New Year, Big Changes!

It's been 2 months since my last post. Those are the busiest 2 months of the year but also full of the best memories that I would like to share!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a family from our ward that we have become very good friends. This was the first year, and probably the last, that I ate Thanksgiving dinner outside! It was a great dinner full of great food, friends and fun!

Christmas came and went in a blur! We weren't sure if we wanted to make the long drive to Ohio again this year since last year the drive was an absolute disaster! But we decided to go. Normally I like to have Christmas at our own home but since Jordan had his exit exams first thing in January we needed to get back so he could study. Jayla got to spend time with her only girl cousin, Gabriella. They are a little less than a year apart but this is the first year that they have been able to be at the same level to play. They had so much fun playing princess, ballerina and zombies (with the boys of course!) Jordan got to spend some time with his boy cousins and have a few sleep overs. The kids got to see some now and Jayla liked to stick her fingers in it. Our poor kids have no winter clothes so they were cold the whole time! We had a very nice visit but it was short because we had to get back! Our kids got some very nice toys but not everything on their list...This year I've decided Christmas needs to more about spending time with family and Christ and less about wanting a $300 gaming system with $50 games. It's hard to balance the fun and excitement of Santa and keep the true spirit of Christmas as well. Hopefully I will be able to make it a fun and spiritual Christmas every year for our family.

I was very happy to welcome in 2011! We have been looking forward to this year for a LONG time! When we moved here 2011 seemed so far away. I remember holding 2-month-old Jayla and thinking she would be 3 years old and in Sun Beams when we move. Jordan will be in 4th grade! And I couldn't even think that we would have a 1 year old! In 3 months my hard-working husband with graduate and we will be moving on! He's looking into different job offers. We aren't sure exactly where we want to move, but we definitely know where we don't want to move. We have some very big decisions ahead of us and we are hoping that we will make the best choice for our family.

I decided not to make any major new years resolutions. I know there are some things that I would like to improve on. I think as a family we are going to be healthier. Recently Jordan was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease, essentially the body is attacking itself every time a person with celiac consumes gluten. Gluten is found in wheat barley and rye. So the last few weeks I've been researching gluten free foods, recipes, restaurant menus...etc. Jordan never really liked breads and pastas but you wouldn't believe what gluten is in! Marinades, cream of chicken soup, soy sauce, even our taco seasoning had gluten in it! So this going to be a definite life style change for us but we feel very blessed that we found this early before he got really sick and that gluten free foods are easier and more accessible than they have been in the past. Jordan will be feeling better and have more energy and hopefully the rest of the family with benefit and get a little healthier too!

Taliyah has changed so much the last few months. She went from doing the worm across the floor to full crawling me and following me around like a shadow! At this age Jayla was already walking, I hardly remember her crawling. So I'm happy that Tally is taking it a little slower! She is into everything. Her favorite things are the dog food, outlets, the baby gate and knocking down all the movies. She loves loves loves to jump and dance. This week she has fallen in love with the door way bouncer. It's so much fun to she her jump like crazy in that thing. She's always smiling and we love her so much, but she does definitely keep us on our toes!

Jayla is my amazing little girl until about 4-5 and then get possessed by this crazy disobedient child! By the time bed time comes I'm ready to go to sleep too!! She really is a good girl, just going through a phase, I'm sure it will pass by the time she's 18! Jayla started Sun Beams this year. She loves it! She will be giving her first talk on Sunday, or should I say I will be giving her first talk on Sunday! She is a great big sister and I can't wait until they can play together even more.

Little Jordan is working on his pine wood derby car. This year I bought a kit. Not because we want to win....we just don't want to loose as bad!! I'm not bad a decorating the cars but we are not good at designing and making fast cars. It's hard to put on those stupid little wheels!! He will be starting baseball soon and he's getting excited for that.

Well I think that's all for now...I'll try to add some pictures sometime!

So it's been a while....So much has happened. Here's a superfast recap! We had an amazing trip to Disney, Halloween was so much fun with the whole fam drsesing together, Little Jordan's Football is ending, Taliyah is getting teeth and crawling, Jayla hasn't taken off her princess dresses since Halloween, Jordan started a new internship and seems to like it (only 5 more months of school!!), and I've been trying to keep up with everyone else!

Tally Girl!

Taliyah is starting to crawl! She is getting big so fast! We just love this little girl so much! Sorry you have to turn your head to watch!

We had a blast at Disney. I've posted pictures on FB and I'll get around to doing a post on her sometime when things slow down alittle!

Fall is here...well sort of!

Our little fairy princess

Jayla striking a pose!

My cute little pumpkin!!

She actually let them paint her face, she never has before!

Fall is my favorite season. I love the crispness in the air. Cool evenings. Sweaters and jeans. The leaves changing colors. Halloween. I love the smell in the air. Pumpkin patches and hayrides. Unfortunately you miss out of most of those things living in Florida. We have had a few cooler nights, we even got to turn off the AC for a whole day and open the windows! But some Fall fun has already started. We went to the unspooky Halloween party today at the library. Jayla was a fairy and Taliyah wore a pumpkin hat a shirt. Jayla had so much fun wearing makeup and acting all girly. Taliyah was just happy that someone gave her a prize to chew on!

Taliyah is getting big fast! She is rolling all around on the ground. I put her down and before a know it she across the room. She'll be crawling in no time. After I was out for the whole weekend with a breast infection (OUCH!!) I've been really pushing her to take a bottle and I think she finally is getting used to it. That means that Jordan and I need to go on a much needed date...if only we had some babysitters?!

I'm getting ready to head down to Orlando for the next week. My parents are coming in town and we are going to Disney. I'm excited for them to get to see the kids, especially my dad. He hasn't seen Tally yet and it's been 1 1/2 years since he's seen Jayla. So expect some pictures of our adventure next!

Birthday Girl

Jayla turned 3 yesterday! I can't believe my little girl is 3 already. When we moved the Florida she was just 3 months old and we said she will be 3 years old when we move, it seemed so far away! And now she's 3...looks like graduating is coming up next!

For those of you who don't get to see my little curly haired tornado on a daily basis I'll let you know what she's like. First thing is the morning Jayla demands chocolate milk and cartoons. But that's about all she eats. This child does not eat or sleep...or STOP!! She's go go go. She loves story time, play grounds and running out the front door every chance she gets (and that did happen when dad was supposed to watching her and he "closed his eyes for just a minute!") She is very good with her little sister, adores little Jordan and cries for Daddy to come home all day long. She's such a girly girl and loves to dress up in her princess dresses with high heels but every night we have to frog hunting. She's so sweet and some times comes up and hugs me and tells me that she loves me, but she also has little horns that hold up that halo. She is the most stubborn, strong willed child I have ever met, but when it comes down to it we know that she loves us and she knows that we love her so so much!

This year Jayla had a Mickey/Minnie Mouse birthday party. I made a mickey cake, mickey cheese and crackers, mickey suckers, and mickey or minnie ears for all of her guests. I had some games planned to play outside but they wanted to play on the play ground. It was so cute to see her smiling and chasing around all of her friends. The we had a scavenger hunt to find the suckers, played pin the bow of Minnie and had cake! I wish we had a bigger place. We ended up having 28 people in our little apartment so we didn't have much space to move around. But Jayla had a great time. It was so nice of all of our friends to come and they gave Jayla such nice presents. She loved them all! When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she told us a piggy band and a sword. I'm not sure where she came up with those but when she saw the wrapped presents she asked us which one was her piggy bank...good thing I got her one or I would have felt really bad!

Happy Birthday to our AMAZING little girl...We Love You!!

Wow! Where did the summer go? I can't believe that school and football are starting and the weather is changing...well not here but I hear that it is in other places. Jordan had one week off of school before he started his internship so we tried to cram as much fun in that time as we could. We went to the beach, the museum of science and history up in Jax and then we went to Disney for a day. We got a season pass to disney so we will be going back as much as we can.
I don't have much time to myself, seems like there's always a little person that needs something(normally it's Jayla!!)...so that's all for now!

Info from Taliyah's 4 month check up.
Weight: 13.9 lbs 50th percentile
Height: 26 inches 95th percentile
I've heard that he can tell how big a puppy will be by looking at the size of their paws. The same must be true with Taliyah. She had the longest feet at birth and it doesn't look like she's going to be short!
We love you Tally!

For the Grandmas!!

Taliyah is growing so fast!! The other day she finally decided that she could push herself up when she is on her belly. She went from refusing to try to doing it like a champ in one day!
And she's rolling over!
We wish that we could be closer to family but for now sharing these special moments this way will have to do....we are so thankful for digital camera, the internet and skype!


Jayla always tries to get in the picture...sisters!

Look who's trying to suck her thumb...she's like her Daddy

Big Girl!!


I tried to get a video of Taliyah rolling over but she was being camera shy so I had to hide and try to catch her.