Halloween

This year for Halloween things were a bit different for us since we have a child. That is to say, it was more fun!

Maya loved our pumpkins! When we carved them we let her feel the icky gooey insides. She kind of liked it! 

Our ward had its annual Chili Dinner and Trunk or Treat the weekend before Halloween. I entered the chili cook off and won! Always makes me a little happy. 

We dressed up Maya as a ladybug. Everybody thought she was so cute! One lady convinced me to take her trunk or treating with an extra pumpkin bucket she had. Maya held on to it without help the whole time and watched people put candy in it. It's so fun to be a parent. :)

Maya was asleep when we first got to the party, and after she woke up Ryan tried to tickle her to cheer her up. 

Haha! I don't like being tickled either, especially when I'm hungry!!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

Singing and Dancing at the Zoo

We didn't actually sing and dance at the zoo.

But we did go to the zoo!! Ryan found a coupon for tickets, the weather was really awesome for November 9th, and Maya is ridiculously happy lately. It sounded like a perfect family outing.

We arrived after lunch and Maya was immediately thrilled. She loves animals so we knew this was going to be pretty great for all of us.

Maya also turned 11 months old! She is such a smart, talented, funny, happy, loving little girl. I thank my lucky stars for her (and her temperament) every single day. I really hope it's indicative of what is to come as she gets older.

The polar bear exhibit was our favorite. We got to watch the zookeeper feed her. What was cool to me was that the polar bear was on the other side of her containment. Lots of people were there watching her. But when the zookeeper came up and said, "Lunch!" the bear walked on over. I liked that even though there was lots of other noise, the bear knew the voice of the man who feeds her.

We call Maya our little Tree Frog because of the way she grasps us when we are holding her. This little guy reminded us of her.

Nemo and his anononeme!

 

These little monkeys were Maya's favorite. She yelled and squealed at them! It was our last stop, and we enjoyed the finale.

Ryan and I are loving getting to do things like this as parents. It is such a different experience! We are looking forward to many more events such as this in the future.