Sweet Little Reese's Birth Announcement

I got to do a little graphic design project for my little...I want to say niece, but technically she is my cousin. Cheryl often has fun photoshop assignments for me and I don't mind. Isn't Reese a beauty??? It is sad there are so many miles between Idaho and Tennessee. I almost bought a plane ticket last week, but felt bad to leave Mark home again. I really want him to go with me to TN the next time I go, so I will wait until he can. There are a few things that he HAS to check out. Maybe this fall??

9th Wedding Anniversary

Nine years ago today, I married my best friend. It is weird to think it has been that long. We thought we would go out of town for the weekend, but because we are hosting my family's Easter Egg Hunt next weekend, we thought we would stay home and work in the yard. Doesn't everyone do yard work on their anniversary???
It actually was a really enjoyable weekend. Friday we ended up at Sam's Club where they were doing Vita Mix demos. I have wanted one forever, but neither of us have wanted to drop $5oo bucks for a blender. I enjoyed watching the demo and drinking a yummy smoothie anyway. Mark browsed through the store and when he came back to the demo to get me, he told me to put a vita mix in the cart. "WHAT??? Are you serious", I asked him. "Yep, Happy Anniversary-Mother's Day-Christmas!" I was so excited!! Then we headed to our nephew, Jordan's (who is the same age as Alyssa) 6th birthday party. Its always fun hanging out with the Taylors.
Saturday we worked in the yard and picked up/delivered bountiful baskets. We got a call from Ryan and Britton's neighbor saying we could have her sis-inlaw's goat if we went and picked her up. Our goat, Ferb, needed a friend so it was perfect. After we got her home we got ready for a night out. Ryan and Britton offered to watch our kids and let them stay the night. It was so nice. We went to dinner and a movie, slept in, went to breakfast and then picked up the kids. We made it back home and the weather was so nice that we did more yard work while the kids played on the swing set and rode the four wheeler. We built this really neat log retaining wall out of recycled power poles. We aren't finished with it yet, but I can tell it is going to be awesome.
All throughout the weekend, Mark and I reminisced over how we've spent the last 10+ years. I love just hanging out with Mark and chatting. It was a great weekend. I am exhausted though, time to make a smoothie.

Bountiful Baskets

Okay, I know it's kinda lame to take a picture of your groceries, but I had to show just how much produce you can get for $15 with the bountiful basket food co-op.

2 big bunches of celery
9 cucumbers
2 little bags radishes
1 acorn squash
2 heads lettuce
1 head cabbage
3 bunches asparagus
1 big bunch of bananas
6 kiwis
1 carton strawberries
1 carton blueberries
3 lbs of apples

I weighed my basket and it was around 28 lbs which makes the produce around 54 cents a pound. Order and pay online on Monday @ bountifulbaskets.org and then pick it up on Saturday. Wonderful.

Every week is a different assortment. You don't have to order every week. Volunteer to help unload the truck when you can. I am in love and it makes me wanna go vegetarian. Who knew a person could get so excited about produce :-)

Alyssa's Comments from the AA

"The top of Miley's dress looks like a bra because SOMEBODY TOOK the top of her dress...
It was HER!" (Zoe Saldana) I had to laugh, but I do agree with her!!

Shanley and Scott Tie the Knot

Well it is official. Shanley got married. She was such a beautiful bride. It was so fun to get to meet Scott and see Shanley so happy. My friend Tara and I played "wedding photographer" and got some fun shots. It was raining and my cold fingers kept hitting the wrong buttons on my camera, but I learned a lot. Here are a few shots that I took.

The Last Month

I originally had something else in mind for our Christmas card, but as Christmas kept getting closer and closer, I knew I better just get it done. Getting a picture of all of us together was impossible this year, so I whipped this up last minute. Mark and I's picture is actually from the year before. We still look the same, though, Right??

Right around the time of my last post, we found out that Mark landed a job with the INL. December through the new year was pretty crazy for us. Mark was in Pocatello a lot in those last days making sure everything was in order before he quit. I sewed 31 kids superhero capes to sell. I spent hours (maybe even days, if I add up the hours) behind my sewing machine. They seemed to be a hot item, as I only have a few left. Mark's two sisters and their families came from Texas and my brother Rob and his wife came from Boise for Christmas. We enjoyed getting together for lots of yummy meals and card games throughout the week.
Mark and I enjoyed time together between him quitting Sizzler and starting his new job. We were long overdue for date night. We hadn't had one since October! We went to Lava Hot Springs, Red Lobster and then saw Sherlock Holmes. My sweet sister-in-law, Britton tended the kids for us. I owe her big time. Cole insisted that he wear underwear that day. He was too busy playing with cousins and had a few accidents. (Which is interesting, because he has been perfectly potty trained since. He even gets up in the night and comes down stairs if he has to potty.)
Mark just started his second week on the new job. He will be in training for quite a while. I love how happy he comes home. His schedule is awesome and so are his pay and benefits. We are soo blessed. The trainer told them on the first day to go home and tell their wives that they were the "cream of the crop" because there were 475 applicants and they hired 11. I have always known how great Mark is and love when other people see it too.

Wiseman and Mary on Christmas Eve

Cole's costume still cracks me up. He is too cute!

Leaving G & G Smith's Christmas Eve. Getting excited to go home and "play Santa".

The kids and their loot. Santa brought Cole a Leap Frog Train and Alyssa an Easy Bake Oven. They were both thrilled. As usual, all three sets of Grandparents and Aunts spoiled them rotten. Not that I am ungrateful, but I do wish that everyone would scale back the presents a little. These kids get soo many presents!! It seems like too much when Mark and I compare it with what we used to get. I actually swiped one of Alyssa's presents and hid it under my bed and she still hasn't noticed. (It was a perfume making kit from her grandpa. I am going to trade it for a different one. Something tells me it is poisonous.)
We were given this beautiful dress, that a friend's kid wore in a wedding. I paid 5 bucks to have it dry cleaned then I added sleeves with some left over fabric from when I sewed my nephews blessing outfit. I couldn't believe what a perfect match the fabric was. I switched the blue satin flowers with red ones ( $2) and made a head band ($1). Her red sparkly shoes from Halloween match perfect. Beautiful Christmas dress for $8. Awesome! Isn't she a beauty??

Amber, Karen, Melanie, Candace, Shanley, and Jeana

Right around Christmas time, I received a text from my friend Shanley, saying that she was getting married Feb 5. I was shocked as I didn't know she was dating anyone serious and I had just seen her dad and he didn't say anything about it. Turns out, that I wasn't the only one in shock as she had only known the guy a couple of weeks. Jeana and the rest of us old roommates had to act fast to hurry and put together a bachelorette party before Feb. We had it at Shanley's house last Friday. It was a blast. I really needed a girls weekend and am always so excited when I can get together with my old college roomies. We sure missed Julie though (wipe a tear). Shanley and Scott really seem like a good match. I am so happy for her.
I have intentions of blogging a little more frequent, but won't make any promises or apologies. Just when I think I will be having a little break, some new commitment happens. Like getting put in the primary presidency or doing never ending community stuff. Yep, Time flies when you are having fun.

Three Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today, we were blessed with a son. Remembering back to that day....Mark was in Boise for work. I told him over the phone, he'd better come home because the midwife thought I would have the baby that night. Mark rushed home and we went to the hospital in the morning. It was a Saturday. I was in labor all day. Since we were using a midwife to deliver him, we didn't use any drugs to speed things along. Finally by 10:00 pm he came. I really liked having the midwife. She did so many cool things that helped me with the contractions and she walked the halls with me, which I loved. After he was born though, it took a team to put me back together again. The midwife had done lots of stitches before, but I was a mess, so she called the doctor--Glad I was in the hospital for that. While we were in the hospital, all my family was at home celebrating Christmas. (My brother was leaving for basic training on Monday, so we celebrated Christmas early) I was happy that he wasn't born on Christmas day, but it still felt like we missed it that year. When I remember back, I can't help, but remember how some weren't so happy with our choice of name. I hate that. I kept thinking "Why are people so upset? We just had a beautiful, healthy, baby, can't people just be happy for us???" I remember I had a night terror that someone was yelling at me saying "Makai??!!!, Well why didn't you just name him Malachi??"" Lots of tears were shed. It was pretty crazy, to say the least. Well, Mark and I stuck with the name we agreed on and I am glad we did (even though some thought that we should change it). I wasn't wild about it at first. I liked the name, Colton James. (Mark did not like the name Colton and James wouldn't work since our last name is Taylor) But I also wanted Mark to be the one to have the final say, since the baby was a boy. Since it was Christmas time, "Cole" was fitting and it was a shortened version of Colton. I still don't know where Mark came up with Makai. It seemed to have a nice ring to it...."Cole Makai". I can't imagine calling him anything different.

1 week old6 months old
1 year old18 months
18 months2 years
3 years old
In is favorite train outfit and train whistle in hand. He wears these overalls all the time!

We sure love this little boy. He has such a fun personality. He is at such a fun age right now. He is talking lots and always making us laugh. He is such a tease. He loves trains and gets excited every time we have one go past our house, which is usually a couple of times a day. He loves his "sissa" and gets worried when she is not around. I always have to remind him "It's okay buddy, Alyssa is at school". He loves to ride on your shoulders and is always trying to climb up there. We celebrated his birthday a month ago, and I am glad we did because this week is too crazy with Christmas just around the corner. Cole is still taking about his choo choo party and keeps telling me that people ate his train cake and we need to make another one.
Happy 3rd Birthday to Cole Makai!