Soccer Star...

Soccer season is coming to an end and Madison has enjoyed her first year of playing! She has gotten so good too! We have made it through with only 1 minor injury which I think is pretty impressive. Her last game will be this coming Saturday, so for anyone wanting to come watch, this is your last chance. She has had fun seeing all of you at her games!! Thanks!

Madison also has done sooooo well in school so far this year, especially lately. She gets a daily progress report with an 0, s, or ns grade for that day and she has gotten 10 o's in a row. That's 2 weeks of perfect classroom behavior and citizenship!!! She is really trying hard for a whole month of o's and hoping to be student of the month as a result, so we'll see!!! Either way we are very proud of her efforts!!!

We love our Maddie!

Birthdays this month...

KAITLIN... November 19th... kaitlinmarie96@hotmail.com

Home# 817-506-0342

They are 2 hours ahead of us!





GRANNY... November 23rd... sherryh32@cox.net

Home# 480-497-0060
Cell# 480-204-0921





HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Sweet November...

Hi everyone! I know that I am late getting the blog up to speed this month but A LOT has been going on!

This month we "moved" (ALL MONTH), "renovated", "landscaped", "cabled", "laked", "play dated", "regular dated", "baked", "cooked", "visited", "soccer gamed", "1st grade art classed", "Birthdayed", "Halloweened", "back outed", "painted", "carved", "cleaned", and "decorated".

For anyone who really knows me you'll notice that "laundered" is not on that list...but this month it wasn't by choice that laundry didn't get done, our brand new washer has gone on strike!!!

"Regular dated" almost didn't make the list either, but my husband surprised me last night with a date!!! He was so sneaky and planned a date and a sitter without me knowing. Oma showed up at the front door and he said we were going out! He is such a good guy! He really knows just what I need and this November I am very Thankful I found him!!!!!!! He is so talented and I have to brag on him for a minute because he has worked so hard over this move and on renovating the new house. He built a fireplace mantel and bookcase (built-in) for our new family room and it is so pretty!!! I had no idea he could do that?!?!?!? But, I should know by now that he can do anything!!!!! I Love him!!!!!!!!!

There is a lot of new info on here with October being so busy, so scroll down and check out the new entries!!! We are excited about seeing Kaitlin and Daron this week hopefully and we will be traveling to Las Vegas, with most of you I think, for the Thunderbird Reunion! Then, of course, Thanksgiving is around the corner!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to say to all of you how thankful I am to have you!!! I guess November is the month we really focus on being thankful and grateful, but I should tell my family, extended family, and friends more often. I hope that you all have a happy and safe (for the duners especially!) Thanksgiving wherever you'll be celebrating!!!

OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick update for everyone, we are moving and as of October 31st we will be in our new home!!! We are going to start moving stuff in and painting this week and are very excited. The new house has great landscaping and is the same floorplan as the rental we are in now, but all of the rooms are on a bigger scale and the lot is bigger also. There is a great pool (pictured!)and spa in the backyard and we are really happy about that! Kevin will be able to work from a home workshop in the garage to do Wakeview products much easier now.

Kaitlin & Daron had a surprise this month too---A new baby brother! He came about 2 months early I think, so we hope everything will go well and he can go home to stay as soon as possible. They named him Nathan and I'm sure that they are both very happy to have a new baby around. They both are so great with Lauren that I am sure they will be a good help to their Mom with this little one! We are excited for them!

We are planning a visit for Kaitlin and Daron sometime this month or maybe the beginning of November. We will be having a birthday party for Kaitlin whatever weekend they do come to Arizona and will keep you all posted so that you can put it on your calendars. Madison is on fall break from school this week and is enjoying sleeping in and playing all day for awhile. I think she has had a hard time getting used to being in a classroom for the entire day instead of half a day like kindergarten was. She'll be a pro by November I'm sure. Her soccer games are every Saturday and I have a schedule for the times and dates. I know that some of you have asked for this info, so I will email it out seperately. Her team is pretty good and have won all their games but one so far. It is a lot of fun to watch for sure!

Lauren's 2nd birthday is coming up at the end of the month and I can't even believe it! She is so big! We already got her a pink kitchen set to play at in her room. It has a fridge and an oven. She thinks she is hot stuff and loves playing with Maddie in her "kitchen". We will probably do a family party for her at some point the end of the month as soon as we're settled.
The Talerico family has moved out of our house now. We loved having them, but they have moved on and seem very happy! I know that the kids will definitly miss their cousins! We wish them good luck at their new school and we will miss them!

In November we will be going to the Thunderbird Reunion with the majority of the family from the Kanaga side and we are really looking forward to that! It will be held in Las Vegas and the festivities include an airshow at Nellis AFB I believe. I am always so amazed at all of it and that my Papa (an original Thunderbird) can fly like that! It's all fun to be a part of and I'm glad we are included! We will also check out the air museum while we are there and we have invited Kevin's Grandma Pearl to come with us. She is looking forward to the trip also.

Well, I probably won't update very often over this month due to the move going on, but we love all of you and hope you are well. Again, anyone who'd like to add to this sight or comment with a "hello" please do so!!! Some of you want me to come over and show you how to add posts and I will soon (Mom and Tawna), maybe this week. Kaitlin and Daron, we Love you lots! If you are reading this, send us a note!

Bye, for now,
Taya

The Last Weeks of September!

Can you believe it? Maybe the weather will start to feel more like fall? I hope all is going good with all of you and I just wanted to make a post to fill you in on what's going on here! I was asked to do an art class in Madison's class once a month called "Art Masterpiece". I reluctantly accepted as I don't have an artistic bone in my body--but then the teacher told me that they provide the lesson and project that goes along with it and all I would do is come in and teach it! So, I did my first class for her on Thursday and it was fun and nerve racking all at the same time. Who knew I could keep the attention of a room full of first graders for a whole hour????!!! Anyway, I am including the picture that I drew (of a horse) and taught the kids how to draw also using different shapes as guidelines. (KAITLIN---I am going to send this lesson to you in the package I am putting together so that you can try it. You are a great artist and this lesson I taught shows some tricks!!!!)

Anyway, all here is great. Kevin and I just bought a house in our same ward and will start to pack stuff up this month. Another move, YEAH!!! But it will be worth it. Madison is busy playing soccer and she is awesome on the field. She is such a smart first grader and loves school! She gets to be in her uncle's wedding (on her Dad's side) next week and is excited about that. Kaitlin and Daron are playing the piano now and taking lessons every week! They both say that school is going good and each have activities on Wednesday nights as well. Daron is a great cub scout! At their school this year they are doing kind of a junior high schedule for grades 4 through 6 I believe. So, they have extra teachers and commotion during the day than they are used to be seem to be liking it a lot! We will be seeing them in October some time. Lauren is hanging out with Mom and enjoying her one on one time. Still play dates are my saving grace!!! She loves to go and she loves her friends to come here also!

I hope you all have a great week and if there's anything you'd like to post on here for the family or friends, be my guest!

To Granny, Grumpy, Papa, Oma, Opa and all Aunts and Uncles who may be interested, Madison has soccer games every Saturday for anyone who would like to come and watch one! She would love it!

Also, we have the Jordyn and Taylor's birthday party coming up, so I will be emailing info on that to all of you personally!

Bye, for now,

Taya

Finally a new family picture!

Here's a new family photo. We had Opa come and take this pic the day before Kaitlin and Daron headed back to Texas to start school. We will be doing another picture in December hopefully! We sure enjoyed having Kaitlin and Daron here for 3 months this summer!!! It was awesome to have them and we did a lot of swimming, game playing, and hanging out! Our family is never complete when they're not with us!

"Little" Lauren Pearl!!!

She's not so little anymore. Lauren is home with Mommy all day by herself now that Maddie is in first grade. She will be 2 in October and is loving being the center of attention! She is playfully called "Princess Pai Pai" By her Aunts. She rearranges everything from the kitchen pantry to all of the kids rooms while they at school. We find canned food in her blocks wagon, DVD's in the dog's crate, barbie's in the cupboard's, and all kinds of other wierd things out of place. She loves to hide things! She is having 2 play dates a week to keep her "social" with her crowd and loves nursery on Sundays!

Daron's Birthday Bash!

DARON turned 9 years old on August 20th and had a big party for his family & friends. Here are a few of the pics! He is getting so big and is the "mini me" of Kevin! We sure love him!!!

Talerico Trio

This summer --and for some or all of the school year --we have the Talerico kids living with us. It has been fun and nuts! The kids love it because they all have a built in buddy to play with now. They pair up two by two a lot, but they all like to play Wii and karaoke together! Lauren likes the chaos of it all and of course there is no shortage of attention for her this way either!!! Jordyn is enjoying activity days and she and Rylee started dance classes in September and Taylor has gotten his Arrow of Light award in scouting already so he is waiting for his birthday at the end of the month so that he can advance in the scouting program. He will be playing flag football this fall!

Summer Vacation 2007

"Kaitlin, Daron & Maddie" at The Grand Canyon!
We stopped by on our way home from Utah. It was amazing and I had never
seen it before then!


In July we visited Park City, Utah and had a really good time. There was a "shoe tree" at the resort we stayed at that it was tradition for guests to throw a pair of shoes into the tree before leaving. So, each of the kids chucked a pair up there!






Kaitlin and her Daddy!




The vacation in Park City also included a river rafting trip! It was a first for all of us and very exciting! The kids were hilarious as usual! Kevin made fun of me for the way I was paddling of course. But, I was "doing it wrong" until about half way through the trip I guess!

Kaitlin & Daron, this blog spot is for you guys!!!

These pictures were taken over the past few years by a guy Kevin knows who is a phenomenal photographer. He does such a great job and takes like 300 pictures per sitting in his studio or at a location of your choice! He's a little pricey, but WAY worth the $$$$$$$ !!! His name is Ben and his website is http://www.benizo.com/. These pictures of the kids are on his website under kids pictures...