Elliot's Interests (21 months)

He abruptly started loving to draw.
He frequently scribbles on Aaron's homework, and insists on holding all writing instruments that are in his view.

His beloved Legos. He tenderly adjusts the baseball cap of the Lego man and will sometimes give him kisses.

Playgroup, especially the water table. He gets drenched every week. 

Watching cars

Light and Shadows

Gardening/anything that involves being outside

Eating with utensils. I donated an old shirt to replace his bibs because he always tore them off. 

Family Pictures

Our friend Melony took our family pictures for us at Desert Meadow Gardens. Elliot was not very cooperative with the family shots, but I guess we'll keep him anyway.

Sometimes family pictures result in unsuspecting dads being punched in the face

This one is my favorite

Why hello there, brilliant blue eyes!

Despite the fact that only smiles in pictures where we aren't holding him, he really does love his parents.
We hope. 

Desert Meadow Garden

Lately I have been volunteering with the Sahuarita Food Bank to organize a new community garden. I got referred to an expert gardener at a community garden in Green Valley. Desert Meadow Garden is a gem that I am so glad we discovered! It is such a beautiful, well maintained place. I had a meeting there while my Mom was still in town. They passed the time by taking a bunch of pictures and checking out all the random sculptures. 

Selfie Friends

Behold, some flowers

Behold, a lizard

Chicken statue with spinning wings and bobbing head

We hung out in this shady spot with checkers for a nice long time

 We decided that this might be a good place for family pictures, so we did some pretend shots

Squirmy much?

pick up truck bench

I love that blue door. 

Mom brings out my best poses

Places Where Everything Is Good

My Mom came to visit for a few days! She dropped Breezy off at BYU-Idaho for her first year, then found a cheap flight down to see us before flying home. 

Elliot was not successfully potty trained during the 3 day visit. We weren't really trying.

Mom messed up her ankle pretty bad the month before, so we tried to have a lot of less-walking activities. Like multiple trips to watch Elliot at the splash pad. 

Best Buddies

Photo cred to Lakin

Mom opted to sit in the back to maximize her Elliot time. Many songs were sung. 

Aaron and I hardly ever go out to eat. We break that rule when Mom comes to town looking for authentic Mexican food. This trip's destination was Manuel's in Green Valley. Mom liked it so much that she talked us into going again the next day! We hadn't been since the first night that we moved to Arizona and had forgotten how good it was. It was dominated by older clientele in standard Green Valley style, which meant that Elliot got lots of attention from his fellow diners.  

Manuel's fans

I like this sequence of pictures of Mom and Elliot playing peekaboo with the chip basket mostly because of the progression with the guy in the background. Elliot's giggles caught his attention and won him over!

While trying to convince us to order desert after our filling meal on day 2 of Manuel's dinner, Mom whipped out my new favorite obvious Mom quote: "The thing about places where everything is good is that everything is good!"

She meant that the Flan was likely to be really good (it was), but I enjoyed taking it out of context and applying it to life in general. It really does seem that most of the time, everything is good around this place.

She texted this picture to Aaron when he accidentally locked us in the backyard after leaving for Scouts.
We are equally sad to see her go every time!

Lauuuuraaaaaaa

The one and only Laura Smith came to Arizona! She came down with some friends to visit another friend of hers in Scottsdale, but we were able to steal her away for a little bit. We ate some delicious Indian food (always the best choice) and had a great time catching up, and catching Elliot during his escape attempts. 

Friends 

The more candid version

Elliot trying hard to drown in the water

There is something really special about old friends. I was super nostalgic for our many adventures and days spent hanging out at BYU for days before and after. I wish we lived closer and could reunite more often!

Labor Day Weekend in Gilbert

We spent Labor Day weekend in Gilbert with Mary. 

Jamming out with Elliot providing accompaniment 

"Water Party" with the Olaf tea set

Tackle ring-around-the-rosy was a big hit

Elliot & Benjamin at the park

Eli got to eat his first solids!

Reviews were mixed.

 The highlight of the trip was taking the kids to the Arizona History Museum in Mesa! Elliot roared back at the dinosaurs pretty much the whole time we were there. 

We couldn't get him to tear his eyes off of the animatronic dinosaurs long enough to take a picture

They had lots of great kids activities scattered throughout, including this cool dinosaur slide. There was also a gold panning station outside in the courtyard that caused many tears when we had to leave due to the museum closing. 

Bears (and a Bear fan) by a bear

Literary Men

Box o' Boys

Cuties

On Sunday, we got to go to a Mid-Singles break the fast with Mary. We briefly considered adopting aliases (I would be a hard working and tenderhearted single mom with a troubled past, Aaron a party boy bachelor), but didn't go through with it. I think our wedding rings gave us away, but they didn't kick us out. It was fun meeting Mary's new friends, and one even came over to kick our butts at Carcassone later that night. 

Aaron and I were able to go to the temple during naptime on Saturday. We also hit up the pool multiple times, and I got an ego boost from playing connect 4 with Rebekah and Andrew.