weekend visitors.

paul, amanda, and victoria were here for the weekend. it was so nice to have some family time. on friday, we got the news that my dad's best friend, keith, had unexpectedly passed away. so i really found myself cherishing the time together even more. my dad is just really sad, so i think it was nice to have them here to at least brighten his spirits a bit. here are a bunch of photos of little miss victoria:
she loves to play with her doll and just stay busy at all times. she's constantly moving things around and changing the setup for her play. it's pretty fun, but exhausting at the same time.
i also can't believe how much hair she has now. for the longest time, she had so little hair, but now it's really growing. and those curls are adorable on her. they definitely remind me of how my hair was as a little one.
she really liked interacting with "the doggy" and kept wanting to go outside to see him. i showed her how to play a little game with him, and she was laughing SO hard... it was awesome. she will also say "cheese" if you ask her to let you take a photo, but she immediately requests to see the photo.
helix did a good job of being patient and letting her pet him. he's mellowed out a bit recently, which was beneficial for her because he was more willing to stay still.

before they had to leave, we had an early dinner at mi casa too. i'm not a big salsa person... in fact, usually i'll just eat tortilla chips plain. but i absolutely love the salsa from mi casa too. i've said on many occasions that i could drink it. and if i've planned in advance to make tacos at home, i will often go by and get some chips and salsa to go because they are just that good. amanda feels the same way, so we got a good laugh when victoria picked up the salsa dish and brought it to her mouth in preparation to drink it. hilarious.
then she proceeded to put the olives on her fingers, which is a favorite pastime of mine as well.

and finally, when amanda suggested that she use the spoon for better success in eating rice, she decided to just use both. she took a bite from the fork, then the spoon. :]

i know i'm probably very biased, but i just think she's incredible. i've said before here that it's so cool to see her little mind working. she just amazes me. i'm so thankful that i got to spend some time with her this past weekend.