While mom is away (or distracted)

This is what Taylen does while I get ready in the morning. Isn't she just breathtaking? Just so you can fully appreciate this, the red on her cheeks is red LIPSTICK. Glorious. "I'm getting ready for the day, mom." There ya go.

Valentine's Day

I woke up in the morning and had these happy hearts all over my garage. Thanks for the heart attack, Retamals!!

We went to our neighbor's house for sugar cookie making in the afternoon. There were lots of kids, candy, and chaos...the perfect afternoon :)


And I put the girls in their "my mom is hot" shirts as a Happy Valentine to Nikki :)

I'm Mature

So this is a favorite book of Taylen's, and it talks about the importance of reading to your kids (or bunnies, whichever). And last night we got bored and started changing what we were reading to. So we did, "read to your alligator often" and "read to your monkey" and on and on. Then we got even more creative and started reading to objects, such as "read to your umbrella," etc... Then we landed on the funniest of them all, and I'm going to share it with you. I seriously haven't laughed so hard in a long time, which is a signal to me that I need to get out more. I hope you enjoy this as much as Taylen and I did:

...

Read to your poop often.

It's twenty minutes of fun.

It's twenty minutes of moonlight,

It's twenty minutes of sun.

Twenty old-favorite minutes,

And twenty minutes brand new.

Read to your poop often,

And your poop will read to you!

...

Haha! And you know you're all laughing right along with me. Sickos.

Quote of the Day

Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of God.

I have gained an immense testimony of this during this past year, and especially the past few months. If we are striving to keep the commandments and better our relationship with our Father in Heaven, He will bless us with the strength and peace we need to overcome obstacles in our lives. He loves us. He is aware of us in every way. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our sorrows, the deepest desires of our hearts. He will not put anything in our path that we cannot conquer, and He will never leave us alone in our trials. This past year has been the darkest of my life, and in those dark hours I had no choice but to cling to my faith and plead with my Father in Heaven to give me His peace. The Atonement is real. Jesus Christ took on the sins of the world so I wouldn't have to bear my sorrows alone. It was in my darkest moments that I was truly able to see the light, and to recognize that no matter what is going on around me--if I seek to have God in my life--I can feel peace.

I think I've got my hands full...

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On The Move

Ryah is officially mobile!! At seven 1/2 months she is crawling, slowly but surely. Taylen was crawling by about 5 months, so it's been nice having a non-mover for a little longer this time. This video is about 2 minutes long and pretty boring if you're not my mom or sisters. ha ha. Actually there is a funny part at the end with Taylen. Oh, and if you don't like baby talk, you might want to mute it :). Consider yourself warned.

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Play Dough Fun

Taylen's creation. It's a cat. Obviously.

This is how I know Taylen is done with dinner:

Ryah Enjoys Minty Fresh Breath...

Bugs Bugs Bugs

This past weekend my girlfriend from high school (Rachael Lawson) came to visit us!
She brought her beagle puppy, Guinness, and Taylen just ate it up.

It was so good to have her with us for a couple days. Thanks for coming, Smach!!

On Saturday we went to a Bug Emporium in Rocklin. They had all kinds of exhibits where you could pet different bugs (note: stick bugs are aggressive and one climbed out of the bowl trying to grab Taylen's finger! I don't think she'll be petting bugs again any time soon), look at bugs through microscopes, look at birds, fish, amphibians and lots more. Our neighbor Kristin came for a bit, and we kept her daughter Millie with us to play with Tay. It was really, ridiculously crowded, but the girls had lots of fun!

Looking at baby mosquitos with a magnifying glass. Those

things are even nastier up close!

Peeking in an aquarium

Listening to the ocean :)

Painting with live maggots. That's right. You dip em in the paint and then let them roll around on the paper. Nice idea in theory, but the paint weighed them down and they mostly just laid there.

Taylen and Millie. Cute :)