General Conference

 Love General Conference, and loved the talks I did see, I need to go back and reread them through. Julie even did pretty well at watching conference.

And I seem to always get a picture of her asleep on Robs lap each Conference.

 The kids favorite spot to be, Julie loves to sit with Rob(especially when he is holding Melanie), and Melanie loves to sit in the nook in Robs arm.

 All ready for bed.

 And it seems like the only pictures I get of me with the kiddos, I have to take myself.

Great Weekend!

Crepes

Found THIS recipe on a blog I read and decided to give it a try. I have never made crepes before, but I need something else for breakfast in the morning. I actually made it for lunch today, and Julie and I enjoyed them very much. They were so EASY, that I am going to definitely be making them more often. I put some of "Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter"(like Nutella, but better, a lot less sugar, and they sell it at Lee's) on top with a little powdered sugar and ohh, it was good. Julie liked it to, so that is a plus.

And, I can make the batter beforehand so all I have to do is heat up the pan.

"Old Ephraims Grave" ride

On the 22nd Rob and I and my brother in law Mike and sister in law Heidi, and their son Matthew went on a ride to Old Ephraims grave. Rob and Mike were on motorcycles(dirt bikes), and Heidi, Matthew, and I were in the side by side. It was a nice little ride, we left our house at 4:00p.m. The trail started out as a gravel road and then we got to the trail riding and it had a little bit of everything. And the fall colors were GORGEOUS, I think we went at the perfect time. A picture can never do it justice just how beautiful it was.

Here we are before we headed up. I think Matthew looks good in pink(hehe).

 Heidi and myself before we stuck our helmets on.

 I think this is when we got to the four corners where there were trails going off in different directions.

Heidi and Matthew

Don't they look so cute.

Mike and Heidi brought snacks up(healthy snacks) while Rob and I brought not so healthy snacks. They were nice enough to share with us, they also shared with the little squirrel that was there. Here it is chopping on some cracker.

Doesn't he have the cutest expression.

It was such a fun ride and my first taste of the fall leaves changing, I wish I got some more shots of the beauty that was around us.

Brigham City Temple Open House

We went to the Temple Open House on Sept 4, at 5:30. No waiting in line, we got there and went straight through with no waiting, it was rather nice. We left the valley just after 5:00 and were home before 8:00(I think, I can't remember now). Julie loved walking around the temple grounds. We decided to leave Melanie at home with my parents.

Julie with her Grandma and Grandpa Taylor and cousins Owen and Matthew.

Into jumping right now.

The Temple was gorgeous inside and out!

Always an outtake before you get a good family shot.

Julie also had fun sticking her hand in the water.

These next two, she was getting up there that I thought she was going to fall right in.

Everything was so pretty.

All done and ready to walk back to the car.

Julie liked the chandeliers, they were so sparkly. It was so fun and also fun to be able to take Julie with us.

Julie and Melanie

Lately Julie has been so good with Melanie, we go on stroller rides and Julie has two muslin blankets that she carries with her everywhere, well, she has at least one of them. So, she brings one for her and always asks if we are going to bring the star one for Melanie. So, she is learning to share. And she will not mind when Melanie swings her arms around in her face while in the stroller or even if she pulls on her hair(which she loves to do right now). 

I always read a book or two to Julie before snuggling and putting her to bed, and then Rob takes Melanie and feeds her and puts her down. Rob definitely has the easier part, Melanie goes down so well and Julie does also, it just takes longer.

So, before Rob took Melanie from me I was reading some books to both of them and it was so fun to have them both on my lap. We still swaddle up Melanie at night, since she sleeps so much better that way, so she always looks like this before bed(she is so different than Julie).

 My beautiful babes who I adore.

 Whenever Melanie is in her swing, Julie is either half laying in her lap with her face close to Melanie's and she will swing her back and forth that way, and Melanie will have the biggest smile on her face. Or, Julie has started to get under the swing where there is a bar that she uses to move the swing(although it does swing by itself, it rarely ever gets used because Julie is always around her).

 Today the weather turned cold and it was 36 this morning, so it was new clothes for Julie, long sleeve and pants. Her shirt is 4T, and her pants are 3T. 

Julie got on the couch next to me while I was holding Melanie and asked to hold Melanie, so I laid Melanie in Julie's lap and she was so happy. Melanie was quite happy also, love these pictures of my two kiddos.

 Love the face Julie is doing here.

 And I finished this hat today for our service auction we are doing in Relief Society next week. I got it off of Pinterest and I love how it turned out. It is called a crochet baby turban hat. It was a 0-3 month size, but it fit Melanie quite nicely. She does have a smaller head though. Now to make more, so cute!

Finally got Melanie to eat about a tablespoon of oatmeal cereal today. I don't think she was too fond of it but she ate it better than everything else we have tried so far. Crazy, 7 1/2 months old and still not eating solids.

Two kiddos sure keep me busy.

32 Months

-She is a great jumper and loves to bounce around the house, for a while she did this all the time, and she found that jumping on her bed is really fun. 

-"Thank you for________", tells me thank you for almost everything I do or give to her. Like, "thank you for lifting me into my car seat", or "thank you for getting me an apple", just everyday things, love it!
-She eats her pizza upside down.
-Loves riding her bike and is getting better at cruising around, we went to Grandmas house today to pick up the stroller, and she biked all the way there.
 -Loves her "chocolate raisins", she always has a handful of raisins in the morning for breakfast, and then she was liking the craisins for a while. Well, one day after putting some craisins on her plate she told me, "No Mommy, I want the chocolate raisins", meaning just plain old raisins. I just think it is funny that she calls them chocolate raisins.
-"Hi, Mommy, and "Bye Mommy", she will go into another room and tell me bye.
-Talking non stop, if she is not talking to me she is talking while she is playing.
-Some of her sayings, "I am going to go in the front room and be quiet"
"I need an eskimo kiss before we go", so I give her one and she says, "Thanks"
and then she says "Daddy needs an eskimo kiss", yes, Julie I think he does.
"I will be in the front room in a minute, I need to put my milk in the fridge"
-Lots of pretend play - sometimes I just love to watch her play and have her little people talk to each other and I love to hear the conversations that she has with them.
-Gets things in the fridge herself. She loves to get her milk out of the fridge and anything else she thinks she needs.
-"Tip-Toe-Tip-toe", walking really slowly and every time her toe hits the floor she will say, "tip" and the next foot she will say, "toe", and so on.
-Loves watching Baby Signing Time, had stopped watching them, and is now watching them again, and really is getting into it a lot more, which means she signs a LOT more now. She loves signing shoes, and socks.
-Took Julie winter shopping to find her some pants and shirts, and we had fun trying on all different kinds of pants. I wanted her to be with me since I wasn't for sure what size would fit her. She didn't last long trying on all the pants, but it was fun. She loved the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sippy cups that she found and this little phone. I went back later to get them as rewards for using the potty(which hasn't worked yet).
-Um, potty training, HATE it, so HATE it! We tried for a day or so and then quit, and I think we messed her up. She is now holding her poop in(I know, probably two much info) and so she will poop all day long, every time she needs to go she will hold it but just a little will come out, and that little bit is making her bum RAW, which makes for a nice wrestle match to get her cleaned off every time I need to change her. Gah, and then right after I change her she goes just a little bit more, so frustrating. They say you have a child that is just like you, and right now, I guess that is true.

-Julie was staring up at me while I was washing her in the tub, and she is looking intently at my face, and says "Mommy, you have a piggy nose", oh thanks Julie.
-Hardly eats anything, she can be such a good eater some days and then other days, hardly touch anything.

-She did eat part of this cupcake at her cousins birthday party, which was a shocker since she doesn't eat cake.

She likes to play by herself, when everyone was over watching Matthew open presents, she decided she wanted to swim.

Giving loves to Melanie, she is doing better at not pestering Melanie so much.

My cuties!