what we've been up to...

LEHI DAYS!!!

Today we went to Lehi Days. It's a cute little Rodeo that our stake puts on each year. They also have delicious BBQ, petting farm, pony rides, etc. The kids LOVED it! Ryan volunteered to work security, hence the fluorescent vest, but he also was able to spend a lot of time with us. Gwen and Drake really got a kick out of the ponies and especially these cute little baby bunnies in the petting zoo that were only five days old! The sun started getting hot, so we let the kids get popsicles and by the time we left, we had a sticky dirty crew!

I really love Saturdays, being able to spend time with my family, get outside, and have fun!

Also, if you couldn't tell from the above slideshow, Ryan's grown a mustache!! This is one of the reasons I love him so much. Sunday I said to him, "you know it'd be really cool if you grew a mustache." And instead of saying something like "gross", or "but it's not 1987 anymore", he said "DONE!" So this week he went without shaving his upper lip to make me happy. Thanks Ryan, you're rad!

my hubs

Okay, I've been tagged, so here you go:

What is your husband's name? Ryan Harper McPhie.

How long have you been together? We've been married 4 1/2 years.

How long did you date? Well, we dated a couple months before we got engaged, and then were engaged three months before we got married. Quick I know.

Who eats more? Umm, I think I'm going to have to take that one.

Who said I love you first? That's me too. I was so scared because that the most forward I'd ever been in any relationship. But hey, it was true!

Who is taller? Ryan, by 7 inches.

Who has more speeding tickets? Ryan. :)

Who is smarter? I think we are both pretty smart, but Ryan's really smart.

Who is more sensitive? Umm, that's Ryan. But it's really cute.

Who does the laundry? I do. But we have a good system. I wash and fold, and Ryan puts them away.

Who does the dishes? I do, but lately Ryan's been cleaning up the kitchen and loading the dish washer after dinner!

Who sleeps on the right? It's the closest side to the bathroom so naturally I do.

Who pays the bills? We both do.

Who mows the lawn? We both do that too. Usually we have a yard work day and we both work together.

Who cooks dinner? That's me.

Who drives when you are together? Mostly Ryan, but we share on road trips.

Who is more stubborn? Probably me, Ryan usually lets me have my way.

Who kissed whom first? Ryan totally surprised me with a last second peck on our first date!

Who asked out who first? Ryan did the night we met.

Who proposed? Ryan. So cute too! It was one of those movie proposals because it was a total surprise!! We hadn't talked marriage or ring shopped or anything! He was so nervous, HOPING I'd say yes. Roses, beach, bonfire, guitar. Of course I was going to say yes!

Who has more siblings? I do. 6 kids in my family, 5 in his.

I now tag Jodi, Molly, and Brooke.

sinful

Strange that I can complain about putting on a few, but then go to Rubio's at 10:00 at night and eat a crispy shrimp taco.
Self control?
I have none.

Florida

So I'm finally home from my two weeks in Florida.  I am so happy and relieved to be home!  Although we did have a lot of fun, you just can't beat sleeping in your own bed, and I so missed my cuddles from my sweet babies!  

Ryan brought the kids to the airport with him to pick me up, and it was so cute,  Gwen was just a nonstop chatter box and had to hold my hand the whole time.  And Drake has learned so many new words while I was gone.  And he has three new molars!  

Florida gators.  It was strange how there really were swamps all over there.  But the only alligators we saw while we were there were the ones at Busch Gardens behind a wall.

How do you look at this animal and think "I want to make shoes out of this skin"?!


This was just some peacock that was walking around Busch Gardens mingling with the people.  I knew Gwenny would love it so I had to take a quick picture.

One of the best parts of being there was getting to know everyone in our group.  I mean we really were together all day everyday from breakfast to bed time.  I wish I got more pictures of some of the friends I made out there because I really had the chance to meet some of the sweetest people ever!  This is Jessica, Casey and I on Honeymoon beach. 

V day update

Tooot toot. That's right, I'm tooting my horn. I just have to let you all know that Ryan stepped it up this year. When I got back to my hotel room, I had a vase of gorgeous tulips waiting for me with a cd that he made. It's a recording of him singing our song. (Ben Harper's Fire and Ice) It was so sweet!! I totally cried and can't wait to get home tonight! Ryan, you're the best, thank you!!

happy <3 day!

Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you have a huge place in my heart, so... Happy Valentine's Day to everybody! I'm so sad that I'm here in Florida and didn't get to see my kiddies open their presents this morning. I do feel pretty smooth that I had v-day presents for Ryan and the kids wrapped and hidden and this morning I called and told Ryan to look in my closet to find everybody's presents. SURPRISE!!:) But being here, I didn't get to help Gwen make her valentines for her preschool. :( Oh well, tomorrow I come home and my handsome hubby is taking me out to celebrate! I can't wait.
Speaking of hearts, mine is broken today because cute little Josiah was cut from American Idol last night. I thought he was AMAZING and I hope he gets picked up by some sweet label and is huge and then he can say "in your face Simon!"

Horray for vampires!!!

Stephanie Meyer's new book is coming out! Breaking Dawn is due is August 2 and I already am excited for the summer to be over now! I think Bella's going to become a vampire, what do you think?

I preordered my book today!

It's only Wednesday...

Right now I'm in Florida for training. I've been here since Sunday and I don't get to go home until NEXT FRIDAY!!!! I miss my family so much! I've never been away from the kids like this, and it's hard. So right now I'm just trying to enjoy the warm humid weather in Florida and learn as much as I can about cars. We're going to the Magic/Lakers game Friday, Bush Gardens Saturday and also the white sand beaches.
But speaking of basketball, I'm so sad that we are going to be losing Sean Marion. I do like Shaq, but I love the Matrix!!!

talentedgirlll

Thursday Gwen's preschool had their talent show.  Gwen had been working on learning my phone number so that if she ever needs to she can call me, so she sang her phone number song for the talent show.  She might have forgotten to sing all of the words to the song (about knowing my phone number) but at least she got the phone number down.  I'm so proud of her!!  And a million thanks to Meg for recording this for me

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

End of an era...

As many of you know, all of my family lives here in Arizona (with the exception of my youngest brother Shane who is on his mission in Costa Rica).  Well not anymore.  :(  Last week Tara and Andrew (and Jack too) moved to Concord, California so Andrew can attend the San Francisco Art Academy.  I am so sad.  Especially since Andy drove the moving truck up early with all of their stuff, but Tara wanted to stay for Tawnya's baby shower, so she stayed here with me for the week.  It was awesome!!!  I really felt like I had a wife.  I'd go to work and she'd get the kids up and take care of them.  Then she'd clean up and have dinner cooking when I'd get home from work.  I can honestly say, except for the whole husband sharing thing, I'd totally be for polygamy!  ;)  

So farewell Taylor family.  We miss you so much already!

My sweet girl!

This morning, Ryan was getting Gwen out of bed, and he asked her what she dreamed about last night. She said "President Hinckley" - oh really what were you doing? -we were with Heavenly Father. Talk about sweet dreams!

I love this!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night, I had to make a grocery store run.  And between getting the groceries and two sleeping kids into the car, I was a little scattered brained.  No big deal right?  Until this morning when I realized that my wallet was not in my purse!  I was so scared, I just got a new wallet, and transfered EVERYTHING into it!  Credit cards, social security card, cash, etc.  And luckily some amazing, wonderful, honest person found it in the grocery cart out in Fry's parking lot, and turned it in with everything in it!  Thank you a million times over.  You saved this stressed mom from having a Britney break down.

And HUGE news,  Drake has started taking steps a couple weeks ago, and in the last week has converted to a WALKER!!!  Just a couple days shy of 18 months

Yes, I let my son who is just learning how to walk walk with a sucker in his mouth.
Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it...

So I have some of the sweetest news ever!  One of my most best friends ever, Jasmyn, well her husband just got back from filming the upcoming season of SURVIVOR!  He's the "big tatted" guy.  He's a firefighter on the Phoenix force, and is such a good/sweet/funny/loud/religious guy.  He's awesome!  Just read what Entertainment Weekly had to say:  “Joel is the one guy who might be able to give James [Clement, the returning Favorite from Survivor: China] a run for his money, because he is every bit as big as James. He’s a fireman, he’s a father and a husband, and when I met with him the thing that really struck me is how he does everything for his wife and his family. And I like that about him. He’s a big, big guy, and these challenges start off physical right from the get-go. Sometimes being a physical threat works against you early; I think in Joel’s case it’s going to be advantageous.”  

Joel is sworn to secrecy, so not even Jasmyn knows who won.  I hope it was him.  But we'll find out in the upcoming season.  It premiers February 7 on CBS.

In other news, I started my job this week!  Crazy huh?  I love it, even though I'm just in training right now and will be for the next THREE months!  I will be a claims adjuster for Progressive.  So now that makes sense right?  I've got to learn about cars.  Hopefully I can do that in only three months.  :)  So for part of my training, I get to go to Florida for two weeks, of course that's in the beginning of February, so I'll be missing the Super Bowl (at least the party's going on here), Tara's birthday, and Valentine's day.  Bummer.  But even though I'm enjoying being out there working again, I'll admit the last two days I've cried a little when I've dropped my kids off and had to leave them crying for me.  

bawl baby

Sometimes my kids are so sweet it just makes me cry. 

Tonight was one of those nights.

I can't imagine what my life would be without them.

black eye

My poor little baby's got his first black eye. I say first because let's face it, he's a boy.  Last night he was playing with Papa, when he tripped on his foot and hit his eye brow on the corner of the coffee table.  It instantly swelled up to the size of a grape.  It was so sad, and he would get so mad every time we tried to put ice on it.  So last night I had to wake him a couple of times to make sure he didn't have a concussion.  Luckily he doesn't and all the swelling went down.  

Christmas Countdown

Enjoy our slideshow of our pre-Christmas activities we've been doing.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Edward Cullen

Stephenie Meyer's website has announced that Edward Cullen has been cast for the Twilight movies.  I gotta say, there were rumors flying around that a lot hotter guys were going to be cast.  I'm a little dissapointed.  Hopefully they also get a great stylist because from these pictures, I don't think Robert Pattinson is quite Edward worthy.  What do you think?

I'm sure that after seeing the movie, and him as Edward, I'll eat my words.

Wait I found a good picture.

pretty little ballerinas

Regan Mavity, Haylee Bingham, and Gwen

These are her "best girls" at dance!

Saturday was Gwenny's big day!  And to be honest, I wasn't even planning on taking her to her recital.  She seems to do this act when ever I'm at her dance or preschool, where she participates and hams it up when I'm not there, but when I'm there to watch her, she gets pouty and wants to have me hold her.  So I was thinking that if we went, we would get there, she wouldn't dance, and it would be a waste of my morning.  But I asked her if she wanted to dance, at first she said no.  But later said yes, so we hurried and got her dressed and went to the recital.  And all along the way, I was overflowing with positive reinforcement on how she likes to dance, she's a great dancer, mommy loves watching her dance, etc.  So we get there, get a seat, and it begins.  Gwen starts saying she doesn't want to dance and wants to go home!  So I got desperate.  You see, while we were in Sacramento, Gwen spent quite a bit of time everyday looking in an American Girl catalog.   There's this doll she really wants, and tells me about it several times a day.  Well I told Gwen, "honey, if you dance, afterwards we'll go get you your big doll!"  She was instantly smiles and violently nodding and saying okay!  It was the smartest thing I've ever done,  because I've never seen her perform like this out of the house!  And she was in the best mood ever!  Well I did get a little worried as we were walking into the store and she kept talking about how she's going to get the big doll with the black shirt, yellow skirt, yellow purse and crown!  But luckily she was still happy when I said, "looks like they don't have that doll here" and she got a Polly Pocket and Polly Pocket car instead.    It's the first time I've used that severe of a bribe, and uh oh, I don't think it'll be the last!

This is the doll that she wants, and I really want her to have, only I have issues with spending $128 on a doll for a three year old.  Poor girl.

(I have been trying forever to upload a video of Gwen dancing with the Blogger video option and it hasn't been working. Has anyone else been having issues, or can I blame it on the fact that I'm using a Mac?)

The recital was supposed to be outdoors, but it rained all night so it was moved inside last minute.  (Notice Haylee's curtsey at the end)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Big Helpers

Drake likes to help me clean-

This must just come with the age, (because my friend, Jennifer has mentioned the same thing) but Drake has been putting things in the garbage can.  Especially the cute stainless steel one in the office with the snap back lid.  Most times I see him doing this, so I can immediately retrieve the items.  But today as I was emptying this overstuffed can, I noticed Gwen's wood spoon for her kitchen.  I thought I'd better pull out the garbage piece by piece so I wouldn't throw away anything that wasn't supposed to go.  So amongst the apple cores, snotty kleenex, candy wrappers, etc. I found this.  You'll notice in the pile of retrieved items, there are ipod earphones, my Nixon Skyline watch, and yes, a dvd of home videos from Disneyland.  (I also found $0.75 but already pocketed it)  So anyway, I thought I can't believe Drake's doing this...Gwen never.....   YAH RIGHT!  I seem to be forgetting things in my old age.  Today I remembered how one night I couldn't find one of my retainers.  I looked ALLL over.  The next day I tore up the couch, Gwen's drawers, my kitchen cupboards, and I found it in her diaper pail!!!!!!  I had to soak that thing in Listerine for two days before I put that back in my mouth. 

 Gwen likes to help me cook-

While we were in CA, Jean got her new Pampered Chef pans, so we got some of her old ones, including this cut little pot.  Gwen thinks it's hers, so now I can't cook anything with out Gwen putting on her apron, pulling up a chair and insisting that I put some of what I'm cooking in her pan.

Caleeforneeyah

My mother in law (Jean) was in Arizona for Thanksgiving and since 

she was driving home, the kids and I highjacked her car and went 

to Sacramento with her!

We had so much fun there! My old freshman room mate from DT 

lives in Sacramento now, so I was able to spend a lot of time with

Desiree. She is so much fun, I am so happy I could see her. She

went with us to the Jelly Belly factory one day. I was in heaven!  

Sour Santas......yum yum!

In other news, yes Drake is standing up now! On his own! He's 

mastered that in the last two weeks, and just last night he took 

his first step! I'm so proud of my big boy! He also does this really

cute "cheezy smile", and loves to throw his hands in the air and 

say "Blast off!". (from Little Einstiens) So we missed all the rain 

in Arizona last week, and enjoyed a sunny week in Sacramento.  

What? I know weird. Gwen and Drake had so much fun getting 

to spend time with Grammy, and now Gwen likes telling people 

we were in "Caleeforneeyah".

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm thankful for...

My cute kids!

Sad

Our ward building (which happens to be the stake center) burned last night!  It's so weird to think that we were just there yesterday for our meetings, and today it's gone!  It's also unbelievable that it all just burned so quickly!  All that's left is exterior walls and the steeple that fell right into the building, but is still standing.  It's unknown right now if it was arson, but you can read more about it here.

Desert BBQ

Last Saturday, we went out to the desert to BBQ. While it was great fun, we also had a tough time. You see, Drake doesn't walk, he doesn't crawl, he scoots. So he was all over the rocky, stickery desert floor, dragging his legs around. He got so dirty and was into everything. He loved the fire, and wanted to make me get my exercise by constantly jumping out of my chair to drag him away from the fire. So I stuck him in a chair of his own. Didn't last for long, he got out of it on his own, and has the face to prove it! Luckily he only cried for a little bit. We finally stuck the boys in the back of Eli's truck and let them use it for a play pen. This is Jack and Ethan's girlfriend Lauren. (I know-how did Ethan get a girl that hot? ;) just kidding Ethan!)
This is a before and after of Gigi holding Drake. First one, when we got there, the second after he got out of his camping chair on his own.
And here's Buster in his favorite spot, right next to the fire, in the dirt, yes, eating a rock.

Tawnya's baby bump is growing!


Gwenny and Daddy. She also had a tough time. First when I was teaching her how to squat, she didn't quite get the concept and peed on her pants. (Why on earth didn't I just take them off?) Then she touched the lantern and burned her knuckle. And I know it sounds like we just had problem after problem, but it really was a lot of fun!

Finally Halloween

Gwen and some of her BEST FRIENDS!

There was another Dorothy with a real Toto, but Gwen loved her kitty Toto.

Mrs. Billings and all the chaos.  She's amazing!  

The things Gwen learns surprises me everyday.

Kinlee and Drake had a fun time eating cookies.

"just stick it in my mouth!"

Gwen's preschool halloween party was so cute!  Seeing all those kids in costumes was just hilarious!  But hearing them sing....I LOVED it!!!

Jack was a Peep

Drake the "Cowardly" lion.  (gwen chose it)

Don't worry, Jack's in one of Gwen's old car seats.