Valentine's Day

We had a fun time together today. We started off the day by doing some geo-caching, but the wind was pretty chilling so we didn't do as much as we wanted.

Matt then enjoyed waxing the cars (one of his favorite things to do :D) while I did some Valentine shopping (me and every other man in St. George, nothing was left).

Ella LOVING her new big girl car seat! She was just squealing with delight.

Yikes! Not as bad as it looks.Matt got me a rose bush, I love it . . . "It's the flower that keeps on giving" Matt T.

The date was up to me this year :) and being that we have 3 kids and all potential babysitters have their own love life, we had our romantic dinner at home. So I went to the fabric store, bought some chiffon and built our little ambiant restaurant. All the lights were off and with all the candles and fire inside our "cubby", you couldn't see the rest of the house.







It was dark enough that you couldn't see the mismatched candles ;), only the different height of them. I had a Pandora playlist (from Matt's iphone) playing of "Feist". So, if you know Pandora, it takes the artist "Feist" and plays other music like artist you

chose, so convenient not having to make my own sexy playlist. They did all the work for me.







-
Menu:
_Bread dipped in Olive Oil & Balsalmic vinegar with pepper

- Ceasar Salad (Matt's fav.)

- Chicken Alfredo with heart pasta :)
- Bubbly
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, yum
- Chocolate Mousse

Matt pouring the Bubbly!

Mmmm, Chocolate Mousse

This is my goofy hubby... the picture to the right was the most clear shot I got. I was laughing too hard to get a decent, non-blurry picture. Even holding my breath didn't help the shaking . . . good times ;)

Ahhh . . . L'Amore

It all had a very sexy Moroccan feel ...

very romantic night with the man I love!

Cole's 4th Birthday

Feb. 9, 2009

Pirate Captain Cole turned 4 today! He's getting so big.
Cole wanted to help me make the cake so he helped add all the ingredients, mix it up, and take care of the number one job... licking the beaters. I had a lot of fun putting his pirate ship cake together after he was in bed (the birthday boy can't see his cake until his party). It was great having the cake done before his birthday because we were able to just play all day. We had fun face painting, and playing all sorts of little games together.


However, by the afternoon when we were face painting the Captain, he was too tired to enjoy the result, hence, the smeard "Hook" mustache. No more dressing up for this big guy today. As you can see above, Trey more than enjoyed playing the part of the trusty matey.

Awww, my heart goes out to him.

(Our little fam, minus the sleeping Ella in the corner.)

We had his party at Pirate Island Pizza. They had never been there before (we wanted to save it for his birthday) and we reserved "The Cave". It was awesome. There was a locked up treasure, cave dripping sounds, and best of all... right next to the arcade.






Right: The biggest pizza I've ever seen in my life!
(It was really good too.)



Left:
Ready, Aim, Fire! Arrgh!












A camera from g'ma Taylor








A card & $10 from g'pa Taylor

Awesome Chandelier!

A Hoppity Horse & a black
Power Ranger costume (not shown)
from mom & dad.
(Trey gave him a cool action figure toy).

A treasure chest made of popsicle
sticks from A. Hannah & U. Bryce

Aunt Hannah, Uncle Bryce, Grandpa Taylor and Grandma Taylor all came for the party! Yay!


Left: Blurry, but I had to put it in, too cute to pass.
Center: My litle Ella pirate!
Right: They have so much fun together

(and, no, I don't know the little girl :D)

Mmmm, yummy! My mom's horribly addicting recipe

(with a little touch of my own).

Ella's 1st Birthday!!!

Feb. 3, 2009
Sugar and Spice and Everything nice...

I can't believe it's been a year already! My baby is growing up too fast. We have all had so much fun with her this last year. She is so sweet, she just lights up the room. She has a contagious laugh and a beautiful smile that's now a little toothy... so cute. We are all so grateful to have her in our lives.

I'm not a "spoil the princess" kind of person, but I couldn't resist the little crown for her special day, and we were playing with the boa in the store and she loved it. Made her laugh every time she felt it.
(I just wanna pinch those little legs.)

"Milestones" & Characteristics

• Says: all variations of mom, dadda, and is mimicking sounds of words very well.
  
• She has 6 teeth, 4 on top, 2 on bottom.
• She weighs 20 lbs., and daddy is very pleased that he can now move her into a forward facing car seat.
• She loves to be sung to (always has) and now loves to dance! She dances anytime she hears some kind of beat... so much fun.
  
• She crawls very fast, walks along furniture very well, and LOVES to climb! Yikes. I have to keep a close watch on her. Every morning I have to shut all the bathroom doors, put a guard on the stairs, and take down the boys bunkbed ladder (her favorite to climb). I've caught her a few times when she's actually made it all the way to Cole's bed on top! Crazy girl. Scary!
• She is a momma's girl! Which is fun for me actually, but she is now more adventurous and will lean for others, give them a quick gentle love and cuddle, then come back to mom. So sweet.
  

Bryce, Hannah, G'pa Taylor, Trey, Cole, Nadia, G'ma Helen, Aaron. Michelle & Izzy showed up after this picture. Such family love and support!

G'ma Helen with Ella

Opening Presents


I love this picture of her!
"I can reach it!"









































"Happy Birthday to You!"

Ella dove into the cake the second I set her on the table. If you look close, you can see a perfect little baby hand print on the edge of the cake. Then she wasn't quite sure what to do after that... it's sticky!








But it didn't take her long to figure it
out.

The bib didn't do any good, her whole dress was pink!

Now Sit Back, Relax, and Enjoy your first official Sweet Treat!