DC

For Rhaegan's spring break we decided to head back over to D.C. to visit Grandma and Papa Taylor. We have really missed seeing them. Rhaegan and Marlee were so excited to see them they had a hard time waiting the 8 hours it took to get there. As long as there's a movie playing the girls do pretty well. Once we arrived, we spent 5 days staying extremely busy, seeing so many fun and exciting things. We had gone there over Thanksgiving but didn't get to see a lot of the sites of DC.
Our first stop was of course the Temple which is one of the most beautiful Temples on earth. Rhaegan, especially, loved walking around the temple listening to Papa explain the different things about the beautiful "castle"

We of course had to go to the zoo. Not once but twice. Marlee wouldn't sit by the gorilla. She thought he was too scary.

Rhaegan really wanted to ride a train so what better "train" to ride than the Metro.
The escalator heading down to the train was unbelievably long.

All Aboard!

And of course the Museum of Natural history was a must. I love this place especially because it's FREE!!

And finally the White House. We didn't get to see it when we were there over thanksgiving so we had to take a quick photo this time around. It was a bummer how far away from it you have to be now.

Dinner at Fuddruckers to end a long day in the city was perfect. The food was so good and we were able to spend time with one of Shae's best friends, Dave who was in town for a couple days

It was a great trip and we hated leaving. Thanks, Grandma and Papa for everything.

Party Time

I knew there was a reason I loved this age (minus all the "terrible two" nonsense). Marlee made turning two seem like the most magical experience of ones life. She didn't stop smiling throughout the whole party and enjoyed having her little friends there to celebrate with her. Marlee has grown to love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so I thought why not have a Minnie Mouse birthday party. She actually asked for a Goofy cake but Minnie was a whole lot easier to make.

Making birthday cakes has become one for my favorite things about being a mom (among many others).

Suzi and Kester were of course among the guest which made Marlee's day. She LOVES Kester and Suzi and is constantly asking about them

The adorable little "Minnie Mouses"

And of course 2 more candles to blow out. Luckily she didn't try to play with the fire. It was definitely something I thought she would do.

Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating this day with us. We had a great time.

She's 2

Well, she's 2! My little lady is two years old. Where has time gone? She is the most energetic little thing. She never misses a beat. She is talking up a storm and loves to "explore" usually getting into things which are off limits. Time-out doesn't work on her at all, in fact she likes it and often puts herself in it. She hates kisses and will immediately wipe them off. She is addicted to gum and pop. She asked for one or both at least 4 times a day. We love her sweet personality and can't believe she's already two.

Birthday morning.
Tigger is always dressed (diaper included) and ready for each new day

Birthday Lunch at the one and only McDonald's

She's my little batter-eater. We celebrated on Wednesday (her actual b-day) with cupcakes and presents from family. Uncle Nick came over to celebrate with us.

She loved blowing out her candles

And eating her cupcake, of course

She loved all her present especially the phone she got from Aunt Krista. She had recorded a message on it so when Marlee opened it she pressed play and heard auntie Krista talking. She thought she was really on the phone though so for the next 10 minutes she walked around talking to Krista and waiting for a response which never came. It was hilarious.

Birthday Party pictures to come...

My built-in babysitter

Yes, I know what most of you are thinking: a board game, a park, even McDonald's Playplace would be better than sitting in front of the TV. There are just some days when "Stevie the TV" is the perfect little helper.

Don't worry Rhaegan is still very intelligent and Marlee, well what can I say about this little girl? She hilarious!

Where have i been?

I never thought my blog would take a back seat to my life (since my blog is about my life) but it has. I have barely had time to shower (I try to at least get a shower every couple of days) let alone update my blog each week. I do have a lot to write about but my professional status as a blogger is out the window. I am going to try to update as much as possible but until my crazy life calms down you may be seeing a few more of these "breaks" as I'd like to call them.

Quick update:

-Rhaegan speaks phonetically now. Each letter of each word is sounded out one at a time. It makes for some long conversations.

-Marlee is still a handful albeit a cute one. She enjoys screaming at everything. I have lost hearing in both my ears.

-My job is going pretty well. I can't wait for the day when I can go back to being a full time Mom but for now I'll do what I have to do.

-Shae is still working unbelievably hard and is making a lot of progress. I would give more details but I can't and I really don't know much anyway.

-My mom had back surgery a week and a half ago and decided to go on a little walk after only 7 days (not allowed). While walking she slipped on the ice, fell and broke her wrist. Not just any break either. Her radius bone basically broke completely off the hand bone. Needless to say she can't do any of the things she's use to doing so luckily I'm here to help and my sister came down to help as well. It's weird when it's you bathing your mom instead of the other way around.

-Marlee has been going #2 on the toilet which is fantastic!

-Shae has been in Utah for the past week and a half and tonight he comes home! That's the best news thus far.

More to come soon (I hope)

Early Bird

My wonderful little 5 year old use to have a thing with waking up at 6am every morning even if she didn't fall asleep until 11 the night before. That phase ended (thank goodness) and was a thing of the past. I thought for sure I was in the clear. Unfortunately I was wrong. Her new time is now 5:30am each and every morning. The first couple of mornings I thought it's ok she's just not tired anymore. Now it's been 3 weeks straight of this early bird behavior and I can barely keep my eyes open past noon each day. What am I going to do? We have tried EVERYTHING from punishments to more exercise during the day. The Super Nanny has even been a recent booked checked out from our local library. She is clearly not getting enough sleep for a 5 year old. What to do?

Christmas Highlights (almost a month late)

We had a lot of fun this past Christmas. I'm still trying to wind down from it all. Rhaegan is at the perfect age for Christmas and the concept of Santa. She is a true believer and will stop at nothing to try and make everyone around her believe too. We of course taught her about the true meaning on Christmas and she is still blessing The Savior's birthday in her prayers. The week before Christmas was spent tying up any loose ends and preparing for the big day. We spent a lot of time together as a family and enjoyed reading a bunch of Christmas books to the girls to get them ready.

Christmas morning was so much fun. Watching Rhaegan run downstairs wondering what Santa has left for her was a moment to remember. She had sent him her list and was crossing her fingers as she bounded down the stairs. She was so excited to see her very own reading chair and her own camera! One that takes real pictures as she would explain it. Of course she saw what Marlee got and wanted that as well but we made sure she let Marlee enjoy her presents for herself.

Then the mother of all gifts was opened...Grandma knows her granddaughter

I'm not quite sure what Rhaegan is wearing but she apparently thought summer was the next big surprise. Marlee got that elephant from Santa which was a huge hit.

We of course had to do a little sledding (and by we I mean Shae and the girls)

This picture is priceless! For those of you who know Shae know how crazy it is to see a dog curled up next to him.

Gingerbread houses were made...of course some were better than others (Nick)

Marlee loved relaxing with Rowdy. She tried to play with Snarky but she is a little more temperamental so we thought Rowdy was the safer choice. I don't blame Snarky, though, I wouldn't like to be jumped on all day either.

Rowdy just loves kids I think

This was the only present Marlee opened Christmas morning. After it took her a little while to opened it she was too annoyed or overwhelmed with everything she refused to open any more. We had Rhaegan "help her" finish by at least lunch time.
It was a great Christmas. We hope you all enjoyed your holiday season as well.