This is one of my favorite pictures! I guess this is how we water our children in Lost Creek! I seriously can't take my eyes off her for one minute!

HELP ME

So for anyone who looks closely- these posts are all messed up and out of order! I tried really hard to get them in order- does anyone know how to do that?

Tai's Vacation 2008

Grandma Snell took a couple days off from work and invited Tai to stay at her house for a couple days-all by herself (from Saturday until Wednesday). Jake and I decided that we would let Tai decide for herself if she wanted to stay or come home with us. We asked her on Saturday morning what she wanted to do and it changed 50 million times by the time Jake, Teya and I left. She would say, "I want you to stay mommy," or "I want to stay," and then it would be back to "I want to go home." But she finally decided to stay when Grandma told her that she could have a sleepover with Maili.



First on the activity agenda was the Lehi Round-up Rodeo on Saturday night. It was Tai's first time at a rodeo. Grandma said that she loved seeing all the animals (shocking)! She even went in her cowboy hat!




Here is cousin Maili in Tai's hat. It was her first time at the rodeo too!

One of the things that Grandma took Tai to do was go swimming at Aunt Sherene's pool! If it involves water and her lifejacket, Tai is so there! Especially if it involes playing with Maili.

Going down the slide-all by herself!
I had to get after Grandma and Aunt Cee-Cee (lacey) for not taking pictures of Tai and Maili's sleepover, but they had a campout on Grandma's front room floor. From what I hear, it was a little bit of a late-nighter!

Some other things that they did while Tai was at Grandma's was they went to the Polar Bear Store (Build-A-Bear) and got Lizzie a new shirt and a carrying bag, went shopping, and out to lunch! They went on long bike rides at night and just HAD FUN!!!!!

I called every day to see how she was doing, but she only talked to me one time the day she was coming home! She was just having such a great time! Grandma told me that she did want to call one time because Tai wanted to do something and grandma wouldn't let her, so she wanted to call me and tell me that Grandma wasn't being nice! Funny huh?

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch

Teya and I had a lot of togetherness time. We went swimming, played with the sidewalk chalk (well one of us did, the other ate it, bet you can't guess which one is which), played outside and Teya went to cheerleading with me. I got my house cleaned up good, I never realized who was making the biggest mess in the house until Tai was gone-my house stayed picked up for 4 days!!! But I also realized how much I love my little Tai and how our family needs her!!!! Jake and I would ask Teya where Tai was and she would look around trying to find her. They love eachother and are such cute sisters! We definitely missed Tai and are glad she is home!



Teya entertained the cheerleaders with her dancing and singing- I was lucky to catch a picture of the faces she was pulling that made everyone laugh! She is such a silly little girl!

Meanwhile back at the Ranch cont....

Teya played in the hose forever-she loves to do that and drink the water! Just in case you were wondering, I bought a lead free hose for the girls to play with.

Daddy even got in on the action. I bought some new "pretty's" to play with. Teya sat there for about 45 minutes putting them on her feet then taking them off, on, off, on,off. It is amazing how long she would play with stuff when Tai wasn't there to take them away from her.

Home again, home again

We were so excited to see Tai- Grandpa and Grandma Snell brought her home for us! She was sad to see them go, but she was happy to see her daddy, mommy and sister. She couldn't get out of the car fast enough to give me a big hug, then she saw her friends and wanted down to go play. Kids...
I tried to get a picture of grandpa and grandma with the girls, but someone is always upset!

Grandma Snell's toy bed

It never fails-kids can always find something to entertain themselves with. This trip to grandma's house just happened to be her bed that was the entertainment. I go in there and each girl climbs up the footboard, goes over the rail, onto the bed, then slides off and does it all again making one big circle! Even Teya figured out how to do it herself (not surprising to me at all).
Up and over!

Lehi Round-up 2008

So the BIG thing in Lehi (where Tai & Teya's Grandpa & Grandma live) is the Lehi Round-up! When I was a kid, we used to come down from Idaho to be there for it. I think that is a great tradition for my girls to take part in as well! Every year they have a huge celebration with 3 days of festivities. It is like the cardinal sin if you don't go to the three parades. (I guess we will be shunned from the parade Gods because we only caught one). But the girls loved it! We go to our usual spot-Grandma Morton's front yard-some traditions never die! We get prepared to get candy thrown at us and to sweat like a pig-all in the name of the "Lehi Round-Up"!!! The parade was so hot and lasted so long-but the girls didn't mind-as long as they got candy! Here is Tai (3 1/2), cousin Maili (1 3/4) and Teya (1 1/2 almost) checking out one of the many floats that drove by.
Aunt Cee-Cee helping the kids get their candy in bags.
Daddy and Teya sitting in the hot sun! Here is a rare moment of Teya sitting still. We mostly chased her around and kept her out of the parade, she really wanted to take part in it!
After the parade at the park they had a bunch of booths for kids to come do things at. Of course my Tai would want to go for a pony ride to help out the Lehi FFA (and cousin Amanda). It's not like we don't have horses where we live and could ride them at any given moment! I guess that is a true cowgirl, not caring what the cost or location-getting on a horse is all they care about! (it only cost $1.00) She stood in line for like 20 minutes and when her and grandma Snell got up there she told grandma "I can do it myself!"
The girls loved looking at all the animals that were there (sort of like a petting zoo for farm animals) Here they are looking at the turtles.

Cute swimming video

My little fishies!

Tai has always been fearless in the water, I never expected Teya to be the same way! It is really kind of hard to take them to the pool because they both want to be in different places. Tai will wear her lifejacket so good, but that means she goes all over. She jumps off the diving board by herself, dives off the side of the pool, and swims everywhere. Little Miss Teya now thinks that I don't need to be holding her in the water, she is constantly trying to get out of my hands. In the baby pool she doesn't want to stand up and walk in the water anymore, she wants to be down in it with her face in barely being able to breathe. It scares me to death and I have to watch so close because I can't tell if she is sucking in water or just getting excited. They love it so much, how can we stay away? here is Tai jumping off the diving board- she thinks that she is so big!
Teya taking a break from scaring me to watch Tai jump off the diving board.
Grandma Paula gave Tai a pair of goggles to borrow. Now everytime we go she has to have them on. She looks so cute and silly all at the same time.

Softball night

Here are the kids that were there last night (minus Teya- I finally strapped her in her car seat to watch a movie- Yes the windows were down and I kept checking on her). Me and one of my favorite girls!
You like the knee brace? That right there is how we got the knee brace! Batting!!!! Jake did really good last night. He sure can hit the ball!
Jake used to play outfield, but after his knee injuy last year, they stuck him at first base! He said it is so much easier. He doesn't have to run around as much, and he can still ROCK the softball field! He has loved to play baseball/softball forever! One of the best parts is that he gets to play with lots of his friends. It doesn't work out to bad for us girls either-we get to visit and let the kids play!

My little monkey

Some of Teya's favorite toys- a horse & a cow! She was definitely born into the right family!

On any given moment when we are in the house- Teya is usually found with something in her mouth and/or climbing on something. She is such a little monkey- my sister Lacey calls her the "Albino Monkey". If the name fits.....

Tai's first Grounding

Here is my little Tai on the day of her first grounding! Look close and you can see the handprints all over the side of the truck. Yeah! She was playing with the neighbor girls and they spilled some punch. I was inside trying to put away groceries and the next thing I know this happened. There were only two involved, but Tai had to come inside and is grounded from playing with her friends for a week. She also had to sit on her bed for a while and also help wash the truck! Life is rough for a little 3 1/2 year old! But look how cute the little stinker is!

My view of the outside world

This is looking out from my back porch and to the right side of my house. This is looking straight back.
This is my house from the road.

This is what I see when I sit on my front porch. And this one is for Lacey, so she can see my progress in the yard-not much but it is a start. Jake brought in a ton of dirt the last time we lived here and made these great mounds with awesome rocks. But the problem was you could never see the rocks, it was constantly covered with weeds. My first excuse of the summer was that i just couldn't keep up with it (which is partly true), then it was I didn't have the time because of chasing the girls around outside, but let's not kid ourselves- I HATE TO WEED! There I said it! No more lame excuses. So my mom and dad came down and helped me (i will forever be in their debt) cover up the mounds with black tarp and plant some cool perenials. I still have a lot of work to do-but it is coming and hey-I don't have to weed.
This post is for all my friends and family that have never seen where I live. These are the beautiful views I get to see everyday! I know pictures are lame when someone isn't in them, but I just thought some of you might like to see where I live. I do have one neighbor on the other side of my house. They have two little girls that Tai and Teya play with alot.

Grass Valley Girls

One of the girls' favorite thing to do is help their daddy change water up to Grass Valley. They each have their own shovel and once the water is flowing, the fun is on! Tai loves to dig into the water and get the mud, just like daddy has showed her, and you guessed it- Teya LOVES to eat it. Mud, water, dirt, rocks, you name it, it is is her mouth!

Lizzie's Boo-Boo

For anyone who knows Tai, she loves her "lead dog" Lizzie that she got at the Build-a-Bear Store (polar bear store as Tai calls it) at Disney Land. Yesterday Tai was blow drying Lizzie's hair and I had told her not to turn it up to the high setting, but she did anyway. Next I know, Tai is crying and said that she hurt Lizzie. I came to investigate, and sure enough, Tai had melted the hair on Lizzie's back. She cried a lot and wanted me to call the "polar bear store" and tell the ladies about it. But we wrapped Lizzie's boo boo up instead. Jake and I talked to Tai about how just because we have a boo boo doesn't mean that we need a new Lizzie-like when she gets a boo boo, we just try to fix it and help it get better instead of getting a new Tai! We gave Lizzie some Tylenol and told Tai that Lizzie was going to need some special love and attention the next couple days! Funny huh?

First swim day of the summer

It took Teya a couple minutes to get used to the swim pool, but once she got in, she loved it. She kept taking the other kids' toys then tried to get them to come play with her! i definitely have two fishes for daughters! Tai picked up where she left off last year! She loves to go under water and try to swim. She still isn't old enough to take swim lessons, you have to be 4, but Grandma Paula said she might know where she could get some private lessons!!!! (ha,ha)
My two fishies!!!!!