two hundred seventy-three: 365

Today was a day for a run on the beach (which only made me more sore and prepared for my massage), lounging by the pool, and shopping!

(Jux'-ta-po-si'-tion ..darling home decor store.)

thanks laura for the suggestions!

two hundred seventy-two: 365

Going...

Going....

Gone!

It's time for the weary to rest! Jim and I are taking a break at the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach for 4 days and I couldn't be happier! Thanks to Grandma W. & Tella for being so willing to watch the boys so we can recoup.

two hundred seventy-one: 365

I've never seen a little boy more excited to hand out his birthday invitations than Ryder!!

It nearly killed him that we went to Disneyland yesterday and he was going to have to wait 1 more whole day to give these to his friends at school! 33 of these went out. What am I thinking?? I think I still have heat stroke from yesterday!

two hundred seventy: 365

I was trying to be the "cool" mom today by surprising my kids with a day off school and a trip to Disneyland. Note to self...CHECK THE WEATHER FORECAST NEXT TIME!! It just so happened to be the hottest day on record EVER, of ALL TIME (103 degrees)! It was pretty miserable..we were just melting. I think we spent a $100 bucks on purely liquid, add on to that the constant fighting and it did not make for the Happiest Place on Earth!! Oh how I try!!

two hundred sixty-nine: 365

In our Laurel's class today, we learned about just how much our Bishop does for us and how we could show our appreciation to him for all his service! We have an incredible bishop and decided to show him how much we loved him with a candy gram!!

two hundred sixty-eight: 365

Skyler and I had the privilege of attending the Jon Schmidt piano concert this afternoon! I had tried to get tickets but waited too long and they were sold out! Then my sweet neighbor offered me 2 of hers. I was really wanting to stir some emotion up in Skyler..he has great potential but continually fights me to practice or even care about the piano. It was an amazing concert.

Go HERE to see one of his YOUtube videos!! It's amazing, you won't be disappointed!

two hundred sixty-seven: 365

This morning as Jim was getting ready to go to work, he was looking for something in a staples box, that he took out of his car awhile back and left in the garage. I heard a blood curdling scream! A baby snake had jumped out at him. My first response would be to get a shovel and cut of it's head. Oh no, not Jim! He grabbed a box and decided he would keep it. Later that night, he went and got it a cage, water dish, and some frozen mouse fetuses...disgusting! This snake is the most aggressive and disturb creature. It continually tries to attack through the glass and hits its head! Seriously..I don't know how long this thing will last...and it still hasn't eaten the mouse fetus..now we're on to crickets!

I HATE SNAKES!!

two hundred sixty-six: 365

Temecula's commerce has been improving, slowly but surely! Today, this beauty opened and I did partake!! It's a perfect treat, with friends, after institute. My personal favorite: the sundried tomato/mozzarella panini. My mouth waters just thinking about it!

two hundred sixty-five: 365 {happy birthday ryder!}

My baby turned 6 today! Seriously, that was the fastest 6 years of my life!

He has added nothing but excitement and laughter to our family!! We love this little guy more than anything!

*tonight we went to the L.A. County Fair w/ Gma&Gpa

two hundred sixty-four: 365

It has been months, if not a year since we have been at the McDonalds playland. I am ecstatic that our family has just about outgrown what once was a staple in our lives! We had had a rough morning, so when I picked Ryder up from kindergarten, I decided to take him to a pre-birthday lunch and this is what he choose!

two hundred sixty-three: 365

Arrrggh!! I hate mechanical problems! My dryer is only 3 years old, it shouldn't be on the fritz!

It's moving, it's just not heating (all the time). It works randomly..sometime you get heat, sometimes you don't. I had the guy come out to fix it and he wasn't 100% sure what the problem was but wanted to just change the heating element. At $ 250, you better be sure that's the problem. I watched him take it apart, then he realized he didn't have the part. I had an idea..I would wait the 2 weeks till I renewed my home warranty and for $50 add my washing/dryer onto the plan. This way, I only have to pay the $50 service call. So in the end, the $250 problem will only end up being $100. I can thank my mom for such frugal interventions!

two hundred sixty-two: 365

I awoke from my Sunday nap to this! I guess the entire family is taking to the Grandma costume! Not the best look for anyone, but enough to get a smile out of a sleepy me!

two hundred sixty-one: 365

Jayden..my budding scientist! He just started mixing up concoction's of whatever

he found around the house, then looked at them under his microscope. At least he can

keep himself occupied and entertained!

two hundred sixty: 365

The annual MOLE check! Thanks Dad for such moley skin!! I'm happy to announce that there is nothing suspect at this time! The only thing to report...terrible fluorescent lighting!

two hundred fifty-nine: 365

Every Thursday for 1 1/2 hours I can be found at INSTITUTE

(church class)!

We have the most fabulous teacher and I'm just loving it!!

two hundred fifty-eight: 365

A friend just emailed me this candid shot of my performance!

For our joint YM/YW activity, we had a scavenger hunt at the mall. There were 4 different ward members located somewhere in the mall. I decided to dress up like an OLD person, complete with wig, glasses, wheelchair, walker, and a blouse and sweater I picked up at Goodwill, that sadly, looked like I stole them out of my own mother's closest (sorry mom..you can have the sweater now that I'm done). I wheeled myself up to an atm machine and stuck my head as close to the screen as I could get. Some teams ran right past me, than backtracked when they noticed my hair looked a little like a wig. I got MANY strange stares from people in the mall and some even came up to me and asked what was going on. One person even thought I might be on the t.v. show, "What would you do?" It was an exciting activity! What I took from it though, was that the world is not made for people in wheelchairs..it was a lot of work wheeling myself throughout the mall.

two hundred fifty-seven: 365

A fellow blogger issued a challenge to put your camera on the counter and take a picture...so I took it! This is a typical morning at our house. Jayden, concentrated on the cereal box, and Ryder talking so much that nothing is eaten on his plate.

two hundred fifty-six: 365

Ryder & Radley

Radley is one of Ryder's very best friends! Yes, he's only 1 but Ryder loves little kids/babies. He often sneaks over to Radley's house, even when he's napping and helps Amberly (radley's mom)with her projects. {this particular day, Amberly took him to Costco with them} They are all so good to entertain his constant need of attention. Ryder is so sweet and protective with Radley..it's quite an endearing sight to see!

two hundred fifty-five: 365

Sunday afternoon Young Women's planning picnic. We had a lovely lunch, followed by a fun inservice on being a "servANT" of the Lord..intelligANT, diligANT, acceptANT, reverANT, obedieANT. We planned our combined activities for the entire year and class activities for 3 months..it was a long, but productive meeting.

two hundred fifty-four: 365

Soccer season has officially begun! Ryder and Crew got on the same team and are madmen out on the field. Jim paid Skyler $2 to work with Ryder on some moves this morning. Apparently he was a good teacher because Ryder scored 3 goals!

Go Green Barracudas!

two hundred fifty-three: 365

The season tickets for the Padres game keep getting better and better. We were a mere 9 or 10 rows back from behind the visitors dugout by third base. Yes, we were engulfed by Giants fans and drunks, but it made for a fun night. Apparently we even made the news..one of Jim's friends facebooked him the pictures. It was a good thing we weren't picking our noses or anything.

two hundred fifty-two: 365

ARRRGGGHH!!!!! Bees again! This is the 6th time we've had to have them removed. This time I called on our friend Jason, the firefighter, to go to the second story and bust out a beam to see what keeps attracting them to that spot. I love his make-shift bee keeper outfit. A mesh bag over his helmet, my kitchen gloves on his hands, and ant killer to spray at the bees. After tearing apart a beam and cutting a hole inside the house in the ceiling, we came out empty handed! There was NOTHING! Then why do they keep coming back?

two hundred fifty-one: 365

A day of organization!! Not a drawer was left undone. ahhh, it feels nice to have order.

two hundred fifty: 365

LOVE IT!!

My girlfriend was cleaning house and selling stuff on ebay and craigslist. I threw out, half jokingly, that if her husband ever wanted to get rid of his Marlin {that he actually caught and had resined} I would totally buy it, if he didn't get a better offer!

A week later, I got a text that said if I wanted it, the fish was mine! Yes, mine it is..and it looks great in Jayden's room even though it was a bit bigger than I had remembered.

two hundred forty-nine: 365

While the majority of the country rests from their labors on this fine, Labor Day holiday, my husband and a few crazies decided it would be fun to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and run a race to the top of Mt. Baldy {jim's 2nd time}! Said crazy, Theresa, even tried to convince me that it would be fun! Not as fun as doing nothing, I assured her! I have a strict 1 mountain a year policy and half dome met that quota. I just don't get the whole love of running thing...or paying money to run!

{I was glad that you went Theresa..it's the only way I was ever going to get a picture!}

kevin & theresa taylor, michelle & lance anderson, jim, carl moody

two hundred forty-eight: 365

TA DA...finished!

I wash my hands of this project and declare it DONE! Did I upholster them as well as the originals? Heavens NO! As fickle as I am, I'm sure this fabric won't be on there for long, so why bother. There's enough staples to make it work and that's it! I think our FREE dining room set has turned out pretty darn cute..if I do say so myself!

two hundred forty-seven: 365

Finally!!

I began work on the dining room table on Memorial Day Weekend...fast forward a few months and you won't see much change. I was determined to have the chairs finished by Labor Day! I couldn't believe how many layers of staples there were..4! And each layer had hundreds of staples..arrgh! By about the 3rd chair, and 3rd broken staple remover, Jim went to Home Depot and found me a "real" tool for staple removing! It was a pain..almost as much of a pain as it was trying to find fabric that I liked.

two hundred forty-six: 365

Today was career day in kindergarten! The kids dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grew up! I volunteered at the beginning of the year to head up the memory book, so I decided this would be a great day for the September picture.

*Ryder says he wants to be on the SWAT team..let's just hope he's on it and not sought out by it..may the handcuffs not be a predictor of the future!

two hundred forty-five:365

A very tough life lesson was learned tonight for Jayden!

Jump back 1 week ago..Jayden came home from school with a blank coloring page from Rubios. He sat right down and got to work. He didn't want to play outside with friends, he didn't want to go to TaeKwonDo. He was so focused and determined. Jayden is the artist of our family. He can spend hours drawing, so we believed he had this contest in the bag. It's the first time I've heard him so confident. After talking to me about never winning anything, he was very confident and sure about his work and said, "mom, I really think I'm going to win this contest!" So everyday I asked him if he had heard anything at school. Nothing. Every night in our prayers we prayed that Jayden could finally win something!! The teacher was to choose 2 winners from each class. The winners would win a $7 gift certificate to Rubios and their picture would be posted in the restaurant for our schools' Family Night. I guess that's how they revealed the winners too. Jayden saw all the pictures on the wall and wouldn't even walk into the restaurant because he was too nervous. Finally he walked over to see if his was up there. Moments later, Jayden came back to our table, layed his head on my lap, tried to hold back tears but then started to cry. He was so upset! It just broke my heart to see him so sad when I knew just how hard he had worked. Even worse, the 2 that were choosen (both girls) were not any better than his, if I do say so myself.

I let him know how very proud I was of him for entering because that took courage! Also, 28 other kids from his class did not win either. It was a tough lesson for my sensitive 8 year old, but he got over it a little better with a special trip to yogurt island!

two hundred forty-four: 365

AMEN!! I'm not a very good waiter either!