

Alisha says: We took a mini vacation to Prescott as part of our Thanksgiving celebrations. When we first arrived we spent some time at a park that had a lot of leaves on the ground. It was so much fun to watch Skye experience playing in the leaves for the first time. She loved running around in them and throwing them up in the air. Her face in the picture of her sitting in the leaves says it all, it is pure joy! After the park we went and did a little hiking around the boulders at Watson Lake. We headed to the hotel for a little rest and then it was pool time. Dave had booked a hotel with a heated indoor pool just for Skye. She had a great time going back and forth between the kid pool and the hot tub. For dinner we thought we would just walk to the mall that was close to our hotel but we it ended up being quite the journey with a lack of sidewalks. Luckily after dinner we found a much better way back.

Day two included a hike around Lynx Lake in the morning, lunch in the old Prescott downtown, and an afternoon at the little zoo. It was so nice to get a little tiny bit of that fall feeling. The next day was actual Thanksgiving so we got up and drove back to Phoenix where we met Dave's family at the park for a picnic. Later that evening Christine hosted a really nice Thanksgiving dinner at her house. I thought that the holidays would help make this pregnancy go by fast but so far they really haven't. Ha, oh well, Thanksgiving down and now on to the Christmas season.

A highlight was playing with the luggage cart, silly girl.

Happy Happy Birthday

Alisha says: We now have a two year old. She can be very sweet but we are also discovering the "terrible twos" at other times. We love her to pieces and had a fun birthday weekend celebrating her. Saturday which was actually the day before her birthday we took her to the train park in Scottsdale where she got to ride a mini train and a carousel. She likes trains and says "choo choo" a lot.  

We stopped on the way home and got some birthday balloons to decorate. She also just graduated from her backward facing infant car seat to a forward facing one.

Birthday morning. She woke up to a new kitchen play set. She loved the banners and balloons and kept pointing to them saying "happy, happy".

Strawberries are one of her favorite fruits right now and so I made her a strawberry cake.

She also loves hats and wore her birthday hat around all afternoon. We had Dave's family and my parents over for a little party with dinner, cake and ice cream. She liked being the center of attention and got lots of new toys including a wagon from Grandma and Grandpa Welsh, a cute bunny backpack filled with lots of snacks (she loves snacks and is always asking for a snack) from Grandma and Grandpa Bezanson, a cute dress and money from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins and a play castle from the Leavitt's.