Jen and Joe Jankord: Our Taylor Rae...

So, I've been super busy lately with so much going on here in Cali! The past 6 weeks have been consumed by an 18 month old, Taylor Rae (my niece and God daughter) It is amazing how my "simple life" can be so changed by having a little person run through your house, open every drawer in the kitchen, play with nothing but the dog toys, eat all the cheese in your fridge, climb up and down the steps constantly, want outside at all hours of the day/night and point to the computer saying "DA DA" because that is where DA DA is living these days! Phew, I tell ya...this is why you start with a baby and don't just jump into the toddler stage. Please don't take this the wrong way either, I enjoyed every second of it...I just enjoyed 8pm too when the house was quiet and Shannon and I could sit, eat popcorn and enjoy a glass of wine :)

Seriously though, Taylor has been an absolute joy to have here in Cali. We have done so much with her and it has been so fun watching her! For those of you who don't know...Jon (Joe's brother) Shannon and Taylor flew in from Germany for a 2 1/2 week visit with Terri and Monty. Sadly, Terri became sick and she was in the hospital most of the visit, which left Joe's mom unable to spend time with little Taylor. Shannon decided that she would change her flight and stay an extra month so that once Terri was out of the hospital she would be able to spend time with Tay. I wanted to share some of the pictures from our visit together....Enjoy!

Here are some pictures of our birthday dinner for Joe at a yummy seafood restaurant near our house!

This would be Taylor eating a lemon at dinner, she loved it despite the look on her face!

Best mother in law ever!

Love, Love, Love these two!

Grilled cheese...anything with cheese will work for her!

Taylor and mommy!

Father and Son...so cute!

I love this picture!

Joe is soooo lucky to have us!

Taylor and PeePaw

Brandy came to stay too!

Gordy sent Joe his birthday present, it came in this big box...Taylor loved it!!! Thanks Gordy!

These next few pictures were taken at the Long Beach Aquarium, Taylor loved seeing all the fish!

Seeing the ducks swim underwater was so neat! A little boy next to us yelled "LOOK PENGUINS!" :)

Aunt Jeni showing Taylor the fish...she liked my finger better I guess ??

Taylor LOVED this little guy...daddy will have his hands full when she is older, she loves men!

This was her favorite spot to see the fish!

Feeling the stingrays

The seals were loud and crazy!

Riding the shark!

I couldn't pass this picture up, I thought it was so funny!

Sharks are so cool!

So, because I'm not the best blogger the pictures are out of order...but we went into an area where these beautiful birds land on you and you can feed them. Well, Tay didn't have food but the birds thought she did and they pinched her finger....poor Taylor! And because I'm such a good aunt, I made sure to take a picture of her crying!