Life as Us

Holiday Fun

2011-12-02T09:24:00.001-08:00

We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving with all your loved ones! We had a great time. We went down to Provo and spent the evening with my family. We went to my brother-in-laws restaurant, Communal. They close it on Thanksgiving so the Heywood and McRae families all get together there and have a huge potluck. It's a lot of fun.

Someone enjoyed his pumpkin pie. I can't believe that last Thanksgiving Cole was only 7 days old. He enjoyed Thanksgiving much more this year ;)

Sophie and Allie

It was so nice on Thanksgiving, Cole wanted to be outside the whole time

My sister Jen

Communal has these great huge windows all around the restaurant and the kids love to sit and look out at the traffic on University

I'm not a huge black friday shopper, I don't like all those pushy people. But Cole woke up at 3am, which is unlike him lately. So I gave him a bottle and since I was up I decided to run to Target! It's right down the street from my parents house and I figured that all the midnight madness was over so off I went. I was on a mission for a razor scooter for Allie at half price! Ryan thought I was crazy. When I got there the store was a mess and the shelves were empty. I figured I wouldn't find anything I wanted. But as I walked down the scooter isle, there it was. All by itself. ONE razor scooter left on the shelf just waiting for me to grab it! Woo hoo! Allie is going to be so excited on Christmas morning.

Here are the kiddos on our way to more black friday shopping, this time at normal hours of the day

As soon as Thanksgiving is over the Christmas excitement begins in our family! We took the kids down to the 25th street lights in Ogden. Allie loves this every year and Cole seemed to enjoy it for his first time

Their favorite exhibit of the night was the one with a train that actually road around the track when you pushed the button. We finally had to move aside so more people could enjoy it

Our cute kids

This year, Allie has been questioning the idea of Santa a little bit too much. She's starting to think that maybe he's not totally real. It seriously breaks my heart to think that she's getting old enough to not believe in Santa anymore! So yesterday, our very own "Elf on the shelf" arrived at our house! She named him Sherbert. Hmmm, oh well. And she totally believes in the idea of him. Thank you Katie Willson! Katie is one of my very best friends who has given me all sorts of ideas on how to keep the belief of Santa alive. Her daughter, Abbie, is one of Allie's best friends who also has an Elf keeping an eye on her at her house. This is such a great idea and is so fun for the kids. Elf on the Shelf will be on tv again on Dec. 9 so if you need an extra boost for your little one, be sure to watch it and get yourself an Elf. I decided to get a plush Elf, I thought the ones that came with the book were a little creepy looking. Here is Allie right after she woke up and found her Elf! Sherbert keeps an eye on Cole too ;)

For family home evening on Monday we went and got our tree! There is nothing like the smell of a fresh Christmas tree.

Our cozy tree. The kids did a great job decorating it. Cole discovered a new love while decorating. Candy canes.
During Christmas time, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is on daily at our house. As well as The Grinch and Home Alone. Cole now loves it just as much as Allie. He loves to sit on his car that Aunt Kim got him for his birthday and watch it with Allie.

If you're looking for Cole, you can usually find him behind the Christmas tree

To end the night we had to make some peppermint bark. Oh how we love this time of year!

THANKFUL

2011-11-22T18:32:00.001-08:00

Our crazy little man turned 1 last Friday! Can you believe it's been a year? We can't! This boy has brought so much joy (and some exhaustion) into our lives in the last year. We've had such a fun time getting to know his personality and see how it changes as he gets older. He has had quite the personality since the day he was born. He lets you know EXACTLY how he's feeling. If he doesn't like something, you know it. His personality is the exact opposite of his big sisters. She was quiet and timid and shy. She was very mellow and enjoyed just hanging out on your lap and being held. Not Cole. From the second he wakes up in the morning he is out of his room and down the stairs. He is constantly on the move and rarely sits still. He follows the dog everywhere and loves on her a little too much. He has started walking full-time this week and it's the cutest thing to watch. He's still a little uneasy but insistes on walking anyway. He is too smart for his own good. Leave it to him to get a childproof bottle cap off of anything. He doesn't love shoes but is slowly getting used to them. He has 7 teeth and a full head of shaggy hair. We can't bring ourselves to cut it so we will see how long it gets. I'm not totally sure how much he weighs, I didn't want him to get shots during his birthday week so are waiting until next week. But about 6 weeks ago he was 21 and a half pounds so he's definitely a healthy boy! He's a great sleeper at through the night but is already down to one nap a day, little stinker. He's too busy to sleep. He's still a mini-Ryan, both in looks and in attitude. I've been told by the Taggarts that when Ryan was little, he was curious and a little naughty just like Cole. Naughty or not, he's the sweetest little boy in the world and we feel so lucky to call him ours. Life would just not be the same without our crazy little Cole-Cole. We love you baby boy!!

Birthday cupcakes

He had no problem finishing his cupcake. Which is why we stayed with just a small cupcake for the birthday boy. I sometimes miss these days of holding our tiny little miracle all day...
Coley's very first smile, 3 weeks old
I miss that little baby, time goes so fast! But they just get more and more fun.

Sound asleep after his birthday party. He loves his new big boy car seat. Last month we had our great friend and photographer, Julie Bailey, take our family pictures. Here are a few of them. Thanks for capturing our kiddos so perfectly Jules!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away. I feel so blessed to have the kids, the family and the friends that I have. My life is full. I'm so excited for the holidays to be here. Allie is finally at the age where she knows what Christmas is all about. And she remembers and loves the songs and traditions that are repeated every year. It's so much fun. The Christmas music is all organized on the iPod and ready to start playing the day after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas tree lots are filling up with trees for us to choose from! Sersiously, my favorite time of year. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our fall so far...

2011-11-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

Do you like how I'm so good at keeping our blog updated? I hope you're ready for some pictures because I've got a lot! A little catch-up...Allie is loving first grade. We are finally used to the early mornings and the homework every night thing. She is loving her 2 dance classes. She has a ballet/tap class and then a cheer class. With school and homework and dance and friends, I can hardly keep up with her. She's also busy being a big sister to the craziest little boy ever! Cole is hilarious and so so fun! He hits new stages every week it seems. He's finally out of that newborn stage and now he wants to play with Allie constantly. It's so funny to watch. Anything she's playing with, he wants. And he's not shy about trying to take it from her. Luckily she's stronger than him right now, but I don't think it will be long before he can put up a pretty decent fight. She does get a little annoyed with him these days. Especially when she has a friend over. He follows them WHEREVER they go. Upstairs, downstairs, in the toy room, in Allie's room. Anywhere they go, you see him crawling after them. She's so good with him though, I have such a good little helper, I don't know what I would do without her. He is just about walking, he takes about 5 or 6 steps and then falls. It's so exciting to see your little baby learning new things, we love these milestones. He's so busy in the day, there is never a dull moment with him. It's no wonder that once 8pm rolls around, he's down for the count. All night long. I am loving his sleep schedule and just hoping he sticks to it for good!

I'm finally back to my normal self, no crutches! My parents ended up staying with us for close to 8 weeks (minus the weekends). We had such a good time with them and they were such a HUGE help with the kids. We are forever grateful for them. So here we go...

A couple months ago, Allie's school had a magazine drive. You know how it goes, depending on how many you sell you get different prizes. She won lunch with the principal and they got to ride to lunch in a limo! Here they are getting ready to go.

The lunch fell on Colombus day so Ryan had the day off so him and Cole came to see her go. Ryan is loving his new job and he'll be done with school next week! We are so excited to have him home at a decent hour everyday.

Last month Plain City Fire Station had a carnival where you could go learn about fire safety. The kids got to use a real fire hose and go on a fire engine ride. It was a lot of fun and I love that they learned a lot at the same time.

We loved taking grandma and grandpa everywhere with us!

I love this blondie. At first I was sad that I wasn't going to have another redhead but I can't get over this blond!

We went to Lagoon for the last time of the season before it closed.

Allie, Addi and Berklie. Such cute little bugs :)

When the holidays roll around I'm all about making treats. So on this night we made chocolate dipped oreos and decorated them for Halloween. We also made chocolate dipped bananas. It took a few tries, but we finally learned the best way to do it.

Ryan got home from his church meetings just in time to be a taste-tester.

The finished product. I know they're a little messy but when you let a 6 year old do whatever she wants, this is what you get. In the past I've always tried to help her and make sure everything is decorated perfectly. I've since realized that that wasn't really fun for her. So I've learned to let go and just let her go at it. We put some mint flavoring in the chocolate and they were so good!

Last weekend, my brother John and his two boys, Jarod and Kevin, came to visit from California. We love it when they visit and had such a fun weekend. On Friday, my parents took us all to Tepanyaki. There were so many of us we had to sit at two tables but we were right next to each other and it was so fun for the kids. They loved this place.

Jarod attempting to catch a shrimp in his mouth. No luck.

And Emma! No luck.

And Allie..She caught it on her 3rd try! This picture makes me laugh so hard.

Thanks for the fun dinner grandma and grandpa!

After dinner Jake and Ry taught Cole how to play soccer.

On Saturday we went to the Bingham Canyon Mine. It's a HUGE open-pit copper mine. The kids were so excited to see the huge hole, especially once we told them that it was so big you could see it from space.

Jarod, Kevin and Allie on the way to the mine

Self portraits. I'm looking at the screen, Ryan's looking at the lens. Oh well.

You really have to see it in person to appreciate the size of it.

There are these huge trucks all over the place hauling dirt here and there. This is just one of the tires.

They had a little museum about the mine that was really interesting.

Ryan's parents called from Africa where they are serving their mission while we were there. So fun to hear from them. They are doing great, they come home in April! That will be here before we know it, we need to figure out where we want to live!

Cole loves grandpa. If grandpa is holding him good luck trying to take him. He won't go to anyone.

On to pumpkin carving! John and Ryan went crazy and carved all these pumpkins after the kids drew the faces on.

Well done!

After pumpkins we made caramel apples. The kids are a little excited about the toppings.

The finished products! Christmas card photo? Too bad we're missing Cole who can never stay awake for the late night parties.

Now on to Halloween! Allie's dance class had a halloween party. This is Allie's teacher, Miss Chricia, who just happens to be the best, most sweetest teacher ever. (And we also have super fun girls nights which makes me love her even more!).

Halloween school parade. We love this little fairy ;) On Halloween night we went down to Provo to my sister's house. They had this really weird ghost costume. We thought we might be able to freak Cole out a little bit but no luck. This kid is not afraid of anything.

Emma and Mary, the cutest mimes ever.

Emma the mime, Sophie as Ron Weasley, Allie the fairy, Cole the puppy.

Happy Halloween!

The hat didn't stay on for long

Counting their goodies. Coles coming in for the kill Sometimes Cole likes to sit on the things he's playing with. I don't know if it's to show us that it's his and we better not touch it, who knows. Just another reason why we love this crazy little kid.

And now we're in November. This year is going by so fast, in just a couple weeks our little baby will be 1! We are so grateful for our kids, life would just not be the same without them. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Some randomness and some surgery!

2011-09-11T21:44:00.001-07:00

Every year we go to the Weber County Fair. It's so much fun, the kids love it. They have the best petting zoo where you can buy food and feed it to all the baby animals. Allie would spend the whole night here if we let her.

This year they had a wakeboarding competition right in the stadium! It was kind of ho-hum but was fun to watch for a little while. Maybe we'll get Ry out there next year. Ryan took this opportunity to show Cole how much fun he would have once he got old enough to learn to wakeboard ;)

Cole loved the baby animals, especially the little baby goats. They are so cute! Cole has been into EVERYTHING lately. He has hit a stage of being so curious. I walked into Allie's room a few days ago and found this.

Now for the surgery! I had a hip replacement. I know what you're thinking..."why would you get a hip replacement, you're so young!" I know, but I've had the hip of an 80 year old for years now. I got the same look and questions over and over while in the hospital when the nurses read that I had a hip replacement. They would always ask me to make sure there wasn't a mix-up.

So I was born with hip dysplasia and the doctors didn't realize I had it until I was close to a year old. I couldn't walk, I just army crawled everywhere. I was fast too. So when they finally figured out what the issue was, the damage had been done to my hip. I was in casts for several months and that's about all they wanted to do while I was so young. As I have grown up it has always been a little painful but has gotten so much worse in the past couple of years. And it's so frustrating to not be able to hike and run and do other fun things due to this annoying hip. So the doctor said let's do it! Time for a replacement. My main concern was if I would be able to have more kids after the replacement and he said that was no issue at all, I would still be able to carry babies. So we set up the appointment and on August 31 I had my hip replaced! I was nervous but so excited, this was a long time coming.
The surgery was totally successful but a little different than the doctor initially thought. By the way, my doctor is Dr. Tom Calton and he's the best ever. SO HAPPY WITH HIM. When they went in for surgery they saw that most of my bone had deteriorated and so they had to use a smaller ball joint than they had planned. Then they reconstructed a little here and there and after about 2 hours I was done. The downside to the changes that they made is the recovery time. It was originally supposed to be 2-3 weeks of taking it easy but I could lift Cole and get around pretty easy. It changed to 3-6 weeks on crutches and there was NO lifting Cole. WHAT???!!! How was that possible? I have two kids and all of a sudden I can't take care of them? This is where my wonderful family stepped in. My parents are the absolute best. Because of Ryan's job and school, he's gone most of the day. So every week for the next few weeks my parents will come and stay with us from Sunday night until Friday. They totally dropped everything to help us with the kids. We could not do it without them. Allie is at school during the day but Cole needs constant care and my mom and dad are doing everything! Taking care of the kids, driving us places, cooking, cleaning, laundry, everything. We are so lucky to have them. And the kids LOVE having them here, we all do. They're great company! Allie can't wait to get home from school everyday to see them. Allie is so helpful, as always. She is such a good mommy and loves to take care of Cole and I with whatever we need. And I must say that Ryan is the best husband in the world. He works so hard all day and then comes home and takes such great care of the kids and I. And then he's on weekend duty when my parents go home! He has to be the mom while I just sit around and heal. I hate that it has to be this way but he is happy to help and never complains. It's really frustrating to slowly heal and have everyone else do everything for you. I appreciate them all so much and I owe them BIG TIME. We've also had meals brought to us by people from church. Everyone has been so thoughtful and helpful! We are so thankful. So I am going on 2 weeks now and hopefully only have a few more weeks of recovery. I hate these crutches! Everything is 10 times harder and slower. I will never take walking for granted again. I miss reaching down and picking up my baby :( But one day soon I'll be able to and it won't hurt! The following pictures are definitely not glamour shots but you get what you get!

Allie was at school all day and didn't come to the hospital until the evening and by that time I didn't feel like taking any pictures. But Cole came to visit me during the day and I got to hold him while he took a nap. When he's awake I can hold him for a couple of minutes before he gets crazy and wants to climb all over me, then someone has to take him
My first time walking the day after surgery! They gave me the choice between a walker and crutches when I went home and I chose the crutches. Good grief I'm not old enough to use a walker! I do get a handicap parking permit for our car for 6 months and I must say, it's very nice ;) Here is one reason Cole loves grandpa staying with us. Don't worry, it's diet and caffeine free.

I wish I could fast forward time to when I'm all healed but I know it will get here, I just have to be patient. And my doctor said there would be no restrictions on me once this 6 weeks has passed. I am so excited to do so many things that used to hurt before! I can't wait. Thank you to all of our family and friends who have done so much for us during this crazy time. We appreciate everything! And I just had to add the video below, a lot of you probably saw it on Facebook already but I can't get enough of it. Cole learned to blow bubbles last week and he cracks himself up whenever he does it. This kid is too cute.

1st Grade!!

2011-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the day! Our little girl started 1st grade. All day school, lunch in the cafeteria every day with the big kids, three recesses a day. These are all reasons why I have been having mini panic attacks for the last few weeks. I worry too much and worry about every little thing that could go wrong, I'm working on that. But she LOVED it! We went to back-to-school night last night and she was running here and there greeting her friends she made in kindergarten last year. She was so excited for school to start. So this morning we woke up bright and EARLY (such a change from the summer) and she had a big pancake breakfast. Then we got her ready for the day at headed for the school. I was nervous, she was not. She walked right into that classroom and didn't look back. She's so brave! We are amazed at how much she has grown up in the last year. She's confident and willing to try anything. It was a long day without her, it's so strange to be home with just Cole all day! We are going to have some serious bonding time. And it will be nice to work while Allie's at school and be finished by the time she gets home. But I miss her a lot, and I know Cole does too. He was so excited to see her when we went to pick her up. Here are the few pictures I got of her at the beginning of school, she didn't want to take many pictures, she just wanted to start class!

Like I said, it was an early morning so poor Cole got dragged out of bed and went to school in his jammies.Her new desk, ready to go!This is right when she came out of class, Cole was seriously so happy to see her. He loves his big sister and cannot get enough of her! Great job Allie!!

Now that summer is coming to an end...

2011-08-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's August! And the last time I posted was in May, that's a little sad. Here I thought life would calm down after Allie got out of school and it DID NOT. It got much more crazy and busy. We have had a blast of a summer. I can't believe it's coming to an end. Allie starts 1st grade in 2 weeks! She is so excited and that makes me not so freaked out about it. I'm not sure what I'll do while she's gone all day everyday. Cole keeps us busy. He army crawls everywhere and is into everything! I often wonder if he will even crawl on his hands and knees, he seems to do just fine on his tummy. He has his two bottom teeth and his two top teeth are just about to break through. Teething has not been too bad, I hope it stays that way! He's still a mini Ryan. People tell us they have never seen a baby that looks more like his dad. It's pretty cute.

Life has changed for us a bit. Ryan got a new job working at Hill air force base. Not only did he start a new full-time job, but he also started school! So he is gone from way before any of us wake up until right about the time the kids are going to bed. It makes for some long days without dad but we are so excited that this is all happening. We are very grateful!

Are you ready for the longest post ever? Here are the things I caught on camera during our summer of 2011...

First of all, Allie graduated from kindergarten!

We love Mrs. Brooks and will miss her as a teacher The theme for our summer was definitely swimming. We swam constantly!

Cole loves the water! This makes Ryan very happy ;)

Allie is no longer scared to dunk her head, she's come a long way this summer. Hopefully by next summer we can lose the floaties.

Family date to Taggart's Grill

We all got passes to Lagoon this year and they have been so worth it! We go at least once a week and the kids love it! (ok so do the adults)

Allie started gymnastics in June and wants to continue through the school year.

For 4th of July we headed down to Provo for the Freedom parade. We had never been to it before and it was great!
Cole is always interested in eating more than anything else!

We set up our chairs right in front of my Bro-in-law Joe's restaurant and when it got a little too hot outside, we sat inside the restaurant and still had a great view!
Festive family
Cousins!

We did the summer movie program and went to a movie every week with friends

Allie likes to pretend she's Ryan

We couldn't miss the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo! We go with my family every year.

Allie's favorite part of the whole night, the motocross show...it never disappoints!

Cole has a new love and it's name is iPad 2. This was my birthday present in June but for some reason the kids like to think it's theirs!

We left the kids with aunt Kim while we went out for some fun and Cole rode his first horse! Kim said he really liked it until the horse turned his head and looked right at him. And then Cole started screaming and that was the end of that!

Allie spent a week in Southern California with her dad and the whole Avondet family! They went to Disneyland one day and she LOVED it. This girl goes on more vacations than anyone I know!

So these next two pictures go together. While Allie was in California with her dad, she wanted me to send her a picture of Cole everyday. So one day I sent her this picture of him looking a little crazy....

...and they sent me this one back. She is trying to make the same face as Cole and is doing a very good job if you ask me! I love my crazy kids.

We spent the week in Park City last week with my family. It was so much fun and it ended way too fast! Charlie and Cole were reunited, they are so cute together. They weigh almost exactly the same and there are 3 1/2 months between them! We can't wait until Bets and Steve make the move out to Utah and these two can cause some trouble together!

Cousins waiting in line for the zipline!

Allie's always wanted to try one of these. Worth the $8? I'm still debating that.

Gotta love naps by the pool

Cole loves his grandma :)

Emma and Ryan on the Alpine Coaster
Our crazy family...minus a few who couldn't make it. Thanks Steve for making our family reunion shirts!!

This picture cracks us up. Cole can be so dramatic!

What a summer, we hope you had a fabulous one too!!

April

2011-05-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Here is a recap of our month since I obviously cannot find time to regularly update our blog! Easter fell on a beautiful day, we even got to have an egg hunt outside without getting all wet.
Here are a few attempts at an Easter photo of the kids. Allie can step up to the plate most times.
Cole has a little more trouble.
We just could not pull it together on this particular day!
Allie had her gymnastics recital. They were all sooo cute. We love her teacher and she can't wait to start again in the fall. Here we are on our way into the recital. And Cole has redeemed himself in the picture-taking category!

Our little gymnast!
Allie and Blaine. Allie was determined to hold all her treats at once.

With the end of the school year fast approaching, the kindergartners at North Ogden Elementary put on a program for the school and parents. They each had a speaking part and they sang all of the songs they've learned over the year. Allie wasn't a bit nervous and sounded so good! I can't believe this school year is over in 2 weeks and we will have a 1st grader next year! I can't think about it too much. I think I'm much more nervous for her to be at school all day long than she is.
Cole went to cheer his big sister on ;)
Allie also lost her first tooth! She was so excited. She laughed and cried, I don't think she knew how to react. She was so excited, but she was also bleeding, so her emotions were all over the place! It was too funny.
If you come to our house you will most likely find Cole in this. He loves his jumperoo and goes WILD in it.
We went to IKEA a couple weeks ago and bought the best highchair ever made. Allie had the same one when she was little but we got rid of it so Cole got a new one. He loves it.
He started eating oatmeal and baby food when he turned 5 months old and loves it! For now it's just for breakfast and dinner. It's fun to see him learning new things. I think he realizes that when you put him in his highchair, he's gonna get food. He's becoming a little person who can communicate in little ways and I love it!
I wish I had the time to sit and hold him like this all day but it's just too hard when there is more than one kid! I love these moments.
We went to the nursery today and got all of our seeds to plant our garden. I seriously cannot wait. As soon as this rain lets up!

Six and More

2011-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind on blogging lately. I can't seem to stay caught up! The days and weeks go by so fast and between the kids and working and the normal day-to-day stuff, there is no time! There has been a lot going on, most importantly, Allie turned 6 years old on April 7th! This is the first year that we've let her have a "friend" birthday party. Usually we just do a family get together but now that she's getting older she wants parties. She wanted a Build-A-Bear party! We took her and 6 of her closest friends and headed to Gateway. We left Cole home with Grandma and Grandpa so poor Ryan was the only guy. He was a trooper. Especially on the drive down and back. He was driving a car full of screaming girls that were blasting the "Tangled" soundtrack over and over. The things we do for our kids ;)

Here is the birthday girl taking her cupcakes into class

Allie has wanted a Barbie Jeep for about 3 years now. We finally broke down and got her one. But not a Barbie one. She'll grow out of it in another couple of years and Cole will want one for sure so we've killed two birds with one stone here. We told her she could decorate it with girly stickers and she was just fine with that. She loves this thing. If there's no snow or rain, she's out on her Jeep! The girls at Build-A-Bear! I highly recommend having a birthday party here. You have a host the whole time and they do everything for you! Ryan, Katie (my friend who came as well) and I just sat back and relaxed the entire time. It was worth every penny. Allie and Merin, bathing their bears. Afterwards we came back to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents. That was the exhausting part because we were suddenly in charge again! Allie wanted a picture taken of her, Cole and her birthday bear that she named Rosie. It's been a big year for Allie. She moved, started kindergarten, had a baby brother and turned six all in one year. She has been so great during all of these big changes. We couldn't ask for a sweeter little daughter. She makes us so happy. She's so sweet to her brother, he is so lucky to have her. We love our 6-year-old munchkin. Some other things going on lately...

Allie LOVES gymnastics. She is a hand standing, cartwheeling whiz who is constantly practicing her moves at home. She has her first recital coming up at the end of April and we can't wait!

Betsy, Steve, and Charlie came out for a visit this month! We went down to Provo to eat at Communal one day. Their rental car was a minivan! So the guys were sweet enough to sit in the back with the babies.

Out to lunch

Charlie is getting so big! He's eight months now and just learned to crawl. He also has two teeth! Cole is still working on sitting up on his own so he's a few months behind Char ;) The boys had a lot of fun smacking each other in the face and staring each other down. It's going to be madness once they are both crawling/walking around! We've also come up with a name for them, since we are always talking about them together. From now on, they will be known as Charcole!

Bets and Steve went to see a movie one day so we took Charcole to Target with us. They were each in their matching Bjorn's and we're pretty sure people thought we were carrying around twins. We got many looks as we walked through the isles!

Aunt Betsy with Allie and Cole

Cole had a Dr. appointment that Ryan couldn't get off of work for so we kept him updated with pictures while waiting for the Dr. :)

Lately Cole does not like to sit in his car seat if it's not in the car so the only way I can get my grocery shopping done is if I carry him around in his Bjorn. So high maintenance!

Here are the boys at Costco. Total twinners, I love it. Girls day at the movies! Allie, Abbie, and Annie. These girls are so crazy together, it's too fun. Our cheese ball And last but certainly not least...Allie learned to ride a bike with no training wheels!! This is from a few weeks ago, she can go for miles now. I'm a proud mama.

Was this post random enought for you? Hopefully now that I'm a little caught up I can keep it going!!

Coley Cole

2011-03-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

We are in love with this kid. We seriously can't get enough of him. He had his 4-month checkup yesterday and weighs 14 lbs, 6 oz and is 25 1/2 inches long! He also had his round of shots :( He's not feeling so hot today but hopefully by tomorrow he'll be back to normal. He's growing too fast. I'm not a fan of how quickly they change. I love each new step but am sad that he's leaving the newborn stage behind. His big sister is obsessed with him and might just be the best big sister there ever was. He took his first trip to the park a couple of weeks ago and loved being outside! We cannot wait for the warm weather to come so we can spend all our days playing in the yard.

Here's a video I took a few days ago. He's just started to do that really hilarious belly laugh. I tried to get him to do it in this video but he wouldn't. It's still a dang cute video of him though so I had to share.

Here are the kiddos on St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Stir Fry

2011-03-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

We LOVE this recipe. Ever since I started making it, Ryan asks for it every week. Its great because you can change it up and add whatever veggies you love. Its a little spicy and a little sweet. And so good!

1 T brown sugar
2 T honey
¼ C soy sauce
2 t chopped fresh ginger root
2 t chopped fresh garlic
½ to 1 T Sriracha hot sauce (Spicy! Adding a T makes it pretty hot so if you don't like spicy, cut it to 1/2 T)
Salt and pepper to taste
Approx 3 T flour
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut in bite-sized pieces
Broccoli
Snow peas
Red pepper, cut in bite-sized pieces
Cashews
1-2 T vegetable oil

You have to use Sriracha hot sauce! It has the best flavor. But it's hot so be careful.

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and Sriracha sauce in a small bowl. Salt and pepper the chicken. In a Ziploc bag, lightly coat chicken with flour. (not too much or it will make the sauce too thick). Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Pour the sauce over the chicken and add the red pepper. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, about 8-10 minutes. While that simmers, steam broccoli in separate pan. Add peas during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Stir in the broccoli right before serving, otherwise the sauce will make it soggy. Serve on rice and top with cashews.

*I always 1 1/2 the sauce because we love sauce at this house.
*Substitute with any veggies you want.

This is definitely a regular at our house. I hope you like it too!

Little hands

2011-02-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

My friend Lindsay does clay imprints of little hands and feet and they turn out ADORABLE. Her and her husband Pat were visiting from California over Christmas and she started prints for Cole. Started, meaning she took prints of his hands and feet so that when she got home, she could finish them off. She warned us before we started that no baby went through this process without crying. Boy was she right...

It might not look like Cole is crying in this picture

...but he is! It is so worth it though.

Cole only cried for a few minutes and quickly got over it when Lindsay picked him up.

He's maybe a little bit in love with her.

The finished product! Aren't they the sweetest things you've ever seen?

I'm in love with these little mini ones. Thanks for doing these for us Linds, we absolutely love them! Lindsay and Pat are expecting a little GIRL in a few weeks and we are so excited for them!

We got so many cute things to celebrate Cole's birth, I had to show this one we got from my sister...thanks JEN!How sweet is that?

Blessing

2011-02-17T21:15:00.001-08:00

Cole was blessed on Sunday, February 13th. He screamed through the ENTIRE blessing! That is so Cole. It would have been out of character for him to be quiet when we needed him to! Ryan did such a great job though. He was calm and gave Cole the sweetest blessing. Luckily we could still hear him over Cole! We were lucky to have some very special friends and family be a part of the circle. We love this little boy and are so thankful for him.

All ready for his big day! So cute.

Soooo cute!

Ryan's family...We're missing Bob and Sandy who are in Africa! And Jason and Heidi weren't able to make it up

Julie, Liz and I

Our handsome husbands...Brandon (Liz), Ryan, and Nate (Julie)

The weather was amazing that day! The kids played outside the whole time. Now we are back to snow and freezing temps! Thank you to everyone who came, it was such a sweet day!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Our two love bugs. Allie could not contain her excitement all day, especially when she got her pillow pet. Cole really didn't care that it was Valentine's day at all...

Allie had a fabulous day at school. They had a Valentine's day party and today I started being a mom helper again in her class. I stopped being a helper a couple weeks before Cole was born and have missed it!

Allie wanted to go to Tepanyaki for dinner. She's not a cheap date! She loved her shrimp and noodles. Cole slept through the whole thing which was an extra special treat for us ;) Ryan and his new golf hat

Ready for bed
Happy Valentine's Day :)

Recipes

2011-02-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

I love to cook. Love love it. My mom is an amazing cook. I'm thinking that's where I got my love of cooking and food. I've grown up watching her and almost everything I know about cooking I know because of her. She is also an amazing baker, but I am not a baker. I can bake a few things, but I'd rather stick to cooking. I love food, my whole family does! When we are all together, the first thing we decide is what we are going to eat. So I thought I'd share some recipes every once in a while here on my blog. One of my most favorite things to do is organize! It seriously makes me happy. When my house is a mess, I'm annoyed. So my latest organization project has been my recipe book....

I have finally come up with a great way to keep all of my recipes organized. A recipe binder.

I type them all out so I have a copy in a folder on my computer. Then I print them and put them in sheet protectors so they don't get gross while I'm cooking.

Here is a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas that we really like:

6 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
3 cooked boneless skinless chicken breast halves, shredded
2 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese
¼ C butter
¼ C flour
2 C chicken broth
1 C sour cream
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained
½ C chopped green onions

Divide chicken and 1 ½ C of cheese among the 6 tortillas. Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down in a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until mixture begins to boil. Slowly add the broth, stirring with a whisk until thickened. Mix in the sour cream and chiles. Heat thoroughly but do not boil, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture over the enchiladas.

Bake at 375º for 20 minutes or until heated through. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 5 more minutes until golden (I turn on the broiler). Garnish with chopped green onions.

I tried a new recipe also:

Mexican Bean Salad

1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 (10oz) pkg frozen corn kernels
1 red onion, chopped
½ C olive oil
½ C red wine vinegar
2 T fresh lime juice
1 T lemon juice
2 T white sugar
½ T salt
1 clove crushed garlic
¼ C chopped fresh cilantro
½ T ground cumin
½ T ground black pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
½ t chili powder

In a large bowl, combine beans, bell peppers, frozen corn, and red onion. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic, cilantro, cumin, and black pepper. Season to taste with hot sauce and chili powder.
Pour olive oil dressing over vegetables. Mix well. Chill thoroughly and serve cold.
(I don't use all the dressing, it would be too much. I use about 3/4 of it and save the rest)

We ate this with chips, and Ryan put some on top of his enchilada. I think next time I'll put it on top of lettuce and make it a yummy salad.

Hope you enjoy!

Cabin Fever

2011-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

Our two babes have been sick all week. So have I but you don't need to see a picture of that. Allie got sick last Sunday and Cole followed her lead on Monday. I then decided to join the fun on Wednesday. Ryan has escaped the sickness somehow, I don't understand it because he has been a Dr. to all of us during the week! Everyone has stayed in pretty good spirits given the fact that we've been stuck in the house all week! The poor kids, they each have their issues. Allie seems to be getting better but now she can't hear anything. We can be in the same room with her and tell her something and she doesn't hear a word of it. And then when we don't say anything to her she looks at us and says "did you say something?" It's pretty funny but obviously needs to be fixed. So it's back to the Dr. if we can't get her ears cleared out. And poor Cole has the most stuffed up nose. He sounds so pitiful but smiles the whole time. Speaking of stuffed up noses, have you ever tried "little noses?" We started using it yesterday on him and it's the best stuff EVER. A little gross but it works wonders. I wish I had more interesting things to blog about but I don't. This has been our life the past week. Fingers crossed next week we are all back up and running!

Our cute sick kids

Two months

2011-01-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today Cole turned two months! And to celebrate he got to go to the doctors and have his first round of shots. Poor little guy.
He weighs in at 12 lbs, 1 oz. We thought he would weigh more with how much he eats, but I'm a little happy he's not growing too fast, I already miss the tiny baby he used to be. He sure has changed a lot in the last 8 weeks. He's so alert now, and he smiles constantly. It's so fun to see him recognize people. He loves his big sister, she can get him to smile more than anyone. He's been colicky since he was a couple weeks old, and that has been challenging! But in the last two weeks he has started to grow out of it and has become a totally different baby. He's so much happier and is so much more mellow. Thank you Cole, mom and dad appreciate that very much :) He has always been a good sleeper, we can usually count on at least 7 or 8 hours straight most nights. Of course now that I've said that, I'm sure we will have a horrible night tonight!

Here he is earlier today when we got home from his appointment. He's starting to suck on his hand to soothe himself just like Allie did when she was a baby. Shortly after she started sucking her thumb and never stopped. We'll see if he follows in her footsteps. This kid will not take a Binky. Allie is a second mommy to Cole. She feels very grown up if we let her hold him while she's standing. Sometime she tries to walk away with him, like we won't notice or something. We're not quite ready for that.Sometimes after Ryan goes to work and before Allie wakes up, Cole hangs out in bed with me :)

Cole has a love/hate relationship with his car seat. Right now he's going through a loving it phase and I'm hoping that does not change anytime soon.
One thing Cole adores? Bath time. It's his favorite thing in the world. He loves the water, which makes Ryan very hopeful that Cole will be the pro-wake boarder he so wants him to be!
Cole now loves his swing!! That only took about 6 weeks. I could sit and hold him all day long

We can't get enough of his smiles! One day he will have a neck, once he's strong enough to hold his head up a little better!

Three days after Cole was born our dear friend Julie took some amazing pictures of him. I was just looking at his birth announcement the other day...I can't believe how time flies, especially during this early stage of their lives. We are thankful for this little one.

Sledding

2011-01-14T23:02:00.001-08:00

We got tons of snow this past week so we decided to take advantage of the little hill in our backyard and do a little sledding.

Allie's holding Yogi. Yogi is the class bear in her kindergarten class. Each student gets to take him home for one night and include him in their activities. I think he enjoyed this one.

Ryan was a trooper and pulled Allie and Yogi up the hill about 100 times. I love how Nala is jumping for joy in the background. I brought Cole out to join in the fun. He lasted about 5 minutes.

Afterwards Allie and Yogi helped Ryan plow the driveway.
And then they watched a movie together before bed. Good times!

Dress up

2011-01-12T12:26:00.001-08:00

When we were first pregnant Allie wanted the baby to be a girl. Since having Cole, she says how happy she is that she had a brother instead, because he'll still play dress-up with her even though he's a boy...

Cole loves the sound of the shower so I usually set him in his bouncy in the bathroom while I'm taking one. This is what he looked like when I got in the shower

And this is what he looked like when I got out! Allie had snuck in and wrapped her scarf around him.

He didn't seem to mind all that much What a good little brother

Christmas

2011-01-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We spent the holidays in SLC at my parents house. Bets, Steve, and Charlie came out for 10 days and what a fun 10 days it was! We had such a great time with the whole family together. Allie can never get enough of grandma and grandpa or her cousins. Cole and Charlie met for the very first time, and we did babysitting swaps with Betsy and Steve! Ry and I went on three dates while they were here, it was awesome. We missed my brothers who couldn't make it out this year, but the sisters still had a blast. Thanks mom and dad for letting us take over your house for so long! We have so much to be thankful for all of the time, but we feel especially blessed this year. We have two great kids. Allie is a sassy sweetheart, always willing to help and always making us laugh. And Cole definitely keeps us on our toes! He is quite the high maintenance little boy! He has only been part of our family for 6 weeks but we couldn't imagine life without him.While I was looking through my pictures I realized they are mostly all of the kids! So here are a few.

Here is Allie showcasing the plate of goodies she left for Santa on Christmas Eve

Allie with Cole and Charlie...These boys are totally spoiled by all of their cousins, they never get put down

Charlie is 4 months older than Cole but notice how there is not much difference in size. We have a fatty on our hands.

Um, perhaps the cutest picture EVER of Ryan and Cole

Sophie, Emma, Emma's friend Mary, and Allie

Charlie is such a charmer! And even though it kind of looks like it, I'm not nursing Cole in this picture.

Twinners, Charlie and Ryan
We can't forget Rosie and Nala
Allie started school again today, back to normal life! Before we know it school will be out for the summer. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas is coming!

2010-12-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that Christmas Eve is one week from today!! I am so excited. And so busy. It's amazing how much harder it is to get your holiday to-do list done with a new baby! Especially when that new baby has decided that he's happiest if he's held every minute he's awake. And if he's not being held, well, he's not so happy! I try to enjoy it though because he's only this little once. Little by little I'm getting everything done. I cannot wait until next week when family starts to arrive! Just a couple pictures to share...

Here is Allie hunting for our tree a couple weeks ago. See that sassy pose? Totally matches her sassy attitude. She cannot wait for Santa to come.

This little man started to smile this morning :) Gas has prompted him to smile in the past but he had a full-on smile fest when he woke up this morning. I just want to eat him up!

The Christmas countdown is on and we can't wait!

Poor boy

2010-12-13T12:37:00.001-08:00

Last Tuesday, Cole was not himself. So on Wednesday I took him to the Doctor and he had a fever. Already??? He was not even 3 weeks old! Unfortunately, the fever was over 100.4 and if it's that high and the baby is still so young, they send you directly to the hospital. But not before they did a spinal tap on him right there in the office. It was horrible. Nothing feels worse than sitting there helpless while one of your kids is going through something so traumatic. They were mainly worried about meningitis, so they wanted to test his spinal fluid. Then off to Ogden Regional we went. Right away he got his IV, blood drawn, and a urinalysis. His spinal fluid was sent off to the lab. We weren't allowed to leave until the cultures came back 48 hours later. So it was just a looong waiting game. They kept his IV in the whole time pumping antibiotics into it. Luckily, his first test results that came back were looking good so we were pretty positive that nothing would grow on the cultures. And nothing did! So he got a virus from somewhere, unfortunately that's all we know. Hopefully this does not happen again while he is so young because I am not a fan of the hospital! We took a bunch of pictures while we were there. There is not much more to do while you just sit and wait! Here are a few...

Just after we got to the hospital and he got his IV

My mom came to see him before she picked up Allie for us. Thank you mom and Jen for taking such good care of her for us!!
He had quite the setup
This was taken after a long night...his IV stopped working and they had to restart it....NOT FUN. But I love this picture. So sweet.

Aunts Kim and Brenda came over for a visit, he was spoiledThe pediatric wing has a wagon you can take your little one for a walk in. He was not too thrilled the first time we tried it...

So we took him back and fed him and then he was all about it. Did I mention this boy is a piggy? In 6 days he went from 8lbs 7 oz to 9 lbs 5 oz. Volunteers for the hospital make the kids little booties, so they gave us these on the day we left

He is so happy to be back home with his big sister. She is thrilled.
Fingers crossed this is not the beginning of a sick-filled winter!

Two weeks

2010-12-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that two weeks ago today little Cole joined our family. These past two weeks have been everything....exciting, exhausting, you name it! Cole has turned into a great sleeper the past few nights and I hope it lasts. I'm sure it will change but a mom can dream! He gets up every four hours to nurse and then goes right back to sleep. The best part is that my sister Betsy gets up with little Charlie to feed him as well so we text each other during the middle of the night to see how each other is doing. There is just something about knowing someone else is up at the same time as you that makes it a little easier to handle!

We gave Cole his first bath last night. Some of you may not know this but Ryan LOVES baths. He takes them all the time. So we were wondering if Cole would take after him and love them just as much, or if he would scream his head off. So we put him in the warm water and he immediately fell asleep. He loved it! He slept through the whole thing. It was just about the cutest thing we've ever seen. What made it even more funny was that I had just fed him before the bath so he had a huge belly. He was in heaven.

We love these kids.

10 days

2010-11-29T21:12:00.000-08:00

Can our little boy be going on two weeks old already? He's growing so fast, it makes me sad that this newborn stage lasts such a short time! We are loving this sweet little addition to our family. Having two kids is a challenge at times, I feel torn in wanting to give the same attention to both Allie and Cole. Ryan has been such a HUGE help with both of the kids, he's such a great dad, we are all so lucky to have him. Here are some of our favorite photos that we've taken in the last 10 days of our baby boy...

Everyone seems to always gather on our bed to watch TV

my sister Jen took this pic of Ryan and Cole and it's one of my very favorites
so proud!

I cannot get enough of this cute little body!

are we looking sleep-deprived?? ;)

Cole Merrill Taggart

2010-11-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Our little boy was born on Thursday, November 18, 2010 - 4:04pm. 7 lbs 9 oz, 20 inches long. He looks exactly like Ryan ;) I have yet to see myself in him! Labor went really well...all in all it was about 8 hours long and once I got my epidural it was GREAT! Ryan was so helpful through the whole thing and loved seeing this little miracle come into our lives. Allie is IN LOVE. She is such a good big sister already and will be a great example to her little brother. We got home yesterday (Saturday) afternoon and had our first night at home. I won't lie, it was TIRING! He was up a lot, but we made it! He pretty much just eats and sleeps. Nursing is going great, these first couple weeks of nursing are never very fun but so far so good. We are slowly getting the hang of having two kids but it's crazy! Here are some pics of our first two days together...

First family photo, just a few minutes after being born this is his favorite thing to do getting ready to say hi to his visitors!

Allie waited a LONG time to be able to hold her little brother!
first morning together

Ry stayed at the hospital with us and they loved to cuddle up on his bed

Grandma was in the delivery room with us while grandpa and Allie waited anxiously outside for Cole to get here!

Big boy!!
I found this on Ry's iPhone and love it

On our way home!

Allie doesn't leave Cole out of anything
First night home...goodnight! We feel so lucky to have this sweet boy become part of our family and are so excited for all the fun times to come!

Ready or not...

2010-11-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

It's baby time tomorrow! We check into Ogden Regional bright and early at 6:30am. Do you think we will get any decent sleep tonight? I doubt it. It's weird to be induced and know exactly when your new baby is coming. We have been waiting to see if this boy will come on his own but that does not seem to be the case. Just like Allie.

Ryan is a ball of nerves since he has never been through this. I'm a ball of nerves and I have been through this! He wants the delivery to go smooth. He's worried that something could go wrong. I try to tell him how they monitor both the baby and I like crazy through the whole thing and that everything will be fine. I'm nervous for the delivery too. It's a scary feeling to know that once you get checked in, you can't leave until you deliver your baby! Allie's delivery was so smooth, it seemed too easy really, I hope this goes the same! We hope that he his healthy and that there are no complications. I can't wait to hear that loud scream ;) I'm most excited for the moment Allie gets there to meet her new little brother for the first time. I can't wait. Wish us luck!

Birthday Boy!

2010-11-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Today Ryan turns the same age as me! He loves for people to know that I'm five months older than he is so it's always nice when this day rolls around ;)

Allie and I are lucky girls to have you in our life Ry. And very soon there will be a lucky little boy too! Here's to one more week (hopefully) of restful nights! I'm afraid you have no idea what's in store for you with this new baby that's coming but I guarantee you will love every minute of it...there is nothing like it! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our amazing dad and husband!

This is the month!

2010-11-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that October has come and gone and now it's November. We are having a baby in November! This is still unbelievable to us. October was a total whirlwind. It was so busy and it went by in the blink of an eye. This is what some of it looked like.

The pumpkin patch took up most of our time. It was really successful this year and a lot of fun. It was definitely hard work, we were out there just about every night, but it was worth it! One week we had some very special helpers come help us out for a couple nights...The Santos fam!

We were pretty easy on Bets and Charlie, but we put Steve right to work

Nala was out there every night with us, the customers just loved her

We did have a little fun while they were here. Is this picture hilarious? Poor Allie is getting smothered by my huge belly. This happens often lately. She bumps into it constantly and we get a good laugh out of it.
Our favorite guys

How cute is this bum?

When it came time to carve our pumpkins Allie did some of the dirty work but had Ryan do most of it We don't mess around when it comes to carving, whatever it takes!
Can you tell which is Allies?
Our little witch :)
She loves trick or treating and would go all night long if we let her

A few days ago we had some family pictures taken. With how many of us there were it's amazing that they turned out so good!

Our little family

I love this

Here we are at 37 weeks! We had an appointment yesterday and things still look great! Fluid levels are good, lungs are developed. I'm still feeling really good, just quite large! We have an appointment to be induced on Nov. 18 if he does not come earlier. Less than two weeks! We are so excited and nervous at the same time. The unknown is always a little scary, we just want to be the best parents we can be to both Allie and this new little one. We want him to be healthy and happy. Still working on a name, I think we are down to two! We are anxious to hold him and love him. And until then, we are taking advantage of every date night that we can!

Quail Creek

2010-10-20T22:31:00.001-07:00

Over the fall break last weekend, the whole Taggart family met down in St. George to spend the weekend camping at Quail Creek. It was an extra special trip for all of us because it was the last one we will go on with mom and dad Taggart before they leave for their mission on November 1st. It seems like just yesterday they got their mission call to Africa, and now all of a sudden it's just days away until they leave. We will miss them more than they know and it will be especially bittersweet since this baby boy will be born just a couple weeks after they go. But thank goodness for Skype! They will get to meet right away via the internet!

Sunrise

I had to start every cold morning with hot chocolate. And maybe I have it most nights at home too, don't judge! Aunt Heidi with Jaden, Haddie, and Jenna
Getting ready to go out on the boat
Heidi and Jason with most of the kids
On the second day we decided to rent a couple of wave runners. They were so much fun and the kids LOVED them!

It may have been a tight fit but I was able to fit into a life jacket!

Aunt Brenda

Nala liked the water but didn't love it. We were hoping she'd be a swimmer but I'm afraid she's a sinker

Ryan and his brother Jason had fun trying to throw each other off of the wave runners, it was great entertainment for us left on shore
they were both successful in throwing the other off

Joe spent some time fishing and caught a few trout
Grandpa
Brook

The nights were my favorite because it was so cool outside and I slept so good! What a fun trip, we will miss mom and dad so much but are so excited for them and the experiences they will have on their mission!

All we need is a track!

2010-10-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

When Ryan was younger, his family got this go kart. It's been sitting in the garage for years and since we moved into his parent's place, Allie has been begging him to get it out and running again. It doesn't look like it from the video but this thing can go fast! Allie will not be going on this by herself, but I can handle it if she's on it with Ryan at a much slower pace. Ry is working on a track that goes around the pumpkin patch so once that is done they can go all over the place! (Jen, this would be perfect for Jake!)

FALL!!!

2010-10-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

I am so ready for fall, I'm already thinking of all the yummy soups and cozy dinners I'll be making in the near future! You can't have fall without PUMPKINS! Remember back in April I posted a pick of our pumpkin patch right after we planted? We've been crossing our fingers that the pumpkins would come up just as good as when Ryan's parents planted them...

Then

And now! Thank goodness it worked and we have pumpkins to sell! And sell we have done. People started to come last week and it's been a blast. (Ry might feel otherwise because he basically does all of the work. It's almost impossible to pick up a pumpkin while almost 8 months pregnant).

Allie is quite the little worker. Once people pick out their pumpkins she cleans the dirt off for them. She's even gotten a couple tips from people, too cute. And Nala just likes to run around the field. She really does not contribute much to the process but she has fun.
HAPPY FALL TO EVERYONE!!

32

2010-09-23T22:04:00.001-07:00

Here we are at 32 weeks. We had a Dr.'s appointment yesterday and by all the measurements, this kid is weighing 5 lbs already! This scares me a little bit as we still have 8 weeks of growing left. I'm still feeling good, especially in the morning. As the day goes on I start to feel heavier and heavier and can't do quite as much at night. Allie is a great little helper and loves to play with all the baby stuff we have gotten so far. She loves that she can feel him kick all the time now. The kicks have changed from little jabs to rolling motions across my whole belly now that he is getting so big! We've got a couple names so far but nothing for sure. We might need to see him first. Sleeping does not come easy, I'm always hot and poor Ry is freezing cold with blankets piled on top of him! The end is near though so I am just enjoying this time before the REAL sleepless nights arrive!

Baby Shower!

2010-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

In preparation for this baby boy to join our family in just 8 weeks (wha??), Ryan's sweet sisters and mom threw us a baby shower! They worked hard to make it a special day and it couldn't have turned out better! We had such a fun time with family and friends, here's a little peek.

Brenda, mom Taggart, me and Kim

Brook wasn't there yet for the pic above so here she is with Brenda!
the food was AMAZING...

especially these little molten chocolate cakes. I think I had about 6.

Kim made this diaper cake! Cutest thing ever.

my helpers

Betsy (she flew out for the shower), Liz and I

Allie got a baby at the shower. Here's grandma with Allie, Charlie and the baby

the guys went golfing during the shower but showed up just in time for some leftovers

What a fun time, thanks so much for giving us such a special day to remember!

Kindergarten

2010-09-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well it's official. She's growing up. Allie started kindergarten yesterday! I can't believe I have a child who goes to school everyday! It's crazy to have 3 hours of total freedom everyday. I miss her when she's gone and worry about every little thing that could go wrong while she is away from the safety of home but I know I need to just let her go and become her own little person. I especially need to enjoy it because in another few months I will have absolutely no freedom at all! She loves her teacher, Mrs. Brooks, and seems to like school so far. Ryan took the day off and took her out to breakfast, it was her day and she was loving it. Here are some pics of our little kindergartner.

Ready to go into class!

I think I was more nervous to leave her than she was Allie and Mrs. Brooks She looks pretty happy after her first day!

She wanted a bagel after school so off to Einstein's we went Now that we live back in North Ogden her favorite thing to do is to have Ryan take her down to the farm on the mower to check the eggs and this day was no different I'd say it was a pretty good first day!

California Trip

2010-08-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ryan and I flew out to California to meet our newest little nephew, Charlie. Don't you want to just eat him up?! He is so sweet and such a good baby. It was fun to see Ryan with a newborn and even more fun to watch him change his very first diaper...how is it possible he has gone this long and never changed a diaper? Oh, how that will change in a couple months ;) Thanks for the fun weekend Charlie!

This is what much of the weekend looked like with these two
This boy is spoiled...no one wants to put him down
We took a trip into the city on Friday. The last time we were there the fog covered the bridge the whole time but this time Ryan was finally able to see it in person The happy fam
We ate a ton of food and made doughnuts two of the three nights we were there...so good. I might be able to eat this whole plate if it were in front of me right now
We missed this girl a ton but knew she was in good hands with aunt Jen and grandma and grandpa...thanks guys!!
Allie has met Charlie via Skype but can't wait to meet her little cousin in less than two weeks when he comes to Utah for his first visit!

24 weeks!

2010-08-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

I can't be 24 weeks already, can I? This pregnancy is going by so fast! Last week we had our big ultrasound that looks at all different angles of the baby to see if there are any complications and everything is looking just fine. We also had an in-depth heart ultrasound at Primary Children's Hospital last month to take a look at the baby's heart and all it's functions. For those of you who don't know, Ryan was born with a faulty heart valve and has had two open heart surgeries to replace it. He is still seen once a year at Primary Children's to make sure all is well (which it is). So we knew from the get-go that this baby had a chance of inheriting the same issue but the ultrasound showed a normal, healthy heart. Not only is this baby healthy, but he is growing fast. Our original due date was Nov. 23 but he's now measuring for a due date of the 15th so we'll see if he continues on this chubby path. Ryan is hoping he'll keep growing fast so he can be born on his birthday, the 10th. Who knows, we just cannot wait to see him and hold him! And it looks like we are headed to California in a couple weeks to visit Bets and Steve and little Charlie so Ryan will get a taste of what having a newborn is all about! All in all I feel good but the heat is a little too much to handle sometimes. I'm always HOT. And I waddle. But it's all well worth it ;)

Baby Charlie

2010-08-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

My sister Betsy and her husband Steve just had their very first sweet little baby! He is just as cute as can be and so so tiny. He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz which is unheard of in our family! We are known for having pretty good sized babies. We are so excited for them and so jealous of my mom who is out in California right now with them! Hopefully we will get to take a trip out there to meet the little guy before our little one arrives in November. We are so excited that these two boys will be so close in age, now all we have to do is get Bets and Steve out here to Utah! Congratulations, we love you three!

Just arrived!

First day home

I cannot get over his little legs, soooo cute!Sweet Charlie :)

One day...

2010-07-31T09:54:00.000-07:00

So last summer we sold our boat. This summer we are regretting that decision! Not really, it was the right thing for us to do but we sure do miss it. One day (sooner than later) we will get another boat. Until then, we have fun on our friends' boats! We are pretty sure that Allie will not be our pro-wakeboarding child, but if Ryan has any say, our son will be! We are gonna start him young that's for sure. Nothing better than the lake on a hot summer day...

Ryan's so happy out there Allie's loving the lake this year. She says the next time we go out she will get up on the wakeboard again so we will see!
Allie also thinks that we should include Nala on our boating trips but I'm not sure if Nala is too thrilled about that idea

Rodeo

2010-07-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite things to do in July is go to the Ogden Rodeo. This year we went twice. It was HOT (my pregnant self did not appreciate the heat so much) but so fun, as always. The kids loved it! Wednesday we went with my family...

They tried hard to get some shirts thrown to them but it was not meant to be.

Allie's favorite part of the night, the FMX show.

Saturday we went with the whole Taggart family. Everyone was in town for the weekend and we had a great time together! Haddie and Zach did mutton busting this year! For those of you who don't know what that is, (I didn't until I moved to Utah) it's when the little kids climb onto a sheep and hang on for dear life as it runs out of the gate! Basically bull riding but on a sheep. They both did SO good and were so brave! We were very proud of them :)

Haddie, Saylee, and Allie enjoying the evening once the sun went down!

Mom and dad Taggart

Cameron and Zach Brook and Meghan

Until next year!

Park City 2010

2010-06-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Our yearly trip to Park City with my family was last week and we had a blast even though we were missing a few siblings this year! We look forward to this trip every year and it's always such a good time just being with the family. The little kids were in heaven all week playing together! Thanks mom and dad for another great week!

We spent most days swimming

Our water train, I always have to be at the front! The kids would have swam all night if we let them. Joe and Ryan were troopers and swam with them in the evening when the moms were too cold. We call the picture below, "My two dads." We spent an afternoon up at the coaster. Here are all the riders! Coaster partners, Emma and Ryan We ate way too much The golfers John, Kim, Jarod, and Kevin We spent a day at Olympic Park. Most of us had never been there, it was so cool! We make a perfect bobsled team, don't you think? Mom and John may have had us beat Ry and Allie on the slide. I'll be happy next year when I can do these fun things again! Coming home from vacation is never fun, we were not happy campers. But there were two who were beyond happy that we were coming home...here they are right after we picked them up from the boarders. Very happy campers!It's crazy to think that next year during our trip we will have two new little boys with us! Betsy and Steve's little one and ours...bring on the cousins!

Naughty!

2010-06-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

So this Monday we are going to Park City for the week for my family's yearly vacation. We can't wait! As usual, the few days before a vacation are crazy and there are a million things to do to get ready. This year we have decided to board Nala for the first time. The boarders need her shot record to show that she is up to date so I stopped into the vet this morning to pick them up. Nala came along with me for the ride. After the vet I ran into the grocery store for about 3 minutes to pick up some chicken. When I returned to the car I found this!!

She would not even look at me when I called to her. She knew she was naughty.

Perhaps she's trying to tell us she is not happy about being boarded?So back to the vet we went. I brought the papers in and embarrassingly explained that she had torn up the papers since we had been in just a few minutes earlier. They of course could not stop laughing. We got our new papers and are so ready for vacation!

Get ready...

2010-06-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been so super behind on blogging lately. I thought things were supposed to calm down in the summertime but so far it seems like we are busier than ever. So instead of doing a ton of little posts, here is some of our month of June in a big ol' blog post.

Since Allie was so good for her traumatic kindergarten doctor visit, she got to choose a toy. She chose this!

She can actually sleep with it on, I would get so claustrophobic.

We took a trip to the zoo

My birthday was on the 6th. All I wanted was new clothes for the summer and my rapidly expanding belly. So Ry gave me a suitcase full of money! It was actually a new temple bag that I desperately needed and it was full of my shopping money in 1$ bills. Each salesperson got a kick out of me counting all my dollar bills to pay for my purchases.
Very clever babe.

Here is the garden we planted at Ry's parent's house. Bob and Sandy (Ryan's parents) have sent in their mission papers and are just waiting to receive their letter that tells them where they are going and when. We are so excited for them! We are also excited that we will be moving into their house while they are gone. Along with taking care of their house comes taking care of their huge yard. They do such a good job at keeping it beautiful and I am just hoping that we can make it look as good as them while they are gone! If you know me, you know I am no gardener but Sandy is teaching me the ropes. I'm gonna make her proud!

Ryan made a garden box for our strawberries...thanks babe!

As many of you know, the Taggart home has become very popular during Halloween thanks to the huge pumpkin patch they have had for the past 2 years. Guess who is running it this year?! We planted the seeds last week...

with any luck, this....

will turn into this! Fingers crossed.
Today Allie had her kindergarten check-up at the dentist. She is much happier at the dentist now that we see Dr. Garner. Which is where Aunt Kim just happens to work ;) Allie just adores Kim.
Thanks Aunt Kim, for curing Allie of her fear of the dentist!!

Tonight we wanted In-N-Out but were not willing to drive to SLC so we made it at home. I must say we did a bang-up job. We made our favorite, "animal style." It was exactly the same! We made the secret sauce, grilled onions and everything.

And last but certainly not least...this little guy. He's just laying down, relaxing in the hot tub. In case you can't tell, his head is on the right and that little nub above his face is his hand. We think he's pretty cute. This was taken a few weeks ago, can't wait to see what this next one looks like!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

New wheels and a baby bump

2010-06-10T21:32:00.001-07:00

So Allie's jogging stroller is not good enough for her anymore. Every time we go on a walk and she sees a bike stroller ride by she talks about how much she wants one. So we finally gave in. We took her on her first ride today and she was in heaven. So were we, it was a blast. I highly recommend having one! We got a double (even though the little man can't go in it until he turns one) so she has tons of room.

proud owner

on the road happy campers

the best we could do at creating a family photo on our own
Here we are at 16 weeks. He is just starting to wiggle around. Not enough for anyone to feel on the outside but I can feel little butterflies inside. It's been a long time since I've been pregnant and I forgot how much I love it. It's very similar to my pregnancy with Allie, morning sickness is over and I'm feeling great. Remember how I was in total shock that it was a boy? That's gone now. I can't wait to have a girl and a boy!

Oh boy...

2010-05-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

We are having a BOY! I'm still in shock. I totally thought it was a girl. I think because I've had a girl for 5 years now that's all I can imagine. But now we are going to have a little BOY! I have no idea how to have a boy! Ryan knew it was going to be a boy and Allie switched her guess from a girl to a boy about 3 days ago so I should have listened to them. We are so excited and could not be happier. He is healthy and growing right on schedule. And Betsy and Steve's little boy will be born just three months earlier, we can't wait! I'm sure I'll get the hang of having a son once this little one is born but I'm shocked! I've never seen Ryan so happy to be at the doctor's office. And Allie is happy with either a little sister or brother, she just wants to make sure that no matter what it is, she's the boss of it. See? She's got the big sister roll down already.

School's out!

2010-05-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Allie is done with preschool! I cannot believe she starts kindergarten this fall. It's all going too fast, she's growing up way too fast. I think I'm more nervous than her. We took her to kindergarten orientation a few weeks ago and the elementary school seemed so big for such a little girl! I'm sure it will be fine but it's a little scary. I put on a pretty brave face but underneath that face I'm freaking out a little bit.

The graduation tonight was so cute, full of songs and spotlights of each of the children. Her teacher, Ms. Misty, did a great job of putting it all together.

Allie and her wonderful teacher Ms. Misty One of Allie's favorite friends at school, Sophie

I wish these times would slow down a little bit! We love you little graduate.

Big Sister!!

2010-05-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Someone is gonna be a big sister!

WE'RE PREGNANT! And we couldn't be happier! Baby is healthy and due in November. Hopefully we will be able to find out what the sex is at our next appointment, and hopefully I am at the tail-end of morning sickness!! Allie and Ryan have put up with my sick ways really well and have been such a HUGE help! Allie is so excited to finally be a big sister and will be such a good helper. And Ryan is so excited to have a little newborn to hold. We can't wait for this little person to join our family!!

Babies and Baptisms

2010-05-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

So my sister Betsy is PREGNANT!! She is due in August and flew out a couple of weeks ago for a baby shower we threw for her. I'm kind of a loser because during all of the rushing around during the shower, I took a whopping TWO pictures! So here they are.

The yummy food we prepared

Bets and I with Liz!

Since I only took two pictures I stole the next two from my sister's blog. Here are the sisters with Amanda! Isn't Betsy's baby tummy so cute? This shower was for girls only so the boys had a man date at the movies and In-n-Out.
The shower was a hit and Bets got tons of much needed baby gear.

The morning after the shower was Sophie's baptism, which was another reason Betsy and Steve came to town. Here is Allie with Emma and Sophie just before we started!All the great guys who were in the confirmation circle

the girls
the guys

We are so proud of Sophie! We love you Soph Soph.

2010-05-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today we've been married a year! Maybe the fastest year of our lives, so much has happened! Definitely one of the best years of our lives, we are so thankful for what we have together. Happy Anniversary Ryan! I love you. And I can't wait for Vegas on Thursday ;)

The happy couple

2010-04-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a trip up to Idaho with the whole Taggart family to see Ryan's sister Brook and and her husband Tyson sealed together in the temple. Brook's kids, Zach and Jenna, were also sealed to them. It was such a sweet experience to be a part of, and we are so happy for their little family.

This was also special for us because 2 weeks earlier, Ryan went through the temple for the very first time. I'm so happy that we have the opportunity to be in the temple together now! I loved being at the temple with the whole family (minus Jeff, we missed you!) and it is an experience we will not soon forget. We are so proud of Brook and Tyson and the commitments they have made and the blessings their family will receive because of them. Congratulations!

The family!

The brothers: Jason, Tyson, Ryan, Joe
The sisters: Heidi, Kim, Brook, Brenda, Suzy
You did it!!

We also all got to stay the night at Brook and Tyson's...such a cute place! We miss you guys up in Idaho but are so happy for you!

Birthday Fun!!

2010-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

This little lady turned 5 on April 7th! We had a busy day full of non-stop fun. Allie woke up bright and early to all of her presents waiting for her...too bad she had to wait until later that day to open any of them!

She decided she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. So my sister and her kids and grandma and grandpa came along for the fun...

Emma, Sophie, Allie, and Jake

the highlight of her evening...when Chuck E. brought her a cake and sang Happy Birthday to her with us
the girls riding a virtual roller coaster, too funny
Ryan and Jake were the masters when it came to winning tickets. I think the final count was a little over 1,600. Oh the junk you can get with 1,600 tickets!

I must say that I look a little tired. I obviously can't hang with all the die hard Chuck E. Cheeser's.
After Chuck E. Cheese the girls came over for a sleepover! Ryan and I were so tired we let them go crazy downstairs while we were fast asleep upstairs. I should have taken an 'after' picture the next morning, but you can imagine.
Til next year...Happy Birthday Allie!!

I'm a little behind...

2010-04-13T21:01:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!!

Our 5 year old!

2010-04-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Today she's five! Where did the last five years go? It seems like just yesterday we were in the middle of all-night feedings and trying to get her on a sleeping schedule. This little girl brings so much joy into our lives everyday. I'm so lucky to be her mom, I couldn't imagine life without her. Last year I posted a bunch of my favorite pictures, so this year I had her choose some of her favorite ones. Happy birthday little Allie-kins!

Okay I had to throw in one of my favorites.

Happy April!

2010-04-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

It's the first day of April and it's been the worst weather we have had in quite a while...but I'm all cozied up in my pj's enjoying the thunder and lightning storm so I love it!
April 1st is not only April fools day (I got my mom pretty good) but it's also my nephew Jake's birthday. He turned 12 today. He is the ultimate April fools day prank. Up until the minute he was born we were told he was a girl. We were all in shock (especially the doctor) when Jen gave birth to a little boy instead of a little girl!

Tonight we headed down to Provo to eat at Joe's restaurant, Communal, to celebrate this fun day!

Ry and I with Jen, Joe and the birthday boy my cute parents as we left the restaurant the craziest snow storm had just startedJake doesn't like cake, so what did he ask for? Blueberry muffins. Weirdo. what up Ry Ry
This is Scilla. She's the McRae's new dog they rescued a couple of months ago. If you think she's missing an eye, you're right. She's the one-eyed wonder dog! She may look a little funny but she really is so sweet. And my sister and her family finally broke the tradition of the Boxer
we're best buds
even if I maybe make fun of her a little bit sometimes
Jake made out pretty well in the gift department...Happy Birthday Jake!!

Seeing green

2010-03-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't think we have had a nicer day outside this year so after Allie got out of school today we met our friends at the park for a picnic. I hope this weather lasts but even if it doesn't, summer is right around the corner!!

Are you wearing green?

Lucy-Goose

2010-03-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

My sister Betsy brought Lucy home from college about 15 years ago. She lived with my parents ever since they moved to Utah and has lived a good long life. I'm not a cat lover but Lucy was much different than other cats. It was time for her to go but not without a lot of tears from all of us. We've never had a pet for so long and we'll miss sweet little Lucy.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-21T15:06:00.001-08:00

We went over to my parent's house for a Valentine's Day dinner. We love seafood in our family and my mom was so sweet to get a bunch of fresh crab for all of us. I am happy to say that Ryan enjoys seafood now almost as much as I do! As usual we ate way too much but had lot's of fun...hope you had a special Valentine's Day too!

CRAB!

I made homemade oreos

Mom, Jake and Kiara
The next two pictures cracked us up. We love Jake...even though it may not look like it!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

California

2010-02-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I was able to go back home for little Cooper's funeral. While I would have rather gone under different circumstances, it was an honor to be there and feel the sweet spirit that was present all weekend.

Lindsay and Patrick (Cooper's mom and dad) with Bets and I

I love this picture of Cooper It was a short trip but the day before I left it was so beautiful so we went sightseeing.
Ryan is extremely jealous because the last time I went home for a visit he came with me and it was so foggy he didn't get to see the bridge once. I wish he could have been there on this day!Next time babe.

Steve took me for a ride around the city on his scooter, the easiest way to get around.
I so miss the beach, maybe one day we will live near it again

Sweet Cooper

2010-02-12T09:09:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago today our dear friends Lindsay and Patrick unexpectedly lost their sweet little boy Cooper. I went out to California for the funeral last weekend and was able to experience the most peaceful, sweet spirit that was present that day. Lindsay and Patrick are amazing examples of parents that we look up to every day. Like us, Allie misses little Cooper, but she says it best when she tells us that "little Cooper went back to Heavenly Father, and one day I'm gonna see him up there again and we can play."

Denial

2010-01-21T11:45:00.001-08:00

Nala just won't accept the fact that she is much bigger than she used to be and some things don't work anymore...

case in point

Better late than never!

2010-01-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's the middle of January already. Christmas is going to be here again before we know it but until then, here is what our Christmas 2009 looked like...

Grandpa Taggart and Allie shoveling the snow

We spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family. We had a huge delicious brunch and opened presents.

Jeff, Brenda, Saylee, and Cameron

Ryan's mom made all the girls these cute aprons. They have so much fun together!

Brayden

Ryan's mom also made gorgeous quilts for the girls. They are each a little different and so cute. Allie loves it and sleeps with it every night. Thanks Grandma :)

On Christmas day we headed to my parents house for round #2. Betsy and Steve came into town from San Francisco! We missed our brothers and their families this year but had fun with just the girls.

Allie has recently discovered The Littlest Petshop and is addicted.

My sister's husband Steve is a master screen printer these days. I don't know it yet but I'm about to open the sweetest shirt ever that he made for each of my sisters and I...
If you don't watch Friday Night Lights, shame on you. Thanks Steve!!

Do you see what Steve is holding? It's our favorite appliance right now. When my family gets together we have game night EVERY NIGHT. Come about 9pm, we are sitting around the table for hours playing card and board games. This year we had delicious hot cocoa from the Cocoa Latte while we played our games. If you don't own one you should. I was lucky enough to get my own from Ryan. Thanks babe.

Betsy enjoying her gift from us

Our cute Mom and Dad

A few days after Christmas we had a party with our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Here are a few of the ladies.

Some of the younger ladies

If the dogs weren't doing this...

They were doing this.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Our little dancer

2009-12-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Allie started dance this year and just had her first recital. It was The Nutcracker and she was a mouse. It was such a cute show and all the little girls did great! All of the grandparents were able to come and so did her great-grandma Mary! She loved having everyone there, thanks everyone for coming and supporting our little dancer :)

The Avondets, Taggarts, McRaes, and Heywoods

We love going to Sophie and Emma's dance recitals every year and Allie was so excited that they got to come to her first one this year

Are you feeling crafty?

2009-12-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I got this gift that would be so simple to make...it's a cute dish with star cut-outs and on each star is an activity to do each day in December as a family. They say all sorts of things like "sing a Christmas song," "decorate Christmas cookies," "do a good deed for someone else," "share a favorite Christmas memory" etc. I have added several that I know Allie would enjoy and that's the best part, you can make them say whatever your family would enjoy the most. Most activities are short and sweet so it makes it easy to take a few minutes out of every day to spend together. Just thought I'd pass this along in case you're looking for a little Christmas fun :)

Ryan and Allie belting out Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

I love December

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great holiday weekend filled with family, friends, food, shopping, and decorating. Here are some of the fun times we had...

We started out at the Taggarts for an early dinner. We told ourselves we would eat light since we still had dinner at my parent's house after but that did not happen.

Ryan's BEAUTIFUL sisters and Mom; Brook, Kim, Brenda, Mom Taggart, me

Jeff, Saylee, Preston, Allie, Joe After eating we went to Kim and Joe's to shoot some stuff. This was way out of my comfort zone but I actually liked it after the first couple shots and I even hit a couple! We shot clay things, I'm not sure what they're called...can you tell I don't do this often? Here are the guys; Joe, Dad Taggart, Ry, Tyson, and Jeff.
and here are the girls Allie took cover with Grandma and didn't leave her side
afterwards we headed to my parents house for dinner #2 Bets this is for you...Lucy is still kickin'. She enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast as well! Jen and Joe Kiara and David Jake enjoys the turkey legs On Friday we headed to In-N-Out. One just opened up not far from my parent's house...woo hoo!!!!!After Jen and I hit Target for some Black Friday shopping, we all headed to the tree farm to pick out our Christmas trees! I have never and will never have a fake tree.It was cold On Saturday we went to "Fantasy by the Bay" at Willard Bay with the Minster famLiz, Brandon, Tayge, Allie Ryan tried very hard to get that dinosaur right next to me in the pic And finally, Sunday night we went to the Ogden Christmas Village...it was fun and COLD. Can Utah be any colder? I'm still not a fan of the cold Our cozy Christmas tree
We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones...we know we sure did.

Letter to Santa...Check

2009-11-20T18:40:00.001-08:00

Our little Allie does not waste any time. Last week we were at Macy's and she saw the big red mail box next to one of the Christmas trees and knew exactly what it was there for. She got right to work writing her list to Santa

She is only 4 and so far only knows how to write her name so she told me what to write and I was a little disappointed to hear that she wants another Baby Alive (the potty baby), which is what she got last year for Christmas. The same one that we sold at a garage sale earlier this year because she never played with it! But hey, it's up to Santa, not me. She was very proud of her list and the fact that she got to personally send it off to Santa
I love my girl

It's his BIRTHDAY!

2009-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Ryan!! You're amazing...we are so lucky to have you. Welcome to the 30's babe ;)

Love you!!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T08:31:00.001-08:00

We started our Halloween celebrations this year at Liz and Brandon's annual Halloween party! A few weeks ago they got tons of pumpkins from the Taggart's pumpkin patch and this is how a few of them turned out...very impressive guys!

We decided to go as Ryan and Suzy. We are 100% in each other's clothes. He's even wearing my jeans. That's depressing.
Our good friends Brandon and Liz and their sweet little guy Tayge. They didn't dress up til Halloween so we didn't get a pic of them in their costumes. He was such a good sport ;)Allie loves to wear Ryan's wig. It looks strangely normal on her.

For Halloween night we headed down to Provo to trick-or-treat with the cousins.

Here's Jake. He was very scary and Allie wouldn't go near him. He wins for best costume, it was great!

Nala enjoyed trick-or-treating as well.
Grandma and Grandpa stayed in and passed out candy

For the next 2 months all I will hear is "can I have a snack?"

Rosie and Nala let us put these on them for .2 seconds.
Emma is very organized
She was nice enough to share with me
My sister Betsy is a Halloween baby. I am lucky enough to have the most amazing sisters a girl could have. We missed you and wished we could have shared your birthday with you Bets! Sounds like Steve did a good job though ;) Love You, happy birthday!and happy Halloween!!

Trout Farm

2009-10-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took Allie to the trout farm in North Ogden with our friends Tiffany and Brandon and their cute daughter Addie. I am not a lover of fishing...I love to eat fish but do not really enjoy catching and killing them. I ended up catching a pretty good sized trout but immediately handed the fishing pole over to Ryan once I got a bite and he took it from there :) That night the guys barbecued our trout for us and it was sooo good.

I cannot believe how much trout are in these ponds! Pretty hard to walk away empty-handed.

Addie and Allie Allie enjoyed her first time fishing!Brandon caught the first fish of the day This is the one I caught and let Ryan wrangle

Afterwards we went over to the Taggart's pumpkin patch so Tiff, Brandon and Addie could get some pumpkins. This is just some of the pumpkins there were at the beginning of October and now there are none left! I can't believe they're all gone!

Tomorrow's the day...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkins

2009-10-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

On Monday night we went to Mom and Dad Taggart's to carve pumpkins with the fam...this is just a few of them, didn't they turn out CUTE?

October

2009-10-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

It always seems that when October rolls around our lives get crazier than usual! I love October because it seems like the start of the holiday season and the whole month is filled with Halloween activites. A couple weeks ago we went on a Halloween cruise...it was a boat that floated down the provo river while the captain told ghost stories. There were carved and lit pumpkins all the way down the river. The kids loved it, maybe it will become a Halloween tradition!

Emma, Allie and Sophie all ready to go

goofy cousins Allie's new smile
it was pretty hard to get any good pictures of the pumpkins since it was so dark but it was really cool to see their reflections in the water

thanks for the fun night grandma and grandpa!

Little Shop of Horrors

2009-10-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

Tonight we went to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Hale Centre Theatre in Orem with my parents and Jen and the kids...so fun, it was a great play! There is not a bad seat in the place, no matter where you sit the actors are just a few feet away from you. I highly recommend seeing a show there, A Christmas Carol will be playing during the holidays and we are definitely going! We tried to get Allie in this picture with us but she was not going anywhere near Audrey II.

Gotta Love Lake Mead...

2009-10-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

This month we went to Lake Mead with a few of the Taggarts and had so much fun! It was officially our last summer vacation for the year so we took advantage of the heat and the water as much as we could!

Heidi (sister-in-law) and son Jayden

Allie, Jenna and Zach
Ryan got in his last bit of wakeboarding for the summer (as did I but I am not nearly as exciting to watch as he is)
Ryan's brother Jason

Grandma and Grandpa with a few of the kiddos

We were so excited for Allie because she went wakeboarding for the very first time! Those who know Allie know what a huge deal this is because this girl does not venture far into the water, especially deep water. Our little nephew Zach did it first and loved it and as soon as she saw him do it she wanted to try it too. I was both excited and a little terrified watching her try it for the first time but she did great! Heidi and I could not contain our excitement, as you can hear in the video!

This is right after she went wakeboarding...I think she will be doing it again next year! Maybe we will even get her up on her own!

Somehow I didn't get a picture of Brook and her hubby Tyson so I am adding this one of them that I took last week :)
A group of mountain sheep (or goats, not sure what they're called) came down to the water to get a drink. It was so cool to watch how they would take turns watching out for predators while the others drank. Check out the horns on that guy on the lookout!
Ryan swam over to an island about to emerge right in the middle of the lake. I didn't go near it, mountains under water creep me out.

By the end of each day we were beat!
What a great way to end the summer!

Can someone please tell me...

2009-10-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

how this puppy graduated from puppy class?

The task for the puppies to complete in the video below was to sit and stay as their owner walked away (which she ace's everytime). They are then supposed to come promptly when they are called. Notice how the other dogs run to their owners and Nala just sits there and makes no attempt to move? Worst puppy!

While she still needs a lot of work on coming when she is called she is actually doing really good with everything else. She can sit, stay, leave it, stay in the house, go to her bed/kennel, and play dead when we say "bang bang." She just started the next class up and is doing good so far. We love our little puppy.

Cousins

2009-10-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my brother came to visit from California with his boys Jarod and kevin. Allie had a blast with her cousins that she doesn't get to see as much.

She also developed her first cousin crush...one day she will learn that this is just not going to happen, but for now it's cute. So fun to see you John, hopefully we see you again soon! Love you all!

Communal

2009-09-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last night was the opening night for Communal. It opens to the public on Friday night but last night the family and friends were lucky enough to get a sneak-peak at what the new restaurant has to offer...

So excited for the first course to arrive...I love eating.

So our goal last night was to take pictures of each course (there were 13). Everything was so good that we just started eating as soon as each plate arrived and forgot to take pictures! Here are a few that we remembered...

Charcuterie (appetizer)

Potato gratin (1/2 eaten but at least I remembered)

Halibut

Flat iron steak

Joe and Colton. They've worked so hard both on Pizzeria 712 and now on Communal. Great job guys!!

Just as P712 does, Communal will showcase art from local artists

Grandma and her girls

Jen, Mom, me, and Amanda

What a night, we had so much fun and left with full bellies. Remember to stop by Communal next time you're in downtown Provo!

SCHOOL and the farm

2009-09-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was Allie's first day of school. I can't believe that this time next year she will be in kindergarten! It makes me sad to think about it so I don't. For now I will just enjoy the 2 1/2 hours of peace and quiet I get on Mondays and Wednesdays! She had a great first day and was even happier when Grandma and Grandpa Heywood came up from SLC so we could all go out to lunch afterwards...

I was so glad she was excited and not nervous!

when I said smile for the camera Nala really got into it

After school and lunch we took a trip to the Taggart's farm to get some peaches. This is Allie's favorite horse, his name is Tag

Nala came along with us to the farm. She likes to pull a bit too much while on her leash lately so we had to have her start wearing this collar while she's training. It cracks me up because she looks kind of bling-bling in it.

Ryan's parents got some roosters and hens several months ago...

Allie was so excited to show Grandpa Taggart the eggs she found in their cage!

Grandma and Grandpa Heywood

a couple of Tag's

gotta love the farm!

What a summer!

2009-08-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this summer is already coming to an end! We have been going nonstop and it's been a BLAST. We've had so much fun with family and friends and there are too many days to make individaul blog posts about so you get it all in one shot! I have been neglecting this blog lately, but I'm going to do better! Allie starts dance tomorrow and school next week so that is how I know my summer is officially over :( We do have one more trip planned to Lake Mead with the Taggart's next month so at least we have that to look forward to! And did I mention we just put our house up for sale? We are headed back up to North Ogden! I'll post more about that later on. We hope you all had a terrific summer...bring on the fall! (my favorite season).

Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo - growing up in California, I had never been to a rodeo until we moved to Utah. I can now say that going to the rodeo is one of my favorite things to do in the summer

it was like seeing a princess at Disneyland Weber County Fair this is the closest Allie would get waiting in line for the rediculously expensive rides the goods...cotton candy we watched Ryan iFly at Nate's birthday party swimming at Grandma's pool silly poses with cousin Saylee Bets and Steve came to visit this past weekend Jake and Allie always swimming always on the iphones!
of course we ate here... and took a tour of the new restaurant, opening soon! sisters Dad with the husbands Mom with her girls
and of course we can't leave out little miss Nala, who is not so little anymore. Allie has her in a bathing suit.
her first bath she actually loves the bath, though you wouldn't think it from the look on her face here

Ryan is really good with training Nala, I need to do a little better. Sometimes Allie and I like to have a little fun with her. She's a jumper.

Portraits

2009-08-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Our great friend Julie just happens to be a great photographer as well and she had a really neat photo session this month called "Fun in the Field." We had some pictures of Allie taken and they turned out really cute, despite the fact that she is in this phase where she doesn't smile for the camera all that much. You can see them here if you scroll down a little bit. http://www.juliebaileyphotography.blogspot.com/

Thanks Julie, we love them!

St. George

2009-08-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to St. George for Ryan's family reunion. We were missing two of his sisters who couldn't make it but we had a blast with the rest of the family all weekend playing at the lake, having picnics, playing volleyball, going to the movies, playing cards, having BBQ's and going to IN AND OUT! I'm so lucky to have such great in-laws, we have such a good time together and they have welcomed Allie and I so warmly to the family!

Aunt Kim, Grandma, and Allie

Ryan took Haddie out on the kneeboard...one of these days we will get Allie on it!

A little volleyball
This is baby Rowan, the newest member at the family reunion. So sweet, Allie was in love.

Allie, Jayden, and Haddie
We love KIM!
Ryan's brother let us take a ride on his motorcycle, thanks Jason!
We can't go to St. George without eating here at least once...this trip it was twice. In two days.
Can't wait for our next fun trip together! Thanks Mom and Dad for a great weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!

2009-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm so lucky to have you as my sister!! LOVE YOU...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Pathetic

2009-07-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Nala had an eventful and expensive day at the vet. She got stripped of her womanhood (as my sister calls it), had a hernia repaired, and got a microchip. I picked her up this morning and they gave me several instructions. One of them was to have her wear a cone for 10 to 14 days. Wha??? I figured a day or so but almost 2 weeks?! We went to Petsmart tonight to get her the next kennal size up because she does not fit in hers with this cone on! It's not mandatory to have it on constantly, as long as we can watch her and make sure she does not mess with her stitches she can take it off. So far we have had no luck leaving her in her kennel while the cone is on. She barks and whines constantly, it's the saddest thing! I might be house-bound for the next SEVERAL days.