snow violet turns 3

of all the princesses to choose from, violet has always been in love with snow white. so, it only made sense that when i asked violet what kind of birthday she wanted, she readily chose a snow white theme. we had LOTS of friends and cousins there so it really was a party!

activities:
crown decorating
beard making for the dwarf boys
royal parade
mining for gems in the crawl space
bingo
and... CAKE (made by heather)

naturally, i did what any good parent would do. i found a snow white dress in my size and wore it to the party. this is the best picture i have of a not-so-flattering costume. 

 violet really is such a joy at age 3. she is sassy, funny, and adventurous. she is smart as a whip and goes to preschool with kids 1-2 years older than her. she loves to dance, snuggle, play with friends, do crafts, and act like she is ten years old. she is a natural leader and a lot of fun. we love vi.

super bowl? super bowl.

a while back, matt told cade about a video contest his company (frito lay) was running for the super bowl. whoever made the best video, won a trip for two to the super bowl in new orleans. they storylined a plot, met one saturday afternoon, filmed a video in like 2 hours, edited it, and called it a day.

here is the video they made: 

a few weeks passed and i forgot all about this whole thing. so, you can only imagine my surprise when cade came home from work one day to tell me their video had WON. cade william taylor would be checking off a huge bucket list item and heading to the super bowl. i married the luckiest, most positive person in the world. he deserved the win!

lucky for cade, the super bowl fell right near his 29th birthday so this trip was the best way to celebrate.

they went to the game as part of the cbs group- which means that they were treated like VIPs from start to finish. they were well fed, well entertained (garth brooks!!), and well taken care of. 

they even had a chance to golf the tpc louisiana course... which, i have since learned, is a big deal. 

new orleans lived up to its reputation- lots of parties, lots of wildness, lots of fun. cade was in heaven. 

then.... the game happened. it was pretty cool for us to watch the game at home in utah knowing that cade was somewhere in that crowd. they got some pretty great seats so they were LOVING this experience. 

it was the ravens vs. the 49ers. a highlight for me was beyonce at half time, but i digress.

in the end, the ravens took it. as the celebration on the field got started, cade decided he wanted to be where the party was. he needed to get down on the field. there was security everywhere... but for cade, none of that really matters. with a straight face and a few key words, you can get anywhere. sure enough, after some quick thinking and smart following, cade and matt ended up on the field where they celebrated the win with all the ravens and their families. yes, folks, this really happened. 

this was such a great experience for cade. he took full advantage of it all and made the best of an awesome situation.... which made it even awesomer. awesome squared.

to see it all in action, check out the highlight video here: 

love in moab

cade's cousin rudi was married in moab in february and we were lucky enough to getaway for the weekend to celebrate. the weather was awesome... the company was fabulous... and the scenery was perfect. we loved it.

well... we didn't really LOVE the time we ran out of gas on a remote desert highway on our way to the monticello temple. but, true to cade taylor form, we made the best of it and crammed our family of four into a stranger's car for the 40 minute drive into town. but i digress...

the wedding happened in the monticello temple with a ring ceremony held at window arch. it. was. perfect.

that night, we danced the night away. the girls really got into it and danced their little hearts out.

we spent the rest of our time doing a little hiking here and there. the perfect weekend getaway!

and the big news to start of february...

TAYLOR BABY #3 IS COMING! 

to say we loved this new would be the biggest understatement of the year. 

january happenings

**warning: i am OVER A YEAR behind... but, i want to be sure to get all these pictures places and we love our blog books. so, this january post is from january 2013. life is busy. we are awesome. we do what we can.

january is always my least favorite month of the year. christmas is over, the weather is harsh, cabin fever is really setting in, and we are anxiously looking forward to a very busy february. that being said, we still made it fun! here is a recap of our adventures.

we started things off right by ringing in the new year with good friends in our neighborhood. we started by arranging a corn hole tournament at the church. we get pretty into it- so it makes for some good games. we ate good food and then headed to the phillips' house for MORE good food, good friends, and a great new year. we love our neighborhood.

when life gives you snow, you make a snowman. ivy wasn't very impressed with this. she is a tough crowd... you really have to bring your A game.



after christmas we were devastated to find out that my great uncle Brent was sick. he passed quickly and we were so sad to see him go. grammy was especially sad to lose her only brother and we were sure to offer support to her wherever we could. it was a beautiful funeral. he was a missionary in the pacific islands and, as a high school teacher, he had made connections with the utah tongan/samoan cultures. there was so much support and love to remember a man who served his family and served the Lord. we miss him. we love him.





ivy finally decided walking was an acceptable way to get around. ivy really was so uninterested in walking for so long. we LOVED seeing her take those first steps with confidence and it wasn't long before she was cruising along without thinking twice about it. she is SUCH a good kid. we love her calm, confident personality. and... that raspy little voice.



in january, violet turned into a teenager. she loved on all her christmas gifts (especially the makeup...) and her favorite activity was dancing in the living room to the barbie and the popstar soundtrack. she is such a mature little one that cade and i often need remind ourselves that she is still a little one. she loves to learn and is a social butterfly.



for christmas, i gave cade a boys wendover weekend trip with some of his buddies. they ended up just making it a quick trip but they took wendover by storm. the buffet took a few weeks to recover...



i was able to finally get violet's room all put together! it took some time but she loves it. a space to play and a space that is all hers.

we were pretty sure we had done everything necessary to convince violet and ivy that big blue, the aggie mascot, was the coolest thing in the world. well, then in january, cade took violet to a few byu games and now we hear about cosmo ALL THE TIME. i really have to stick up for big blue... but i guess this is a side effect of living in utah county.






cade went to the super bowl... but that deserves a separate post.

and finally, we spent some great times with friends. we have the greatest friends we could ever ask for.

and finally, in january we found out that mandy was having another BOY! this has been a long time coming- especially for little owen who constantly asked for a sibling. you can see in his face how excited he is about this.