New Years Eve

i never thought i would see this day...but i didn't take any pictures on new years eve!!
i won't forget the fun we had though! the turners always give a great party, we stayed up all night laughing and playing some very entertaining games! when that ball fell in times square my sexy hubby made no mistakes and gave me a nice wet kiss!! oooh yeah!! :)

Chalmers Christmas Party

i wish i had taken more pictures of my cousins that were at this christmas party! i have some of the sweetest and funniest cousins, if was great to just sit around and laugh.

Grandma Taintor's 90th Birthday Celebration

we were able to go celebrate my grandma taintor's 90th birthday with her, and my family. it was an open house, so we were able to see many of her friends, and family. we get together so seldom, so it was really nice to see some of my cousins that i don't get to see that often.

Doctor Elizabeth

i was getting elizabeth dressed today. when i pulled the shirt over her head it covered her mouth and nose. she said to me, 'look mommy, i'm a doctor'. it was so funny! she is so smart, and is always surprising me with all the things that she says.

Noel

elizabeth was so excited about her present from santa. and so was everyone else! she was more than willing to pass noel around!

Christmas with the Rodgers

i wish i could multiply on christmas so that i could spend enough time with everyone in our family! i always feel like we can never spend all the time i would really like too.
especially with the ryan's dad and brother randy. elizabeth sure loves them!! she was so excited about her snow suit that randy and mary gave her, she couldn't wait to put it on!
it was really nice to just sit around and visit with papa rod and randy and of course the dogs.

Merry Christmas Taintor Clan

i can't remember the last time that my siblings had christmas breakfast together. we normally get together around lunch, so a taintor tradition of eating oysters and complaining about eating oysters hasn't existed. it was nice to bring that tradition back, lol. i will be honest, i don't like osters, but seeing my grandma chalmers excitement over the oysters and the big smile on her face, you'd eat the oysters too!
it was fun just goofing off with my family, and even if it was complete chaos with all the kids, it was a perfect christmas morning.
i think my favorite part of the morning was watching the kids and seeing how excited they were to give there gifts. they were happy to receive a present oh course, but their faces lit up when they gave their gift out.
i guess that didn't just apply to the children, i think i was more excited to give our gifts because we had spent so much thought and preparation making homemade gifts. we made block calendars and marshmallow roasters that we can all use together at the cabin during the summer.
and of course our family spoiled us. one of my favorite gifts we received was a kerosene heater to add to our emergency preparedness that my parents gave us. also, the turners gave elizabeth her own barbie laptop, so when i blog, she doesn't have to feel it necessary to sit on my lap because she has her own computer...thanks turners!!
i love christmas, and i hope that we all can remember that christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality and have charity in our hearts through the year.

I Believe in Santa

i really enjoyed the christmas season this year. it's been fun, elizabeth is getting old enough to understand the idea of santa. plus, she has been such a big helper with christmas decorations and wrapping all our gifts. she is so smart that we knew we could explain about why we celebrate christmas. as christmas grew closer, she would ask if it was Jesus' birthday yet.
elizabeth sure gave us a good laugh on christmas morning. she ran into our room with a huge smile and her arms in the air and yelled, "i'm ready to open my presents from santa!!".
elizabeth must have been really good, because santa gave her a real live bunny. yeah, you heard me! it was so funny, the cage was sitting on the coffee table and she saw it when she walked into the room, and she got a big ol' smile and said 'mom, i really want to touch it'.
we named the bunny noel, and she adores noel. i have to say to that this bunny is not like any other bunny i have ever had, it's very tame and will come right up onto elizbath and lick her.
elizabeth loves opening presents, however the bunny kept most of her attention throughout the morning...well, to be honest, ryan and i had just as much fun playing with the bunny as elizabeth.

The Nativity

every christmas eve we go to my parents and the kids dress up, and my dad reads the story of christs birth. faith narrated this year, and the kids had a good time getting their costumes on, and waiting for their part in the story. this year elizabeth was a wiseman, and thought her hat was pretty neat.

Christmas Eve

getting together with my family is my favorite thing about the holiday season.



ryan was in charge of the picture taking at his family party, and so, we only got these two picture...next year i'll be in charge baby. lol.



ryan and i started a tradition when we first were married. on christmas eve, we give each other a book. usually it's a childrens book or a christmas story. elizabeth likes it, because she loves us to read to her.

Is Christmas Here Yet?

this christmas season has been one of my favorite so far with elizabeth. she is growing so quickly and is starting to catch on about santa, and the birth of our savior (she knows it's his birthday, and well, that's good enough for now). she has had so much fun with decorating our house, and a great assistant with the wrapping of gifts, she likes to hand me the tape, after she informs me that i need to say 'please' first. she has been patiently waiting for christmas day and for santa to visit our home. i thought i would share some cute pictures of her in her christmas dress.

My Three Angels

since the kids were little, i have called them my three little angels...and that will never change!

Ugly Sweater Contest...Just another day at the office

i love the girls that i work with. we had a ugly sweater contest, and we couldn't stop laughing all day. they make work feel like an 8 hour party!! thanks pretty ladies, i love your guts!!

Gretchen Puppies

gretchen had her first litter of puppies, she had two cute girls. elizabeth adores them, she just giggles when they snuggle up in her neck.

Temple Square

ryan received a new calling a couple months ago, and has the opportunity to attend mutual with the youth. he invited elizabeth and i along see the beautiful lights at temple square. we were amazed by the magnificent temple and all it's beauty. we finished the night by warming up to some yummy hot chocolate.

Decorating Cookies

our neighbors brought us such a clever gift. they gave us a plate of gingerbread cookies: a daddy, mommy, and toddler. then they had little baggies of stuff to decorate them with. we had a blast decorating them, elizabeth loved the frosting so much she got it all over her face.

Olive Fingers

elizabeth loves olives!! especially when she gets to eat them off her fingers.

Farewell Beautiful Blondie

i'm sad to say that we have given our beautiful blondie away. i have to say that i was hesitant to take the bird in the beginning, it was my grandma chalmers and she wasn't able to care for it, and so she gave it to me for my birthday.
blondie fell in love with us quickly, we always joked that blondie almost loved me to much cause whenever i walked in the room she would start singing and tried to get my attention...it was rather funny.
i actually thought it was odd that she liked me cause i never held her (i'm not really a bird kind of person).
elizabeth loved blondie from the beginning, however it took blondie awhile to warm up to her...she eventually did.
you know...birds are messy!! i'm talking like feathers everywhere messy!! it was to much for me, but i felt guilty giving her awaycause, one: my grandma gave her to me, and two: blondie loves us.
but...my cousin jon LOVES birds! so, i thought, what a wonderful christmas gift :)
he has already told me that blondie has pooped on his shoulder, and you know what that means?...it's a start of a beautiful friendship.

Ward Christmas Party

i love our ward, i grew up in this ward and though people have moved from the neighborhood, the spirit in the ward has never changed. i love serving in the primary, and was so proud of all the children that participated in the talent and skit part of the christmas program.
it's been so fun this christmas season, because elizabeth has shown some interest in santa. we always read christmas stories about santa and tell her that santa is watching :) she was so excited when santa showed up to our ward christmas party, she waited patiently in line to sit on his lap (which she did all by herself i might add). it was so nice visiting with the wonderful members in our ward, and getting to know all the new people.
it was funny after the party ended and we went home, elizabeth told me that when she gets big she wants to be fat like santa...haha, she says the funniest things.

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

i have worked for the same company for five years, and in the spring i transferred to a different clinic. i was so nervous to work with such a tight knit group of girls, but i was meant to work there! i LOVE the girls i work with! our work christmas party actually wasn't an ugly sweater party, but we thought we'd spice it up a little! although these aren't all the girls i work with, we always manage to have a good time!

Hayley's Birthday

the family got together to celebrate hayley's birthday. i can't believe hayley is 13!! it was so fun having all of us together, grandma chalmers even brought amelia the baby gift that she made, which put a smile on all our faces.

You Melt My Heart

elizabeth brought me the camera and wanted me to take pictures of her, she really does melt your heart!

Giving...

as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. -john fitzgerald kennedy

it was so nice being all together at my parents, there was a lot of visiting and laughter. i have to say, that my mom makes thee best thanksgiving dinner! i couldn't stop eating.
one funny thing that was said at dinner was, ryan had made the candied yams and they were delicious! grandma chalmers turned to ryan and said 'oh these are just wonderful, it's like eating candy' and ryan replied 'grandma, that's why they call them candied yams'. grandma thought that was pretty funny.
it was a really nice evening, we just sat around and visited. i even made up some games that we played and we all took turns sharing what we were grateful for.

Thanks...

i love thanksgiving so much, it reminds me of all the blessings in my life that sometimes go unnoticed.
i'm so grateful for a home that surrounds me with comfort and protection, delicious food; in both eating and sharing, clothes to snuggle up in, books and good entertainment to expand my mind, and freedom to worship our god. most of all i am thankful for my family and friends, those treasured people who make my life extra special.
i have such an amazing husband, and we are so blessed to be parents to such a beautiful, intelligent daughter, who teaches us new things about life every day!

my family has a wonderful tradition for thanksgiving. we actually celebrate thanksgiving the day after with the taintor side, so we don't have to pick and choose who we go visit, we can visit them all. so, thanksgiving day we were lucky enough to spend with ryan's family. his wonderful aunt roxcie had us over for dinner. it was so nice, ryan's dad was able to make it, as well as his brother randy & randy's girlfriend mary. it was fun visiting with all of them, and elizabeth even got some play time in with her cousin jessie.



for dessert, we were able to make it to my aunt barbara's house and see some of the taintor's side of the family.

Late Night Buddy

sometimes i call ryan an oldman because he goes to bed early, when i am a night owl! it's nice to have my cousin jon around though, cause i can always manage to persuade him to come hang out with me. this night jon and i went out to breakfast about midnight with a few of my girlfriends, it was a blast!

Coming Soon...

i am finally catching up on my blogging! i am missing a very important entry though! it's our big church history vacation to nauvoo! don't worry though, it is coming soon. it's under construction right now, but keep your eyes open for it you won't want to miss it!!

Because Adam and Danielle Are So Worth The Trip

my brother is a big fat smarty pants. his super-mega brains have taken him to medical school and now all the way to wisconsin for his residency. three years is not so long these days, but it's long enough to start missing them.

adam had a deal on some flights that he just wasn't going to be able to use. after i was able to convince holly into taking a vacation with us, we were all very excited to visit the taintors!

the first night we went to kennedy and seth's german school to a light festival. it was fun to hear kennedy and seth sing and speak in german.


friday we went to a fish fry with long lines, greasy delicious fish, and polka music. Good times.


saturday we headed out to CHICAGO. traffic was horrible but it was well worth the drive. we only lost one of adam's kids and she was shortly recovered. we visited Wrigley field, played with the giant "Bean", rode the subway, and ate some delicious pizza.





sunday all got up bright and early for 9 a.m. church. this was not an easy task with 5 adults, 6 kids, and one bathroom. we pulled it off, and even though danielle was coming down with the flu, we all made it to church. living in utah we are indeed spoiled. within a mile of our house there are at least six LDS meetinghouses. in wisconsin we had to drive 30 minutes to reach the nearest one. i love going to the church in different areas. i love to see how the church is the same wherever you go. it is such a testimony to me of the truthfulness of the gospel. their ward also has a lot of residents and med students from utah.

after the meeting adam took us on a tour of the hospital where he works. my brother is a doctor. i think somehow that makes me cooler. i am sure of it.

friday adam had to work so danielle took us to the quaint little town of Cedarburg, but on monday danielle was very ill with the flu. she was far to sick to take us out, so instead gave us a map and her keys and we were on our way. we visited the most amazing little "hole in the wall" spice shop called the spice house. they had the most awesome blends of spices. we then headed down to the milwaukee public market. with our tour guide sick we weren't quite sure what to do. even wandering around aimlessly were were able to have a good time. elizabeth even had a lot of fun in the taintor's backyard.



thanks taintor's for having us out. it was a great trip.

Trick-or-Treat

where there is no imagination there is no horror.
-sir arthur conan doyle

i have to start by saying that ryan loves halloween! i mean it's his favorite holiday! over christmas people!! i, on the other hand, like halloween, but it's more of like eh...for me. haha, but ryan is such an awesome hubby and so this year i thought i would give him a good halloween, we went to haunted houses this year, and i even dressed up with him. which to be honest, kind of made me like halloween a bit more.
elizabeth picked up on halloween early, she loves candy, so there is no reason not to love halloween. this year i thought for sure that she would want to be a princess, ariel to be exact, since she is obsessed with the little mermaid at the moment. i was excited to persuade her to be snow white, but out of nowhere she informs us that she would like to be a scary pirate. i tried to ride it out, and get her to change her mind. nope, it didn't work, her mind was set. we even ended up getting sugar a costume.
we had a really good night, we went out to the turners a little earlier and enjoyed carving pumpkins with them.
then we ate some delicious soup to warm us up before we headed out into the cold to trick or treat. the kids had such a good time. we even finished the late night with a scary movie.

Our Pride & Joy

we are a little late on getting these taken, but it's better late then never! here is our pride and joy's 2 year pictures. thanks to my cousin jon!

Tough Young Women

when your younger sisters tell you not to come to their volleyball game cause you embarrass them when you cheer for them, you know what you do?...you go to their volleyball game and cheer for them :)
yeah, they still love me, and it was so fun watching them play and goof off with their friends.

The Clevery Triplets

i was so excited to make a visit to our dear friends the cleverly's. recently they just brought their triplets home! yeah, you heard me, triplets, and they are just adorable! evan, mason and madison, they arrived about eight weeks early but as far as i know are doing wonderful.
i was able to hold madison, and she is just a little princess. elizabeth looked a little confused when she saw all the babies, but was quickly distracted by brighton's toys. they played downstairs together while rachael, mary and i caught up and oooed & awwed over the babies. it was so good to see our good friends and can't wait for our next visit.