Lazy Weekend

We had such a fabulous weekend! We cleaned the house a bit, did some laundry, I spent 3 hours making my first lasagna (roasted turkey and bell pepper whole wheat lasagna with homemade roasted garlic and onion marinara... it was to die for! Which is fortunate because after 3 hours of working in the kitchen, I would have had a temper tantrum if it didn't taste amazing.), and I didn't have to leave the house for anything except church. Normally I like to go out on the weekend, but since our weekends for the next two months are all 100% full, I loved having a laid back weekend with my love and our bunny.

Loralye is becoming less of a baby all the time. She just needs to learn to speak English now and we'll have a full blown little girl. She loves to color, "read" books, put together her farm puzzle, talk on the phone (any phone, or anything that looks like a phone) really loudly while laughing and making grand arm gestures with her free hand, take care of her baby dolls and stuffed animals, help me with the laundry (including putting dirty clothes in the dryer if I accidentally leave the laundry room door open), and talk baby nonsense non-stop. We love our little chatter box :)

Calico Basin

This past Saturday evening we went to Calico Basin. It's just west of town before the Red Rock park. Everything in Calico is so green and there is a lovely cool breeze. I actually felt a bit depressed when we had to leave. It was almost like being back home. The air even felt a little less dry. Anyways, I brought along my camera and shot a few pictures of our darling daughter. Note to self (and anyone else planning a trip to Calico): Bring a stroller. Loralye did okay most of the time, but the walkway is made up of unsealed wood and every time she sat down she got a splinter. Anyways, here are my favorite pictures from the evening.

All along the walk way were little resting points with signs about wildlife or plants. Loralye sat down here and wouldn't come with us. We started walking away and said bye bye to her and she just gave me this smile...

Stomping like daddy.

Taking a break for crackers and milk...

It was so green out there! I loved it!

After a diaper and clothes change we headed home for bed. All that walking wiped her out!

17 Months

I have not been in the blogging or picture taking mood lately. I don't know why, but that's the way it is right now. Loralye turned 17 months old yesterday and I managed to get a couple pictures of her before bath time last night. She has been sick the past couple of days so the only way I got pictures was turning on a movie that makes her laugh every time... Monsters, Inc. The very beginning is a little scary: a child going to bed and a monster coming in through his closet. Loralye always gets very serious while watching it. And then the child sits up and screams and the monster screams back and starts tripping and falling on toys. As soon as the monster starts screaming, Loralye starts laughing. Like so:

She does it every time without fail. It cracks Aaron and I up. It is so fun to watch her grow and start to understand more and more about the world around her.

Here's what she's been up to lately:

-She knows where her nose, ears, toes, bee-bo (belly button) and lips are.

-She knows the signs for more, milk, and all done. And uses the last two all the time.
-She throws some pretty convincing temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way.

-She loves bread (and crackers, cookies, etc.) and milk. She would have nothing else if we didn't force her to eat other things.

-She loves to empty out drawers, purses, boxes, cupboards, wallets, etc. and put the contents into piles.

-She is not a fan of the heat. Her cheeks get red and she looks miserable real quick when she's outside. Just like me.

-She still has just 16 teeth. I think. She refuses to let me look at her mouth to see if her back molars have come in. I've been bitten enough to not try anymore.

-She is being weaned off of her binkie. She [usually] only uses it to go to sleep.

-She loves to play with her toys by herself. When we get home from work, she will scream at us if we don't leave her alone to play with her toys for at least a half hour.

-She can be in a room filled with toys and only want the toys other children are playing with.
-She gives kisses and hugs often and knows how to work people over with them to get what she wants.

-She would rather be with Grandpa than anyone else when we're at work. The baby gate in his doorway does not stop her from trying to play with him from across the room.

-She doesn't imitate things we say or sounds she hears much, with the exception of 1. the fireworks that go off at the beginning of Disney movies when they show the castle and the Disney logo and 2. me making an owl "hoo hoo" noise when I'm reading The Very Busy Spider to her.

-She loves to draw. She has tub crayons in the bath and crayons (and mommy's pen, of course) at work.

Our little darling...

All the pictures I've been meaning to post over the last two weeks...
Everyone that came to the Dutson reunion. My whole family minus Elder Call.
My whole family again with Philip being so kind as to block the wind from messing up Nikki's bangs.
Some of Loralye from a couple weeks ago...
Trying to put some Teddy Grahams into her straw sippy cup.My big belly girl walking around the office.She has discovered how to remove the binkie strap from the binkie. We haven't been able to use them since. Trying to take the camera. Playing peek-a-boo under my desk. Getting into trouble at work. As usual.xoxo

Desert Breeze Park

To celebrate Memorial Day we went to Desert Breeze Park on Monday evening. One of our wedding presents was a portable BBQ (thanks Johansons!) that we have not been able to use much since moving to our current apartment 2 years ago due to their very strict anti-BBQ rules. So we packed it in the car along with some burgers and pineapple, camping chairs, stroller, picnic blanket (another wedding gift - thanks Marnee!), and a couple toys. We stayed for a few hours playing catch, blowing bubbles, eating some tasty burgers and grilled pineapple, and teaching Loralye that walking on the grass won't kill her. It was so much fun. This is definitely going to be a new tradition for the Green family until we get our own yard to BBQ in :)

Dutson Family Reunion

Aaron, Loralye, and I spent this past weekend in St. George for a family reunion for my mom's side of the family and had so much fun! My parents took Loralye all day Friday and drove her to Utah that afternoon. Aaron and I drove up to meet them right after work. We spent Friday evening with my mom's sister Leanne and her hubby and kids. I love being with them. If I had the time and money I would be in St. George every other weekend at least. Saturday we went to Hidden Valley Park for a few hours in the afternoon, went to Cafe Rio for dinner, and went swimming (or attempted to go swimming in Loralye's case... she hated it!) at Shane and Nikki's hotel's pool that night. I was taught how to play Canasta (SO FLIPPIN FUN!) and got to catch up on a couple episodes of The Office that I've missed this year. We have been TV-less since New Year's Eve so we have now officially seen 2 of the 2010 episodes of The Office. On Sunday we had brunch at Scott and Leanne's and my cousin Niki taught us a bit about our family history. It is so interesting to me to learn about genealogy. Apparently I have a great-great grandfather who fought in the civil war! When Aaron and I were talking about that on our way back home on Sunday he told me that he had a great-great grandmother who was still alive when he was born! Anyways, on Sunday afternoon we went to the cemetery to visit my Gramma's grave and take some pictures since we weren't able to take many the day of her burial due to some intense weather. I do not have any of those pictures yet, but will post them once I get them. In the meantime, here are some of the pictures I snapped at the park on Saturday!

Uncle Philip playing a little soccer.

Aaron and Loralye napping in the shade.
Cousin Hannah and Loralye going on a walk.

She loved this ice cream sandwich until she got about half way done and had a brain freeze.

Playing on the playground with cousin Allie.

On the playground with Papa and Grammy.

She crawled back and forth in this little tunnel for a good 20 minutes!

There were 3 babies at the reunion: Loralye, my cousin Kami's little boy Henry, and my cousin Niki's little girl Greta. We attempted to get some pictures of all the babies together, but it did not work out too well.
First attempt with Henry and Loralye: the binkie was distracting them.

Second attempt with Henry and Loralye: the Blabla was distracting them.

Adding Greta to the mix: Henry tried to escape.

And Greta's still learning to sit up :) This is the only picture I got of the three of them looking anywhere near the camera at the same time!

From Sunday... We miss you Gramma!

We had a blast spending time with everyone and definitely missed seeing those that weren't able to come. I am looking forward to doing this again next year and plan on taking a couple days off of work so we can spend even more time together! Mark your calendar's Dutson clan!! May 2011 in St. George!