Snails

Our little girl loves to play in the dirt and where there is dirt there are bugs. I bought her this little bug catching kit from the dollar store and it was one the greatest $1 investments I have made, besides the sidewalk chalk. She has taken every adult in her life on a bug catching walk around our circle and has come home with some pretty fun stuff; grass hoppers, spiders, box elder bugs, potato bugs and one night we found this snail. This picture is one of my absolute favorites!!

Taylor let this snail crawl all over her for hours. She was absolutely intrigued by this creature she had never seen before, in real life that is.

She was trying to figure out what those 'sings are pokin out mom'?
She ended up putting her snail in the pockets on the front of her shirt and the snail of course left it all slimy and we took her shirt off, that is why she is naked in these next photos

And then she took her new friend on a drive around the yard. One of the most entertaining nights this summer

Taylorsville Days

The last time I was in a parade was High school, until this Summer. Susan and Rex have this amazing carriage that is pulled by the beautiful Betsy and asked me and Mollie to join them. It is way more fun to be in a parade as opposed to watching them! Taylor, Mollie and I threw candy to the kids watching the parade and I'm not sure who had more fun Taylor or Mollie.

Taylor entertaining her self while Sue Sue was getting Betsy ready

And there she is, Painted hooves and all!!

After the parade we had some lunch and then headed to the carnival which is at the park just walking distance from our house. Taylor had so much fun riding all the carnie rides and we had fun watching her excited face! You could definitely tell which rides she enjoyed and which ones she could have lived with out. The giant slide has always been a fave of mine so I usually offer to take her on this one!

I was worried about this roller coaster. I really thought it would jerk her around too much and scare her, boy was I wrong! She was a little startled the first time it jerked around but the second time she just giggled and had to go on it three more times before we could leave!!
We ended the night with a huge bbq for our great friends the Millers! Brigg and Becky have their birthday about a week apart and so we invited over friends and family and BBQ'd, chatted with friends, and watched fireworks! Oh we also had a tribute to MJ that night too ;)

Road Trip 2009

Well Cody and I went on the most amazing road trip of my life to date!!


















Our adventurous friends the Hillmans invited us to tag along with them, boy were we so thankful that they did!









We started bright and early Saturday morning and drove to the cute little city right outside of Zion National Park, Springdale. We arrived in the late afternoon and just decided to relax and hang out by the pool, because we had a very busy week ahead of us. The best part about this trip for me was the fact that everyday was something I had never seen or ever done before. We woke up the next morning and had breakfast and headed into the park. I have never seen Zion in person only pictures. It is amazing!! We had a tight schedule so we were only able to drive through. I would love to spend an entire day there and hike around.








From Zion we were headed to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you have never been it is definately something that should be on your bucket list!! There are really no words to describe the beauty of this place. Picture do not due the Grand Canyon justice!! The place we stayed was less than a five minute walk to the actual edge of the canyon, which was great because we would walk down whenever we wanted. We were able to stay two night there and had a blast hanging out
with Nick and Mckenzie.

We woke up at 4 am for the next leg of out adventure! HavasuPai Falls (click on the link to see more)
I didn't really think it could get much more spectacular than the Grand Canyon but I was wrong! It is a 10.5 miles
into the campground. There are only three ways into this beautiful place, Hiking, Mules or a helicopter. We choose Hiking in with our packs!! I am not much of a hiker and was not really nervous to do this because I was ready to push my self!! I had started running in the mornings to prepare myself, which definately came in handy for the stamina that was needed!!! There were a couple of times I just wanted to quite and die right there on the trail, but we all made it out alive!! Most people leave at early hours of the morning to hike out, but we choose to pack up our gear and hike out at night. It was not an idea I was fond of at the time, but so greatful that we did. It was dark, but we put headlamps on and just kept going!! When I do it again I will hike in and out at night. We left at 5:30 pm and arrived at the top at 10:47pm. It may seem like a long time, but it took us less time to get out than it did to get in. They say it should take you 60-90 minutes longer to hike out because of the switch backs at the very end that elevate you 2,000 ft in less than 1.5 miles!!! If you would like to see more pictures I have them posted on my facebook page.

Cody and I at the end of the 30 mile round trip hike!!










We ended the trip with a wonderful weekend in VEGAS!!!! Cannot wait to see what we conquer next summer with the Hillmans!!!!

Mother's day

This Mother's day was so nice. Cody and I gathered all the Mother's in our lives and headed to wheeler farm for a family picnic.

We are so grateful that we have such incredible Mom's. Cody's Mom and my Mom take turns watching Taylor for free so that I can work. I don't think they will ever understand how much that means to us as a family. They are giving us so many opportunities from extra money to do fun things with, I get to have a break and keep my sanity, and Cody is happy that I'm not the psycho house wife I would be if I was a stay at home mom. I have so much respect for all you Moms out there that have the strength to do the hardest job in the world!!! My Grandma is one of my close friends she is an amazingly strong woman who gave my Mom all of the tools to be a great mother and now the two of them are helping me be the best Mom that I can be for Taylor.

My mom is one of my best friends. I honestly don't know how I could have lived if she would have choosen to stay in Colorado and work. I have to talk to my mom at least once a day or I have withdrawls :) She is smart, beautitul, caring, funny, selfless all in all just incredible!! I love her so very much and I hope she knows that!!

I'm sure that Susan Could win the best Mother-in-law contest if there were one! She is thoughtful, caring and so giving. I hear all these horror stories about MIL being intrusive and pushy. She is so far from that. I love her and wouldn't trade her in for anything :)






Being a Mother is the hardest job in the entire world, but also the most rewarding. Taylor can make me so upset one moment and then the next she has me smilling. On Mother's day while I was getting ready Cody was occupying Taylor so I snuck downstairs to see what they were doing. They were in the kitchen listening to the ipod and taylor was dancing around and singing to her Dad. My eyes filled with joyful tears. I am so lucky to have such incredible people in my life I love you all!!

Such a beautiful thing!

For some reason my photos loaded backwards :(
This was such a beautiful wedding! Devan and Kindra had their Wedding at Red Butte Gardens. If you have never been there it should be on your list to do this spring!

It is so wonderful to see a friend find true love. Crue is one lucky boy to have such wonderful parents!


















I love this picture!




















"you may now kiss your bride"

One last night out!

Everyone knows that before a wedding comes a bachelor/bachelorette party! Well this night of fun was for Devan and Kindra. The boys had dinner and cocktails and Jeff's house then off to the bar in a limo, while the girls went to Sushi and then out to the bar for us! We all had so much fun. I think the best was the text the next day from Kindra "have you talked to Kenz today I have mustard all over my pants, like I sat in it. Hope I didnt get it all over her seats." Well when I called Kenz there wasnt any mustard on her seats, but I guess I spilled my doritos all over the seat!! I love those girls



Here are a few pictures from our fun filled night!



















I had to throw this one in Cause I dont get done up very often and for some reason I never take pics with Cody when I do.























The beautiful Bride to be!

















Christie, Kindra and McKenzie










Sha, Tausha, Becky and I.

Easter

Easter was so much fun this year! Taylor is at such a fun age where everything is so exciting and new! Our Easter started on Saturday morning at the Taylorsville Park. They had a huge Easter candy hunt. She didn't quite understand the whole concept of trying to be in a hurray and get the candy before the other kids did. That quickly changed when I started running and stealing candy from the little kids, not really but that would have been fun.


On Sunday we Joined the Jones/"mexican" Crew. We had so much fun bbq'd drank beer and enjoyed alot of family time.


Taylor is still asking a month later if the bunny will come hide eggs when she is sleeping tonight. Needless to say we cannot wait until next year!



















She was so excited she kept asking "ready, set, go mom?"

4th pic tag

OK here is what you do. Go to your 4th folder in your pictures and pick the 4th photo and then post and explain what it is about.

Mine was take when Taylor was just about six months. We were at my Auntie's house I believe celebrating Maria's Birthday and Taylor was enjoying watermelon!!
Oh how I miss the baby stage!

Love you little miss Taylor Mae!!

I tag anyone who reads this, and that means YOU!!

Taylor's first hair cut

Well today I took Taylor to one of my good friends Jamey to get her bangs cut for the first time. They were getting super long and Taylor was constantly sweeping them out of her eyes. She was such a good girl! She wasnt scared, she didnt cry, she kept pretty still for a 2 yr old as well.

She was so intrigued with watching her hair fall on the leopard print cover.

Here she is. I didnt think she could get much cuter, but boy was I wrong. She looks so big with her new hair do too. It is a sad moment when you look at your "baby" and say "There is no baby left in you. You are such a big girl now." She is so feisty and independent, everything is mine and me!! I miss that cute little baby but I am enjoying getting to know my big girl and her ever growing personality!!

Jumping Jacks

Last Saturday Taylor was invited to Korben's (Tausha's nephew) birthday party. He was having it at Jumping Jacks in West Jordan. If you havent been you should take your kids!! Everyone there had so much fun, we even had the battle wounds to prove it! Cody and I both had burns on our elbows and Tausha hurt her knee flying down one of the slides. It was so nice of Alaina(sp) and family to think of Taylor. She had such a blast!!

Hat shopping with Sue Sue

Well if you didn't know my In-Laws are BIG into Horses(I think that may have been an understatement).
Susan and Rex's neighbor had two old horse drawn carriages and sold them to Susan and Rex. Well everyone knows when you have a Carriage you must dress the part so we needed to find Susan a hat to wear when she gets to drive her carriage. This is the one she chose, it is awesome I absolutely love it on her!!

Here is one that didnt make it to the register, but were pretty cute.

Cute pics

Taylor received this super cute apron for her birthday from her Poppa Bill & Nana Linda. She absolutely loves to bake and has to wear this every time she does.

The best part licking the spoon

cleaning up after making the cookies

I had to include this picture because it was so cute. One saturday afternoon while I was cleaning up the house I walked into the living room and this is what I saw.
These two are so precious I love them so very much!!