NEW~

I will no longer be posting on this blog.
Check out my NEW BLOG-

http://cctaylife.blogspot.com

This little day of mine..I am going to let it shine

These are the lovely girls that I get to be with EVERYday :)

WAHOOO SWIMMING SUIT SEASON..TIME! Love this time of year..this is how I prepare myself for it..by indulging myself with this yumminess~

Magic Bar Brownies- 2 C. chocolate chips 1 1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs 1/2 C. (1 stick) butter-melted (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk half a bag of coconut (or to liking) Directions: Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass dish) pour graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and flatten onto the bottom of the pan for a nice crust. pour sweetened condensed milk over crumbs sprinkle coconut, milk chocolate chips, & butter scotch chips (nuts optional) Bake for 25 min

Home is whenever I'm with you...

So adorable..this made me smile:) (Before watching pause music)


I love how she says, "one day I am going to whistle" ha I look forward to producing a mini person one day:)

Walkin on Sunshine

Just a little up-date.. I am really enjoying our adventure here in Illinois. The first night we arrived I was sick to my stomach and missed my family. The next day we woke up early to go to the 9:00 A.M. church meeting well we found out we had gone to the wrong meeting so we ended up going to church twice. I can't even began to express the incredible spirit that I felt. Both meetings that we went to were very moving to me, I cried in both meetings I was overwhelmed with the peace and happiness I receive from the gospel. No matter where I go I can feel at home with gospel in my life by going to church and filling up my spiritual cup. Another thing that has helped is having our friends out here with us. Everyday the boys go off and work hard and I spend most of my time with Kels and Makall. I love both of those girls we spend most of our time working out, cooking, painting our nails...I know rough life..huh!? It is weird I have never been so un-busy (that is not a word but that is okay) in my life but it is weird because the days have been going by so fast! The neat thing about living out here is I am presented with a lot more missionary opportunities. I LOVE IT! I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and I want other people around me to also enjoy the great blessing and peace that the gospel can bring into their own lives. I really like living out here, it is different than Utah that is for sure but I enjoy a change every once in awhile! I don't know what is up with the blogging system/my computer but these pictures are in no right order and I don't really want to waste a bunch of time fixing them so they are in random order...but at least I made the effort to put them up right..that has to count for something:) enjoying our night dinner with our hubbies..

FLAT TOP~

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Goodbye.. and..Helloooo :)

Today is my last day at SendOutCards. I have been blessed to have this job!
My co-workers gave me this lovely cake and they all said goodbye- it is weird to think it is good bye but it really IS! ahh...weird..but extremely exciting to start new adventures. I put my two weeks notice in(..obviously 2 weeks ago) and I can't believe how fast those two weeks went by!

Thank you for all your kind words, thoughtful cards, and everything you have done for me SOC!


Onward to Illinois! whoot whoot!

Simple but Wonderful~

Gratitude book~
At night Tay and I write down 8 simply things that we are grateful for from the day.
Today I would like to share one of them..

This morning we were in a rush..like usual. I turned on a song -

Céline Dion - A New Day Has Come (I could listen to that song over and OVer again!)

Tay was in the bathroom getting ready and I just ran to him and started singing the words so LOUD in his face...grabbed me and swung me into his arms and we just started dancing together. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

Well he had to leave before me so I was just singing by myself and then I heard some noise from the hallway and I went to see what/who is causing it..to my wonderful delight it was TAY. He had forgot something but instead of looking for it he just started dancing with me again this time to....

Shania Twain- I'm Gonna Getcha Good (love that song!)

Anyways.. This made my morning! I love having a sweet husband that is willing to have fun with me, even if it is cheesy!

This is definitely going in the gratitude book tonight!

The Celebration of a Wonderful Life~

Tay's birthday:
He woke up around 8:30 and was all worried because he thought we were late to work! Well in the mist of his worried episode I leaned over and whispered, "Hey guess what... I got this day off for the both of us" he was happy and we both went back to sleep ha. After waking up
I made him his favorite breakfast..
(ha ha his sleepy face:)

After our yummy breakfast I blindfolded him and took him on a little drive..

For his birthday I took him bike shopping to pick out a bike he would like! He has been wanting a mountain bike for so long now. We had fun looking for just the right bike for my birthday man:)

This is the mountain bike Tay really wanted!

After we went bike shopping we went out to lunch to RUMBI~ so delicious and the best part was just spending time with each other! -gosh I love HIM!

MAY I JUST EXPRESS how OBNOXIOUS this is to blog right now..the blogging system will not allow me to type under the captions of the pictures AND the pictures are all in some weird format..ah..So I am going to have to explain the following pictures all in one awkward paragraph right here..okay now that I got that out of my system I will continue.

We had Tay's actually birthday party on Saturday with family. I have been planning this party for two months..decorations and all! Well sad story..I spent a bunch of money to decorate and the day went by so fast I didn't have time to put up ANY decorations besides this banner..

Besides that (which really made me upset because I spent so much money and time planning the decorations) EVERYTHING else went WONDERFUL!
We played games and my awesome Dad made homemade butter-finger ice-cream which tasted incredible!

Thanks to my WONDERFUL aunt Patty (which by the way I just realized that she was the one taking all the pics and she is not in ONE! so sad about that but she was there!) She made it possible to surprise Tay with the new bike he wanted so bad..and my cousin Nick also helped by picking up the bike and hiding it in his truck! My family rocks they all were so supportive in helping me pull off Tay's party.

Random side note: NONE of my siblings were there..it is times such as these that make me really miss them:(

MY ABC's

Age: 20

Bed size: queen- perfect for cuddling with my husband's warm body;)

Chore you hate: yard work- This may sound silly but I am so scared I will see a snake, my biggest fear..seriously some of my worst nightmares are of huge snakes..I have the goose bumps just writing about this..eee.!

Dessert: Cookies & cream/cookie dough ice cream

Essential start to your day: Kissing Tay and having breakfast- both yummy and both essential for a good start.

Favorite color: bright colors- yellow, pink, turquoise, purple.

Gold or silver: gold - it's worth more:)

Height: 5'7" and pleased of it.

Instruments: Piano and I started to take guitar lessons.. I begged my Dad to get me a guitar and he finally got me a guitar but I stopped taking lessons when I got engaged to Tay (I wanted to save my money). Too bad I can't remember anything I learned :((( (triple sad face).

Job title: Receptionist at SendOutCards--but not for long! I put my two weeks notice in last Monday! whoot whoot!

Kids: Hopefully after we graduate school...(but we will take one whenever:) ).

Love: My family & good health

Music: I don't have a certain type of music I love, I just like LOTS of certain songs in country, oldies, hip-hop..and so on.

Nickname: CC, Sunshine girl, gitch, sis, cookie

Obsessed with: my hubby & cute babies

Personal: I can't tell you...sorry...its personal.

Quote: One off the top of my head.."A person can not give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf" -Elder Eyring.

Right or left handed: right

Siblings: 4 awesome older brothers and 1 older sister (my sister is 17 years older than me and she is one of my BEST friends).

Time you wake up: 5 A.M. on gym days 6:40 A.M. on lazy days and 9 on weekends.

Underwear: only my husband can see.

Vegetables you dislike: take away the DIS I LOVE vegetables.

What makes you run late: my comfy bed and my sweet morning man.

X-lovers: I have not ever had any other man I have loved besides Tay - he is my first love.

Yummy food you make: Whole wheat bread (thanks to my Dad).

Z: ZUMBA! every wed. at 5 A.M

(I got this ABC idea from my lovely cousin Erin)

What are your ABC's??

The Path

Lately my life has been filled with a lot of decisions to make...some easy as well as hard.

I feel like most of them are small but there are so MANY decisions that I could make right now and all of them take me in different directions.

Example.

We had some friends invite us to move to Illinois for the summer. At first we liked the idea but we shoot the idea down like a bird in the sky. Although we still committed to going to dinner with them and the manager of the sales in Illinois. Well last night was that night we had dinner with them mostly because we wanted a free dinner ha. Although we were actually convinced we wanted to pack up and move ..sounds perfect..hang out by the pool with our new friends that we LOVE and make about 40 grand then come home at the end of the summer and not have to work for the rest of the year. Although we have some other commitments..

When ever I am faced with a decision like this I go right to pray and scriptures. That is how I usually get my answers. Well after reading for awhile and getting frustrated about just reading about wars and nothing in bold telling me my answer, I shut the book and thought about what I THOUGHT was the RIGHT thing to do. Well it didn't take long for me to weigh out the pros and cons (I also took a glance at both Tay and my patriarchal blessings). Even though I don't know exactly what is going to happen this summer or even after we leave this house in November that we have been so blessed to stay in, I do know that everything will work out.

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed when I have to make decisions because I NEVER want to choose the wrong path and get to the other side and think..oh shoot..wrong path..ha
I have decided that I will go through my life making decisions and bring them to God and if he feels differently then he will let me know.

That is the beauty about my path I may not know exactly where I am going but with faith I will be happy in my journey through life with my husband.

I like this ...(mostly because the quote has my name in it)..

Oh children..you make me smile..

I absolutely have unconditionally love for my 10 nephews and my one niece..I wish I could remember all the funny things they have done but here are some that I have been thinking about...they always seem to put a big smile on my face :)


Andrew ~

Max, "Andrew, why don't you pull up your pants?", "I can't max, I am a gangster!"

Calvin~ (When he was a little man I think he was only 3 or 4..)

"Dad, did you say a prayer on the chips you are eating?"...Ben (his Dad) "No"...Pause.."That means you were not thinking of God"...pause.."This means..you are NOT a man of God".

Nathan~

"Mom, I hope when I grow up and get married that I will marry someone as BEAUTIFUL as you!"

David~ 7 or 8..

"You are just making me do my homework so you can be a good parent and make it into Heaven!"

Kate~


"Mom, I need a band-aid!"
Jen, "let me see your finger"...No bleeding.."you will be fine"....
Kate, "YOU WON'T GET ME A BAND-AID! You are such a LAZY mom! When I am a mom and my kids want band-aids, I will give them band-aids!"

Kate telling me about her books, "This girl is not modest at all, but she is really pretty....(different book)..These girls are VERY modest but they are NOT pretty." -glad we can distinguish ugly and pretty.

"Mom, did you eat meat when you were a little girl?" Jen, "Yes, why?" Kate..."because I want to be just like YOU when I grow up, but for now I LOVE meat SO much and I want to keep eating it" (Jen is a vegetarian).

"Crystal, we are both so pretty uh?" - sure Kate, in fact why don't you share some of your cuteness with me, I would appreciate that.

Barbie isle in Walmart...."OH all these barbies are so pretty but they are all so immodest!"

Jen driving home from the store, enjoying the radio....
Kate...."mom...just sing in your head, ok?"

Kate, "can I have a piece of gum?"
Jen, "Not right now"
Kate, "gee Mom you're SO MEAN, you just go walking around thinking you're SOOO pretty!"

This is my all time favorite one...

Kate at school talking to her friend Molly, "Molly, would you please dress more modestly, I have seen you wear a tank top two times Molly, two times" (as Kate holds up her little two fingers)
Molly, "I don't' know what that word means"...
Kate, "Well I really don't have time to explain it to you." They both hold hands and walk over to the rug and sit down.


In my journal I have a lot more funny stories that I have recorded but I am not home so maybe..if I remember than I will add them:)

The icing on the cake...

This year we have taken a lot of small random trips to places at the last minute. Well thanks to my brother Max we all decided to go to stay with my sister so the boys could go see BYU play against ZAGS.The tickets were only $350.00 a piece, no big deal especially since they WON! Such an awesome game! Especially with...

such a classy player that Jimmy Fredette! so sad he won't be playing w/BYU any more..

The trip to Colorado to be with my sister and her family was honestly SO FUN (not long enough though!). I LOVE being with my family (I wish I lived closer to my sister, she is one of my favorite people next to Tay of course!) I just feel so blessed we are close (not distance wise..heart wise) and the cherry on top is my husband! That makes for a wonderful life!

Here are some pictures from the trip..and also some other random pics of events that I just have not had time to blog about..our lives have not been that eventful lately due to working full time and going to school at night.

COLORADO~
The boys all going to the BYU basket ball game!

While the boys were gone we had a girls night out~
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE them!!!..cause if you have not noticed..I do.


>
We were in the movie store and there were all these inappropriate posters every where so Jen takes matters into her own hands...

Honestly there is just no one as precious as my sis!
(There really was the most ridiculous posters! I felt disturbed and I'm 20..no reason to subject your child to that crap.)

Max with my handsome nephews..

My FAVORITE LITTLE GIRL

Me and David :)

some how my face got blurred in this pic..weird..but isn't kate such a doll??..oh I could steal her and be perfectly content.

Nathan making homemade, whole wheat, yummy, pancakes for us all~

Tay and Max playing basket ball in the boys room with them~


My hubby and I~



Friends wedding~

Mix and I

Lover lips and me..

I really enjoy having people over for dinner, I like to play host:) I am so grateful we have been blessed to stay in this house for such a fabulous deal!
Dinner with some of my wonderful family~

Cute Grandma Cookie's 90,,somethin B-day:) LOVE HER!


I really have not blogged about the food I have made..I just never take pictures of what I cook..but I really enjoy cooking so maybe I will start!

The other night we had some friends over and I decided to make Cafe Rio Pork Burritos..they turned out so yummy, even though it took me all day to make it but it was very worth it..


Date night with new friends..Tay knew Ryan back in high school and we got together for a double date a while ago with him and his wife. We had so MUCH FUN WITH THEM! I just LOVE kels, we have SO much in common and Tay loves Ryan (In a manly friend type of way of course)....




That is all for now! I need to finish my homework, the semester is almost over! CRUNCH TIME!