Where does the time go?

Wow, it has been forever since I have even looked at my blog.  I can't believe I haven't posted since April. So much has happened I'm not even sure where to begin.  Well May 26th, Finn had her first birthday.  I can't even remember what cake she had or what gifts she got, all I know is I think I have it on film somewhere.  I can't believe how big she has gotten and how much fun she is.  She has a cute little personality, stubborn, shy, funny....... and she loves food.  Sounds a little like someone else I know :) She says a lot more words now but doesn't use them unless she has too.  Her and Taytum are very different when it comes to social settings.  Taytum loves the attention and wants to tell everyone about everything (sometimes a little too much info) and Finny just wants to go off and do her own thing.  She doesn't mind being alone and not having anyone notice what she is doing.  It will be interesting to see if that changes.  She is super daring in other situations but not when it comes to talking.  She learned how to whistle a few weeks ago.  I love to whistle, especially during the holidays, and one day she started whistling right along.  I don't have that on video yet, because as I mentioned before, she doesn't like attention and she refuses to do anything that I ask her to do.  So hopefully I can sneak a video soon and put it on here.  Taytum is growing up so fast.  She is 3 now and I do remember her birthday because it was less than 6 months ago.  She had a big pink cupcake and "little tiny big cupcakes" as she would say.  She got books and toys and dress-ups.  She is by far the best gift receiver known to man!  I will post that video as soon as I figure out how to do that.  Every single present was like she just won a million bucks.  She did not get that from me, unfortunately I am terrible at receiving gifts and have a hard time changing my tone, even though I am truly excited.  Anyways, that was fun to watch.

Over the summer I decided to apply for a teaching job up here and got one at Woods Cross.  I get to teach on B-day's only and I also took the head basketball coaching job.  It has been super busy but extremely rewarding.  I teach at an amazing school with a great staff.  My principal should be a comedian on the side, he is hilarious and super nice.  My team is filled with amazing young ladies and I feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity.  Zach has been so great to help out with the kids.  He is the best father around and I couldn't do any of this without his support.  I am looking forward to the Christmas break and the time I will get to spend with my family.  I love the holidays and wish people would be this giving and caring all through the year.  Last thing and then I will add photos.  So we had a lesson in young women's about taking a picture of something you are grateful for every day.  So I decided to try this but write something down, because I knew I would forget the picture thing.  I just want to tell you all, please do this.  It has changed my life!  I have had some difficult challenges come to me over the past few years.  Things that I didn't think would ever happen to me.  This small and simple thing has brought me out of some very dark and lonely times and has changed my outlook on life.  I still face the same challenges but now I have hope, and now I have joy, and now I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus is the Christ and that through the atonement we can find peace and that every single day we can find something to be grateful for that God has put in our lives.  I am most grateful for my kids, they are the light of my world and I am so blessed to be their mom.  Anyways, there is the quick version of my last 8 months.  Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Easter

Well it was a great Easter weekend! My parents were able to come up and the weather couldn't have been better! Saturday we went egg hunting and Taytum was so excited to see the Easter bunny. She has a thing with stuffed animals, so when they are huge and moving she goes crazy! For example, swoop the Utah ute mascot she loves and talks about him all the time. So we took her to see him and she blew kisses to him, waved, gave h knuckles, and even has a swoop pillow pet. The Easter bunny was even more exciting because of her Easter bunny pillow pet that she can't live without! She drags that thing everywhere and will say "I need my bunny and my bink" it is really cute. So anyways here are some pics of Easter. Finn she is just the best sport and is so good all of the time! Love these girls so much!

March already?

Well once again it has been a while since my last blog.  A lot has changed, as it tends to do over a large amount of time.  I will start out with Finnley, she is now 10 months old, crawling, and has 6 teeth.  She was such a mellow baby that I thought for sure that's how she was going to be, well one day she decided that she wanted some of the attention, so she has come out of her quiet little shell and is bursting with personality.  She giggles all the time, but it sounds like she is crying, it's like a deep, forced, giggle and it is hilarious!  She thinks that bed time means game time and as soon as I lay her down in the crib she is giggling and climbing up and trying to get out.  So I will start to leave and then turn back around and she goes crazy, jumping and laughing.  It is pretty funny.  Her top 2 teeth are about a thumbs width apart and they are huge, it's sooo cute/goofy looking.  I have been told that space is a good thing so I'm not too concerned yet.  She pulls herself up on things and is very interested in shoes.  Not sure where that came from ;-) okay maybe I have a thing with shoes, but what women doesn't?  She absolutely is a momma's girl, which I am so happy about, because Taytum couldn't care less whether I'm around or not, but Finn, she loves me to hold her and play with her.  Most of all Finnley love love loves Taytum and Taytum loves Finnley.  It is so fun to watch them play together.  Taytum can get her to laugh more than anyone and Finnley just follows her around the best she can being on all fours.  Taytum is so cute with Finn and really is super sweet.  Occasionally Taytum uses the phrase "that's mine" which I think is pretty common in a 2 year old, or 25 year old's world.  So on to Tayter bug, she now corrects me when I call her that.  Me: Hey Tayter Bug!  Taytum: No it's Taytum.  She also will be talking and I can't understand some of the things she says so I will say "what Taytum" and she get's really upset and says, "don't what Taytum" it's pretty funny, so then I will say "I don't understand" and she'll get really mad and say "Don't understand Mom!"  Very entertaining, for me atleast.  Taytum is now 2 years and 4 months old and I cannot believe it.  They grow up so fast it's scary!  She likes to dress herself and she always wants to wear a skirt and her pink shoes.  She has about 5 purses and 20 lip glosses.  I have about 1 of each.  She knows where people stash there lip gloss and gum so she goes right for the purse of anyone that leaves it lying around and she usually ends up with a few extra lip glosses every time we are with the family.  She knows that I don't love her having a gallon of lip gloss on her lips so she will get some and go hide somewhere, like behind the couch or door or under a blanket.  I'm a little concerned about that but I'm sure it is just a phase, I mean I haven't heard of any adults being addicted to lip gloss.  Taytum also loves to dance and sing.  In fact a few nights ago she slept in our room because Brooke was staying over, and Taytum woke up at 12:30 and decided to sing 5 little ducks.  She sang this and whatever else she could think of until 4 a.m.  I was obviously cool, calm, and collected, (NOT) throughout this time frame, because I do just fine when I don't get much sleep.  So finally we turned on a movie and just let her go.  The next day we laughed about it, but at the time, I was not a happy camper.  On to Zach and I.  Well Zach is working with Grainger still and loves it.  He just went to a training in Florida where he met Paul Sr. from OCC.  And he got to go to universal studios.  I went to Cedar and Vegas and had a great time.  I was able to go to the State Playoff games and loved every minute of it.  In Vegas, JaCoy set up a run called "Defending Freedom" in honor of Ben who is currently in Afghanistan.  It was awesome, about 200 people showed up for a 5k 10k half or 25 mile bike ride.  So currently she is a single mother of 5 very busy kids, and she organizes a huge event.  She is unbelievable!  Seriously I don't know one thing this woman can't do!  So anyways I stayed down there for a few days and enjoyed the sunshine.  The past few weeks I have basically been watching a lot of basketball because of course March is my favorite month!  Last Thursday-Sunday I probably logged about 20 hours of basketball, it was AMAZING!  Zach had to take over in motherhood duties!
We are still in Kaysville and are loving our neighborhood, ward, and new friends.  It is a good place to be and our little family is growing up so fast.