My Taylor girl...

I love my girl so much! She has started to become one of my best friends (already!) She totally takes care of me, and I'm not even joking. I don't know what it is, but the difference between girls and boys is so apparent in my children. These past few months as Tucker has been at school,  I have enjoyed my time with just Taylor and I. She's just my little friend, and now that she is just talking up a storm, I can actually talk with her  and play with her and it is fun and we just enjoy our time together. I love my boy, too, but now that he's a big Pre-School graduate (more to come on that) I am going to miss my time with just Taylor and I. She is so cute and sweet and loving! (She's sassy and bossy and a stinker, too don't get me wrong!) But I just love her to pieces and I am so glad she'll always be my girl! 

I love that little face, I could just eat it up...

She says the cutest things. She has a purse that is in the shape of a dog and she calls it her 'person' as in Purse(on). But it is so funny to here her say 'person' about a purse in the shape of a dog. It's so cute! :) She also always makes 'hoop' (soup) She regularly goes into the bathroom, gets on the stool, turns on the faucet and mixes things in the cup and offers me 'hoop'. She is so bossy too, she is constantly looking at me and just says one word orders. Eat! Sit! Come! Like all day she just bosses me around. I constantly have to remind myself that I am the one in charge! :)

She loves shoes, and is always putting on mine and Ben's shoes. And she loves anything princess and is always saying she is a princess. And she always wants to put on make up with me when I'm putting my make up on- It's crazy to me that ALL of that starts so young! Sheesh!

And I love that her hair is finally getting long enough to put in these two cute little messy buns...

I love you Tater Tot! 

Grateful to be a mommy...

I sure am lucky to be a mama! Mothers day was wonderful this year. (despite the fact that we had to speak in church!) I am lucky to have these two to call my own. It is by far the hardest thing I've ever done, but definitely the most rewarding as well. These two are fun and sassy and hilarious and loud and crazy and keep me on my toes! It was a bittersweet day at church, saying good bye to all of our friends. It was our last Sunday in the Bowdish ward. We will be moving into the Belle Terre ward boundaries, here in the Valley, but actually were just recently called to serve in the Spanish Branch here in Spokane. We are so excited! That will be our new home ward starting this Sunday. Primary, we hear, is in English, because most kids speak it, so luckily Tucker and Taylor will understand Primary, but everything else is in Spanish so I'm hoping these two pick up a bit of Spanish along the way! :) That is why we were asked to speak, because it was our last Sunday! boo!

Anyway, back to Mothers day. It was wonderful. A delicious home made breakfast, beautiful home made cards, two cute kids, it had it all! :)

After we snapped our annual Mothers day picture, Ben had to hop in and get one with his kiddos! :)

It was a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon; naps, food and reading were all had by all. The weather was even gorgeous so we got to eat a BBQ dinner and play outside. The kids sure do love being out there!

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and somehow whenever T&T play together, it usually ends like this:

As much as he loves to love on her, he also loves to torment her! :) Such is the life of a little sister, I suppose.

Happy Mothers day to my own wonderful mother, and thank you for all you do!

Meg's b day...

My dear dear friend Megan had her birthday a few weeks ago. I had these great plans to get some of our friends together for a night out to celebrate and on the eve of her birthday she called me and said, 'I totally want to change the plans for my birthday' (which were just dinner and a movie) She told me that she had seen a pin on pinterest about a lady who, on her birthday went around all day and did random acts of kindness. She did the number of how many years old she was turning. So Meg wanted to do 32 random acts of kindness on her birthday for other people, instead of go out to dinner and a movie with her friends. She's a saint! So, I got a baby sitter for the day (which is hard to find!!!) and we went out for the day to serve others and make their day a little better. I brought my camera along because I had grand dreams of photo-documenting the whole day, but mostly I forgot I even had it until the very end of the day! :)

Our first stop was Costco; to pick up supplies but while we were there, we did find some serving to be done! :)

Who doesn't want a free diet coke (or pepsi, although I prefer the coke!) :)

We helped some people put away their groceries, and then went around the parking lot looking for people whose cart we could return for them.

Got some skittles to take to the kids at the Shriners hospital...

While at Shriners hospital,(they wouldn't let me take pictures inside) we took the nurses a big thing of Costco waters, and then were going to leave the skittles for the kids because we couldn't go to the rooms, but we were able to go into like a rec room place where the kids play and there were two little girls and their moms playing cards and they asked us to join them. They were from Mexico and didn't speak very good English, so it was fun being able to use my Spanish. We played spoons with them for a good hour and a half and it was so much fun. The girls were 12 and 13 (one of them spoke pretty good English) and we became good buddies with them. Luckily they were on the mend and heading back to Mexico the following week. They had been here for three months!!! It was really fun making some new little friends.

Our good friend Laura came too.

Next, we went across the street to Deaconess Hospital and paid for 5 cars parking. We had also written notes to go with the paid parking that said things along the lines of, 'we hope that for whatever reason you are here today, this helps brighten your day a bit.' Something like that. :) We saw an old guy scrunch up his face and look at us like we were crazy after his parking fee was paid for him, so weather they appreciated it or not, we did it! :)

After all this, the plan was to go to lunch downtown, but for some reason we had to head back to Costco, so we decided to grab lunch there. And who doesn't love Costco lunch? I know I sure do! Plus we all had to get back to our babysitters so we didn't have to pay them a fortune! :) It was a fun day to get out and do things for other people and spend time with good friends who make me want to be better! :)

i love this time of year...

It is finally FINALLY starting to warm up. It is still hit and miss, like this week is cloudy and rainy, but we have had a few good days here and there. Of course, we head outside as often as we can during this time, not knowing how long it will last. 

It looks like we might have a future golfer on our hands. Tucker has been really interested in golfing and learning how to golf lately. I think it's because he got a golf set from his Grandma & Grandpa in Alabama for Christmas this year. He is finally getting to use it! Good thing his daddy is a golfer and can help him out with his swing, because I sure as heck don't know what I'm doing!

I'm really going to miss this house for a lot of reasons, and one of them for sure is the beautiful Spring flowers. Every April and May my backyard is beautiful!

After our little photo shoot in the flowers, Taylor found this old plastic owl I got to keep the crows out of my garden box a few years ago. (She also found an old coat and hat of Tuckers that had been out on the back porch since the cold weather) She looked like a little homeless child rocking and singing to the owl. Silly girl!

But you know it's been a good day outside when you come in and your face looks like this:

The first spring we lived here I wouldn't let anyone touch the flowers, because they were too beautiful. Then I learned how quickly they go and it is such a waste if you don't get to enjoy them, so I try now to make as many bouquets as I can during these two months, to keep and to give away.

Here are just a few of ours from this year...

Taylor's Bouquet:

A Bouquet for Teacher Barbara...

Happy Spring!!!

father/son campout...

Last weekend Ben and Tucker took to the hills for some quality father/son time together. Tucker was in heaven. He got to play with his buddies all night long and got his daddy all to himself! While they were gone we had a little girl time with our friends, Emily and Katie, whose husband and brothers were  also at the camp out. It is unfortunate that all we did all night was pack up our house; but we still had fun and luckily got a lot done!

Garret, Dallin & Tucker...

I love this boy!

I love my two cute boys!

Tucker and his friends, Ryan and Lucas...

bits...

Here are some random photos from the past few weeks. I don't have instagram (I'm like the only person on the planet that still doesn't have a smart phone!) :) so I have to lug out my point and shoot camera where ever we go to get cute shots! :) I always have a point and shoot camera in my purse though, and I have for years-I was SO on the bandwagon before camera phones/instagram thing! :) Anyway, our month according to my point and shoot camera...

Our house has been on the market (and just sold!-more on that to come!) so whenever someone would come to look at it, I had to high tail it out of there. Most of the time I had places to go or people to see, but every now and then it would be at a random time with hardly any notice, so we would go get ice cream! :) This particular day I had three extra girls with me from Tuckers pre-school class and we were QUITE the scene! :) Taylor, of course, got ice-cream not only all over herself, but the chair as well! :)

The weather has FINALLY been warming up so we've been heading outdoors more. Taylor even busted out her new sunglasses! :) Thanks B-ma! :)

Sometimes if  I need some peace and quiet to make dinner, I will put on some cartoons. This is what happens when Taylor doesn't get a nap, but sits down to watch cartoons at oh...5 o'clock! Konked right out on Tuckers legs!

While Ben was in Seattle for the weekend last month, we went over to Kathryn's house for some girl time with her and Brittney. While we were chatting, the kids got out this game all on their own and insisted on playing it. It was the  cutest thing. ( I guess you had to be there, it doesn't quite sound as cute as it was that day!) :) You get the idea though! :)

On a very rare day that I woke up before my kids, (they usually have to wake me up!) I went in to check on them and found them both sleeping the exact same way...

Taylor started to awake in the time it took me to get my camera...

Our good friends, the Enloe's came in town for a wedding and we celebrated with their family for Eric's birthday. They are like our second family and it was fun to spend time with them. Oh how we miss the Enloes!

best dessert ever...

I got this recipe off a friends blog and I knew I had to try it. Ben was gone awhile ago to Seattle for the weekend (it's no fun to make desserts with him around, he won't eat them!) So I decided to give it a whirl! It is definitely a new favorite, but watch out, it makes a TON; We munched on it all weekend!

SNICKER SALAD 
(tastes like a yummy carmel apple with nuts and chocolate)


Ingredients:
Cool whip
one package of instant vanilla pudding (small box)
one cup of milk
Snickers (frozen or cold - easier to chop)
green apples (tart, with a little sweet and lots of juicy)


1.Add instant pudding into mixing bowl and pour in 1 Cup cold milk. Mix well and let chill while chopping candy.


2.Chop Snickers bars into bite size pieces (I usually use about 2 bags of mini sickers or more - I like A LOT or about 10-15 king size). I have added Milky way bars and Rolos in with the Snickers before or you can omit the Snickers and just add Rolos and Milky Way bars if there is a peanut allergy.


3.Chop green apples into bite sized pieces (I use about 8-10)


4.Fold in one 8 ounce container of Cool Whip (or more if you think it needs more. I usually buy the 16 ounce container just in case) into the pudding.


5.Combine candy and apples in bowl with pudding mixture.


6. ENJOY!! Be sure and control yourself or you might just eat the whole bowl yourself!