Happy Birthday Mom!!

She is a great Mom and only turning 29 today! We hope that you have a great day. Thanks for being so wonderful and for sharing your love with all of us! My kids adore her and are lucky to have a Grandma like her.
We love you!!!!!!

Reverse Hair-Do's!

Today I decided to do Tay's hair straight and Rylee's hair curly.. here are the results!

Tay.. doesn't she look so different, and her hair was so long- HOLY COW!! You don't realize that when it curls up. When Sean got home he picked her up and hugged her and then pulled back wondering if it was his daughter.

Rylee and her little friend Aiden Pratt.

A lot of gel... and Rylee's hair goes pretty curly.
Always fun to do something different!

Today we went to Target and did some shopping (ate in the little food court there.) They make one mean bean burrito at the Taco Bell Express. Then the kids played outside all day. At 5:30 we decided to make hamburgers and homemade fries. Yummy! And we had fresh HUGE strawberries. It was good.

Hope everyone had a good day! Mom- hope your lesson went well on Sunday! I'm sure it did :)

Saturday- Workin' 9 to 5

Saturday was the day of work outside! We seriously worked non-stop from 9 (okay Sean was up a little earlier) until 5. Sean and I both were super sore that night! We planted all the flower beds, cleaned out the garage, put the patio set out and other toys for Tayler and Rylee, weeded, mowed and just cleaned up everything. It looks so good now! I love it.


Rylee and Tayler were pure mud from head to toe when we finally came in. I put them in the tub and the water instantly turned brown-- (I should have taken pictures). As we were planting the last flower bed on the west side of our house Rylee decided she was hungry and ate half the Pansy-- from the bottom- with all the roots. I'm sure that is completely poisonous. Great work!! She gives you a run for your money! Tayler wanted to go swimming in her blue pool when she saw it in the garage. We kept telling her that it wasn't warm enough, but after an hour or two of whinnying and crying Sean said "fine- go get on your swimsuit" I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was going to show her that Mom and Dad know what they are talking about. Well he filled up the pool with water (of course it was ice cold) and when Tay put her foot in she did not want to get in any further. I asked her why and she looked at me like "well duh mom it's too cold!"

Sean went and got us Fazzoli's for dinner since neither one of us were in the mood to cook, then we just chilled. It felt so good to lay on the couch and do nothing. Rylee was begging to go to bed at 8:00 and Tayler wasn't far behind. I love to get chores done.

Today was nice because I didn't have to go into Grievance and I didn't go to the gym until Sean got home. We put the kids in day care and worked out together and then were going to take the kids swimming, but they drained the pool.. WHAT!! Tayler was devastated. How do you explain the logic behind it to a 3 year old. We went to Krispy Kreme and got her a donut instead. So sad.

Now it is time for bed.. nighty night!!

Pictures from Phoenix

On our way out :( wish we could have stayed longer!!


peek-a-boo.. not so sure what happened.. ??Ready for a night on the town...
Me and the Easter Bunny.. I felt kind of stupid getting this picture taken, but it was for Tayler!! She was thrilled that I got to meet the Easter Bunny and was so impressed.

It was good times & great memories.. thanks mom and Julie!

Birthday Girl!

My little niece Alyssa is officially 2 today. It seems like just yesterday I was waiting for Jen and Steve to get home from the hospital in Vegas so that I could meet her. Tayler and I had driven up that morning. She was so tiny (weighing in at a whoppin' 5 lbs.) and she had lots of dark hair. It was wonderful to be there.

I wish my other computer was working so I could post a picture of her, but I can't get it to connect!
Hope you have a great birthday Lyssa (with no balloons!!)
XXOOXX

In Sickness AND Health

My little ones have been a bit under the weather. Yesterday, in the morning, Tayler kept complaining about her tummy hurting, but I still had her go to pre-school because you never know if she is just saying that. After school she came home and had lunch then took a way long nap and then threw up buckets! Apparently her tummy did hurt! She seems to be doing better today, but I guess there is something going around that lasts for 5 - 10 days and comes and goes. One day they are fine and then they are back to the toilet. FUN FUN! We will hope for more of the good days.

Rylee must have allergies or a really bad cold. Her little eyes keep watering and her nose is running non-stop, not to mention the 1,000 and 1 sneezes. Poor little girl. This morning she is already back in bed for nap time. She must really not feel good. I can't wait until she can tell me what hurts. She is now attached to a blanket just like Tayler was (is??) Sean calls her Linus because she drags it EVERYWHERE! She loves it though so I can't complain. I like it better than a binki or a bottle.

The weather is finally starting to warm up. I think since Monday we have warmed up 10 degrees each day and it will continue like that through the weekend! I need to get out and plant my flowers that Sean bought last week. It has been too cold to do it but I think today we might just be able too. I actually went and brought them inside on Tues. night because it was down in the 20's. I didn't want them to freeze. It should be very colorful and fun when they are all planted.

I hope that all is well with everyone! Hugs and kisses.

Home Again Home Again

I can't believe how much it snowed again yesterday and how COLD it was! We should have stayed an extra day in Arizona where the weather was PERFECTO!
Driving into grievance was awful and then the drive home was even worse. I did go upstairs to the 4th floor to visit for a minute. I love the people on that floor!! They are great. I need to go and see them more often when I'm there.
After work Sean's family had their Easter dinner up at his sister Sherra's house. The kids got another Easter Egg Hunt. Rylee and Tayler have it down! The food was wonderful and it was fun to visit.

Well our trip was wonderful! We arrived Thursday evening at 5:00, but by the time we picked up our rental car and found our way to the hotel we didn't get there until 6:30. The first rental car they gave us had the keys locked inside. HELLO! We dragged our luggage all the way down to find the car and the keys only we couldn't get inside. They had us go to the "Gold" building which I thought meant the color gold.. (not my brightest moment) when in fact it just meant the Hertz Gold building. Anyway.. they got us another car but it wasn't as nice as our original car. It was a bright red Chevy Cobalt! At least we could spot it wherever we went.

The first night we went to the Arizona Center, which was close to our hotel, and found somewhere to eat. We ate at Mi Amigos. It was good food and a fun little atmosphere. Then we headed back to the hotel. We stayed in the Hyatt which was super nice! I tried to call the Concierge as much as I could :)

They had an awesome work out facility so we did our exercises everyday (except of course Sunday). Mom was totally our personal trainer. She wanted to go twice a day, but I was super sore after doing the bike so I opted out- once was enough for me.

The pool area was awesome so we spent a lot of time in the warm sun! It was so relaxing and wonderful. We got some good rays! Mom even got some good color! (Hope it's not peeling away yet :)

Friday morning Mom and I decided to go exploring. I was very proud of us because we figured our way around even with construction and every street being one-way! We found a shopping center with a Marshalls and a store called Last Chance which I guess is a Nordstrom store! We were in heaven so of course we stayed and shopped. It was great.

Friday night Julie flew in to meet us. We made it back to the airport to pick her up, but there was a huge wind storm. It was great to see her and have her there with us.

We played and went to see Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas. All in all it was fantastic! It was weird not to have kids to take care of, but such a great break! Total thumbs up to my hubby! He did an awesome job and the kids loved it. I appreciate him SOOO much for letting me go and enjoy myself. He is superb in every way!

He said that the girls loved Easter morning. They had a great time hunting for eggs and discovering what treasures were in their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny brought them swimming suits, DVD's, and Tayler got a Sleeping Beauty dress which she has wanted forever. That day in her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for each item. She really is such a sweet and thoughtful girl and so grateful for everything! The girls were in their swimming suits when Sean came to pick up mom and I from the airport. It was great to see them again!

Here are some pictures from Easter. I didn't have the camera in Arizona so I have to wait for Julie to send some so that I can post them. I hope that everyone had a very Happy Easter Weekend!
Ryan- Thanks for the letter- it totally made my day! Love you!!!

I'm off to SUNNY Arizona!

Well this is the weekend that mom and I are heading to sunny Arizona! I can't wait. Julie will meet us there Friday evening after being in Ohio for 2 weeks! She is the traveling gal.

It will be so weird to not have my kids with me, but Tayler is SOOO excited to be home with her daddy! I think Rylee will be a little different, but she will have lots of time to bond with Dad.
This morning Tayler kept asking me "mommy when are you going?" Do you think someone wants me to go or what?! I think in her mind the sooner I go the sooner the fun will begin. Last time she stayed home with Sean (while Rylee and I went to Boise) he spoiled her rotten!

I am very sad that this Sunday is Easter Sunday and feel like a horrible mom for being gone, but I am leaving the camera home so I can see pictures. We come home Sunday afternoon so I will make it for part of Easter :)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend and Easter holiday! I wish that my sis Jen was coming with us too, but it seems like she wants nothing to do with me anymore! Maybe one day things will be better again, but maybe not?

Easter Egg Hunt & Lagoon

This weekend was beautiful. It's so nice to have the warm weather back again after the snow!

On Saturday our ward had an Easter egg hunt at the Church. They had donuts and juice at 9:30 and then the hunt began at 10:00. The kids loved it. All the big kids filled their baskets and the little kids were left with 1 or 2 pieces of candy which is soooo dumb, but oh well. Kids that are 9 and older should not be allowed to do it- give me a break!! Such is life!

After the Easter egg hunt we headed to our summer fun place-- LAGOON! It is open on weekends now so we went. It was a perfect day too. I'm not sure people knew that it was open yet so it wasn't crowded at all. We went with our neighbors (the Rippons &Pratts) and all bought season tickets. Good times! Tayler was in heaven and so excited to be back. We actually bought Rylee a pass this year too. She can go on a lot of rides and totally thought it was the greatest thing. At first she wasn't so sure, but after the initial 'what in the world am I on' wore off she wanted to go again and again. It was fun.

Hope that everyone else had a great weekend too! Peace out (as Steve in the Hood would say).

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It was snowy, rainy, slushy and just plain yucky out today! So much for April weather or just April showers! I forget how much I hate April weather because it can be hot and cold within a few days of each other. One minute you are outside playing and then you are putting on the winter gear again. Crazy I tell ya!

I think we got at least 6 inches up here. It just doesn't seem right to have to get the snow blower out again in April.

Yesterday was freezing too. It started hailing so hard when I picked Tayler up from preschool. We were DRENCHED by the time we got back to the car. It actually hurt when they hit you just right too. No fun!

My kids love anytime they get to be outside weather it be rain or shine. Tayler went out with Sean to snow blow and Rylee cried at the door until I put her gear on to let her go out too. She loves to be outside. Whenever she hears a door open she rushed over to it and starts heading out. Then cries and bangs her head on the floor if you close the door and don't allow her to go out.

Here's my hottie saying "hello" to everyone.

Lovely Day!

Today was such a beautiful sun shiny day! We all loved it. Sean came home early (since he left at 5:30 a.m.) and we played outside for a while. We finally got the swings out of the garage and put them back up. Rylee and Tayler were in heaven! They LOVE those swings. By the end of the summer I should have buff arms again after I push them everyday for hours! After that we came in and had dinner then had our lesson for FHE. Sean taught us about Easter and the importance of celebrating it. Then we went to the park and then headed to Coldstone for some ice cream. Rylee fell asleep on the way home and was so tired that she didn't even move while I put her p.j.'s on. (I guess not having a nap will do that).

This weekend was awesome too. On Saturday the girls and I went to Grandma and Grandpa B.'s while the regular care givers were in a meeting. It was good to see them again. We took lunch so after the morning session we ate and then lounged around until the 2nd session started. I went in to do the dishes and when I came out I found Grandpa on the couch with his hood up. He said that his head was too cold. I thought he looked like the emperor on Star Wars! :)He is doing remarkably well. He isn't quite up to his normal self, but pretty darn close. It was a fun visit.



Then on Friday we had our mission reunion. It was so great to see everyone again. Hermana Jensen (Beutler) did a great job! Way to go!!! We picked Sean up at work and then went to eat at the Bajio fresh mex restaurant. It was good.



Here are some pictures from the night...

President and Sister Lyon, Brooke and Me


Rachel Watts and Me (She was my 2nd comp)


Brooke Christensen, Me, Alyssa Hannan (Chadwick), Kathy Jensen (Beutler)


Brookelyn and I


It was fun! Afterwards as we were driving home we totally forgot to go back to Sean's work to pick up the car! What a bite.. we were in Woods Cross so we had to turn around and go all the way back.

We enjoyed watching Conference on Sunday. It was nice to just stay home in our pajamas and not have to go anywhere.