My kids

I just have to gloat for a minute. My little Tayler really is such a tender hearted and sweet little girl (who of course has her moments), but for the most part is pure joy and really a great kid all around.

She drew me this picture today and it made me smile so I thought I would share.

Notice that we are a family of 5 (yikes)!! Sean is at the far right, then me, Tay, and then our baby.. (can you tell what gender she thinks it will be?) then Rylee is on the end. We are all standing on our roof. She was so proud of herself and so was I.

In Church she always gets some kind of treat from her teacher at the end of class and it never fails that she always saves at least a little piece for Rylee. Even if it is just one skittle, she will literally bite it in half and save some for her little sis. I just think she is great! Also, she is reading all the Dick and Jane books with no mistakes. She loves it and it is something she does especially with her Daddy! He can take all the credit for teaching her to read. It's awesome.

Today I started a book called 1-2-3 Magic How to Discipline Children. They sent it to me from IHC Healthy Beginnings because I had all the other books they offered. It has been really good so far. My kids for the most part are very well behaved (and that is no doing of mine), they are just good kids. Anyway, I was curious about some things so I started reading it. I'll let you know how it goes!

They tiled the bathroom floor today so now we are officially ready to paint! It is so close I can't believe it. It will be fun to have it finished and move some toys and other stuff down there. I'll take pictures as soon as I remember (and it isn't dark). Sean ordered a Precor Elipitcal to have down there. That should whip my bootie into shape during these next few months as I grow larger!

Loves to all!

Weekend and My Dad

The best part about this weekend was that we finally purchased an oven! It's
just not something that you want to spend money on because yours is stupid and has
broken several times (and it's only 3 1/2 years old!) Anyway, it will be nice to be
able to cook things in it again and it is being delivered tonight!

Friday night Tayler went to a U of U gymnastics meet with her Aunt and cousins. I
really hate it when she is gone, but she had a great time. Saturday I went to work
and then took a nap. I am so tired all the time- I hate it! It was also Sean's grandma's
birthday so we met everyone in his family and extended family that night at the Olive
Garden in Sugarhouse. It was a good meal but somehow we got stuck at the table with all the
kids and they were running in front of the waiters, etc. It's amazing to me that as
a parent you can be totally oblivious to what your kids are doing.

So our basement is almost finished! It just needs to be painted and today I am going
to pick out carpet and hardwood floor coverings. We tried to go on Saturday but it
closed early.

Right now I am going to lunch with my friend Brittney. We are trying out this new soup and
sandwich place in Bountiful. Should be good!


Today marks the 4 year anniversary of my Dad's passing. I can't believe that it has been that long! I really miss him each and every day.

This is a paragraph from the talk I gave at his funeral:

"All of these things are simple just like he was. Dad was a simple man—so what you saw is what you got and boy did we get a lot. He was a hero in his kids eyes. He could do no wrong. You could never get mad at dad because he always meant well and just wanted to help. He loved those things that were important in this life. He loved his family. He always said that he was the luckiest kid in the world to have the mother, father, brothers, and special aunts, uncles and cousins that he did. He also said he was the luckiest man in the world because of the special woman he married. He always told us that mom could do anything and that we needed to grow up and be just like her or find wives that had those qualities. He cherished each of his children also. He would say that his were the best looking, smartest, most capable and talented in the whole world. He was a proud dad. He was always there in the crowd, but just stood back with a tear or two in his eye. We could always tell that he loved us. He had so much love in his heart."

I can't wait to see him again! Love you Dad!

Happy Birthday Brent!

Today is my brothers birthday and we just wanted to wish him a very

HAPPY DAY!!
He has a very kind heart and would do anything you needed

him too never looking for anything in return.

I am thankful that he is my brother and friend!

Thursday Night

I am so excited for Grey's Anatomy tonight! I am pathetic, but I totally need to know what happens? Any predictions? It will be good!! Only a few more hours!!

Last night I finally got my car back and it is in tip-top shape. The engine light came on and it was making a yucky sound everytime I would go over a speed bump or something so I took it in. I am so glad that everything was taken care of at no charge. There is nothing worse that paying out the nose on a car you just purchased. They gave me a car to drive while mine was getting fixed so it worked out well. I am just happy to have it back.

We get to have Rylee's staples out tomorrow. She finally noticed them today and will touch them, tip her head so you can see them, and say "Uh-oh, Bonk" Let's hope the removing is as easy as the stapling.

Tayler's preschool teacher, Miss Heidi is moving as soon as their house sells. Her husband was offered a job in St. George and we are SO SAD!! Today her daughter, Aubree was here playing so we had all of her classmates come to take a picture and sign their names around the mat. The mat turned out so cute. Here is the only picture we could get.

One of the other girls moved not long ago. Anyway, I hope she likes it. We also took individual pictures of all the kids. Hopefully it will turn out cute.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Whoa...

It was a Fantastic weekend.. with one small bump in the road!

Saturday little Rylee (yes Rylee again) hurt herself, but this time it was pretty bad. Sean had taken them grocery shopping and she fell out of the cart and landed face down on the hard tile. On the way down she caught a display shelf and split her head open as well. So now my little Rylee has 4 staples in her head. Poor Sean, he felt so bad and even teared up several times. Luckily my brother in law Mike was there at the store with his 2 boys so the oldest one, Connor, went with Sean to the Instacare to keep pressure on Rylee's head and Tayler went home with Mike. He also paid for our groceries and came and put them away for us. Thanks Mike! I got a call on my cell phone and thought Sean was kidding at first, but after a second I knew that he was serious so I headed over to meet them.

Rylee was covered in blood, although they had cleaned her up pretty good, as well as Sean's shirt and jacket. (Gotta love how head wounds bleed!) The cut was pretty deep and about 1 1/2 inches. When I got there, Sean left to take Connor home and get Tay, so I stayed and got to experience the fun part of stapling her head back up. I have to say that she is the bravest little girl I have ever met! The nurses were so impressed and what a little trooper she was. They didn't numb it, because they said the shot to numb it almost hurt worse than just doing it quickly. They did use the topical numbing medication, but I'm not sure how much that did. Anyway, I held her while the doctor did the procedure. I can't believe they use actual staples and it looks just like a mini stapler that we use. Now we get to go back on Friday to get them removed! After everything was over, Rylee fell asleep in the car on the way home and after she woke up she was happy as could be. I gave her some more Tylenol that night, but then she didn't seem to need any. It was quite the afternoon. We had gotten a babysitter so that we could go out that night for Valentine's Day (since the FOOD STORAGE thing was done), but had to cancel since we had to watch "carefully" for signs of a concussion and things like that. She would have been fine, but I didn't want to leave that responsibility on someone else.

The cute babysitter and her awesome family brought Rylee balloons. Thank you Crooks you guys are so thoughtful! She loved all of them!

So, other than that it was a wonderful weekend!

Yesterday we took the kids to see Charlotte's Web! Rylee loved eating the popcorn and Tay liked the show for the most part. She got a little antsy towards the end, but enjoyed it. I thought it was cute!

I finally get my camera back today! Hooray!

I hope everyone had a great weekend as well and got to relax yesterday for the holiday! Take care!!

Happy Heart Day

happy valentine's day everyone! I am so sad that I don't have my camera still! What a bummer to not get any pictures. Tayler has been so excited to pass out her valentines! She wrote her name on all 40 of them. At the end she said "mom, my hand is killing me. This is hard work when you're 4"

At 11:00 we had a luncheon over at the church (for all the mom's and kids at home). I cooked a ham and made 2 batches of rolls (still in the food storage deal). It turned out good and now we have dinner. My cute neighbor knew I was cooking the ham so she whipped up some funeral potatoes and then we swapped some food at the end so now we have a complete dinner! YUM.

Afterwards, I had to take my car into the dealership to get a little thing fixed and then be back to Tay's preschool to be the "mommy" helper. It was a fun busy day and now my 2 kids are worn out and sleeping.

I ended up buying Sean JAZZ tickets since he hasn't been to any games this season. I hope he likes it?! If not you'll see them on Ebay :) just kidding!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day as well. XXOXX

A shout out to Brookelyn

Saturday was my friend Brooke's birthday!

She was my comp on the mission and then we became

roomies when I got home. We had some great times!

She became one of my greatest friends.

She was there when I got married,

had my babies, etc. (she even knows all the dating stories :)

I love her tons! Hope you had a great day

my friend! You are such a great gal! XXOXX

Weekend

Well having 5 kids for 24 hours was a lot of work, but it was fun! The weather was nice enough to run and play outside so we did a lot of that!

Sat. morning I had to go to work so Sean was in charge until 12:00 when I got home and did a marvelous job. When I came in they were all dressed and eating lunch. I was very impressed :)

The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing. Sat. afternoon Sean had a leadership training meeting so the girls and I took naps. Afterwards, we got up and made dinner and went and got the babysitter, who was wonderful, and went to the Adult session of Stake Conference. It was nice, but I totally wanted to go out to get a treat afterwards, but couldn't! 1 more week of this food storage stuff.

Last night we made Pork Barbecoa (sp?), like Cafe Rio's, and had some friends over. It tasted so good. Thanks for the recipe Jen! Tonight they are cooking dinner for us. That will be nice to not dream up something again!

Yesterday after Stake Conference Sean didn't have any meetings so we all came home and took naps. It felt good to be lazy.

So does anyone have any fun plans for Valentines this year? I need some ideas of what to do and what to buy my hubby. I already have the girls presents figured out, but no idea what to get him?!

Happy Monday everyone!

GOOD TV

I love Thursday night TV!

Did anyone else love Grey's Anatomy? Holy cow, I don't think I can wait until next Thurs! I know I am addicted, but really.. it was awesome!

And Survivor is back AND of course The Office (I love to sit and watch my hubby cry because he is laughing so hard).

So great!! Have a great weekend everyone! We have my sister in law's 3 kids overnight tonight. Wish us luck!

Hello All

Well the food storage thing is going great. I actually went through everything and still have a ton of menu items I can make for dinner! I totally feel blessed! I have traded for a few things so it has worked out well.

Yesterday we went to Walmart to get some Valentines (I figured I could still buy those?) Anyway, we went to a new Walmart that just opened up down the road from us and when we pulled into the parking lot,
Tayler said "Mom, isn't it nice that this store will let us come in"

She is so funny! I had explained to her on Monday that we couldn't go to any "GROCERY" stores for the next 2 weeks, so she thought this store (since it was new) didn't get the memo not to let us in. I explained what we were buying and that we can still go to those stores. I think she semi-understood but is still a bit confused! She is such a cute little girl. Love her!

Our basement is coming along. They are finished with the sheet rock and so next week they will mad & tape, sand, and texturize the ceiling! I am amazed at how quick everything can get done. Crazy! I need to pick out carpet and call our neighbor to paint. Sean already has his projection TV all ready to go.

I think we are purchasing an elliptical as soon as it is finished! That will be nice to have and maybe my back side won't get so big this pregnancy :)

I don't have my camera because my sister in law needed to use it so I can't take a picture of Tay's hair. I will as soon as I get it back (hopefully that will be soon!) I miss it.

Loves!

Obeying

Yesterday I had my second Dr.'s appointment and everything is going great. The babies heartbeat is strong and everything checked out fine. I am almost 15 weeks already and it feels like it has gone by so fast. Most days I forget I am pregnant, but soon I'm sure I will have a little reminder each day as I get dressed.

After the doctor, we went and got Tayler's hair cut (her first one!) The lady took off about 3 inches and put in some layers so it is cute and bouncy again. Everyone loved her curls in the salon and I think she enjoyed it as well!


Sunday, I got to Church about 5 minutes late (big surprise) and Sean stayed home sick. Well the Stake President was just finishing up (this was before the sacrament or baby blessings or anything), and so I just caught the tail end of it. He was basically just telling us to prepare ourselves for Stake Conference that is coming up this Sunday. I didn't think anything of it until Monday morning when my neighbor told us that he had challenged all of us to live for 2 weeks on our food storage and what we already had in our homes. Seriously? I was literally on my way to the grocery store, but thought I should OBEY and so I didn't go.

Thankfully we went to the Macey's case lot sale a few weeks ago and stocked up on a bunch of things, but 2 weeks will still be a long time for some things that are almost gone. I am totally rationing my milk since I only have 2 gallons and my kids are huge milk drinkers, but I think we can do it. I also only had a half of loaf of bread left so this was my project today.
This was actually my favorite thing my mom made while I was growing up, but I have never made bread before (just rolls). It is cracked wheat bread and OH so yummy! I hope it turns out and tastes good because this is it for 2 weeks :)

I think it will be a good lesson for me and truly show me what else I need to stock up on in case we really can't get to the store.

Anyway, I thought it was unfair since we were out of town, but we luckily have quite a bit of food in our pantry and fridge. Sean pointed out that we may not get time to "prepare" if there is an earthquake or something so it will be a good lesson in the long run. Keep your fingers crossed and I will let you know how it turns out. I am sure my girls will never want to eat Mac & Cheese again after these 2 weeks are over :)

Well I hope that everyone is doing well! Love you all!

Happy Birthday Marcela

Today is Marcela's birthday (my sister in law) so we wanted to wish her a VERY happy Birthday! We don't get to see them as much as we would like, but when we do it's great!

We hope you have a WONDERFUL day!! XXOXX

Sunny San Diego

Man we had so much fun! We stayed at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa and it was beautiful!!The grounds were so pretty with flowers, ivy, waterfalls, palm trees, etc. everywhere. I loved it.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and it was sunny, the air was clean, and the sky was blue (such a change from Utah!) It was refreshing!

We got our rental car and headed off to the hotel. They put us in a PT Cruiser which Sean thought was so great. (I thought it was a weird little car), but hey I'm not picky!

That night there was a reception to get to "know" everyone at 6:30 and then a dinner, so we took a nap until then. It was heavenly! Thursday Sean had meetings from 8:00 until 11:30 and then the rest of the day we played. They had breakfast, lunch and dinner for us every night. After lunch on Thurs. we went down to the beach until our massages at 4:30.

Friday Sean had the same meeting schedule and then we all went and toured the USS Midway. It was HUGE! It was the first ship that bombed in the Persian Gulf war. It is out of commission now so they do tours. The flight deck was amazing. I still can't believe that you can land an aircraft on a moving ship. They said the flight deck was the length of 3 football fields.

The San Diego temple was only 3 or 4 minutes from La Jolla so we would see it every time we were on our way home from something. It is so breath taking! (This is just a picture from my window)

Saturday it warmed up into the 70's so we walked around before our flight left. I was so sad to leave our nice little vacation, but excited to see my kids.

(This was right outside our room)

I could definitely live in San Diego if I had too! My favorite part was that everyone kept thanking us for being there (and I kept thinking.. no really THANK YOU!) Of course it was more "thanks" to my hubby, but I loved being a tag-a-long. I met some really great people so I can't wait until next year! :) It was fun to hang out with Sean again!

Hope you all had a fantastic week/weekend too! ;)