Veinte!

Our sweet 20-month-old valentine (reminiscent of a flamingo here):

Mia got too close to Aunt Bev's wood stove and couldn't have had better luck. This "owie" has received way too much attention. She didn't even cry when she got it, but I'm pretty sure that 50% of our county's population has been emotionally manipulated by Mia's

"look at my poor wrist" promptings.

"Yoga for Sleepers" position # 83: The Supine Frog

Behold, Our new stomping grounds!

Hobby farm and house coming soon (we hope)!

Mia just can't seem to keep herself out of the spotlight...

AZ, Part 2

AZ continuted...

Mia picked grandma's kumquat tree clean! She would store the little fruits in her cheeks for hours.

Mia didn't want to share the stale bread with the ducks. No matter how many times Gma demonstrated, she kept popping it into her own mouth. I swear...she is not starved!

Rockin' at the Phoenix IKEA:

Uncle Grant took us to The Cornish Pasty Co. in Tempe. YUM!

This is how Mia thanked him:

Mia was convinced that Grandpa's shoes needed re-tying at least three times a day.

We met some old suguaros!

Tonto National "Forest" was in my grandparents' backyard. We made good use of its trail system and found that the desert really can be stunning!

AZ, Part 1

We just returned from a nice, long visit to our family in Arizona. Although we were hoping for lots of balmy weather, we experienced an entire slew of extremes (from 75 deg. and sunny to -25 degrees and blizzardy!). Fortunately, the high-quality time we had with our friends/fam made the weather much less noticeable!

On the way down, Mia (who was flying as a "lap-infant"), got to experience all sorts of seating arrangements as we desperately sought means of entertainment. We are grateful to have lucked out with toddler-friendly fellow passengers.

Right when we arrived, we were lucky to catch our friends Amanda & her David while they were on a business trip. They spoiled us with a trip to the zoo.

While there, we spotted the Jabba-the-Hut of all prairie dogs...Can you believe how FAT this guy is? I'm convinced he has a harem of female prairie dogs who constantly scurry around to gather his food and feed an obviously insatiable appetite since he, himself, has become one with the mound of dirt beneath his large bum and cannot do it himself.

The grin on David's face here is a result of the bonding moment he had with the animal of his soul: the formerly endangered gray wolf.

We celebrated the sunshine with the appropriate melon:

Our dear Aunt Bev transferred us from desert valley to her mountain town with a elevation of 6000 ft. We were ever so glad to be kidnapped.

Mia was convinced she had gone to heaven! I have never seen her so animated as when she had her cousin (2nd cousin), Taylor, to keep her company. Is it weird that even the most mundane demonstration of human sociality (when Mia is the demonstrator) is big news to me?

Taylor and her cute big sis., Hunter, guessed Mia's favorite game: dress up and act silly!

David had to get in on the action...

It was difficult to say farewell to this sweet family. They were so good to us.

After all the delicious food we ate that week (Aunt Bev is a chef and her daughter, Vanessa, is just really good at everything, so we were well-fed), David decided to hire a personal trainer. She didn't cut him any slack!