Trees are next

Zoe discovered that if she takes the top off of the chair her aunts bought her for her birthday and puts it in front of the recliner, then she can climb up into the chair. So, she did it over and over and over again this afternoon.

In the land of make-believe...

Zoe likes to pretend she's a bunny. Memaw sent her bunny ears for Easter and this week she's decided she wants to play with them. The ears are a little big for her head still, so they fall off easily. Maybe by Halloween she'll have grown into them. :) Meanwhile, we're embarking on the world of pretend. She feeds her animals and dolls and makes them act like they're walking around. It's really cute to watch her little imagination blossom.

One, two...

THREE! Zoe has discovered her love of the slide. We've had a stretch of warmer weather lately, so we've set off to our favorite park to explore, feed the ducks, and have fun. She's started doing this cute thing where she says "two" when you count her down. Check out the video to see what I mean.

She's becoming more adventurous in her explorations too. She found a tunnel that looks like a lion's face. She won't go into the tunnel, but she was curious.

I am so blessed...

I just put my sweet Zoe to bed after a fun Mother's Day. She's grown so much in the past year! Her legs are so long that they hang off my lap when I'm rocking her to sleep. I love bedtime, and not because it means a few hours of peace and quiet. :) I love gazing into my sweet baby's eyes as we sing her lullabies and she sucks her thumb. I love snuggling and cuddling as she drifts off to sleep. I love reading her stories, over and over again, as she gets excited about what she can find on the page.

I love how she tries to help with the laundry by pulling all the clean clothes out of the basket and carrying them around the living room. (She does bring them back to me.) I also love how to imitates me cooking with her own kitchen tools I've given her. I love how she tries to help me brush my teeth in the mornings. I'm not too keen on having the baby's toothbrush on my face though. :) I love her sweet, open-mouth kisses and how she touches my face, just because.

I'm thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful daughter.

More from our visit to Colorado

After we recovered from the baby shower on Sunday, we went on a family picnic to a nearby park. It was Matt's brother Ashley's birthday and he requested we take Zoe out for her first picnic. It was a gorgeous day for a picnic. We ate lunch at the pavilion where Zoe pointed out and said Nana and Papa and what sounded like Mikey(for Uncle Michael) without being prompted. Pretty good! She really enjoyed riding on the tractor and cow that bounce back and forth.



That night I made a pavlova for Ashley's birthday cake. He's moving to Australia to get married soon, so this was the last time we'll see him for a while. I wish Matt had been able to come with us.


We really enjoyed getting to see Matt's family. Here are more pictures.

Saying goodbye

We had to say goodbye to some very dear friends recently. We've been living in Utah for a year and a half now, and in that time Paul and Anna Goh and their boys have become some of our closest friends here. They are from Singapore and were here while Paul studied bow making in Salt Lake City. Now, Paul is going to be working to open a factory in China. Anna and the boys returned to Singapore while waiting on the final plans to be made for their move to China.



The Gohs were one of the first people to meet our precious Zoe.



Anna has been my outing buddy with the kids.



Anna has also been a wonderful teacher for Zoe's bible class.



Titus was a fun student to teach in my Wednesday bible classes.



Titus and Justus have been two of Zoe's first friends. She misses running on the ramp at the church building with them.



Paul is a wonderful song leader, very knowledgable in the scriptures, and a lot of fun to play Nintendo with. :)



We will miss you terribly! Here are the pictures from their going away fellowship at church.

Visiting Nana and Papa

Playing in Nana's kitchen

Playing piano with Aunt Rhianna

Reading with Uncle Clayton

Zoe and I traveled to Colorado this weekend to visit Matt's family and to host/attend Matt's sister-in-law's baby shower. Jennifer is due in June with their first child, a boy named Nehemiah. She looks beautiful and they're excited about the birth of their son. We've had a good time visiting family, as always. Zoe's had the most fun today I believe.