Sporty's for Shorty's

Here at our Rec. center they offer a really inexpensive class for your 2 year old once a week for seven weeks. Myself and a few girls from my ward decided to enroll our sons. Each week they highlight a different sport and play it for about 30-40 min. It's completely laid back- and after our first week I think it's a hit! Collin was seriously on cloud nine the ENTIRE time. The sweet,excited look plastered to his face the whole time was all I needed to see- to know that it was totally worth the $!

This week they learned about T-ball. My camera was running out of batteries- so it was moving super slow- which meant that I missed a lot of the great shots.

Bear and a little girls prayer.....

This is one of those posts that is for just journaling purposes so that I don't forget it as time goes by (which now a days it happens more frequently).
Samantha had a neat experience this past week- and I want to record it for her so that in the future she will have it to look back on.
This last Tuesday evening I realized that it had been since Monday night while tucking Samantha in bed, that I saw Bear. We had been on errands and to the park that day- but I was 99.9% positive that Samantha had not taken him with us. Well, after looking for awhile with no success- we sent her to bed with a back-up bear and a promise to look more the next day. All Wednesday we looked- but still with no success. When Mike got home from the hospital- I went to the store and while I was gone- Samantha had told him that we STILL couldn't find Bear. He told her that she needed to pray to Heavenly Father and ask for His help. She then asked him- how does Heavenly Father help us find things? Mike then told her that often Heavenly Father will put "thoughts" in our head to help us. When I got home- she was all excited with what her dad had told her about prayer. At bedtime, she again asked for help in finding Bear. For a couple more days there was still no sign of Bear, I myself thought that we may have to move back-up Bear to starting position (wow- how about my lack of faith) and then one afternoon while I was making dinner - Samantha asked if I thought if Bear could be in the TV (meaning the entertainment center) I told her to look- but didn't think much of it because I thought that one of us had already looked. And lo and behold there was Bear crammed in one of the cupboards! She was THRILLED (to put it mildly) I immediately told her that this is exactly how Heavenly Father answered her prayer- He helped her to think about looking in the cupboard- just like Daddy said He would. We then knelt down together and thanked Heavenly Father for helping her to find Bear.- I record this because I am so grateful for this opportunity for Samantha to experience the real power of prayer and I want her to be able to remember this for the rest of her life. It is so scary to be a parent right now as the world around us is getting more and more evil. I want so badly for each of our children to develop their own testimony and faith in the Savior. I am so grateful for this gospel and that we have it in our lives to help raise our kids- and to have the tools to teach them. I am grateful for amazing parents who provided ways for me to feel the spirit and helped me to learn and grow so that I was able to build and strengthen my own testimony. I am also grateful that Mike took this opportunity to teach Samantha about prayer- and I am grateful to his parents for being who they are- and for teaching their children. (Wow, I said grateful a lot)

First, last and only prego picture!

I am only doing this as a favor to my friend Jena-
Currently 23 weeks...look like 32, I know- but really only 23.



I love this one the most because Collin is copying me in the background- goofball. And yes those are pictures still waiting to find a home on our walls- I have the hardest time figuring that part out when moving into a new place. I figure I'll have it worked out and all pictures hung 3 months before we move.

Utah (part one)

I am now finally getting around to writing about our trip to Utah. For some reason I have had a much harder time getting back to the swing of things, and oddly enough even though we have now been gone for a few years, it doesn't get any easier leaving Utah and family.
Most of my pictures aren't here yet- I am waiting for my mom to send the CD- luckily I have the ones from the first part of our trip- so that I can go in order-
Mike's brother David got married- he and Cami are so great together- and we are so thrilled for them. It was great to be with the whole family again (minus Elder Taylor)- the kids had a blast with their cousins- Evan and Andrew. The weekend went by too fast and before we knew it- Mike was on his way back to Ohio.


David and Cami were married in the new Draper temple- it was beautiful, super windy- but a beautiful.












The next day we went to the Natural History Museum and then out to lunch at Lion House Pantry.

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

Until people start using the link I've posted to my blog I am going to start posting these videos here. Listening to this will probably be the most worthwhile 10 minutes you will spend all week.

I WON- I'm a WINNER!

So there is this blog called GiveAway Today where companies (it seems like most of the companies are based in Utah) can advertise their products by offering one of their items as a prize. I've liked checking it to see what fun things people are selling and if I am interested then I enter. Now, I am not like my brothers who seem quite "talented" at winning drawings or contests- but with a pessimistic attitude I continued to enter anyways. :) It seems that my losing streak is over! I won- and I won a gift that is perfect for right now! - A $50 gift certificate to a cute maternity store- Milan Maternity! http://www.milanmaternity.com/maternity-clothes/
Funny thing is that I would have not known that I won if it wasn't for my friend Tiff- because of my before mentioned pessimism I didn't really think to check the blog again- but she happened to email me to see if I was the Amberlee Taylor who won- and wonders of wonders- it was me. You have, I think 48 hours or so to claim your prize- so I owe Tiff big time! Anyone who hasn't heard about this website should check it out-
Anyhow -not a bad way to start out a weekend?!

We are counting down the days right now because this week we are headed to Utah! Yeah! Mike's brother David is getting married on Friday- so we fly out Thursday afternoon. Mike only gets to stay until Sunday (boo) but the kids and I are staying for a couple weeks. It will be so fun to see family again and just be in Utah.-But hard to be away from Mike, who is currently in his psychiatry rotation- and who will also be working hard on remodeling our bathroom :) (something that is easier to do while there are less people around who need to use the bathroom!)

I am also excited because while we are there and one of the reasons why we are staying for as long as 2 weeks is because my mom is going to help me get things started for my etsy store :) I am excited to get it going- and hopefully have a fun time doing it. It is something that I've wanted to do for awhile- and now that we are settled and now that I am not doing hair anymore it's the perfect time to start!

A nose!

This was a conversation I had with Samantha a few days ago-

S:"Mom! look! I can see the baby's nose!" (poking at my protruding bellybutton)
Me: "Oh no Samantha, it's just mom's bellybutton."(note, the poking out bellybutton is on my short list of things I dislike most about pregnancy)
S: (with much relief)"Oh good, because it kind of looks like a pigs nose"

yep. sweet.