Weekend Roundup

Conference Weekend. Something to look forward to twice a year. It's great not having the Sunday morning marathon to get to church on time. Saturday we drove up to RC to watch conference with my aunt in her new home. She brought out a bunch of Chevron Cars. Dillan was set. Leah kept busy playing on the stairs and exploring. Afterwards, in true Taylor fashion, we drove to her school where more family met up and we played volleyball. Then we ordered pizza and watched the 2nd conference session.
Sunday we went to the grandparents home for a fabulous breakfast feast and more conference. We bummed over there the WHOLE day, until the Angels finally got past the Red Sox.
Dillan for the most part was able to stay occupied with something during the day. When he got bored he wanted to cuddle with me. I tried to get him interested in conference by pointing out the different colors and shapes on the ties of the speakers. That died off fairly quick as most were wearing red. He was content and for the most part, well behaved.
My little Princess, however, had a rough day. She went through all 6 diapers I had packed with me, not normal. She whined, didn't want to be held, then she did. She even slept close to 2 hours. But she was not happy. I'm convinced she's cutting more teeth. Slowly. Painfully. It's not fun for her nor I.
When I wasn't too distracted by my offspring, I did catch a few words of enlightenment. Some of my favorite highlights were from Pres. Utchdorf, Elder Bednar, Pres. Eyring, and Elder Nelson.
We had a lot of fun being with family, but we realize that kids can be distracting and we are sorry to anyone who feels cheated out of a peaceful conference experience because of my kids.

It's October!

October is officially "Family Adventure Month" chez nous. We've compiled a list of things we'd like to do altogether. Since Mommy can't get enough of the fall, all our activities will be fall related (or close-to, anyway) with Trick-or-Treating and Roxy's Birthday Party in Tenessee as the Grand Finale.

Yesterday we pulled out Halloween/Fall decorations. We don't have much, but add a little more each year. The other day I braved the 99 cent store to help get us ready for our conference weekend/72-hour kits compilation. I grabbed a package of pumpkin lawn bags. These bags are orange, look like pumpkins, and are supposed to be filled with leaves. Since our neighborhood has small trees that are still green, we drove across town where the trees are much more mature and stopped at a park to pick up the leaves and fill a bag.




Dillan loves the crunchy leaves. It was fun finding leaves and filling up our bag. Making our pumpkin bigger and bigger PLUS doing a small service for the community, it doesn't get much better!

Moments like this...

How precious my sweet children look when they are fast asleep. It's hard to believe that just minutes ago they were fighting like dragons to stay awake. I shouldn't say that. Leah is like clockwork. 8:00pm comes around, she is ready. She'd rather not have any holding. Just lay me down, Mother, please! No protest.

Then there's Dillan. The problem is, my house is shrinking. The two of them share a room.

Dillan has been a cuddlebug since Day 1. He'll go through the bedtime routine without argument. Then the routine comes to an end, and the battle begins. I leave the room amongst the pleading tears of my child. But I'm also "done" by this point. This is where Chris' magic comes in, that is, when he's home. He gets Dillan his beverage (water) and rounds up the blanket. He's the only one who can do it. I allow it. It's nice that Dillan gets that comfort from Daddy that he can't get from me. It's part of their special relationship.

Miraculously, neither have woken up the other at night or in the morning. I hope that will last.

Life's an ocean, sail it

For the first time ever, our ENTIRE family was able to go on a ride at Sea World. The employees had always been adamant that a baby has to be able to walk to be allowed on the ride. This time I put her down and let her show her stuff. Priceless. Unfortunately it was Abby's-spin-till-you-throw-up ride, but at least we were all there...together.



The next highlight was the huge walrus who was eating with his face pressed up against the glass. He kept spitting out his snack, which one could clearly see was a small fish, still in tact although chewed up in the middle, and then slurping it back in. He did this constantly. Once Dillan saw him do that, he wanted nothing to do with the thing. Leah didn't seem to mind. Daddy couldn't get enough. It was hilarious.



and let us not forget...

Final Score: BYU 44 Wyoming 0

Whattaday!

Saturday was a great day for our family. We got up, put on our BYU Gameday Gear and headed over to the church for an Eagle Scout blood drive. Miraculously, Chris and I were both able to donate while keeping the children in check. Then we headed over to my parent's house to get ready for the party. We helped clean a little and set up everything. My goal was to have a bunch of "entertaining" things in the backyard to try and keep any kids back there so that the house was not too destroyed. Well, I tried.
Then the BYU Football game started, and then ended before halftime, and that kept us going the whole day and kept our guests wildly entertained.
I'd been stewing about the birthday cake for awhile, just not sure what I was going to do and trying to decide between various ideas I had seen, but determined to do it myself.
It turned out fairly close to what I had imagined. If I had recruited the help of my dad it would have been too good, I believe. Many at the party said it looked great, so I was satisfied. So was Leah...




It was hard trying to do everything myself, I guess I'm a bit of a control freak that way. I wanted Chris to take pictures and videotape, but I knew what I wanted filmed and what I wanted done MY WAY. Of course I would have had to leave Leah's clutches for awhile, which she just wasn't having since she was not about to take a nap.
So overall it was a lot of fun and she got so many cute presents including clothes, cell phones, and purses.
Thank you to everyone who was there, even if it was a little far to drive. We truly appreciate your love and support. It was a blast!

Happy 1st Birthday Leah!

Our little stinkbug has grown up so much! She has been so fun to have in our family and we love her sooo much. It's fun to see her sweet personality developing as she grows.





Happy Birthday LeeLee!

My Mosaic

Well THAT was fun.
It actually took me forever as I tried to figure out some of my "favorites." Decisiveness has never been one of my stronger traits.
I guess it turned out okay.
Here are the questions and answers associated with my masterpiece above:

1. what is your name? Kimberly
2. what is your favorite food? fruit salad
3. where did you go to school? BYU
4. what is your favorite color? green
5. who is your celebrity crush? Landon Donovan
6. favorite beverage? water
7. dream vacation? Tahiti
8. favorite dessert? chocolate-chip cookies
9. what do you want to be when you grow up? a beach bum
10. who do you love most in life? my family
11. one word to describe you: sporty
12. your nickname: buns