Long overdue!!

These pictures will not be in order, and there are a lot of them. This is an ode to my oldest daughter. Sometimes she went by the name Rosie, but mostly she is Taryn. She is my oldest daughter who just turned 12. How did that happen? So many things have gone by so fast, and many more things are to come. As fun as it is to have a 4th of July baby, it's not fun to plan a party for that week. Her church friends were able to come, and a few cousins too.

Here is a picture of her new swimsuit. She loves Roxy brand. Her cabin at girls camp s named Roxy, very handy.
She got what she wished for: an Ipod touch. Her Grandparents played a trick on her, making her think she got an animal of some sort. It was so cute, and her reaction was priceless.

Here are some of her fellow beehives.

Some pictures form the past. I had pictures in mind that I wanted to post, that's why it took me so long, but pre-digital era I had thousands of prints to go through, and didn't find the ones I really wanted in a timely fashion, so these will do. They fit her personality. always fun and up for craziness.

Taryn age 6

Taryns 6th birthday at Marine world with dad.

Taryn age 2 building a tower with dad. She always tilted her head when posing for a picture!!

Around age 3. loved to dress up! I was one of those moms who would let her kids go to the store in a sleeping beauty dress.

There were so many "lasts" in this last year. Last year of elementary school, last primary program, last Sunday in primary, last year of being a child, last of the kids menus.

there are going to be so many "firsts". First year of middle school, first time in young women, first girls camp, first paying babysitting job.

Taryn has been such a joy to me. She is a great help with the younger kids, and is always willing to help me when I need it. I know she will always make good choices, and be a great inspiration to others. I love you Taryn!

10 months

I can't believe we have gotten this far and we are both still here to tell about it.
Bree, you have been such a joy, but at the same time a great challenge. Night time is the hardest. You still have yet to sleep 2 nights in a row. Right now you are up 4-5 time a night. You just love to snuggle with your mom. I don't. Your personality is awesome. You laugh at everything your brother does. I think you two are going to get into lots of trouble.
The difference between your first and last children are with your first you want them to do all the firsts: sitting up, rolling over, crawling, pulling themselves up, and walking. With the last, at least with me, I have been holding her back, but nature will take its course, and it didn't work. I held or had Bree in the jumperoo so she would not be on the ground learning to crawl. It didn't work. Not she is doing everything turbo speed. Within 2 weeks time she was crawling, crawling up steps, and pulling herself up to standing. I need a break!

This picture was taken at the Sf zoo. She loves to eat. As you can see this was at lunch time. Some of her favorite foods are carrots, applesauce, mashed potatoes, eggs, and anything that we are eating. If it can be mashed or cut into tiny pieces, Bree's going to eat it.
The next picture was taken at church. In the 2 minute car ride she was out!!
She is not a lot of fun to take to church. She is the very definition of hall baby.


I think I am going to have my hands full with this little one. She keeps me moving all day. If she is awake, she is busy. As Jacob would say: "A busy day is a good day". I guess.

I am still Alive....(For the 2 people who may read this)

So I start off this post by saying that I am still around and that I have not forgotten about my blog. In fact I am always thinking that I need to update, but time always gets away from me. These last few months have been so busy. I would find myself saying, "if I can just get through this week" or even "just get through this day" things will calm down. Between living at my parents house, sick kids, callings, and finishing our house, and finally moving, I have had little time to do anything else. I find I have more time now. I have 1 hour and 45 minuets back everyday now that I don't drive the kids to school. They now ride the bus. Oh how I love the bus! The picture above was taken in the hotel we stayed in in SF a couple of weeks ago. We needed to make a very short notice trip for Jacob. He was having some problems going to the bathroom, and had had a few bladder infections. There are no doctors to treat him here, so we were sent down to see his dr. in SF. That was a very stressful trip. I needed to find places for Taryn and Lauren to go, and my FIL stepped right in and took care of them. They even played hookie one day to go turkey hunting. The girls had so much fun they were disappointed when I came back. Even Lauren who hates when I not home at night.

A lot of work needs to be done on the house, but it is livable, if not a little small right now. Oh well, we will survive.

Some other things we have done in last few months are:

*FHE every Monday night since Jan. That is the longest stretch we have done. It helps we are held accountable because we do it with my dad and brother, and my SIL.

*Jacobs first primary activity. I did have to go. Sunbeams must have a parent there.

*Bree is moving all over the place. I kept her off the floor to try and keep her from crawling for as long as possible. Is that bad? After one week, she got up the step in the sunken living room. oh well.

*I mowed my first lawn. Nuff said.

*School is almost out, and I have signed the girls up for volleyball camp.

*Planning 2 birthday parties. I can't believe Taryn will be 12! And going to girls camp.

Now I know just looking at the few things I have written here might not seem like I have been so busy, but I do play volleyball 2x a week, take my mom to PT 2x a week, and at least one of my kids have dr. appointments a few times a month.
So that is all my scatter brain can think of right now. Maybe if I don't wait so long in between posts, they will seem more put together.

no more toothless grins

Gone are the days of a big goofy, toothless grin.

I have been waiting for Bree to cut her first tooth for months.

She has been drooling and teething on things since she was 4 months old.

Today I felt the little tooth that can cause SOOO much pain.

This is Bree with her cousin Mckinzie Easter weekend.

At Brees last check up she weighed in at 14 pounds, 7 Oz.

That really surprised me. I was thinking more along the lines of 17-18

pounds. Only on the 2nd % for weight. 50% for head, and 25% for length.

She is my best eater, not so much sleeper.

She needs to go in for weight checks now.

I am not too concerned. I do have other small kids.

Thanks in-laws

So these are the last pictures I will have of my baby with no teeth.

I bet she will quit chewing on her toes now.

Easter

We spent Easter weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Troutman. We had a great time dying Easter eggs, making cinnamon rolls (grandma), 4 wheeling, and watching conference. We ate, played with kids, and talked. We had a great time.

Jacob and Grandma finding Easter eggs. We had to do the hunt in doors because there was so muck snow outside.

Taryn helping roll out the dough for cinnamon rolls. They were so good.
Dying Easter eggs

on the road

I drive on average 40 miles a day just taking the kids to and from school. Those miles don't include Activities days, mutual, and relief society. We get to leave the house by 7:20 in the morning. Some mornings run smoothly, others can include some yelling. This drive we take to school are all back roads, and some of the most beautiful views you will ever see. Now I'm not saying I will miss this drive when we move into our house, because I wont, but I am taking advantage of the wonderful spring rains, and how it is transforming the mountains and fields to green. I also love spending time in the car with my kids. We fight over music sometimes, but I get to hear how their day was without interruptions. These next few pictures are on the drive to school.

This is a ward building my parents attend. It is surrounded by pear trees. There are not many pear orchards left, they seem to have been cut down to make room for subdivisions, and vineyards.

This wonderful woman puts me to shame. She is out walking/running almost every day. she always waves to the cars as they pass. She will sometimes have a neon pink sweatsuit on. Love it! After seeing her, I have no excuses.
This is Hanley farm.
this is a farm across from the temple. I have always loved the trees, and daydreamed about living in the house on that property.
and of course the Temple. Once when we passed the temple Jacob asked, "Hey, whats that guy doing up there?" Now it's his running joke to always ask that question.
If I have to drive everyday, I'm glad it's a pretty one.

Cheeks

I don't even know where to begin. I love this little baby soooo much. Every child you have brings out such different levels of the same emotions, I don't know how to explain it. Different phases of my life, maturity, stability. This little baby has brought me such joy. I hate that she is growing up so fast. Part of me wants her to be independent, and part of me wants her to stay small. That may be because I know she is my last, but she is so much fun to be around.

What a difference two kids can be. Jacob was never happy. Bree is always smiling at you. Just today when I was putting her to bed, I layed her down and she had the biggest, goofiest, toothless grin she could muster. I wanted to get her back out of bed and play with her, but Project Runway was coming on, so baby had to go down. She melts my heart. I just want to kiss her cheeks off.

Bree is such a great eater. She latched on and nursed the first time I tried it in the hospital, and have never had any problems since then. I try to wait to feed her solids till they can sit on their own, but she had other plans. She loves eating. Don't even try to eat around her if you don't have something for her too. She loves squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, applesauce and bananas. She loves to have Ritz crackers too. No bottles yet.

At 7 months she can mimic sounds; ba, ma, da. and she makes this weird squeaking noise in the car. Too funny. She loves peek-a-boo, and to be tickled. She loves her big brother and lights up when he comes in the room, and he is such a great helper. Jacob calls her "his girl". Of course Taryn and Lauren love her to, but the novelty has worn off. I really hope she is a happy child. And she will always know how much joy she brings all of us.