Thanksgiving day...Ben started it off with a morning hunt. He needs to make-up for the long weekend we spent at the ocean. We visited grandma and grandpa in the early afternoon. 
Taylor and I went for a nice walk with grandma.
Ben prepared an absolutely delicious prime rib. It was a nice relaxing day!
It did not stick, but Taylor was thrilled to see the snow fall just the same. Taylor said, "It's snowing mama...it's not rain."
Well, it had to happen. Taylor tried to go up the stairs on her own, she did not want to wait. She loved following grandma upstairs. The dreaded thud on the wood floors, and the tears...so sad. It was only off the bottom stair that she slipped, buy still sad. She quickly recovered and here she is holding hands and being much more careful.
Taylor and grandma had taken a couple of walks to find "holly and ivy." Taylor wore the head lamp and grandma made the clippings to make a wreath.
They made it back safely every time. They were secret, night time pruners...I'm sure they had permission...
It was such a nice getaway...I enjoyed it! My wonderful friend Erin let us borrow her portable DVD player for the eight hour drive. It was so handy that I purchased the same one the day after we returned. Taylor called it the Charlie Brown box. It would have been the Dora box, but I forgot that DVD...
The second day we gathered rocks for grandma and grandpa's fireplace. Taylor still thought the ocean was, "loud...it's so noisy." We carried her if we were on the rocks by the ocean.
We also found some sea shells...
In the afternoon, we went over to look at some tide pools and found more rocks and shells.
The tide is high. Grandma says when it's low they can walk out to that island behind us. That would have been neat to see.
Sea urchin...
Taylor likes to ride on daddy's shoulders... 
You can see she is getting tired...
...and she is out...
Below are wood ducks. I had never actually seen them before. If you click on the picture, hopefully, you can see them a little better. Their colors are brilliant.
I nice sunset walk on the beach. Ben and I were surprised to see the nice sand. The tide had been high up until this point. It would have been a nice walk, but....
Taylor kept saying, "go back to my house." The ocean is just too loud for her. She really did not care for it.
Taylor liked playing with this adorable little tea set her grandma brought to share with her...
Taylor does serve great tea. It was nice listening to the sound of the ocean...from the safety of the house...
We visited the Harbinger winery for a little tasting...always nice. We were told of some whales swimming offshore near two big rocks. The whales were seen a week earlier and we were hoping they would still be there feeding.
They were there! It was great fun to see the humpback whales. They were close, rising up enough for us to see them pretty regularly. Very cool!
Yesterday we had some shopping to do. I took Taylor into Linens and Things. She started saying, "oh, that's my favorite." She liked candles, picture frames, wine stoppers, massage chairs...she had many favorites. Today we just stayed home to play. I said Taylor smile for me and she turned and gave me the above smile...very cute! As it turns out, "favorite" is just a new favorite word. She had some favorites around the house today too...like her favorite cheese. 
She has two birthday balloons remaining. Last night I had the ceiling fan on and one of the balloons got twisted in the fan, but I rescued it. That was a little exciting. Today she still talked about it..."balloon stuck in a fan."
Ben took Taylor "hunting" on Saturday morning while I was at my RPM (spinning) class. He also let Taylor ride all the horses. Apparently she sat on each one...there are four. Then he sent me pictures. 
She is very brave. Ben said she "honked" the horn of the saddle...very cute!
I miss her when I am gone, but I like how she is so happy to see me when I return. 
She is waiting patiently while grandma gets carrots to feed the horses. It was a nice, cool fall day.
After feeding the horses, she had a couple of carrots for herself. She had so much fun. It's a wonderful place to spend the day! It was so nice to visit with everyone.
Here grandma is reading Taylor and Kimberly one of Ben's favorite stories from when he was young...something about a fly going by...I don't remember the title.
I love this picture! This is totally like a smile I give my uncle when he pulls out his camera. That's my girl!
Taylor and I started out the day by taking her to get her pictures taken at the Big Picture. They have a special every fall. Her picture will be hung at Mothers' Haven and Lakeside Pediatrics. Then, next year, I will get to purchase the picture at a significant savings. Plus, it's fun to go to these places and see her picture on the wall. After that, Taylor and I trick-or-treated Aunt Susie and Great Grandma Peak. 
Taylor liked seeing the kids come to our house to get candy. Ben thought Taylor was too young to trick-or-treat herself. I took her to one of our neighbors.
Taylor knocked on the door and said, "trick or treat" all by herself. They thought she was so cute! Taylor then walked in and said, "go inside, come on mama." After I convinced her we were not staying, I got her to say, "thank you" and "happy Halloween."
Daddy came with us, and we went to some additional houses in our neighborhood. Taylor carried her own candy the whole time. She always said, trick or treat, thank you, and happy Halloween. It was so much fun! 
Here Taylor is enjoying her treats. Grandma Judy sent Taylor treats too. Taylor especially loved the musical card, which she calls a book. It has Tigger singing the "I wanna scare myself" song.
Taylor and I were glad to find this little play ground in the mall. It was too cold and windy outside on this day. Taylor talked to the kids, which she enjoyed...
The toys looked like hard plastic, but are actually soft...
She sat in this boat and sang, "row, row, row your boat gently down a stream...merrowy, merrowy, merrowy...life is but a dream."
This little slide was crazy fast. Taylor would hold my hand to slide down. It is really too steam and slippery to have such a sudden stop at the bottom.
We went back up the next day to watch the fires and Ben lit a few more. He pulled out a little carrot pound cake. Taylor did not hesitate. She sat right down on the ground as he fed her. Apparently, it was real good!
We took Taylor down to grandma and grandpa's house to wait for daddy to finish up. Taylor walked right in and went straight to grandma's stereo. To my surprise she leaned right over, turned it on, and began dancing. 
Grandma and grandpa were out riding horses, but Taylor had fun playing with the toys anyway.
Ben created some large piles for burning. Lucky for him, he has a good friend with fire trucks. These piles were huge! I was so glad Brandon and Holly came over with their trucks. I was impressed at how well these fires warmed up the whole area. More than that, I was relieved to have the comfort of a fire expert nearby as these were burning. Ben stayed up till midnight making sure everything was safe. 
Taylor had fun running around, playing outside on the hill while the "fiwers" were burning..."look fiwer" she said.
I don't think these pictures actually capture the size of these fires.
Taylor says, "I can do it" as she carries her daddy's shirt back up to the truck...
Taylor says, "look...oh, a giant fiwer. A fiwer! Oh...look, a giant fiwer." It was a nice evening watching the fires burn and visiting with friends. I could have done without all the smoke, but it was still a nice evening.