It's FINALS time around here - YIKES!

Speen is just about finished with his first trimester of business school - only two more to go! He starts his finals tomorrow morning bright and early at 8am. Yeah, on a Saturday. Then he has another one monday, tuesday, wednesday, and thursday! Luckily he finishes at 10am on Thursday, then he is singing the national anthem at graduation on Friday. Random, I know! Gotta love Spence. I am so proud of how well Spencer has done with his transition back into school. He has worked so hard this trimester. Good luck on all of your finals babe!

Lance is just cute as ever! He seriously is the sweetest guy around. He smiles all the time, however, when I take out the camera he goes all straight faced. I don't know if he is scared by it or intrigued by it or what? We are working on smiling for the camera!


He loves to spend time with daddy whenever he gets a chance. He was cuddling with Spence while he was studying for his accounting test last night!



Lance LOVES it when Spence reads stories to him. Kind of a scary shot of Speen's hair. That is what happens when he doesn't wet it down!!!

This is a scene I see a lot of. Lance just loves being with his daddy whenever he can!

I thought Lance looked so cute here. He is even sporting his new NIKE's!

We borrowed my friends BUMBO chair in hopes of it helping Lance strengthen his neck even more as well as learn to sit up. I think he kinda likes it!?!

I've felt like Lance has been a bit bored lately, so we decided to get him an early Christmas gift. We got him this AWESOME rainforest bouncer, and he loves it. His feet barely touch the ground, but enough that he can kind of sway and bounce himself around, it is so cute. He is also learning to play with the toys around him.

And finally... I had to post this picture because I personally think it is ADORABLE. This is what I get to wake up to every morning. I am SO LUCKY! I LOVE this little guy SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

Lance and MORE FRIENDS!

Lance is such a lucky guy to be surrounded by so many fun friends down here in AZ! Here he is with Tienna, is she a cutie or what. She is about 3 weeks older than Lance. She can already sit up on her own, she is quite a smarty pants. We'll have to have Lance and Tienna hang out more often so that some of her tricks can rub off on him!


She also got a little aggressive, look at her already wanting to hold his hand!!! ;)




Here is Lance with his best friend Easton Warner. I think that Easton stole all of the good hair - that is why Tienna and Lance are left bald! He is one month old and such a little cutie!





Lance loves all his buddies down here!

Europe Cultural Night

Another exciting cultural night here at Thunderbird. They featured different parts of Europe and India. They had amazing food - my fav was the gyros from Greece and the apple strudel from Germany - yum, yum! They also had some great entertainment. Some fun pic's are attached!

Lance knows how to get his groove on!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Doesn't this fit Spence perfectly?

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

For JOJO and MIMI!!!

I had to post these two cute videos of Lance, mainly for the grandma's - - - JOJO and MIMI who live out of state. Lance loves you guys!

The Taggart's come to town!

Speen's family came into town last week. We had a blast spending time with them, playing games, swimming, shopping for the girls and golfing for the boys. Here are some pic's from the last week.

Lance with Papa!



Lance with Daddy, Mimi and Soph!



At the pool!



Lance hanging out in his chair with his sun hat (which happened to be my purchase of the day at the Children's Place for a whopping .19!!! Yeah, you read it right, 19 cents, what a bargain!)



Now this is Spence's sister Sophia - isn't this a classic picture. She is all ready for the Miss America Pageant swim suit event!



Feeding the ducks and the huge fish at the pond just down the street from our house



Spending 7 hours in the same outlet mall in one day (has to be some sort of a record)!!! Mimi holding Lance in the bjorn while Sophie naps in the stroller



Auntie Em found a few killer deals!



If I had unlimited funds, I would have bought this, isn't it adorable!



Daddy and Lance time! Man, I love Speen's curls!


Thanks for a great week Taggart Clan! We can't wait to see you guys at CHRISTMAS!!!

GNO and B&W Affair

Thursday night, the girls got together and had a "Wedding Party!" We knew this was something that the boys would NOT be interested in participating in. So we had to do it on a night that they were studying. We got together at Kim's house and ate food (each girl had to bring an item that was served at their wedding), took turns looking at everyone's wedding albums and watched all the wedding videos! I love this group of girls! We had a blast...

Is this picture hillarious!?! Kim has these fake rose pedals that we had her decorate her apartment with to set the mood. I know we are kind of dorky, but it makes for some good fun.

Friday night, Spence and I went to a B&W party. We had to dress up only in black and white, and the girls had to wear tons of jewelry! A girl that Spence goes to school with put this party on. It was quite impressive. All of the decorations were black and white, and all of the food was either chocolate or cheese. We had a blast, especially with the whole dressing up aspect of the evening.


Here are some of the girls that helped put on the party.

Here's the sexy couple all decked in our B&W!

Give it up for the coolest baby in the world!!!

Today was Lance's 4 month mark!!! We celebrated it by going to the doctor's. Lance was so cute and happy the whole time, especially after the doctor (after being notified by me that Lance does not prefer being cold) conducted his entire check up on his fleece blanket! It was so sweet. Everything went superb, that is, until the shots. It was so sad to see Lance scream out in pain. However, thank goodness he has a two second rebound rate, and then it was back to being happy again.

We were so proud of our little guy. He measured in at 13.9 lbs (25%) and 25 inches (50%). He is doing TERRIFIC - especially being a premie. He has gained a whopping 8 lbs and 6 inches since birth! WHAT A GUY!

PhOeNiX zOo!

Lucky for Lance and I we have two good friends that have season passes to the zoo (meaning with their pass they can take a friend for free)... so this means we have already been to the zoo TWO different times. Both times we had an absolute BLAST!!! Thanks Jen and Becca.

Checking out the Giraffes... and then onto the zebras!

Resting in the shade! Big fan of the shade in the 100 degree weather!

Lance and I with Becca and Parker

Lance and I with the Petty Family - Jen, Ellia, and Ethan


Seriously though .... such a blast. I just love it here in AZ, so many fun people and things to do!

Calling all you travelers...

I need to book some international tickets - does anyone know how to find cheap tickets or any good travel sites? If so, please share - thanks!

Tagged

I was tagged by two different friends to share 6 things about myself... I kind of had a hard time thinking of 6 things - but here goes...

1. I love to go in and peek at Lance while he is sleeping, and every time that I do I am just overcome by this incredible burst of love for him. It is amazing the amount
of love you can have for your children. I am so grateful for my two guys. I love them so much.


2. I love to play the guitar. I am not great, but I think it is super fun to play and sing along. Lance loves it when I play my guitar to him, and he especially loves it when daddy sings instead of mommy! I took guitar lessons in Fresno, Ca for 6 months until my teacher quit teaching. I even played "Hotel California" in my recital!

3. Three new things I have started loving lately - my pilates and yoga class at my gym and Law & Order - I know that sounds so nerdy, but I love to "crack the case!"

4. I have started selling cute little tiles. I will post pictures of them. They are quite cute, and would make darling Christmas gifts!


5. I used to have a super hard time drinking water. However, I knew it was important to drink a lot of water while pregnant, so I would put in a little crystal light packet. Well, ok - I now LOVE those crystal light packs and drink at least 96 oz of water a day - I go through a whole box of the mix ins about every 4 days. At least it helps me to drink a lot more water!

6. Have you ever heard of pregnancy amnesia. Well, what about post-pregnancy amnesia. I seriously feel like I have lost my mind since basically getting pregnant. I am so forgetful all the time. I will remember getting some pills out to take, and then like 5 minutes later I can't remember if I have taken them or not. Or - I will set my camera somewhere and a minute later I can't find out. It is like this with everything. I have become the most forgetful person!

Ok - there you go - there are some things about ME. I will TAG the following:
1. Lindsay Ream
2. Jessica Lambert
3. Katie Miller
4. Erika Hanks
5. Jen Petty

Cultural Nights... Another great thing about Thunderbird

This past Saturday was "America Night" at Thunderbird. Every month or so, Thunderbird hosts Cultural Nights where they celebrate one part of the world. This past Saturday night was "America Night" and North and South America was celebrated. They had wonderful food, decorations, and a show put on by the North and South American Clubs.

Here is a picture I took of one of the clubs performing a Mexican dance. As you'll see below, Lance loved looking at the women dancing and at their bright dresses.



Spence held Lance up so he could see better, he couldn't take his eyes off of the action.



There was a really funny fashion show in which students would model the state they came from. Ty Hanks was "Mr. Utah" - you can see him in some missionary attire on the far left. He dressed as a hiker/skiier, and then stripped down to his missionary clothes. It was a very creative fashion show to say the least.



Afterwards we came over to our apartment to celebrate Erika's 26th b-day. She got really embarrassed when we sang to her - as you can see her face matches her shirt, but I still think this is an adorable picture of her. Happy 26th B-day today Er (November 5th)!



Here is the goofy gang. We were quite impressed that the pic turned out being on automatic, not bad!

When the forecast looks like this...

Sunday91° / 54°

• Monday92° / 54°

• Tuesday94° / 54°

• Wednesday 92° / 58°

... We head to the pool and have a blast! I could definitely get used to this weather in November!

Doesn't this picture of Lance just look like he is saying "don't bother me... I am having fun in the sun!"