MEET IZZIE BELLE TAYLOR!

She is a Shih Tzu - which I find very convenient when she does something naughty like poop under my piano. I can get away with saying "You little ShihT zu", it takes away some of the irritation with the dog and gives me a little pleasure.;) If we can get past the fights over her & potty training - (she was trained until the kids played with her so often away from her potty pad she didn't know where it was and she got the comfy feel of pooping on the carpet) I might like her. Right now Lucy just wants to step on her and I do mean on purpose and Roxie is just annoyed by her. I might send her away to 'military school' for dogs & let them train her to be a good dog. Kelly (my friend with the 3 rat dogs) just admitted to me that she sent 2 of hers to 'military school' and that's why they are so well behaved. I'm having flashbacks of the nightmare potty training the twins & I just don't have the patience with a mammal I didn't give birth to. It's a darn good thing she has such a cute little face.

Disney Princess Overload

I'm so happy that my girls love Disney Princesses so much - but I think I've had my fill for awhile. We went and saw Disney Princesses on Ice with my friend Connie and her daughters Olivia & Ella. Ella is 3 and was singing all the songs & knew all the words - her mom said when she was pregnant with her little sister, she was so sick that all she could do was lay on the couch and let Disney Princesses babysit Ella. I didn't really believe her until now. The princesses were lip-syncing to the soundtracks of all the movies & Ari was SO impressed at how well they could all sing while skating.
I had a little epiphany about the princesses too. I think men were creating the earlier ones - like Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty - those ones are all so SWEET & DEMURE. Then came Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocohantas - and they are all tough chicks - I wonder who had the most influence with their creation - changing the images of Disney Princesses. Just a thought.

Lelu Wins the Race - And Now I have to EAT MY WORDS!

This is Dead Horse Point outside of Moab. Becca would NOT like it! It's a small jutt of land between two huge canyons. Very cool to look at, but I was a nervous wreck with the kids running around. We like to do a little sightseeing while down there, having lived here 14 years and not appreciating the beauty is tragic!

Here is Lelu's trophy. 5 miles ran in 41 min 10 sec - and she doesn't even look like she's trying! Check out the guys behind her that she passed up and look at B - he looks like he's got a huge stride to keep up. Next year she may have to find a faster pacer?

Last year, B agreed to buy us all tickets to go to AZ if she broke 50 min. and we all know how that turned out. This year, she has been begging & pleading for me to let her have a puppy (a little rat dog puppy) for at least 6 months. I said "Never!" I do not like little rat dogs. My friend Kelly has 3, plus two golden retrievers outside and her house is spotless, so Lelu has been using that argument. Long story short, she ONLY wants a puppy - so I agreed, but she had to win 1st place for her age group. And of course she did! Does anyone know of a little dog that doesn't yap, bite, shed or pee/poop everywhere? Maybe one of those stuffed dogs? No, they yap. I am SO screwed.

A Poor 15 Year Old is Tortured by Attending a Concert with his Mom!

Jeff Taylor doesn't know it, but he has an alternate universe - rocking out as the bass player for MatchBox 20

I gave D ticket/s to Matchbox 20 & Alanis Morrisette (6th Row) for Christmas. Dave informed at the time that it was extremely cruel to force a 15 yr old boy to go to a concert with his Mom. But because I love Alanis and D is not yet old enough to take a date, or in my opinion has any friends who can appreciate the 6th row and I live in a fantasy world that I am the coolest mom, I chose to ignore Dave! Someday, D will tell his side of the story - when he will tell me how he really felt. The concert was last night and for now he loved the concert! He even took all the "couples"(if you know what I mean) around us in stride and we rocked out. Yes, we really were very close to the stage!

Alanis may not have the stage presence or marketing of Celine Dion - but if given the choice of who I'd like to sound like if I was a rockstar - Alanis wins hands down! She has the most unique & talented voice I've ever heard! D was bothered by the fact that although he doesn't like her or have anything of hers on his ipod - he knew most the words to most of the songs. It could be because I've been playing them in the car since he could talk? She hasn't put anything new out for a while.

A Summary of my Amazing Girl's Trip to Cabo San Lucas

That is Cherie & Christina, the brave ocean floaters! I did ride a wave runner out in the middle of the ocean, totally out of my comfort zone - I was surprised by how peaceful & exhilarating that was. (but I have to get photos of us from Cherie.......)

Yes, I did back into an 'invisible' post within 2 hours of arriving in Cabo! But I will not reveal who's finger that is ;) not mine! I only posted the pic, to show you how you should always pay for full insurance coverage on car rentals (which I did but have always complained that it is so expensive & we've never had to use it, until then) and how I did not let it even "dent" my trip.

I think I started dreamin only in green & brown, we ate so many chips with guacamole! Mmmmmmmmmm

We did Kareoke one night - this was "I love Rock n Roll" & we sang "Open Arms" which we all knew all of the words and experienced individual flashbacks of dancing to it in Jr. High! (for me it was with Craig St. Clair - he was a fox)

I will add pictures as I get them from Cherie & Christina - I'd swear Christina took over 100?

Ping pong was played after a day of relaxing by the pool/beach.

This year was the most fun & relaxing of all of our trips thus far (we've been on 6). Of course, we stayed a week this year as most of us have our kids in school all day. And the husbands - all of which are so cool they should be rockstars! - held down the fort. It helped a lot that my friend Kelly speaks fluent spanish and could translate all needs and desires and negotiations!

What a difference from Tijuana & Nogales! my previous Mexican experiences. I did spend an afternoon in Cancun on our honeymoon, but I don't count that as experiencing Mexico. We all laughed until we cried every day, played cards, ate authentic Mexican food (except Jodie who doesn't like it - she kept ordering a chicken sandwich:( ), stayed up late, slept in, read books, listened to ipods, chased whales on waverunners (there are photos) and ..........drumroll please..........WENT DANCING! If you want more details about that adventure - you'll have to ask me in person. It's PG-13 and this is a family blog. (except for that middle finger & the last paragraph)

If you are the least bit sensitive to racy terms, stop reading right now!

I was trying to come up with a word to explain how I felt lying in a hammock on a beautiful beach, with spinner dolphins putting on a show for us, blue blue water, 82 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, great friends all around, Coldplay in my ears ("We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do"), and a slight breeze.

The word that jumped into my mind was "Soulgasmic". I hope we all have those moments of when you just feel amazed at the perfection of that moment - I love this new term and I'm sticking with it. So sorry if you were offended, but I told you to stop reading!

"This post under construction - but I didn't want to forget it all before I could post more photos"

California Adventure with the cousins!

Just a few highlights to mention here - As we loaded onto California screaming - little "B Wyatt" (who has ridden this ride before) acted as if he was WAY to scared to go on it. Which the operator noticed as we were pulling away. So they stopped the entire ride before the big takeoff and walked around pulling up gates on the side of the rails and took him off the ride. All while there was a large audience watching what happened! Sorry Christina - but I thought it was hilarious - later in the day he went on it. Apparently they take forcing a child against his will onto a scary ride seriously!

Unless of course it's Pirates of the Caribbean, because we dragged Ari onto that one - after we told her that the Haunted House was the princess castle, she wasn't trusting us that it wasn't scary. I wonder why she didn't trust us? Mr. T was "just" tall enough to ride all the big ones and loved every minute of them, Lelu would only go on if Christina would go- and ventured on to Tower of Terror & Screaming. She's come a long way since going into convulsions when a feather blew by on the driveway and I am not exaggerating

I'd swear this was the real Alice in Wonderland!

Look at the height difference between Lelu and she was not crouching down!

THE GREAT AND TERRIFYING CAPTAIN HOOK!

I know this pic is already on here - I just wanted to show just how similar they are. Oh and now that I'm thinking about it - Ari may love Cinderella and look like her - but her personality is definitely more Tinkerbell. I don't think they ever have Tinkerbell at Disneyland??

Even Lelu was a bit frightened.

We got the biggest kick out of Captain Hook, because Ari would not come out from under the table at the restaurant where he was. We've made amazing progress with her. The last time we went to Disneyland, she was crying and under the table for the princesses. I kept saying he looks just like "buddy" did on Halloween but I wasn't convincing her.

ON TO DISNEYLAND!

Character autographs were the theme - and we got every princess but Ariel - which is a little bit ironic. Jasmine was the only princess D would pose with because he has a little "friend" named Jasmine that he likes to hang out with A LOT!

Believe it or not, but Cinderella is by far Ari's fav - and I think she sees herself in Cinderella. Maybe if she had red hair Ariel will be her fav - but strangely enough Ariel is Lelu's fav.

Mr. T is now taking after his big bro and keeping away from the characters - he tries to act likes he's way too cool - but he is 6 and would get a huge smile watching them. This is one of the very few he'd pose with and he was WAY too cool to pose with princesses.

Jesse was an exception to the anti princess rule - because she's NOT a princess.

VACATION VACATION VACATION!

The theme of February was GET OUT OF UTAH and have some fun! And believe me, some fun was had by all. (Isn't that the dumbest phrase when you think about it?) The kids Charter School has a brilliant policy of taking a week off in February. Parents had great imput in that decision. The adventure began on Sat. the 16th, heading off for Las Vegas. Where we treated the kids to "O" the Cirque de Soleil - which if you have not seen it, Ari summed it up by saying "Are they really doing those things or is that a computer making them do it?" And she has been inspired to want to "be one of the twirling girls". I didn't get any photos outside the show but this was a little ice cream stop before the show.

Next stop Newport Beach & Dana Point. That's D's leg trying to catch some rays. And there was a sea lion taking a little snooze on the rock over there.

I put this one in because it has the flowers that were everywhere. I love flowers - I miss flowers - I crave the little crocus' popping up. It's March, so it should be soon, and I filled up on flower reserve, as much as I could stop and admire them.

"Poor Mr. T" or "Lucky Mr. T" Depending on Your Perspective

All of these little cuties are Ari's Brownie troop in our neighborhood. I helped chaperone their group to "Hannah Montana 3D Movie". Having already been there and done that in person last fall - I tried to enjoy listening to Lelu & the little girls all sing along. That was very cute. Ari has 12 girls and Mr. T has 2 boys to play with. Good thing she's the social one.

AND THE SNOW JUST KEEPS FALLING!

This is not news to you Utahans, but to you CAs & AZns...................

Appreciate not having to shovel or drive in this stuff! The kids aren't complaining too loudly - they spent Sunday afternoon with the neighbors building this cool igloo because Church was cancelled. That's definitely never happened in 14 years either. Big B & I went off to an 'adults only Super Bowl party' without guilt of leaving church early. I had no idea who was even in the Super Bowl until that day - but I chose my team to root for based on tabloid gossip. I read that Tom Brady was a big cheater and left his girlfriend of 5 years, 7 months pregnant, for a supermodel - So I didn't think he deserved to win! I was happy for Eli Manning too, not having to walk in his brother's shadow. Plus the last quarter was really fun to watch. More SNOW COMING TODAY! Ahhhhhhhhh SPRING WILL BE BLISS THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!

D gets a little taste of 'Broadway' Playing Otto Frank for 4 days

D's theatre teacher is VERY DRAMATIC and wrote a play 10 years ago using "The Diary of Anne Frank & the book "Night". Every other year the school allows her to put on "Voices of the Holocaust", and they require all students to see it. So there were two casts - D was a Prisoner #4 in the 2nd cast & Otto Frank in the 1st cast. The kids put this on 4 times a day for 4 days. And as you can imagine - it is a very heavy subject matter. He was very happy to get it over with and start working on the end of the year play, which is student's choice. Of course, my critique is that he did an awesome job, esp. considering he was playing a mature level-headed man - and what's exciting to me is I know he's got it in him, even if it is just a character! I didn't see the play with him as Prisoner #4 - but I'll bet he did that one great too. He finished out the week with Friday & Saturday night all night filming for "Lair Lords" (the BYU film). Big B picked him up at 4 am both nights. I am so grateful he's a morning person! Needless to say, D spent Super Bowl sunday sleeping. He is loving every minute of it which makes all the driving worth it to me.

THE REAL BEAUTY OF UTAH!

B & D had a busy morning last Monday shoveling a total of 4 times. This is how much snow fell from 5 am until about 1 pm. I do believe this is the most snow in the shortest amount of time we've had in 14 years of living here. My neighbor informed me that there was more in 1993 - the year before our arrival. Thank Heavens for 4 wheel drive!

D gets a fun part!

To add to his exciting b-day weekend, D got a part in a BYU film festival film. He's one of the main 3 parts - a goofy 14-15 yr old obsessed with Pop Rocks. He is thrilled because he is the only 15 yr old cast. The rest of the cast are 19 to 21 yr olds who look really young. Pop Rocks is sponsoring this film & want to get in Sundance next year. How cool would that be? Anyway he doesn't get paid & he films from 3 pm to 3 am Friday nights & 5 pm to 5 am Saturdays nights for the next 3 weeks. Fun driving time for mom & dad. Only 1 more year until he can drive himself! That will be a happy b-day for me too.

D turns 15, Eats Cake, Cheats at Bowling & FINALLY gets a suit coat!

Like a typical computer savvy teenager, he quickly figured out how to change his score in order to save face from his mom kicking his butt. Mr. T I think has some talent, he bowled a 96 with 2 strikes! Big B is still trying perfect his curveball. (without a lot of luck)

D has been complaining for the last couple of years that he's the only one at church who doesn't have a suit jacket. So we went shopping and got him this very dapper coat & tie. The tie was a compromise - the first 20 he showed us looked very much like he was going for the clown look - so I used my veto power. Did you all know paisley is back in? This one happens to be paisley & bright but not bozoish. Doesn't he look spiffy? ( And a very cute girl noticed and complemented him on his new clothes)

D gets properly embarassed at the Cheesecake Factory with Choc Tuxedo Cheescake to wipe away his discomfort.

Mr. T & Ari Are Now Experts in Crop Dusting & Worm Farming!

The twins are learning about farming & every child was assigned a topic. We lucked out and got the extremely interesting topics of Crop Dusting & Worm Farming! This is one aspect of twin mommying that isn't that fun - I get to do 2 reports. I brought in a surgical mask as a visual aid for crop dusting and Ari emphasized how poisonous the chemicals are.

Mr. T was totally stoked about bringing in real earthworms. (Thank you Walmart for providing year round earthworms.) He was in all his glory holding them and showing them around. He also baked some worms in his 'Bug Maker', think Easy Bake Oven for gross looking bugs. Of course, then his teacher decided to keep the worms and extra day and that did not go over well for Mr. T. He was angry, sad, distraught and about as emotional as a 6 yr old can manage. She let him bring them home Friday and he literally spent 4 hours playing with them. Poor little disgusting, but oh so helpful, creatures. They now reside happily a foot under our compost pile.

I do wish we would have been assigned "Where does Chocolate come from?" (the report between their reports)

BIG B TURNS 45!!!

Yikes, how can I be married to a man that's 45? Why does that sound so old? We enjoyed a night out with all of us including Aub & Michelle T. at a "hoity toity" little place, that just may have been a little too nice for kids that just may be a little too young to go to it. I guess it was french because it was called "Francks" with a french pronunciation. And we had fondue with stinky cheese. I managed to pick out 3 gifts that B didn't want to return, so it was all good.

A Visit to A Friends Cabin - and Fun with Cousins

Tallon didn't want to leave sledding & snowmobiling fun with our friends.

Big B giving "torture" and "persheda's" to poor little B-Wyatt.

We also had the fun of having Jeff, Christina & the boys for New Years. It was a quick visit with 2 days of skiing for dad's and kids and 2 days of mom's fun. Ringing in 2008 with pretty much the same resolutions as every year...........

I am sorry to have been offline for 2 months but I had a computer nightmare & said more than my share of swear words - contemplated driving my car into the front windows of PC laptops. In the end - B saved me from drilling in foul language to my little ones and a stint in prison. I have a new PC and he found all my info. WooHoo and an renewed appreciation of my addiction to a computer.

I have no photos of Christmas - only video & I haven't figured out how to load video

Our Christmas this year was great. Thanks to Michelle T and D's ability to argue about what he wants for Christmas. D was telling me how if he did not get the new X-box 360 that he'd be really mad. I was saying how we are done with gaming systems and Michelle started telling us about families she works with that are refugees who've lost everything. I told her I'd rather spend the $400 on one of those families. She sent me a list that included things like blankets, diapers, warm clothes and food. So I decided to take full advantage of my calling as compassionate service leader and asked my Relief Society president if I could open up the sub- for- santa to our ward. I was emotional everyday because I saw the absolute generosity of people who I didn't know could even afford it, or I didn't like (shame on me I KNOW). It took away all of my usual holiday anxiety and replaced it with strong feelings of being blessed with Michelle T. and so much love from so many people. It made my year and honestly was the best Christmas ever. Our family delivered everything and I hope it made an impression on my children - I want to be a part of that every year and throughout the year. And I never heard another word about an X-box 360!