Taylor Reunion

Yes I realize this is a ton of pictures, but I took about 120, so I thought this was narrowing it down pretty well. My family and I spent a week in Island Park at a cabin for our reunion this year. We really had a lot of fun. For me the funnest part was just relaxing and laughing with my family. The boys golfed and played paintball, the girls did some crafts and some cooking. My mom even tried to teach my how to crochet...but I just couldn't get the hang of it, so I talked her into making me a blanket. We went for bike rides, 4 wheeling rides, and some of us went to yellowstone for the day. I love my family, they make me happy, and they don't disown me even when I'm obnoxious. Im already looking forward to next year:)

summer in a nutshell

So for the past few weeks I am constantly thinking "oh I need to blog about that," but the truth of it all is that i would rather read other peoples blogs than take the time to post my own. This weekend is the first weekend in that I have been home sitting on my living room floor in four weeks. I did shower (didn't wash my hair) but got back in my pjs, no makeup, took an hour long nap, and it's 330 and I haven't left the house yet. It has been very nice. So the past four

weekends went like this:

Weekend 1- The zoo,Camping with some friends, Justin running a 10K (he took 2nd place, I was so proud).

Weened 2-Off to Provo, threw a shower for my bestie Erin. I loved this. I have been able to visit Erin for the past three summers without Justin (because who wants to involve their husbands in girl talk?) I drove up with my friend Amber, and I also got to see one of my old roommates Annie, which was wonderful. It's refreshing to just be with the girls. Unfortanetly since it was father's day weekend, and since I left Lexi with Justin, I only stayed one night, but I was still so glad I did. And Erin you seriously look amazing!

Weekend 3-Drive back up to Utah for a small family reunion, one day at Lagoon (yes we spent $30 on a ticket for Lexi, but she loved it!!! and I didnt feel so bad when they made a lady in a wheel chair pay the full price for her ticket...that was just rude) So we drove up on Thursday morning to Kaysville, spent the day at Lagoon, slept, then woke up and drove to Soda Springs for a family reunion and camped for a night.

Weekend 4-Another family reunion, and the 4th of July Parade. We headed out to Island park on Thursday night to go camping, we went back home on Friday night to get ready for the annual Rexburg parade, did the parade, which turned out really fun, and then drove back to Island Park Saturday after the parade, and stayed camping until Sunday evening. While we were in Island Park we went to the playmill in Yellowstone, and saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which was really fun, and Lexi even sat in my lap the whole time, and loved it. Since Eastern idaho celebrated the 4th of July on Saturday night instead of Sunday, we went to the fireworks in Island park, and that was awesome!

Happy Summer!

Justin's Race

We just got back from Justin competing in a triathlon in Rigby. We are so proud of him, he just kept going and going, and placed 8th out of 104 people, for his very first triathlon. The triathlon was a sprint triathlon, so it was a 1/2 mile swim, 12.7 mile bike ride, and a 3.2 mile run, he finished in 1 hour and 23 minutes. He has been really looking forward to this competition, but when we woke up this morning, it was cold and rainy. By the time he finished the competition, it was only 46 degrees outside, and the swim was freezing! I felt so bad for all the swimmers.

Here is a picture of him getting out of the water, next was the bike race, and then the run.

By the end of the race, he was pale and crampy, but so happy to be done! Good job honey!

April Highlights

April has been a fun month, starting with Easter. We went to Pocatello and spent it with some of Justin's family. I love putting together Lexi's easter egg basket and watching her trying to figure out what she is looking for in the morning. Here she is displaying her chocolate mouth (which she ges from me) and her new barbie sing along from grammy which she loves! We also finished (except for a few touch ups) our bathroom downstairs, and it looks amazing!! I would put up before pictures but they are on the other computer, and Im lazy, but think, pink sink, pink tiled shower, exposed pipes in the ceiling and blue carpet just to name a few. We wanted to remodel our downstairs before our upstairs so when we remodel our upstairs bathroom we can just use the downstairs one without being grossed out, because it was originally pretty gross. The other exciting thing we did this month was buy a new to us car. Its a chevy tahoe, and its awesome. Our Honda accord was getting to be pretty old, and we wanted to sell it before we couldn't get any money out of it. The Tahoe is pretty big its an 8 seater, and I really wish I had more kids to fill it up with, it seems pretty empty right now. Ive never driven such a big car, so its going to take some getting used to. Another fun thing we did this month is go to Oregon. I love my family, and Im looking forward to our family vacation this summer where we can all be together. Following our some pictures from Oregon, and my new nephew Henry that I met, he is sooo cute! Finally last weekend, Justins sister Corinne graduated from BYU. Yay Corinne!

Oh and there is a video of Lexi at the bottom from my nephews birthday party, I just like it, because she makes me smile!

Henry

I am an Aunt again. I officially have 4 neices and 6 nephews. The newest addition to the Taylor family is Henry Randon Taylor. He weighed in at 8lbs, and 9 oz on February 18th! I have yet to meet him but I have heard he is very calm like his daddy, and I think he looks like the Taylor side because he actually looks a lot like Lexi did when he was first born:) I love him already! Rebecca and JD are so thrilled to have him, and they are doing great.

Miss Lexis 2nd birthday

2 years old!
1 years old!
just a few hours old:)

Happy Birthday Lexi! We love you like crazy!

My two favorite dinners (not including eating out)

I have really tried to not stick to the same old cooking stuff lately, and I have wanted to try some new things, so in the past few months, we keep coming back to these two recipes, which have quickly become some of our favorite family dinners, so I thought I would share the recipes.

First off is Taco Soup. Justin's sister gave me this recipe like a year ago, but it really didn't sound that good, so i never made it, but I was wrong, it's my favorite dinner! (pictured above, it tastes better than it looks:)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb-1lb ground beef or ground turkey (I use a whole pound, but the original recipe calls for 1/2 lb)
1/4 cup onions(optional) or 1 Tablespoon onion flakes
1 can light red kidney beans with liquid
1 can corn with liquid
1 can petite diced tomatoes with liquid (14.5 oz)
1 can tomato sauce plus 1 can of water
1 packet of taco seasoning
Toppings: Sour cream, cheese, Juanita tortilla chips (the best you will never go back! Available at Albertsons and Winco)

Use a large sauce pan (spray with non stick spray beforehand) to brown ground beef with onions, drain fat. Add the rest of the ingredients except for toppings. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, then top with toppings.

Second is called crock pot fiesta chicken, I love this one it is so easy!

Ingredients:
8 chicken tenders
1 can black beans drained
1 can corn drained
1 jar of salsa
Toppings (Cheese, juanita chips again, and sour cream)
cooked rice

Throw all the ingredients in the crock pot except for the toppings and rice, cook until chicken falls apart, then shred chicken, mix all crock pot ingredients together and serve over rice, then top with toppings. Easy and cheap if you are feeding a group.

In other news Miss Lexi will be 2 on Saturday. Justin will be at a gymnastics competition, so we will celebrate on Sunday with some family. Lexi is a busy body, but she is so much fun, and so cute. I put her hair in curlers the other day, and she loved it, I also painted her toe nails and finger nails, and she sat still for both. Im not a prissy girl, i can't remember the last time I painted my finger nails, maybe 5th grade? But she loves that kind of thing. Also her favorite color is pink (naturally) we didn't even teach her that color, but somehow she knows that color, and never fails to point out something pink. We tried a trial run of potty training the other day, but its a no go, Justin thought she was ready so we gave it a shot, but three poopy underwears later, I was done...maybe in a few months will go at it again. Its just not going to happen when she clearly doesn't mind sitting in her own feces. Lexi loves to sing and dance, read books, play with barbies, and her one ken, and watch movies "starring" Barbie:) I love her tons. It is hard for me to be patient with her sometimes, but obviously it's something I need to learn. Here are some cute pictures of the past few weeks:)
































Lexi in her valentines present
curlers!