Yucky Sick

This past month Mike has been rotating in pediatrics. He has enjoyed it- but has not enjoyed what has resulted from treating so many kids with the flu. Yep- Wednesday he came home complaining of a horrible headache, a fever and loss of appetite. He has since not left the house. He has been pretty sick with awful body aches, a congested head and cough. The following day on Thursday, I lifted up Collin and threw my back out. Really painful but nothing funnier looking than a big pregnant lady walking severely crooked.
Today was Samantha's primary program, she worked hard and had her part memorized so of course she was majorly disappointed when she woke up with a fever and couldn't go. Then to boot it was also my week to teach in R.S.- luckily the education counselor was so understanding and took over the lesson for me.
Now all 4 of us are sick, not at all fun- but we're making the most of it- we'll just chalk it up to making memories.....especially since we have not been able to do some of the Halloween fun that we had planned- there's always next year!

Yummy Haunted Houses

I mentioned before that I was going to try and start some new traditions- especially now that we are so far from family. At Christmas time I LOVE decorating gingerbread houses- we never really did that as a family as a tradition growing up- but I just loved the few times that we did do it. I have seen in the stores the pre-packaged sets for Halloween houses- and so I thought PERFECT now we can do it twice a year! (Although at Christmas Mike has made me promise that we do "real" gingerbread instead of the grahm cracker way, hmmm... guess I better learn how to make gingerbread)

It was such a fun night- we all had a blast- Samantha did more dancing in the kitchen to the music we were listening to than decorating her house- and Collin ate more candy than he put on his house- but no matter- we made some good memories and started a fun tradition.

Making scary faces....

The Finished product

A picture of me.....

Lately, Samantha has been really concerned about being left behind, getting lost or taken etc. It's funny because when I was a little girl I was the EXACT same way- but more so. I was ALWAYS worried about being kidnapped- I looked out for vans without windows because those were perfect for taking kids. I didn't like going to the mountains because that seemed like a good place to take kids etc.- I know, I worried ALOT- heck I still remember in our kindergarten carpool CJ's mom saying "Amberlee, you worry way too much for a 5 year old"but to my credit- I inherited it- I have a nervous Mom and Grandpa (it's a running joke in our family)- so it only makes sense that Samantha is the same way. (poor kid, not something I necessarily wanted to pass down)
Anyways, the other day we were in the grocery store and Samantha says to me: "Hey mom, I have a good idea." me: "what's that?" Samantha: "When we get home, I am going to paint a picture of you so that when we go out, if I get lost I can show someone what you look like so they can help me find you!" It brought tears to my eyes- for 2 reasons
1-what a sweet thing to think of
2-I can only imagine what the finished product would look like given my current "condition"

A Cake and a Campout

A Cake

Halloween has always been my least favorite holiday, Fall is my favorite season by far- but I don't like the holiday that comes with it. I decided to make the most of it this year- and try and have a good attitude for my kids as well as start some fun traditions. I've made a list of things to do and to start out the kids and we went to the store and they picked out what Halloween candy they wanted as well as a cake and frosting. We were going to make an orange cake and decorate it- simple- but to little kids they were so excited. We then went to the movie store and rented a couple Halloween cartoons to watch while the cake was baking and cooling.

Now I had already decided that I was going to control myself and let the kids do what THEY wanted as far as the decorating went. I admit that in the past when my kids have done projects I have tried to "sway" them in the direction that I think they should do things-(a mean mom)- but not anymore.

The kids had a blast and they were SO proud of the way the cake turned out.

A Camp out

From the first few weeks of living in our house, Samantha and Mike have talked about having a camp out in our backyard. Well, because of our time in Utah and then Mike's hectic schedule this past month- our warm weather has gone. (plus if you ask me- I, for sure wasn't interested in having a visit from the groundhog, the squirrels, or the skunks that frequent our yard- and yes I know if we were camping in the mountains we would have the same visitors- but it just seems different when it's in your own yard)

So we decided that we would just set up the tent in our living room and make the most of it! Well the tent quickly turned into air mattresses instead.-either way the kids were happy because they got to sleep in the front room with mom and dad. Of course a night at the Taylors house would not be complete without a little Star Wars.

We all slept well- except for Mike- so all in all it was a great night-possibly to be repeated?!

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.