An "Agua" Video

Here is a video from our trip to Lagoon a couple of weeks ago. It's of Malia playing in the water fountain at the entrance of the park. It is about 2 minutes and nothing terribly exciting happens. Maybe only the grandma's will have patience to watch it in it's entirety. Nonetheless, I love watching her and thought it was adorable. We have had a challenging week in the Mata home and are just grateful to have Malia in our lives. It I feel up to it later, I may fill you all in on the Mata drama. Just know she is doing okay. She is an amazing little girl and I love her with all of my heart.

A Day at Lagoon

Last week David's company party was a day for the whole family at Lagoon (an amusement park near Salt Lake City). There were lots of rides for Malia. We spent most of the day hanging out with the Caley Family. Bart and David took off for a bit to ride the bigger stuff. I think the definite highlight for Malia was playing in the water at the end. They also provided free dinner. Good Times! Thanks Alpine!

Malia's Second Birthday

Sorry for the delay in posting this momentous occasion. Malia turned 2 on August 9th. We had a great day. Bart, Lori, Caleb, and Max came up for lunch. Thanks guys for being there! I frosted some cupcakes and Malia wanted to decorate them with sprinkles. She kept dumping the sprinkles on the same cupcake, but had a good time. Not to mention she took a bite of the sprinkles between each attempt at decorating. As you can see, Caleb also enjoyed the cupcakes! Later in the afternoon my aunt Deanne and her daughter, Alyssa arrived. They had driven out from Iowa just for Mali's birthday! Okay, Alyssa is starting Paul Mitchell in Provo and Deanne brought her out. Nonetheless it was great that they could be there for Mali's birthday. They brought presents, including one's from my mom and Chris. Malia especially loved the sprinkles. She also liked the fruit snacks that Caleb included in their present. In the evening, we went to the Cache County Fair in Logan. Mali got to pet the animals and walked around. We checked out the rodeo from afar and let Mali climb on the tractors. We thought about taking her on rides but the lines were super long and scary-carnie looking. David let Mali get up close and personal with the agua. She had absolutely no fear of the animals. It was a great day and thanks to all of those who shared it with us.

PS- I realize it has been a bit since I have posted, but what's up with the changes to blogspot? How come when I am creating a post, my pictures don't show up as pictures anymore? How am I supposed to add commentary below each one? Can anyone help me out?

Our Trip to Phoenix

Last weekend we took a trip to Phoenix to take Nany back for school. We sure do miss him already! The trip was great and it was good to see family. I had done two other posts with slides from the trip. I had never created a slide before and decided to go back and condense the pictures into one single slide show. I chose the "Melt" slide option between pictures to accurately depict Phoenix's weather conditions-- STINKING HOT! It was lots of fun and great to see all of the family. Now I just need to get back to Iowa!

Tubing/Rafting Down the Logan River

 

A couple days before we took Nany back to AZ we decided to go down the Logan River. David, Hernan, and Malia had done it the week before in a couple of tubes. This time we decided to add David's 2 man raft for Malia and I to sit in while Nany and David rode in the tubes. Being as Malia is a huge fan of "agua", she had a great time. Well, we all did until we hit some rocks and punched a hole in the raft! After that David had to hold on to the raft, plugging the whole while simultaneously guiding it. It turned out to be quite the adventure. The water was FREEZING!! And our grand plan of bringing two cars so we didn't have to hike back didn't work out so hot since we left the keys in the wrong vehicle! Oh, well. We still had lots of fun.

Getting Dressed Solo?

 

A while back my neighbor dropped of some of Malia's 6-9 month clothes that she had borrowed. Malia found the bag and decided to dress herself. Well that's the story anyhow. Her uncle Hernan was in the room, so I am quite sure he helped in the process. Although, the style of two legs in one leg whole is very Malia as of late. Regardless, the results were quite humorous!

A Day in Park City

 

Yesterday Malia and I headed up to Park City to see my high school friend, Heather Brown. Andrew was there for a teaching conference and Heather and their son, Emmitt, came to visit. Last year at this same time Heather was there for the conference and Andrew and Emmitt came to visit. Last year, Marissa (my cousin), Malia, and I headed up there to visit. It was fun to be able to do it again this year. Emmitt and Malia are only 6 months apart and had a great time playing together. We hung out in the pool for awhile. Sorry, no pool pics. Malia is more than enough to juggle in the water, much less a camera also! Then we headed over to the outlet malls. Fortunately I didn't find any deals! Then the kids played on a nearby playground. The one where Malia is lying on the ground was pretty comical to watch. She had went down the slide and then tried to jump into Emmitt's arms! Obviously, he couldn't catch her. Although he is quite a bit bigger than her. He's in the 95th percentile for height, while Mali's in the 5th. Although a bit of a drive (compounded by my apparent inablility to follow directions), it was great to be able to catch up with friends. Thanks, Heather!