fun on the farm

Wow...I totally just found this stashed away in my draft folder from forever ago. Oops.

Farm Day @ Preschool. Yay for kids. Ugh for me. I love doing activities with my kids, but I really hate farm day. The main reason being it is really hard for me to keep track of 2 kids (Jack was in the strap on carrier thingy) among a gazillion others and farm day ALWAYS is bound to come a few days after heavy rain. So then it is a muddy, poopy, cold-until-it-warms-up-and-i-have-to-carry-everyones-coats-around-the-farm-day. The trip out to the pumpkin patch is the worst. Mud Mud Mud. AND I took all 3 kids this year because Jacob claimed *allergies*. (psh!)

See the boots? Those are because I learned from LAST years trip to the farm. ;)

This is Taylie and Katie. Katie is Taylie's favorite friend from school. Last year they were what I called "partners in crime". This year I guess they are more responsible with their mischief and I don't hear much about it. :)

Taylie loves animals and she loves to take care of things and people, and animals are no different. The funniest thing was when she walked up to her teacher and asked her to help her pick up a pig. Everyone laughed including me, and so she decided to ask the woman who worked there. She was so sweet and the woman showed her that when you pick up a pig it squeals. When she learned that they don't like it, she just wanted to feed something.

The woman let her break a pumpkin (!) and helped her feed a goat

Then they had this awesome slide that is huge! It was all she wanted to do once she saw it. Once we got there she showed Luke how to go down it and this was the face I caught of him going down:

and Taylie, being as sweet as she is and full of awesomeness, went down with her brother when he was having a hard time making it to the front of the line cause of the bagillion kids. She always made sure he was taken care of and having fun.

We really did have a fun time. We ate lunch and played all of the games and picked pumpkins in the pumpkin patch and had a great time. I was glad to go home and get everyone showers...that was my favorite part.

And just think...I get to go again...the next 2 years with Luke when he starts school. :)

First Day of Preschool--Year 2

I know, how super behind am I, right?!

This was back in September

This was September of last year:

Didn't she look like such a baby?! It makes me so sad to realize how fast she grew up in just one year.

This is this year

This is last year

I can't believe that in less than a year I will be taking pre-kindergarten pictures for Taylie and preschool pictures for Luke.

They grow way too fast. Don't take advantage of it.

Temple Square 2011

This little field trip we actually took in August, but you know babies keep my busy so I am just getting to it now.

Taylie has a picture of the Salt Lake Temple hanging on her wall and she has had it there for a long time. She has asked on a few occasions if she would be able to go and see "her castle". When I told her that it is something we would be able to take her to see, she was SO excited! Usually she asks if we can take her to Disneyland RIGHT NOW and we say no. Then she will ask to go to the beach RIGHT NOW and we say no. Or in the middle of the night she asks to go and see Grandpa in Oklahoma and then we tell her no again and she better get back in bed or else...
So for her to be told yes was very exciting.

When we got to the Temple, she was pretty much in awe. She was very giddy and excited and just really didn't know what to do with herself. There was the cutest Senior Missionary couple that asked if we wanted to hear a story. They told us the neatest story but the kids weren't really into it. They were just a little bit too young to hear about the man who lost his legs and continued to work on the Temple. They were trying look inside the windows of the lowest floors and were a little dissapointed when they couldn't see anything.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures

This is my other favorite. We took them all over the square and up to the top of the Joseph Smith Building so they could see the Temple from all vantage points.

I hope that Taylie remembers how much she is in awe of such a special place and that she will always keep a deep love of the Temple and the church and hold it in a special place in her heart.

I'm in love...

With my 3 favorite cutie pies!

Say what?!

We had the home teachers over today and I have a moment I need to document involving this little dude:

First off, we have the best Home Teachers ever. Hands down. Brother Mace and his son McKay gave us a very sweet lesson about President Monson's lesson from The Ensign about precious promises. After McKay finished his lesson the kids had started chasing each other around like tigers. *sigh*

I asked them to get into their seats and then I asked them what McKay had just taught us. Taylie took a breath and said: "The Book of Mormon....?"
Me: "Yep. Good Job, now what else?"
Taylie: "um...the prophet?"
Me: "Yep, great! Now what else?"
Luke: " HAPPY GHOSTS!"

All of us burst into laughter and told Luke that we were pretty sure that the Holy Ghost was happy, but he wasn't that type of ghost. :)

I sure do love that little boy!

Reason #37 I will never be Miss America...

Apparently when God was handing out gracefulness, I was chatting it up elsewhere (probably with my bestie Bri).

My brothers reaction sums it all up: "Old habits die hard huh sis?"

Yes, yes they do. It is nice to know that some things never change

(By the way, this is 2 days after the fact and my foot is still swollen down to the toes and up my leg a bit...I don't even have a cool story to go with it. Bummer.)

*UPDATE*
This is 3 days post clumsy-fall-off-the-curb:
Gross. Guess you can't tell which one I injured? ;)

Jack

Our little Jack just had his 2 month check up and here are his stats:
(9-26-11)

Length: 23 1/4 (50%)
Weight: 15 lbs 8 oz (97%)
Head: 40.9cm (50%)

He is growing so fast that I can barley keep up with him! He loves to smile and tries so super hard to giggle. I know that doesn't make sense but think of it like he makes all the faces but the sound can't come out. :) He loves to talk and coo and have "conversations". Sometimes I don't realize how much time of my day I spend "talking with him" until someone comes to me and tells me they are hungry or they can't find any clean underpants because they are sitting in a pile on my bed waiting to be folded.

He has really grown into a really happy baby and is such a joy to have in our family. We are so lucky to have our little butterball baby Jack-Jack!

peek-a-boo!

*Love*



This kinda made my day.

Fearless...almost

I'll let you start by watching:

Haha! Pretty awesome, huh?

This little girl just loves everything that has to do with animals. Even the creepy crawly ones! We went to visit Auntie Becca at work and she had a surprise for Taylie:

It was the teeniest tiny little pink snake you could ever think to find, and she LOVED it! We got to look at all kinds of animals guinea pigs, birds, huge goldfish that would nibble your finger, snails and...

Lizards!

Geckos!

The little snake (who she named Sparky, by the way...) was her favorite. She just kept asking: "Can I just have my snake back?" She carried him around the whole store while we looked at everything.

This is as close as Luke would get to any of the animals. :)

The best part was when it started to walk and he ran away to hide behind my legs.

Yep, my son ran from a turtle...because he thought it would "get him". :)

Gotta love that boy!

Thanks Becca for such a fun time!

Funniest thing I heard all day....

Oh man, I am not sure if I should fear this kid as a teenager or get ready for a lot of laughs (at her Dad's expense...)

Jacob: "Taylie, turn off the kitchen light please and get out to the car."
Taylie: "Turn it on?"
Jacob: "No, turn it off."
Taylie: "Turn it on. Okay."
Jacob: "No! I said turn it off. O-f-f."
Taylie: "Okay, I will go and turn on the light."
(giggling ensues...)
Jacob: "Argh! Taylie, I said turn off the light right now!"
Taylie: "Turn on the light, right."
(runs away to the kitchen...)
Jacob: "Did you get it turned off?"
Taylie: "Yep, the light is on."
Jacob: "TAYLIE...!"
Me: "You realize she is screwing with you, right?"
Jacob: *shakes his head as he hangs it and walks out the door*

It was the hardest time I have ever had trying not to wet my pants.
...I think I will do more laughing then Jacob will.