Lights at Temple Square

Wow!! It sure has been a long time since I have updated. I am sorry I will try to do better and updating more often. This year we have talking a lot about some traditions that we want to do as a family. Our kids our getting the age where they are going to remember what we do around Christmas time so we made a list of some things that we want to do. Last Monday night we went with my family to a live Nativity in Alpine. We first met at Barbacoa and got dinner and then we went to a church up in Alpine got all bundled up and rode in a horse trailer to up a barn. It was so neat. There was a live camel, sheep, and donkey. They also had Roman soldiers riding on horses asking for our name and taxes and if we have seen a new born baby. There were people dressed up and doing different things like making baskets, grinding wheat, etc. - acting like people from Bethlehem. Then in a different stable there was Mary, Joseph and the baby. I was so neat to see in real life. Then we went to my moms and had hot chocolate and played games.

Last Wednesday night we went to Temple Square. We first rode Trax from my bothers house to the Gateway and ate at California Pizza Kitchen, mmmm I absolutely love that place. Especially their spinach artichoke dip. If you haven't gotten that there, it is must!! Then we took trax over to the temple and walked around. It was fun to see all the lights. It doesn't matter how many times you have seen the lights they are truly amazing. I can't imagine how much work goes in to that. I did miss the huge red tree though. They stopped doing that a couple years ago and it is missed. Then we went and got some warm drinks at Starbucks. I got the Carmel apple cider. Delicious. So thanks family for the fun couple of days. Here are some pictures:

Taylor all bundled up getting ready to to on Trax, she looks like the kid who can't put his arms down.
Tess and Taylor in front of the Pink trees. Look at Tess striking a pose. She is such a crack up, so does stuff like that all the time.

Me and Kevin in front of the orange lights.

Here is Haley all bundled up riding in her stroller. She was so good. She didn't make a peep all night long and she was in her car seat for a near 4-5 hours. Such a good girl!

Kevin and Taylor riding on Trax

Mom and Taylor - look at Taylor's rosy cheeks

Tess and Taylor enjoying their OWN hot chocolates. Those are perfect for kids they make them so they are just warm. They loved them.

Taylor pulling a funny face!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had a wonderful Halloween. We started the activities off by going to Omniture. Kevin's work puts on quite a party. Each department is given $2000 to decorate the department in a theme. Kevin's department did BYU vs. UofU. They brought in real sod, goal posts, score board, cosmo and BYU cheerleaders, and much more. It was crazy. Some other themes were the Wizard of Oz, which they brought in midgets for the munchkins, and crystal ball the witch, scarecrow, tin man, etc and the yellow brick road. Another was the old school Nintendo. That was fun to see. There were so many I could go on and on. Then we came home and had pizza with Eric and Brandi and go the girls ready to go Trick-or-treating. Taylor was pretty tired so she wasn't much fun to be around at the beginning, so that is why I didn't really get any good pictures of her. After a while she like going to each house. At each house she always wanted a YELLOW treat. Whether it was peanut M&M's, starburst, Butterfingers, what ever it was it had to be yellow. You knew which bag was hers by looking in and seeing yellow. Then after trick-or-treating we drove down to Cedar City to visit my grandparents. It was a fun weekend. We enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of the girls' costumes.


Taylor-Devin, Haley-Angel
Taylor and Tyler Trick-or-Treating

Here are some of the kids in the neighborhood. There is Tess' cute Witch costume.

Haley being and Angel

And I couldn't get a picture of Taylor by herself, she was being a stink.

Witches Night Out!!

I am sure that most of you know that Gardner Village does a Witches Night Out every year right before Halloween. Well I have always wanted to go, but never have. Well this year I was determined to go. So this year Jocey and Middy wanted to go. We each picked a color and made these tutu's, got tights, made hats, and got a glow stick all to match. I must say, I think we look pretty cute. We had a little photo shoot before we left and here are some of the pictures. Jocey took some pictures while we were there and I will have to get those from her and post them, because I think they turned out pretty cute. While we were there we first each got a Carmel apple and I ate the whole thing, it was sooo good. Then we just shopped around. It was pretty fun to look at all the witches that were out and shop with no kids, car seats, and strollers. We loved looking around and finding good deals our things for our houses. I couldn't believe how many people were there, especially how many men were there. Every time we saw a man we kept asking our selves why they were there and how there wives even got them there. I couldn't pay Kevin enough to go to Gardner Village especially on witches night out. Anyway we had a lot of fun and plan on going every year, so if any of you are interested just let me know.

WOW, it's been a long time!!

So sorry I haven't blogged for such a long time. It has been too long. Our Internet has been on the fritz for a month. It is so frustrating to start surfing the web and then it just shuts off. So by the time I get to blogging, I am at my wits end. Especially when it came to loading pictures onto my blog. Anyway, Kevin spent all night, and I mean all night from like 5:30-10:30 getting our computer working right and the Internet working. I am so grateful, so thank Kevin. So I am back and will do better at posting. Is is just me, or does everyone else feel like when your Internet isn't working you have no connection the outside world. I have been going stir-crazy not being able to check my email and blogs. So it is so nice now to be connected to what is going on out there!!

Sisters {Cousins}

Tess and Taylor love each other so much. Most of the time they act like sisters. They usually play like sisters, but sometimes they fight like sisters. It is so fun for them to live next door. They love to run back and forth to each others house. Sometimes it is scary for Brandi and I because they just leave to go play and we don't know where they have gone. Today Tess came over to play and she was wearing the same outfit as Taylor. It was so funny, and even funnier than that is it has happened before. I had to take advantage and take a picture. They are too dang cute.

I just had to throw in cute pictures of Haley:

Happy 4 month Birthday, Haley

Haley is 4 MONTHS today!! I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast. She is such a fun baby, she loves to smile and goo and you. She is such a a talker. On Saturday she rolled over for the first time, and now she can't stop. Almost the second you lay her on her back she rolls right over. I think she is proud of herself that she can do it. The only draw back to her rolling over all the time is that she spits up a lot because she is laying on her tummy. It is getting really annoying, mostly because she will then put her face in it, and then she stinks. Hopefully we will get over that soon.

We just lover her to pieces and we are so glad that she is in our family. We love all her smiles and rolls, she has plenty of them. Happy 4 months, Haley!!

Miles Turned 1

Last Thursday was my nephew's 1st birthday. I can't believe that he is already one. Time when by so fast when you think about the last year. Wow! Anyway, Brandi put on the cutest and best party. She had a Jungle party. Her sister made this cutest cake. I can't believe how cute it turned out. Then she made these way cute cupcakes. I can't believe how talented she is. They turned out so cute you didn't want to eat them. We had a yummy dinner and then we opened presents. Miles got all these cute stuffed animals. He got like 6 or 7. Every time Brandi would open one she would lay it around his face. By the end it was like, "Where is Miles?" It was so funny. The funny thing was that he got all different animals. He was so cute. Happy Birthday Miles!!!

Haley's 1st Pony

I guess you know when your baby has a lot of hair, when you can put a pony in it at 3 MONTHS!! Tonight we were just hanging out and I was taking Taylor's hair out. I thought I would try to see what Haley would look like with a pony. And here it is... I would have never guessed in a million years that my babies would have this much hair. She looks kind of goofy with is because she is bald in front, but she can sport a pony if she wanted to.

Here is Taylor trying to get in the picture too.
And a cute one by herself.

Island Park

This past weekend we went up to Island Park, ID. It is about 30 miles from Yellowstone. Kevin's sisters, in-laws have a cabin up there and they invited us to go. So it was us, his sister's family and brother's family. It was a lot of fun. On Thursday and Friday we went out on the lake. Their cabin is about a half a block from the lake. I was so pretty. Boating was so much fun. You couldn't ask for a better two days to be on the lake. Thursday we had glass all day. That is almost unheard of anymore. Friday was great too, but about 3 0'clock a storm came up so we had to get off the lake. We came back to the cabin and then went to a place called big springs. It was so pretty. It is a place where a natural spring comes into the river. The water was crystal clear. Amazing. We fed the fish some corn and then went for a little walk. On Saturday we went up to Yellowstone. When we got there we went to some hot spots. They were stinky. I am sure you remember that smell if you have ever been there. Then we drove over to Old Faithful. We just missed it when we were parking so we had to wait over an hour, so we walked around and saw some other hot spots. Of course both our kids fell asleep about 20 minutes before it went off. Isn't that so typical of children to fall asleep right before you get to where you are going? Anyway, we finally saw Old Faithful. It was pretty neat. Then we drove to Lower Falls which was awesome. You had to hike down to this water fall that was about 150 ft. tall. But instead of looking at it from afar, you looked at it right where the water fell. It was so cool, but a little scary. I was a nervous Nellie with my kids. It was a little scary, but so neat. We didn't take our camera there so I will have to show you pictures when I get some. We had a great weekend. A lot of food, fun, and relaxing. It was nice to take a vacation!! Thanks to Suzie and Mike for the fun time.


Haley being cute on the boat

Kevin wake boarding -- look at that water!!!

Taylor and her cousin Alix going for a ride on the bumper tube!!

Here is Taylor and Haley with their cousins Carley and Alix

Haley taking her afternoon nap on the boat

Here we are at big springs
Mom and Taylor on the bridge

Here we are right before we see Old Faithful, notice both are kids are sleeping.
Old Faithful.

Omniture

So Kevin got a new job. YEA!!!! Kevin wasn't loving investools anymore. Things are just changing there and he wasn't doing well and so he has been looking for a new job. He applied at Omniture, a company in Orem. He has heard a lot of good things about this company and a couple people in our neighborhood work there and also some friends from investools work there. He finally got an interview and they wanted him to interview for 4 hours. He said it was the hardest interview of his life. Then about a long week and a half later they called him and offered him the job. He was so excited. So he quit investools on the 23rd and took some time off and then started on the 28th.
So far he really likes it. It is kind of different because he is basically training himself, so he says that it is a little nerve racking because he is trying to figure everything out, but he already loves the company. So he is doing sales again, but for a totally different thing. I don't totally understand it yet, but it has to do with Internet marketing for major companies.
Before he started they sent him this huge gift basket with things that represent Utah, things like chips and salsa, salt water taffy, chocolate, pen, book at Utah, etc. It was a nice surprise.
Then last Saturday night they had their annual summer company party. It was crazy. It was the Electric park at Thanksgiving Point. When we got their we each got a free t-shirt. Then they fed us a nice dinner. Hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, cookies, lemonade, corn on the cob, etc. It was good. Then they had the place set up like the Utah County fair. They had FREE snow cones, FREE, popcorn, churros, face painting, balloons, cotton candy, carnival rides, Ferris wheel, blow up slides, train ride, games with prizes, drinks, etc. Oh did I mention it was all free. Then they had a big stage set up for a band. Over there they handed out those sweatshirt blankets to everyone to sit on. Then they played rock, paper, scissors, with over two thousand people. The grand prize winner got a $5000 gift card to go anywhere in the world and a 6 year old girl won, crazy huh? Then a band played for a while and we got free ice cream. Then they had a firework show that was just as good as you would see anywhere else. The grand finale was amazing it totally lit up the sky. It was a pretty fun party.

We have hear such great things about this company and we are excited. I know that Kevin will do well with it. Good luck Kev, we love you.

Update

I was just going to update you on our rotten mild dilemma. I know it isn't that big of a deal, but some of you were wondering what happened. I went to the store and bought Cascade with bleach and washed them again a total of 7 times, and they still stunk. So then Kevin washed them by hand and then left them out to dry and that worked, I guess they just needed some air. Thanks for all your advice.

Taylor's 2nd Birthday

Last Friday was Taylor's second birthday. I can't believe that my baby it two. Time goes way too fast. We decided to have her birthday party Thursday night. So our families came over to celebrate. It was so funny because I set Taylor's birthday presents out on the fire place a couple hours before the party started and she didn't even bother them. Then we gave her, her bike, which she absolutely loves. Then everyone started coming and she was outside playing. Once most everyone was there she just came inside walked straight over the the presents and started opening. I guess she knew exactly what to do. It was quite funny. She just opened one after another and it didn't really matter at the moment what was inside. She got a lot of fun things for her birthday. Thanks everyone.

Then on Friday, (her birthday) I wanted to take her and do something fun. So we went and got some lunch and then I took her to the aquarium in Sandy. I was pretty excited to take her because I have always wanted to go and she loves to see the fish when we go to Cabela's. So I thought it would be a fun activity. I think that she liked it, but she wasn't ecstatic. Plus the aquarium isn't that great. I have heard that, but I guess I had to see if for myself. Half of it was fish that you find in Utah, which is at Cabela's and the other have was fish from the ocean, but there wasn't that many. I guess that we had fun. I hope she liked it. Then we went shopping for a little bit and then went up to Kevin's family cabin for the night. Happy Birthday Taylor!!

This is Taylor with her cousin, Alix.

Here is a picture of Taylor in the Hospital

This is Taylor at her first Birthday party

It is crazy how much they change. I think she has had so many different looks. I makes me curious as to what Haley is going to look like a year from now!

Suds in the Dishwasher

So yesterday I was thinking about what to do with my dishes. I thought for a second and thought I should put dish soap in there because it smells good and washes dishes well, then thought no that is a stupid idea. Suds would explode everywhere. That is pretty common sense not to put dish soap in the dishwasher, right? So then I called my brother, Jon and he said maybe to try a little bleach just for the washing cycle, usually bleach kills the smell. So I thought great I will try that. So last night I come home after being out with my mom and the dishwasher is going. So I asked Kevin, "You are washing them again?" He said, yes. I said, "then that is the fifth time, because I did it again today." So then he says, "I put a little bit of dish soap in there hoping it kill the smell because the dish soap smells good." I give him a look like, oh my gosh. So about 20 minutes later we look over and there are suds pouring out of the dishwasher and they keep coming. We open it up and there are suds everywhere. So another lesson learned, which probably everyone already knows, don't put dish soap in the dishwasher.

rotten milk

So the other day I went down stairs to get something and I noticed a sippy cup laying on the ground. So I brought it up stairs and gave it to Kevin to put in the dishwasher because it was rotten chocolate milk and I wanted nothing to do with it. Neither did he. He said, "we should throw it away." But my cheap self said, "no just wash it out and put it in the dishwasher." Mostly because I swear that I have bought at least 30 sippy cups in Taylor's life time and we now have like 6 or 7. How do they just disappear. Anyway. Yesterday I go to clean out the dishwasher and it stinks. So I pick up a cup and smell it and it is sick. Then I pick up another and again the same thing, all my dishes stink, even my class cups. Remember at the library and you would open a book and it smelled yucky, kind of old and like throw up a little bit, well ya, that is what all my dishes smell like. So I have washed them three times, and it doesn't seem to be helping. So I don't know what to do. Any suggestions. I can't eat off of dishes that smell like throw-up and I can't throw them all away. Help!! Can you buy something at the store for your dishwasher? So my advice to you is when you find a really old sippy cut that has milk in it. Throw it away.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures that I have been meaning to post, but just haven't...

Since Taylor has been blessed with such wonderful hair, sometimes she wakes up looking like this...

Here is Haley just being cute in her favorite swing. This is where she spends most of her time.

I took Tess and Taylor over to my mom's a week or so ago to go swimming. They thought is was pretty fun.
Here is Taylor filling up her containers full of water.
Here they are having a cool drink after swimming.

Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July we went up to Ashley's family cabin at Bear Lake. It was us, the Black's, and the Randall's. We had a blast. We spent Friday and Saturday boating. I have forgotten how much fun boating is. We all surfed. This was Kevin's second time surfing and my first. It is pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Kevin did a good job. We had a lot of fun boating and playing on the beach. Taylor did not like the beach. She is a little OCD when it come to having dirt on her feet, so you can imagine her on a muddy beach. All she wanted to do was sit on the chair and clean her feet off. It was pretty funny. It was a fun weekend. Thank you to the Black's for inviting us.

Tyler and Taylor in the twinner life jackets. They look pretty excited!!
I bought the smallest life jacket possible for Haley. As you can see it doesn't fit very well. Luckily I brought one of those swimming suits that you put in those blow up things. That fit much better.