New Background!!

I couldn't wait to clean up all the decorations from Christmas around my house.  I enjoyed Christmas but I am so glad it's over.  The kids wanted to put out every single decoration we have collected over the years and though it looked good and was enjoyable I was feeling cluttered!  So just as fast as it came-it's gone!  Doesn't it always feel a little sad after all the work it's over just like that!  So on with the clean-up,  I didn't want a Christmas blog anymore.  I have to say I'm sick of Christmas music also.  So my new background!  I think it is really cute and just wanted to share with you where it came from.  Cori Carpenter is a sister in our ward and she is  very creative and has her own website for backgrounds.  She has a very cute blog also.  Her website is 

Scrap-e-blog.blogspot.com   Also the music is all from the Twilight soundtrack which is Mackenzie's favorite right now.  Sorry if you don't like it just pause the i-pod :)

Taylor's Sunday Sixx;;

One. Finals are over.! I think I did pretty good.

Two. Winter Brake. No school for two weeks.! (no alarm at 4:30)

Three. Friends. Gotta love em.

Four. Got grounded :/ and then got ungrounded after mom saw things my way (:

Five. Going to the mall at Christmas time. lines 50 people long.

Sixx. Music. I love music.

My Sunday Six!

(1) Cold weather. It's so nice to have a break from the sun. It's been gray and cold and in the morning Ava can see her breath. It's so true without the gray skies we wouldn't appreciate the clear ones. With out the cold air we wouldn't know how great the sun feels.

(2) Taylor and Mackenzie both had babysitting jobs this weekend and I realized how great it is for the girls to have this experience. We probably wouldn't have this oppurtunity somewhere else. We have alot of small kids and worn out parents in this Stake so the demand for babysitting is high:) Also they get to tend for really great families with super sweet kids-which makes it even better. It's so fun to see them being responsible and taking on their first jobs. Plus it's fun to hear their stories when they come home with of what they did with the kids they were tending. It's also fun to see these kids that they have tended get so excited to see the girls when we run into them somewhere or at church. They're going to be great mother's.

(3) Preston's dish week. Each week the kids rotate kitchen duties. It's their most favorite fun chore to do and look forward to their week. Ya RIGHT! They hate it and sometimes it's like pulling teeth. It was Preston's week this past week and he did such a great job. He didn't have to be constantly reminded and he did such a great job it looked as good as when I do it.

(4) Holiday Candy!! Orange Sticks from Sweets Co. out of SLC, Jolly Rancher Candy Canes, peppermint Hersey Kisses, chocolate covered nuts raisins, chocolate coin candy, See's chocolates etc....................................................

(5) My Sunday morning helpers. Sunday's mornings can be such a blur. We have to be there by 7:45 and it can be challenging. All the kids know their rolls on Sunday and they do all of it without complaining. From ironing to getting Ava's tights and shoes on to getting scriptures round up and all of my things I need to bring for Primary. Then when we get to church I have helpers saving seats and watching Ava and helpers putting up class signs and putting the rolls into the classrooms and helping to set up the things I need to for Primary. Then after church there is rounding up all the things that were set up. Getting Ava picked up & collecting all my Primary stuff. Thanks Taylor, Mackenzie, Preston & Ava.

(6) The Ensign. Every month I find an article or story that really touches me and I feel was just what I needed to hear. I love to hear of all the wonderful things that are happening with the saints all over the world. Yummy feast for the soul.

"Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The Spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the 'spirit of Christmas' , we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the 'Spirit of Christ.'"

-President Thomas S. Monson

My Sunday SIx!

As I was blog stalking a few months ago I came across Kori's sister's blog. She does a weekly blog called the "Sunday Six." I was really excited about doing this on my blog because it made me realize how great it would be to sit down and reflect on your past week and actually write down the things you are grateful for. Months went by and I kind of forgot about it, until now. Now I really need to focus on how blessed I am, and I'm going to start by posting my "Sunday Six." So here we go.

(1) Preston's getting baptized! It's finally here. Preston has been anxiously waiting for his eight birthday. He has been memorizing the Articles of Faith, praying in private daily, reading his scriptures and is ready to go! He always reminds us to have family prayer and knows that Monday night to get out his scriptures for FHE. He's such an obedient boy and I am so truly blessed to have him here to keep me on my toes.

(2) Preston's getting baptized---by his Dad! This is so amazing I can't even describe how much this means to me and to Preston. I am so blessed to have Rob as an eternal companion. He is adored by the kids and is a great parent. I'm truly thankful that Rob has accepted the gospel and blesses our home and family with the Priesthood.

(3) My extended Brooks family. They hosted and invited me and my family all to Thanksgiving this year in St. George. The made sure we all felt welcomed and feed us well! The food was really good, they're all great cooks. I was excited to finally meet Bennet, he was super nice. I've heard so much about him. His son was adorable testing out all the food and licking the gravy ladel clean. Doreen managed the food assignments and I'm sure much more, all very well. With 50+ people everyone had plenty and then some. Anyway's I just love them all and feel very blessed that they are a part of my life.

(4) Rob's job. It has taken him away from us for way to long, I can't stand how there is no real schedule and I can't ever count on ever knowing his days off, he has to work long days leaving Rob sore and tired when he does get home. But I am SO thankful that because of his job I have been able to always be home on Sunday's to go to church and keep the Sabbath day holy, I get to drop off the kids every morning and be there to pick them up in the afternoon. I have been able to be home with Ava, she is not fond of daycare:) to give her all she needs during the day. I am there every afternoon to help with homework and hear the stories of their day. I get to cook dinner every night and sometimes have an afterschool snack waiting for the kids-they love this. Because of Rob's job we have health and dental insurance. So we are all truly blessed because of his hard work and blessed that he has this job. Oh, and I forgot to mention that for the most part he actually really loves what he does. Happy husband is good.

(5) Maricopa!? I know it's shocking because I'm always quick to complain about it here. It's taken me awhile but I am loving Copa! It's great to be in a small town again. We have a comfy home and now that I have quit being such a brat, I have gone out and made friends with my neighbors and actually really like them. I love the friends I've made here and really feel blessed that they are in my life. It was hard at first to feel a part of the constantly growing and changing ward-but I really know that I have a great ward family that we are blessed because of that. The stinky cow smell is still not so charming but other than that I'm very pleased that I feel pleased with Copa :)

(6) Decorating the house for Christmas. I love to see the kids get so excited when we turn up the Christmas songs and pull out the decorations. This year we decorated 3 trees. One is the main tree that is a hand me down from Uncle David & Aunt Tiffani, when they lived here when we did for a month. (thanks again:) It has our cute new decor that we got at IKEA last year. Then we bought a 2 or 3 ft little tree at a garage sell and we put all the old sentimental ornaments. This one is our fav-there's all the little hand made from school ornaments and the special ones we've received from friends through the years. Then we have a little on top of the table size tree that we have put our 12 days of Christmas ornaments. When we lived in Las Vegas we had an amazing secret Santa and one of the gifts was a really pretty collection of twelve ball ornanments with painted pictures of each day from the song. We love these-they so cute. It was fun to pull out the nativties that we've collected over the years. The kids arranged and re arranged them all the time. It is such a great time of year when Christ is celebrated. I love it and I love the spirit it brings to my home.