Outings

It's been a while.

Need to post the week my mother in law took on Jen's kids.  We did a few things.  Two of the things we did were go to Jungle Jim's and the Zoo...

Had a few of the kids just driving around in circles. It was pretty hilarious.

Man, it's been so long since we did this (I've been a slacker at blogging!!) that I can't even remember anything for the captions.  Oh well!

 And here we are at the zoo!  As you can see, Zoorassic was in full swing!  It was so fun.

 Sam and Ava were a lot more interested in sitting in the stroller than my kids!  Haha

 Claire digging by the new construction area.  Next year, the zoo is going to be amazing!!

 Ava digging

 Giraffes!

 And the carousel is a MUST.

 So Claire is the size of a juvenile!

"Monkey bars".... They always seem to find those.

It was so fun!

San Jorge

I've always wanted to exclusively call it that. I don't know why.

Anyway, my sister-in-law, Jessica (Jordan's younger sister) and her husband, Joe, eloped in Vegas last year. Well, time flies, and they were ready to be sealed in the St. George temple. So, we all went down to witness the big day!

The sealing was so beautiful. Performed by a gentleman from South Africa--could've listened to his accent all day :) It was great.

Here are some pictures of the day, taken by my father-in-law's long-time friend who lives in St. George:


















LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of Claire. OF COURSE she has my lip gloss. Of course.

And here are some shots from the casual BBQ we had after the sealing:


Jess and her friends, Nikki and Katelyn

Lenore, Anya, and Jordan

Me and the Groom :)

Claire and Ava: Partners in Crime. They got SO DIRTY at the playground!


Daddy-daughter bonding time

Jen encourages her boy, Solomon, to bring out his feminine side and never shy away from that...


On the left, had to document the fact that Camille ate her ENTIRE raspberry cream jello salad thing (anyway, it's goooood) even though she had a huge heapful on her plate and I told her she'd never finish it. She proved me wrong. All 100 pounds of her little frame :) On the right, there she is with her brother, Ben... he just had shoulder surgery and had "lots of fun" being hauled around everywhere--not to mention driving to St. George in the first place!


Jess and Joe's niece, Marley, and our nephew Sam...or as Claire likes to call him, "Sam-o." He calls her "Claire Bear" all the time. It's really cute :)


Jess wanted cupcakes at the BBQ, so OF COURSE I volunteered! (leading to a cupcake hiatus I am currently on for the next little while...ok til May 21st when I make some for my sister's bake sale). I made chocolate peanut butter (the ones on the right), the vanilla dulce de leche ones, and a coconut cream (not pictured). They turned out yummy, if I do say so myself :)

Anyway, the day was so nice...so nice to be in San Jorge too...it was so cold in Utah still and it was great to be in the nice warm weather. Notice I didn't say "blistering hot?" Yeah, that would have NOT been nice...so I'm not moving there any time soon Honey, sorry...I know you are cold ;)

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

Jordan dragged me to the zoo again. It was actually pretty easy for him because it isn't scorching hot yet. Animals + scorching heat = my own personal hell. :) (too dramatic??)t

But it's fun to see Claire so excited about the animals, I admit!

Can I just say that Claire has the cutest profile ever?? I think she got a good nose, like my sister, Heather. Heather's the only one in my family who got the good nose. (but now, Michelle got hers fixed so it should rival Heather's :) ps. Claire loves to hang from all "monkey bars" she can find lol. P.p.s. Isn't her hair so CUTE???


I think this is Claire's favorite part of the zoo probably :) (Which is great bc during the scorching months, I could get the same happy-toddler results at the one at the mall INDOORS!)
A not-cute picture of Anya and me...just to say I was "there." Claire enjoys NOT walking, surprise surprise.

Love my little family!! (Even if it means going to the zoo every once in a while)

Too Many Kids in this Tub

There's too many kids in this tub
There's too many elbows to scrub
I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine
There's too many kids in this tub.

-Shel Silverstein

We had the Taylor Family Party last week and it was...fun...to say the least! But the best part was when my sister-in-law, Jen, decided to see how many kids she could fit in the tub...I mean, scratch that...,kitchen SINK!! That's right. She said her max was 3, I think, but this time, she got 4 in there. I told her she's a REALLY good mom because I could never allow my kids to make that kind of a mess. She replied with: "We're at Grandma's house!" Sadly, Claire truly does make the biggest messes at Grandma Taylor's house...but she allows it, let's be honest :)

The Lights.

This year, Jordan decided it wasn't too cold to see the lights on Temple Square. Generally we just do Thanksgiving Point to stay in the warm car :) It was super fun to go with The Fotheringhams and Heather and Jay!




This is a picture of me, Jordan, Claire, and the blanket (aka Anya)

Yep, with Claire's customary "Chucky" smile...

Shaunie and I doing what we do best--talk :)


Brett, Jeff, Trina & Xander, Tiara, Josh, and Shaunie

Trina & Xander. What a CUTIE!!


Heather & Jay with their kids, Quinn and Lauren

All Claire and Lauren wanted to do was play in every fountain they came across. Literally.

Shaunie & her daughter, Tiara. They are just cuties.

Thanks for a fun time!!