Wednesday, November 30, 2011

We transformed our home into a magical wonderland

On Monday night for family home evening we decorated our Christmas tree! Our theme colors are gold, silver and blue.We just love tearing off the lids to our totes that hold our Christmas decor. The kids were thrilled as could be for this yearly activity of transforming our home into a magical wonderland.


 The boys putting the tree skirt around the tree.

 The kids rummaging through the box to find the little decorations


 The kids decorating the tree!









 Marshall and Courtney hanging up the candy canes.
 Madison hanging up the candy cane.

The finished product of the tree! They did a wonderful job!

After the tree was all decorated and sparkling with beauty, the kids ate a candy cane.......
AND





we finsihed off the night with oreos and milk!
Mmmm Mmmmm Good!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

My blanket angel

This morning after I got Marshall and Madison ready and sent off to school with Bennie (he is the morning school dropper-offer around here), I was overwhelmed with exhaustion. I looked like a crazy lady who just stepped out of the scenes of a horror movie. I was in my jammie gear and my hair was all over the place. Some of it stayed clipped up while the rest fluttered down with tangles throughout. My 5 year old daughter mentioned to me that I looked pretty before she stepped out the door to head to school. It was a kind compliment. I had slept pretty well the night before, so I was a bit confused with this current state of exhaustion I was in. I couldn't manage eating so 2 glasses of apple juice would have to do. Once I got the juice in my system, I laid down on the couch using the pile of unfolded towels as my pillow. My face sunk into the sweet fresh scent of clean laundry. I was out. The next thing I knew, my 3 year old daughter, Courtney, was putting a blanket over me to keep me warm while I snoozed away. Moments like these are burnt in my heart and memory for ever. Her sweet acts of love, kindness, and gentleness make me realize just what a great job I am doing at being Mommy. I love being a Mommy and wouldn't change it for anything in the world.
After Ben got home from his morning kids-dropper-offer routine, he asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I mumbled out the words "nothing" while I stay in my overwhelmed tired state. He said I should eat something and asked me if I wanted cereal, an egg sandwich, scrambled eggs etc. etc. etc. After many attempts of him trying to get me to let him make me something for breakfast, he finally realized it was a useless battle. As stubborn as he can be, and believe me he can be, I think I'm a sliver more stubborn.
After he did a load of dishes, he headed up to bed. This is the time he gets to sleep due to him being on the overnight shift at his work. I soon straggled up to bed with my Hubs and cuddled him like there was no tomorrow. Courtney joined in beside me. Soon, we all 3 dozed off into sleepy land.
Courtney and I woke at 11:50 to go get Madison from Kindergarten. Courtney's first words when she woke up from her nap was, "Mom, did you have a good nap?" I replied, "Oh yes, did you?" She replied, "Yes." And we did. It was a much needed refreshing nap. And off we went to enjoy the rest of our day.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Something waiting in my mailbox for me taught me a lesson

Guess what I received in the mail yesterday?



I decided to check the mail on my way out the door to get my handsome son from school, and in my mailbox magically waiting was this beautiful magazine.
I ordered it last week, so I was surprised it had been delivered so quickly.
I flipped through the pages while me and my beautiful daughters waited for my son's school bell to dismiss all those anxiously awaiting children to bounce out the doors and start their beautiful afternoon in the fresh air.
I couldn't get enough of the magazine, but I had to get ready to leave for the night, so when I got home, I took the magazine in the bath with me and flipped through those pages as I soaked.
At first, I wanted it to stay in prefect condition as I had just spend $26 on this beautiful keepsake magazine, but a thought came to my mind that convinced me otherwise.
When my 5 year old daughter, Madison, saw me flipping through the colorful pages while we waited for her brother at school, she asked me if she could look at it later.
I was hesitant at first because of the thought of bent pages, and maybe even a ripped page, occurring to this precious magazine. However, I realized that this is just a magazine. It is a material thing. My daughter is not. After I got out of the bath, I took the magazine downstairs and handed it to her. I said, "this magazine is very special to Mommy, but you can look at it. Please take care of it." And that's just what she did. She took care of it.
Watching her sit on the fireplace hearth, with the fireplace glowing in the background, while her cute little fingers delicately turned the pages with joy and delight in her eyes, my heart warmed. That is priceless. A magazine is not. Her memories, and her enjoying her childhood, are far more important than any material thing.

On a different note, me and my darling sister in law, who lives just down the road from me, went and saw Breaking Dawn part 1 last night. I loved it. If you haven't seen it, you so should. Even if you're not a twilight fan, you should see it. I can't wait for part 2 to come out next year.

The past few nights have been sleepless for me and busy as can be. Interested in what I have been up to that's been keeping me so busy? Check it out HERE. I worked on a couple different projects but am just about done! I won't say which projects just incase the people who I made them for are reading this.
It is that time of year and I am loving it!

Off my son and I go to the wonderful weekly shopping trip at good ol' walmart.
The price matching list is made and the weekly dinner menu is planned. I don't feel like getting all ready and done up to go out today, so on will go my cute crouched hat or a loose bun in my hair. Makeup will come tomorrow.
I hope I get back in enough time to make THIS for dinner. YUM!

 I hope you all have a merry snowy weekend. Well, snowy if you're here in the beautiful state of Utah that is.

And if you're interested in purchasing your own copy of this beautiful keepsake magazine, you can do so by clicking HERE.  I think they've gone down in price since last week because I paid $26.95 (includes shipping) for my copy, and I just looked on their website and the total with shipping is only $21.90.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

My "anywhere sleeper", early morning, and some Christmas cheer


This girl is so silly! She can sleep anywhere. Literally. When she is tired, she crawls up and gets all comfortable and sucks her thumb until she falls asleep. In this particular picture, she decided that the best spot for her was right in the living room/hallway and kitchen. Not just one room. Oh no. She had to take up both spots at once. Right in the walking path.

Today as I was cleaning up the kitchen, Courtney decided that she wanted to help me clean. She usually loves to help me clean the kitchen. So, I gave her a dish rag and she decided she wanted to clean the outside of the fridge. She had me lift her up to get the upper part of the fridge.
Once the kitchen was clean, and it was time to start dinner, she decided that she wanted to color. So, she pulled out the craft bucket and all of her coloring supplies and started coloring away right on the kitchen floor, keeping me company while I cooked some chicken enchiladas.
Once she was done coloring, she got up and said with a yawn, "I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap." She's so silly. I replied, "I want to take a nap, too!"

Today started off way to early for my liking. It started at 6. Courtney woke up to use the bathroom. All of the sudden I hear her coming in my room saying there was no toilet paper. I told her to just go get some toilet paper from my bathroom. She did as I instructed, and after she was done, she came to lay down with me. All of the sudden I hear her sweet voice say, "Mommy, I need to change my underwear. I got poop in my underwear." So, off we went to get her all changed and cleaned up a little better. It's not that she didn't make it to the bathroom in enough time. What had happened is when she pulled up her underwear to let me know that their bathroom was out of toilet paper, some streaks got in her underwear. I guess that's what I get for not making sure that the kids bathroom is stocked up on toilet paper. Oops! What can I say, you live and you learn. Also, she only had one more clean pair of underwear left. Yep, I'm a laundry slacker. Big time. But you already knew that. So, I gathered up all the undies and put a load in the wash at the early hour of 6.
Once we were up, there was no point in going back to sleep. We were both wide awake. Soon after, Madison made her way down and then Marshall. Lets just say the kids were ready for school extra early today and Courtney's hair was done before the other 2 took off to school. That like never happens.

Just a little something to throw out there- I'm super excited for Christmas. I want to set up my tree like.... yesterday. It seriously is the most wonderful time of the year.
Just a few things I'm excited for this holiday season:
*All of my kids being home on Christmas day
*Making our traditional Christmas dinner
*Seeing the lights at temple square with my family
*Making Christmas cards
*Baking holiday treats with my family
*Setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house all festive with my family
*Fulfilling our Christmas Eve tradition of watching The King is Born and baking Santa cookies with my family
*But most of all, talking about the true meaning of Christmas with my family

As you can tell, I'm not someone who is opposed to listen to Christmas music, set up the Christmas tree (which I have never done before Thanksgiving), and talk about Christmas before Thanksgiving has a chance to come and go. Some people think that it's disrespectful to the Thanksgiving holiday to even speak of Christmas one second before Thanksgiving is over. To those people I say that is so not true. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as well. I've been looking forward to it all year long. :)
Happy Holidays to you all.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Our Santa Wish List Cards!

Tonight for family home evening we made our Santa wish list cards, watched a movie "The Happy Elf" (if you have Netflix, I recommend you look it up and watch it. It's too cute), talked about the true meaning of Christmas, and went to Wendys for some yummy ice cream.

I know, I know, we are super early on the Santa wish list cards. I usually wouldn't do them this early but we have a very busy few weeks ahead of us and Santa needs the list early so his little elves have time to make the stuff. :)

I found a cute website. It's http://www.northpole.com/ Your kids can type and send letters to Santa straight from that website. It has fun activities for kids, too. Check it out!



 We had fun playing with the paint!

Marshall's card!

Madison's card!

Courtney's card! Bennie and Courtney had fun decorating her card together.

Mommy's card!

Bennie's card!

Courtney's wish list

Madison's wish list

Marshall's wish list. You can't tell he has all sisters and no brothers by his flynn doll request. ;) Flynn is the guy from Tangled.
He wrote the first part of his letter then asked me to write the rest for him. The top of his letter says, "Dear Santa From Marshall, I would like the Captain America that my Mom could not buy and I would like a treasure bell. (It's like a bell that you hold in your hand and shake. Like the bell from The Polar Express.)

Mommy's wish list

Bennie's wish list. He's so silly, but he sure is sweet.

After Marshall and Madison's cards were done they decided they wanted to do another craft project. Madison's art work is above and Marshall's art work is below.


Courtney helped clean up the paints. Marshall made his way in shortly after to help clean up.
Messy, messy! What's the point of being a kid if you can't get all messy?

I asked Courtney earlier today what she wanted for Christmas. She said 3 Alex dollies (I think that's the name of the dolly she wants). Then she decided to start being silly. Not like that's unusual for her. She said she also wants a tongue, teeth, and boogers. That's right folks. You heard right. She wants her boogers for Christmas! That gets a great big ewe, but I have to admit, Bennie and I couldn't stop laughing after she said it.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Ooh la la

I had my monthly meltdown the other day. My laptop broke and every other thing just seemed to be going wrong. I was being overly dramatic to say that least. Not like that's anything unusual. After the hubs and I discussed it, we decided that we needed a new laptop. So, my husband suggested that I head out to buy a new laptop and just get out of the house and take a breather for a bit. So, off I went. After the computer was bought, I headed to go get something to eat. I love the atmosphere of sit down restaurants so I chose to eat at the Outback Steak House. I had their signature steak, lobster tail, garlic mashed potatoes, and house salad with ranch. The drink I chose was their cocoberrie (coconut and strawberry) smoothie. Talk about melt-in-my-mouth! I am obsessed. Literally.

Not the best picture to capture this smoothie's indulging deliciousness. Camera phones are convenient but they certainly don't take the best quality photos.
My little babes must have agreed with the food because I didn't come home and puke it up. I love seafood. My baby, not so much. Every time I eat seafood I get sick. Not this time! She knows it was too good to puke up. I think my seafood obsession is rubbing off on her. Shhhh.... Don't tell her Daddy. He'd spend the next 4 months trying to convince her otherwise. ;)

Oh, we went in for my 20 week ultrasound last Wednesday. It was the most uncomfortable thing ever. My back and hips hurt so bad lying flat on my back on that hard table for 45 minutes. I had never before experienced an uncomfortable ultrasound until last Wednesday. Back to the important stuff. She looks great and seems to be healthy as can be! She is growing great and she is measuring just right. That's something to celebrate about! :)

After a well relaxed and refreshed couple of hours, I was back home enjoying my family once again.

Ben and the kids helped Madison decorate her turkey that was due at school the following day. They went outside and gathered grass and colorful leaves. They glued their freshly gathered supplies, and some macaroni noodles, on her turkey. They helped her color it as well. I was really impressed when I saw how it had turned out. It turned out super cute!

If you're ever up in Orem, you so have to stop by and grab one of those delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, cocoberrie smoothies. You will fall in love. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Friday, November 11, 2011

A glimpse at how Marshall came to be!

My kids are growing up way too fast. It literally brings tears to my eyes. I just want them to stay little forever. However, I know God has a plan for each and every one of us, and part of that plan is growing. Not just physically, but spiritually as well. I am honored and blessed to have the opportunity to be the mother to these children of mine, and watch them grow into amazing adults as I know that they will.

I have been a Mom for over 8 years. I consider me being a Mom when I got pregnant. I found out I was pregnant for the first time with my precious Marshall in the spring of 2003. I still remember every detail of that day as if it were yesterday. It brings a smile to my face. Kenny and I were living in South Dakota and had a charming little apartment in the famous town of Sturgis. Our apartment had cute little hardwood floors. I still remember the anticipation as we drove the 20 minutes home from walmart with the pregnancy test in our walmart bag. We both worked at that walmart. I was a cashier and Kenny worked in the garden center. We worked in the little cute town of Spear Fish, South Dakota. It was our day off that particular day. We had just bought a computer desk that day as well. We drove home with that little computer desk and pregnancy test in the back.

We worked at such a cute, tiny little walmart. It wasn't a super center. It closed at midnight and Sundays at 10. I quickly made friends with most of the people that worked there. One lady, Valerie, that was a cashier as well had a little boy and a baby girl on the way. She gave me some baby supplies. I remember her giving me some cute baby washcloths and a cute baby hooded towel. I still use them. The hooded towel fits my 3 year old perfectly. And every time I do use the towel and washcloths, I think of her kindness and how she touched my life forever by her sweet and kind little acts of love. Another cute girl, Leah, who was going to college to be a pharmacist's assistant, made a CD for me when she heard I was moving back to Utah. It was so cute and sweet. I listened to that CD most of the way home and many times throughout the months after. It helped my broken heart mend just a little bit by listening to the healing words on each of the songs from the CD. My favorite song was song number 4: Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake. The words expressed how I was feeling at that very moment. That time in my life was the first time that I had ever felt real pain. I was at the young age of 18. More on that later.

As soon as Kenny and I got home from walmart on that wonderful spring day, we went straight to the bathroom and opened that little box. We waited with more anticipation than we had ever felt before while the test lye there working its magic to give us the life-changing results as to if we were pregnant or not. The moment we saw that we were pregnant we were ecstatic. Beyond ecstatic. My brother-in-law, Bradley, (Kenny's little brother) lived with us at the time. We were thrilled to tell him and everyone else our exciting news that little Marshall was growing inside my little tummy.

Before we knew that it was a boy we had chose names for both genders. If it were to be a girl, her name would be Nikki Taylor. If it were to be a boy, his name would be Marshall Taylor or Ashton Taylor. I was thrilled when I found out it was a boy. I decided to go with the name Marshall, and I'm glad I did. Marshall fits my little amazing boy perfectly.


I didn't find out that I was having a boy the most ordinary of ways. When I was 17 weeks pregnant I had gotten in a car crash while leaving work at walmart and had to get an ultrasound to see if my precious baby was okay. He was, and I could hardly contain my excitement when I was told that I was having a boy. I would have been just as excited if I would have found out it were a girl. I was just so thrilled to know, and to start dreaming of, my little boy being here in my arms. I couldn't wait to get back home and pick up the phone and tell Kenny that we are having a boy! Even though we lived in different states at this time, and weren't sure what our future held for us, we still stayed very connected.

Of course as a mother you think of all the things that your child's future might hold. You wonder what they will look like. What they will be like. What their personality will be like. Who they will spend the rest of their life with. How many cute little kids they will have. And the list goes on and on and on. Oh, how I dreamed of what my son would be like every second of every day. Oh, how I dreamed of holding my precious boy in my arms. I longed for, and counted down the days, until my baby boy would be born and in my arms, right where he belonged.

I must say, Marshall is far more amazing than I ever thought was possible for a little boy to be.
I am blessed to be his Mom, Madison's Mom, Courtney's Mom, and this little Peanut's Mom growing inside of me. Ben and I have chosen a name for our little girl, but that will be revealed later on. :)

Madison, if Mommy is reading this to you, which I'm sure I will, don't worry, your post about you will come later. Courtney, don't you worry either, your post about you will come later as well. Mommy didn't forget to mention you. I just want to take special time out to write about each of you. I won't keep you waiting long. There will be lots more about each and every one of you on here. I love you all!

There are 3 songs that I dedicated to each one of my kids. As I was playing Madison's song first, then Marshall's, then Courtney's, and letting them listen to the song that makes me think about them, I started crying. It touched my heart. I was surprised with myself. I couldn't believe that the tears kept streaming down my face. Courtney looked at me before the tears started rolling and saw that my eyes were watery. She asked why my eyes were going to cry (she said something a lot cuter than that, but I can't remember how she phrased it.) I told her that I'm just really happy. She looked extremely confused. Shortly after the tears fell down my warm cheeks, Courtney looked back again and asked me once again why my eyes were crying. I told her once again that I am just so happy. And I was!

I love my kids more than life itself. Each one of them hold my heart in their tiny little precious hands. They know just how to make my heart skip a beat, melt, smile, and just swell up with happiness.

So here is a short story about a small section, but an extremely important and marvelous section, of my life. There will be more to come, so if you're interested, stay tuned.

Happy Veterans Day and 11-11-11! Pretty cool, huh!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Cutie Courtney!

On Tuesday, after Marshall and Madison were at school, Courtney and I did some playing. Courtney was the Mom and I was her daughter. My name was Jolia, straight from Courtney's imagination. Usually when we play house, she decides that she wants her name to be Ali. She has been getting a kick out of doing imaginary birthday parties lately. She gets saucers and we sit on a blanket and eat our imaginary cake and ice cream. We play, color, and do all kinds of fun birthday stuff. On Tuesday, we had another imaginary birthday party planned by Miss Courtney aka Ali or Mommy, then we went to the pretend store, and then I had the pleasure of Courtney reading books to me, putting her own words in with the pictures on the pages. After playing house, we worked on spelling her name and worked on shapes. To help her remember, I tell her the that C in her name is part of a circle, the o in her name is a circle, the u in her name is an upside down rainbow, the r in her name is half of a rainbow, the t is a cross, the n is a rainbow, the e is a circle with a tail, the y is an upside down rainbow with a tail. I wrote her name on a paper and she wrote her name below. She did a great job! She does so well with direction. She is one smart little 3 year old girl who I love to pieces and pieces.



Then she decided to start being silly! :)




 I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little girl! She's my little snugly girl. :)
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