Christmas 2009

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone...we had a blast and now it is time to get geared up and ready for the new year.

Christmas Eve was really low key we spent most of the day just relaxing because we already had Santa's cookies made and the presents were all wrapped and from staying up until 5:30 a.m making sure everything was going to work so we didn't have to worry about it Christmas Eve, we were pretty exhausted....well Rodger and I were. Tayler and Naomi were both bouncing beans all day long full of excitment for Santa to come. We went to our friends house and went hot tubbing and had pizza and then we came home and opened up Christmas Jammies and was going to look at Christmas lights but Tayler wanted to get to bed so Santa could come which worked out really good because we were able to get Christmas all set up before mid-night.Tayler's teacher from school gave her a magic Santa key that had a poem attached to it saying "No Chimney, No Problem" it was his magic key that we hung on the outside of our door so santa could get in and then we had reindeer dust which was gold glitter that you put in the palm of your hand and threw it in the air so the reindeer would know they haven't been to our house yet, Tayler thought it was the greatest thing. I LOVE CHRISTMAS....I could not sleep that night because I was so excited for the girls to see what Santa had brought them. Tayler has been needing a new bike because she already out grew her little one so we were going to fix up Tayler's old bike for Naomi by repainting it and getting new decals for it, new tires and then when I got to the store and started pricing things out it would have costed around $45 and a brand new bike was $38 so we skipped fixing up the old one and got the girls each a bike with some shelves and bins for all there toys. They were so EXCITED! After we had our Christmas we went to my mom's house to have Christmas with her and we took the girls bikes so they could ride them around and not 5 minutes later Naomi wrecked and landed flat on her face and got a fat lip, we felt so bad, but she is tough. After this we had a third Christmas with my Dad and his wife....our girls got so spoiled and by the end of the day we were all exhausted. We had a great Christmas and are excited to see what the new year will bring.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Update!!!

Now that Christmas is about here, I felt like I should finally update my blog since it has been awhile. Thanksgiving was great this year...all my family went to Arizona this year and Rodger and I couldn't go because Costco wouldn't let me get work off so it ended up being just my little family, we had a blast!!! One of the members of our gym has a condo in Brian Head Resort and offered it to us so as soon as I got off work the night before Thanksgiving we drove an hour and spent the night there. Our room had a great view of the snow and the mountains and it was so pretty. We woke up and made breakfast and played in the snow, and then there was an indoor pool and jacuzzi hot tub that we played in for about an hour. Then we went back out and played in the snow once we dried off and we found a hill for Rodger to snowboard and I was his shuttle. I was going to go but the snow wasn't the greatest and I hadn't been snowboarding in 3 years so I was a little nervous to do it, but Rodger had fun and the girls and I video taped it and watch him crash a couple of times. Then we thought we would go back and make out Thanksgiving dinner which consisted of Ribs, potatoes with gravy and corn, but instead of doing that we thought we would just go make the mess at our house instead so we cleaned up the room and drove home and made our dinner about 6 p.m. It was definately a different Thanksgiving and it would have been nice to see family but we had a lot of fun. My camera died so the only pictures I got from it are on my new phone and I haven't figured out how to get the pictures off of it yet.

Recently I have quit my job at Costco which has been such a blessing. Rodger and I got to the point that we were always working and our girls didn't get to see us all together, it was either time with me..switch...then to the sitter...switch...then time with there Dad and so on and so on...I couldn't take it anymore, it was really hard to watch our kids cry when we left and have them constantly saying they don't want me to work anymore. So, Rodger and I decided that Costco was out of the picture...I have only been done there for three days and I couldn't feel better about our decision, and I love being a mom...it is my calling in life, and I'm done leaving it to someone else. Anyways, what better time to quit then right before Christmas. I am so excited this year and Tayler is stoked.

We went and saw santa the other day and Naomi loved him which was surprising because as you can see the year before she was scared to death of him. I love CHRISTMAS!!!

Halloween!

This was the day before Halloween...Rodger and I have been so busy this week that we didn't even get to carve our pumpkins until Friday. We didn't have any special kits so we just carved some faces out. Tayler took hers to Preschool on Tuesday and they decorated theirs with stickers and pins. This night was one of the first nights in a long time that just the four of us got together. I made Chinese for dinner and we went and bought a pumpkin cheescake. Yum! Yum! The girls had a blast.

Naomi was so proud of her pumpkin...She wanted to bring it to bed with her. Every time I put it outside she would go out there and bring it back into the house.

Here are our fairy princesses...Tayler had the purple one to begin with but Naomi loved it and it actually fit her better so I went to Big Lots and found Tayler's for $9, all the costumes were 30% off. I waited until Wednesday to buy costumes because I knew they would want to wear them everyday and I didn't want them to get ruined.

This is our wards Trunk-or-Treat....Rodger and I are on the activities commity so we were in charge of getting all the hot dogs, buns, etc. All my decorations fell down by the time I got this picture. Tayler loved being the one to sit up there and pass out the candy, she is such a good little helper. I can't believe Halloween has already come and gone....I love the holiday's seeing how excited my girls get about everything. After here we went Trick-or-Treating in Hurricane down this really neat neighborhood, they went all out on the scary stuff and decorations. Both my girls are scared of everything so they didn't go to quite a few of the houses but they still had fun.

Car Accident

I didn't get a good picture of the damage on my car as it was being towed away, from this picture nothing even looks wrong with my car, but I was in an accident on Tuesday the 13th that was not my fault. I had just taken a right at a light and was going straight and my left lane was stopped but the light ahead was green so I was just going through as I should be when this car darted out in front of me leaving me no time to do anything but hit my brakes. The left lane was signaling this kid to take a left not knowing what my lane was doing and I hit him putting a hole in my fender, the grill thing on the front broken, a dent on the passanger side, my head light was completely popped out, damage to the hood, and of course plenty of scratches. His car however you could not even tell it was hit...he was driving a 96 ford mustang, it was a young kid and as soon as he got out of the car he started to fan his face and started to cry. I had both my girls in the car and they didn't even know what happened and didn't understand why I was stopped so long. I felt fine when I left the accident and my car drove fine, but as soon as I got home I got dizzy and nauseous and my neck and back were hurting...I went to the Chiropractor and it wasn't anything serious which I didn't think it was because it wasn't a severe accident. The next morning my car wouldn't start so they had to tow it away...I had my phone on me and took this picture but I didn't take any of the car when I got home... Accidents happen and nobody was hurt thank goodness, but they are not fun!!!

Tayler Earned It!!!

Tayler saw this Ariel barbie doll in the store about a month and a half ago and wanted it so bad....she has this long laundry list of toys that she has to have. I told her if she saved her money that she could come back and buy it, so we went home and made her a chart for chores....She had to clean her room and make her bed everyday and on the 5th day she got a dollar and then we made a quarter, nickle, dime, and penny chart with bonus spots of 50 cents so when I asked her to do something for me or help me out with something she got to put the coin or coins in her piggy bank. Tayler has worked really hard for six weeks and saved enough money for her doll. We get to the store and of course she wants everything in sight and has $10.64 to work with so when she saw this repunzel doll she decided that that is what she wanted and it was $10, so we took it up to the counter and she pulled out her little purse and it came to $10.63 so she had just enough money with a penny to spare....I was so proud of her, she has worked really hard and it paid off and there is something about seeing your kid so happy that makes your day!!!

Photography Giveaway!

Photography a la Mode is doing a Fall Giveaway and you need to ENTER by the 30th of September so any of you who are interested better be quick because you are running out of time...Go to www.photographyalamode.blogspot.com

HOW TO......

My sister-in-law told me about this website on how to make bows, tutus, beanies, bow holders, etc. and I just barely checked it out and it gives you step by step instructions on how to make cute things for your girls. If anyone knows any other websites on any of this stuff let me know. The website is http://www.girlythingsbow.com/

My sweet little girls!

I always try really hard to take my own pictures so I can avoid the cost of getting them done and of course you can never get both of them to smile there cute smiles at the same time. The single shots of them worked the best but I was really shooting for a good picture of the both of them. This one was probably the best of the two of them which is cute, but Naomi has the cutest smile when she shows those teeth....Anyways, I had fun editing them and adding new features and yet again I posted these both on facebook and on here but I love pictures, I really think it would be fun to take a photography class and really learn how to capture the right photo. I also would love to become a nutritionist which would be another fun class to take. Why I decided that these things would be good to do now when life if so crazy busy and I have two kids.....I don't know, but It's never to late to start Right!?

These were the other ones I took that I just had fun with!!

Rodger and I are are truly blessed to have such sweet little girls. Tayler and Naomi are really great kids, not to say that they are never bad ...every kid has there good and bad days, but for the most part I consider myself very lucky!

Mindy's Wedding!

My little sister Mindy got married on Saturday the 25th and it was a really good wedding and ceremony. She has epilepsy so she blacks out and has seizures quite often so we were all a little on edge through the whole ceremony hoping she would just atleast make it through that without any problems and she did so good. Mindy has been through a lot so she deserved to have her wedding day perfect and it was. Tayler was one of the flower girls and Rodger and I were also part of the wedding party.

This is my whole side of the family with there spouses and kids!

My sisters Amy and Mindy!

It's weird when you look at the three of us and think how much we hated each other growing up, but now that we have grown up, we have moved on from being siblings to friends and it is so crazy to think that we would ever look at each other as friends...Anytime I see Tayler and Naomi fight, I always think about how someday they will realize how much they love each other. Families are the greatest!

Dancing Girls!

4th of July

For the fourth we went to our friends house for dinner and then went to the Sun Bowl down by Vernon Worthen park for fireworks. Tayler and Naomi loved them, I thought Naomi would be nervous about them but she got pretty excited. There was a dog down there that I think she was a little more excited about, she wouldn't leave it alone...The guy was really nice about her being around his dog but after she went back multiple times he got up and left. I felt bad but it was nice not to have to chase her down and bring her back. Tayler, Naomi and our friends little girl Sadie were dancing to the music and having so much fun. I'm glad I got the video to work, I have never downloaded a video before.

Camping in Kolob

I told myself I wasn't going to post the same picture on here as I did on Facebook, but seeing as how I am so behind on here, I really needed to update.

We were planning on going to Kennewick Washington for the 4th of July weekend but got so caught up in the gym that we couldn't get away so we decided to go Camping which is something we have not done forever. We camped out in Kolob right next to the lake so it was so pretty, right after we set up our tent it rained like crazy for about 20 min. and then quit. We were meeting some friends there so when they showed up the sun was out, there was a rainbow and it was so pretty. Then, they got there tents set up and it started raining again. It was coming down so hard that it didn't look like it was going to stop. We just sat in our tent hoping for it to pass and then our tent started leaking and our blankets were getting wet. I told Rodger that I was ready to go because the last thing I wanted to do was freeze in 30 degree weather with wet stuff, but he was determined it was going to pass and he didn't want to leave. By then our friends packed up and left because it was still raining and Rodger wanted to hold out for 10 more minutes, so we did. Right then, the rain quite and the moon and stars came out and it was such a pretty night. He was even lucky enough to get a fire going so we could roast marshmellows and make dinner. The girls slept clear through the night, we all slept really warm and it was a beautiful day the next morning that we were able to go for a hike and feed the ducks. Rodger really had to fight to keep me there but I was glad he did because our family really needed an opportunity to do something fun together since our trip to Washington fell through.

Our friends little girl Avery with Tayler and Naomi eating there yogurt!

This was the how pretty it was right before we got hit with all that rain!

I LOVE CAMPING!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Naomi

Naomi is now officially two years old and I am completely shocked at how fast that two years went. This was the start of her day, I took a picture of her just waking up and we made pancakes because that is seriously her favorite thing in the whole world.....SHE LOVES HER PANCAKES!!!!!!!!

I got the girls ready and we went shopping for all the birthday stuff because we invited some of our friends over for dinner and cake and ice cream, so she had a couple of her little friends there.

It was such a nice day out that day, we should have been out playing in it but I left all of this stuff to the last minute, so we spent the day shopping which with two little kids isn't the funnest, most enjoyable thing to do.

The girls have been begging Rodger and I for a fish so we decided to get them a fish. I didn't even take a picture of it, but we got a red Betta fish that Tayler calls Kiara. It's an interesting name for a fish but it's theres so whatever she wanted to name it was fine with me.

This is Naomi with her new bike, it's kind of hard to even see the bike but it is a little Radio Flyer trike and she loves it. Naomi has been riding around this little car and she has loved it but doesn't even notice it's there anymore with this in the picture. I can't believe how grown up she looks, where did the time go.

Naomi was having a tough time trying to blow these candles out, right before she started to spit Rodger blew them out, she thought she did it all by herself so she clapped her hands and said, "Ya, I Did It!!" It was really cute.

Now that she is two I told myself I would really crack down on the potty training which I HATE. Tayler seemed to just get it and catch on and Naomi just has no clue yet. She loves to sit on the toilet but it is just so she can shove a ton of toilet paper in there, flush it and say Bye Bye. I figured with her being able to watch Tayler that potty training a second one would be easier but it just sounds so exhausting.

Sand Hollow

My sister came to visit over Memorial and we had so much fun. We went to Sand Hollow and went swimming, it was a lot of fun and Tayler actually got in the water which was shocking because she has always been so afraid of big water. We had never gotten her water wings before and she loved them. Amy spent a week in a half here and we had so much fun, she has a 3 year old daughter named Ionie so we had a tuff time keeping Naomi and Ionie straight. I couldn't imagine having three girls that close in age, they fought a lot but had a lot of fun together also. My younger sister is getting married so my mom, two sisters and I had fun helping my sister plan her wedding, we forgot how much work it is to plan a wedding.

This is my Dad and my sister Amy posing for a picture. I am the only one who lives here out of all of my siblings so when any of my brothers or sisters come visit we line up a bunch of stuff to keep us busy.

I thought this picture turned out really neat. Naomi was loving the dirt and hating the water, she is definately my dirty girl. Tayler hates to get dirty and Naomi can't get dirty enough. I always say she should have been a boy because she is so adventurous, loud, and into everything. Naomi is so cute and fun though, everyone falls in love with her cute little personality.

I felt like I got to finally escape all the craziness this day. I just got

to sit back and enjoy this day with my family. I am so blessed to have such a great husband, two beautiful healthy little girls and a family that is so close.

Here Ducky Ducky!

Yesterday we went for a walk on this trail by our house and found this pond with a bunch of ducks and fish in it. So, today we brought some bread to feed them. It is hard to see what is in this picture but after we had feed the big ducks about 10 little ducks bolted out of those trees and wanted to eat so I took a picture because they were swimming so fast. I can never get a picture of the three of us without Naomi looking down, it's so frustrating. She loves to say cheese, so it is just the matter of snapping the picture at the right time.
This area is really neat because the trail goes forever and it passes right through a park for the kids to play and then we found this pond, so today we got lunch and had a picnic, went for a walk, fed the ducks and came back home and went swimming, it was a lot of fun. We just made a day out of it. Now, the kids are exhausted and so am I. The heat here is already getting unbearable and the summer has just began.

Bonfire

Our friend Ben graduated from college last week and we did kind of an all day play day and this was the only time that I remembered to bring my camera. We had a barbeque at the park and went to the graduation and then after that we went out to the sand dunes and had a bonfire, roasted marshmellows and went sand boarding, it was a lot of fun. It's wierd to think that we are old enough to graduate college. I think I am in denial how fast time is really going. I still cannot believe my baby is almost 2 years old, I swear I just had her.

Things are going really good here, we are just staying busy, busy, busy. Once in awhile we will find some free time to go on a date or to even hang out with some friends but right now life is going 100 miles an hour and I am ready for it to slow down.

I am reminded everyday how grateful I am to have such a hard working husband. Rodger works like crazy keeping Anytime Fitness and Red Rock Fitness going and is doing very well at it. We are definately ready for a vacation which is coming up in July

to Washington to visit family and we are so excited. We haven't been back there since Naomi was about 3 months old so we are excited, we were glad when Rodger's sister Brooke and her family came to visit, it was so nice to have them around for a week and let our kids remember who each other are.

Tayler sleeping!!

I had to post this picture!!! I put Tayler to bed the other night and wanted to check on her one last time before going to sleep and this is what I found, she had fallen asleep in her doll house. Every night we put her to bed she stays up and plays with her doll house, so I expected to find her on the floor or possibly in her bed, but obviously she found a more suitable spot for herself and I thought it was so funny. I had to take this picture before moving her to her bed.

Happy Birthday Rodger!

Today is Rodger's Birthday the big 28. We just had cake and ice cream at my moms house, but today we are going out to dinner and then I got him supercross tickets on the 25th in Salt Lake, he is going to be so excited. SHHH, don't tell!

Girls Easter Dresses

These are the girls in there Easter dresses, they looked so cute. I love matching my girls, it's so fun. This was Easter Sunday at my mom's house, this day was a busy day. We woke up and went to my Dad's in Central which is about 30 minutes from our house and had breakfast and had an Easter egg hunt, then we went home and had church at 1:00. Tayler had the scripture in Primary so I helped her with it and she did so good. We worked with her on it before church and she almost had he whole thing memorized before we got there, I was so proud of her. After church we went to my mom's in Hurricane which is 30 minutes the other direction and had dinner and a Birthday party for Rodger. His birthday is today but since we were all there on Sunday, we celebrated it then. We had a lot of fun and Holidays with kids are so much fun.

Easter!

Easter Egg hunting at the Hurricane Ball Fields, we go here every year!

We colored Easter Eggs at my mom's house and the girls did an egg with there name on it and Naomi wouldn't hold hers up to see so Rodger was holding it for her.
This was Easter morning before the girls came downstairs

Tayler and Naomi all smiles! (Love these girls)

Hunting for more Easter eggs at my dad's house in Central Utah!