Happy birthday Mark!

Just wanted to say Happy birthday & I love you!  Thanks for being an amazing dad, a wonderful husband & a valiant servant.  I'm so grateful that we have an eternity to be together!  Through life's ups & downs you are my rock, I couldn't ask for a better man, you were definitely worth the wait my love.  Enjoy your day!!

St. George

So Mark & I are not big travelers, that's just not the stage of life were in right now, so when we get a chance to jet away overnight we'll take it.  A few weekends ago St. George was that place.  Mark's cousin Mallory was getting married so it was up on Saturday & back on Sunday.  Troy did amazingly well for the amount of travel time, though he didn't sleep the whole way up even though woke him up when we left at 5 am . . . that is until we were actually in St. George, then he dozed off, silly boy!

The reception was in Mallory's parents backyard, which was amazing by the way.  Troy loved their toy area & this little house especially.

Troy & his cousin Jake being silly on the trampoline!

Gotta love the face shots, did I mention it was crazy hot, even though it was from 6-9 in the evening!!

Trampoline action with cousins Jake & Brooke, we miss seeing them frequently!!

Chilling by the trampoline, Hayres, Kevin & Mark with Troy enjoying the rocks.

The beautiful bride after she threw the bouquet, check out that view . . . amazing!  Or as my husband frequently refers to Utah landscape, "beautiful country"!

Troy's 2nd cousin William, don't you love his wedding attire, so cute & Troy was not thrilled with sharing daddy!

More fun on the trampoline, he couldn't get enough his cheeks were so red.

Visiting the horses further back on their land & Mark standing exactly like his father does . . . or should I say the Trasks do!

Petting the horse, it was very gentle & sweet.

Checking out the bird cage, yes it's big & yes there are tons of them in it, he was fascinated!

We had a great quick trip!  Troy got to basically play at a park & go to the zoo all in one backyard.  The reception was awesome, decorated so well with all the wedding colors, the food was the best (hopefully I'll be trying some of the recipes soon!!), & it was great to see the family!

He's back!

My "littlest" brother Chad returned home from serving his mission in New York this past Wednesday!  He has always been a great brother, so smart & kind, he excels in everything he does & his mission was no different.  We're grateful to have him home & know he'll always be an excellent example for our little Troy!

Troy meeting his Uncle Chad for the first time!  He came home to two new nephews & another one coming within the next month!

Carter giving his Uncle some love, he was only 10 months old when he left.

Congrats mom!

Wanted to recognize my mom & all she does!  She's currently a Viking Star (aka employee of the month at her school) & gets her name blazed to the new school sign for all to see.  Sadly she probably gets more consistent recognition at her job sometimes than from her many appreciative family members who get spoiled by her so often, myself definitely included.  So thanks for being a great mom, a hard worker in all aspects of your life, a great example of service, a loving grandma, an amazing friend,  a wonderful listener, & the ultimate role model of divine womanhood!!  Know you're loved, even when you don't get signs on the front of the house reminding you all the time!!    

16 months!

My little big man is growing up right before my eyes!  I can't believe how much fun I have being his mom & hanging out with this little love all day.  Don't get me wrong, my schedule is not my own, but it just takes a split second to think about what I was spending my time doing before he came to be so thankful he's my son & I get the privilege of being his mom! 

Capturing a smile on camera is rare, he is NOT a posing child.  Luckily he was in a laughing mood, mainly due to what we were doing below.

Now try not to focus in on both of our double chins (trust me it looks more mellow in b&w) & realize  we were trying to get a picture together & he actually thought it was funny . . . hence the smiles! 

So a few things I love about Troy & his personality at this stage!

- The rice cooker is his new favorite toy, not because moms using it mind you, just because it has a bowl-steamer-lid-& cooker that he can carry & mom won't tell him "no" when he plays with it.

- That he always runs to me . . . when he gets hurt or mad or just because, due to this fact I spend a lot more time on the floor just in case he wants to head my way, I love his hugs.  I also realize that I won't always get to have him run to me when he gets upset for very long & so I cherish these moments.

- He will grab a book, back up into your lap & plop down.  This doesn't vary even if you're in the middle of something, if he's ready to read obviously you must be too! :)

- His little waddle run . . . he's faster than he looks with those little legs!

- That his first consistent word is "cracker" sounds more like "cocker".  Yes he does say mama & dada & dad & other fun things, but not quite as regularly as cracker (babble sentences frequent his speech as well)!

- That you have to work for his smile.  He's a happy boy, but will look at you with a blank stare just a commonly as with a grin.  He'll listen to you talk & see your "funny" attempts, but the smile only comes when he's ready & "feeling it", hence you know it's genuine.  Luckily for me I can get him to laugh & enjoy it more often!  

His "murse" he found the other day (aka daddy's shoe-shine kit), Mark was just loving how he was carrying it around like mom does her purse.

Luckily he switched off & it soon became his scripture case!  

A common look when you want him to smile for the camera, at least he's fresh & clean & ready for bed!

A fun visit to the Chino Youth Museum with the little buddies!  Yes he is a policeman with a carrot it his hand, plastic "snacks" that  kept finding their way into his mouth . . . lovely! 

Oh how I love this little guy!!

Ulrich Easter

After church we headed back to the Trasks to say hello to more family then headed out to the Ulrich festivities.  Troy found his basket in the house within 3 minutes of getting there, it happened to be nearby toys & now he knew that there was apparently something special with eggs going on today, so he grabbed it before it was the actual "search" time.  Then we headed outside for some more egg hunting!

Love this photo, he looks so sweet!

Trying to convince him to put the egg in the basket & keep looking, notice all the competition in the background.

Ulrich cousins!  The best photo of them together, not without many more attempts mind you, there were many snapping cameras, but the little ones on the end gave us a total of 10 seconds maybe to get the shot.  When I took the egg out of Troy's mouth that was the end of it!  Gotta love all the boys, with another boy cousin joining them in June, we need more girls!!

No Sunday is complete without skyping with Auntie Jessica in Utah.  When grandma Janet pulls out her laptop, Troy is glued to her until it's put away.  If she attempts to let someone else talk to her & Troy's not on the screen anymore he gets very upset.  He also makes sure he's right in the middle of the action, as you can see.  If Troy could skype at church I truly believe he would sit content the whole sacrament meeting & beyond!  Crazy technology generation!!

Trask Easter

Sunday morning before church we headed over for our 

1st hunt of the day & a delicious breakfast!

Troy finding his eggs, pretty much two was his limit.  

Once both hands were full he was good to go.

The turtle was quite the celebrity that morning, both Troy & his 

cousin found him very interesting/distracting from the hunting process!

Cousin hugs!  The best photo we could get of the two of 

them together, we missed our cousins in Utah!

Trask rolling of the eggs, the tradition continues!  Roll the 

hard boiled eggs at each other & the egg that cracks is the loser.

We had a surprise winner this year . . . in his rookie season of egg rolling 2 year old Dylan defeated all who opposed him!  His egg only cracked when he squeezed it himself after the competition couldn't keep up with his skills!

Troy trying to pick a winner to no avail, with his cousin posing for a victory photo in the background.

Grandparents & grandkids!

The happy family about to head to church!  (Yes we know the sun's in our faces, but between tickling Troy so he'd actually smile on cue, while funny faces are behind the camera to help, this was the best we could get.  The main man looks cute & that's what counts right!)

More from before!

"Mom, seriously I can't believe you're spiking my hair in the bath!  

Dad would definately NOT approve!"

I caught you taking naked pictures of my bare bum . . . 

& no you can't post those on the blog!!

Having fun with "little buddies" at Jumping Jacks 

& contemplating heading down the slide.

It's much more fun to try going up!

Running the gauntlet!

SUCCESS, I made it!

Playing with the balls, never ending fun & never ending clean up if you ask mom.  Which is why this pic was taken while mom & dad were at Youth conference & grandma Janet was watching me!

This cracks me up, he looks like he's chillin'  but apparently he would slip on the balls every once in a while & he was just resting!

Reading with great grandma Lila, she helped watch me too!

Getting my hair combed, for some reason very relaxing!

So I love looking at blogs, but have been pretty lazy lately about updating my own.  We've been having fun & living life, even taking pictures to prove it, I just haven't gotten around to posting.  So here goes!  Enjoying the outdoors in good ol Cali, mainly at the parks! 

My guys!
Why is it so much more fun to go up the slide then down it???

Even the leaves/twigs make for fun when you're one!

My silly swinging grip!

"Help there's sand on my hand mom."
My Auntie Julianne helping me down the slide.
Riding the pedicab with my cousin Jake!