The Taylor's

Cinderella

2012-02-10T22:18:00.003-07:00

The girls thought of this great new game (all on their own) that they like to play occasionally. I quite enjoy it and it seems to be fun for them as long as I am only mean when I ask them to do things and don't say please. Sometimes I feel really rude but they insist it is part of the game. And we get a lot done around the house! The game is called "Cinderella" I have to be the mean stepmother and the kids get to be Cinderella. My job is to order them to do job, their job is to get them done. I think instead of Saturday morning chores (which I was never really good at implementing anyway) will become Cinderella mornings! lol.

She insisted she needed a bucket with soap and water to scrub the floors, Cinderella style of course!

Doll party

2012-02-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Margo's doll, Daphne, had a birthday party last week and my girls (and their dolls) were invited. What a fun idea to have a doll party! They all loved it! We played party games, opened presents, decorated and ate cupcakes, and had a nice lunch! I think we might need to adopt this this idea for a fun play date one time! Emily make a princess crown for all the girls too, they were so cute!

Skating

2012-02-01T09:40:00.003-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had some really nice sunny weather (right before the week of bitter cold) so we took the kids out skating for the second time. ever. I know. We live in Canada and we don't skate. It is hard to bundle up 3 kids that can't skate to go skating. Plus getting gear for everyone. Anyway this time went better. Jadyn was determined to make it work and Heidi was determined to not wear skates and only walk around on her boots with her doll in stroller. Mya was left at home with daddy sleeping. Perfect. I think we need to get out more often. I prefer outdoor skating rather than the indoor rink. The sun feels nice plus the indoor rink doesn't let you walk with boots, which with my younger girls, equals disaster. So I think this is something we are going to try out a little more often before the ice melts away and spring arrives. Can you believe it is already February???? The girls spent 2 hours outside last night playing with sidewalk chalk....on January 31st. That is almost unheard of around here. but you know when there is a temple that needs to be built in the area, the Lord sends good weather to make sure it gets done. Did you know this Winter was forecasted to be one of the coldest ever? And then the weather people had to actually apologize for being so far off. Again, I blame divine intervention. And I am loving it! Usually by this time I am dying for a trip to some beach where it is hot and sunny. I haven't been feeling like I need to get out of the Country (though I wouldn't complain...)

We have also spent a lot of time playing with playdoh (they made a potion for the dolls that made them die on the chairs lol)

And we do a lot of airplane rides around here too :) (Mya doesn't actually lift Heidi up but they try! Haha)

Yoga

2012-01-27T23:48:00.000-07:00

My friend Emily introduced me to "Yoga for kids" a DVD that we now like to borrow from the library. It's a big hit with the kids. Excuse my messy house, we were too busy doing yoga to bother cleaning ;)

Jadyn has been taking piano lessons this past year from my sister in law. Heidi hasn't shown any interest at all. But this week I showed her a few notes and how she could play "Mary had a little lamb" from Jadyn's book and she has been playing it ever since. She is so proud of herself and wants to play all the time! Here she is showing her dad how it is done ;)

I just thought this was funny. Mya thinks she can just park and eat wherever she feels like it, on top of the box of block? Sounds good.

Jadyn's first friend "fight"

2012-01-26T22:23:00.005-07:00

Today when Jadyn got off the bus after school, she was not herself. She is usually happy and excited and full of life. Today she was mopy and sad and told me "I never want to have a play date with Leilani ever again"! Oh boy. Apparently the two of them had a squabble on the bus and Jadyn was having a hard time with it. Poor girl. She didn't want to talk about it to me, but as soon as she got in the door she went to the craft table and started drawing a picture and ended up making a book to tell the story of how it happened, and then read that book to me later. I have a feeling this girl might be a big journaler. She seems to like to tell stories and write her feelings down.

She continued to have a bit of a hard night emotionally and her thoughts kept coming back to the fight with her friend. I had a hard time watching her deal with it and wasn't sure exactly how to deal with it myself. So at bedtime when we all knelt down for prayers, I told the girls before they say their prayers mommy wants to say a special "family prayer" too (Josh was at work and Mya was already in bed) so we all knelt down and I prayed for each of my girls individually and then I expressed to Heavenly Father about what happened to Jadyn today, how she was feeling, and asked a special blessing that she might be able to find it within herself to forgive Leilani and to understand that sometimes even the people we love hurt us, and to help her to be able to deal with the hurt feelings and be a kind and loving friend no matter how she is treated. I ended the prayer and the girls hopped into bed.

Every night at bedtime I lay with each of the girls in their beds for a few minutes to either read a special story or to just have some quality pillow talk to end the day. I started with Heidi and while Heidi and I were chatting I heard Jadyn up on her bunk bed writing a letter to Leilani. (she talks out loud when she writes and sometimes asks for spelling). I was so proud of her in that moment and thankful that Heavenly Father was looking down on my little girl tonight to help her forgive and to find love in her heart.

When it was Jadyn's turn for pillow talk we talked again about what happened and how she felt, and I expressed to her how proud I am of her for being able to forgive so easily and pointed out that that is exactly what Christ would have done (she was a little confused as she pointed out that they didn't have paper and pencils when Jesus was on the earth lol). At one point she got tears in her eyes while we were talking and then she said to me "Mom I am just crying because I am so happy!" My heart is full tonight and I am so happy to be a mother to this sweet spirit that has been sent to me to care for. Sometimes I know I fall short and make a LOT of mistakes, but tonight heavenly Father showed me that I am at least doing a little bit of good in the lives of my children. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and to be able to share that joy with my family.

"The fight with leilani" (the picture is of her frowning on the bus)

"I accidentally pulled Leilani's hair. Leilani was so mad" (according to Jadyn she was moving her backpack and it got caught on Leilani's hair and then she got really mad which is what started it)

"Leilani is so rude" (then a picture of Jadyn and I hugging when I picked her up from the bus) then "I hate Leilani, she is rude" (a picture of the two of them clearly not happy with each other!)

"But my sister I like" (picture of her playing with her sister)
then "I like my mom too"

"The End" (the bottom part she said is because the reader needs to decide if the book is about feeling "mad, sad, or happy" (the answer is "sad")

And the forgiveness note she wrote her only a few minutes after she finished writing the last page of the book above! How quickly children can forgive!

Now I am praying hard tonight that her friend can forgive her as well and they can have a better day tomorrow!

Angel Moroni

2012-01-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to watch the angel Moroni go up on the temple! It was a cold morning so my friend Alysha graciously allowed us to crash her place to watch from her window, which backs onto the temple parking lot! It was so neat to watch and for the kids to have the opportunity to see! Check out this article and this video for more info!

more iphone randoms

2012-01-20T21:38:00.005-07:00

The girls holding hands walking up to the pool!

UUUUMMM! haha.
Apparently when we go down big hills in the van we need to all hold our hands up (like a roller coaster, lol!)

I got to go on Jadyn's field trip to the new science centre earlier this month, so fun! They made that place amazing!

Valentines photos

2012-01-12T10:30:00.001-07:00

The girls helped me out by modeling for my valentines mini shoots ad. Love how they turned out! They are pretty used to having a camera in their face by now that they love to pose and when it's not their turn they are in there taking pictures with their own camera's too! Jadyn and Heidi had their outfits already but I didn't have anything for Mya to wear since most of her stuff is hand me downs. So I bought her this cute dress, I was so in love with it. But unfortunately near the end while I was doing some shots of the other girls she somehow found a bottle of nail polish and that is the end of that dress! So sad! This girls LOVES nail polish and always insists on doing it herself (she never wins that battle!) she also loves lotion, lip gloss and makeup of any kind,. I have to keep an eye on that girl!!!

Post holiday projects

2012-01-10T01:17:00.000-07:00

The girls has a lot of time off after the holidays. I loved having them home for so long. We had so many pajama days and just did whatever we wanted. We did a lot of sewing and fun projects together, and played a lot! Jadyn is really into sewing now, we picked out some fabric from the fabric store and she got to work. I found this really simple pattern online and we got to work. I did the cutting and she ironed and sewed it all together. So proud of her! Then she made one for Heidi the next day! And she was still on a sewing kick so we found this cute owl pillow idea but it ended up being trickier than I thought so I ended up making it for her, and another one for Heidi f course. Somehow we never got around to making Mya anything, but she didn't seem to mind. oops.

I also saw this cute idea for a valentines wreath on pinterest. The one she made was form a styrofoam wreath form and used pins to stick the felt circles in. I couldn't find a styrofoam wreath so I made mine out of cardboard and used hot glue instead! then I made a bunch of headbands with the leftover felt! Such a fun project. I made a red one and then Jadyn wanted to make one so she made one with some pinks and reds and I love how they both turned out!

I ended up cutting this many circles 2 more times to get both of them done. Time consuming but so worth it, I love the finished product!

Josh has been busy too. He decided to organize our storage room over the holidays. We are really trying hard to get our food storage in order, but it was all over the place, so he built these can racks that help us to rotate our cans. In the top and it rolls to the back and down the front to pull out the oldest one first! He made 5 high so we can organize all sorts of different types of cans. Next he is going to build shelves all along the right side of the room for all our other types of food storage. Can't wait until it is done. I love having an organized home, but it sure takes a lot of work to get things how we like it! I feel like I am always in a construction zone.

New Years 2012

2012-01-02T00:59:00.000-07:00

We had a little get together at our house this year. It was great for the kids to be able to be a part of the fun and great for the adults to chat and play games! We love games. We play games any chance we can get! I am pretty cure Mya has not stayed up past 9:00pm a day in her life but she was happy running around with all the kids until 10:30! And then she slept until noon the next morning. Horray for 1:00 church! I put on a special new years celebration for the kids at 9:00pm just in case anyone wanted to take kids hoe to bed late. We ended up partying with most of the kids until midnight anyway though! I saw this idea on "Our best bites" blog. She has great recipes and ideas and I just loved this idea for using the Christmas tree for one last celebration before taking it down! I went to the dollar store and got a bunch of noise makers and New Years headbands, and then filled all the balloons with some small change for the kids and a joke on a slip of paper. So at "midnight" the kids popped their balloons and gathered the money while we told jokes. So much fun.

We played a game of 2011 headbands. Emily thought of a bunch of famous names of 2011 and we had so much fun guessing!

Popping balloons!

Warmer days

2011-12-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

Just came across these iphone photos from the summer in California. Love their sweet little sunburned faces after a day at the beach waiting for their In N Out!!

Definitely miss those days, and love the memories we created on that trip!

Christmas morning

2011-12-26T00:07:00.001-07:00

Christmas was very fun and magical this year! We spent Christmas Eve with my family and the Fibke's as we do every year. Christmas morning was so fun but a little rushed as we had to get to 10:30 church! After church we went to my parents for an afternoon of food and games. We put the kids to bed there and stayed up to play all night! Great day! (Other than a couple meltdowns from the tired kids and, yes, myself! I blame it on hormones ;)) I really didn't get a lot of photos, mostly just videos.

Heidi got a camera, just what she wanted! Thanks Cherisa for your hand me down, it was perfect! The kids are dying to be little photographers and I usually let them use my camera, but they love having their own to use freely and I don't worry so much about them dropping an old point and shoot. It's win win!

Jadyn got a no sew quilt kit from my mom that kept her (and mom and dad) busy for the day!

A few photos from the days leading up to Christmas. Airdrie festival of lights and the girls playing "Mary" They loved dressing up and reenacting the nativity.

Heidi's preschool concert

2011-12-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

Heidi had a preschool concert which she was completely excited for, but this sort of thing is definitely out of her comfort zone. She was so brave though! She wasn't too impressed with Santa, which is to be expected, but I wanted the photo anyway so she humoured me and went up!

Yup definitely not impressed with Santa!

She sure loves her teachers though ;)

Mya thought she could do a little show while we were waiting for the kids. I think this one is going to be trouble!

Christmas festivities

2011-12-20T23:09:00.006-07:00

Christmas this year was full of fun activities! Thanks to pinterest I kept feeling like I needed to do more and probably overdid it a little for being pregnant and tired. Oh well, at least we had fun! I did my advent calendar this year with an activity for each day. I started taking pictures each day but accidentally deleted the memory card halfway through so I don't have full documentation unfortunately, but just trust me we did some fun things! Some days we baked, we made a snowman, many Christmas crafts, hot chocolate, Christmas movies, nativity and Christmas concerts etc. I also wrapped 24 books (some form the library since I didn't have 24 Christmas books!) and each night the kids got to take turns opening a book to read before bed. They love this tradition, I will definitely do it every year! These photos are alittle out of order because blogger does that to me and I am too lazy right now to fix it.

Heidi helping me with the Christmas swirl cookies

Jadyn and her friend at the grade 1/2 Christmas concert that was seriously so well done. The title was "The mice before Christmas" half in English and half in Spanish. These kids are so talented!
At the Taylor family Christmas party we hold every year at the church. Jenni brought such great games to entertain the kids!! Here they are building felt snowmen.

Josh's dad arranged to have a Santa come for the party to surprise the kids, here they are as he is walking in! I love Brigg's face like his best friend just walked in the door!!

I had a bag full of little toys for him to give each of the kids. Heidi nearly wouldn't go near him but her name was on one of those presents so she hesitantly gave in!

The snowman hat brownies we attempted to make. They looked a lot better on pinterest!

The kids had the opportunity to sing Christmas Carols at the community retirement home. It was for all the primary kids but Mya thought she should join in, plus she knows all the words to jungle bells anyway so she might as well be part of the group!

Heidi's gingerbread house she made at preschool and promptly ate when she got home. I barely got a picture in!
LOVE these stencils from Usborne books, I am pretty sure the kids spent the entire month of December doing crafts at the kitchen table, this was a huge part of it!

Jadyn doing her piano duet with Aunt Jenni (her piano teacher). They played "Jolly Old Saint Nicolas"
I also got these Christmas doodles form Usborne (this is not an ad!) they were awesome too. Just use a dry erase marker and they spent hours playing with these!

My muffin tin advent calendar. Every morning the kids woke up and first thing ran downstairs to see what we were doing that day!

Helping daddy put up the new tree. I finally got rid of the $2 garage sale one and went with the Costco prelit tree. Much better. Thank you Costco. I wonder if I ever got a picture of it completed...

And of course I had to do a Christmas photo shoot even though we only sent cards to family and a few of Josh's mission families in Mexico. Oops. I'll be better next year! I love these girls so much!!!

iphone post

2011-12-04T21:21:00.004-07:00

I realize I take a lot of photos on my phone but never do anything with them. Here are a few of my favorite recent and not so recent ones!
By the looks of Mya's hairdo, this was probably at least a year ago! I had just bought that chair at home sense and we were heading to Costco on the other side of the parking lot. It worked perfect for a seat in the cart and I love how much Jadyn is enjoying it!

The girls at BP's this summer while on our camping trip in Penticton.

Cuddling fast asleep in the tent! Priceless!

High heals and bathing suit to go get the mail? Of course!

The mini BP's chocolate pizza's for desert and beautiful sun flare coming from the window! Love this!

Shopping with Mya at IKEA and she fell in love with this rocking chair. She carried it all the way to the checkout so of course I bought it for her! It ended up being her birthday present since she forgot about it by the time we got home ;)

Jadyn and her friend, Robyn, at a Stake party with Henna on their hands!

Jadyn's birthday breakfast at Denny's. My dad and Mya are buddies ;)

I can't believe how old she is getting!!

Fun times in the wagon with Stella on the way to the park! So glad my old friend moved to Calgary finally!!

Girl time

2011-11-29T08:44:00.002-07:00

I caught Heidi and Mya on the landing having some beading time. They play so well together. Heidi is the best big sister. I love the special memories they are making together ;)

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the cute pumpkins hiding in the last post, well here is our pumpkin carving night!

I saw a fun idea online to use Mr. Potato head pieces to decorate a pumpkin. The kids thought this was especially fun to do, it was a great success!

Lately Mya lifts up her shoulder every time I point the camera at her. I think she knows how cute she is and loves to work it!

I am a part of this family afterall!! I rarely get to see this side of the camera ;)

The girls "holding hands" with their pumpkin.

And our pumpkin family!

Halloween

2011-11-21T23:28:00.003-07:00

Ok I know this is reeeeally late but I found the Halloween photos tucked into a surprise folder so here they are. After Jadyn's birthday party we decided it was a good idea to go as a family of smurfs for Halloween. It was super cute. The girls looks great and it was really easy for me since I already had the hats made! I volunteered in Heidi's class the week before when they did a pumkpin hunt and decorating and then her preschool class did the most adorable Halloween presentation! I took the kids out trick or treating that night (sans Josh since he had to work) it was so fun for Jadyn and Heidi, they ran up to each house and I would hear them say: "one, two, three, trick or treat!" Meanwhile Mya is still walking up the steps behind them usually. Everyone thought Mya was so cute and after she got her candy she stood at the door long after her big sisters had ran to the next house saying "Thanks you, bye, thank you, bye....and on and on until I either picked her up and walked away or they finally closed the door. And if there happened to be a puppy at the door the whole process took about twice as long! It was a lot of fun this year!

Here are the pictures:

Heidi's amazing teachers! Love them!

Heidi and her preschool besties!

Isn't Mya precious?

Love her!

Ok here is the gang right before trick or treating, we had to put coats over top but the hats were the best part anyway (and warm!)

Fall cleanup

2011-11-20T23:11:00.006-07:00

These photos are old, it definitely does not look like that outside right now! The girls had so much fun helping clean up the leaves, and then jumping in them! We decorated pumpkins the day before (I told you this is old) somehow I can't find my Halloween photos right now so i am skipping that for now.

This is the face Mya makes when I point the camera at her. Hunched shoulders and a cute smile. Gotta love her ;)

There were more pumpkins, but Mya had a crush on this one.

Big kisses for Mr. pumpkin head!

Josh on the roof debating whether or not to risk going up to the top level or not. (conclusion: we hired someone to do the top part. (Phew!)

New cousin

2011-11-14T00:23:00.002-07:00

The girls love their new cousin. The first boy for our family! 3 days old and already out for family dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Mya is 2!

2011-11-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is old but I have had to let the family photos take a back burner while I finish up some family client photos. I am still 6 photo shoots behind on editing but it is Sunday, my day off, so time for family catch up! LOVE this girl, she has so much personality lately! I cannot even begin to describe what a light she is in our home.

And I LOVE this one of her kissing her daddy;)

Jadyn's smurf party

2011-11-06T22:43:00.002-07:00

Fall is a busy time of year for kids birthday's in this house! Jadyn and Mya celebrate only a week apart so it is a little crazy! I was so happy to have Jana doing the cakes this year because a. they turned out 10X better than I ever could have made them, and b. I didn't have to make them so it saved me some time to focus on other things, like sewing smurf hats!

Here are some photos to tell the story. We had a LOT of girls in the house. 13 plus my 3. A lot, and that was AFTER we cut Jadyn's list in half, she just couldn't invite everyone! She is such a friendly girl!

The smurf hat preparations:

The finished product. My friend Jessica came over to get me started and help me make all of them! I needed her motivation since i was not looking forward to makign these, but they ended up being really simple and impressive!

Blue food and berries, because smurfs like to eat berries of course.

The lovely cake! isn't it great? She was so happy with it!

Blue playdoh station.

We played that game where you pass around a present to the music and each time the music stops they get to open a layer.

They thought they were pretty funny turning the extra hats into boots!

A table full of smurfs! So much fun and so glad off of that is over for another year!

Waterton

2011-10-30T22:34:00.006-06:00

Ok I got a little tired of blogging as so this is way overdue but at least it will be in our book one day. Anyway the last of the events while Omar was here happened in Waterton! I love Waterton. We spent the night with Karen and brad and then went to Waterton for the day. Rented the bikes they have there and everyone took turns checking out the town. Ate some yummy lunch, then the big kids got to go on a hike with the adults. I stayed behind with Sleeping Mya in her stroller and skipped rocks with Heidi at the lake. Then Karen made us the yummiest ever soup for supper that night and we left in the morning! Great weekend!

I just love Jadyn's face in this picture, she is enjoying the moment, cookie and all!

Heidi is so sweet smiling for the camera. And then there is Ben!!! Hahahaha! I love him.

I think "swing" was one of Mya's first words.

Jadyn working hard with her walking stick and leaf collection on the hike up Bears hump!

Josh said that Jadyn was creating maps along the way. She has quite the imagination!

I love this photo of Josh and Jadyn at the top!

On the way home we saw a bear at the side of the road. The girls first time, they were fascinated!

Terry Fox run

2011-10-14T21:38:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago I met Jadyn at her school to do the Terry Fox run with her. She loved it. This girls just loves to be on the go. the next day she told me she wanted to do the Terry Fox run again. I think she is going to be an athlete.

Mya loved running with Jadyn, she cried when she had to go back in the school and was asking for her the rest of the day. She loves her big sister ;)

Banff with Omar

2011-10-13T21:27:00.004-06:00

As part of our adventures with Omar we also spent a day in Banff as a family. It took a little convincing with josh to let Jadyn skip a day of school for it but in the end she was able to come too. Josh also took Omar to Drumheller for a hike and a visit at the dinosaur museum and well as a day in Lake Louise.

We spent the day in Banff visiting the Banff Spring Hotel, walking along the main street doing a little shopping, eating out for lunch, and getting fudge at the fudgery!

The girls spend a lot of time with sidewalk chalk, it is something I always have on hand! Jadyn also has an obsession with mermaids and tries to convince me that they are real ;)

Bowness Park and Skating

2011-09-29T23:03:00.008-06:00

This past week we had a special visitor from Mexico city! One of josh's friends from his mission came for the week and we took him all around the "sites" of the area. First stop Bowness Park. We fed the ducks, threw rocks in the river and Omar loved looking at the trees and the changing colours and the beauty this time of year brings! He planned his trip specifically at this time of year so that he could see the changing colours.

Josh teaching Jadyn how to skip rocks.

A lady bug spotting.

After Bowness Park we met up with my brother and sister at the Ovalf or some skating! i didn't realize how bad we all are at skating, but Omar has never been in his life so it was a great opportunity to all go! Jadyn keeps asking to go back. Even though she should have been very frustrated by the end of the night, she pressed on and was determined to do it! She is a spirited one!

Mya didn't last more than about 10 seconds on her skates ;)

Omar caught on quickly!

And of course Jordan showed us all up since he plays hockey and is pretty much a professional.

Heidi got really tired of being pushed around in the stroller all night! Jadyn is still working hard!!

That a girl!

Painting and my new favorite wall

2011-09-28T23:02:00.000-06:00

Last week I bought some canvases at the dollar store with a painting project in mind for the girls. I also found a painting pallet there, so we had a fun filled afternoon painting amazing creations! The girls love crafting and painting is the best, especially when you can paint your nails in the middle of it ;)

We decided to use the canvases for the new crafting corner of the kitchen. I bought a new table, some wall organizers for their art supplies and some vinyl! I love the vinyl, it pretty much sums up my life, lol.

Classy Mya, you definitely have big sisters!

Mom's 50th

2011-09-27T01:53:00.000-06:00

Last week we celebrated my mom turning 50! Although she is in withdrawal we still claim that she has done a lot of amazing thing in her 50 years of life that are to be proud of! Our gift to her this year from all the kids was a 25 minute video montage consisting of interviews, songs, photos, and video clips of her life and our life as a family. We presented it to her after a family dinner and she loved it. What's not to love? It is too long to post online so you will have to trust me that it was really good! I interviewed everyone in the studio and then Cherisa put it all together. She did such a great job!!! It is definitely going to be a family keepsake!

Mom is less than thrilled to be turning 50 but we think she is perfect and doesn't look a day over 40!

Oh my sisters!

Jordan, aka the official ice cream scooper.

Sweet Eliza
This photo isn't technically correct, but I love it! Mom with all her granddaughter opening a present from them. A frame with a picture of the 4 of them that says "Grandchildren complete the circle of life"

Take a look at that face!!! Hahaha. I love you mom!!

Family party

2011-09-26T01:31:00.000-06:00

This post just needed to start off with Mya playing peekaboo, because that is her thing lately. She thinks if she can't see us, we can't see her. Which is true, right? I love her.

We did a family Party on the Sunday (which was Heidi's real birthday) and shared it with Great Grandma Taylor who's birthday is 2 days later.

Of course we carried on the Hello Kitty theme into the next day with some cupcakes made by Jana again. Aren't they incredible?

The girls giving Great Grandma a birthday hug.

Great Grandma gave Heidi a card full of coins which was s exciting for her. SHe loves money lately. Later that week her Grandpa Taylor took her to the dollar store so she could buy something with her money. It was a really special week for her!

After the party the girls went outside to do some face and body painting... and then it was bath time!

Heidi turned 4!

2011-09-25T00:35:00.000-06:00

This has been a really busy month!! (can you blame me for not blogging in a while???) Heidi turned 4 on the 4th, and so we did a friend party for her this year. It was pretty much the highlight of her life. We did a lot of preparation before the party which was half the fun and then on party day she just felt so special.

Some things about Heidi I was to record on her birthday:

Heidi is the most tenderhearted girl I have ever met. She is always thinking about others, and how her actions will effect them. She almost always tries to do what is right.
She is a real thinker and asks a lot of questions, she wants to know everything about the world around her, how things work, why, and how people are feeling.
She gets really frustrated when things don't work (if she can't get her shoe on properly or get her buttons done up right)
She loves to watch movies
She loves to play in water but is afraid of deep water.
Likes to be at home a lot, she doesn't need to be doing things all the time, she just likes to kick back and relax sometimes. A homebody I guess.
She loves to play make believe with her big sister, Jadyn and is starting to teach Mya how to play make believe too.
She loves to dance around the house and sing when she "thinks" nobody is listening
Loves listening to music
Loves pillow talk every night with mom and/or dad. Her day is not complete without it ;)

Now onto the party preparations!

Heidi decided she wanted to have a "Hello Kitty" party, so we ordered a cake, got some party supplies and made some special creations. Heidi made each of her friends a Hello kitty bracelet with a pendant on it. She worked really hard and was so happy to have something special to give her friends. I was happy ot have some special bonding time with Heidi.

Her friends Savannah, who shares a birthday with her, also had her party that weekend. Even though we did the parties separately, the both decided on kitty themes. So Jessica came over and we made some ears and tails together that the kids could use for both parties. ARen't they adorable???

The treat bags we put together

Party day:

I hired out a cake this year and I did not regret it. Didn't Jana do an amazing job???

Jessica made us a Hello Kitty Poster for pin the bow on the kitty ;) I have a such great friends!

The party girls warming up with some artwork.

Heidi and her hair twin, Kirsten, telling stories.

Game time!

All the girls together with their kitty ears. Aren't they so adorable!!! (I purposely planned the party during Mya's nap. Sorry Mya!!)

We played mouse, mouse, cat. (you know like duck duck goose?)

And then the girls spontaneously started acting like kittens.

And then Josh came downstairs to check things out and it was game over for him!

He got mauled!

Present time!

And the cake, I was so sad to have to cut it!

And we finished off with a Pinata!

Everyone got 2 turns with 3 hits each and then Nikki had to give them a little help!

And that was the end of the Pinata!

It was such a fun party!

First day of school!

2011-09-24T00:25:00.000-06:00

This is really late, but I like to keep things in order! This year Jadyn started grade 1, and Heidi started 4 year old Preschool 3 mornings a week. They both are loving it so far. Jadyn has a great neighbour friend she rides the bus with as well as a friend from church. A lot of her class friends are new but she doesn't mind because she likes making new friends (and seems to be really good at it!) Heidi has a lot of her same friends from Preschool last year (including our next door neighbour) and even the same teacher, so she is loving it too!

Mya cried when Heidi drove away on the first day (we are doing a three way carpool this year), and kept saying "Heidi, play, Heidi, play" so needless to say she misses her sisters sometimes, but I like having the one on one time with her that we never get otherwise. It did break my heart though that first day, she just really loves to be with her big sisters!

The ride back

2011-09-23T00:00:00.000-06:00

Second last stop, Viva Las Vegas. Did I mention we did all out long drives through the night? The only driving we did during the day was from LA to Vegas, it was only 4.5 hours or so, so we figured we could do it during Mya's nap. So we spent the morning at the hotel pool and then headed on our way home.

We couldn't believe the heat at some points along the way. We were so thankful for the AC when we had to stop at the side of the road for a quick (ahem) potty break, we could really feel it! It was nuts! I don't know what this is in Fahrenheit, but HOT!

Some pictures in front of the Vegas Eiffel tower and the castle.

I didn't get the memo about the silly faces.

Our big stop in Vegas was the M&M store, we were literally in there for an hour and a half! 4 floors and there is even a 10 minute 3D M&M movie you can watch in there! I don't necessarily even like M&M's but it was a really cool store.

I didn't have my flash on me!

Does anyone else notice that sign that says not to sit on the ledge? I didn't either.

Isn't it gorgeous!

We went to the cutest ever restaurant for dinner that night, where the girls each got their own rainforest animal balloons, the reastaurant was filled with rainforest animals making noises all over the place. It kept them pretty entertained! (Again forgot the flash)

The parrot

The butterfly

I think Mya got a ladybug but I guess I didn't get a picture of that one!

Our next stop was in Idaho! Josh had an old mission friend that loves there so we stopped in for a night and hung out with them for a couple days. It was so fun for them to catch up and for the kids to all play together. Josh and Brian are now planning another trip back to Mexico City together! It is so fun to get two mission buddies together to reminisce on the "best two years" of their lives (before marriage and family of course ;0)

They had lost a daughter 3 years ago (would be 4 1/2 now) and had expressed a desire to get a family photo of all the family together on the wall, but they were having a hard time finding a photographer that would do it for them, so we took a picture while we were there and Photoshopped a photo they had of their daughter before she died into it. It's not perfect but they can now blowup a picture to put on their wall of their ETERNAL family. And THAT is perfect! I thought that was the sweetest thing I have ever heard! What an amazing family!

California adventures

2011-09-21T23:59:00.000-06:00

Day 4 we went to California adventures. The shuttle is so fun, isn't it?

More gas station photos.

Proof that I was on this trip!!!

Heidi stood and watched the lineup of people taking pictures of Minnie mouse and Pluto for a long time (while Josh and Jadyn were on a ride) but didn't want to herself, until she had watched Pluto for long enough and seemed to really like him, and his temperament. he is really good with the kids. Heidi is such a tenderhearted girl that she is really cautious with most new "people" but Pluto seemed to impress her so we got in line. We didn't want to hurt Minnie's feelings so we got a picture with her too.

But Pluto definitely had her heart!!

After we pulled away from the picture, we started walking away and almost left Mya asleep in her stroller! I ran back to get her and Pluto with his body language was laughing at us and then motioned that we needed to get a picture with Mya in it too! It was pretty funny at the time, but now that I am telling the story doesn't seem so much. I guess it is one of those "you have to be there" moments!!! Haha.

Mya is in a really "huggy" stage, she must hug all day long, whether it is me, daddy, Jadyn, Heidi, or the pole on the carousel.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to take the girls on the tower of terror. I don't think I realized how scary it really is! Heidi went with me and bawled!!! And then talked about it for weeks afterward. Josh took Jadyn afterward and even though we warned her it was really scary, she had to see for herself. Of course they didn't want to go on a second time, but I did! Josh stayed with the kids to I could go again. There is a part at the top where the door flips open to the park so here Josh took a picture of the girls while they watched all the people at the top and waited for me. Bless their sweet hearts.

Jadyn loved the park map, she always wanted to let us know which way we needed to go next. She was trying to explain it to Mya, but Mya was too busy to listen.

It was a FULL day, we stayed right until the end of the light show and fireworks that night. We figured it was our last day and we might as well squeeze every last bit of fun that we can in!!

Beach day

2011-09-20T23:30:00.000-06:00

After two full days of Disneyland we had to switch it up and do a beach day. I took Mya back to the hotel for her nap part way through and got some laundry done and relaxed a but. I hadn't realized I also took the sunscrean back with me which was in my purse, so the girls and Josh were burnt to a crisp by the time I got back! They don't usually even burn much, but by the beach, completely exposed with no protection, all day... ouch! So as soon as I came back everyone was lathering up but I am afraid it was too late for some of them ;(. The girls loved collecting seashells and came home with so many! They made so many things in the sand and even played with the seaweed making who knows what!

Mya practiced standing on her head in her down time.

Heidi helping Mya lather up.

Coincidentally we were in California for the EXACT same days as Josh's aunt and uncle and cousins, they even took the week before to spend in Utah just like we did. It was so crazy!! We figured it out part way through in Utah so we planned to do the beach day together. Funny how things like that happen!

The girls fed the seagulls bread and then chased them away! What a fun game, right???

And who doesn't love a good cuddle at the end of a fun day!

Disneyland Part 2

2011-09-19T23:05:00.000-06:00

Next stop. Jesse. On the path. She was so friendly, the girls got a big hug and some hand holding. Awe. :)

We had to take turns a lot on the rides. Josh would take Jadyn or Heidi on one, I would take the other on one, while someone sat with Mya. or on some that Heidi didn't want to go on Jadyn got to go on twice, once with each of us! But there was no shortage of things to do while we waited! There was of course the big water covered ball to cool down and play with beside space mountain!

And lots of shops to look in.

And random shows on the street, like Mary Poppins and the chimney sweepers!

When we went to the Princess section (even though there are Princesses everywhere, there is also a designated section where the Princesses are.) the girls got to watch a show and dance with the Princesses. How many times can you say Princesses in one sentence? Or one blog post?

Belle was such a sweetheart, I think she was Heidi's favorite, she talked about her all day.

They liked Tiana too, but the first thing Jadyn said when we walked away was: "Tiana was immodest." Haha. Good girl!

Cute Ariel!

Oh the gas station and the new Rapunzel dolls they also bought with their own money!

Mya screamed for a long time when I finally pulled her away from this car!

Josh loved the car ride. Clearly.

So did Heidi. She was a crazy driver!

We might have accidentally done this more than once....

Of course you have to get a $4 Mickey shaped ice cream bar, it's all part of the experience!

Our loot of past passes we collected. That was our trick to not standing in any lines!! Josh was a machine at getting those things!

The parade.

Rapunzel waved right at us!

Mya blew a lot of kisses during the parade!

Scary!

More kisses

And to finish off a lovely day at Disneyland, there's nothing like running around to nearly each and EVERY pylon along the bus stop road and giving it a hug.

Next up: The beach!

Disneland Part 1

2011-09-18T22:40:00.007-06:00

Ok we finally arrived at Disneyland, and it was so magical! :0) Haha. Seriously the girls were so excited though, almost as excited as me even! Josh stood in line while we snapped a few photos outside the doors:

"Let the Memories Begin" YESSSSS!

As we were walking in, I wanted photos of everything on the first day, Jadyn kept giving me this face because she wanted to keep walking and exploring, not taking more photos!! Good grief!

I guess the teacup is worthy of picture taking in Jadyn's records. And a great place for Heidi to take a nibble of Mya.

Jadyn saved up her money for months before be left (even though it was a surprise they knew it was in the plans for the year at some point), this little kitten was her first purchase. She is really into stuffies lately.

On the second morning I took the girls to the Bibbedi Boppedy Boutique to get their hair, nails, and makeup done like a princess. Heidi would have nothing to do with it, so we had to cancel her appointment, but Jadyn thought it was so much fun (as did I) The lady was so great and during the whole appointment kept quizzing us on Princess knowledge and had Jadyn totally memorized.

Sprinkling pixie dust on her hair!

So great right???

It was so fun and i think Jadyn was having fun, but the minute we walked out the door, Jadyn burst into tears sayign that her hair hurt!! Poor thing! So we had to take it all out, repin everything a little more loose and redo it, in the meantime Ariel walked by so we had to get a picture with her and Jadyn's spikey hair! I convinced her to put it all back in long enough for a picture with Rapunzel, but after that it was game over. She kept the braids in but that was it. Ah well, the experience was still worth it at least!

The girls were totally starstruck by all the Princesses!

We even lucked out and Flinn Ryder was around too!

Heidi got to hold Rapunzel's hair for the photos, such an honour!! Haha.

They are practically besties now ;)

Where do I start?

2011-09-12T15:10:00.005-06:00

It has been pointed out to me that my blog is stalled (Hi Allison, Renae and hailey :)) so I am here to try and catch up. I have so much to blog about and s much to do otherwise that I am overwhelmed and keep putting it off! I will need to catch up slowly so I don't just dump everything out in one post and confuse myself. haha. The last couple weeks of August we decided to take a road trip. We first drove to Utah where we visited Josh's sister for a couple days, went to seven peaks water slides (amazing) and then Josh had some fun with a lifetime friends who is living there. He took the kids for the week while I stayed with my aunt and attended BYU education week. I seem to make it down there every few years and it gets better each time! I am not sure if it is the classes that gets better, or if it is the break that is more and more needed... ;)

No pictures from that week because of course I left Josh with the camera.... he's a guy....

After the week was over I anticipated an amazing reuinion with my husband and kids and mostly Mya's bright eyed face when she saw me again (I have never left her that long before) she just has so much personalitly right now and I was anticipating a reunion like Josh gets when he comes home from work (which is similar to the way a puppy would greet you when you come home from work!) Unfortunately Mya had woken up that morning with a fever (I blame it on Josh feeding them McDonalds all week, he is thrilled that you can get 50 chicken nuggets for $10 down there. I am a little less than thrilled....lol) Just kidding, i am just it was just all the traveling. Anyway, needless to say I was greeted with crying and whining and screaming instead. Ah well. It was still good to see them all :) We headed for California from there and since we like to drive thorugh the night when we go on long trips, we got the girls pillows and blankets ready, brushed their teeth, jammies on and tucked them into the seats, told them we were going home, and went on our way... in the wrong directions, hehe.

We had a pitstop at the daughter of a family Josh knew when he served his mission in Mexico city who he was really close to. We stopped in to visit them since they only live 30 minutes from Disneyland. It was morning by the time we got there, and we assured the girls after this pitstop we would be on our way home soon. (a little too much lying do you think? oops) Anyway we had a great time with this amazing family. They were so giving and spoiled us with yummy food all day.

Here are some pictures to conclude part 1 of our trip. Whew I am exhausted!! I'll work on Disneyland tomorrow!

Mya drinking her dolls' bottle.

Beautiful girls

The girls thought this face was the most charming. I do too.

New friends! Brianna and Mackenzie.

She thinks she is so funny! I do too!

Jadyn is an aspiring photographer! Not bad!

All he kids together. Do you think they like getting their picture taken?

Amazing people. Loved them!!!

Down time

2011-08-12T14:49:00.000-06:00

July was Taylor family month. We spent time with Josh's family the entire month, it was so fun. The kids loves playing with their cousins non-stop and we loved our camping trips. It was nice to come home and have some down time last week though, and we have been trying to make the most of the last month of summer!

-spray park - again ;)

-playing with Lily on the trampoline next door

-pitting and dehydrating the many cherries we brought back from Penticton

-face paint at Madilyn and Lexi's birthday party

Camping in Penticton

2011-08-10T00:36:00.000-06:00

After our weekend in Waterton we headed to Penticton for a week. I LOVE it there! It was my first time in that part of BC. I took so many pictures that bring so many memories and I couldn't leave anything out!

Highlights of the trip:
-getting ice cream every other day
-picking cherries, peaches, and apricots fresh from the tree
-reading a great book
-the beautiful weather
-beach bumming every day
-floating down the canal on our blowup dingy
-watching the girls ride their bikes and play at the playground making new friends
-the girls giggling in the tent together while they try to fall asleep at night

-dinner at BP's and mini chocolate pizza's for dessert
-the girls decorating the tent with their pictures
-tan lines

Camping in waterton - Jadyn's perspective

2011-08-05T00:28:00.004-06:00

Jadyn is turning into a mini photographer. She is loving being behind the camera and loves photos and videos. It is pretty cute. While we were camping she took it around a lot and even had Sarah up on the hill and directing her how she wanted her to pose. I love it. Here is our camping trip from Jadyn's perspective!

Stampede

2011-08-04T22:43:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago we had the chance to go to the stampede with Matthew and CHloe. We wanted to take Jadyn and Heidi to the grandstand show and they never stay up that late but they did awesome and it was so much fun!

Sheering the sheep (is that the right term?)

Baby chicks

The girls getting ready for the show with their snack and game prizes!

And no pictures of the actual show I guess! Oops! It was good!

Since that day we have been on two camping trips that I will be posting soon! We have had a fun filled summer so far and it is not over!

Missy Moo Hoo

2011-07-15T23:34:00.004-06:00

I can't believe my baby is getting so big already! 21 months old today. I had a lot of fun with her at the splash park the other day getting these shots. She hated that hat, but I bribed her with crackers to get her to keep it on. I think it is just darling! (and matches her eyes! I love this girl in blue!)

Something about my Mya baby lately:

-nickname by mom, dad, and sisters: Missy Moo Hoo, or Missy Mya Moo Hoo (not sure where that came to be!)

-LOVES the park (wee is what she calls it) I cannot resist when she looks me in the eyes and so sweetly says "mom, wee?" and every time we mention "park" she runs to grab her shoes shouting "wee" in the most hysterically excited voice ever!

-loves to play with the light bright and colour/draw with her sisters.

-loves blueberries, strawberries, oranges, watermelon, asparagus, peas, corn on the cob, oatmeal with coconut milk, toast, eggs, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate (like her mom)

-loves to read books so I leave books in her crib and I always hear her reading them in the morning before I go in to get her.

-even thought she is getting to be more of a feisty toy stealer, food stealer, and mommy stealer, the girls still just adore her and the novelty has not worn of since her birth! They just think every thing she does is so cute (and so do I. Because it is).

-loves her daddy and will often pout at the door when he leaves for work saying "daddy, daddy, daddy" and when he gets home from work she is like a little puppy dog running full tilt to greet him screaming: daaaaaaaaddy!

-loves shoes, so if you come to my house and can't find your shoes when you leave, it is her fault!

-loves to play with my iphone and think it is hers.

-she is repeating everything we say! It is so fun for the girls to get her to say "potty" words. good grief, but it is pretty cute!

-has me wrapped around her little finger. Oh crap!

Calaway Park - again

2011-07-12T23:52:00.003-06:00

Last week we went to Calaway Park with the girls cousins. They had a great day. I wish I had brought my camera, but all I had was my phone, oh well. I have a feeling we might be doing this outing a lot this summer! The kids are loving it! We stayed all day this time (11:00-7:00) I can't believe they lasted that long! Jadyn's new favorite is the log ride, she loved the rush and getting wet. She is a nut.

See little Mya on the boat ride??

Snack time!

Mya got pooped out by about 3:00, I am so glad she fell asleep so we didn't have to leave!

They are always taking such good care of Mya!

Horseback riding with Chloe!

2011-07-11T12:46:00.003-06:00

Chloe and her sister Jen were so sweet to invite us to go horse back riding with them this past week. The girls were so excited. Jadyn was talking about it all day. We did an easy trail with the girls on the pony or with me on the horse together. They thought it was the best thing ever. Heidi and Mya weren't too thrilled with the pony ride, but when they went on the horse with me, they didn't want to get off! Jadyn has been asking for years to take her horseback riding, so I was so thankful to Chloe for providing this opportunity!!! It was such a blast, I cannot even explain!
Heidi was really unsure about the whole Pony thing!

Jadyn was in heaven!
Mya wouldn't go near the Pony on her own but was happy to climb on the horse with me, the other girls were patiently waiting their turn!
I love her cute pudgy cheeks and hands!
Mya kept running after me and Heidi on the horse, and Josh kept running after Mya, lol!
My neices!
Beautiful Heidi! And Mya love the Pony from a distance it seems!

Up until that day I thought a Pony was a baby horse, I was set straight. Oops.

Backyard pool

2011-07-10T21:21:00.000-06:00

A couple years ago now I bought this cute little blowup pool in anticipation of Mya's birth. Since she came so quickly we didn't have time to get it all filled up to use, so I birthed her in the bathtub instead. And now we have a kiddie pool in the backyard to cool off on those hot days we have been having (finally) It's not as cool as the spray park, but does the trick when I need to be at home to get stuff done! (Yes I realize I have a patch of dead grass and a garden cover that is falling apart... that's just how I roll!)

Heidi and her birthday twin enjoying to pool!

Photo shoot with Emma

2011-07-10T11:15:00.000-06:00

My niece Emma has been here visiting from Boston. She wanted me to teach her some of my photo tricks. She is saving for an SLR camera and she already has such a great eye and she is only 13! So we did a photo shoot with the girls in the studio. These are some of the shots I took but she will probably be posting her own when she is back home! She is going to go places this girl. She is amazing at the piano, guitar, has a voice that could kill, and now she is learning photography. She is so multitalented. She is also the nicest girl to walk the planet. So well mannered and just plain sweet. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body!! She is a lot more mature than most adults I now! Sometimes when I am talking to her I forget how young she is. If any of my 3 girls turn out as amazing ad Emma I will be one happy mom!! Thanks for coming to stay with us Emma, you are welcome ANY time!!

Spray park!

2011-07-09T23:54:00.000-06:00

Total picture overload I know but I need them all in my book!! We have had so much family in town this week and it has been just a party all week! Karen was sad that we don't have the lake anymore since we moved, but then everyone came to the spray park by my house and realized it is even better! It is so nice and enclosed and perfect for the kids. The older kids went boating or inside for foosball and ping pong, and the little kids played in the spray park/wading pool or the amazing playground, and the parents made picnics and played volleyball. It was perfect for everyone. I love where I live! Now if only we could have a few more months each year with weather like this!

Briggs always gives scowls for the camera, he is such a ham!

I also brought the playdoh for the kids to play with when they needed a break from the water. It was a big hit and such easy cleanup!

These three girls are such buddies. Sarah slept over 3 nights in a row this week! They had so much fun together!

I was afraid Adam would fall asleep on this little foatie, he was hanging out on there for almost half an hour, just floating around quietly!

Heidi trying to convince Jadyn to try an olive. Jadyn wasn't too impressed!

Mya has turning into such a climber. She loves the park and climbing anything
I will let her get her hands on!

Crazy girl! She was upset when dad pulled her off, she was almost to the top!

"Watch this mom!"

Blurry picture but otherwise so perfect!

Heidi couldn't find a match so she wore this, I didn't realize until we were there. It is such a Heidi thing to do! What a funny girl!

Ward Campout video

2011-07-08T22:50:00.003-06:00

Ward Campout

2011-07-08T15:37:00.006-06:00

A couple weeks ago we went for a ward campout. It was the first of the summer for us. It was freezing at night and Mya didn't sleep well. I hope it was just because it was cold and not because she doesn't like camping. I guess we will find out soon since we have a week long camping trip coming up! The kids had a lot of fun camping with all their church friends. A live local band for a bumping dance in the evening was a highlight! The theme was a pioneer one this year and they did a special presentation on the Saturday morning with the Joseph Smith story. They had different people acting out Joseph at different ages, his mother, Martin Harris etc. It was really special. It took me a while to sort through all the photos since we have been so busy enjoying the summer!

Doing the chicken dance!

Remember when Heidi used to be obsessed with dogs? She passed it onto Mya. And cats, and horses, and any animal really, but they are all called "puppies" :)

Group shot of the ward! So many people came, it was so fun!

Canada Day weekend

2011-07-07T23:52:00.000-06:00

On Canada Day, we headed up to Airdrie for the parade. Small town/city parades are much better than Calgary because there aren't nearly as many people and they throw out candy for the kids! They loved it. We met up with their cousins and went over for lunch afterward too. We enjoyed a yummy Canada Day cake for dessert made by yours truly. I couldn't resist ;) Then that same weekend we celebrated Josh's grandpa's birthday with almost all the cousins in town to celebrate. That doesn't happen very often. We have had Josh's oldest brother Norm's family in town for the last week and for the next week too. It is so nice to be able to spend time with them, as well as the other Alberta cousins who came into town!

Last day of Kindergarten and the fun begins!

2011-07-01T22:13:00.003-06:00

Jadyn had her last day of school this week. I am so relieved to be able to have a fun unscheduled summer and to be able to play and camp and go to the spray park and calaway park, and whatever we want at our leisure. Yay! I didn't put the girls in any programs at all for the summer because we plan on just having some FUN. We started off with a bang on Wednesday with a couple birthday parties, then Calaway Park yesterday, and then some Canada Day festivities today!

Jadyn happy be be done her last day

At Paige's birthday party. Meagan has the best kid backyard, you can ride bikes on the deck it is so big, and have picnics with the two levels, or jump on the trampoline!

Calaway park was especially fun. Last year Heidi was scared of most rides. For example I would have to hold her sitting down on the bench's on the merry go round face me, straddling me in a tight squeeze (to paint a picture for you). She has such a tender personality and is usually just happy to watch Jadyn be the daredevil. This year was mostly the same, she went on a few more rides than usualbut was mostly scared of the big rides that Jadyn loves that you need an adult to ride with you for. UNTIL half way through Jadyn really wanted to go on a fun spider ride that flies you really high in the air, all of a sudden, Heidi agreed to go on it, so we wasted no time and went for it before she had a chance to change her mind! She was a little shocked at first but the rush of butterflies to her tummy and held on tight to me, but about half way through she started giggling and didn't stop for the rest of the ride. After the ride was over? "again!" we went on it 4 times, I had to cap it at that because I was finished! So I am happy to say she is getting over her fear, which is a lot of fun!

Jadyn has been talking about going on the BIG roller coaster for months now, and was so dissapointed to find out that she still has about another 3-4 inches to grow! Sad! Hopefully next summer she will be tall enough. So she had to settle for the little roller coaster :/.

And I haven't loaded any photos from today yet so that will have to wait for another day. Three blog posts in one day is sufficient anyway don't you think?

More stampede and singing in the rain

2011-07-01T22:02:00.002-06:00

Jadyn had a stampede breakfast at her school last week, I think my kids think that the stampede is just a bunch of breakfasts all week long because we never actually take them to the stampede. Josh and I have been talking about possibly taking them on kids day this year so we'll see if that actually happens, I think it would be fun, and slightly stressful, but fun. I just love getting the girls all dressed up in their cowgirl duds.

Heidi decided to play outside in the rain the other day, I love it when she is in a playful mood like this.

Lemonade

2011-07-01T21:05:00.002-06:00

Jadyn had been asking me for weeks to do a lemonade stand, but since we have had so much rain I kept putting it off. Last week we started having some REAL summer weather, so as soon as the first hot day came, Jadyn started asking again for the lemonade stand. It is so cute. She also asks every day if we can have a garage sale. That to me is out of the question. I am so good at purging things that I don't think I could ever really have one. Plus they seem like so much work!

Anyway the day of the lemonade stand finally came, Heidi and I spent the afternoon making cookies while Jadyn was at school. The girls and I made some yummy fresh squeezed lemonade and we parked ourselves at the park by our house for better exposure and packed a picnic dinner while we sat and waited for the thirsty customers!

The girls were so cute. Josh was training them and each time a car drove by they would try to wave them in. SO many people stopped and they had so much fun. Every time a new car pulled over, Heidi would get so excited and frantially go to grab a new cup from the wagon and start filling it up, no saying hello what would you like, she was too excited for small talk and she had a job to do! They had a riot, and we had fun watching/helping them.

Family bike ride

2011-06-27T23:49:00.002-06:00

Tonight after FHE we decided to go for a family bike ride. Usually when we go for bike rides, I run with Mya in the stroller while jadyn and Heidi ride their bikes, it is a good workout for me and it is goodbfor heidi's pace, but Jadyn would love to pick up the pace usually! I finally bought a bike on Saturday, after not having owned once since I was a teenager! It feels so good! So tonight we stuck the little girls in the bike trailer and Jadyn, mom and dad rode bikes. It was lovely. The girls loved riding behind and giggled at every bump in the path. I can sense many more of these in the future ;)

Snapshots

2011-06-23T23:22:00.000-06:00

These girls love watching movies on the bean bag, pretzels, and light brights. Remember light brights? We love them around here. Apparently they are even more fun WITHOUT the paper. Even Mya thinks so.

Last day of preschool

2011-06-21T23:13:00.002-06:00

Last week Heidi had her preschool end of the year picnic. Of course it was raining so we had a bouncy house and clown and picnic on the floor in the preschool gym. Fabulous! Do the kids really care? no way! I can't believe Heidi has completed a full year of preschool, she is growing up way too fast!

Father's day

2011-06-19T21:36:00.010-06:00

We had a fabulous time preparing for father's day all week! The girls love painting and drawing and anything crafty, so that's what we do. I just loved how Mya joined in on all the painting and love being such a big girl. For some reason this day every time i said her name with the camera ready for a picture, she would tilt her head and smile for me. It was waaaay cute, I have no idea where she got that from (though I have a hunch she might have learned it from a certain couple of big sisters) We decorated bags for the gifts for daddy and decorated Grandpa's "six pack" box.

Jadyn showing off the beautiful frame she painting for Grandpa Taylor.

Mya was working so hard!

The girls loved filling the bottles with Candy. One for the bottle, one for their mouth etc. lol

Heidi's frame artwork.

Goofy girls ;)

Do you think Heidi is sneaking just one more candy after she was told not too? Probably not right? She just has that cute grin on her face ALL the time ;)

Random, but after all their hard work, Josh woke up after his night shift and decided to do a little math work with the girls and the leftover skittles. He is such a great dad!

It was hard work finishing off all those bottles of cream soda! No seriously it was. The kids don't like pop and Josh doesn't like this particular kind, and I probably drink it twice a year, so 12 in a week (we made two boxes) was a little much! (I ended up pouring the last 4 bottles into the sink)

Today was fun, the girls were so excited for daddy to wake up and share their gifts with him!

Jadyn kept asking me to take pictures of her, haha.

Josh has mastered the super exaggerated excited look that the girls love so much!

What is father's day without a new tie and cuff links?

And this is what Mya did the entire afternoon while the festivities were happening!

We headed over to my parents house for dinner and a little ring around the rosie...

Umm, who got these pictures all out of order??

Bringing Grandpa's gift to him. It was heavy!

And we enjoyed a wonderful evening playing headbandz!

First stampede breakfast

2011-06-19T00:06:00.006-06:00

This morning we stopped in at our first stampede breakfast of the year, it was windy and cloudy, but the girls managed to have a fun time. We stood in line most of the time while the girls back and forth from the face painting until we got our food. Jadyn loves face painting, but apparently today she doesn't like being a model and wouldn't let me take any pictures of her! I thought Mya was super cute in her cowboy hat and boots! I just love these girls!

Shopper

2011-06-10T13:35:00.003-06:00

Isn't Heidi the cutest shopper around? She is such a little mom in every way. Loves to help with groceries, loves to help cook and clean, mop, wash walls, take care of Mya and help with diaper changes.

Mys is learning to get in on the fun too. I am hoping their skills improve soon too! Haha.

Face painting

2011-06-08T20:57:00.001-06:00

The other day Jadyn came home from a birthday party with her face painted, and she had received some paints in the treat bag (not pace paints mind you) but the girls figured it would be fun to paint Heidi's face with them anyway. I loved watching them have so much fun together. Aren't sisters such a wonderful thing? I am so glad my girls have each other!

Heidi's zoo field trip

2011-06-06T13:06:00.000-06:00

Last week I had the opportunity to tag along on a field trip with Heidi preschool. The weather was horrible, it rained the entire time, Heidi had a complete meltdown near the end, but it was so much fun!
The girls LOVED the bus ride, they felt so grown up.

The girls were fascinated by the coins in the pond

Heidi thinking really hard about what she wants to wish for before she throws her money in.

We had a great, wet time!

10 year reunion

2011-06-05T21:03:00.003-06:00

Last night We went out for dinner with Meagan and Ben, after that we headed out for our 10 year high school reunion! I was hesitant but it ended up being a lot of fun! It was great to catch up with people and see what everyone has done in the last 10 years. I didn't take nearly enough pictures... Here I am with Meagan and Margaret.

Lazy Sunday

2011-06-01T01:06:00.010-06:00

I love lazy Sundays where we can just hang out and do whatever we feel like. 9:00 church is hard to get up and ready for, but it is worth it when we get home after and have the rest of the day. This was actually last week but I am still a little behind ;) Actually I think we stayed home sick this day so it really was a lazy Sunday!

The girls got out the paints and sat their during Mya's entire nap and made a huge stack of creations. I got them a new book of things to paint and Jadyn loved creating all the things she saw. She is getting to be a great artist!

These are out "vintage" paint brushes! lol

Made a yummy salad...

And some yummy kale chips in the dehydrator. After visiting that yummy restaraunt in Banff I had a renewed determination to eat better and have been wanting to try out kale chips for a long time. Just massage some oil and sea salt into the chopped up kale, and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours, and you have some yummy healthy chips!

Josh is 30!

2011-05-26T23:22:00.006-06:00

We celebrated Josh's birthday this past week as you know, it seems like it lasted the whole week! When it was actually his birthday last Tuesday we had a mini party at the house for him. The girls love parties, mostly because of the cake ;)

Jadyn and Heidi made daddy some more cards. Mya celebrated by stamping her hand.

And a stamp for daddy's hand, it's his birthday you know. (Heidi wasn't bored at all.)

The girls help daddy blow out the candles, Mya tried to catch the smoke with her hands.

And then she tried to eat the entire thing to herself.

(do I see a sneaky hand in there?) It was a fun day!

My birthday present to him was a night in Banff! We actually had a gift card he received from work that paid for it, so I guess my gift was booking the babysitter (aka my mom) and the hotel (Banff Springs) I am a high roller. We had fun. We ate lots of yummy food, slept in, and did a small hike, and just enjoyed the weather and the peaceful time alone! Thanks mom!

While we were there we went to the best resaraunt ever. I am not even kidding, even Josh said it is the best restaurant he has ever eaten at. It was this cute little vegetarian/vegan/raw food cafe in the middle of Banff. We found in on Google looking for something healthy to eat before our hike. We were both so impressed. I only had my iphone with me so excuse the pictures but the food was really good, the pictures don't do it justice. If you are ever in the area you have to check it out!! I actually wanted to go back for dinner once we were home, I will definitely make sure I visit there any time I am in Banff in the future!! So yummy!!!