Daddy's Little Girl

Lately I have notice that Talia is especially fascinated by her Daddy! She has been relentless about doing what Daddy does. Every morning Talia watches her dad put on his socks and has sense decided that she must wear Daddy's socks. Last night she slept in a pair of her Dad's socks. I have to admit it is quite adorable to watch the bond between them grow. I just hope she doesn't try to pee standing up. ;)
Talia was so proud of herself when she started pulling grass out of the ground just like her daddy who was weeding at the time. Of course her "Helping" could not be complete without wearing Daddy's gloves. Below she is very wildly beginning to sign "Help!" As in "I am Helping!"

It is moments like this that I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful husband who is such a good example to his children! I know as a daughter that a fathers love is so important in building a daughters self worth. So...thanks to the men in my life both my husband and my own father!

Our Day Out...

And to end the outing we needed ICE CREAM! Talia was not shy about attacking the ice cream. Most of the time she used a unique method to eat the ice cream...she put her whole face inside the cone and sucked the ice cream out. She definitely keeps her parents entertained! (not to mention busy wiping her face after every suck. I think we used about 50 napkins to try and contain the mess.)

Our Day Out...

Next we went to a park to see the ducks and squirrels. I was glad for the change because it was much more quiet and the trees made it a lot cooler.

Our Day Out (cont)

Sat, July 19, 2008 - Our day out

After a very pregnant week with Preston out of town we decided that we needed a little family outing. Talia has been going crazy being couped up with me and even though I try to be fun I am not as much fun with my planet-sized belly. First on the agenda was a trip to Acacia park to play in Uncle Wilbur's fountain. It is pretty cute because every 30min "Wilbur" comes out of the fountain and plays some jazzy tuba music and the fountain sprays more water. I have to admit Talia was a bit more timid than I thought she would be but she had fun anyway. I think she likes to swim in a little pool better because it is more predictable than the fountain.

Dancing (this is the better video)

Talia danced like a girl on a mission! We caught a little of her fancy dance moves in this video. I swear every time we pull out the camera she stops doing the adorable things that she is doing.

If I were Ice Cream I would be...

Belly Comparison & Sisters Retreat

Here is the last belly shot I took during Talia's pregnancy. I was 36+2 weeks along. And this is my most recent shot at 35+5 weeks. Taken on July 9, 2008. People keep commenting on my SIZE! Most of the comments are about how BIG I am. But now that I see the pictures together I just think I am a totally different shape. I am a little bigger this time but we are not talking beached whale big. With Talia I looked like a watermelon up and down and this time I look like a watermelon lying down from my belly button to my back.
The Hansen girls were finally able to get together for a sisters retreat! We missed Kerali but my Mom and the other 5 of us were able to go. I was too lazy to get out my camera so this is all I have and Marenda had to email it to me. We stayed at a beautiful cabin overnight after we had lunch at Tuccanos (per my request...I really wanted some MEAT for my birthday, and oh my goodness was it yummy!). It was so fun to be without all the kids and just be sisters for a little while. We talked for hours and didn't go to bed until 3am. I love my sisters! Thanks for the fun time girls and thanks to Preston for taking such wonderful care of Talia!

Talias Dance moves

Happy Birthday to Me!

July 7, 2008 - After everyone had a chance to recover a little from the reunion, the family got together for a wonderful meal and some fireworks. We also had my favorite cherry chocolate cake for my birthday. Addie and Talia just had to get in the big pool and be on the alligator. Addie actually fell off the alligator when her older boy cousins were in the pool but we cheered so much for her that she didn't cry and she thought she had done something really great.
The boys...playing GRABITZ

Cannon Ball!!!

Preston decided he had to add to the fun by doing cannon balls when my sisters came in on the canoe. I told him to be careful because they may not speak to him for years if they got too wet. You can see him running in the first shot. What a nut!
I think that Guy and his boys are in this canoe. Mitchell thought it was pretty funny when Uncle Preston splashed in the water.
The aftermath. Preston got the boys a lot more than my sisters.

Swiming and Playing with Dad

July 2008 - after we packed up the Hansen family decided to stop at the reservoir to cool off. Here is Talia with her sweet daddy!

Food & Family

Here are some more from the Nielson reunion...
I am about to pass out here and Talia isn't any too happy either. It was soooooo hot!!! Sheridan
Gavin & Marcus
Mellissa, Stephanie & Blair
Barry and Trenton. If I remember right Trenton fell asleep at the table.

Where's Gavin...

This is about the way we saw Gavin most of the weekend. All of the kids were happy to go exploring and play imagination games that mostly consisted of Lego characters. Marcus and Gavin were almost inseparable. We had to document that Gavin was with us so Preston took these shots on the last day.

Crafts & Kisses

Trina and I were in charge of the crafts and activities for the 7-11 year olds. I said I would be happy to sit at a table and manage the crafts but I was not up for supervising the games in the HOT HOT HOT sun!!! We had beads to make bracelets and necklaces, we made pipe cleaner animals & people, and did sand art. Kendra highlighted the sand art on her Insanity blog (click on the link on the right side of the page).
do you like my little dog?
Such a big helper...um...trouble maker. Thank goodness Preston was there to coral our little monster. :)

Fun in the Tent Trailer

July 2008 - We went camping on Kolob in southern Utah for a family reunion over the 4th of July. Talia had lots of fun playing with Gavin and loved to have her big brother around for over two weeks! Gavin really enjoyed playing with his cousins especially Drake, Marcus and Kira (the boys are all 8 and Kira is 7).

The I-pod

June 2008 - Preston borrowed an i-pod for the trip and Talia thought it was pretty cool to watch a movie on the i-pod.