I need a buddy...

Okay-I did it...I signed up for the Moab Half Marathon on March 8th. So who's in? Angie? Joel? Anybody? The Deadline for registration is December 15th-tomorrow, so if you're going to do it, you'd better get on it. Also, its just a lottery, so no guarantee you'll get in anyway. But good times if lots of us do! Here is the site to register http://moabhalfmarathon.org/halfm/halfm.html. And if you've never ran before-who cares. I have a great training schedule that will be easy and builds up gradually if anyone is interested. I

Now I am OFFICALLY a Painter

This past month I had a lot of time on my hands and I was looking for a project to keep me busy. Well I found it, and I'm still not done (but I guess most of my projects end that way). I have no art talent what-so-ever, but took it upon myself to paint my kids play area.

Our basement is pretty much dedicated to kids. We try to keep all the toys down there so I feel like when my upstairs is clean-my whole house is clean! Toys out of sight-toys out of mind. Well, my kids go down to play, but never stay long. There isn't any color on the walls, or pictures or anything. So I thought that if I put some fun stuff on the walls it would help with them playing down there. I have a friend who owns a screen printing company and she said she could just wrap the whole thing in any picture we want, (her playroom is all wrapped in Nemo, and is so cute!) But I'm sure that could get a little pricey! So I decided to just go for it and paint it myself. The worst I could do is mess up and repaint over it.

Well, here are the pictures of the semi finished product. I'm kind of proud of myself, because I did this all by myself and I think it turned out pretty good. At least thats what my 9 year old neighbor said.

This is the outside wall of the space under that stairs. The window to the left of the cannon is a real window (without the glass). Thats the stair railing in the upper right corner-just to give you a sense of where this is coming from. The entrace to this is to the left and around the corner.

This is the front of that cubby under the stairs. It has a loft area at the top that the kids can climb up a ladder and play. At the bottom, you can see the entrance. The name of our ship is, of course, the "Black Pearl". As you can see, I still need to finish up the top part, but it got too high and I ran out of that color. To the right is the hallway.

This is a picture of the loft through the window. Thats my inspiration on the floor there-the JUMBO PIRATE COLORING BOOK! Let me tell you that it is no easy thing being an adult and trying to get in and out of that space everytime the doorbell rings or the kids are needing something. It was sure a wakeup call to loose weight-thats for sure!

This is the bottom of the cubby space and I still have a lot to do in this part, but I'm kind of worn out for a bit. The window on the right is the real window and thats a dry erase board and the wall that you can see through it. In the back I plan to make it an ocean and beach scene with a treasure map and buried treasure. As you can see, I got a start on the sky, but then I got tired. And I still have my barrel and cannon to finish. Then obviously, there's the ladder on the left to get up to the loft. My Dad and nephew made those ladders for us-they are the best ladders I've ever had!

This is the front of the castle. It is right across from the pirate ship- a hallway goes between them. The number one thing for my boys and their friends to do is to jump off the top onto a big old luv sac ( the luv sac is in the very bottom right corner). I'm pretty sure I'll be blogging about a broken bone someday in the near future. You may not want me to ever watch your kids after this, but what can I do? -they're boys!

This castle is called the "Dragon's Lair", so we have a beautiful dragon watching over them. Don't laugh-I can hear you laughing at my little dragon! I stressed over how to draw a dragon and not make it look like a cat or something. The inspiration didn't hit me until I was at the dentist with Max and they had a stuffed dragon that kids could practice brushing teeth on. So I sketched him out while Max brushed away and this is the final product....thus the big teeth.

And for fun, we all put our hand prints in the "cement".

This is just one side of the bottom of the castle. Doesn't my fire look warm?

Above the fireplace is a coat of arms I made up with symbols I looked up online. But I didn't write down what they were, so I guess that was pointless. I even put a latin phrase on there- but we'll never know.

This is the other side of the bottom of the castle. Don't you like my purple castle there in the background? I told my kids that if I'm ever away-I'll be at that castle. :)

Well, I hope my kids enjoy this and that it doesn't it get too dinged up too quick. Thanks for suffering through my little tour.

10th Annual Girls Day Out

Today was the one of the most looked forward to days of the year...the annual birthday celebration for all the Taylor Girls! This is the day where my mom, Teresa, McCall, and myself get together and go shopping, to lunch, the spa, and a movie- all to celebrate our December (and one very close November) birthdays.

This year we went out to the Fashion Place Mall for some good shopping, where we mostly "just looked"-(at least thats what we tell our husbands :). Then we had a wonderful lunch at the newly built Cheesecake Factory where we ate until we were stuffed! (Calorie counting is not allowed on your birthday. ) So we had to walk it off for awhile-so we did more shopping. Then we hit the Sanctuary Day Spa for 90 min of pure bliss. I had the Hydro Body Polish which is historically, the best spa experience I've ever had. But this year, unfortunately, the hot water ran out and I ended up a cold, frozen chica. I spent 20 min in the sauna just to get my body temperature back to normal. Despite this, I think I will still try it again in the future-its just wonderful!

It was such a good day. But I have to thank my dear, sweet husband who took the kids all day and never complained once! He is so supportive of me doing things like this and doesn't make me feel guilty about leaving. He spent the day building snow forts and sleding down man made hills in our driveway. He also made popcorn and put a movie on for all the neighbor kids in our bedroom. (Although that last part I wasn't as happy about.)

I am so lucky to have him and I love him so much!

By the way...the "S" is for Superman!

Ho Ho Ho!

I found the cutest form letter from Santa that you could print with their name on it and send it to them. Go to http://www.myheartandhome.com/imgs/55/LetterfromSanta.pdf to see it!

Hope everyone is well! I have been lost in the Twilight series the last little bit and haven't done much else. As soon as I'm done I will be able to move on with my life and start this blogging thing again.

Black and Cold Friday

Yes-I am a fool. Kandice and I decided to get up at 3 AM and stand in line for an hour to get NOTHING! I wanted to get some cheap toys and wasn't too far back in line when I got there. But with 10 min to go, groups of 5 or 10 people decided to join their 1 friend in line. Then once you got inside it seriously was a fight. We were in a narrow aisle with everyone in a deadlock and here comes captain You Planet pushing everyone aside saying "excuse me, excuse me." What? Where do you think everyone else is trying to do? So I left there a little ticked and deflated. Especially since Kandice did so well and got what she was going for.

To make me feel better we decided to go to Sam's Club to get the coveted 1200 thread count sheets for me that were on sale. Good thing I went running in-there were only 50 left! But my morning was looking up. Sam's was also selling the Wii family bundle and they were gone before we even pulled into the parking lot. But as I was browsing I noticed some people debating over theirs. So I hung around and when I saw them move to put it down (no-I didn't grab it out of their hands) I asked if I could have it. I don't really want a wii, but its kind of like when you see everyone with it and there are no more-you have to have it. So I bought it. I figure I can take a few weeks and see if I want it, or I can turn around and sell it and make some money for other christmas presents. Some guy said you could probably sell it for a $100 profit. So I'm pretty excited about that.

After the free yummy breakfast at sam's, we went to toys r us. Before we even walked in the door, the worker told everyone the check out was a 2 1/2 hour wait! This is at 5:15 in the morning! Old Navy was the same with the line all the way to the back of the store.

As a matter of fact-the ENTIRE parking lot of Target, Barns and Noble, Toys r us, Old Navy, Office Max, Michaels was full. Not one spot open to park. That probably should have been our first clue not to even try to go in anywhere. But we don't notice clues that early in the morning and went in anyway. In Target, things were the same, but it was more fun! We saw many of our crazy neighbors fighting the crowds doing their thing. I even saw Meghan who looked like she came away victorious!-and she was at the front of the line (lucky girl)! We tried to find a friendly face to buy one thing for kandice, but we were getting dirty looks, and is $5 dollars really worth it?

We got home about 7:30 am and went back to bed. As it stands right now-I don't really want to ever do this again, but next year I'll probably be in line at 2 AM.

Help! I've been tagged!

I've known I've been tagged for a couple days now and I haven't responded because I don't know what to say. I decided to sit down now and do it because I am tired of cleaning and prepping for the Thanksgiving feast here tomorrow. I have thought long and hard about what is new or unusual about me-or something that not many people know-but I really don't know. So here is my lame attempt at it...

1. When I am asked to bring treats to Enrichment night or to a party, I never bring something I made. My neighbor is a wonderful treat maker (the best choc chip cookies I have EVER had) so I go over to her house and she makes it-I bake it. Voila! I look like I've been doing this my whole life-and so far she's kept my secret!
2. Jeff and I are a perfect match for each other...I grew up with all boys and tend to follow guy characteristics like not listening, no attention to detail, and not wanting to talk about it because I really don't want to "work through my feelings". On the other hand, Jeff grew up with all sisters and has more of the girl qualities (and I say this with the most respect for Jeff, and I don't want to insult his masculinity) like he notices fashion, he likes to talk things out, and he is sensitive to people's feelings. (Okay- I feel bad. I just didn't know how to word this. But don't let me be misunderstood-Jeff is the manliest man I know :) That is why we make such a great couple-we understand each other.
3. My fake birthday, which we (Jeff and I) celebrate each year is April 3. So mark your calendar. People with December birthdays will understand.
4. Before I married Mr. Painter, I actually was a painter. What are the chances.
5. I have actually been to the North Pole and I have pictures to prove it. Boston came too and had his picture taken with the reindeer.

Whew! I did it. So I guess now I tag a few of my blogger friends...natalie, steph, mom, JOEL, angie-your turn!

My blogging world just got a bit bigger

I am so shocked at how easy it is to find old friends and long lost family in this whole blogging world. Many of whom I haven't seen since high school or the last baby/wedding shower I was at. I have just had such a great time browsing the pages and seeing where people have been in their lives and how big their families are getting.
Its also fun to see who visits my blog...and yes I know who you are...sort of. At least I know where you live, so some of you who are visiting, but not saying hi-I know..... So to all of those "who enter this happy place.....WELCOME' (yeah I stole that from Disneyland-I can't get that song out of my head) and hopefully we'll see each other in the real world some day!

Proof Santa and His Elves R REEL

I know, its a little early, but I had no idea that Santa's elves were already out collecting letters. We found this letter out on our "fierpit" this afternoon...

How exciting! We came right in and composed our answer...

Hopefully the elves return and deliver this letter or I'll have to step in and do it myself!

Happy Birthday Bro! Happy Halloween!

Its Andrew's 28th Birthday today and I wanted to wish him a great day!

When we were growing up, Halloween was always a big old party. Of course you have the trick-or-treating, but with a birthday involved-it just takes it to a higher level. We would have family come over to have some witches brew (dry ice and homemade rootbeer), sloppy joes, candy, and fun. It was always so great! And our neighborhood had the best houses to go to. Not necessarily for the candy, but for the good times. Our Bishop had a talking pumpkin out front and that thing was so smart it knew what you were wearing, who you were, and it even knew what you were saying in a whisper. It was so cool. If I ever figure out how they did that, I'm going to start doing it in my neighborhood.

Another cool house was the Anderson's(?) house. This house was tucked way back in, up a dirt road in a forest like atmosphere. The hike up to their house was sooo scary because they had people hiding in the trees and it was so dark. They also had some pretty intimadating swans that you had to stay clear of, but thats another story. But at the end you were rewarded with delicious homemade doughnuts. Oh, it was great.

Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW! We will be thinking of you and hope you get a lot of good candy from the iraqies.

Jack-O-Lanturns

Jeff grew up here and we have been in this area almost 8 years now, and we never knew there was such a thing as a 'Pumpkin Walk'. And who knew it was so popular? We had some friends that told us about this fun activity the city was having and told us we should go. So Saturday at 8 PM (when the kids are tired and not so cooperative) we decided we would run over there. We thought it would be a quick walk around and see a few jack-o-lanterns. OH-NO. We had to stand in line for a half and hour or more just to get in and then it took like another half hour to walk around the park. There were sooo many people, and sooo many pumpkins. Our kids had a great time looking for their favorite characters like the 'Cars' characters and Diego and the Transformers. There were over 1200 carved pumpkins all done by neighborhood groups, youth groups, businesses and other volunteers. It was pretty fun. They had pumpkins carved out like Lightening McQueen and Mater being chased down the hill by a the big bull tractor pumpkin like in the movie. There were even some very detailed ones like these pictures. There were even pumpkins carved out like Joseph Smith and Gordon B. Hinckley, and they were very well done. It turned out to be so fun, even though it was a rocky start. Maybe we'll make a tradition out of this.
By the way, did you know that if you spray the inside of your pumpkin with Lysol it slows down the decaying process? And, if you cover it with petroleum jelly it protects the carving?

And a quick pumpkin cookie recipe...1 box of spice cake mix, 1 15 oz. can of pumpkin and choc chips, mix, bake at 325 for 14 min. and voila- cookie!

Just some fun little facts I learned while standing in line waiting to see the pumpkins!

Where Do They Get This?

From their Dad probably! ***

One day while Max, my 3 year old, was being watched at a friend's house, he and his buddy decided it would be fun to copy their shirts in the copy machine. At first they tried to do it with their shirts on, but soon found that it was too difficult to get a good picture of their shirts. So, they took them off. It worked so well they decided to copy their pants. Any why stop there? Why not copy the underware too! Well, our friend went to check on them and walked in on 2 little naked boys xeroxing their clothes.

These are just some of the copies that they made. And they sure were proud of themselves and their "work".

My question is, since when do 3 year olds know how to use a copy machine? And I think we all know that from now on, we can expect great things from Max.

***I have to apologize to Jeff for assuming that this type of behavior comes from his genes. He was quick to remind me that I'm the one with brothers that ran around outside naked when they were little. Okay, so its true-these are completely Taylor genes.***

Theater Night with the Chinleys

From Left to Right: Harry (aka Jeff), Marvin (aka Boston), Ed (aka Max), Tina (aka April). We are quite attractive, wouldn't you agree?

Disneyland Vacation!!!

Last Sunday we woke the boys up early and told them that we had to drive Dad to the airport. They cooperated because we have done that a lot lately with Jeff traveling. We got to the airport and Jeff said, "I have a great idea! Why don't you guys come with me on my trip?" We didn't get any response for a few seconds and then Max got excited and said "Yeah!". Boston on the other hand is a planner. "Where are we going to put the car?", "I don't have a toothbrush!", "Where will we sleep?". It took about 10 minutes for it to settle in and then as we waited for the shuttle he kept asking, "Are you serious? We are going to California?" "Are you Serious?"

We decided to suprise them because I thought it would be fun to see their reaction, and I didn't want them telling their friends and I didn't want them asking me about it all the time. They were so excited to be on a plane and to be going on a trip. We had a great time, but we tried to push a little too hard. Next time we will take brakes between Disneyland days.

Disney had a Halloween theme going on all over the park. We spent a lot of time with Woody at his Halloween Roundup where the kids could do crafts, decorate cookies, see Woody, and pet goats.




Max was standing under this goat when I took the first picture, but he didn't know there was a goat there. Jeff told him and it scared the heck out of him, but he thought it was funny after and so did we. :)

Our friends the Miles went to Disneyland the same time and we hooked up with them a few times. On the last day, Preslie and Boston really hit it off and were holding hands the whole time. Preslie's Dad went with them on Buzz lightyear and said that Boston snuck and kissed her on the cheek! He's only 5! We have to pull the reigns back in on this one! However, Jeff was impressed with his son's natural ability to turn on the moves!




This Jack Sparrow dude, looked so much like the real one, we had to chase him down and get a picture!

HiYAH!

My budding Karate Boys just completed their first Belt Test and they both did so great! All the kids looked so cute in their Gias and they all did such a great job. Max skipped up two levels and got his yellow and orange belt, and Boston skipped up three and got his yellow, orange, and blue belt!

I am loving having my kids in karate-its so great to have them learn how to follow directions, listen, and be respectful. If they don't listen or if they are messing around they get to do push-ups. Max has even had to do knuckle push-ups outside for play fighting around with another kid. They are pretty serious there, even for the 3 year olds :)

Halloween Party

So, we went with the most UNpopular of all of our options...we went with scary people. Jeff just really wanted to be scary, so there you have it. He dressed up as the guy with the silver mask on the movie "300" (I haven't seen it, but I bet its scary), and I went as a ghost. Jeff was dressed all in black and I was in all white, so Jeff kept telling people this is how we were going to look in the after life-:)He's so funny.
We had good night though. Some of the costumes were, Teletubies, pirates, medevil people, 50's people, hippies, gladiators, batman and catwoman, scary scientists, and some others, I can't remember. We went on a scavenger hunt through the city for various pictures of things. I felt like I was in high school again!

Its Crunch Time People

Okay, seriously...I need help deciding what Jeff and I should be for Halloween this year. We are going to a party in a two weeks and we don't have any really good ideas, so any ideas would be great-Or just vote ( I hope I have more than 5 people visit my blog).

Max and Boston already have their costumes picked out and pretty much worn out and its not even October yet. Boston is going to be Optimus Prime and Max is either going to be a muscle spiderman or a teenage mutant ninja turtle. This picture was from last year...aren't they cute! I think Max still wears that costume weekly.

No, I'm not crazy...

Its that time of year again...The Staint George Marathon! Jeff and I did it last year with Andrew, Kara, and Angie and had such an awesome time (Thanks in most part to eminem... at least for me). Well, I'm getting the itch again to train for something and am looking for some buddies to join me. Here is what I'm looking at...



Moab half in March, St George Trifecta in May, Ogden Marathon in May, Wasatch Back in June (which we will need 12 people to do), or even the Hood to Coast Relay in August! Now that was a fun race! 197 miles of pure joy!

I'm not planning on doing them all, I just want to do one or two. So what do you think? Any takers?

This is Jeff and me in St. Thomas at Trunk Bay this last May. We were on this beach by ourselves (and the other 10 people in our group). It was just perfect.

Today is a rainy, cold day and I really wish I was back there.

Andrew was home from Kentucky a few weekends ago and while he was here we tried to cram in three holidays. Friday we celebrated his birthday with a fun Halloween theme. Saturday we met early at Grandma's house and had Christmas. But wait, this isn't just any ordinary Christmas though. Sure we had a traditional breakfast, tree, presents and the whole nine yards, but all the presents were from the dollar store, and afterwards we celebrated with a water fight. Sunday was thanksgiving, and my mom did an awesome job!

We just wanted to celebrate these special times with Andrew before he left to Iraq for 15 months. It was just great being together and gettin' wet! This video is mostly to remember our fun weekend with Andrew and to let him know how much we love him!

Andrew, we will miss you-be safe.

Talented Max

If you get motion sickness at all...you may not want to watch this video!

Cherry Hill Summer

This summer we had passes to Cherry Hill and tried to take advantage of that whenever we could. Here a few pictures.

Grandpa's Birthday Party

Pictures from Grandpa Painter's Birthday Party. Happy Birthday Grandpa!