General Conference

Kyle and a buddy went to the Boulder to look for elk sheds and since I knew our turkey hunt was coming up, I stayed with the little one and went to my parents house for General Conference weekend. We had a good time and I love that we have modern day prophets that we can listen to and receive guidance.

Taytum loved cruising around the kitchen and living room with this stroller. Oh and have I mentioned that she is walking for reals and long distances too. Finally!
So sad. This is a face we see a lot in our house when things don't go exactly as she wanted.

Taytum used to get so jealous when I would hold Cooper but now she loves to give him hugs and check out his finger and toes. Cooper is such a good, smiley baby. I just love him.

Mom and the kiddos during General Conference.Taytum loves swings and I have been trying to find a cheap swing set with no avail but her face explains it all and loves to swing at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Em playing out on the swing too.

Happy St. Patricks Day!
My little one all dressed up for the day of the Irish. As far as teaching goes, this is my favorite holiday. Starting at the beginning of March we have a leprechaun in our classroom that we write to daily and "he" writes back. The students get so excited and I really believe it helps their writing take off because they are so interested in it. Also on St. Patricks Day, I color my foot green and I always get a great reaction so I just really like St. Patricks Day.
St. Pattys day dinner: fettucine with green alfredo sauce, beans, jello and a rainbow cupcake. I had also made Kyle green Tuna Fish sandwiches for lunch and he wasn't to sure about that idea.

Taytum starting into her meal and .......

.....this is how she felt about her "green" meal. She really didn't eat much but sure enjoyed squishing it through her fingers and then running her fingers into her hair.

Random March and April Pictures
Grandpa and Grandma Pike stopped by for a visit and here Grandpa put her to work combing his hair. I remember doing this as a kid so it was cute to see her do it too.

Here she is trying to get her rings put back together and...

Ta Da! She has mastered her stacking cups and rings. I got this new baby genius video that sings nursery rhymes and she absolutely loves it and will make herself comfortable in the love sac and watch the whole thing (about 30 minutes).

Beginning of March we had our first warm day and I couldn't resist going outside and having a picnic out on the grass. The weather has obviously been a roller coaster since then but I can't wait for some more warm weather so that we can do this more often.

Now she unloads her bookcase and crawls into the shelf. Luckily my dad built this super heavy and it shouldn't ever tip over.

Random picture after dinner.

She still loves to unload the shoe nook and does this on a daily basis.Now with the shoes out, she has a new nap spot.

I couldn't help but take this picture even though she's not supposed to touch the keyboard (or the mouse, for that matter) because of the random buttons she like to push, but she was so focused on whatever she was trying to do.

She has had this one front tooth for what seems like forever and I thought I better get it captured on camera then hopefully her other front tooth will come in. She also loves to bang on the piano keys.

This girl loves to play in the sink and if I'm washing dishes she has to be right there too so she can stick her hands in the water.

Grandma got her these window clings and she has loved re-arranging them often.

She loves to sit on the arm of the couch to watch TV.

Here she is trying to feed herself some cereal and.....

...she made it to her mouth without any falling off! Hooray! It's amazing where as last week she couldn't do it without help and now this week she got most of it in her mouth.

The Hunt Expo
Every year in February we go to the Hunting Expo at the Salt Palace. Taytum insisted on not being in her stroller and wanted to walk or crawl. Needless to say that did not work so well with so many people around, so we spent most of our time in the hallway playing and cruising around.
Riding in style with antlers on my head.

Valentines Day!
So first thing in the morning on Valentines day, Kyle gave me this beautiful necklace. It is an elk tooth that he had specially made so that we can always remember the fun and awesome elk hunt we enjoyed together back in September. I thought it was so thoughtful and I absolutely love it!

Taytum loved finding all the cards and treats my student's left me inside my valentine box.

Taytum and I going through the many valentines and sweets I got from my student's.

So I decorated the kitchen and got a Papa Murphy's heart pizza for dinner.

Posing for the picture and wondering what is laying in front of her.

Taytum got this cuddly dog.

Kyle's cheeser of his new sweat pants and teeth whitening kit.

Crohn's Disease
Many of you know that Kyle has been battling some health issues that started about a week after Taytum was born. Since that day he has had pain in his gut that even to this day has not subsided. The last year and a half ha has had every test some even multiple times without coming away with any answers. We have had a few ER visits and what we had dubbed 'attacks' way too many times. This has been very frustrating and for me way to many times and days worrying. Friday, February 11th, he had a capsule endoscopy where he got to swallow a camera and it would take pictures of all of his digestive track. After a few day we finally got results. Though it ain't the best of news it is a relief to know what we are up against and how to treat it. Kyle has Crohn's disease which basically means he has several ulcers inside his small intestine. Though not curable it is treatable and will be on a regimen for the rest of his life. I pray and hope that as we learn more and it and with the help of meds he can get back to 100% and go on doing the things he loves.

Presidents Day
So originally I was supposed to go to Richfield to spend some time with my sister and her family but that idea fell through so I wanted to take Taytum somewhere we've never been. So we loaded up (the picture below was taken just before we left and she was so happy) and headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It's a bit pricey but Taytum was free and Dad had to work so I only had to pay for myself. We had a great time! It was fun to spend the day with my girl!

The first of many stops we made as we made our way around the aquarium.

One of the many cool fishes that we saw.

She just kept saying "fish" and then turn around and smile.

The petting pool. They had this stingray that you could pet as it swam by but we never could because it was so close to the bottom.

Mom and Tayters.

I love how her face is smooshed against the glass as she tries to get a better view.

She really liked this fake crab for some reason.

They had these tunnels for the little ones all throughout it and she loved holding on the wall and making her way through

I love the tongue sticking out.
While we were there, they had story time so we stopped and listened to a couple of books from this very animated story teller. Taytum was more interested in looking at the kids around her.

I love how she's posed in this picture. Just chillin and looking in the tank.We stayed at the aquarium for about 2 hours and I think she really enjoyed it.

Another year older!!!

I can't believe I celebrated another birthday already. The year has gone by so fast. So for over 6 months now, I've pretty much been begging Kyle for a treadmill. I hate running outside and figured I will have more motivation to excersise if it is within our own walls so he came through and here is our new treadmill.

So some parents of the student's that I teach got together and brought in this huge Costco cake for me and the students. It was a nice surprise and the student's thought it was great. They all knew it was my birthday and many brought in cards and treats.

They lit 32 candles and I'm proud to say I blew them all out so I can't be that old, right?

Here was a cute candy poster from one of my students.

KMP Distributions

For those who may not know we have started a side business that we have named KMP Distributions. When Kyle left Fluke they asked him if he wanted to take on a small business of sautering probes together and then shipping them off to Finland. We agreed and set it all up and we have sent a few orders already and so far so good. In the picture below, Kyle is sautering the two parts together. I'm the third hand that holds wires, packages, and gets the info into the computer though Kyle still manages the business part of things.
Random February Pictures
Taytum always has to be involved when I make dinner and I usually send her off with her dad so I can get it done but one day we wanted to make cookies and she did a great job pouring things in, mixing, and gobbling it up.

Enjoying the finished product.

She rarely sits!

Messy!! I left Taytum with her yogurt on her tray for just a second and when I came back it was no longer in the container but all over her.

Kyle and I both have different ways to unwind from work and life. Whenever I have a moment it would be reading or as of late putting together this puzzle. Taytum loved winding around the table leg but wasn't very helpful in keeping the puzzle pieces together.

Kyle's way to relax and unwind from the day's work is playing the game Bejeweled through facebook. Taytum always sits better with her dad at the computer than with me.

So lately when i am getting Taytum ready to take a bath, she will hide around the corner and jump out and say boo and she thinks it is so funny.

Big beautiful blue eyes. She loves bath time.

Getting ready for bed. I just love these jammies and her expression.

She managed to get her skirt off one day and was just playing around.

So we were in the store one day and went past the isle of valentine gifts and she insisted on holding every stuffed animal. She's getting more and more attached to such critters. She has a bear that she sleeps with and is starting to tote it around everywhere.

Its time to start watching the Elk and Deer herds. Here, Taytum is trying to figure out what her daddy is looking at.

We were playing at a park and I got this picture. She turned away to quick but I love how happy she is here.

Our first trip to McDonalds. She didn't play on anything but loved watching the gazillion kids that were all over the place.

Reading with Daddy. This girl loves to read and we go through her box of books several times a day. It amazes me each and everyday how much she learns and how her vocabulary is growing.

Playing in the doctors office.

So this post took awhile to get up because we were having issues with our computer but here it is and hopefully you enjoy seeing some of our family outings and experiences.