Thank you Tyson, Sam & Paige!!

Thank you so much for my adorable outfit. I love it so much!

I especially love the hair bows.

I showed off my new outfit to all my friends and they loved it.

Thanks again. I love you guys!!

Chef Rhaegan

Rhaegan got a play kitchen for her birthday from her Grandma and Papa Cupps. Along this the kitchen came this adorable chefs hat and apron. Rhaegan is quit the little cook and loves to wear the apron (not so much the hat) every time she cooks me something. Her neighborhood friends love the kitchen as well and are over here all the time helping her prepare and serve delicious, plastic meals.

Rhaegan is 2!!!

Rhaegan is officially two years old. Where has the time gone? We had her party last night which turned out to be a lot of fun. As you can see from the pictures below the party had a penguin theme to it. Rhaegan loves penguins so I thought why not? She picked out the plates and cups and when she saw the penguin balloon she about fell over with excitment. Hopefully this next year goes a little bit slower. She is growing up too fast.

Rhaegan and her favorite balloon

These are the penguin cupcakes I made for the party

Rhaegan was so excited about all of her presents

She got a little bit bashful when everyone was singing to her. It was adorable.

A penguin party wouldn't be complete without a penguin gift
(it was from her Aunt Kimmie)

Viva Las Vegas!

Shae, Rhaegan and I got to go to Las Vegas this past week with our friends Mike and Ashly and their two kids Maddox and Conner. Ashly's family lives their so we stayed with them and got to enjoy their company. Thursday night we went down to the "strip" which was a first for Shae. We wanted to eat at the "ESPN Zone" but when we got there we realized that there was a huge game on so the wait was 5 pages long and you had to pay a $10 an hour fee once you got in. Needless to say we of course found some place else to eat. It actually turned out for the best because we took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe (in the MGM Grand) which was so much fun for them. It was like eating in an actual rainforest. Everywhere you looked there were animals or waterfalls and every 15 minutes or so it would thunder and a little mock rain storm would pass over us. It was a really fun experience. We also got to participate in the annual Las Vegas Santa Run which benefits children with disabilities. Ashly and I wanted to run the 5k but since we had our husbands and kids with us we decided to do the "Santa Stroll" which was a 1 mile walk. They wanted to make it into the Guiness Book of World Records for the most "Santas"walking a 1 mile or running a 5k race. We all had to dress up like Santa (including the kids). It was a riot. Rhaegan actually wore her beard as you can see from the picture below. It was a great trip filled with a lot of fun.

Maddox and Gorilla at Rainforest Cafe

Ashly, Conner, Kendall, Rhaegan

(Look at what's hanging above us!)

Mike, Ashly, Maddox, Conner, Rhaegan, Shae, and Kendall with the Coca Cola Bear

Yep, that's Rhaegan!

The Taylor family in their adorable Santa suits

Thanksgiving at the Taylor's

Well, Thanksgiving is over and now it's time to get ready for my favorite holiday.... CHRISTMAS!!! However, I don't want to get too ahead of myself so I will first time you all about our wonderful Thanksgiving with Grandma and Papa Taylor. We didn't actually spend Thanksgiving day up in Idaho, but we were able to go up the Saturday before and stay until Thursday morning. We had our dinner on Wednesday with Reed and Jackie and Shae's brother Jason and his family. We all had a lot of fun, Shae especially because Jason brought shrimp from his restaurant. All in all it was a fun day with lots of yummy food.

Rhaegan had a really good time with the horses. She was a little bit scared of them at first (especially since one of them tried to bite her little fingers off), but after a while she warmed right up to them. She was constantly asking to go touch the horses or feed them apples (which we ended up doing A LOT!) She had a lot of fun with her cousins Seth (13), Jameason (3 1/2) and Atalya (2).

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we wish everyone all the best for the upcoming Christmas season.

It's almost Turkey Time!

I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner when I walk into the living room and see Rhaegan and Shae enjoying an afternoon football game while eating potato chips and dip. It was so cute I had to capture it on film.


It also got me thinking about what I'm thankful for this year, so here it goes:

1. My loving husband who helps out so much around the house I feel like there's nothing left for me to do

2. My beautiful daughter who brings a smile to my face everyday.

3. The Christmas season.

I am thankful for many other things too but the list would probably be extremely long and boring to read. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgivings.

A day at Hee Haw's

We are so lucky to have Hee Haw Farms right next door to our condos. Shae and I had never been there so we thought we better take advantage of it before it closed. So last week we made our way over there with some of our friends. Rhaegan always takes a little while to warm up to new surroundings but having her friends there to show her around helped out a lot. There was a big tube slide there that her two friends Kyle and Kaden were going down and she really wanted to go but everytime she would get to the top and look down the tube she would get too scared and come back down. I finally walked her back up and put her in the slide and gave her a little push. Shae was at the bottom to catch her. She LOVED it! She went another 3 or 4 times until we had to stop her and move on to something else. There was also a pig there named Leroy. He is estimated to weigh around 1300 lbs. He is actually the biggest pig in the United States. Rhaegan really liked him. He smelled horrible but it didn't seem to bother her one bit. They had pig races and a hayride with people dressed in costumes giving out candy along the way. All in all we had a really great time.

Halloween Day

We had our ward "Trunk or Treat" Last night which turned out to be a lot of fun. Rhaegan, of course, was extremely shy going to the first several cars and wouldn't say anything. Then eventually she warmed up a little and was able to get a thank you out every once in a while. When we were finished going from car to car, Rhaegan sat down on some benches and got to examine the contents of her pumpkin bucket. I don't think I have ever seen such an excited face before on her. She actually threw her first tantrum last night because we wouldn't let her eat all of her candy. She kept asking for a sucker and then for M&M's and when we finally had to say no she was not a happy camper. I had to hide the bucket when we got home. All in all it was a great night and a lot of fun. Luckily it wasn't too cold and her Kangaroo costume kept her nice a warm.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Halloween Party #1

Last night we went to the annual "Coop Halloween Party" hosted by Cameron and Amber Coop. For those of you who don't know who they are, Cameron served his mission with Shae in Costa Rica and they and 4 others remained friends after coming home. I became really good friends with Amber when Shae and I moved back here to Utah last year. Anyway, the big night happened last night and was filled with great food, hilarious costumes and a lot of laughter. Rhaegan was a kangaroo and loved showing off her hopping moves to everyone. Shae and I of course waited until the last minute to find costumes so we kind of had to make do with what we had. Shae was suppose to be James Dean and I was a 50's girl. I think we kind of pulled it off.

Rhaegan and Nathan, Cam and Amber's boy, are great friends and had such a fun time together. As you can see from the pictures, Nathan was a skunk and absolutely adorable. We still have our ward's "Trunk or Treat" this Wednesday to go to so there will be more of "Rhaegan the Kangaroo" to come.

(left to right: Ashley, Amber, Denise, me, Crystal, Sarah)(Left to right: Cameron, Nathan, Eric holding Kimball, Steve, Jason, Shae, Troy holding Caden)

(Kimball as "chewy", Nathan "Skunk", Caden "Turtle", Rhaegan "Kangaroo")

(Nathan, Amber, Me, Rhaegan)HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Our first snow!

We woke up this morning to a wonderful white surprise on the ground outside. It had snowed!! I usually don't like winter but I was so excited when I saw how pretty it was out there.

Rhaegan was really excited too! She grabbed Shae's shoes out of the shoe bucket and ran outside on our deck to look and all the new "white stuff" as she calls it.

I also thought the mountains were beautiful, of course.

It's getting cold outside!!

Rhaegan and I like to go walking with our friends Ashly, Maddox and Conner. It's been pretty nice out each time we go but on Thursday fall really started to show its true colors. Ashly and I knew that we wouldn't be too cold because we would both be pushing strollers and walking briskly. However, our kids needed to be bundled up in order to stay warm. Rhaegan found my puffy vest and decided that that was what she was going to wear. She looked so cute and had to share the picture with all of you.

Fire Safety

On Wenesday Rhaegan and I got to go to Fire Safety Day at the nearby fire station. There were so many fun things for the kids to see and do. Unfortunately, Rhaegan was really sick (I didn't realize it though until after we got home and I took her temperature and it was 103 degrees) so she wasn't having as much fun as she would have been having had she felt better.

Rhaegan's friends Maddox and Conner went with us which made the trip even more fun. Rhaegan's favorite part was watching a helicopter land right in front of us. I thought she was going to get scared but she loved it. I have never been that close to one as it's actually landing so I really enjoyed it too.

Papa Cupps

This past weekend we got to spend time with my dad, or as Rhaegan likes to call him, Papa Cupps. He was in town to do some recruiting at the University of Utah. It was so much fun to have him here. He played "Mr. Fix-it" for us which was so nice. We had several little projects that we needed help with around the house so we put my dad to work. Rhaegan loved playing with her papa too. In fact, one of the nights he was here she wanted him and only him to put her to bed. After he read her some books he tried to lay her down but Rhaegan immediately stood up and wanted him to hold her. I eventually had to come in and take over because my dad didn't have the heart to leave her in there crying.

Rhaegan also got her Halloween costume and has not wanted to take it off. She loved showing Papa it and loved the reactions from the rest of us. It's so much fun watching her get older and start to understand some of the fun things that come along with being a kid. I can't wait to see her at Christmas time.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I have to admit that I am pretty lucky to have such a wonderful daughter. She has always been really easy and fun but now she's even helpful. I was doing my "morning chores" when Rhaegan walked into the room and wanted to help. So I gave her her own Swifer and away she went cleaning the floors along the way. The funny part about it though was when I tried to take the Swifer away from her. She would not let the thing go. So for the next 40 minutes she went from room to room sweeping the floors.

We miss you, Krista!

Rhaegan wanted to send her aunt a little message to let her know that she is thinking about her and misses her. We love you, Krista and we are all so proud of you. Have a good week!

New Shoes for Rhaegan

Thank you, Mom for the shoes you sent Rhaegan. She loves to wear them all around the house and hates it when we try and help her put them on the right feet. She really needed Sunday shoes. Thanks again

Kyle & Rhaegan part II

They really are two peas in a pod.

After Kyle went down the "big slide," Rhaegan knew she could do it too.

Kyle was showing Rhaegan the "big slide."


These two have so much fun together. They were just taking a little break from playing. Aren't they adorable?

Rhaegan's Boyfriend

Yep it's true...Rhaegan has a boyfriend. It is by far the cutest thing ever. His name is Kyle and he's about 6 months older than Rhaegan. We have become great friends with his parents Laurie and Adam. We are always out on the playground together and Kyle and Rhaegan just bonded. Now when they see each other they immediately want to hold hands. Adam (kyle's dad) takes some really great pictures and so yesterday we captured a couple moments on film. There are three other little boys who Rhaegan likes to play with, Kaden, Maddox and Conner, but Kyle is the one who steals her heart.

Welcome to the family, Paige!!

Well there has been an addition to the family. Welcome to the family Paige. We are all so excited that Quinten and Kate have a little girl now. And I have to say that she is adorable!! We love you all and hope everyone is doing well. Plus, hats off to Kate for having a completely natural birth. You rock!