MERRY MERRY

Santa?!.....not so much

The funny thing is they are actually pretty good with strangers....they might have done better if he looked more Chinese!

Shane and Larae Wed At Last!

Congratulations Shane and Larae! 

We're so happy to have Shane and sweet McKenna and Jordan join the family!

I Just Love this!

Bear Lake. Pumpkins. and Happy Halloween!

Being a twin sometimes comes at a price.

Our weekend trip to Bear Lake was beautiful!

The annual Pumpkin Party! Had so much fun playing in Oma's leaves!

I know, it just seems so fitting right? Ha. Halloween was really fun this year. Ila and Fae loved trick or treating. After we were done Ezra put on garbage bags and a mask and sat near the side walk so he could scare all the neighborhood kids. About half of the trick-or-treaters wouldn't even come to the house because Ezra looked so scary! I've never seen him sit so still in my life!

You Go--Elder Taylor!!

Being 6'8 can present its problems, especially when your living in South America!

It's my little bro's birthday and I just wanted to give him a little shout out. Elder Taylor  has been serving an LDS Mission. For just about two years now, he's been living like a Colombian, eating like a Colombian, and speaking like a Colombian. He's truly put his heart and soul into helping the Colombian people. His missionary service has been such a blessing to our family, he has been an excellent missionary, I'm so proud to call him my brother!

Here are a couple blurbs from some of his letters, you can find all his letters at:
Chronicles of Colombia or elderpatricktaylor.blogspot.com

They live super humbly, the majority of the people here. Lots in just a one room house of bricks, one light bulb, no running water-a few buy it and carry it up to their house for the week. It's a service we've helped with several times. And some of the hills are super steep! Where I live there's running water. This is more on the hilly hillside. But they seem content and grateful for what they have. 

Also I had to eat a cow stomach twice this week. It's not that bad but it's definitely not good. I had a huge chunk of some part of the cow in my soup yesterday and it had hair like a scruffy chin. Like the hair I grow on my Chinnish looking. And a fat and tendon looking thing. Didn't even phase me. Ate the soup, left that thing wallowing in its own to putridity. But all the pieces of stomach surrounding it I ate – not too bad.

We as humans look at problems and conflicts and trials wrong. They are not meant to destroy us. Satan wants to use them that way, but that is not their purpose. They are so that we have a chance to show faith. Especially here, I think of the Sabbath day. Everyone here works on Sunday and that is their excuse every Sunday. This is an excuse! They'll believe God parts the Red Seas, but don't understand that that is a minor miracle for him than themselves and us individually choosing to show faith and look for the way to keep His commandments. It doesn't even have to be all at once. Every week you build a little more faith til you can actually do it and do it consistently. But they just trap themselves, sometimes not even searching for how to do it, saying "If God wants" thinking that if it was His will He'd come and give them a piggyback to church Sunday morning.

I really do not know where to begin in the testimony of I have of Christ. When I think ofwhat he would do in every situation I think how unnecessary the commandments would be if we just loved as he did. If we allow him to change our desires to just do good! To do as he would do! When I think of his love for me even when I fail. and when I fail his other children I think of his miraculous power, to compensate and take advantage of our shortcomings and I can know that he LIVES and LOVES me bastante. He is my Savior, and you come to know it more and more by striving to live like Him.

It's Been a Lovely Fall

Fall Colors up American Fork Canyon, Breathtaking! 

We've been taking advantage of the last bit of warm weather-Ezra is to blame for the mud, he didn't mind hosing them off though.

It's just been so beautiful around here!

Our family friend Bronson let us borrow this beaut for a day--it was hilarious to see all the funny looks we were getting.
Totally want one!

Been trying to spend lots of time outside enjoying the amazing weather before it gets too cold!

Okay-- My girls are totally girly girls--I swear it came programed. Ila LOVES jewelery, here she is at Oma and Opa's good ol jewelery store. She could not get enough. Fae is more of a clothes and shoes girl- if she sees her shoes she insists on having them on her feet--she also loves to pull clothes out of her drawer and bring them to me to put them on her. New favorite phrase: "ooooh, pret-eeee!"

Discipline has officially started- and I totally hate it. I know I need to do it, after all I don't want to end up with TWO screaming, tantrum throwing, bullies. It's a pain, but like my Dad always says "Hard work is easy work done at the wrong time." 

Now is the time! I've got to get this discipline thing down quick or I'm going to be in double the trouble! 

I'm trying to mold my little one year olds into the patient, polite, respectful little angels that I know  might exist.....Ha. It's gonna take a while, a long while. Right now we are working on being "soft." When they hit each other I make them say sorry and give each other hugs. We are also working on not throwing things in church, not playing in the potted plants, not rubbing food in our hair, the list goes on and on. Sometimes I feel like I must have the most active children on the planet. 

I need a nap!----Who's with me?!

P.S. General Conference was A---mazing! I'm already re listening to it all! I feel so blessed to be part of such an wonderful church with such amazing leaders!

Don’t worry we found it

It’s just me, blogging about Walmart once again. Ha. Anyone with kids knows what a process it is just to leave the house. It’s kind of like packing for a long trip, several varieties of snacks, changes of clothes, binki’s and bottles, toys, sanitizing equipment, and of course a first aid kit. Okay, I don’t really have one of those, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Right?  That’s just part of the process that must happen before we leave the house. I mean there are still diapers to change, faces to wipe, hair to be combed, and inevitable last minute disaster “look what I found in the garbage can mommy” type stuff.

I personally believe….that every shopping cart in  America should be patterned after Costco’s double kid cart, it’s an inspiration. My girls can keep each other entertained the whole shopping trip. (yes, I know, the whole kissing thing will have to end at some point).

If I’ve got to take the girls with me shopping I usually just wait until I have reinforcements. After all, I never know what those two little furballs are going to have up their sleeves. But today I was working on a project that could not be finished without a trip to Wally-World. When I go to Walmart I have to take my double stroller and there really isn’t much room underneath to store my loot, it can be a pain in the royal highness.

The girls actually ended up being pretty good today, I checked out with out a hiccup and walked to my car feeling rather victorious. I got Ila all strapped in and started putting Fae in the car, that’s when I realized she was missing a shoe. Uuuug. So I put them both back into the stroller and started retracing our steps. I practically had to lie on the floor to see under the shelves. I’m sure people were wondering what the heck I was doing, “That lady’s lost a lot more than her marbles!”

The girls sang happy little songs through the rest of the store, it was almost like they had planned the whole thing. I was about to give up looking when I saw it….. sitting perfectly upright waiting for me, gleaming in the fluoresent light. Hallelujah!

When I finally got out of the store all the high school kids where headed to Walmart for lunch from across the street. A group …… of girls started gathering around the twins ooh-in and aww-in like is natural for girls when they see babies. I finally made my way through the herd, and as I’m walking away I hear this conversation.

“I'm totally gonna have twins”

“yeah, me too,  a boy and a girl”

Man, it really doesn’t seem that long ago and I was one of them, making what I thought would be a perfect plan for my future.

I always seem to forget that I’m living the dream life. ( ; Ha.

p.s. The project I was working on was my newest attempt to get my girls to eat their vegetables, they got sick of sweet pea mac and cheese and lettuce waffles. So I took advantage of their new fascination with drinking through straws and made vegetable- juice with fresh produce from my mother’s garden.

Here’s the recipe: The quantities are up to you

Swiss Chard

Green Pepper

Broccoli

Beets

Pears

and

Pineapple juice

I just pureed it all up, skins and all

I tried some and…….it’s vile----But apparently I made it sweet enough, cuz the girls slurp it right up! 

Craig and Kaisha's Wedding!

I had to drop her and run--this was the best we could do-Ha

Such a cute couple!

These two were ripping the table clothes of the tables at the wedding luncheon. Little varmints.

We ate a lot of sugar-- anything to keep the girls happy

Wrestling--they were giggling so much. Such well behaved children. 

 Wha-da ya know, little girls love little girls

We are so happy for you Craig and Kaisha! Congratulations!

Mirror Lake

Headed to the Uinta's for Labor day weekend
It was beautiful!
Mirror Lake certainly lives up to its name
Glad Karlie and Shalie could join us on our little adventure
We even got to see a bald eagle come swooping out of the trees!

5 Years!

This is almost a month late, but I couldn't forget to recognize our 5 year anniversary! Can't believe it! Seems like we've always been together! Love you babe!

Taylor Family Vacation

A couple weeks ago we went on the Taylor Family Summer Vacation. St. George, was hot! But that didn't stop us from mountain biking, hanging out at the pool, seeing the musical Aladin at Tuacahn, and having a ton of fun!

My favorite part of our trip was our Pine Creek Hike--It's been years since I've been and it was awesome! A big thanks to Mom and Kristina who watched the girls so I was able to go!

1st Birthday Party!

She did not want to let go!

We really wanted Fae and Ila's birthday to be fun day for them. So we started the day with our little water slide bounce house, it's made specifically for the little ones and they absolutely loved it!

After lunch we headed to the living planet aquarium, which the girls totally loved (for about 1 hour.) My favorite parts were the mini sea horses, otters, and the penguins.

The girls actually seemed to like their presents--which is new. And of course they loved eating their cup cakes.

Birthday #1 = Success!