Kids say the darndest things...

This week my girls said a few things that to me were worth documenting.  This week in family scripture reading we read about Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates from Laban.  On the part where Nephi cuts off Laban's head and puts on his garments the girls asked, "Mom, why would Nephi put on Laban's underwear??"  I was laughing to tears.  I had to explain to them that garments back then meant clothes - not temple garments.  So hillarious!

Second, I think Jaylee may be able to be potty trained by the time she's 2... Maybe that's wishful thinking.  She has been very observent with the whole "potty" thing.  She was at my friends house when she said, "Potty".  She immediatly went into the bathroom and pooped in her diaper.  Needless to say, my friend was impressed.  Then today she came and got me and while holding her bottom said, "Butt, owey, potty."  I asked her if she wanted me to change her bum and she said, "Yah", and ran to her room.  Today during church she looked at me again holding her diaper - "potty".  I asked her again if she needed to go potty, she answered yah again.  I took her into the bathroom waiting for her to poop.  Nothing happened so we went back to the chapel.  She started crying holding her diaper saying "potty".  Dave took her out because she was being too loud.  Needless to say he came back in within a few minutes and she had pooped!  That's crazy!  We sat her on the potty chair tonight for the first time.  She was a little afraid but did okay - nothing productive - just a trial :)  How nice would it be to have my baby potty trained by 2??? :) 

Potty Training ... HERE WE COME!

Adventures and other stuff...

This weekend we decided to go to the diabetic convention at the South Towne Expo Center.  I was totally excited to go just to meet my AMAZING friend who has helped us through so many rough times.  Debra Camp with IHC Select Care has helped us get diabetic supplies and has helped out with so much insurance crap!  I honestly have NO idea what I would do without her - she is heaven sent for me.  It's an added bonus that she's one of the nicest ladies I've ever had the privlege to work with!

We also got to meet a professional race car driver - Charlie Kimball.  He was SO nice! It was interesting to talk to him about how he takes care of his diabetes with his occupation.  It's fun to know that we're not alone with the whole challenge of diabetes.

These next few pictures are just to share some fun tips I've learned from each of my "mom's"  This one is from my mom.  When my girls stay at my mom's house she makes them fruit smoothies.  The girls LOVE them.  I decided to try them myself.  It has become a morning tradition for us now and the girls think it's pretty great.  We use frozen yogurt, flavored regular yogurt, frozen and fresh fruit, some V8 splash juice and some protein powder.  They're a HUGE hit and very healthy for the girls.  It's fun to see what different combinations we can come up with.  They do taste different every day.

This is the finished product.  It was SUPER yummy on Thursday! :)

Thursday I was having what I like to call a "Jen Taylor" day.  I have a great friend who is BEYOND amazing and seems to have it all together and still has time to keep a clean house, dressed with hair and makeup done and prepare fantastic and healthy meals for her family.  I decided to try my hand at it.  After scrubbing the kitchen and family room - working out for an hour - going to lunch with an old friend - making homade bread and this dinner I was EXHAUSTED!!!  I have no idea how Jen does it - but she does!  Way to go girl.  I did feel great at the end of the day though - very accomplished :)

Anyway, this idea came from my "mom in law".  Their family does the most AMAZING meats!  Her roast is killer but this steak she made had to take the cake!  I've never made steak before probably because it's not my favorite thing to eat.  After trying Marsha's though, I had to give it a try.  This steak is so flavorful and TENDER!  We cut it with butter knives.  Here are a few tips from Mama Marsh:

Get the fillet steaks from Costco - yes they are spendy but you do cut each steak in half to make them thinner.  Marinade them in Yoshida's sweet and savory sauce (also purchased at Costco)  Be sure the meat is at room temp before cooking (I forgot this part but the steak was still awesome).  Cook on the lowest grill setting for 15-20 minutes total.  You can add a little bit of grill seasoning if you'd like.  I did and it really added some punch.  I was impessed I could actually make a good steak.

Thanks to both my mom's who are fantastic cooks! :)

Love you both.

We're still alive

You know it's been way too long between blog posts if you start getting calls and texts to see if you're okay :)  Thanks Sheri!  It was fun to chat with you today.  Anyway, attached are a few pictures of a few things going on over the last few weeks.

My little Cinderella!  The girls have been asking if they can earn an allowance... I went ahead and created job charts for them so they can earn some money for themselves.  They've done so great!  I got this fantastic new floor steamer (thanks Marsh!) that totally sanitizes and cleans the floors - Carlee does such an amazing job!  This is only one of many things my kids can do.  Did you know they actually fold and put away their own laundry?!?! Well, they try really hard. :)

This is Carlee's job chart.  I'm pretty proud of it.  I think it turned out cute and it's easy for the girls to understand.

I guess I should go back to V- day.  For V-day this year I decided to make "love pillows" for each memeber of my family.  That way I can write random love letters and have a good place to put them.  The girls LOVE them!  I even did one for Dave... Can you tell which one is for him??  Thanks for the extra help on these mom!  Dave was super cute too and got me the barbie I asked for.  Yes, I did say barbie.  He got me the peaches and cream barbie from 1985!  My favorite from when I was a kid.  He also wrote me this AMAZING little note!  (the note was the best part!)

Chloé and Carlee LOVE to slide down the stairs in sleeping bags.  I remember doing this as a kid and loving it.  I get that it can be dangerous and could possibly do damage to the carpet - but you're only a kid once right???  I'm glad they can have a good time with it.

Last, but certainly NOT least - we registered Carlee for Kindergarten yesterday!!!  I can't believe she's old enough for that.  I'm really excited for her and I think she'll love it.  This picture totally cracked me up!  She took the camera and was taking the most random pictures while I was filling out the HUNDREDS of pages of paper work.  She got some fun ones.

I actually feel pretty guilty looking at this picture.  We ran into one of my really great friends while we were at the school.  I don't know how long we chatted - but anything over a hello is too long after seeing how HUGE those crates are compared to poor Jennifer.  Sorry Jen, thanks for sacrificing your arms to chat for a bit :)

Yep - this is me after about 1/2 the work was done.  I actually ended up having to drive out to the pediatrician's office to get her immunization records before they'd register her... PAIN!!  At least it's done - I even found her birth certificate and social security card without much effort. :)

Ballroom Dancers

Chlo and her buddy Cyrus started their ballroom dance class today.  It was SO cute to watch them!

When the teacher had to leave for a minute Cy had some fun "getting down"  Chlo thought it was hillarious!

Their teacher is fantastic! She took one at a time to show them the steps.

I think Chlo was a little intimidated but she caught on really fast.

Chloé and Cyrus have their first dance!  They're learning the basic step in the Cha Cha!

Thanks Julie - the best teacher in the universe!

The two are so cute together!  Cyrus' mom said she wanted to cry they were so cute!  I'm so glad Chlo has such a great friend she can share this cute experience with!

Valentines and other stuff

I had to post this picture!  The three girls were snuggling all together on the coffee table in the front room.  I read a great quote the other day about sisters:

Sisters are friends with a lifetime guarantee!

The girls had a blast putting together their valentines this year.  I loved how they worked together!

Isn't this a great grin from Carlee??

Chlo loved her valentines this year - cute dogs and cats with distorted faces. :)

Stuff...

I was lucky enough to be able to go to school lunch with Chlo.  We had so much fun!  During recess we even played ring around the rosies and the tootie tot.  We had a blast!  The kids in Chlo's class asked if I could come back and have lunch with them again soon.  How flattering for me! :) Chlo has had a tough time going to school ever since the "throw up on the bus" situation last week.  She has honestly beein having full on anxiety attacks.  It's been rough on all of us.  We talked to Chlo about being brave and how sometimes we have to face hard things - even when we're afraid.  We told her the story of Esther and how she had to be super brave.  She even got a blessing.  The next morning she woke up and said the blessing didn't work because she was still not feeling well.  Poor thing!  She has been getting a little bit better every day - hopefully a few more days and she'll be back to normal.  On a side note - the cute little boy in the picture is one of Chlo's best friends.  The poor kid has girls CHASING after him!  Cyrus says Chlo is his favorite though.  It's cute too - he's a sweetheart - I'd take him any day.  On the same note Chlo says 17 is her new favorite number -because that's how old she has to be before she can kiss on the lips...  Oh boy... :)

Jaylee loves spending time with Dave - or with his new IPhone... She loves to play this little game where animals show up on the screen and you can pet them and they make sound - he has another one that you shake the phone and it changes which animal shows on the screen.  Jaylee loves it.

Chlo and Carlee like to play grocery store every time I get home from the grocery store.  Chlo will give the items to Carlee who will then scan each item and Chlo will stack them.  Yesterday they got really creative with the stacking and ended up with a castle.  They even put a barbie in the castle.  I'm so lucky to have such creative girls!