I promised I wouldn't be lazy again and I was. :(

We've been having lots of fun around here lately. Izzy started soccer last weekend and loved it. Elly is rolling all over the place and now she's starting to sit up by herself a little bit. Bryan's been busy with soccer, work, and a new exciting project I'll announce on here soon! And I've been along for the ride; booking some shoots (new photography blog post tomorrow) and enjoying being around my sweet family.

Also recently the 18 days of Taylor have started. While this sounds completely narcissistic it's actually Bryan's fun way to celebrate my birthday. We won't go into why he's doing so much for me but it might involve the words golf trip. ;)

But seriously it's so sweet and the gifts aren't big expensive things (at least I hope not.) so far I've opened some cute sunglasses and some awesome orange shoes I've been coveting from Target. It's just sweet and makes me excited to be thought of everyday for a couple of weeks. Way to go B Ket!

In other news, it was announced yesterday that "Finding Dory" the sequel to "Finding Nemo" will be coming out.... In November 2015. Bummer that it's taking so long but totally worth the wait. And how crazy is this, when it releases Izzy will be 7 and Elly will be 3?! Yet another reminder of how I can't stop my girls from growing up.

Well that's the short version of life as of late. I hope my readers are still out there and enjoying this!

Until next time...

Taylor

Yesterday marked a momentous day for our family, Bryan started playing in an indoor soccer league and I got to watch him play soccer for the first time ever. It's pretty weird to miss out on something that was such a big part of your spouse's life. Bryan never saw me cheer, act, or sing and I never saw him wrestle, play soccer, and be the most popular person ever. So needless to say it was pretty fun to watch him do something he loves so much. And of course he wants to pass all of that down to the girls. We're hoping to get Izzy into soccer this spring and if she likes it she'll be able to play on a team next season which would be so fun... and cute... and sad because my baby shouldn't be that old. 

I have to admit my knowledge of soccer is less than minimal. I know you need to kick it in the goal, yellow cards are bad, the time keeping is weird, and David Beckham plays. Speaking of Mr. Beckham, I'm pretty convinced that we are well on our way to being the next Beckhams. 

We have a few differences such as: 
- We smile
- We aren't rich, freakishly skinny, or have great hair (Bryan has a great hair, the girls and I have thin, do nothing hair)
- We only have female children
- I am neither Posh nor a style icon
- We don't have sweet English accents
- We've never been a part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. (Still waiting on that call though, pretty sure it's coming any day)

However we do have some similarities, which include:
- David and Bryan are both incredibly good looking. 
- We like soccer
- We've all lived in America
- Victoria designs clothes, and I wear clothes
- They've probably met the queen, I was homecoming queen in Jr. High....

So as you can see we lead very similar lives. I just hope they're ready for a little competition. In all seriousness though it was really fun to go watch B Ket bring the heat, and I can't wait to see him score even more goals next week! 

Is there something you and your significant other haven't shared that was a big part of your lives pre-marriage? Tell me about it in the comment section!

Taylor

I made it!!! Tonight Bryan and I will end our fast and you better believe I'll be celebrating with 100 cans of Vanilla Coke!! I'm pretty surprised that I made it through the whole thing with zero soda. I'm pretty proud of myself. In full disclosure, I hated almost every single day of no soda. Some days I didn't really notice, but some nights we'd go to eat and I would crave a soda. I know that's not healthy, and I sound like a crazy addict but it's the truth. 

In other news, Izzy and I have taken on a new adventure. I've always wanted to be super mom who reads to her kids every single night. Well needless to say I have slacked in that department. Honestly most nights it's a win if we get everyone bathed, fed, and in bed on time without any meltdowns. And now with Elly being here trying to get a few quiet minutes of reading is almost impossible. 

Like I said I am not a fan of reading, but I remember being little and loving books, but somewhere along the way I stopped enjoying reading. In a world filled with technology and print dying I think it's important to teach our kids to slow down and use their imagination while enjoying a good book. I think electronics have their place, and Izzy's learned a lot from the games on her leap pad, but it's our goal for us all to unplug a little. I know Izzy loves "reading" and telling us stories so I'm really putting forth a conscious effort to spend time in books with her, and help grow that so we can stop reading the same ones over and over. 

Yesterday we started reading "The Wizard of Oz." I've always loved the movie but never read the book. Crazy right? We're only 3 chapters in and I'm already surprised by the differences. I do think the version I got is condensed for kids but it's still weird. Dorothy doesn't even wear red slippers, they're silver! Anyways, I thought it would be fun to read a story that's a classic, and when we're done we can watch the movie as a reward. I really hope we can stick with this and read more. I know we won't be able to every single night, but as long as it's semi-regular I'll be happy! 

What about you? Do you all read to your kids or on your own? What are some fun ideas to get your kids to enjoy reading? Sound off in the comments section!

Until next time...

Taylor

Hey everyone, it's been awhile! A lot's been going on in our lives that's made updating the blog hard the past few days. But take heart I will be back to blogging on the reg by this weekend!

So the other day I was at my parents and I asked my mom what my next blog should be about. She didn't have any suggestions but someone did. Can you guess who? Indeed it was Izzy, she has an opinion on just about everything. She suggested I "write about a picture of me and daddy." A lot of Izzy ideas are a little out there but this one was great! 

So this one's for you Boogie....

First of all I have to give credit to Michelle Meisner for this picture, she's incredible! I feel like it perfectly captures the essence of Bryan and Izzy's relationship. They are literally two peas in a pod. Bryan has that perfect balance of the good cop and bad cop that (usually) goes well with Izzy's very goofy/very sensitive personality. I say usually because while he is a great girl daddy he grew up with only brothers and still doesn't fully understand that sometimes girls are emotional and don't feel like joking. But she quickly forgives him and they're back to being best friends in no time. She is very routine oriented while he is more spontaneous which is great because it helps Izzy get out of her comfort zone and helps Bryan to have a little more structure sometimes. I could go on and on about the characteristics that make them such a great pair. But the bottom line is she thinks he hung the moon so there's not much wrong he can do in her book.

One of my favorite things about them is this:

Izzy goes to daycare at Bryan's work so she rides there with him everyday, which I'm convinced is where she truly learns how to be goofy. She also learns some tough lessons in the car such as how she's way too old to be having accidents and that getting sent to the office at school is not okay. But may favorite lesson that she's been learning since day 1 is how and why to pray. Soon after Elly was born she had a tough time adjusting while at school and so Bryan started praying with her on the way to school. Which now, because school and church are the same building, we have to pray anytime we go to the church no matter the reason. Not a bad problem to have.

I always love hearing about the adventures that they have together, and I hope when she's older she's still just as crazy about him. There's nothing more attractive than my man being a great father.

Sorry to brag on Bryan again, but how can you deny this face?

Thanks for reading; see ya soon!

Taylor

You wont see many book reccommendations on here as I am not an avid reader. Reading makes me sleepy, I tend to get bored easily, and in true American fashion, if it's that great I'll just wait for the movie. I did however read The Hunger Games last year and thought they were amazing! So score 1 for this girl. Clearly my taste is very mature. ;)

Anyways, I found this book on Pinterest before Christmas and its quickly become one of my favorite gifts! You can buy it on Amazon for about $12. If you're not a mom, or a fan of pink, there's another version that's just called "One Line A Day" it is exactly the same just blue.

So what is this wonderful book?

It's a 5 year journal. I know, I can't read a book for a week but I'll write in one for five years, ridiculous right? Wrong. At the top of each page is a date (i.e. January 10th) then below it are 5 sections of about 6ish small lines. On each section there's a space to write the year. So each day you turn to the current day's page, fill in the year and write a quick note about what happened that day, a funny thing the kids said, milestones, etc. And when you fill in the new year's space you can go back and read what's happened in the previous ones. Kind of like my memory jar but more compact and detailed.

I started mine on Christmas Eve so it'll be full on December 23rd, 2017. That seems crazy far away!! Izzy will be 9 and Elly will be 5! It should be really fun to see all the things they do until then.

Another great thing about this book is it's really not that big. You could easily put it in your purse or diaper bag. I keep mine on my nightstand and write in it before bed. It literally takes 2 minutes. That's my kind of book!

If you don't have kids to write funny stories about I'd still get one! How fun would it be to write about things going on with you and your spouse, school life, or all the events leading up to getting meeting "the one" someday. It truly is a book for everyone... even guys.

So that's my first unofficial plug for a product... I think they should pay me for such a rave review. Don't you?

I hope you're all having a great week. It's almost the weekend which means more thunder basketball!!

Taylor