Before & After

I Love Andy's hair. It is the best color and so thick. I took him to get his hair trimmed with NO intention of cutting it short. However, there was this cute little boy before us with short spiky hair that was so cute and so I became torn on what to do. I decided literally at the last second to go short. So here is his before: I still miss that hair.And here are a couple after. I don't think these pictures do it justice because he would not cooperate and take a good picture.

It really turned out good though and he looks SO cute especially when it is gelled! I just can't get enough of him. He is such a cute big boy.

Win a free Tutu!!!

Go here to find out how:
http://pamperedprincessbowtique.blogspot.com/
They are too cute!

11 KIDS 7 and younger!

Last week was Sara's birthday and Erika and I insisted she let each one of us take one of her kids so her and Craig could go to dinner alone. Not a big deal for me, what is one more kid? Erika on the other hand already had 4 extra kids in addition to her 2. Have you lost track already?! Despite how outnumbered we were, we took them ALL to the park.

Somehow we made it there and back without loosing any of them. They all thought it was great to be at the park in their PJ's in the dark. We tried to figure out if it would have been possible between the 2 families for us to have had all 11. It works if we add 2 more sets of twins to the mix....and Erika and I would be in some sort of mental institution.

Our Return to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Our Disneyland passes expired at the beginning of the summer. Because we were blocked most of the summer we decided to wait to renew them. It had been way too long and I was having MAJOR Disneyland withdrawals so we went last Friday. The kids were SO excited when we got there. Taylor was running around like crazy. I guess it is true that they appreciate it more if you don't go as often. Too bad I enjoy going as much as they do so they will just have to learn to appreciate it more often =)

1st stop: California Adventure Andy feeding Ash a churro. Picture #110 illustrating why I love having twins.Waiting to get on Toy Story Mania.

Waiting for the fireworks.

Our little man was tuckered out!

It was such a fun time!

Can't wait to go back, oh wait we already did, stay tuned for that post. =)

Sisters!

A couple weeks ago I took the girls to a Princess night at Chick Fil A. Our friend was there taking pictures of all the Princesses so I thought it would be a fun night to dress up Taylor and Ashlyn for some girl time. It was Ashlyn's first time getting all dressed up and she loved it.

They had a couple "real" Princesses there reading stories, crafts, and a bounce house.

Cheese Faces!

Their reward for taking good pictures with the photographer was ice cream.

New Favorite Things

Taco Bell's New Low Fat Fresco Menu.

New favorite Ride: Toy Story Mania at California Adventure

New Favorite Show.

And

ABC Declares "National Stay At Home Week" To Promote Fall TV

I am so excited for all the new shows that start this week. Yay for Fall!

For those of you in the area, we will be having a Grey's Anatomy Premiere Party

at my house Thursday night so come on over!

Treasure the Doing

I know some of you have heard of the Nie Nie Dialogues and that the author of that blog was in a plane crash with her husband a month or so ago. She remains in critical condition and is burned over 80% of her body. Her husband is in a little bit better shape. One of my friends is friends with her and posted about the accident right after it happened so I have been tuning in to their story since the beginning. Her sister has kept a blog to update everyone on her recovery and has started reposting her sister's posts for all those missing her. She is an incredible mother to 4 beautiful children. If you have a chance, check out her blog and feel inspired to be better.

One of her posts had this quote:

I really enjoyed this quote by Anna Quindlen.Elder M. Russell Ballard quoted her in my favorite talk"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments.{or if I could enter here-the basket-head mother syndrome} She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).

I am often thinking about the next thing (7:00 bed time), trying to stay on schedule rather than just enjoying the moment. The dishes will still be there, the laundry will still need folding, and the crumbs on the floor (oh the constant crumbs on the floor) will of course still be there AFTER I play with my kids and cherish the moments I have been given to be their mom.

Great Big Sister

Yesterday I was telling Tyler some of the things Taylor has been doing and saying lately and he told me to write them down and what better place than the blog.

So before I forget here's to Taylor.

Over the last couple months but what feels like over night, Taylor has progressed from toddler to kid. Everyday Tyler and I comment about how big she is. She has especially grown into quite the little mother to Andy and Ashlyn. She takes their hands and leads them to new places talking in a "mommy" voice the whole way. The twins attended their first dance/music class at the dance studio this week and Taylor was TOTALLY excited for them. She held Andy's hand as we walked in and kept explaining to him what was going to happen and asking him if he was excited. She was a great help in the class, we didn't even need Tyler there (but fun to have you there babe =). After Andy did his somersault, he laid on his back not sure what to do next and Taylor jumped up to help him up.

The other day we had the following conversation:

Me: Taylor on Thursday you get to bring something for sharing time at Preschool. What do you think you want to bring?

Taylor: Ashlyn.

I call Andy my handsome. Occasionally I will say, Where's my handsome? and he will raise his hands. This week I learned that he is now Taylor's handsome (or so she thinks =). She now says, "Where's my handsome?" and he raises his hands. When I told her that in fact he is my handsome, she quickly corrected me that No he is her's.

Tonight's conversation unrelated to the babies but funny nonetheless.

Me: We need to give your teeth a good scrub.
Taylor: Its like a bubble bath for my teeth.

I love My Girl!

Future Entrepreneurs!

On Monday Taylor and Paige had their very first (definitely not the last) Lemonade Stand. They thought it was great! Every time a car would drive by they would jump up and down and yell lemonade! If the car didn't stop they would walk around in a circle thinking about how they could be better salespeople. It was a little intense. Taylor has a bit of a competitive side to her so she didn't want to leave her post for anything in the chance she may miss a car. She made sure to tell Paige to stop the cars....like father like daughter. I believe I have heard countless stories of Tyler at a very young age going door to door selling flowers to people. Great idea but the flowers were picked out of the yard of the person he was selling to.

Tasting the product.Their 1st paying customer not including Sara and me.Andy and Ashlyn joined the fun. They love hanging out with the big kids.

They actually made some money and we were able to have a great FHE lesson on tithing. Taylor wanted to put all her money in the envelope to give to the Bishop. It was too fun!

So Long Farewell.

Last week my sister Trisha and her husband headed back to Utah after being here all summer for work. It was REALLY hard to see them go but we are so grateful we had them all summer and that they were able to stay with us for a few days before they left. My kids LOVE them and even Andy was crying when they left. He loves his Russ! We miss you guys and can't wait to see you at Christmas.

Back to Just About Everything

Taylor started preschool last month (she corrects me everyday that it is school not preschool). Our 1st "school" attempt in May resulted in a less than favorable outcome so we terminated that experience and took a break from 3 year old torture. This time around I put more time into our preschool choice and did a little research, talked to a few people, and chose a preschool taught by a lady in our ward and can I just say BEST Decision EVER! She is doing so well, does not cry before she has to go, and is learning SO much. She already knows syllables, days of the week, months of the year, writing her name, and sounding out letters. It is really NEAT and I am so grateful she is having such a positive experience

We are slowly adding her activities back into our schedule. She returned to gymnastics and of course loves it and can't wait to go back to dance next month.

And then there is Tyler. He started teaching Seminary again for the 3RD time!!! I'm not sure what it takes to get out of this calling but we have pretty much attempted everything. The 1st time, we didn't just get pregnant, we got pregnant with TWINS. Despite the sudden increase in the number of children in our household they called him to teach again. We decided we needed something a little more drastic and decided to MOVE. And now here we are, once again, with this calling. Either he is really good with the youth or no one else would accept the call (I think it is the 1st option). However, I do think there should be an official church rule that forbids Stake Presidents from talking to each other about new recruits. On the bright side, I have been told to expect blessings and I think about those every morning when the alarm goes off at 5:15 AM and my kids are asking for Daddy in the morning.

That is our life right now, not near as crazy as some, but we are holding our own. We are super excited for the next few months and all the festivities that take place this time of year. I can't believe the year is almost over. Where does the time go?!

Labor Day Fun!

On Monday we went to Wrightwood to spend the day with Tyler's parents at the country club: the perfect rest from our labors.

The water is snow run off and even at the end of summer was still pretty cold.

If Andy could speak in complete sentences, this is what he would be saying, "A ball on a string that comes back to me when I hit it, there is nothing better!" I'm a great mind reader.

Now the following bit of information still leaves me a bit baffled but here it goes. We participated in the Lake Olympics. Somehow, and I seriously DO NOT know how but we won 1st place. I think there may have been an error in the counting department. Either way no one challenged the results (they probably should have) so we ended up with a pretty neat basket of prizes.

Here are a few of the games:

Shuffle Board

Raft Race - Tyler and I did get the fastest time on that one.

Blindfolded water dump (I don't know the technical name). Tyler had to walk down to the lake blindfolded, scoop up water in the shovel and return to us and dump it in a bucket, only using our instructions as guidance.

Pig Races - we lost this one because of our lame green pig.

And here is the winning team: Rainbow Soup (Taylor named us)

Afterwards we went to Grandma and Grandpa J's for dinner.

It was a beautiful day in the mountains and I'm glad we got to go up there and spend time with Tyler's parents. Hopefully we will get a lot of snow this year so we can have a great winter. Anyone interested in going, make sure to check our website and rent a cabin from us. http://www.wrightwoodcabins.com/

Happy September!