My Sweet Girl

Ashlyn woke up feisty as ever this morning (I blame it on the fact that she is teething). An example of her craziness was when she climbed up the bar stools and fell hitting her head on the hardwood and then was so mad she had to go and bite the chair and throw a 15 minute tantrum. Obviously it was the chair's fault. I didn't know what to do with her and apparently Taylor could tell that I was a bit overwhelmed. Ashlyn had a bag of goldfish crackers and of course dumped it out all over the floor which is one of the worst snacks to have spill because little orange crumbs go everywhere! Instead of saying anything, I just walked out of the room and decided I would clean it up after we came back from a birthday party. It was only 10:30 in the morning and my patience and mental energy was fading fast. To my surprise and amazement, Taylor got out our little vacuum and cleaned up Ashlyn's mess. She has never done that before and she made sure to get every last little orange crumb. Her small act of sweetness gave me the little boost of patience and energy I needed to continue on with our day. She is such a good big sister and is turning into a great helper!

He's Back!

I finally have my husband back. Tyler was back at work today for the 1st time in over a week (not so great when you are self employed). I even had some help during the bath and night time routine. YEA! His throat pretty much looks like normal again. We are so grateful that the throat infection is gone and that no one else in our family became infected. Thanks for all the help, thoughts, and prayers.

Dance Recital

Last Year...This Year...What a difference a year makes. They look so grown up. I swear they are only 3.This was Taylor's 2nd year participating in the Talent Factory dance recital and she did AWESOME!!! We are so proud of her. She remembered all the steps, was on cue, and sang the song. Not to mention she looked super cute! The studio definitely doesn't take short cuts on the costumes and I love it! They are so cute!
Here is a little video clip of the 2nd half of the dance. She just makes me smile!

Getting ready for rehearsal.

Sara and I added a little dazzle to their dance shirts (rhinestones and ribbon) but they were nothing compared to what the crafty dance moms do. They completely recreate the shirts..it is pretty impressive. Our girls looked super cute though and it didn't take us hours to do.

Unfortunately we still don't have a working camera (AGH!) so I am relying on other people for pictures. I haven't received all the pictures yet so I may post more later.

As for Tyler, he wasn't able to make it to the recital which was really sad. We did however go to the ER a second time on Sunday (YEA!) when his throat became so swollen he was having a hard time breathing and swallowing. The mixture of drugs they gave him that time DEFINITELY helped him and we believe he is on his way to recovery (fingers crossed). We will be happy when this is all over.

Update on Tyler.

I WISH I had better news. Unfortunately, the pain has gotten worse. I tried talking him into going to the ER this afternoon but he didn't want to go so I gave up the fight. However, he changed his mind when he started feeling his airway getting blocked and within a half hour he was downstairs, dressed, and ready to go in. Thank goodness! Only they couldn't figure out what it is!!! I think he should be quarantined and put on a medical mystery show all the while pumping him full of drugs. They ran a ton of tests and took xrays, gave him pain meds and antibiotics through the IV and sent us home with our own little pharmacy. The results from the culture should be in Monday or Tuesday and hopefully that will provide us with much needed answers. I am so grateful for our friends and family that have helped out so much the last couple days. I would be much more out of mind without you.

Like Something Out Of A Swamp!

That is how the doctor described the inside of Tyler's mouth and throat...NASTY!!! Tyler has been sick for over a week now but it has gotten really bad this week. Mono and Strep tests have come back negative so they are not sure what he has. They think he might have picked up a bacteria while filming Wipeout (his episode will air July 29th, set your DVR's) or while swimming in a pool. Who knows! All they know is it is nasty and really bad. They gave him an antibiotic shot 2 days ago but it didn't do anything. He is now on antibiotics and pain meds and if it gets worse this weekend, we will be on our way to the ER. I have never seen him like this or anyone else for that matter so keep him in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully he will be better soon. Luckily when the rest of us had the stomach flu this last week, he didn't get it. I am grateful that bug has left our home. Now if we could just get rid of the swamp thing, we will be all set.

FHE Lessons

I found this website that has fun FHE lessons. Each lesson has printouts, activities, applicable scriptures and songs. They are pretty much planned out for you. We have done 2 of them and Taylor enjoyed them both. We did Love At Home and Follow In His Footsteps.

http://www.ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_lessons/family_home_evening_lessons.htm. Both were good visual lessons for her. There are some good ones I am excited to try when my kids are older. Just thought I would pass it along.

Happy Father's Day to a Great Dad!

My favorite part of the day is when Tyler comes home in the evening. Usually the kids are at the table getting ready for dinner. The twins are strapped in their seats and Taylor is sitting down. The second they hear his key in the lock, the twins arch their necks to the side to see past the wall and Taylor yells, "Daddy!" They are so excited to see him and that says it all. They adore him! Tyler is a great dad and has a special connection with each our of kids. He helps out a TON and takes the time to play with them and interact with them. We are so grateful for all he is and does for us.

Happy Father's day Babe! We Love You! I am grateful Tyler has such a great role model. Happy Father's Day Grandpa J. We wish we were in Hawaii playing with you.Tyler's eyes say it all in this picture...we were so exhausted when the twins were born.

Oh How I Love Day Spas

My sister Trisha and I spent the day at Glen Ivy Day Spa yesterday. It is one of my favorite places. I love being able to lay out in the sun, swim in the pool (without worrying about drowning children), and just enjoy the surroundings. So great!

We spent about an hour and a half on these rafts ducking for cover whenever a bee would come around. No one else seemed to mind that occasionally a bee would come in the area and land on the toes and faces of the unsuspecting...NOT US. I am not okay with that.

All muddy.

For those of you who haven't been there, you cover yourself in this mud,

let it dry and when you wash it off, you are soft and smooth.

Such a great day! Thanks Trish.

Thanks Mom and Reid for watching the kiddos.

Important Message.

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU..... IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER ... OR TO YOUR SISTER!

I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at my table..... I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table and wouldn't leave me alone. I shined up my ring on my married finger, then placed my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was not interested in them. Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera.

I'm sending you this picture as a warning.............. just in case they try and pick you up too. Honestly, some men think they are God's gift.

Doesn't get much better than that. Thanks Amy! I got a good laugh.

A Positive Side to 1:00 Church.

You can go away for the weekend and still be back for church.

I told Tyler I wanted to go somewhere warm so we could swim and play in the pool. He called our timeshare and booked a room at one of our resorts in Indio. I don't think you can get any warmer in Southern California. I immediately looked up the weather forecast and noted a high of 102 degrees. OKAY. So I didn't have overly high expectations for the weekend but I was just happy to get out. Amazingly the resort was AWESOME! It is brand new, huge, and could not have been more perfect for our family. We were on the bottom floor and right outside our door was a park, splash pad, and pool area with a 1 foot deep wading pool. It was perfect.

Who needs a pool when you have sprinklers?!

A (relaxing?) ride on the lazy river.

Taylor was so in her element. She did amazing swimming all around the pool and diving for rings. I couldn't believe it. She was also Miss Social and greeted everyone that passed by and made tons of new friends. Despite being extremely exhausted and having eyes so red and puffy from swimming underwater with her eyes open, she never wanted to stop. She was in the pool most of the day and cried every time we made her get out. She is now all tan and cuter than ever!

My attempt at photography.

Hydrating.

A Sunday afternoon!

We had a great little weekend getaway. The kids were so worn out today that the twins were asleep by 7 and Taylor by 8. The perfect end to the weekend!

Go Taylor!

Last week Taylor started swim lessons. She has gone everyday for 2 weeks, tomorrow is her last day, and I am so impressed! She has done so well and learned so much in such a short time. Check out what she can do!

It hasn't been easy getting her to go. Taylor loves the water but didn't like someone telling her to stick her head under water. There have been some protests and a lot of tears but every time she would get into the pool and do awesome. She has worked hard and it has worn her out but now she can swim and I can tell she is really proud of herself. SO AWESOME!

My Dancing Babies.

This is from my sister's wedding a couple weeks ago. The lighting isn't great but it is still cute. This is an everyday occurence with these two. They start dancing the minute they hear music and recently Ashlyn has started to sing. That's right she doesn't talk but she can sing. Every time we go into the play room they head straight to the CD Player to turn it on. We joke that they are going to be the twin version of Donny and Marie Osmond one day.

They Just Light Up My World!

40 Inches Tall!

We headed out to Disneyland this evening and once inside we learned that Taylor is now 40 inches tall which means (drum roll please) she can now go on some if not all (didn't check out all of them) the big rides. YEA!!! 1st stop: Splash Mountain (my fav) 50 minute wait...no thank you! Next stop: Big Thunder Mountain, only 15 minute wait...much better. So my mom and I took her on. The whole ride she never changed her expression from nervousness but as soon as it was over, she wanted to go again. So Tyler and Reid went on a 2nd time with her. She liked it! I can't believe she is big enough to do all this stuff. She is growing too fast! Excuse her hair do. She had just finished swim lessons and apparently wet hair and a car seat don't mix very well. The following pictures of Ashlyn show why she makes me laugh and pull my hair out all at the same time. She is the quirkiest little thing with the most independent confident personality I have ever witnessed in a 1 year old. She is our little firecracker!
This is what happens when I say "Say Cheese" and show her the camera.

And yes she is teething as you can tell from all the drool.

Tyler had to post his Buzz picture to brag about his score. Way to go babe!

A little side note about this video, we did not teach Ashlyn to do this and she does know how to nod so I am sure why she is doing this but it is pretty funny. However from now on we will teach her to nod when we ask her this question.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa J. for forgetting and leaving your camera here yesterday so we could use it today. When you get it back you will have tons of pictures of our kids. =)