The Taraskiewicz Family

Elmo!

2010-10-16T22:44:00.000-06:00

Mya loves Elmo! I have been going to the Library to get her Elmo movies, so every time we get home she points to the bookshelf, where they are kept, and says "Elmo?" She loves Elmo so much that even when Elmo is playing, if he is not on the screen, she says "Elmo?" and reaches for the movies on the shelf.

I was in my bedroom and when I walked out, I saw Mya star-fished on the floor, watching Elmo of course!

Our Awkward Family Photos!

Don't Forget To Floss!

2010-10-09T00:10:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing Jake wants to be a dentist because his daughter sure likes to brush and floss her teeth! Whenever I am in the bathroom brushing my teeth Mya will follow me. She loves brushing her teeth, but that's not all! She saw Jake and I flossing once and insisted that she flossed too. So I thought what the heck and gave her a piece!!

This movie is for you Kris

--- Storms ---

I was watching t.v. when a weather warning scrolled across the screen reading Severe Thunderstorm Warning, 70mph winds and golf ball size hail. This happened a few times when we lived in Alpine, but it was never for our county, so I usually ignored it. It had been storming all day with thunder and lightning, so I thought that was what they meant. We then went out for a bite to eat and while we were enjoying our dinner, it started to down pour with rain and it got extremely windy. We seriously couldn't see anything. Then the golf ball size hail fell from the sky.

Here is the evidence. How do these even form? This one was small compared to others. Crazy eh? I know you are thinking, what about their Focus? Don't worry, it managed to get zero dents, well at least I haven't noticed any yet!

Our Family of Four and Lots, Lots More

2010-09-19T17:09:00.000-06:00

Oh my I don't even know where to begin. Lets start with our new addition!!

Ali Mae Taraskiewicz

Born July 27, 2010

She outdid her "big" sister by a whole pound, weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz. She had a hard time adjusting to life outside the womb, and spent a couple days in the NICU. She was a brave little pumpkin, being poked and prodded with needles galore.

Now she is as healthy as can be and more precious than ever! Her hobbies these days consist of sleeping, sleeping, the occasional smile, and more sleeping!

How I spent my first few weeks. Gotta love my husband... just couldn't resist the camera!

-- Life in Arizona --

So I must say, life in Arizona is pretty good. Our home feels more like a resort than a home, well at least for me, Mya and Ali. Jake on the other hand started school at Midwestern and life for him is pretty much school, and the occasional swim in the pool.

As for Ali, Mya and myself, we spend our days at the pool or baking something delicious at home!
Mya has become quite the little helper in the kitchen.

The clean up - hosed down in the bathtub. Mya loves water, whether it is swimming at the pool or taking a bath, she has the time of her life.

Spotlight - Uncle Matthew

"Mashew"

Mya carries this photo of Uncle Matthew and Aunt Kari around the house. If she can't find it, she searches the house saying "where's Mashew?"

Lovin the Hikes

2010-04-25T16:03:00.008-06:00

Last week on Jake's days off we decided to venture back up to American Fork Canyon. The weather was beautiful, and being up in the trees is always fun and exciting! We came across a few snowy patches, so hopefully with more nice warm weather, the trails will be dry and perfect for hiking. We are hopefully getting a back pack for Mya to go in, but as for now she is still in her front carrier. It was hard to get a picture of us together without Mya looking, and grabbing for the hydration pack! In only took her a total of 2 seconds to figure out how to get the water out the tube. You have to bite and sip at the same time, and once she figured that out she wouldn't stop grabbing it!

Hi!

2010-03-18T16:07:00.004-06:00

Our cute little girl has definitely grown over the last month. She is talking up a storm, yet we don't know what she is talking about. She will stand there and wave her hands while talking to me when I am preparing dinner. It's pretty darn cute! Although with talking has come tantrums. Can 13 month olds have tantrums?!? That's what I thought until she decided to stomp her feet and put her hands over her face when she wasn't getting her way. She must take after Jake!

She loves to go into the cupboards when we are not looking and take out our strainers. She puts them over her head and laughs. We have a larger one that you can't see through as well as our metal one. When she puts her over her head she can't see. She walks around with it over her head laughing, until she hits something, falls down and cries.

I am officially 21 weeks pregnant and I have a little bump. Jake finally felt a kick today which was exciting. Those first kicks always get you excited!
The last few days have been spring weather. We enjoyed going for walks on Jake's days off. We have a neat little candy store by our house that we had never been to, so we decided to check it out. I let Mya walk around for only a couple min, until she started to grab all the stuffed animals on the shelf. When She is determined to have something, she won't respond when you call her name. Jake says she takes after me with that one :) We went to Walmart when my parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we let Mya walk around. She found the toy section and when it was time to leave to do the rest of our shopping, she ignored us. We were like "bye Mya" and walked in the opposite direction. She didn't even bother to look at us. So finally Jake had to go get her, and when she saw him she ran in the opposite direction. He actually had to jog to grab her, it was hilarious!

On our walk I said "hi Mya!" and she responded to me!

If you know what she is saying, please let us know :)

Birthday Girl

2010-02-06T11:52:00.007-07:00

Jake and I can't believe how fast this year went. Mya is already 1 and we are expecting another little one in August! We are really excited to find out what we are having, but we won't know for a couple more months.

Jaime our landlord gave Mya a birthday bib and a present for her birthday. She spent a while trying to open it. She brought it all over the house until she finally gave it to daddy.

She couldn't get it open so she got daddy who was sleeping on the couch to help!

I think she liked the paper more than her present!

I blew and she grabbed!

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-The Pacifier Obsession-
One day she found two pacifiers and she couldn't decide which one she wanted!

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Random Photos

Playing with her toys

Pullin off the high socks!

The Mysterious Stove Towel

2010-01-16T17:36:00.003-07:00

Every time I am in the kitchen, or even when I'm not the stove towel is always missing. I wash my hands then reach for the towel and oops... no towel. Dripping water everywhere I search for it with no luck. I then decide to just get out a new one in hopes to find the old one. But the big question is "Where did it go?"

Well it looks like I found the answer to my question. That is a very guilty face!

Where she takes it still remains a mystery!

Our Christmas Vacation

2010-01-08T07:55:00.008-07:00

Jake and I had a wonderful time with his side of the family this Christmas. We started off driving to Colorado and saw Jake's brother Jared and his 2 day old baby girl. She was so tiny and precious, I forgot how small Mya once was. We stayed in Colorado for a few days then flew with Jake's parents to Wisconsin to see Jake's sister Jaime and her family on Christmas Eve. We stayed in Wisconsin for a week and a half which was a ton of fun. We went to the Museum, Fun World, had a New Years party, played lots of video games, and of course went to Kopps (Wisconsin's famous burger & custard joint)!!

Jake's brother Jared and his daughter

What our family will look like in 7 months!

My other Family :)

Diane and Jim with Bailey. Bailey sure missed Jim when they left

Bailey's new friend after Jim and Diane left!

Mya on Christmas morning opening her presents!

Cameron with his new train set

Ben opening his gifts

Little Jacob opening his gifts!

Daddy practicing football with his little girl. Love the face:)

Uncle Jake having too much fun with the boys

10:00pm The boys wanted to stay up til midnight!

I thought it was Ben and little Jacob that wanted to go to
Fun World, but really it was Simon and Jake

Jaime and Mya having fun

Smiley Mya

Lake Michigan at Simon's brother's place . I loved seeing the lake because
it reminded me so much of the ocean.

Butterfly world in the Museum. This placed freaked me out,
there is just something about being in a little room with too
many butterflies flying in your face.
(Can you tell I don't like moths/butterflies?)

The Dinosaur exhibit

Jake's favorite (probably because it was of British Columbia, Canada!!)

Waiting patiently in line at Kopps
(It was REALLY good!)

This one's for Grandma!

2009-12-14T17:55:00.002-07:00

Christmas in November

2009-11-29T15:41:00.007-07:00

My parents came to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun eating, eating and eating! My Dad did all the cooking of course and it was deeeelicious:) We played games, went shopping and just hung out. We aren't going to see them at Christmas so we opened presents on Thanksgiving Day. I don't think Mya was as excited as Jake was to start opening gifts!! My parents present to us was a bed!! All I have to say is Thank goodness for parents!! Sleeping on a blow up mattress for two years is far too long. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas in November

Eating Thanksgiving dinner!! YUM

Grandma and Mya's new favorite face!

Grandma and Grandpa

Her new favorite doll

Uncle Kevin

Mya wrote this on the fridge

The Pod, with a few add ons

Funny Face with grandma

Home from a walk around the neighborhood

Mya Opening her presents from Grandma and Grandpa

My Dad, doing what he does best

Quelf (The weirdest game EVER!)
Mr. Lugnut, The Dude, Mrs. Pickel Feather

Me and my hubby enjoying the lights

Mom and Dad

Colorado

2009-11-13T16:07:00.006-07:00

Our trip to Colorado was a lot of fun. I think Mya enjoyed herself the most because Grandma Exposito gave her all the toys her little heart desired. We went out for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Exposito, and also with our friends Ryan and Christina. They have a little girl named Riley who was born less than a month after Mya. They were so cute together at dinner!

Mya started to make funny faces after playing with Elmo. I think she liked his fur!

Funny Face

Playing with Grandma

I think we need to teach Mya some manners. First with Halloween candy and
now Gerber puffs! I promise we aren't starving her!

Riley didn't mind sharing, although her face showed otherwise

Mya's First Halloween

2009-11-01T15:50:00.010-07:00

Mya's first Halloween was a blast!! Her costume was so funny we had to take her trick or treating. But before we went out, our neighbors down the street had a potluck for our ward. There were a lot of people and the food was yummy. After dinner we met up with Jaime and Scott, who we rent from, and went trick or treating with their adorable kids around our neighborhood. Their little boy had his treats in his bucket and Mya snagged his Candy!! I was laughing so hard I was crying. I wanted them to sit beside each other so I could get a picture but Mya had a different idea ,we trained her well!!!

Our little Purple Elephant!!!

Off to eat some FOOD! I was so hungry

Trick or Treat!!!

This was the first picture. Everything was cool (well that's what Mya wanted us to believe)

Just going to take a few!
Okay I lied I am taking all of it!
Benjamen's face was priceless. He looked like he was going to cry

I let Mya choose her own candy! She would leap for the bowl at every door!

Enjoying her candy

The Escape

2009-10-27T15:16:00.009-06:00

Since Mya is crawling like crazy, we put up a barrier so she can't roam around the house. She has been really good at staying in her area, yet she has found an escape route. She crawls right through the coffee table to freedom! Yet once she is out she realizes that we are still in her play area, so she crawls back and starts playing with her toys again!

She pretends to be sleeping :)

Then when she has us fooled she goes for the escape!

The other escape route! She will climb right over her toys with such determination!

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Timeout!!
Daddy put her in time out the other day because she was being naughty, yet I don't think she understood why she was sitting in the corner in her bumbo. I thought it was the funniest thing and had to take a picture.
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All bundled up ready to play outside!

Let it snow
We woke up to snow!

Pumpkins are Scary

2009-10-16T15:27:00.002-06:00

I couldn't remember the last time I had carved a pumpkin, and I couldn't let Mya go pumpkinless on her first Halloween so Jake and I did it, we carved pumpkins!!

I struggled to get the guts out :( Jake finished carving his pumpkin and I was still digging!

Pumpkins are scary! I don't think she enjoyed this :)

She loves her Daddy!!

Uncle Kevin's Visit

2009-10-13T17:25:00.007-06:00

These past few months Mya has been inseparable from Jake and I but when Uncle Kevin arrived she actually let him hold her! She did shed a few tears but they disappeared rather quickly. We hiked up to Donut Falls with Kevin . We had no idea that there was going to be snow on the ground so we bundled up Mya with whatever we could find.

Mya looking a little unsure

Playing! Warmed up pretty quick

Bundled up with Daddy

Donut Falls

I was on the computer and when I turned around I found Mya standing on her bus!

First meal by herself

A little messy :)

Beautiful Fall

2009-10-08T18:29:00.011-06:00

We went for a short hike up Timpooneke Trail and it was just gorgeous. Fall is Jake's favorite season and now I understand why. The trail that we took was pretty scenic, and we didn't even go as far as we could. We really want to climb Mt. Timpanogos, so we are hoping the weather warms up a little. Perhaps next week!?!

Our little Ballerina

2009-09-25T15:34:00.007-06:00

I received this tutu in the mail today! I won it on a giveaway for Mya. She is always smiling but when I put this on her she would not smile, it was so funny. She just kept making this ugly face or a half smile, she even shivered! I think it was the feel of the material. The tutu is meant for her when she is 12-24 months, so I hope she likes it then!! I can't wait to bring her to the grocery store in a little tutu! She is my little Ballerina!

We're Back

2009-09-22T16:37:00.011-06:00

Our blog is up and running again!! We took a little blog vacation but we are back. We went for a hike on Monday up the canyon which was a lot of fun. Being from the West Coast I sometimes get homesick because of the lack of trees and... well, if you from the west you know what I mean, so living only minutes away from a beautiful forest is definitely a bonus! It was a very nice day, but it was a little cooler than we had planned. When we drove up to the trail head there was the cutest little cat that welcomed us. He followed us all the way there and back. He would ran up ahead and crouch down behind trees and rocks and wait for us to walk past. I really wanted to take him home with us!

I think Jake's shirt was a little long for me!

Mya wanted to take him home too!

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Mya is almost 8 months now and her personality is only getting stronger, she definitely has a mind of her own! She now can pull herself up all on her own, perhaps we need to adjust the the mattress in her crib. She has started to eat actual food and she loves her baby food. She squeals and smiles when she sees it!! She used to roll to get wherever she wanted but now she has somewhat figured out how to crawl. I think it looks more like she is doing the worm but at least she's movin!

Yummy Bananas

Video

Curly or Straight?

2009-08-13T12:04:00.013-06:00

As the days are passing by, we can't help but love our little girl more and more. Mya is a little over 6 months now and her hair is slowly coming in. So the big question is will she have curly or staight hair, and will she be a brunette or blonde? Jake and I both had similar colored hair when we were younger yet mine turned brown and Jake's turned dirty blonde. So what do you think?

Mya

Daddy

Mommy

Bye Bye Canada

2009-08-01T15:21:00.006-06:00

Our trip to Canada was a blast! Jake and I thought for sure we wouldn't be able to make it to my brother's wedding, but to our surprise my green card arrived just in time. It arrived in the mail Saturday, so we pretty much threw our clothes in our bags, tossed them in the car and started driving the very same day. After way too much driving we finally made it to my Native Land! We spent a day and a half on Salt Spring Island which was definitely worth it. Being on Salt Spring is like being on an African Safari but on the West Coast. We saw seals, owls, whales and of course plenty of deer. After visiting the Island we stopped to see my Grandma in the hospital and took a 4 generation picture. We were then off to Cardston for the wedding. We drove through the Canadian Rockies and stopped at Lake Louise for some pictures! We had a wonderful time in Cardston and Mya finally got to meet some of her relatives!

Mya's first ferry ride

Finally... we made it to Salt Spring

Ganges Harbor

Whales, whales and more whales!

Our 4 generation picture!

Lake Louise

Waterton Lakes-Looking down at the
Prince of Whales Hotel where we ate lunch

Pre-wedding photos at Waterton Lakes

Cardston Temple right after Matthew got married!

4 generation picture on my Dad's side

Drum Roll...

2009-07-14T14:46:00.030-06:00

Finally, after weeks of having our blog post-less we have finally started! I guess it has taken me so long because I didn't know where to begin, but after a beautiful hike yesterday, the timing just feels right. Living in Utah, there are so many places to explore. We live only minutes from a beautiful canyon, so yesterday we packed a lunch and headed up to Silver Lake. It would've helped to have had a 4x4, but never underestimate the Focus! We drove 3 miles on a very bumpy cliff-side to Silver Lake Flat where the trail head started, then from there we hiked for a about 2 hours until we were at the Lake, which to our amazement still had snow patches near by. We ate lunch on an enormous rock, got attacked by chipmunks, then headed back down. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

The turn off

Silver Lake Flat

A little stream we crossed.

We made it!

The rock that we ate lunch on and where we got attacked by chipmunks!

Aren't they precious!

Silver Lake

Just chillin

The view from our drive